MOD help

[Broompatrol]

I know I am risking scorn and ridicule with this post, but I am a big boy and am willing to take it I have been unable to figure out CMMOS. I have researched old posts on the subject and I just find my eyes glazing over with confusion. Perhaps it is because of fulltime work and school coupled with a serious NyQuil habit has rattled my brain, but I digress.

Is there anyone who is willing to help me get started using CMMOS and creating mods? I used to be a fine arts major and I used to build scale model dioramas from everything from WWII to Star Wars so I am itching to unleash my creative yearnings on CM.

In return I would be quite willing to help anyone out there in my many subjects of expertise.

Thanks in advance

-Chris

[Philippe]

My advice is not to bother learning how to use CMMOS unless you're planning on making mods for CMBO and perhaps (but only perhaps) CMBB.

Converting a mod to cmmos requires adding a simple suffix or a series of suffixes to a mod's bmp number. That part's so easy it's trivial. But you then have to write a program that integrates the mod into the master program, and then bundle it up into a zip file that the master program can manipulate. This last step requires a lot of trial and error, and should be undertaken by at least two extra pairs of jaundiced eyes. The process is time-consuming and requires skill (not much) and patience ( a lot).

And for the conversion to make any sense, people have to be using CMMOS for mod option switching to begin with (which for the most part they're not).

Almost all of CMBO has been converted to CMMOS. Some of CMBB has as well, and just enough that it wouldn't be a total waste of time to issue a mod that way. CMAK hasn't been converted, and won't be converted, because the people who converted CMBO have largely decided that there are better things to do with their time.

Your best bet for CMAK is to create mods with lots of separate option folders that contain different but complete versions of the mod. The user can then make the switches manually or with McMMM using different names.

Creating Mods and How You Present Them are two separate issues. If you're feeling creative you're best off just going for it, and working out the modalities of insomnia cures later.

And yes, I use CMMOS almost exclusively for CMBO and intermittently for CMBB (less and less as time goes on because the good modders don't have editors to do the conversion for them anymore).

[David I]

Broompatrol,

I never figured it out either.

DavidI

[kawaiku]

Hehe, this must be a new fad, as I have quite a thread on the extreme-gamer(the "new" SZO forums) forums with KG Jag.

[Broompatrol]

I guess my real question is actually creating the mods. I'm used to rendering by hand, not digitally. I've been puzzling out the format of existing mods. But the id numbers and the like is puzzling me.

[Philippe]

One way to learn to mod is to pick something that has been modded to death, and do an obscenely exhaustive compare-and-contrast job on all the different existing versions of whatever it is you're studying.

Not only will you figure out the bmp numbers on that sucker, but as you go through the mod file by file you'll begin to spot mistakes and shortcuts. Then you'll start asking yourself if there wasn't a better way to do that, and next thing you know...

There are bmp number lists embedded in the CMMOS File Lists, but the only ones that are consistantly accurate are the ones in CMBO CMMOS (because most of the mods and their numbers were gone over by several editors). At this point the best way to get the numbers is probably to go to CMMODS and download everybody else's work. The more mods the better, because it can really be surprising what falls through the cracks.

[Broompatrol]

Thanks for the tips.

[Cabe Booth]

Hey broompatrol,

I am currently going through the learning phases myself.

Here is an extremely valuable link to get you started and help with bmp confusion.

http://webandofbrothers.de/tablescharts.htm

You want the BMP charts.

Now you know what appears in what theater and the BMP number that starts off the mod.

The BMPs are sequential usually. You can find out pretty quick which units share some BMP numbers or are exactly the same.

I started by making a folder for each theater.

Then in each of those folders I made a folder for each country

Then I put the XL file from the zip file that you download from the link above in each folder.

Then I went through (you don't have to do this) and made a folder for each unit in the theater and did cmmods search for each one and picked out one I liked best. That way I knew what I wanted to mod and had some darn good examples of mods to learn from or pull colors, markings ect. from.

Plus it gives you all the BMP numbers for that unit in the mod you downloaded. Plus you can find some blank "modder's special" files on CMMODS to work from and save.

Some helpful pointers

For Italy you will need a summer and winter mod for each unit.

Add 50000 to all the bmp numbers in a mod to make it appear in a winter setting

example

Kublewagon side view bmp:

3790.bmp Africa/Crete

no snow in africa/crete but if there was, it would be 53790.bmp

103790.bmp Italy

153790.bmp winter (Italy)

CMBB has its own sets of BMPs, so you have to look at both the CMAK and CMBB charts separately. I have yet to go through CMBBs charts and mods so I cannot say anything other than the numbers should be pretty static across the board, meaning only 2 mod versions for each unit/object. Winter and Summer, unlike CMAK which has desert (Africa/Crete), ETO (Italy), winter (Italy). I may be wrong about the CMBB numbering system, but I would assume since only 1 theater and 2 extremes of weather...... 2 versions of each mod required.

some units will have the same number in both theaters, so never assume you know the BMP number for a unit until you look it up on the chart.

Some Italy theater unis will be in the 4-5 digit range with a snow mod above 50000, and some will be in the 6 digit range with a snow mod above 150000.bmp

Crete and Africa have the same mod bmp numbers.

Italy has its own.

some units/guns/uniforms/artillery ect. share BMPs across the board

If any of this is confusing, and it was for me, just throw me an email and I will try to convey what I have learned.

[ March 15, 2007, 12:19 AM: Message edited by: Cabe ]

[Broompatrol]

Thanks again,

My cup overfloweth.