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Presenting a revolution in SAGE UI editing
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jonwil
Rocket Infantry


Joined: 24 Jul 2005

PostPosted: Sat Sep 18, 2021 1:26 am    Post subject:  Presenting a revolution in SAGE UI editing Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

I am releasing a set of tools that makes editing UI for C&C3 and RA3 much easier than trying to hex edit APT files or hack up xml files via apt2xml and xml2apt.

You can download the tools from
https://mega.nz/file/T0VxHahQ#JxN-3Dk86NZS1PLCWVEQl4ZK3gXrh9w7MWqqoU_XdNk
You can get the source code from
https://github.com/jonwil/swf2apt

You will also need this UI pack for C&C3
https://mega.nz/file/eosinBZC#NlD3gMfpERZUhjTBg4M8Xrk6-tdDqtT8qVBMmtkv6Go

Or this UI pack for RA3
https://mega.nz/file/Po1EDRaS#u4gW9wVeqOH5VUudgeg9bCTZ5pfapZ8XoRE6dT0XErA

Both packs contain source swf files for the UI made from the eaf files released by EA. The C&C3 pack contains a fixed version of the TacticalHUD UI file modified to match the version in the game as of the final patch and the RA3 pack contains a fixed version of the igm_pausemenu UI file modified to match the version in the game as of the final patch (note that some of the geometry in the igm_pausemenu UI file exports slightly differently to what's in the final patch but that will make no difference to how it works in-game)

To use it, you need to:
1.Download the program and unpack it into a location of your choosing
2.Download the right UI pack for the game you want to mod
3.Figure out which UI element you want to edit
4.Take the .swf file from that UI element and edit it with a tool that edits Flash swf files (no I am not going to provide a tutorial here on how to edit swf files)
5.Once you have an edited swf file, you run "eaf2apt <filename> --optimize" where <filename> is the name of the swf file. Add "--ra3" after  "--optimize" if you are building for RA3 (or Uprising)
6.That will generate a set of files you can include in your mod. If you don't know how to use UI stuff in your mod, this tool probably isn't for you...

Some notes:
It is not currently possible to go from APT back to EAF/SWF.
It is not possible to edit the APT files of other games (including Kane's Wrath and Uprising) since we do not have source EAF/SWF files for those (this includes re-using APT from Kane's Wrath or Uprising in C&C3 or RA3)
However, the output from the tool IS compatible with Kane's Wrath and Uprising (e.g. if you created a new swf file or edited an existing one from the above linked UI packs and then wanted to use the results in Kane's Wrath or Uprising).
As of right now the tool does not package multiple textures into a single texture (EALA had a tool called ImagePacker.exe that did it but as of yet I haven't been able to come up with something that can do the same job). Everything will still work in-game though.

Feel free to modify the source code and to distribute your modifications but if you distribute modified binaries you also need to distribute modified source code (at least for eaf2apt) and I would appreciate a heads up that you are doing things with my code Smile

Any questions about this stuff or how to use it (e.g. if the instructions aren't clear), please feel free to post here or hit me up on Discord (I am "Jonathan Wilson" on most of the C&C/SAGE/modding discords)

If you want to know more about how this works internally, read the source code (or ask me questions on Discord Smile

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jonwil
Rocket Infantry


Joined: 24 Jul 2005

PostPosted: Sat Sep 18, 2021 1:41 am    Post subject: Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

Oh and no I don't know what the best tool for editing SWF files in 2021 happens to be. But if anyone else knows, feel free to suggest it here Smile

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Madin
Plasma Trooper


Joined: 05 Apr 2009

PostPosted: Sun Sep 19, 2021 2:31 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

Excellent!
Thanks very much!

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jonwil
Rocket Infantry


Joined: 24 Jul 2005

PostPosted: Wed Sep 22, 2021 11:57 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

I released a new version.
Get it here
https://mega.nz/file/is0DiQDQ#Tf86BR5o5snJUA1XQzJuzlnB7KJBo4X1vs-HOS-laeM

Source code has been updated.

I changed the error message you get if you run it and it detects a texture in a format it doesn't support so that it prints out which character in the swf file is the one with the texture it can't handle.
I also changed it so that it will now produce correct output if the input filename passed to the program contains a path.

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