Art files

[nuker7735]

So ive had about 1 year of unprofessional modding experience (making mods for maps to play online) and ive decided i want to take it up a notch. So far, ive only edited Rules.INI files. now, I want to start editing Art.INI files so buildings and tanks can look exactly what I want them to look like, not just a close imatation from the pregame downloaded art. However, I cant seem to find a way to actually edit the appearance of objects. If someone can help me get started on that, that would be great.
:dunce:

[Corsarus]

um... if you mean editing the actual look, then you need another program for it, you can't edit art from the files... you can only change things like building sizes etc...

[nuker7735]

um... if you mean editing the actual look, then you need another program for it, you can't edit art from the files... you can only change things like building sizes etc...

ok then do u know the program for it?

[Tesla]

you need several programs (sorry, i can't remember where to get them), such as a voxel editor and a shp editor.

[nuker7735]

well if someone does know where to get them... please tell me

[Tesla]

look in places like http://www.cncgames.com/ and http://yrarg.cncguild.net/

[nuker7735]

Well, I found a voxel editor... no clue how to use it tho. If I could find the voxel files for regular units maybe i could get an idea...another quick thing; when i make a voxel, how do i apply it to my mod? I still need an shp. editor and all the questions for it are the same as i asked for the voxel editor except i need to know how to make buildup anims for the shp files.
*EDIT* i also fould some artwork from the yr argentina to get me started.... now i just wanna know how to make remappable areas of the voxels.

[Fenring]

PPM (http://www.ppmsite.com) has all of the editing tools you will ever need.

[nuker7735]

thanks, fenring. I still need to know how to add my new voxels and shp files to my mod. and i sttill want to know how to make remappable areas of teh voxels... do u use a specific shade if red? or just any red?

[nuker7735]

So ive had about 1 year of unprofessional modding experience (making mods for maps to play online) and ive decided i want to take it up a notch. So far, ive only edited Rules.INI files. now, I want to start editing Art.INI files so buildings and tanks can look exactly what I want them to look like, not just a close imatation from the pregame downloaded art. However, I cant seem to find a way to actually edit the appearance of objects. If someone can help me get started on that, that would be great.
:dunce:

*BUMP* I still need some questions answered. Look at my previous post to see what I still need answered.

[Fenring]

thanks, fenring. I still need to know how to add my new voxels and shp files to my mod. and i sttill want to know how to make remappable areas of teh voxels... do u use a specific shade if red? or just any red?
Remap reds are specific palette colors. If I had the voxel editor handy, I'd tell you which ones they are. However, just experiment a little. If you slap a big area of red on a unit and it stays red, you don't have the remap scale.

EDIT: As a point of interest, Remapable=no in art has no effect.

[nuker7735]

ok, now i need to know how to add the new voxels to my mod so i can test them.

[Fenring]

Do the intelligent thing: figure it out.

[nuker7735]

thanks for the help, gawd...

[Fenring]

It's not hard. [THENAMEINBRACKETS] is the key unless you see Image=. :p

[nuker7735]

you mean that if i simply make a voxel, i can use it in my mods? or do i have to actually add it to my mod using another way? and another side question; i'm making a voxel for a catapult, and i want to know if theres a way to make it so an animation plays when it fires? i mean an animation like the big thing holding the rock flinging up when the weapon fires.

[Fenring]

You have to create a unit that uses your voxel. Not really that hard.

[nuker7735]

lol ur not understanding what i mean. I'm asking if i have to apply my voxel to my mod to use it, or can i just attach it to my unit and it will work?

[Fenring]

The voxel and associated HVAs must exist in your game directory, and be referenced by your mod's coding. Really easy stuff.

[nuker7735]

ok thank you, now another question; if i made a catapult voxel, could i make it so every time it fires, an anim plays of the catapult flinging the rock?

[Fenring]

I don't know actually. I'm not a graphics guy. I do know that the HVA animates voxels so it may be possible through an animated turret. However, I don't think voxel animations can be that complicated.

[nuker7735]

I have two last questions; first, how do you attach a turret to your voxel? and when i looked at the voxels at yr arg, i noticed that the barrel and the turret were seperate. Is there a reason for this?

[Fenring]

I'm not really sure about split barrels. My guess is that it would be for customization but, I really do not know.

Attaching a turret is easy. Just attach another voxel with tur at the end of it. For example: if you used tank.vxl as your file name, you would use tanktur.vxl/.hva as the turret file name. Also ensure you have Turret=yes set on your rules entry. Easy, eh?

[nuker7735]

oh, so all i have to do is put Turret=yes and it automatically uses the turret for my voxel, but what it i want to put a turret, say a war miner turret, on a different vehicle, like a jeep? do i just put HARVTUR.vxl on the Image= in the art section? and are you saying that you don't have to seperate the turret and barrel?
*EDIT* I tried putting my voxel in my RA2 folder, but it won't appear in the game, it stays invisible... wtf?
*EDIT2* fixed this. i forgot to make a HVA file. Got another slight problem, though. When i tested my voxel, when i had it facing north, it turned very dark, and when i had it facing south, it turned very bright, how do i fix this?

[Fenring]

If you want to mix turrets and vehicles, you have to make a new vehicle. You cannot control turret images with the art or rules.

If your vehicle is dark when facing north and bright when facing south, it means your normals are WAY off. Normals control how the light appears on each facing. However, beyond that, I know nothing. I suggest grabbing the latest OS Voxel Editor then running autonormals.

[nuker7735]

ok, so your saying i have to make a new art entry for the turret of my tank? Remember that I just want to make it so my unit can use my turret like a normal turret.

[Fenring]

Turrets don't have an art entry. :|

[nuker7735]

ok i figured it out myself, i might post my new voxel on the forums once i add a little finishing touch to it.

[nuker7735]

Ok my voxel's pretty much done, but i'm having trouble opening a screenshot of it. I tried opening it with paint, but it can't read it...

[Fenring]

http://www.gimp.org/

[nuker7735]

alright, thanks again