CA offers to help modders: what questions do you have?

[PSYCHO V]

CA have offered to provide a guide to help the community with modding sprites. Can everyone with sprite questions / problems please post them here...or alternately PM me at the .com

Cheers

[Simetrical]

Thread title clarified, thread stuck.

[MasterOfNone]

I know nothing about sprites but I can see totally newly-created units no matter how far I zoom away from them in the battle map - and it looks like their skin, not an imposter (I believe that is the term used when you assign another unit's sprite to a unit - OK, OK, I know a *little* bit about them )

Are they auto-generated if you code them a certianly way in the DMB file? Seems that way. I did not see this in 1.1. 1.2 I cannot remember. 1.3 is the one I am using now.

And I don't have any switch activated for sprite generation.

[player1]

I think, if you don't select sprite for unit, that it will keep 3d model, making it sluggish in big battles on lower end machines.

Luckly, sprites aren't do difficult to make for any unit, with sprite generator supplied with the game.

[MasterOfNone]

Really - but lack of sprites used to cause invisible units when you zoomed to a certain distance.

I certainly want to avoid any sluggishness.

[player1]

I think only in case you made a wrong sprite name or path (could be wrong) that game started using "empty" sprites. If not sprites specified at all it should use 3d models I think.

[Lusted]

I have never experienced any slowdown due to lack of sprites, and i have a minimum spec pc.

[Simetrical]

I have never experienced any slowdown due to lack of sprites, and i have a minimum spec pc.

The question is for modders, not players. The trouble is in generating the sprites, not using them.

[Lusted]

I am a modder but i don't generate sprites as i feel they are unnecessary.

[waitcu]

A question of map testing in BI

i make our own map and test in BI . with 3 cities .
first , i seting 3 factions .

playable
empire_east
empire_west
end
unlockable
end
nonplayable
slave
end

then i start the game , the map loading is successful , and appear the campaign map in game . all things seems well at the first round , generals , armys , buildings . but when i press the turn button , it ctd without any warning .

then i setting two nomad factions and slave in game

playable
huns
vandals
end
unlockable
end
nonplayable
slave
end

it can run very successful and without any bugs ctd.

here is a question , are there some factions could not setting single in game , like empire_east , empire_west ?
are they relate to other factions ? if i want just add empire_east and empire_west in game , what should i do ?

[Basileos Leandros I]

Why are sprites removed at the highest setting of detail?!

I have problems with the graphics....Huge lag. 128MB.
I was forced to play on medium and low settings....

[Atheist Peace]

A question of map testing in BI

i make our own map and test in BI . with 3 cities .
first , i seting 3 factions .



then i start the game , the map loading is successful , and appear the campaign map in game . all things seems well at the first round , generals , armys , buildings . but when i press the turn button , it ctd without any warning .

then i setting two nomad factions and slave in game


it can run very successful and without any bugs ctd.

here is a question , are there some factions could not setting single in game , like empire_east , empire_west ?
are they relate to other factions ? if i want just add empire_east and empire_west in game , what should i do ?

What does this have to do with sprites? If you're having a campaign map problem, then make a seperate thread, or post in a relevant one.

[Basileos Leandros I]

Thanks player1. :original:

Any chance of making the sprites take more work, so the game can work more smoothly?!

[PSYCHO V]

OK, CA have now extended that invitation to any modding questions. If you have any modding questions, please post in a clear concise manner.

Sim, could you please update the title to reflect the change?

[Simetrical]

Done.

[player1]

Well, thats the point of highest setting.
3d models do look better then sprties, so if you have machine that can handle spritless graphics you'll use highest settings.
If not lower the settings.

[the_mango55]

Is there any way to make buildings like walls and roads destructable? (I know that is not a high priority question, but it seems like it wouldnt take much effort to answer)

[Dorian]

"CA have now extended that invitation to any modding questions"

For internal reasons, CA decided not to provide us with interactive naval battles. I respect that, although such a policy makes me keep an eye on "Civilizations at War" and "Spartan: Ancient Wars"... But, at least, I would expect from CA's behalf a "decoration tool", meaning the ability to have ships appearing in custom battles - as they do in campaign battles. Is it easy to be done? I would appreciate it!

[Basileos Leandros I]

Any help on decoding the diplomacy, which is bugged?!

[Professor420]

2D and 3D graphics use different pipelines on your Video Card. On newer video cards, the 2D pipeline continues to shrink in relative size, so there is more room/bandwidth to handle 3D. So whereas a few years ago, having sprites would take the strain off of your 3D pipelines and fill your 2D pipeline, nowadays, with the cutting-edge video cards, having all-3D battles (instead of sprites) may actually be better as far as cost/look ratio goes, because your 3D bandwidth is so tremendous. Having 8,000 sprites in a battle could possibly overload your card, as opposed to having 8000 low detailed, but much better looking, 3D models.
At least that's how I reckon/reason it, without having any actual evidence to support this (outside of a basic understanding of pixel pipelines)