Sebidee's Complete Guide to Unit Creation

[DanishCookie]

Here, sure. A hastily made and uploaded photo, since the actual image is far too big to directly insert. 'Tis a link.
http://i1220.photobucket.com/albums/...creeenshot.png

[Sebidee]

Here, sure. A hastily made and uploaded photo, since the actual image is far too big to directly insert. 'Tis a link.
http://i1220.photobucket.com/albums/...creeenshot.png

Hmmm, I'm not sure why this is happening. Ignore it for now and proceed with the mod. It might just work.

[Mackles]

Here, sure. A hastily made and uploaded photo, since the actual image is far too big to directly insert. 'Tis a link.
http://i1220.photobucket.com/albums/...creeenshot.png

Create a duplicate of the folder structure from your PFM directory and place the file in the matching folder, then add it.

[DanishCookie]

Create a duplicate of the folder structure from your PFM directory and place the file in the matching folder, then add it.

Nope, that just does the same thing, I'm afraid. I'll try proceeding along anyways, like Sebidee said.
Oh, and thanks Sebidee, for the quick responses. I feel I'm being obnoxious or something with this, but I really appreciate your dedication.

[Thunderbolt II]

I have the same problem. My variant mesh appears only under variantmeshes, or in its own spot near the top of the tree, but never under variantmeshdefinitions. I installed the mod anyway and went to custom battles. The unit was there, and I selected it. When the battle loaded, the army was invisible except for the officers.

[Sebidee]

I have the same problem. My variant mesh appears only under variantmeshes, or in its own spot near the top of the tree, but never under variantmeshdefinitions. I installed the mod anyway and went to custom battles. The unit was there, and I selected it. When the battle loaded, the army was invisible except for the officers.

Ok well there is a way around it. Copy and paste all of the text from your variantmesh into the template variantmesh (replacing the text that's there) and then rename it to match your unit. To add more meshes right click add > add from pack > models_rome_2 and then select a random mesh. It should appear in the right place then just replace the text inside it and rename it. It is a bit awkward I know but I don't know how else you could fix it. The problem is because you have a newer version of PFM than I do, I don't have this problem at all.

[DanishCookie]

Alright, I did so, and was able to get through the entire process, which is a good thing. But when I went into the game, I saw that the unit card was a simple "man on a boat" icon instead. I went back, saw nothing wrong so tried again, but when I did that the mask and icon went under the entire pack instead of under UI and icons/mask. Same problem as with the variantmeshdefinitions. Methinks there is something wrong with my version of PFM's "add from file" function.

[DanishCookie]

Actually, it went under variantmeshes. What is going on?

[Sebidee]

Did you add a custom unit card and assign it to the unit properly? The man on a boat is what you get when there is no unit card for the unit.

I have no idea why the new PFMs are doing this. Someone seriously screwed up.

[thebigron101]

Ok, first of all great tutorial, absolutely amazing not a single thing is hard to do when explained this way, I just messed up some how. Everything is working apart from the fact that in game my units aren't holding any weapons they're just holding nothing. They are a spear unit and in my custom mesh I included a spear, just wondering what else there could be as to why I'm missing a weapon in-game. Thanks for this amazing tutorial btw.

[Thunderbolt II]

Ok well there is a way around it. Copy and paste all of the text from your variantmesh into the template variantmesh (replacing the text that's there) and then rename it to match your unit. To add more meshes right click add > add from pack > models_rome_2 and then select a random mesh. It should appear in the right place then just replace the text inside it and rename it. It is a bit awkward I know but I don't know how else you could fix it. The problem is because you have a newer version of PFM than I do, I don't have this problem at all.

How do I copy and paste the text from my variantmesh into the template variantmesh? I can open my variantmesh in notepad, but where do I find the text version of the template variantmesh?

[thebigron101]

Ok, first of all great tutorial, absolutely amazing not a single thing is hard to do when explained this way, I just messed up some how. Everything is working apart from the fact that in game my units aren't holding any weapons they're just holding nothing. They are a spear unit and in my custom mesh I included a spear, just wondering what else there could be as to why I'm missing a weapon in-game. Thanks for this amazing tutorial btw.

Nevermind man, fixed this by myself (Feeling proud now ) managed to make myself a unit for Knossos which I'll upload to the workshop when I improve and balance a few things.

[Sebidee]

Nevermind man, fixed this by myself (Feeling proud now ) managed to make myself a unit for Knossos which I'll upload to the workshop when I improve and balance a few things.

That's great man. Sorry if I didn't answer you, your post must have slipped through the cracks. Send me a link when you have it uploaded I want to see!

[thebigron101]

That's great man. Sorry if I didn't answer you, your post must have slipped through the cracks. Send me a link when you have it uploaded I want to see!

Don't worry about it, my first post was literally 10 minutes prior. And yeah sure, I will I just need to make an icon and such.

[Sebidee]

How do I copy and paste the text from my variantmesh into the template variantmesh? I can open my variantmesh in notepad, but where do I find the text version of the template variantmesh?

No, open the variant mesh directly in PFM, just right click on the mesh and click open in test. It's in the last section of the tutorial.

[thebigron101]

I finished my mod, I hope you don't mind me using the icon for your template mod as a sign of respect. Here's the link
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfile.../?id=275544223

[Cortez250]

Okay, I was talking to you Sebidee on steam earlier with that problem, not being able to add the unit in the drop down thing. Well I found a way around that problem, and have completed all the steps you had on here pretty much. But when I load the game, with the mod selected, my unit does not show up in the game.

Any ideas? If I need too I can send you a copy of my file and you can read over it and see if I messed up at some point. Which would be appreciated.

[Sebidee]

Big Iron, that's great! I've added it to the description of the template

Cortez, yeah you can pm me a link to download the mod.

[DanishCookie]

You'll be glad to know that I have finally caught the culprit of the nefarious, noxious, scourge-of-pfm-adding-under-wrong-directory bug/error!
After much dedication and hard work (not really,) I realized that the reason the variantmeshdefinition, and later, the icons, were being added under the wrong directory was because I was using the wrong file to add from. Instead of using the file where the icons were exported and the vmd placed in, I was using the desktop or other. Thus, PFM was using the wrong path to add the files. It didn't know where to put the vmd and the icons. I regret that I don't know the actual terminology, and I just woke up from a long nap, so my brain is still addled. But...
TL;DR: You have to use the right directory, meaning wherever the files are extracted to, you need to place the icons there and add the files form that same place. I still don't know about the variantmeshdefinition part, but that is fixed by copying and pasting the text. Easy enough.
Thank you for the help, Sebidee.

[Sebidee]

You'll be glad to know that I have finally caught the culprit of the nefarious, noxious, scourge-of-pfm-adding-under-wrong-directory bug/error!
After much dedication and hard work (not really,) I realized that the reason the variantmeshdefinition, and later, the icons, were being added under the wrong directory was because I was using the wrong file to add from. Instead of using the file where the icons were exported and the vmd placed in, I was using the desktop or other. Thus, PFM was using the wrong path to add the files. It didn't know where to put the vmd and the icons. I regret that I don't know the actual terminology, and I just woke up from a long nap, so my brain is still addled. But...
TL;DR: You have to use the right directory, meaning wherever the files are extracted to, you need to place the icons there and add the files form that same place. I still don't know about the variantmeshdefinition part, but that is fixed by copying and pasting the text. Easy enough.
Thank you for the help, Sebidee.

That's very strange, I always add mine from a folder on the desktop. Also if you right click on the template mesh then it should have the right pathway. Anyway, thanks for solving that!