Posted: Thu Feb 28, 2013 12:05 pm Post subject:
Basic modding help
Subject description: Modding novice seeks experts for direction, advice etc.
Hello all. I'm up-front apologising for the total and utter cluelessness of the following request. I've re-kindled a love-affair with Red Alert 2 but in terms of modding I'm just finding my way. (I don't have YR either, 'cause I'm that old school.) I was delighted to find the RA2 community lives!
I'd like to clarify straight-away I'm not looking to put out any mods or anything, just tweak bits here and there to refresh an old favourite game. Anyway, I can edit .ini files for infantry and vehicles, I've gotten a decent handle on that. Adding the .shp's and voxels, playing around with XCC Mixer has also worked okay so far. I know about changing the .csf etc. too.
The trouble starts when it comes to adding new structures/buildings. I just don't have a clue where to start on the rules for these. I like the look of a lot of the community stuff (e.g. This airfield - http://yrarg.cncguild.net/index.php?option=com_jdownloads&Itemid=102&task=view.download&catid=3&cid=387). I've looked around extenisvely in the past few days but none of the existing RA2 tutorials seems to have a dedicated 'Building' section. ModEnc, DeeZire's guide, here even, I've looked up and down forums and tutorials.
My main worry are things like Foundations for that Airfield. It doesn't seem to have a 'box' e. g. 4x3 shape. How would I go about figuring out what size these have to be? And for all DL-able buildings/structures for that matter, is it just simple guesswork? Can the .shp programs give you the in-game sizes? Docking positions as well for that Airfield scare me a little.
As said, I'm not on Yuri's Revenge, so as far as I can tell Ares (which I think I read can do 'custom' foundations rules?) isn't an option? I go by using TibEd to find the identifier numbers of stuff, then edit the .ini's - if it helps.
Please, any advice or even a nudge in the direction towards the right tutorials would be very, much much appreciated. I know I'm merely scraping the surface of what you can do with RA2 in terms of modding, but take pity on me, dear experts. (Also, that turned out longer than I thought it would, so sorry for that.) QUICK_EDIT
Usually when you add something new, you take something that exists and is similar, copy that and then adjust the copy so it fits your new object.
Foundation:
open the SHP in SHP Builder and select the 5th toolbar button to show the RA2 tile grid. Then you can count the tiles the building occupies in x \ and y / direction. Though the game has only a limited number of foundations (e.g. RA2 has 6x4 but not 4x6)
Don't use TibEd. It adds mistakes to the inis and messes up the order in them, hides modding possibilites and isn't as fast as modding the ini files with a text editor. _________________ SHP Artist of Twisted Insurrection: Nod buildings
Both of you, thanks! And dead quick replies as well, you guys is the Boss.
@ Lin Kuei Omniae - Thanks for that link, I knew I had seen limits somewhere.
I'm not using TibEd to edit anything! I've just found it easier to look up, say [GAAIRC] and search it in the .ini than 'Air Command' I find it difficult to get the exact titles right sometimes and end up with 'Word/Phrase Not Found' when it's blatently obvious there will be an entry of some kind for an Allied Air Command because I have seen it in the game. QUICK_EDIT
Okay, so I've tried to put the Airfield into the game, but I just can't seem to crack it.
I just copied the basis of the Allied Air Command to work from. The price is next to nothing so I could test build quickly, likewise only needing the Construction Yard. I can't even get it to come up on the buildings Tab though. I can't help thinking I'm doing/missing something stupid. Can anyone shed some light please?
I've also tried taking out the Helipad=Yes line, in an attempt just to get the thing in the game before I go fiddling about with Landing Offsets.
Rules .ini
[Allied RAF HQ Air Command]
UIName=Name:GARAFHQ
Name=Allied RAF HQ Air Command
Image=GARAFHQ
BuildCat=Tech
Prerequisite=GACNST
Strength=600
Armor=steel
Adjacent=2
TechLevel=3
Sight=8
UnitReload=yes
;UnitRepair=yes;gs this is part of reloading + being an aircraft (Repair code is oogly, only Reload got rewritten for four ports.)
Helipad=no
Owner=British,French,Germans,Americans,Alliance,Russians,Confederation,Africans,Arabs
RequiredHouses=British
AIBasePlanningSide=0 ;gs 0 for Good, 1 for Evil
Cost=10
Points=80
Power=-50
Factory=AircraftType
Capturable=true
Crewed=yes
Explosion=TWLT070,S_BANG48,S_BRNL58,S_CLSN58,S_TUMU60
DebrisAnims=DBRIS1LG,DBRIS1SM,DBRIS2LG,DBRIS4LG,DBRIS4SM,DBRIS5LG,DBRIS5SM,DBRIS6LG,DBRIS6SM,DBRIS7LG
MaxDebris=8
MinDebris=4
ThreatPosed=0 ; This value MUST be 0 for all building addons
;DamageParticleSystems=SparkSys,SmallGreySSys,BigGreySmokeSys
DamageSmokeOffset=75, 270, 140
AIBuildThis=yes
NumberOfDocks=0
HasStupidGuardMode=false
Radar=yes
Spyable=yes
Art.ini
[GARAFHQ]
Remapable=yes
Cameo=HELIICON
Image=GARAFHQA
Foundation=3x5
Height=7
Flat=yes ; while this is a valid BuilType flag, it does nothing.
Buildup=GARAFHQMK
BibShape=GARAFHQBB
ZShapePointMove=60,30 ; SJM is fixing zshape/zshapelocky problems, changed from 0,0
DemandLoadBuildup=true
FreeBuildup=true
NewTheater=yes
ActiveAnim=GARAFHQ_A
ActiveAnimDamaged=GARAFHQAD
ActiveAnimZAdjust=0
ActiveAnimYSort=362
ActiveAnimTwo=GARAFHQ_B
ActiveAnimTwoZAdjust=0
ActiveAnimTwoYSort=362
ActiveAnimThree=GARAFHQ_C
ActiveAnimThreeZAdjust=-80
ActiveAnimThreeYSort=543
CanHideThings=True
CanBeHidden=False
OccupyHeight=2
AddOccupy1=-1,-1
AddOccupy2=-1,0
AddOccupy3=-2,-1
AddOccupy4=-3,-2
RemoveOccupy1=1,0
RemoveOccupy2=2,0
RemoveOccupy3=1,1
RemoveOccupy4=2,2
DamageFireOffset0=-36,23
DamageFireOffset1=-21,6
; Active animation for RAF HQ.
[GARAFHQ_A]
;Image=GARAFHQ_A
Normalized=yes
LoopStart=0
LoopEnd=14
LoopCount=-1
Rate=220
Layer=ground
NewTheater=yes
;DetailLevel=1
Shadow=yes
; Active animation for RAF HQ.
[GARAFHQ_B]
;Image=GARAFHQ_B
Normalized=yes
LoopStart=0
LoopEnd=24
LoopCount=-1
Rate=220
Layer=ground
NewTheater=yes
;DetailLevel=1
Shadow=yes
; Active animation for RAF HQ.
[GARAFHQ_C]
;Image=GARAFHQ_C
Normalized=yes
LoopStart=0
LoopEnd=32
LoopCount=-1
Rate=220
Layer=ground
NewTheater=yes
;DetailLevel=1
Shadow=yes Last edited by stillra2 on Thu Feb 28, 2013 8:09 pm; edited 3 times in total QUICK_EDIT
Joined: 22 Nov 2010 Location: Iszkaszentgyorgy, Hungary
Posted: Thu Feb 28, 2013 7:57 pm Post subject:
Don't use spaces in building IDs. Or in any IDs.
Call it [GARAFHQ] in rulesmd. _________________ "If you didn't get angry and mad and frustrated, that means you don't care about the end result, and are doing something wrong." - Greg Kroah-Hartman
=======================
Past C&C projects: Attacque Supérior (2010-2019); Valiant Shades (2019-2021)
=======================
WeiDU mods: Random Graion Tweaks | Graion's Soundsets
Maintainance: Extra Expanded Enhanced Encounters! | BGEESpawn
Contributions: EE Fixpack | Enhanced Edition Trilogy | DSotSC (Trilogy) | UB_IWD | SotSC & a lot more... QUICK_EDIT
@ GD - The name change worked, but it's missing the A, B and C anims (Runway lights, the dish, part of the tower). Is there something I'm missing/is wrong in those art codes please?
@ Allied General - Yeah, it was in there as well. Should have put that up too. Cheers.
(Seriously, you guys answer so quickly, it's awesome. Thank you!)
EDIT: DO I need "Start=" and "End=" lines maybe? QUICK_EDIT
Joined: 22 Nov 2010 Location: Iszkaszentgyorgy, Hungary
Posted: Thu Feb 28, 2013 8:21 pm Post subject:
Add the animations to the [Animations] list.
GARAFHQMK doesn't need an entry, it's not an animation, it's an almost direct filereference (almost direct, because NewTheater affects it). _________________ "If you didn't get angry and mad and frustrated, that means you don't care about the end result, and are doing something wrong." - Greg Kroah-Hartman
=======================
Past C&C projects: Attacque Supérior (2010-2019); Valiant Shades (2019-2021)
=======================
WeiDU mods: Random Graion Tweaks | Graion's Soundsets
Maintainance: Extra Expanded Enhanced Encounters! | BGEESpawn
Contributions: EE Fixpack | Enhanced Edition Trilogy | DSotSC (Trilogy) | UB_IWD | SotSC & a lot more... QUICK_EDIT
Joined: 22 Nov 2010 Location: Iszkaszentgyorgy, Hungary
Posted: Thu Feb 28, 2013 8:31 pm Post subject:
Well then GARAFHQ_A isn't equal to GARAFHQA, the first one is referenced, and I guess the files are named the latter.
Call everything with the underscored variants, the mixes can handle filenames longer than 8.3 excluding terrain. Kill the nonunderscoreds, since they just clutters stuff up. _________________ "If you didn't get angry and mad and frustrated, that means you don't care about the end result, and are doing something wrong." - Greg Kroah-Hartman
=======================
Past C&C projects: Attacque Supérior (2010-2019); Valiant Shades (2019-2021)
=======================
WeiDU mods: Random Graion Tweaks | Graion's Soundsets
Maintainance: Extra Expanded Enhanced Encounters! | BGEESpawn
Contributions: EE Fixpack | Enhanced Edition Trilogy | DSotSC (Trilogy) | UB_IWD | SotSC & a lot more... QUICK_EDIT
Joined: 22 Nov 2010 Location: Iszkaszentgyorgy, Hungary
Posted: Thu Feb 28, 2013 9:02 pm Post subject:
No.
Image tag means that that SHP shall be read. If Image is not specified then the ID will be used as filename. In your example only the _AD anim needs it, since it's frames are in the pure _A file.
You can have the building entry sharing the name with the art entry, in fact, that's better if you have them sharing the ID, don't overcomplicate yourself.
; Active animation for RAF HQ.
[GARAFHQ_A]
Normalized=yes
LoopStart=0
LoopEnd=14
LoopCount=-1
Rate=220
Layer=ground
NewTheater=yes
;DetailLevel=1
Shadow=yes
; Active animation for RAF HQ.
[GARAFHQ_B]
Normalized=yes
LoopStart=0
LoopEnd=24
LoopCount=-1
Rate=220
Layer=ground
NewTheater=yes
;DetailLevel=1
Shadow=yes
; Active animation for RAF HQ.
[GARAFHQ_C]
Normalized=yes
LoopStart=0
LoopEnd=32
LoopCount=-1
Rate=220
Layer=ground
NewTheater=yes
;DetailLevel=1
Shadow=yes _________________ "If you didn't get angry and mad and frustrated, that means you don't care about the end result, and are doing something wrong." - Greg Kroah-Hartman
=======================
Past C&C projects: Attacque Supérior (2010-2019); Valiant Shades (2019-2021)
=======================
WeiDU mods: Random Graion Tweaks | Graion's Soundsets
Maintainance: Extra Expanded Enhanced Encounters! | BGEESpawn
Contributions: EE Fixpack | Enhanced Edition Trilogy | DSotSC (Trilogy) | UB_IWD | SotSC & a lot more... QUICK_EDIT
Joined: 22 Nov 2010 Location: Iszkaszentgyorgy, Hungary
Posted: Fri Mar 01, 2013 3:30 pm Post subject:
Upload the files. _________________ "If you didn't get angry and mad and frustrated, that means you don't care about the end result, and are doing something wrong." - Greg Kroah-Hartman
=======================
Past C&C projects: Attacque Supérior (2010-2019); Valiant Shades (2019-2021)
=======================
WeiDU mods: Random Graion Tweaks | Graion's Soundsets
Maintainance: Extra Expanded Enhanced Encounters! | BGEESpawn
Contributions: EE Fixpack | Enhanced Edition Trilogy | DSotSC (Trilogy) | UB_IWD | SotSC & a lot more... QUICK_EDIT
; Active animation for RAF HQ.
[GARAFHQ_C]
Normalized=yes
LoopStart=0
LoopEnd=16
LoopCount=-1
Rate=220
Layer=ground
NewTheater=yes
;DetailLevel=1
Shadow=yes
Shadowframes shall not be counted for frames to loop.
_A has no damaged variant anim. _C neither. OTOH _B has. Suddenly I can't remembber if ActiveAnimXXXDamaged flags fallback to nondamages if they are not set. _________________ "If you didn't get angry and mad and frustrated, that means you don't care about the end result, and are doing something wrong." - Greg Kroah-Hartman
=======================
Past C&C projects: Attacque Supérior (2010-2019); Valiant Shades (2019-2021)
=======================
WeiDU mods: Random Graion Tweaks | Graion's Soundsets
Maintainance: Extra Expanded Enhanced Encounters! | BGEESpawn
Contributions: EE Fixpack | Enhanced Edition Trilogy | DSotSC (Trilogy) | UB_IWD | SotSC & a lot more... QUICK_EDIT
Damn. It's disappeared again, all of it this time. The Cameo is still fine, but the actual in-game Art is completely gone. I have no idea what I could have done, I had it working previously.
Nevermind, I'm pretty sure it's to do with naming it GA. . . so it only shows up in Artic climates. QUICK_EDIT
I've been modding away happy as all get out until I have been stumped.
Can anyone think of a reason that a building would reverse it's build-up animation for the Soviets? I've added a Bunker for both sides, they work fine for Allies but with Soviets it 'builds-up' backwards. Tried both anims under the same Name: but no joy. Advice please? QUICK_EDIT
Anyone have any ideas on this? I tied reversing the buildup frames (shadows apart) but still no luck.
Further, I've added an Allied tank to replace the Prism Tank as the main offensive allied vehicle, but no matter which voxels I use, they all come up as far too big in-game. They dwarf the Apoc, which seems somewhat excessive. Am I just DL-ing over-size voxels, or am I missing something?
If they are just big DLs, is there a simple way of resizing them using the VXL SE III please?
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Basic modding help
