Posted: Tue Feb 26, 2008 11:50 pm Post subject:
DaFool's Rules [ZH]
Subject description: the epic tale of how I leanrt how to mod Zero Hour
Welcome to DaFool's Rules!
This is not your typical mod. First off, I woould like to explain that I have extremly little knowlege of modding generals or zero hour, but I'm not going to let that stop me. Basically this mod is just going to be my trial run, where I try to learn all the basics (and hopefully some of the advances).
So why am I announcing this? Basically I'm going to share with you all my great acheivements and epic failures. You can help me out, and in return I'll document every step I'll do by writing up a tutorial. If you know nothing about modding generals, that no problem; the best way to learn is to teach. I'll try to give regular updates on how I'm doing.
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I just hope more people here at PPM will help you except me with your experimental mod (I might get tired of helping you and die <--- Joke)
I will try as much as I can, just dont do to advanced stuff like W3D file editing stuff or particle systems (I know almost nothing about them except for mabe changing their image picture and size)
Also dont call it "Rules" becaus there is no Rules.ini in Generals/ZH (Only do that for RA1/TS/RA2) QUICK_EDIT
lol, btw, is that a remote control humvee or something? Also you may be missing a texture for the windows (the pink) _________________ Please, read the signature rules of the forum. QUICK_EDIT
djohe, thanks for the support, I'm sure the other guy who mod generals here will help (actually theres a whole 2 more ) I will try to stick to the basics for now, but eventually I want to work with new animations (I got renx + gmax and I figured out how to fix the renagade models, the ren models are centered about the origin while the gen stand on the origin). Particle systems, which I understand to be dust, doesn't really interest me.
Joshy, thata actually the renegade humvee that I got into renegade. Thats the actual size of it too. When I first built it I was zoomed out all the way and I didn't see any anim, so I assumed it wasn't there. When I finally zoomed in, I saw the tiny humvee! Right now it's a just c/p humvee, not remote control. The ranger is there to give a size comparison.
Dutchygamer, yea, more support!
Well, I know how to make:
Buttons
Command Sets
Cloned Units, infantry, aircraft, and buildings
New Sides
half getting renegade models to work.
What I need to learn (just what I can think of off of the top of my head:
icons/cameos
super weapons
general's abilities
adding more than 14 buttons to a command set
adding voices
making my own anims
ai
making boats
oh yeah, what should I call this if not DaFool's Rules (it rhymes)? DaFool's CommandButton.ini _________________ Please, read the signature rules of the forum. QUICK_EDIT
Joined: 18 Jun 2005 Location: Dordrecht, the Netherlands
Posted: Wed Feb 27, 2008 2:56 pm Post subject:
Quote:
adding more than 14 buttons to a command set
You can do this. Just look at the GLA worker's command set; it can change between normal structures and fake structures. Take a look at the codes used there QUICK_EDIT
Lol, I suppose I could give you some of my old models. But they are in 3ds format. You would need to convert em to w3d. I think I gave the ranger an m16, and I made a couple of tanks here and there and new Command centers for GLA (Demo, Stealth, and Chemical) _________________ Please, read the signature rules of the forum. QUICK_EDIT
thanks for the info, the gla slave is the perfect example of that!
Sure thanks joshy, i'll take whatever you throw at me, I don't even care if it a pink cube of death. This is after all, practice.
For adding icons, is all I have to go is make one image and put it in the art directory (or whatever exact heirarchy it is) and it will work? I remeber when I first looked at the generals cameos they were all on some big sheet.
anyways, here's some progress, I figured out renX basically;
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quick question:
where in map maker is the supply pile thing? I couldn't find it anywhere!
As for the direction of the mod: I think if I go about adding like Nod or something as a new side that will give a decent run of every aspect of the game from balancing and resource harvesting and whatnot. Hell, maybe I could try to make missions. Although I got renX which can export .w3d, so maybe I'll try to convert some of my old anim8or stuff... _________________ Please, read the signature rules of the forum. QUICK_EDIT
Joined: 18 Jun 2005 Location: Dordrecht, the Netherlands
Posted: Fri Feb 29, 2008 10:47 am Post subject:
You can find supplies under Civilian->STRUCTURE, and look for SupplyDock for the big supply structure, SupplyPileSmall for the small supply pile, and SupplyWarehouse for the big supply docking structure (where your supply units must go trough the building to get money ) QUICK_EDIT
well, just telling you guys of my prgress. For the past couple of days I've been extracting all the renegade .w3d and putting them in their own little folders so I pretty much have all the usefull ones archived (by usefull I mean not the chicken). I then proceeded to put the raw renagade guys into generals, and lo and behold the result was absolute shit. I actually think generals stuff has more polys than renagade. Nevertheless, I push on.
My next big step is going to be adding cameos ingame. Trouble is; how?
I noticed in englishzh there are .tga sheets of icons, but I don't understand exactly how the squares are named, is there an .ini that controls this? Or if this doesn't work should I just add single .tga to english/art/textures?
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Joined: 18 Jun 2005 Location: Dordrecht, the Netherlands
Posted: Mon Mar 03, 2008 1:11 pm Post subject:
It is controlled by an ini file indeed. I can't find out which file atm, but I'd say it's in the same folder as the cameo's... IIRC, there is some tool to create them easy... QUICK_EDIT
not that this mod is dead, but actually you guys probably wouldn't care less... well anyways I have been tryiong to work with the Renegade Infantry a bit, but things really haven't been working out, namely because the generals animations are all saved in a .big file, each attak, walk die, etc each has it's own little file and you can view it perfectly. Renegade on the other hand, was a bit lazier and decided that they would only do two sets of animations, one for men and one for women. So, that leaves me with the skins of all the dudes (and dudets). I have found the bone file for the skins, and I can get them to open in RenX. Problems 1) renX open the files incorrectly and skews them. 2)I have no idea how to make, or even view animations with gmax. All the animatons could be there with the bone file, but I have no idea on how to view it. If you scratch my back I'll scrath yours (virtually that is). Tell me how to get to the animations for renegade infantry models (so I can get them into Generals), and I'll convert a couple to .shps for the whole community + release the modified models also. Win Win
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Joined: 18 Jun 2005 Location: Dordrecht, the Netherlands
Posted: Thu Mar 13, 2008 11:53 am Post subject:
I do know some things about modding Generals, even some small things about w3d units, but Infantry is something I never touched... Sorry :S
Also, I also care about this mod, like joshy QUICK_EDIT
Joined: 18 Jun 2005 Location: Dordrecht, the Netherlands
Posted: Thu Mar 13, 2008 4:33 pm Post subject:
FYI, I'm modding Generals too atm. I'm combining ShockWave 0.95 with CnC Holland It does take a while, and I hope it works when I will test it... QUICK_EDIT
Whilst at school I have come up with several ideas on how I should Tackle this problem:
1) Resize the renegade infantry and attach it to generals bones thus allowing it to have all the generals animations (I would have to do this for each animation I think)
2) Just Use Renegade Textures on Generals units.
3) Figure out how to export the file from renX to something Anim8or can open, animate it there, and then eport that as something renX can open.
4) Give Up
5) Covince you the player that infantry aren't really necessary.
6) Learn to do it from scratch
7) Access the Renegade animations somehow from the renegade skeleton (which is S_A_HUMAN.w3d).
8)Move on to Command and Conquer 3. _________________ Please, read the signature rules of the forum. QUICK_EDIT
That would be good. Learning to model infantry would be very benifical.
I have worked with infantry on Generals before... They are tough.. I would say that you should do buildings and vehicles atm and once you improve on your skills you move up to infantry. _________________ Please, read the signature rules of the forum. QUICK_EDIT
I tried giving a renegade texture to a general's unit, and well it doesn't work. I tried resizing the Nod Machinie Gunner to a normal General's size, and he does appear ingame, only problem is that 1) he doesn't remap and 2) he floats around like he's nailed to a cross. Here's a pic of the renegade stalth trooper in the ranger.
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1) he doesn't remap and 2) he floats around like he's nailed to a cross. Here's a pic of the renegade stalth trooper in the ranger.
That's what I'm talking about. I had problems like that as well. The bones got detached from the mesh while exporting.... I believe... _________________ Please, read the signature rules of the forum. QUICK_EDIT
Man, that's...lol. As joshy said, "All I remember is exporting problems with Infantry and Bones... Infantry I would suggest you do last."
o.o? If Havoc-Sakura was in the game...wouldn't they pwn everyth- infantry? Though this mod looks like it'll have a bright future...
@dutchy: lol, I'm trying my best to get the F18Hornet_Missiles from ShockWave to be buildable but it doesn't wanna be built The Launcher gives me a pop-up Technical Difficulties Yes, I'm obssessed with Hornets. _________________ Please, read the signature rules of the forum. QUICK_EDIT
The bright future of this mod... lol.
All I'm trying to do is teach myself how to mod Generals. If I end up adding GDI and NOD to generals along the way, well then I guess sh*t happens. Don't expect much more then a couple of tutorials, and maybe I'll see if I can turn some stuff into .shp.
Maybe I should give myself some larger goals, but why be ambitious? I guess TD would be an ok mod, and maybe they'll actually get subfactions.
Anyways, I can Havoc or Sakura any weapon I want, how would they do If I gave them a pistol?
I haven't tried this yet, but suppose If I wanted to give nod the airfeild type weapons factory, could I have a supply plane come and drop it (like the supply drop zone, only instead of money it's a tank)? I think I have to write some tutorials on my advancements _________________ Please, read the signature rules of the forum. QUICK_EDIT
It could be possible...just need to change those crates into production units _________________ Please, read the signature rules of the forum. QUICK_EDIT
Joined: 18 Jun 2005 Location: Dordrecht, the Netherlands
Posted: Sat Mar 15, 2008 10:48 am Post subject:
Just keep trying DaFool, it will work after some tries (and about my work: it failed I think it may take a while, especially now I have Crysis ) QUICK_EDIT
Joined: 18 Jun 2005 Location: Dordrecht, the Netherlands
Posted: Fri Mar 21, 2008 8:57 am Post subject:
*bump*
Also, maybe thread hijack :
I have overcome some difficulties with my mod... Now I just need to find out what is the error both WB and Generals can't find, but is keeping the game from starting (I already have an idea though) QUICK_EDIT
I finally found where the renegade infantry animations are! Now I can just export directly into Generals, this mod should be quickening it's pace. Just to help out others, I'm going to put a quick tut on where to find them in the .mix. But first, heres a Nod machine gunner striking a pose!
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well, I was I happy when I finally got the guy to move, but reality sunk in soon afterwards when the 600+ animations just all seem to be different versions of each other (one whole set for each position that they hold a gun :/ ). Not to mention that I can't actually get the guy to have a gun, just pretend to hold one. But nevertheless, I'll see about getting my unarmed army into generals pretty soon. _________________ Please, read the signature rules of the forum. QUICK_EDIT
But are you going to use the acutual Renegade soldier? If so, what is the poly count for him? _________________ Please, read the signature rules of the forum. QUICK_EDIT
there are three versions for each infantry. I guess I'll try to get the best looking on with the best perfermance. (IE, I'll see if the higher end ones lagg, and then I'll revert to the low poly ones).
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None with infantry, it's almost a dead end i think.
Vehicles I have started back up again, resizing them and whatnot. Buildings will be the same case as vehicles. As for code, everything works. I haven't touched AI at all. _________________ Please, read the signature rules of the forum. QUICK_EDIT
My resizing efforts are almost done and now almost all the renegade vehicles, aircraft, and buildings are complete. Which means I am going to begin phase 2:
The actual mod! This will be you standard "lets bring Tiberian Dawn to the next engine" project, except rather than being a total total conversion, I will still let you have the Zero Hour factions available to you in skirmish, and I don't think I'll be adding tiberium. I'll see to recreating the campaigns, and I'll see if I can add the two new sides to General's Challenge. To sum up what I *plan* to do:
Add GDI and Nod from TD to the General's experience (more acuratly Renegade hehe)
Add the two campaigns
Add the two sides to General's Challenge
Thus this little project will conclude my learning of Zero Hour, and from here who knows. If anyone wants to hlp me out that would be great (and by anyone I mean mappers, and by mappers I mean people who want to make the maps of the TD missions). _________________ Please, read the signature rules of the forum. QUICK_EDIT
How are you going to get the buildings not in Renegade? Are you just going to cut them out? and are you redoing the models to get rid of the interiors of the buildings? _________________ Comcast: Yo dawg we herd yo were downloading, so we put fail in yo modem so yo cant download while yo failin! QUICK_EDIT
I'm just doing this to teach myself how mod Generals, and since I'm already half way there, why not complete what I'm doing?
1) I can always make my own buildings (however they may look lik legos..)
2) no, see above
3) from the models I've seen (and I've already seen all the ones I'm gonna use) the models for the buildings come in several parts. I use the shell, which is basically everything on the outside you can see. The inside I beleive is a seperate file.
I think almost every building is in renegade right? The repair depot and the advanced comm center are the only two that come to mind for missing. The depot is just a flat thing and the advanced comm is just like an extra radar tower. _________________ Please, read the signature rules of the forum. QUICK_EDIT
Hmm, the buildings in Renegade are:
-a bunch of Civie buildings
-Con Yard
-Barracks/Nod Hand
-War Factory/Air Strip
-Power Plant
-Silo
-Refinery
-Heli Pad
-Comm. Center
-Temple of Nod
-Adv. Gaurd tower/Gaurd tower(not good ones though)
-Obelisk of Light/Turret
Not included:
-Adv. Power Plant
-Adv. Comm Center
-Repair Bay
Ill look on TD for any i missed.
EDIT: Yup, thats the right list.
_________________ Comcast: Yo dawg we herd yo were downloading, so we put fail in yo modem so yo cant download while yo failin! QUICK_EDIT
Ok, should be easy to make those, a c/p edit for the comm tower and power plant should be fine, and the repair bay doesn't look like too much effort...(you forgot the SAM turret)
Silos are out. Everything else can stay. I don't think there is anything that can't be done, have of the stuff is already in use Generals anyway (ion cannons, nukes, a10 strikes...).
I wonder though if I should add any "Generals", not much provided with TD, but renegade gives some room to expand on. Choose either the Minigunners or the Shotgunners. Maybe there could be like the elite side that can use the chaingun officers, ir an explosives side that can use the grenaider launcher as their basica infantry. And Nod has their equivilants too, minis, shotguns, flamethrowers, and maybe for variety there can be a mutant side for nod. The Regenises or something. _________________ Please, read the signature rules of the forum. QUICK_EDIT
Just have the rifle infantry with a machine gun and a shotgun as a secondary weapon. You could have a GDI/Nod officer with a minigun that can call in reinforcements(for some cash though). You should keep the flamethrowers and grenaders as other units though to keep a variety. I have a few ideas for the subfactions.
Nod:
-Black Hand: Elite infantry but lack long range weaponry.
-Kane's Eyes: Relies heavily on stealth and lighter units (Comanche, Elite stealth tanks, only one with stealth infantry, has cloak superweapon)
-Corrupted: Uses tiberium based units and vehicles(flame tank and infantry replaced with chemical tank and infantry, could also have a spawn visceroids super weapon and buildable tiberium creatures)
GDI:
-Scout Division: Uses lighter vehicles and aircraft to attack and scatter before the enemy knows what hit them(Humvees and APCs have gunports, carryall, hovercraft, only faction with buildable, A10s)
-Attack Division: Heavy weapons that would make the Chinese tank general flinch. (AT rocket trooper, no aircraft, medium tank now Stromhammer Tank(AA missles and AT shell special, slower), heavy tank, mammoth tank now Titanic tank(heavier armor, stronger weapons, slower), no officers, no humvee, no APC) _________________ Comcast: Yo dawg we herd yo were downloading, so we put fail in yo modem so yo cant download while yo failin! QUICK_EDIT
Heres a quick c/p job I did in less than ten minutes for the adv. power plant. It will need more work, but it's a good placeholder.
As for the subfactions, I don't even know if there will be enough AI for them, as I hear somewhere you are limited to 15 (12 ZH +GDI and Nod =14). So unless I redo all the sides (15 sides total, 5 main sides, 2 subs per side(10) =15) I won't have enough room, and I don't really want to take away any material. Subfactions for now will be a *maybe*.
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Shoutout to dutchy, I have a sufficent amount of units and stuff to begin making missions. Any advice on AI? And when I finish adding both sides, and advice for me then? You are ofcourse, the AI coder _________________ Please, read the signature rules of the forum. QUICK_EDIT
Joined: 18 Jun 2005 Location: Dordrecht, the Netherlands
Posted: Fri Apr 25, 2008 1:45 pm Post subject:
Ehmm, so you want AI for Generals... I dunno if I know that j/k
I have some knowledge about the Generals AI, and if you want I will give you as much help as I can give.
For mission AI, I suggest looking at the original mission scripting (yes, everything AI in Generals is scripted), and the skirmish script file used in skirmish maps...
I suggest we discuss this through PM QUICK_EDIT
I dont mod generals much, but isnt the skirmish AI scripted to follow waypoint paths with certain names? _________________ Comcast: Yo dawg we herd yo were downloading, so we put fail in yo modem so yo cant download while yo failin! QUICK_EDIT
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DaFool's Rules [ZH]
with your experimental mod (I might get tired of helping you and die <--- Joke)
I'm not sure... I never converted anything from Renegade to Generals...
)
