Graphics modding newb

[King Flevance]

Howdy. I recently began changing the colors to suit my fancy as it finally irritated me to no end. As I changed that, I began wanting to focus on the graphics aspect of the game. I want to fix the roads and rails. (mostly roads) Also, I wouldn't mind getting started on making units. My question is what software should I go hunt down to be able to modify graphics.

Mainly for these things listed in order of importance to me:
-Flags (.dds)
-Roads (.nif)
-Units.... (kfm/nif?) I cant find the unit files. In my Civ4\Assets\Art\Units folder I only see like 8 units.

The flag thing is really important atm. A mod I had broke and I dont see a solution. I have went through the xml codes a few times now and can't see what is going on. It should be working. Any help is appreciated. The unit thing I am not too worried about as I saw a guide on here before about getting started with them. But any .nif editing software would be MUCH appreciated and any information concerning flags might help me be able to see what I fouled up.

Thanks, hopefully I will be able to lend a hand in modding one day.

EDIT: I am mostly looking for free software I can use to mod. I saw a program tonight (3dsmax) in a thread that costs $3500.00 This kind of stuff is definatley a show stopper for me.

 

[King Flevance]

I almost have the flags thing good enough for now if I can fix 3 odd flags with a black alpha I have a feeling. I also located "Blender NIF scripts" but have no clue how to use it to mod roads but havent really looked into it yet. Should I have another tool besides Blender NIF scripts? Any information that can point me in the direction of blender guides and references would be wonderful as well. It seems blender has been running at 2nd string for a while though from my take on it so I can understand if not many people know resources for it.

 

[jamie006]

have you checked out white rabbits skinning tutorials for your skinning issus???
It might mension a usefull tool in there...
I think he does most of it in the NIf viewer wich is free but im not sure...

 

[King Flevance]

Yes. This is where I spotted the 3d max and followed its trail to a dissappointing $3500 download spot. He told me about NIF viewer (which I havent checked out yet) and I plan on following up on that information. From the looks of it the nif viewer will solve alot of problems. Blender looks cool itself and I may end up toying with it still later sometime.

Thanks jamie.

 

[dlordmagic]

Yes. This is where I spotted the 3d max and followed its trail to a dissappointing $3500 download spot. He told me about NIF viewer (which I havent checked out yet) and I plan on following up on that information. From the looks of it the nif viewer will solve alot of problems. Blender looks cool itself and I may end up toying with it still later sometime.

Thanks jamie.

you can get a 30 day trial download for 3ds max 7.0 here at this link.

http://www.softpedia.com/progDownload/D-Studio-Max-Download-15976.html

You will also need to get the plugins from the post at the top of the forum.

 

[C.Roland]

Blender is a free 3d modeling program. Check my sign for the tutorial.