How to Create a Civilization in BTS

[The_J]

Aaaah....crap, i see the tutorial doesn't cover that part.

Okay, ultra short introduction:
In UnitInfos.xml you have this:

ART_DEF_UNIT_ASSYRIAN_BATTERING_RAM

in your unit entry.
That's the link to the art, if you want to add custom art.
These art entries then have to be created in the XML\Art\ files.
For new unit entries you go to XML\Art\ArtDefines_units.xml, for Civilzations to XML\Art\ArtDefines_Civilizations.xml etc.

In these files you have then entries like this:

		<UnitArtInfo>
			<Type>ART_DEF_UNIT_LION</Type>
			<Button>,Art/Interface/Buttons/Units/Lion.dds,Art/Interface/Buttons/Unit_Resource_Atlas.dds,6,5</Button>
			<fScale>0.61</fScale>
			<fInterfaceScale>1.3</fInterfaceScale>
			<bActAsLand>0</bActAsLand>
			<bActAsAir>0</bActAsAir>
			<NIF>Art/Units/Lion/Lion.nif</NIF>
			<KFM>Art/Units/Lion/Lion.kfm</KFM>
			<SHADERNIF>Art/Units/Lion/Lion_FX.nif</SHADERNIF>
			<ShadowDef>
				<ShadowNIF>Art/Units/01_UnitShadows/LionShadow.nif</ShadowNIF>
				<ShadowAttachNode>LionBip Spine1</ShadowAttachNode>
				<fShadowScale>1.0</fShadowScale>
			</ShadowDef>
			<fBattleDistance>0.35</fBattleDistance>
			<fRangedDeathTime>0.28</fRangedDeathTime>
			<bActAsRanged>0</bActAsRanged>
			<TrainSound>AS2D_UNIT_BUILD_UNIT</TrainSound>
			<AudioRunSounds>
				<AudioRunTypeLoop/>
				<AudioRunTypeEnd/>
			</AudioRunSounds>
		</UnitArtInfo>

Copy such an entry. Change ART_DEF_UNIT_LION to ART_DEF_UNIT_ASSYRIAN_BATTERING_RAM. Then you have lion graphics for your battering ram, but if you do this accordingly also for the civ and the leaderhead, then your mod shouldn't crash anymore.

Then you have to get some art, just use something from our database .
Important are then the entries for the buttons and this part:

			<NIF>Art/Units/Lion/Lion.nif</NIF>
			<KFM>Art/Units/Lion/Lion.kfm</KFM>
			<SHADERNIF>Art/Units/Lion/Lion_FX.nif</SHADERNIF>

In this case there's a folder "Art" in the assets folder, which has a folder "Units", which has a folder "Lion" in which these files are (and many more; all are needed).
If you have a new unit, put it somewhere into the Art folder of your mod, put the unit there, and change the above mentioned paths.
If there is no .kfm file in the unit folder, then the modder should have mentioned which to use instead.
If there is no _FX.nif in the folder, then use the normal .nif file.
Ignore the button for now until it works, and ask if you have problems with any of these parts.

 

[civlearner99]

Thank you!

 

[The_J]

Hey, new page .

 

[civlearner99]

Error! Something is wrong with my ArtDefinesLeaderHead and ArtDefinesUnits files! Help! Here are my files.

 

[The_J]

Take a look at the error messages .
The first one complaines about this:

<fBattleDistance>1,45</fBattleDistance>

Take a look at the other entries . It's an american program, they don't use commas as separators, they use points. Put 1.45 in, that's all .


The second one complaines about missing tags.
You don't have something for KFM, NoShaderNIF and BackgroundKFM, but that doesn't mean that you can let them out.
Add after the .nif part

<KFM/>
<NoShaderNIF>art/LeaderHeads/Sennacherib.dds</NoShaderNIF>
<BackgroundKFM/>

that should make it load. And remove the comma before the button. If you have only one button, the comma is not needed and will crash the game (don't know why ).

 

[civlearner99]

Erroron ArtDefinesUnit. Apparently I can't leave ShadowDef empty. Please tell me what to do!

 

[The_J]

Take the shadow definition of another unit .
And somehow the entry:

<BackgroundKFM/>

slipped into the unit artdefines, take it out, it's wrong there.


And additionally, i see the unit button for your UU is bigger than 64*64...don't do that. There is somewhere a memory limit, so that unit and building buttons can't be bigger than this size.
And while it doesn't appear so, flags should also be quadratic and not stretched into one direction.

 

[civlearner99]

I did what you said, fixed a few errors and now when I boot up the mod, it says: Tag> Barbarian is wrong or something. Could you please look at it?

 

[The_J]

Out of whatever reason you have 2 times CIVILIZATION_MINOR in your civilizationInfos.xml and you don't have CIVILIZATION_BARBARIAN in there. Change the second CIVILIZATION_MINOR to CIVILIZATION_BARBARIAN, then it should hopefully work.

Other things:
In ArtDefines_Civilizations you have Art/Interface/TeamColor/assyrian_flag.dds, but the name of the file is actually assyrianflag.dds, you have for the button Art/Interface/Buttons/Civilizations/assyrian_flag-_button.dds, but the filename is assyrianflag - button.dds, for the leader you have Art/interface/LeaderHeads/Sennacherib_-button.dds, but the file name is Sennacherib -leaderbutton.dds. And remove the comma before the buttons, it will crash the game later.

 

[danjuno]

Give me the files too, then i can take a look at them .

I did.

Okay.
For your questions, no on both counts.
I took your advice, and the mod said the leader head and UB were not valid files. However, the UU, Civ, and starting techs were present, so if you can help me out with the leaderhead and UB files, I'll be back in Business.
I'll upload it again.

 

[The_J]

Ah, sorry, i confused your files with some other files, and thought you didn't add the needed things .

First error:
civilizationInfos.xml: BUILDING_ARIZONAN_REFINERY
buildingInfos.xml: ARIZONAN_REFINERY

Second error:
you actually forgot to change your copy of LEADER_LINCOLN in LeaderheadInfos.xml, so that LEADER_CHARLES_POSTON is not there in the file, but Lincoln is there twice.

 

[civlearner99]

Thanks so much! Now my game works perfectly except for one thing- In gameplay my unique unit is a red blob! A little help here...

 

[The_J]

Rule of thumb: If something is pink in the game, then the game can't find the art -> check your XML\Art\ArtDefines_Unit.xml if you've really put the right paths into there. Check twice if you maybe have somewhere a small typo, if somewhere are 2 characters flipped, or something similar.

 

[civlearner99]

I could not find anything wrong with the file. Maybe you can find a mistake.

 

[danjuno]

First error:
civilizationInfos.xml: BUILDING_ARIZONAN_REFINERY
buildingInfos.xml: ARIZONAN_REFINERY

Do I change BUILDING_ARIZONAN_REFINERY in civinfos to ARIZONAN_REFINERY or the other way around in buildinginfos?

 

[The_J]

I could not find anything wrong with the file. Maybe you can find a mistake.

Can't see the problem , but i don't know what exactly is needed to use 2D images as units.
I'd suggest that you try it with a normal 3D unit. There's a battering ram in this civ (funnily it's also assyria, but it's an old civ, for the base game, not for the expansions).

Do I change BUILDING_ARIZONAN_REFINERY in civinfos to ARIZONAN_REFINERY or the other way around in buildinginfos?

Doesn't matter as long it's the same in both files .
Most people here go with the "normal" prefixes like BUILDING_, UNIT_ etc.

 

[civlearner99]

For this mod, how do I add in the ModernAfrican as my UU? Please help!!!

 

[civlearner99]

I know I keep asking questions! Maybe after you sort this out, you could write a step by step tutorial without any flaws?

 

[The_J]

For this mod, how do I add in the ModernAfrican as my UU? Please help!!!

You've by accident downloaded a Civilization 3 unit, not an unit for Civ4 .
Get a fitting Civ4 unit, then everything should work as before, and as i see you don't need any other help, the rest is already done for this civ .

I know I keep asking questions! Maybe after you sort this out, you could write a step by step tutorial without any flaws?

Uh, if that was so easy , and if i had the time :/.

I'll maybe write a FAQ in the next time, and maybe somewhen afterwards another "adding stuff" tutorial, but that will not be in the next time.

 

[civlearner99]

How do I set the programming? I'm extremely confused!