Need help adding a skin to my civ please.

[crazychapple]

Hi guys. First off....let me say that I've read a number of the tutorials here and you guys have written some brilliant stuff. I'm new to the Civilization series...completely addicted...and feeling compelled to do a mod thanks to you guys! I haven't done a mod since my Ghost Recon days, but with the tuts here I was able to put a new Civilization together...Cobra!!! You remember GI Joe and Cobra? Well....I figured what better venue for Cobra to take over the world than Civ IV.

Anyway...I based my civ on the American Empire. Added my leader and made all the appropriate changes based on the wonderful .xml tuts in this forum. Cobra is alive!! I created the entries for my unique unit...Crimson Guard...and I want to give them a new skin. I based the unit on Navy Seal and I managed to unpak the appropriate Assets file...modified the navyseal_128.dds file...saved it as crimsonguard_128.dds, but I can't find the file(s) I need to modify that reference the .dds.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Keep up the excellent work.

 

[Chamaedrys]

You don't have to rename everything. The Unitclass, Unittype, and Pedia are just links between the XML-files. If you just want to replace a unit, all you have to rename is the description line and make a new Civipedia text.
Change <Description>TXT_KEY_UNIT_AMERICAN_NAVY_SEAL</Description>
In <Description>Crimson guard</Description>.
I think the reference to the dds. is inside the nif.. So try this: copy the folder with the Navyseal art in the Art\units folder of your mod. Change the crimsonguard_128.dds back to navyseal_128.dds and everything should work.

 

[Chamaedrys]

You don't have to rename everything. The Unitclass, Unittype, and Pedia are just links between the XML-files.
If you just want to replace a unit, all you have to rename is the description line and make a new Civipedia text.
Change <Description>TXT_KEY_UNIT_AMERICAN_NAVY_SEAL</Description>
In <Description>Crimson guard</Description> and keep all the other _AMERICAN_NAVY_SEAL entries untouched.
I think the reference to the dds. is inside the nif.. So try this: copy the folder with the Navyseal art in the Art\units folder of your mod. Change the crimsonguard_128.dds back to navyseal_128.dds and everything should work.

 

[crazychapple]

Thanks...but wouldn't that mean that all Navy Seals will have my new skin?

 

[Ploeperpengel]

Thanks...but wouldn't that mean that all Navy Seals will have my new skin?

not if the folder is not called navyseal

 

[crazychapple]

Okay...since it takes so long to get to the Navy Seal in the game...I did this as an experiment.

I modified 'warrior_128.dds' so that the guys clothing is red instead of brown. I used the warrior because my Civ starts with a Settler and a Warrior, so I would be able to see if the change was accepted right away. I saved it in:

Firaxis Games/Sid Meier's Civilization 4/Mods/Cobra/Assets/Art/Units

Booted up the mod and started a new game, but the warrior had the old skin. I'm not entirely sure if this is what you meant, Chamaedrys. I'm assuming I would have to change a reference somewhere to have it use the new skin, but I don't know where. You also mentioned something about the .nif files. I'll do some more research on those, but if anyone else can contribute to this in the mean time, it would be much appreciated.

 

[crazychapple]

P.S. This may make a difference in anything anyone contributes...I've working with version 1.52 and I understand that the file structures changed in this version.

 

[crazychapple]

AHHHH...okay...I think I have it. I copied the whole 'warrior' folder into the dirctory I listed above with my new '.dds' file in it and the Warriors clothing is red now. Thanks guys! However....I'm still not completely sure how to arrange things so that my Crimson Guard have a different uniform from the rest of the Navy Seals.

 

[Dual]

When you copy over the entire Navy Seal folder to you mod, rename that folder to something different ( like "CRIMSON_GUARD").

Then, when you add the unit to the CIV4ArtDefines_Unit.xml file, point towards the new folder in the code.

Like this:

		<UnitArtInfo>
			<Type>ART_DEF_UNIT_CRIMSON_GUARD</Type>
			<fScale>0.44</fScale>
			<fInterfaceScale>1.0</fInterfaceScale>
			[B]<NIF>Art/Units/CRIMSON_GUARD/NavySeal.nif</NIF>[/B]
			[B]<KFM>Art/Units/CRIMSON_GUARD/NavySeal.kfm</KFM>[/B]
			[B]<SHADERNIF>Art/Units/CRIMSON_GUARD/NavySeal_FX.nif</SHADERNIF>[/B]
			<ShadowDef>
				<ShadowNIF>Art/Units/01_UnitShadows/UnitShadow.nif</ShadowNIF>
				<ShadowAttachNode>BIP Pelvis</ShadowAttachNode>
				<fShadowScale>1.0</fShadowScale>
			</ShadowDef>
			<fBattleDistance>0.35</fBattleDistance>
			<fRangedDeathTime>0.05</fRangedDeathTime>
			<bActAsRanged>1</bActAsRanged>
			<TrainSound>AS2D_UNIT_BUILD_UNIQUE_UNIT</TrainSound>
			<AudioRunSounds>
				<AudioRunTypeLoop/>
				<AudioRunTypeEnd/>
			</AudioRunSounds>
		</UnitArtInfo>

 

[crazychapple]

Hey people...I was away for the weekend, but I just got a chance to play with things and it all works great now. Thanks a lot, I really appreciate the help! Cobra lives!!!!