Initial look at Nexus, 3D Unit Art and reskinning

[14koder]

I tried changing the path by right clicking on viewer and going to settings, but the path was already correct.

 

[lemmy101]

No you need to edit the registry as that thread says.

 

[Rubin]

Making a mod to do that is quite straight-forward. I've attached a zip file containing a demo mod - you can unzip to your My Games/Sid's Meier's Civilization 5/MODS if you want to test it.

Spoiler :

Adding new terrain types however doesn't look as straight-forward. There must be an association between the rows in terraindef.csv and CIV5Terrains.xml but it's not obvious. Possibly it's in the SDK.

At least it is possible for someone to make a mod that recolours the base terrain.

I have to ask how you put this simple mod together.

I havde the default terraindef.csv, that I should be able to edit easily with a text editor. I have the new terrain textures as .dds files compatible with Civ5 (I tested this by replacing your purple .dds file). But how did you create the .modinfo file? Is this a feature of ModBuddy?

Edit: I understand now that .modinfo is created when you build a mod using ModBuddy. While I still would like to know the best way to implement new terrain textures ("recolors"), I guess what I really need is a ModBuddy beginner's guide Your work has been a tremendous help. Thank you!

 

[14koder]

No you need to edit the registry as that thread says.

How do you edit the registry?

 

[The_J]

Hit the windows key + R, type in regedit, hit enter, then the registry comes up.
But attention: Don't change anything else, registry changes can screw your system if you don't know what you're doing.

 

[14koder]

After the registry comes up, what do I do. Also how does it screw up your computer, cause I just got mine.

 

[The_J]

Go to HKCU\Software\Firaxis\Tools\ (you can navigate there like in the windows explorer) and change the mentioned value.

 

[Jaythekiller]

Windows explorer??? What's that ?

 

[martijnaikema]

So here's our new tool, IndieStone Nexus Buddy. Based on the Material Maker tool it allows you to import an FBX and create a unit without even touching Nexus. Not only that...

http://www.theindiestone.com/lemmyandbinky.com/civ2/IndieStoneNexusBuddy.zip

Thanx a lot Lemmy101! I tried your app, but when I want to export the recolor using the Smart Export I get the message:

No animation data is found in the loaded file. Cannot export unit.

I tried to import different types of units, but with all these units there are no animation definitions loaded.

Also I noticed that with the material-editor, the skinned unit materials refer to a directory D:\projects\ :

BaseTextureMap: D:\projects\ArtDev\Civilization5\Units\U_Babylonian_Bowman\U_Babylonian_Bowman_DIFF.dds
DullEnvironmentCubeMap: D:\projects\main\Civ5\Game\assets\Shared\Environment_Steel_Dull_32.dds
etc.

Do I need to adjust a setting?

 

[lemmy101]

Actually I think I need to do a fix to allow for reskinning units in the new version, will do a release ASAP, tomorrow perhaps.

 

[martijnaikema]

That would be great

 

[14koder]

Where is HKCU? I can only find things that start with HKEY.

 

[Jaythekiller]

hkcu = hkey_current_user

 

[14koder]

Thanks it finally worked! LeaderModels is taking 4 ever to unpak though.

 

[Blumonster]

Thanks for doing this.
Question: using REGEDIT, under HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/FIRAXIS/, I don't have a Tools/ToolAssetPath directory. Under Firaxis, all I have is Modbuddy and Nexus (and neither one has a Tools folder). Am I being dense and just missing something?

 

[Jaythekiller]

You need to launch Nexus once before it appears

 

[Blumonster]

You need to launch Nexus once before it appears

Thanks. Actually I had launched Nexus previously, but I went and checked and, of course, now that you said that, it's there! Lol. I wonder if using the asset viewer is what creates the tool folder, is that possible? Because I think that's the only thing I did differently since originally launching it and poking around to see what was what.

 

[Jaythekiller]

Maybe,i'm not sure

 

[Oberon James]

Jaythekiller, that's a nice unit, you should post it to the unit graphics thread.

 

[Onacadarfi XXVI]

What is regedit?