61 replies to this topic

[Mythos_Ruler]

I modded the game using only the art assets in the Open Source release.



What I did was make the old Hypaspist, which was really an Argyraspis ("Silver shield"), more mundane, giving it the Pezhetairoi textures and smaller shield, then made a new entity with the old Argyraspis actor. Then I made the Hypaspist have the ability to "level up" to Argyraspis after 500 XP (killing 1 unit is about 100XP).

This is the proper tags to make the Hypaspist (or any other unit for that matter) level up to a new entity:


Now this is the Argyraspis (Hypaspist Level 2) entity. Notice the inheritance tag at the top (highlighted):


You'll also note that no stats or other items that aren't changed from the parent (lower level) entity is needed to be displayed in the child (higher level) entity. For instance, since the Argyraspis is inheriting stats from the Hypaspist entity I don't need to put the History stuff in the Argyraspis entity, because that will be inherited. Only those things that are added or changed from the parent entity need to go into the child entity. Any stats or tags placed in the child entity will automatically override the stats from the parent. If you accidentally leave some stuff in the child that is exactly the same as the parent there is no worries.

If you update your 0 A.D. revision (for those who have downloaded the open-source/public release with SVN), then you can get the new Hypaspists.

So, POST HERE ANY MODS YOU HAVE MADE for the game or any QUESTIONS you may have! I will answer all relevant questions for you as long as they pertain to ENTITIES, ACTORS, TEXTURES, or things of that nature.

Edited by Mythos_Ruler, 13 March 2010 - 07:26 PM.

[Mythos_Ruler]

Tools to edit the entities would be NOTEPAD++, which is very nice. To edit actors (put together the units with props, textures, etc.) use the ACTOR EDITOR, which is found in the /System folder.

[Brightgalrs]

I wish I could make a mod.

[feneur]

What's stopping you? All you need is an idea and some time, and some motivation to keep you going is of course a positive thing as well

[Mythos_Ruler]

I just showed you how to make a mod with the existing art assets.

[Kimball]

Brightgalrs, on Mar 14 2010, 07:22 PM, said:

I wish I could make a mod.

I find this amusing.

[Brightgalrs]

Lol

[Ykkrosh]

I'm afraid I've broken this a tiny bit . You'll need to look in binaries/data/mods/public/simulation/templates/ for the new entity template files, and they're a slightly different XML structure (to match the new modular organisation of the code). (Also they're missing some data for unimplemented modules - I'll convert them all automatically at some point). But the basic idea is the same as before, including the parent inheritance, so it shouldn't cause any major difficulties

[Mythos_Ruler]

THE HUMANITY!

[SMST]

Something doesn't seem to work ... after i tried creating a new enitity and place it in Atlas, i couldn't place any entity at all. (no visual appears) They are correctly listed in the list on the left, so they seem to be in the right folders.

[Ykkrosh]

Are you running the game on Windows? You should run OpenLogsFolder.bat and look for logs/mainlog.html - if there are any error messages then that might indicate what the problem is.

[SMST]

Do entinities still load their actor files from binaries\data\mods\public\art\actors\units\ ?

[Ykkrosh]

Yes - actors are the same, and if you select the "actor" dropdown (I think that's what it's called) in Atlas's entity list then it should show any new ones you add. If you have a working actor, and you add a new entity file in the new location (binaries/data/mods/public/simulation/templates/) using the new file format (copy one of the existing ones), then the entity should appear in the default entity list and work. If it doesn't work then something must be wrong, and hopefully the log would mention any errors

[Mythos_Ruler]

SMST, you can add me to MSN Messenger if you have any further problems.

mythgamer (at) aol (dot) com

[SMST]

Thank you both. It seems to work now.

That's what i did: As you might remember, i am still planning my three campaigns for 0 A.D., and while planning the Alexander Campaign, it occurred to me that i would need Alexander in more states than just on a horse.

Also, i wanted to test you actor system. I was courious if i could combine the components free to a new unit, and i have not been disappointed. It seems to be very, VERY flexible and powerful. Well done.



Left is, as you can clearly see, the original Alexander hero unit.

In the middle, there is Alexander on foot in full armor. He will be needed for some special scenarios, where Bukephalas is not aviable and, of course, for the first scenario where he gets to tame Bukephalas.

Right, Alexander without any arms and w.o. helmet. This one is for cinematics.

Both units on foot have the long cape which Leonidas and the Spartans have. You guys gave the original unit the shorter version (due to clipping reasons, i believe), but it looked quite stupid on foot. So i decided to give him the longer one.

Also, the Alexander in the middle has a hypaspist shield. Because he uses actually Themistocles' ani file, it would have looked stupid if he stretched his arm out without having a shield.

Well ...

Edited by SMST, 08 May 2010 - 09:39 AM.

[feneur]

Really nice to see your success in modding the game

[SMST]

Thanks.
Now, as i understand the system, i'll maybe come up with more.

Is it possible to include units like them in the actual game for campaign purposes?

Edited by SMST, 08 May 2010 - 03:48 PM.

[SMST]

I've made some more stuff.



This is a recreation of the Battle of Chaironeia. The factions are the Theban-Athenian Alliance (blue) against the Macedonians (red) under Philipp and Alexander.

The Theban hoplite units are actually members of the Hieron Lokhon, meaning "Sacred Band", of Thebes, which i made out of one original texture called "thebes_sacredband.dds". In the front, there's a closeup of one of them. Next to him, there is a Greek Swordsman that i made just for fun purposes with no historical reference at all. These units are spontaneusly called "Phylakes", meaning "guards".

In the background, the heavy phalanx of Macedonian Pezhetairoi under General Parmenion (another new unit, the guy with sword an a frontranker helmet in the front of the Pezhetairoi) and Philipp is seeming to be retreating from the Sacred Band Warriors of Thebes, supported by Peltasts. However, on the left flank Alexander is waiting with the Hetairoi cavalry, ready to fall into the opening gap of the Theban ranks.

Historically, the battle ended with all of the Sacred Band warriors slain because they refused to surrender. A memorial site was built at Chaironeia, similar to the one at the Thermophylae for Leonidas and his Spartans ~150 years earlier.

Edited by SMST, 09 May 2010 - 06:43 PM.

[Mythos_Ruler]

Hehe, nice work. I suggest screenshots not use such stark camera angles, but that's just my opinion.

[Ykkrosh]

By the way, you can use Ctrl+Alt+F2 to take high-resolution (6400x4800) screenshots and then scale them down in a paint program to emulate nice antialiasing