Knokke

I did'nt test the statics in ToW1. I'll have a look to see if I can make it work. So, the building is the Kroll Oper... my memories of Berlin must be fading out. Awesome town, by the way.

Tartari, I tested with the Air_ministry building (a mono.sim type of building), and at least this one is working in a mission. There are still a few problem with the file as is, though: infantry can see through the walls, and the buiding has no shadow. Lod distances would have to be a bit refined too, IMHO. Have a look at your message box, I've sent you an email with the steps I've taken to see the Air_ministry building in game. eh? what is this big building doing in the middle of Tier Garten in your screenshot ? The Spree looks nice. you could use the Spree_bort objects to enhance the look of the enbankments: they're working i game too. having looked further into the Air_ministry max scene, it seems the collision is not working because the collision object collision_x0y0_dam0 is not a convex one. it should be splitted into two collision objects collision1_x0y0_dam0 and collision2_x0y0_dam0 to have a convex shape. that should allow the game engine to handle the collision properly. As for the shadows, there is a shadow object inside the scene, so the tse file have probably been created without enabling the shadow for last lod option.

Thanks Arzok

The massive mod pack relates in more than a way to ToW2 too: some of the models inside the pack can be used for ToW2 straight away (the bridges for example) after they're added to the data/settings/static.ini file. The meshtools can be used to create import new 3D models into ToW2.

I succeeded to import my first object in game with the Meshtools. It means I should be able to import whatever static object I want from now on for my map. http://pigeonh@free.fr/ToW/grave_wall-1.jpg But I have an other problem now: for an unknown reason (not related to the import of my new objects, because I had this problem before) I'm no longer able to save my map when I make a change. If I save my work with the menu "save as", the Name of the map still has an * appended, meaning that the changes have not been saved. This is confirmed if I exit the map by the pop-up message asking me if I want to save the changes before exiting. Needless to say that if I hit the save button, nothing is saved. Anyone amongst the map makers here had this problem before and knows what could be the reason? I could be related with me having manually edited the pathfindcells.tga, because I first noticed the problem some time after. Beside, as it can be seen in the screenshot above, I still have no cue why I can't change the settings for the color of the fog (FogRGB) and why I can't see my new skycube. Any help to cure theses troubles would be greatly appreciated -Knokke

The 3D models of the buildings would need to be reworked to allow infantry to enter them. That's not impossible, but there is a good amount of work left to do before they could be used like other ToW2 buildings. To use the buildings in ToW1 is easy, though: it's just a matter of a few lines of text added in the data/settings/static.ini, and adding the mat files for each texture.

Thanks for sharing it with us

I've started converting a very simple mesh (only a wooden box) with the converter tools. My object is of the "mono" type, having only one bone with a x0y0_dam0 main mesh, two lods, the ground_level hook, and a collision shape c_x0y0_dam0 , without a damage mesh. Creating the mono.mcn file was easy, as was the creation of the mesh0000.tse file. I had some trouble with the system-wide path variable though (damn Vista!! I was not able to set it properly). I solved the problem by copying the mono.mcn file and mesh0000.tse file to the Meshtool directory, and launched the cnvMono.bat file to convert the model. Everything looked fine, except for an error message when calculating the boundBox telling me that sectset is not recognized as an internal or external command, that it is not an executable or a command file. After that, the mono.sim file and the x0y0_dam0.msh where created normally it seems, but the mesh can't be seen in the map editor, even with the entry for the static wooden box is correctly defined in the data/settins/static.ini file. Does it mean that there should be a "sectset" file amongst the executables in the Meshtool directory that is missing? or is it a problem with me not being able the create the system-wide path variable? Any hint of what's the problem, Sneaksie?

You should have extracted the files of the Modpack to a temporary directory, not directly inside ToW main folder, for fear of creating a big mess. The files inside the Modpack are not working "as is". We need to make configuration files for them first if they're to work in game. For example, all the buildings and static objects needs to be added to the static.ini file in the folder data/settings. As for the maps, if you check the folders of the new maps, you'll find only the texture for the ground (Maintex.tga and Farmaintex.tga) and the grayscale RAW bitmaps for the elevation maps. To start to work with theses maps, you'll need to copy some files from one of the "clear_season_map" to the new map you want to mod (all the files inside the clear map missing from the map you want to mod, except the QuickLoad textures). Don't overwrite the Maintex.tga, Farmaintex.tga, nearHF.raw and farHF.raw of the new map, though, or you'll loose the ground textures and the map will become flat. Once this is done, you can start to add buidings, trees, roads, etc. The Romanian, italians and hungarian units are also only the 3D models. They need configuration files like the ones for the germans, french, british and american units to work in ToW. I hope this helps a little, and that it will start you creating new maps for ToW. Regards, -Knokke

@LeLynx correction: the scripts might be working in 3DSmax9, but the tekstexp_max8.dle plug-in gives an error in Max9.

Note that you can have an element of randomness in the choice of OpFor units, as Gnasher as done in is British Bulldog campaign for ToW1.

Thanks a lot Moon.

I can't either. This doesn't seems to be a browser related problem (I'm using firefox). Hopefully, Moon will fix the link. here is the error message: I could not find the button to report the link as broken though, so we'll have to wait till Moon is reading this post

Thanks for the answer Moon! forgotten to be included? This was wicked joke to play on us Now I'm a fully happy man @Prince of Eckmühl: the vehicles included are listed in the repository (though the names didn't help me to know what they are). Here is the detailled list: -A flack 38 AA gun on its lafette. -Brone Parozow is a Russian armored train (it was supposed to be a fully functionnal player unit, looking at the file, before the idea of usable trains was dropped). We could probably still use it as a playable unit, albeit a static one if we create the configuration files that are needed. It will require to find historical data for this train, though. -There are models of canadians?, Romanians, Italians and Hungarians soldiers. -Files for a US M-26 Pershing tank in various states of completion -Minin is an other armored train (locomotive, tender and artillery waggon) -P-52 and tender is the beautiful model of a steam engine with its tender (also supposed to be a playable unit rather than a static one, as the wheels are animated?) -SdKfz251C with hull mounted 280mm Wurfgerat -SdKfz251C with hull mounted 320mm Wurfgerat -SdKfz 234/2 Puma 8 wheeled armored car -Sha and tender is an other beautiful steam engine with tender (also with animated wheels) -Smialy is a Polish armored train including artillery waggon, assault waggon, engine and tender. It was also intended to be a fully functionnal unit, as there are various hooks for the crew, the guns, and hooks to attach the waggons to the engine. We could probably make it a playable static unit with some work. -Teplushka is a wooden freight car. -Wurfgerat 41 Rocket Launcher 280mm: a static rocket launcher unit -Wurfgerat 41 Rocket Launcher 320mm: a static rocket launcher unit

Well, I put quite a lot of images in my document, so it wasn't so difficult to reach page 50

Max 9 should work, at least it is working with the tools we have at the moment. The house.ms script is working with 3DSmax9.

I'm also using Vista 32, and I can extract the SFS archived files without problems. Just make sure you run the utility with administrator rights. This could be what is giving you theses troubles.

I share Oudy's appreciation. The shear volume and quality of the stuff released is impressive. The documentation about creating new units is greatly appreciated. The manuals are very clear and complete. With only the houses static objects and bridges, modders will be able to create a lot of new interesting maps. It is nice to be able to grasp what was the vision of the devellopers about ToW. There is so much stuff here that should have been in the initial release. I specially appreciated to see the armored trains (even a Polish one!) and the beautiful steam locos that were planned to be included in the game as playable units. All the new models units in the release, ready to be included in ToW should keep us busy for a while. New tanks, new vehicles and guns... even Romanian, Hungarian, and italians for the eastern front! The models could even be converted for ToW2 with a bit of work. Still I admit that i'm a bit puzzled after having read the ToW Model Converter document: from reading it, we get the impression that the conversion tools are provided in an other archive of the ToW mega mod pack, but the only tool listed in the documentation included in the pack is the house.ms script. What of the collisions.ms, vehicles.ms, tekstexp_max8.dle, 3dm2msh.exe, 3do23dm.exe, AddTangentSpace.exe, cnvSequ.bat, cnvMono.bat, cnvmodelopt.bat, cnvMany.bat, cnvHier.bat, cnvEffMono.bat, HanCnv.exe, cnv.bat, and Tse2xxx.exe utilities and scripts? where they planned to be part of the mod pack, or will the tools come in an other release? Don't get me wrong, I really appreciate the gift that 1C and Battlefront has given us, I would even probably have paid to get this as an add-on, but I can't help to be hungry for more, convinced that I was that the tools mentionned in the manuals were part of the release. Anyway, Thanks a lot for all this great stuff provided freely to us, it is really appreciated

Oudy, I can confirm that I don't have the problem with the blank images. Your download was probably corrupted?

Well, i've been beaten by the release of the mod tools and documentation in the ToW mega mod pack . I had already written a 50 pages documentation about creating new models for ToW and was about to release the first draft. It now seems like i'll have to heavily amend it. Well done 1C and Battlefront! you couldn't make me more happy!! now, quick the converter and documentation are waiting for me !!!

This is probably part of the next JHS release ?

Sneaksie, you said too much, or too little I'm waiting eagerly for this addon since a long time already

I believe that there are not that many new maps done at the moment, because most ToW1 and 2 users have not enough knowledge of the workings of the game to be able to create fully new maps. As is, ToW2 map editor looks to most users only a tool for modifying existing maps. This is far from being true, some peoples in the community have knowledge enough to create completely new maps and missions/campaign. I'm thinking about Oudy, Tartari, Gnasher, and probably a few others. I myself have a knowledge too limited at the moment to be able to achieve what i'm aiming for (a european map for ToW2) - I need to understand a few things more before i'm ready to release anything. But right now, it is possible to create any north-african map we desire. Once the tutorials in the making have been released, I think more peoples will be able to learn the skills needed to create new maps easily, and I do hope that we'll see more peoples involved in map making. The most difficult thing right now is adding new 3D models to the game. There are still a lot of things for me to learn in this area. I've succeeded in adding a few new models to ToW1, and now to ToW2, so I've a fairly good understanding of the way to do it, but I've to admit this is a process of one step forward, two steps backward. I don't really know if the problems I have comes from the tool I'm using (the only one at our disposal: MshConverter), or from me still having not enough knowledge of the inner workings of ToW to succeed in my imports every time. At the moment, it seems to me that we don't have the right tools to convert 3DS files to Msh files. So I really hope that the developpers will release a tool that would allow us to create new 3D models for ToW2. Besides, it seems I'm the only person trying to add completly new 3D models to the game; this make it even more difficult for me, as there is none to share the discoveries made on this rough an uneven path of creating new 3D units. I do believe what is needed is more tutorials than the ones released for ToW1 a long time ago; maybe it could bring interest in more peoples to create brand new 3D units for the game. So, I could try to make a tutorial about the process of creating new 3D models for ToW (but I don't know how far this could get, if there is none interested to create new units except me). Besides, as I don't succeed every time to import my models, what would be the use of a tutorial to create models that wont appear in game? An other way would be for 1C to handle for us the converting of the models to have them working in ToW. I seems to remember that when ToW1 was released, there was such a proposal made by the development team, but it seems nobody answered the call. For ToW2, the same offer as not been made, so I don't know what 1C policy is about this subject. Such a thing would have been done by 1C developers in their free time, on a voluntary basis, which means it depends solely on their good will, and we can't ask too much of them, as they're probably over-burdened already with other projects. Anyway, I'll start working on a basic tutorial to create 3D models for ToW, in the hope that it could sparkle more interest in ToW community to mod the game and add new content to it. Don't expect too much of it anyway, the road is still a steep one. I see it as a two part tutorial: one part dealing with creating models to try to import them in game with MshConverter; a second part dealing with creating models and hier.mcn files so that they could be imported in game by 1C. ToW2 needs to have a bigger fan base; the game as so much potential that it deserve much more attention that it receives right now: almost anything could be modded with a better understanding of the workings of the game.

what's the difference with SFSExtractor303?

excellent advice Laminar. I personally don't find my infantry useless (at least since i've learned to hide them in good spots where they can deliver a few nasty surprises before being spotted). An antitank team will be killed easily, as any other infantryman lying in plain sight, even if hidden in a bush, or trench, as soon as the ennemy gets close enough (they die usually before a target comes in range). But if they're posted in defilade between two houses for example, they'll be able to do a lot of damage because they won't be spotted too soon, and they'll be able to fire a shot at the side of a tank from close range before anyone as a chance to notice. The same principle apply equally well to normal infantry too. It will be easier for them to come close to a tank and throw a AT grenade at their tracks, disabling them. Even infantry lying down in trenches can survive long enough to at least disable the tracks of a few tanks. it is easier to use infantry in the game in defense, because you don't have to move, and can wait for the ennemy to walk into your traps. Any infantry moving in the open will be an easy target for tanks, guns, artillery barrages, and even ennemy infantry lying in ambush. There is only one way to get closer from the ennemy: using terrain to conceal the movement of your troops; if the ennemy cant see them, they will not be targeted, and so will live longer. If there is no way to get close unnoticed, then it is useless to launch a frontal attack in the open: it will end like in real life, by a slaughter. When the ennemy is launching a tank attack against your trenches, there is no use for your infantry staying in there if you have time to withdraw inside a village, or a more concealed position. The trenches are usually in the open, and their occupants will most likely be targeted as soon as they're spotted. It's better to stay concealed in the trenches though, if there is no time to change position, or if it involves running in the open without cover under ennemy fire. They'll last a little longer in the trenches, and might still do some damage before being overrun.