How do I edit the main menu?

**Mataputas** · December 04, 2009, 03:18 PM

Hi, I'm trying to remove the campaign from the main menu of rtw (cause I'm starting with a custom-battle-only mod), but I don't know how to do it.... Could somebody help me pleas? Thanks in advance.

**Killerbee** · December 04, 2009, 03:34 PM

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=96361

**Mataputas** · December 04, 2009, 03:50 PM

Thank you, blackadder. I knew it was a silly question, but I was having trouble looking for the answer... Thank you again =)

**Killerbee** · December 04, 2009, 04:00 PM

NP, and it's not silly. the .LNT can be a bit scary if you're new to modding

**Squid** · December 04, 2009, 04:20 PM

Its scary even if you're experienced.

**Mataputas** · December 04, 2009, 06:12 PM

Perhaps it should be added as a Tutorial, so that it's easier to find...

**Ramashan** · December 04, 2009, 06:34 PM

It is a tutorial which is in the list Aradan was kind enough to create:

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=195838

Check out the 'coding' section and you'll finding, Editing Rome.LNT

Took me several long nights of trial and error before figuring it all out, but once you understand how its coded its not too difficult. Here's what I was able to do;

The flame is an animation with a crackling fire SFX attached to it.

**Killerbee** · December 05, 2009, 01:26 PM

Nice job Rama

Just 1 thing, how can you know the coörds of the screen ? is it trial and error ?

**Wundai** · December 13, 2009, 08:40 AM

Hey, a question adding to this.

What if you have a mod that uses a video file as background for the main menu.

This means that the title of the mod (normally it would say Rome Total War: Barbarian Invasion) is displayed within a nasty coloured rectangle.

CA managed to get rid of this and just display their title without any rectangles.

I've tried some things with transparent backgrounds and layers within Photoshop to recreate their effect, but nothing yet.

I realise this question is closer to the Graphical aspect than the textbased aspect of the Rome.lnt but it is certainly Main Menu Related

Any idea's on how to create a title for the Main Menu that just displays the title within its own borders?

**Killerbee** · December 13, 2009, 11:04 AM

Hmm... Perhaps the text displayed at the main menu should be entered in another file, instead of the movie file itself ?

**Ramashan** · December 13, 2009, 11:56 AM

the reason why the text in a video file looks pixalated is because of the compression used to get the file to the size and codec (.wmv) that you need to view it.

You could either try to decrease the compression on the export of the movie file or just do the text as a graphic element.

Hope that makes sense.

**Wundai** · December 13, 2009, 12:42 PM

No mates no, the video file is fine

I guess I explained it wrong, the FE_texture1.tga file is the file you need to insert the Title in the Main Menu.

Normally if you have a Black Background, you can make the FE_texture1.tga black and give it a title (take your flower wars background Ramashan, it is one colour which is not changing)

But now that I have a movie as background the colour changes all the time, which means the FE_texture1.tga file displays the title of your mod with a rectangle around it, and this doesn't look nice at all.

Screen to explain:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

As you can see the movie is playing in the background (Japanese Swordsman) but my "Ran No Jidai" title has a white square around it because the colour of the movie-background changes all the time (its a movie, hehe)

So the problem lies in the FE_texture1.tga file.
CA could limit the Title to only the boundaries of the Title itself, but I get a white square around mine, it has to do with transparancy or masks or something I am almost sure.
So therein lies the problem, I don't know enough about this.

Any Ideas?

P.S. Btw Blackadder, thanks for presenting me with an alternative if we don't have a solution, maybe with an movie editing program I can insert the title in the movie itself hehe

BUT its easier to change the title, so I'd like to discuss that first with you guys

**Mataputas** · December 13, 2009, 02:18 PM

Can't u use photoshop to make the white part transparent? In that way, you'd just see the letters and the movie...

**Ramashan** · December 13, 2009, 10:40 PM

Wundai, to make an alpha around the titles. I did mine with an alpha channels.

Unfortunately, the FE may have more than just the title on it. So, you need to make sure the alpha is only around the title section. You can test this by simply going to the channels tab in the FE and clicking on the Alpha channel (bottom layer)

Just paint some black in there in the area where the white is normally. When you reload you should see part of the white missing.