Porting EB to 1.5

[Ecthelion]

Okay so I realize the EB team has its hands full with completing the project and all.

So here's what I'm proposing we non-graphics modders do in the meantime:

We take all the new graphics elements of EB and port it into RTW 1.5.

This does not mean a wholesale transfer. Far from it in fact. I'm just going to take the new units and new images and paste them into 1.5 over a RTR style "zone of recruitment" scheme. I'll have to edit the export and battle models .txt files a lot, but I think with good time and some team effort (mostly on getting the RTR ZOR thing down) we can have it done in 2 weeks (a very realistic estimate).

The game play will still be just like vanilla, just new units. Basically just the battlefield eyecandy. Essentially EB Lite 1.5!

So who's willing to help me get the ZOR scripts for 1.5?

I'm still at home right now so I haven't got the chance to look through the EB files. But I've done this sort of thing before and I do know how. It's just really time consuming and tedious, thus I would appreciate some help with the coding.

[GiantMonkeyMan]

i think porting to EB is one of the things they are working on.... or at least khelvan asked what was needed to do that over in the .org...

[Urnamma]

Yep, we're working on it! Join the team and lend a hand!

[Ecthelion]

Umm... You sort of misunderstand a bit.

I know that EB will eventually be ported to 1.5 and will eventually be complete.

But that is a very big "eventually".

This is by no means a great venture. It's just a stop gap measure to take advantage of the EB graphical work and putting on the improved 1.5 AI.

Why am I doing this?

Well I'm an impatient person who really only cares about eye candy and how well the AI is able to match me on the field. I mean, let's face it, historical inaccuracy does not affect gameplay. And this is a game after all.

Perhaps I better outline my plan in more detail.

Here are the files I plan on changing. I don't know the exact names because I don't have a copy of RTW on this computer.

units-export
battle models (duh)
buildings-export
the map file with the hidden resources
the library files with the names of all the units in the game registered and tagged to their respective unit cards

Again, all I need is someone who knows the hidden resources and library files well. The others I can take care of myself easily.

Note: I do not plan on using any new map. No map that I know of works for 1.5 without issues and I personally find that the custom maps have too many darn provinces anyway. Curse me if you will, but I don't mind the vanilla map. So this is why we can't use copy and paste the RTR files wholesale.

So in the end we'll achieve basically this:

1. all units with new skins and models, animations
2. certain units will be created or eliminated, this will be a pain with the Ptolemies (duh)
3. you can only train certain units in certain places, I won't have too many of these
4. nothing else, buildings, factions, map, remain untouched

Er... I might consider changing the way hastati, principe and triarii are trained though, but that's it.

[Cheexsta]

Unfortunately, animations are one of the harder things to port over to 1.5/6, as you also have to add a new swimming animation for each custom model. That's what the error is when you try to install a 1.2 mod over 1.5/6; it says that it can't find a filename with a few strange characters.

So, unless you can find someone able to make new animations, I don't think this project will go too far.

[Ahiga]

Well, can't you just not give any swimming animations, and thusly, not allow any unit to swim at first?

[QwertyMIDX]

Why don't you just join EB and give us a hand porting? With your help it will be a shorter eventually.

[Cheexsta]

Well, can't you just not give any swimming animations, and thusly, not allow any unit to swim at first?

No. If you give no swimming animation for a particular model, then the game CTD's with the following message:



All models seem to need a swimming animation, even if you don't set the swimming ability for the game. I know the above pic is from 1.6, but the same is true for 1.5 (I think there's a floating anim, not too sure...).

Now, thinking about this a bit more, it may be possible to edit these animations without editing the models themselves. Each skeleton refers to a few animations; maybe, using Vercingetorix's XIDX program, you could get these new skeletons to refer to existing BI animations? However, I'm not a modeller so I really don't know what I'm talking about, but it seems to work in my mind...

Someone else who is more model-savvy can correct me here, though.

[SigniferOne]

It's extremely easy to port those skeletons over from 1.2 to 1.5, the only thing is it's time consuming. It is true that you cannot use 1.2 skeletons and just move them over to 1.5, so what you have to do is to recreate those skeletons from 1.5 copies, that's all. The actual animations CAN be ported over from 1.2 to 1.5, so the issue only comes down to taking vanilla 1.5 skeletons and referencing them to the custom animations from scratch again -- easy, if you know how this sort of stuff works in RTW, just a little tedious. But by no means a major compatibility problem.

[Cheexsta]

Well, I was half right Cheers for the clarification, Signifier.

[Ecthelion]

Okay, I think I see what you're saying Sig One

I don't profess to know much about animations but...

Basically, since a skeleton is essentially a string of animations when it runs in game, the 1.3/1.5 unique swimming animations are needed in the string.

Now my question is whether this porting of animations would need 3dsmax, or is it a simple notepad job?

[Cheexsta]

I think you either need XIDX or would have to modify descr_skeleton.txt. Might play around with it a bit, see what works...