danrh
Warlord
G'day Folks,
been making my first foray into the world of modding for Civ4. I've got a few new units worked up for the Australian civ in the Road to War Pacific scenarios and would like to try and make some graphics to go with them. I've been reading through threads on the graphics forum and picking up bits and pieces but I must admit even with sticky's and tut's etc its all very confusing as there is just so much to wade through. I'd like to try and organise my thoughts somewhat and see if how I think things are working is correct.
My understanding is that any given unit has a number of different elements to its graphics scheme
Model
The underlying structure of the unit graphic. This defines the basic look of the unit and is the base onto which skins can be placed. It is my understanding that initially only the models that shipped with the game were available for modders but now new model can be included. This is something to do with the SDK. What file type is the model saved as? One of the guides I've been reading talks about a .max file (guide for 3ds Max) but when I look in the art folders I don't see any .max files so I assume when finished the models are exported to some other format, .nif maybe?
Skins
These go onto the model and determine surface appearance. I take it these can be different for each civ (team colour etc). I believe these are saved in .dds format although I've seen that format mentioned for the buttons as well. Is it possible for a skin to significantly different to the underlying model? Could, for instance, a skin be contructed for an M3 medium tank and placed on the model for an M2 medium or is it neccessary to build a whole new model?
Animations
I've not looked too much at these yet. Obviously I know what an animation is generally and what I see on the screen when I play Civ. From what I have read it seems the animations are the .kfm files but i see there are also .kf files which I guess are related?
Software
3ds Max: I gather this was the software used by the developers. If one was to buy the current version would it be compatible with the game?
Blender: this one is a freebie I see. Does it do all that is required and is it harder to work with. I've seen the tutorials and guides for this and have downloaded and will install to try out as soon as I can get my wife away from her Oblivion and use the good PC myself.
My apologies if I've missed an obvious place for this information. I'm a total newbie when it comes to graphics and even reading guides etc doesn't help much without clearing up some of these basics.
cheers
Dan
been making my first foray into the world of modding for Civ4. I've got a few new units worked up for the Australian civ in the Road to War Pacific scenarios and would like to try and make some graphics to go with them. I've been reading through threads on the graphics forum and picking up bits and pieces but I must admit even with sticky's and tut's etc its all very confusing as there is just so much to wade through. I'd like to try and organise my thoughts somewhat and see if how I think things are working is correct.
My understanding is that any given unit has a number of different elements to its graphics scheme
Model
The underlying structure of the unit graphic. This defines the basic look of the unit and is the base onto which skins can be placed. It is my understanding that initially only the models that shipped with the game were available for modders but now new model can be included. This is something to do with the SDK. What file type is the model saved as? One of the guides I've been reading talks about a .max file (guide for 3ds Max) but when I look in the art folders I don't see any .max files so I assume when finished the models are exported to some other format, .nif maybe?
Skins
These go onto the model and determine surface appearance. I take it these can be different for each civ (team colour etc). I believe these are saved in .dds format although I've seen that format mentioned for the buttons as well. Is it possible for a skin to significantly different to the underlying model? Could, for instance, a skin be contructed for an M3 medium tank and placed on the model for an M2 medium or is it neccessary to build a whole new model?
Animations
I've not looked too much at these yet. Obviously I know what an animation is generally and what I see on the screen when I play Civ. From what I have read it seems the animations are the .kfm files but i see there are also .kf files which I guess are related?
Software
3ds Max: I gather this was the software used by the developers. If one was to buy the current version would it be compatible with the game?
Blender: this one is a freebie I see. Does it do all that is required and is it harder to work with. I've seen the tutorials and guides for this and have downloaded and will install to try out as soon as I can get my wife away from her Oblivion and use the good PC myself.
My apologies if I've missed an obvious place for this information. I'm a total newbie when it comes to graphics and even reading guides etc doesn't help much without clearing up some of these basics.
cheers
Dan
