Can somebody help a noob out and explain this "Mod" thing to me?

[MasterGoodale]

What do they do? I know they are modified vehicles and terrain and stuff that players make but can anybody load them into their copy of CM and how do you do it? How do you make mods?

I'm baffled.

[Mud]

In the CMBB (and CMBO, for that matter) installation trees, there are 'wav' and 'bmp' directories. These hold, respectively, sound files (as .wav; Unix 'file' tells me they're Microsoft PCM, 16 bit, mono 44100 Hz *shrug*) and textures (as Windows bitmaps). Mods may replace any or all (!) of these files.

For a VERY simple example, consider the minefield signs. They're 1220.bmp (AP) and 1224.bmp (AT, both buried and daisy-chain), and by default they use the same color scheme and are a bit tough to distinguish from a high-level view. If you want to change the AT one, you could edit 1224.bmp however you choose such as by changing its background color to a dark gold.

Now, consider a more complicated example. Suppose you want gridded grass and snow . Grass is actually multiple textures -- 40 (1550-1589, 1470-1489, 1870-1889). You /could/ edit them all by hand, but that would be tedious, and you'd need macroing capabilities to produce identical edits. A saner process would be

(1) Designing your grid texture. For instance, for my use I made a 256x256 image that's mostly white, but has grey lines that, when tiled, form an octogon-and-square mix.

(2) Using an automated tool like ImageMagick + a Perl script to apply this texture as a bump map to the grass/snow.

Mods, then, are primarily collections of modified .bmp files (usually) or .wav files (some sound mods have been made) which replace, say, all the texture sets for the different T-34s or whatever. You can use whatever image editor or sound editor you're comfortable with, so long as you have a way to produce .bmp and .wav files. Also, since they're just .bmp and .wav files, they affect aesthetics, but not game mechanics.

(Edit: Adding some more info.

As to /what/ can be modded:

- Every single one of 2,324 .wav files, from the opening theme (I'm using a .wav converted from an .mp3 of the Soviet { and current, IIRC } National Anthem }.

- .bmps for Uniforms, vehicles, small arms, explosion animations, buildings, the sky, terrain... There appear to be 5,987 .bmps in my CMBB bmp directory...

For a very strange, fairly large "themed" mod, try searching for the "SS Weihnachtengrenadier" for CMBO (sp?) mod, featuring Coca-Cola trucks, snowmen, a candy-caned interface, at least one scenario, and a Jingle Bells .wav, IIRC).

)

[ November 04, 2002, 12:19 AM: Message edited by: Mud ]

[notalex]

What do they do? I know they are modified vehicles and terrain and stuff that players make but can anybody load them into their copy of CM and how do you do it? How do you make mods?

I'm baffled.

Nothing to it, really. You just modify the

stock .BMP files with a graphics program like

Paint Shop Pro or Photoshop. Of if you're

especially adventurous, you can design something

from scratch.

Incorporating the files is easy enough. You

overwrite the files in the BMP or WAV folders

with your improvements.

I'm only an amateur at it, but be prepared

to be deluged with advice from some of the more

experienced modders here.