why civ 6 unit modders are so rare ?

[Shirotora Kenshin]

hey,

For civ 4 and 5 there was more people that have done new units, so why there are only a few people that do new custom units for Civ 6 ? What you think what’s the reason for this ? And do you think a Tutorial for beginners to integrate a custom 3D model as a new unit would change the current situation ? Thanks in advance

 

[sukritact]

There's much less need for them. There's a LOT you can do with just the attachment system. From my own experience, a lot of the time I can get away with just making a hat, or a new set of armour, and nothing else.

 

[Shirotora Kenshin]

Thanks for your reply, and That’s a really fair point. But I think there is still need for them actually, as I for one would love to see so much armors or weapons or helmet types etc, which are not done by now. Also ships.
But that’s maybe just me, as I personally love to have „Cultural Diversity“ in my civ game.

I would also like to know if there are people that would be interested in a step by step tutorial for beginners. There are great guides already out there, but for some people ( just as me, one and a half year ago, when I moved from another game‘s modding to civ 6 modding ), sometimes it’s still confusing, so I asked myself, if such a beginners step by step tutorial would help.

Ps : @sukritact i liked your reply, cause you shared a little tip for another time, a small piece of your experience, that will be helpful for me too

 

[raen]

I come from civ 4 modding, directly to civ 6, and why? is not that easy, maybe easier to make graphics but the configuration of all mod got harder.

For instance Deliverator´s tools for making and importing units are Super! I am trying to import civ 5 units, but I am always stuck at config modbuddy part, too many little things to change that I don´t know how to do.

Also, I have my Portugal Mod where I didn´t used moddbudy until recently, because all the configuration steps were not clear to me, because many incomplete information out there.

 

[Shirotora Kenshin]

Thanks for your reply, raen

So if I understand you right, then a step by step tutorial would help you.
Do you only want to convert civ 5 units to civ 6, or do you also want to make completely new units?

 

[raen]

Thanks for your reply, raen

So if I understand you right, then a step by step tutorial would help you.
Do you only want to convert civ 5 units to civ 6, or do you also want to make completely new units?

Yes it would

Since I am not good with graphics I prefer civ 5 import, since it has various Ships already made to make the difference.

Many Thanks

 

[snafusmith]

I loved making units for Civ4 and Civ5... even got around to making a bunch of models for Civ6. I could never figure out how to get them into the game. If I could do that, then there'd probably be a bunch of tanks and airplanes at the least.

Anyone that could provide a very basic tutorial with templates for the code would be my hero!

 

[Shirotora Kenshin]

I loved making units for Civ4 and Civ5... even got around to making a bunch of models for Civ6. I could never figure out how to get them into the game. If I could do that, then there'd probably be a bunch of tanks and airplanes at the least.

Anyone that could provide a very basic tutorial with templates for the code would be my hero!

Hey snafusmith. A Tutorial is on my List, just give me time.

 

[Wolfdog]

I loved making units for Civ4 and Civ5... even got around to making a bunch of models for Civ6. I could never figure out how to get them into the game. If I could do that, then there'd probably be a bunch of tanks and airplanes at the least.

Anyone that could provide a very basic tutorial with templates for the code would be my hero!

I hear you, this was the bit I found most difficult as well. There are so many different parts and if you miss just one part the whole thing fails. You also need to do it in a certain order for it to show up in the next part. I quite often find I spend more time adding a unit to Civ 6 than actually making the model.

You could download one of my unit assets and look at that to see roughly what needs to be done as it is the ModBuddy file. There is also a sort of tutorial here from @Leugi that may help as a reference till @ShiroToraRyu can write a tutorial.

 

[Deliverator]

I loved making units for Civ4 and Civ5... even got around to making a bunch of models for Civ6. I could never figure out how to get them into the game. If I could do that, then there'd probably be a bunch of tanks and airplanes at the least.

Anyone that could provide a very basic tutorial with templates for the code would be my hero!

It's a shame you haven't been able to figure out the asset cooking side yet @snafusmith. I would also recommend that you go through Leugi's two tutorials: here and here. This will introduce many of the key file types you need to understand in order to cook your own 3D art.

Sadly I don't know if Leugi's going to complete Level 3 & 4 as he's taking a break from Civ 6 at the moment. If you want me to help me get one of your models into the game I'd be happy to set up a Modbuddy project for you that could then serve as a pattern for you to follow.

 

[Deliverator]

My take on the opening question is basically that it has got steadily more complicated to mod graphics in Civ IV > V > VI.

Civ 4: You could do reskins, re-rigging and even animation edits using Nifskope without knowledge of any 3D modelling tool. This meant that the barrier to creating original 3D art assets was very low hence the wealth of models and reskins for that game and the thriving community of that time.

Civ 5: The Granny Engine format meant that you need to edit the .gr2 file just to do a reskin and it wasn't possible to edit the texture and see the results immediately in the same tool. You could see the results in Nexus 3D Viewer but only if you used the older one before Firaxis broke it. For any edits to models you had to use Blender and Nexus Buddy 2. On the upside the Art Defines were fairly simple and could be modified by SQL.

Civ 6: Still Granny Engine so the modelling process is familiar to anyone who was comfortable modding Civ 5 3D assets, but now rather than the Granny .fgx files being used directly in the mod they have to be cooked into .blp libraries. This process is quite good and really flexible once you "get it" but "getting it" seems to be hard for many. To get a re-skin in game I will now need a Modbuddy project with a bunch of files Units.artdef (including Unit, UnitMember, UnitAttachmentBin), XLP, Asset, Material, Texture, Mod.Art.xml. Art Defines are now more complex and can't be edited via SQL. Although the Asset Editor exists I'm not sure how easy it is to use (personally I only use it for Texture Import as I find it quicker to edit the asset files and Art Defines directly). On the upside the Asset Previewer is very useful although it doesn't allow you test everything out the game e.g. Natural Wonders.

Having worked with Civ 6 for a while I find it much better for modding 3D graphics than Civ 6 because we have better or equivalent tools together with the possibility of visualising stuff outside of the game. Also the depth of moddability is much greater overall. We can do much more with Terrain in Civ 6 than is possible with Civ 5 for example.

 

[sukritact]

Although the Asset Editor exists I'm not sure how easy it is to use (personally I only use it for Texture Import as I find it quicker to edit the asset files and Art Defines directly).

I personally find it an invaluable tool: it's much easier to wade through a simplified diagram than a couple hundred lines long XML file. There are a couple of things I do by hand, or use a script to automate (my Mod.Art files are always generated via thecrazyscotsman's excellent tool), but I personally hope I'll never have to make a district/improvement/unit manually ever again: there's always too much room for error, especially with the former two.

 

[Shirotora Kenshin]

My take on the opening question is basically that it has got steadily more complicated to mod graphics in Civ IV > V > VI.

I think you are right. Then we could only try to explain the process in a more detailed way. I hope I will be able to start to work on a step by step tutorial the next days.

 

[Shirotora Kenshin]

So, the Tutorial is almost done. I just need to check for typos etc and hope I will be able to upload it the next days. Sorry for the delay, had to struggle with RL trouble

EDIT : Tutorial is here : https://forums.civfanatics.com/thre...-3d-model-as-a-new-unit.635814/#post-15206352