So you have chosen the way of the OCD. Very well. This spoiler may look to contain a lot of information but trust me it ain't that much. Mostly just me reminding you to spell correctly when you make the new folders. Anyhoo, to avoid complications later on with your variantmeshdefinition files, you're going to want to do a quick bit of work on getting the right file structure to save your parts into. Basically, you just need to get the same structure that vanilla uses, which can be seen when looking through the
"models_rome2" .pack file in PFM. This is just for organizing model parts in the same way CA does, which, if you create a lot of new combinations, can come in handy.
First off, open up the file location of the assembly kit (it should be in "
Program Files (x86)/Steam/SteamApps/common/Total War Rome II/assembly_kit") and go into the "
working_data" folder. This is where the VEd will need to work from when you are creating new units, and therefore where you will need to store your custom meshdefinition files.
For the actual completed unit files your work is already done for you. You should see three folders, the last of which will be called "
VariantMeshes". Within this there will another folder called
"VariantMeshDefinitions". It is in this folder that you will save and store your completed unit files, until you get to where you want to install them.
What you are missing though is the correct places to save your meshdefinition files for individual body parts. If you're unit is going to work properly in game it will need to follow the conventions outlined in
Lusty Jack Lusted's VariantMeshDefinition files tutorial. You can either do this at the end yourself by fixing up the code, or you can try and avoid it by doing this now. It's probably for the best to read through that anyway, seeing as it will help you either avoid problems in the future or at least make figuring out how to fix stuff easier.
Important: The folder names and structure have to be exactly as they appear here, or you'll be spending a lot of time at the end fixing various broken variantmeshdefinition files.
Anyway, within the "
VariantMeshes" folder, create a new folder called
"_VariantModels". Inside your new folder, create another folder called
"man". See where this is going yet? Yo're basically making a copy of that second drop-down list on the right of the VEd, which will mean the mesh code will be correct when you finish. So now, within the "
man" folder you just created, you will need to make the following folders:
Code:
accessories
annimated_props
arm_armour
armour
bloodpack
cloak
crests
greaves
hair_beards
helmets
leg
patterns
pelts
props
shield
skin
trousers
tunics
weapons
For the sake of covering all bases, to complete this file structure so that it mirrors vanilla and sets you up for all eventualities, within the "
patterns" folder you will also want to create this next level of folders. This is for shield textures and such, so I'll just spoiler it in case you aren't bothered! How could you?!
So, now that you have your correct file structure (which you will need later for installation to work properly too) you are ready to start saving those new definition files for use later. Simply click
"File -> Save definition as" and then select the correct folder for the item. For example, that corinthian helmet with the large crest we made earlier. If you were to save that so that it worked properly it would go into
"working_data/VariantMeshes/_VariantModels/man/helmet". Save it as something like
"Corinthian_Big_Crest". When you then use it later, the meshdefinition file for the unit it is part of will not (or at least should not) need any doctoring on your part.
So, once you have that correct file structure, it's just a case of finding what you want to go into a particular collection of assets and then saving it into the correct sub-folder. And then to re-use it? Read on!