[stratweg]

I am working on a specific mod : French army mod, with french platoons organization, french weapons and vehicles, etc

I have added some units and groups with 7,8,9,10 mens according to actual organization and according to old organization (1970-1980) and it works fun

And I will also try work to change pb of vehicle immobilizations (it's too easy to immobilize vehicle in vanilla game)


2 questions, please:

1/ How can I change graphics in game (to change US flags to french flags). I downloaded a sample of art work here :
http://www.closecombatseries.net/CCS/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=10045&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=20
 
but I have no tool or idea about the process to add these artwork in the game


2/ How can I change vehicles graphics of the game ? (is there a specific tool for that ?)[b]

And other question : I noticed that editor allows to build 1,2,3,4, and 5 pool forces for each side, but in game only the 1 appears : is it a normal situation ?

[ScnelleMeyer]

Your questions:

1. The flags are in the terrain file. You can use CC2Spriter v2.95 (found in the download section of this site under tools) or CCMunger (https://www.matrixgames.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=10373&t=229941) programmes to unpack and repack this file. - So unpack put the new flags in and repack, back up your original file and put the new terrain file in the game folder.

2. You can unpack the Tanks.azp graphics file using RtBTool v2.39 or CCMunger. Once you unpack you will see the structure of the file. Each vehicle needs a text file with coordinates for hull and turret and it needs a shadow too - its located in the Shadows.azp file. To get started  - just copy one of the similar stock shadow files and rename it to your new vehicle and repack. If you want to adapt an existing shadow or make a new one from scratch: - Use CCVehShEdit.


You can also do a search on this site under the modding section. There are several topics regarding modding vehicles.
- Ask if you need more detail on the process.

The editor needs deployment zones for all the possible players which is 10 (5vs5) but in single player game only 1 "set" of units is used.

[ScnelleMeyer]

http://www.closecombatseries.net/CCS/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&p=70577&highlight=#70577
 
Check out this forum posts - mind you - it was one of my first attempts at modding at all so it might not be totally up to date...

[ScnelleMeyer]

Chance to immobilize is controled by a coloumn in the Terrain.txt file located in MAINGAMEFOLDER/DATA/BASE

[stratweg]

Thanks for infos

I will see these tools and try to learn to work with

[stratweg]

[ScnelleMeyer]

Yes, that is the only coloumn that I think can have the effect on what you want. But the vehicle will be more resistant to any damage - So it will in most cases take more shots to kill it if you increase the values in this coloumn.

Btw I hope you will share your mod when you are happy with it? - I am working on finishing the conversion of the cold war mod Red Storm Rising mod from CC5 to The Longest Day and the mod has 1 French battlegroup so I am very interested to see what units you have in your mod.

[stratweg]

[ScnelleMeyer]

Sounds great! Thanks for the excellent overview. It would be awesome to try this organization within CCMT! - I will contact you on PM a bit later.

[stratweg]

ok, no problem

Attached : work in progress

[ScnelleMeyer]

Looking very nice! Those large teams with automatic weapons have a lot of firepower! - Congratulation on a great start of your mod. - If you want to edit the team icons here is a link where you can find some of the original, layered Photoshop files: http://www.closecombatseries.net/SiteArchive/CSO/Graphics_Library/Unit%20Icon%20Templates/

[stratweg]

Thanks for files. I will also try to edit and use shp icons of the old "modern" steel panthers WSPMBT after reducing their size (there is a tool to extract them : Shpedit)

[ScnelleMeyer]

Sounds interesting, I am looking forward to see how they will look in CCMT!

[stratweg]

Seems that :

1/ CC2spriter does not open the CCMT files : I have messages "wrong format" when I try to open  files contained in the GRAPHICS directory with this tool

2/FXMunger tool does not work better : (My OS is Windows 7 pro)

a/ When I extract Tank.azp, the tool display a message "out of memory" and stop to extract (all files are not extracted, lot are missing)

b/ When I extract terrains, it works good. But when I modify one graph file in tga, his format changes and becomes 24 bits (in place of 32 bits). I tried with Gimp and photofiltre (I have not photoshop). Due to that, when I rebuild under FXMUNGER tool, I have sometimes a error message. And when I have not the error message, the game crashes when I use new terrain file and I have the message : "wrong colors used", etc.
(I wanted to change the US flag in french flag)

Seems that the art work is very hard with CCMT, tools are not 100% ok and there are lot of parameters (32 / 24 bits for images, palettes of colors, etc).

I will keep the US flag and keep also vanilla graphs. It is not very important, because at the CCMT scale, icons are very smalls, and all main battle tanks seems identical (same for other vehicles : a US Bradley and a french VBCI have pretty the same look at this mini scale)

ScnelleMeyer, did you use these tools for your own work ?

I will just mod data parameters and names

[ScnelleMeyer]

Firstly: - ALL Graphics in CCMT need to be in the format of uncompressed, 16bit .TGA. This is mentioned in all the readme files for the tools as well.
If you dont have a graphics program that can save in this format, the RTB tool has a "Graphics file format conversion" function built in that can do the job. You find it under the File menu.

1. CC2Spriter will work to unpack the terrain files of any Close Combat game - see attached image below. It will not open all Graphics files of the game - no. There are other tools for those - for example RtB tool.

2. Tell me more about how you are trying to use FX Munger. - you are the first guy reporting a problem with that app as far as I know. What steps are you doing / what options do you choose within the programme?
- If you absolutely cant get FX munger to work - the RTB tool does the job just excellent too. You can try that instead.


The graphics are a very important feature of the game and of modding the game. Dont give up on implementing new graphics my friend.

[stratweg]

Yes, graphs are interessant, but the pb is : need lot of time to learn how to manage images, etc, and it is not exactly my speciality  

What I just wish to do : to have french flag in place of US flag

Attached  are the 2 tga original files I extracted with CC2SPRITER (us flags, one = 100%, one = 5O%)

And in addition, attached are the 2 same files reworked in png with french flag (one=100%, one = 50%)

Could you please convert these 2 png reworked files in tga correct format and rebuilt the terrain file with CC2SPRITER ?

(on my Pc, it does not work : CC2SPRITER send a error message because my files are not in 16 bit format ; I tried to register them in bmp 16 colors, bmp 24 colors etc and it does not work)

[stratweg]

seems that "attachment file" does not work for tga format

[ScnelleMeyer]

RTB tool has a "Graphics file format conversion" function built in that can do the job. You find it under the File menu.

Nice work on the flags. - Just use rtb tool to convert the graphics to 16.bit .tga and repack with CC2Spriter.

[stratweg]

Cool : now, it works fine with RtB tool, and I have french flag in game

Thanks a lot for help    

I will try now for the vehicles, to see if it works also

[ScnelleMeyer]

Lovely! Great job! - Modding is skills and knowledge and by being persistent and asking questions you will learn the techniques.