Beginner's Modding Manual (RTW)

[Aradan]

Apart from the ones related to units (models, textures, sprites) and the UI related ones (which end up being replaced in most mods anyway), the rest is mostly required, so it's not worth th trouble trying to find out exactly which are not. I tried pruning FATW's modfolder from the unnecessary files, and I ended up removing some 5 MB of stuff, which is nothing compared to the total amount of files. A mod that doesn't use some cultures will be able to save some more space by removing the battlemap building stuff that is not necessary. The most trimmed down modfolder of a BI-based mod that I know of is the VI2 one.

[Spike]

Umm, thanks Aradan... maybe this way, BI mods are destined to be a bit bulky then

And what about the Unused textures? what is the exact reason they are still needed, even when not on DMB?

[Aradan]

What unused textures are you referring to?

[Skull]

Please finish this tutorial.It is great.

[Aradan]

I will, but other things like real life, university and modding keep getting in my way.

[Skull]

Help!I have a problem with making the camping map with Gimp.When creating a landmass i have done every thing the tutorial has tel me to do,and when i run the game,the island is not there,but when i move a ship close to the island i can't pass the place where the island is sopose to be.

Here is the picture of the map height file:

[Aradan]

Have you deleted map_heights.hgt and map.rwm?

[Skull]

Yes,i have,and RTW does not generate new files,and still the islands are not visible,but when i move a ship close to it,it still cant move where the island is sopose to be.

[Aradan]

You are not trying to load an older save-game with the new map, right?

If a new map.rwm can't be generated, then there's probably something wrong with your map files. If the only file you've edited is map_heights, make sure you've only used shades of grey for the new land. If it refuses to work, could you upload the .tga for me to take a look?

[Skull]

You are not trying to load an older save-game with the new map, right?

If a new map.rwm can't be generated, then there's probably something wrong with your map files. If the only file you've edited is map_heights, make sure you've only used shades of grey for the new land. If it refuses to work, could you upload the .tga for me to take a look?

No,i am not.

How do you mean shades of qrey?What portion of read,grean and blue (x,x,x) do i have to enter?And i cant attach tga,it says that file is invalid.

[Heiro de Bodemloze]

Hi
I know this is a dumb question but i would like too know how to move units just from faction to faction like urbans to egypt you know.

[Skull]

Hi
I know this is a dumb question but i would like too know how to move units just from faction to faction like urbans to egypt you know.

I would like to know how to do that too!

[Aradan]

No,i am not.

How do you mean shades of qrey?What portion of read,grean and blue (x,x,x) do i have to enter?And i cant attach tga,it says that file is invalid.

A shade of grey is any colour with identical value for Red Green and Blue. Eg, (1, 1, 1) or (240, 240, 240).

Just compress the .tga into a .rar file and upload it.

Hi
I know this is a dumb question but i would like too know how to move units just from faction to faction like urbans to egypt you know.

Perhaps I should add a section about that in the tutorial...

Essentially, you follow the same steps as with adding a new unit, only this time you have part of the work already done for you. You have to:
1. Add the new faction's name in the ownership line of the unit's export_descr_unit.txt entry.
2. Add texture (and sprite) lines for the new faction in descr_model_battle.txt (using the textures/sprite of an old faction, unless you want to make new ones)
3. Copy the unit info card and unit card from ui/unit_info/owner and ui/units/owner into the respective folders of the new faction. In vanilla those cards are packed inside data/packs/ui_1.pak, so you'll need to unpack it with pak extractor in order to have access to the files).
4. Add the new faction's name in the recruitment lines of the unit in export_descr_buildings.txt

[Skull]

I tryed filing the islands with "dark grey" (1,1,1) and it still dosent work.

Anyway,here is the file.

[Aradan]

Well, there are a number of pixels along the coasts of your new islands where the colour isn't grey and has values like (2, 2, 49). Such values are not allowed in that file. Only shades of grey (x, x, x) for land and shades of blue (0, 0, x) for sea. make sure you use the right 'drawing tool' and with the proper settings (depends on the software you're using) so that the colours don't "mingle" near the areas where land meets sea etc.

[Heiro de Bodemloze]

Hi,
I have another question, when I try to save what I have done in descr.unit it says it cant make the file and wants to put it in documents but then it doesnt work

[Ramashan]

I tryed filing the islands with "dark grey" (1,1,1) and it still dosent work.

Anyway,here is the file.

Messy messy messy and I don't know if its you or the vanilla map.

Here's my suggestion. Start over. You have splotches of color all over the place and I think its going to take a lot of work by even someone who knows what their doing to get that map working right.

Something I do with tends to help is, when I start a map I go in with the magic wand tool and select all the water pixels. Set the tolerance to '0' uncheck 'contiguous' and hold the shift key start clicking around on the blue pixels until you get them all. Once you have this done. Go to the Select pull down menu and choose 'invert' this will make sure that you are only working on your land pixels. This is just a way I'm able to work without screwing up my sea.

OK, next. When you want to add some land. Make sure your using the pencil tool. Sometimes the brush tool will add off colored pixels.

If you do use the brush tool, do the magic wand bit I mentioned and invert the selection to that now only the land pixels are selected, then go to the Image pull down menu and select 'brightness/saturation' and bring your saturation down to 0, this will make all the pixels in the selected area gray scale.

These steps are for photoshop, but I know in Gimp you can do the same things, just never used Gimp.

Basically, as Aradan said, you need to make sure your land is always Grayscale and your sea is always some shade of pure blue ( 0,0,x)

Good luck and hope this helps.

[Killerbee]

Also, never ever save in .jpg format and then continue to work on it. Only save in .xcf (GIMP's default file format), .tga and .png. But note that the game only reads .tga files !

And when resizing, always use 'None' as Interpolation.

[Skull]

Thank you guys.Anyway,is anyone wanting to help me make my Silenti mod for RTW?
Aradan,you look like someone who has a lot of moding expirience,can you help me?

Here is the link: http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=401055

[Aradan]

I'm afraid I'm already up to my eyeballs with other commitments.