Modding question

[acctingman1969]

Hello

Totally new to this series and I had a question on modding. First, is there a tutorial somewhere on how to mod in the series?

Secondly, I see tons of mods here, but they all seem to be maps/campaigns. Do any of these mods include vehicles? For instance, is it possible to "mod" in Italian tanks, or other units NOT in the original game?

Thanks!

[Kieme(ITA)]

Hello, a way to think about mods in CM series games: think about the game, all you can see you can mod its "skin", the textures that are on it.

You can not mod the 3d models, the "shapes".

You can change every single pixel on that skin, you can even make it 200% its pixel size, or 400% and so on.

So you can paint your T-34 for example in any color you want, any finiture, paint a word, a number etc. but you cannot add a different turret shape or attach a wooden box on top of it.

So you can paint your troops in any way you want, change their faces etc.

There are few exceptions, like making a detail on a tank desappear, because you can mod it to be "transparent" in game. For example you can make disappear the gun of a tank, or its entire turret. It will be there for the game, it will just be invisible to you.

Porting vehicles from other games of the series can be done in some very rare cases, it involves renaming various files. But I am not an expert in this matter, and besides I think the game will keep thinking the ported vehicle is the same as the original one.

You can mod all sounds.

Closest thing to a tutorial, but something more dedicated to the game would be indeed needed, a good idea for something useful for the community...

http://www.battlefront.com/community/showthread.php?t=82726

BFC repository and CMMODS site have A LOT of mods that have vehicle textures.

[acctingman1969]

Thanks Kieme

So, if a, let's say TYpe 97 Japanese tank isn't in one of the games or expansions there is no way to "mod" one for this series of games?

You'd have to take a tank that's already in the game and "paint" on a Japanese symbol and a different camo/color scheme?

[Kieme(ITA)]

There's no Type 97 tank in any CM game or expansion, older or newer.

That's correct, you can take a tank already in game and paint it as you wish, you cannot add a thing that is not there in the first place.

For example: you can take a soviet T-43/76 mod.43 and make it like a German captured T-34/76, with a German camouflage and a balkenkreuz. But it will be a russian unit, unless you make a new scenario, make it so it is russians vs russians purchase the t-34 for both sides, then switch game type in terms of opposing sides german vs russians and keep the t-34 tank on the german side, it will look like a russian T-34 playing for the germans.

Sounds complicated but a look at the scenario editor will clear this up.

[Erwin]

Hmmm... so one could simulate sci-fi hover-tanks and vehicles etc. by making the lower part transparent, and painting the rest so it looks like it's out of StarWars or somesuch?

I like where you're going with this Kieme.

[Badger73]

Seems to me, though, that for gameplay purposes, the attributes of the original vehicle before modding will always be what the game engine would use.

So if I took a Panzer MkIII and dressed it up to look like a hovertank from David Drake's "Hammer's Slammers", that 200mm bore powergun would only pack a 50mm punch and any ol' 57mm AT gun would bring that bad boy down; not so?

[Erwin]

So, you take a Brummbar or somesuch.

[Splinty]

Seems to me, though, that for gameplay purposes, the attributes of the original vehicle before modding will always be what the game engine would use.

So if I took a Panzer MkIII and dressed it up to look like a hovertank from David Drake's "Hammer's Slammers", that 200mm bore powergun would only pack a 50mm punch and any ol' 57mm AT gun would bring that bad boy down; not so?

That's exactly right.

[umlaut]

Hi and welcome aboard

I´ll try to answer your questions one by one.

First, is there a tutorial somewhere on how to mod in the series?

I don´t think so. But that depends on how you define modding - see below.

Secondly, I see tons of mods here, but they all seem to be maps/campaigns.

It might be semantics, but I don´t consider making maps and scenarios modding. In my book that is scenario design - and JonS has made an excellent tutorial on that:

http://www.battlefront.com/community/showthread.php?t=110294&highlight=design

To me, modding is modification of vehicles, buildings, terrain etc in the game. In CM you can only mod the textures of the units/buildings etc - not the shape.

I have myself been toying with the idea of making a modding tutorial, but I don´t think I will. It would probably pretty quickly turn into a Photoshop tutorial - and since different people use PS differently - and at very different skill levels - it would be very hard to make a tutorial that would be useful to everyone.

Do any of these mods include vehicles?

Yes, there are lots of vehicle mods. Many of them are in the repository, but most are at this great site: http://cmmods.greenasjade.net/

It is free to join and use (but donations are very welcome).

I especially recommend Aris´ vehicle mods and TanksALot´s building mods.

For instance, is it possible to "mod" in Italian tanks, or other units NOT in the original game?

That has already been answered perfectly.

Cheers