Be a Modder: Doctoring of Medieval 2 units.

[paleologos]

...I just didn't suppose attachments could actually contain head textures...

...Many of the original CA high and late era knights, have their heads textured on the attachments file...

...I guess there's no way other than to manually remap the UV for both textures...

...The program assigns nothing by itself.
UV mapping is a (very-very-very) high level progrmming language.
It doesn't even have words, it's picturesque.
But to expect that the model will program itself is something for which there are REALY no words...

Well, maybe I need to recant the above one:
"...Microsoft to slash 18,000 jobs in deepest cuts in tech giant's history..."

Perhaps you are on to something here, Commodore.

...I'm quite terrible at this unfortunately...

...There is no quick-&-easy way to do it but it will become easier for you with time and effort...

Also:

...All the questions that a noob may think off have been asked and answered several times in the course of all these years.
The answers, my friends, are blowing in the wind....

By the way, Commodore, they look very nice.
I take it, they are trial and error at work, yes?

Keep it up!

[Magas of Cyrene]

Such wit.

Save your pathetic attempts at sarcasm for someone who cares. I wasn't asking you.

[Magas of Cyrene]

Since we resolved this with paleologos over the PMs, I'll just continue

Anyway, made more progress, edited the texture in GIMP and changed the UV map, it's now assigned correctly, but the texture is unfortunately corrupted:



(Notice the black spots on the faces and weapons, though one halberd actually looks fine)

And a closer look:

[paleologos]

Since we resolved this with paleologos over the PMs, I'll just continue

Anyway, made more progress, edited the texture in GIMP and changed the UV map, it's now assigned correctly, but the texture is unfortunately corrupted:

I don't believe there is a way for anyone to know exactly just what isn't absolutely correct, just by looking at the screenshots.

What you can do is upload the ms3d files and the texture files you are using and I will give them a look, I will also need the normal map files because they too might be part of the problem.

I have done this for others, you know, sometimes this is the only way.

[Magas of Cyrene]

Here they are, thanks!
Halberds.rar
Most likely it's something obvious, knowing me

[paleologos]

Here they are, thanks!
Most likely it's something obvious, knowing me

Obvious, I wouldn't say.
I would not have guessed unless I had seen the files.
The Alpha Channel of the merchants_diff file was severely corrupted.

I think I fixed it, try the one below, keep everything else the same, let us know if it is fixed.

merchants_diff.rar

[Magas of Cyrene]

Thanks, that worked!

Only one problem left:




The UV map looks fine, but the second halberd's tip texture is off. It should look like this:



The pole is also black:




I've tried fiddling with the UV map, but that doesn't help...

[paleologos]

I fixed most of the model, it now looks correct in milkshape and I have no reason to believe it would not look correct in-game.
About the halberds:
I don't know if you messed them up or if they were never mapped correctly but the way I see them they are unfixable.
I will have to replace parts of their textures in order to remap them, nothing too fancy though.
Do you want me to do it or do you want the model as it is?

[Magas of Cyrene]

Sure, if replacing wouldn't be a problem.

I probably did something wrong, most likely messed up the mapping or the texture editing.

[paleologos]

Sure, if replacing wouldn't be a problem.

I probably did something wrong, most likely messed up the mapping or the texture editing.

No problem, I already have the textures that are needed, just the wooden shaft for the halberds that is, a flanged one.
I think I will have them ready in an hour or so depending on how tricky the normal mapping will be.

[paleologos]

Good enough?

I'll be taking a break before adjusting the normal map of the heads-&-weapons.

[Magas of Cyrene]

Wow, looks even better than before

Great work mate!

I'm just now working on the last unit for my minimod - you'll surely get credited once it gets released!

[paleologos]

Done!

Merchant_Militia.rar

Word:
In the file name Merchant_Militia_T&S "T&S" stands for torsos and shields, put that on top while editing the battle_models file.
In the file name Merchant_Militia_H&W "H&W" stands for heads and weapons, it goes in the stead of attachments in the battle_models file.

I renamed the files to avoid confusion with the ones you gave me, I always work on copies.
You might also want to compare the one I give you with those you gave me so as to see what I changed.

Hopefully one day you will do the same for someone new.


Try that in-game and post some screenies.

[Magas of Cyrene]

Thanks a lot friend! The units now look great:



The new halberd shaft looks much better than the old one too!

I can't give you reputation yet, but I'll do so once I'll be able.

By the way, here's the unit we modified:




I'll return to work on my minimod next week (as I've mentioned, I'll credit you). I'll be working on another unit, hopefully I can pick it up now. Looking through the files it would seem it that I incorrectly assigned the UV map. It's pretty diffficult to do - any tips perhaps?

I'll make sure to help a beginner like me in the future.

[paleologos]

I can think of two meaningful tips -and they are really simple, they are about selecting only those parts of the UV map you need to manipulate.

-A- Individual vertices in the Texture Coordinate Editor window can be selected by holding down the shift key. (Maybe you knew that already.) So you can stretch or shrink only a part of an item's UV map.

-B- In the regular Milkshape windows if you select items by face you can select and highlight only a part of a group, meaning that only that part's UV map will become visible in the Texture Coordinate Editor window when you select that group's name. Thus you can place the UV map of faces that are adjacent on the model on non adjacent areas of the texture map. You will most certainly have to make use of Milkshape's Clean function afterwards. It can be found under the Tools tab.

It really isn't that hard once you get the hang of it, but you do need to experiment.

Anyway, that's all I can think of for the time being, for more advanced stuff check out GeminiSandy's tutorial on Composite UV Mapping.

[Magas of Cyrene]

Thanks for the tips!

I'll do some experimenting next week when I get back to creating the minimod.

[Declanisadodo]

Firstly a huge thank you for this brilliant guide. However I've got myself a bit stuck with my units as you can see. I merged a two handed axe unit with just the sword and shield of dismounted feudal knights and they appear on the battle map however they are clearly not passable. I was just wondering if it was anything to do with sprite files or normal texture files? If anyone has a clue of what Ive done wrong I will be most appreciative (I use Milkshake 1.8.4)

[paleologos]

The sprites and normal maps are surely NOT the problem. There seems to be a bad vertex weighting.
I cannot have a good idea about what you did wrong just by looking at the screenshots, a common problem.
However, I can do for you what I did for others.
Upload the files you want merged with textures and all and I will merge them for you.

[Nobilis_Miles]

One question. I am beginner in modding and would like to ask it is possible to add to one unit more than one attachmentset texture pack. If yes, will it do any errors?

[paleologos]

One question. I am beginner in modding and would like to ask it is possible to add to one unit more than one attachmentset texture pack. If yes, will it do any errors?

If the game is given correct instructions on which folder(s) to find all the files that make up the unit, there will be no problem.