7 replies to this topic

[Veridagorin]

I'm just wondering what tools i will need to create new units and Civilizations when modding 0 A.D.
unfortunatly I'm no good at good at art or graphics

[quantumstate]

Veridagorin, on 24 February 2012 - 04:48 PM, said:

I'm just wondering what tools i will need to create new units and Civilizations when modding 0 A.D.
unfortunatly I'm no good at good at art or graphics

This depends on what you want to change with our mod.

If you want to create entirely new units you will need 3D modeling tools and skills. Blender is the best suited open source program for this, several team members use it.

It is possible to make limited changes by reskinning the models, this means you just change the texture while keeping the shape exactly the same. This won't give as good results or be as flexible as the 3D modeling approach though. This can be done using any bitmap editor (e.g. Photoshop, GIMP).

Bother of these require good art skills to make good looking results though.

The other part of creating units is defining the data files. This can be done fairly simply by modifying the units xml documents with any text editor you like. Also there is an actor editor which helps a bit with defining some data files, but I don't know much about this.

With practice you will improve your art skills, also if you can find good references then you can basically trace over them which makes modeling significantly easier, be careful with copyright though, copying directly from an image without permission will break copyright laws.

[Veridagorin]

i mean just the data part what text editing program would be the best that i could get for free and how do use it?

[quantumstate]

Veridagorin, on 24 February 2012 - 05:53 PM, said:

i mean just the data part what text editing program would be the best that i could get for free and how do use it?

I don't know what OS you are using but I will guess windows. Notepad++ is pretty decent.

[Veridagorin]

so now how do i use it modding?

[historic_bruno]

Well first of all, most of what you can "easily" mod is located in binaries\data\mods\public. To create a proper mod, you will want to copy things from there into another folder like binaries\data\mods\yourmod. Most of the time when we talk about paths in the game, we mean relative to that mods folder. So civ data is defined in civs\*.json. Those are just plain text files in the JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) format. Units and structures in terms of gameplay are defined as XML, in simulation\templates (we call them formally "entity templates"). They also have art definitions (we call them actors) which are likewise XML, defined in art\actors. They define the 3D models, animations, and textures comprising the unit or structure in-game. Most gameplay logic is defined in JavaScript, located in simulation\components. That's just a brief overview, the mod also contains AIs, scenarios, random maps, sounds, and other miscellany.

It sounds like if you don't want to change art, you'll have to stick with entity templates and civilizations. Interesting mods could be made just with those changes, but of course art is essential You can edit XML or JSON in any text editor, I also use Notepad++ because it has nice features.

[Veridagorin]

thanks for the help

[abfa123]

Thanks to give us information to help me.