I have been having a problem with some unit downloads. I have been adding units to my copy of the 1500AD on GEM mod for BTS 3.19 RevDCM. I added alot of American Indian units and they came out fine, they make the game look so much better, and I added three tribes to North America. After that I turned my attention to east Asia. I downloaded the Korean unit pack and some units worked and some did'nt, the cuirassier's horse is all twisted funny, and the rifleman, and musketman's arms are in the wrong place. I left the folders alone, most tutorials say not to mess with the contents of the folders, so I don't. But I was wondering, do the files in the unit folder have to be in a certain order? And does anyone know of any asian units that work well, I need a cuirassier, musketman, rifleman, and a cavalry unit would be nice. The other problem is the Japanese units I downloaded have the same issue. Having diverse units for Japan makes the game more interesting. So if any one knows of Jap units that work well let me know. My mod is covering History from 1493-1860 C.E. Thanks for any help.

From your description, I guess you used the wrong animation with these units. Only because a swordsman is a swordsman it does not necessarily need to use the swordsmans animation, for example. Similarly, you could have mixed up a cavalry unit with a cuirassier animation or a rifleman with a musketman animation (or vice versa). Finding the right animation can be tricky. If I'd be you, I'd ask for help in the units (or unit packs) forum thread. Either the creator will help you, or - if he isn't active anymore - other users that use those units as well.

I personally disagree with the standard style of integration of units. What they normally do, is putting the nif(s) and the textures in one folder (without the kfs and kfm) and leaving the nifs name(s) as is. Then they mod a unit artdefine xml where the reference the nif(s) in the newly created folder and the kfm in civ4s folder. This can lead to the following two problems:
a) if the kfs and the kfm aren't in the same folder as the nif(s) and freeze-mode is switched on (animations are disabled in the options menu), the unit turns back to be the default unit while walking, for example (that means it turns into the unit thats animation you are using). That's a problem for users with less powerful pcs. To solve this, copy all the kfs and the kfm of the original unit thats animation you'd like to use, to your new units folder. In the xml, reference to the kfm in the new units folder. Don't copy the freeze files of the original units!
b) if the name of the nif(s) is different from the kfm, the unit doesn't show up in the lower left corner if selected. To fix this, rename the nif. For example, if the unit uses the macemans animation, call the nif maceman.nif (and if there is an fx file, call it maceman_fx.nif - it seems like this isn't case sensitive, so it doesn't matter whether you use capital letters or not). Instead, you could edit the kfs and kfms. The right name is given in there. I suggest rename the nifs, that's easier. Still, there is a tutorial from The_Coyote about editing the kfs, you'll find it in the tutorial section.
That's what I normally do when adding units to a mod. But the two things above won't cause / solve your current problem.

I can't really help you with other units, but I think you could get your units to work somehow. There will be some eurasian units in a mod I'll publish within the next days (made by Bakuel), but those are ancient and medieval units. If you care for them, watch the scene!

From your description, I guess you used the wrong animation with these units. Only because a swordsman is a swordsman it does not necessarily need to use the swordsmans animation, for example. Similarly, you could have mixed up a cavalry unit with a cuirassier animation or a rifleman with a musketman animation (or vice versa). Finding the right animation can be tricky. If I'd be you, I'd ask for help in the units (or unit packs) forum thread. Either the creator will help you, or - if he isn't active anymore - other users that use those units as well.

I personally disagree with the standard style of integration of units. What they normally do, is putting the nif(s) and the textures in one folder (without the kfs and kfm) and leaving the nifs name(s) as is. Then they mod a unit artdefine xml where the reference the nif(s) in the newly created folder and the kfm in civ4s folder. This can lead to the following two problems:
a) if the kfs and the kfm aren't in the same folder as the nif(s) and freeze-mode is switched on (animations are disabled in the options menu), the unit turns back to be the default unit while walking, for example (that means it turns into the unit thats animation you are using). That's a problem for users with less powerful pcs. To solve this, copy all the kfs and the kfm of the original unit thats animation you'd like to use, to your new units folder. In the xml, reference to the kfm in the new units folder. Don't copy the freeze files of the original units!
b) if the name of the nif(s) is different from the kfm, the unit doesn't show up in the lower left corner if selected. To fix this, rename the nif. For example, if the unit uses the macemans animation, call the nif maceman.nif (and if there is an fx file, call it maceman_fx.nif - it seems like this isn't case sensitive, so it doesn't matter whether you use capital letters or not). Instead, you could edit the kfs and kfms. The right name is given in there. I suggest rename the nifs, that's easier. Still, there is a tutorial from The_Coyote about editing the kfs, you'll find it in the tutorial section.
That's what I normally do when adding units to a mod. But the two things above won't cause / solve your current problem.

I can't really help you with other units, but I think you could get your units to work somehow. There will be some eurasian units in a mod I'll publish within the next days (made by Bakuel), but those are ancient and medieval units. If you care for them, watch the scene!

Thank you for the hints, I was having quite a confusing time of it. I did get most of the units working. I simply just had the wrong kfms. I have not tried all of them in game, but I will be play testing soon. As far as your new mod I will check it out maybe there are some units I can use. My mod begins in 1493 so I still will have use for some late medieval units.

I do have one Japanese cannon unit that will not work so I was thinking of trying to place everything in a seperate folder, all the cannon kfs and kfm file. The gunner shows up as a black form, as if the re-skin did not get applied. The cannon itself is the way it should be. What do you know about dds files? Should they be renamed to match the nif or is it ok to leave them alone. And what is a BoundShape.nif? I am looking through the unit and the unit folder has four dds files that relate to the cannonier but they are not applied to the cannioner unit model. I can live without this unit but I am just curious how to solve the problem.

Well, I have three more units to add, a siege mortar and two korean ships I want to use to replace the frigate and ship of the line before playtesting. But thanks for any help you can give me about dds files.

What do you know about dds files? Should they be renamed to match the nif or is it ok to leave them alone.
If you rename the dds files you will have to reassign the texture in the nif with nifskope.

And what is a BoundShape.nif?
The boundshape is relatively unimportant. Its only needed when viewing nifs with scene viewer.

I am looking through the unit and the unit folder has four dds files that relate to the cannonier but they are not applied to the cannioner unit model. I can live without this unit but I am just curious how to solve the problem.
Are you sure the dds are unassigned? If they arent, the model will show up in game as pink. The dds files can be named whatever. Have you opened up the nif to see what textures are assigned?

I don't know if this has been covered, but as I read this I sense a hint of confusion. You know DDS files are art files, correct? They are the skin/texture of the unit.

I do have one Japanese cannon unit that will not work so I was thinking of trying to place everything in a seperate folder, all the cannon kfs and kfm file. The gunner shows up as a black form, as if the re-skin did not get applied. The cannon itself is the way it should be. What do you know about dds files? Should they be renamed to match the nif or is it ok to leave them alone. And what is a BoundShape.nif? I am looking through the unit and the unit folder has four dds files that relate to the cannonier but they are not applied to the cannioner unit model. I can live without this unit but I am just curious how to solve the problem.
As The Capo mentioned, dds files are the textures (note: there are special texture maps that control the light for example, those may be greyscaled pictures). They don't need to be renamed. From what you mentioned, the light could be the problem. It is theoretically possible that different parts of the same nif are enlightened differently, if those parts are in different scene roots I think. I guess you didn't change the model itself (including the light setting), only the texture. This never happened to me, so I don't know the exact result of a problem like this: could it be that you changed the gloss map when retexturing or did you accidently overwrite it? This could have screwed up the enlightment I guess. Hmmm... I have no other idea, never had 'black forms' so far. A screenshot could be of help.

I don't know if this has been covered, but as I read this I sense a hint of confusion. You know DDS files are art files, correct? They are the skin/texture of the unit.
yes I know exactly what they are, but they are not working even though they are in the unit's folder. Its weird all my other units work. I have not opened the nif files however. I was going to talk to the unit artist. Its just a jap cannon unit, I don't need it but not sure why his other units work and not that one.

As The Capo mentioned, dds files are the textures (note: there are special texture maps that control the light for example, those may be greyscaled pictures). They don't need to be renamed. From what you mentioned, the light could be the problem. It is theoretically possible that different parts of the same nif are enlightened differently, if those parts are in different scene roots I think. I guess you didn't change the model itself (including the light setting), only the texture. This never happened to me, so I don't know the exact result of a problem like this: could it be that you changed the gloss map when retexturing or did you accidently overwrite it? This could have screwed up the enlightment I guess. Hmmm... I have no other idea, never had 'black forms' so far. A screenshot could be of help.No I never touched anything I only tried to add it to my mod. The artist must have made a mistake when he textured the unit.

That's the mod I've mentioned, but I've the feeling that it won't be of much use for your purposes, sorry: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=257183