Severe Confusion 2 (Editor help)

[Frost]

I just recently purchased SC2 Blitzkrieg and I'm eager to start using the editor and making my own campaigns. I'm looking to edit the countries and armies to make a future WW III campaign, but I can't seem to edit any of the armies or the countries. The default stays at UK and Germany for the lead Axis and Ally countries. I thought you could use the editor to change everything?? To quote the manual..."The Editor is flexible enough to allow full customization for other time periods, and for virtually any scale and scope." That quote makes me feel like I'm DEFINITELY doing something wrong...so any help would be much appreciated

[Retributar]

Sir 'Frost' ... i myself am not making MODS, but there are quite a few that have dabbled with it here!.

Here's a list of some that are into it...and they might be able to help you out!.

Blashy

Edwin P.

Honch

Fartnock3r

Scook

...and other's, i just can't remember their names right now!. My understanding, is that what you want to get done is possible, but 'Unfortunately' not quite as easy to do as you think!. With a little guidance, you should soon be on your way at using the Editor!.

[n0kn0k]

If i were you i'd just remove all units before i'd start editing The Editor is made up of several working layers on top of eachother. Those are..

Ground

Rivers

Trees mountains and stuff

Mine Oil Cities etc

Units

Weather

Press the Edit Unit Layer button.

Then the Remove Items button.

For changing land ownership properties.

Press the Edit Tile Layer button.

The Select Items button.

Select a few and rightclick.

Ohh also a nice way to learn stuff is start over from scratch. Make 2 islands and test all the options Something like a proof of concept.

[J P Wagner]

Make certain that you have a copy of the CAMPAIGN CONFIGURATION FILE in the folder you are using for your mod. When you click on this file you will see the following:

#CUSTOM_BITMAPS= 1

#CUSTOM_INTERFACE= 1

#CUSTOM_SOUND= 1

#CUSTOM_LOCALIZATION= 1

If any of the values are 0, you need to change them to 1 as shown above. Also if you want to change names of unit types, countries ect, you need to put a copy of the LOCALIZATION file, into your mod folder as well...

hope this helps....

[Frost]

Thanks everyone for the info, I'm going to try out all your suggestions...as long as I can change the default Axis and Ally countries to whatever I want, I'll be able to accomplish what I want. I'll let you know how it goes...

[J P Wagner]

Frost, just to add to my post....When you copy the localization file into your mod folder, and open it with notepad, you will find a section of the file with this info:

; Country IDs

#SEA= Sea

#UK= UK

#FRANCE= France

#USA= USA

#USSR= USSR

#GERMANY= Germany

#ITALY= Italy

#NEUTRAL= Neutral

#ALBANIA= Albania

#ALGERIA= Algeria

#AUSTRIA= Austria

#BALTIC_STATES= Baltic States

#BENELUX= Benelux

#BULGARIA= Bulgaria

#CANADA= Canada

#CZECHOSLOVAKIA= Czechoslovakia

#DENMARK= Denmark

#EGYPT= Egypt

#ESTONIA= Estonia

#FINLAND= Finland

#GREECE= Greece

#HUNGARY= Hungary

#ICELAND= Iceland

#IRAN= Iran

#IRAQ= Iraq

#IRELAND= Ireland

#JORDAN= Jordan

#LIBYA= Libya

#LITHUANIA= Lithuania

#LUXEMBOURG= Luxembourg

#MOROCCO= Morocco

#NETHERLANDS= Netherlands

#NORWAY= Norway

#POLAND= Poland

#PORTUGAL= Portugal

#REPUBLICAN_SPAIN= Republican Spain

#ROMANIA= Romania

#SAUDI_ARABIA= Saudi Arabia

#SPAIN= Spain

#SWEDEN= Sweden

#SWITZERLAND= Switzerland

#SYRIA= Syria

#TUNISIA= Tunisia

#TURKEY= Turkey

#VICHY_FRANCE= Vichy France

#YUGOSLAVIA= Yugoslavia

; Terrain IDs

#RIVER= River

#FOREST= Forest

#MOUNTAIN= Mountain

#MARSH= Marsh

#DEPRESSION= Depression

; Resource IDs

#PORT= Port

#MINE= Mine

#OIL= Oil

#FORTIFICATION= Fortification

#FORTRESS= Fortress

#CITY= City

#CAPITAL= Capital

; Unit IDs

#HQ= HQ

#CORPS= Corps

#ARMY= Army

#ENGINEERS= Engineers

#PARATROOPS= Paratroops

#ROCKETS= Rockets

#TANK_GROUP= Tank Group

#AIR_FLEET= Air Fleet

#BOMBERS= Bombers

#BATTLESHIP= Battleship

#CRUISER= Cruiser

#CARRIER= Carrier

#SUB= Sub

#PARTISANS= Partisans

#AMPHIBIOUS_TRANSPORT= Amphibious Transport

#TRANSPORT= Transport

It is here where you make the necessary changes. For example, here is a section from my RCW localization file:

; Country IDs

#SEA= Sea

#UK= Southern Whites

#FRANCE= Northwest Whites

#USA= Allied Intervention Army

#USSR= Poland

#GERMANY= Bolsheviks

#ITALY= Siberian Whites

#NEUTRAL= Neutral

#ALBANIA= Don Cossacks

#ALGERIA= Orenburg Cossacks

#AUSTRIA= Siberian Cossacks

#BALTIC_STATES= Kuban Cossacks

#BENELUX= Terek Cossacks

#BULGARIA= Astrakhan Cossacks

#CANADA= Volga Cossacks

#CZECHOSLOVAKIA= Czech Legion

#DENMARK= Makhno Anarchists

#EGYPT= Trans-Baikal Cossacks

#ESTONIA= Caucusus Cossacks

#FINLAND= Finland

#GREECE= Ural Cossacks

#HUNGARY= Ukraine

#ICELAND= Trans-Caspian Cossacks

#IRAN= Bukharan Cossacks

#IRAQ= Iraq

#IRELAND= Ireland

#JORDAN= Jordan

#LIBYA= Libya

#LITHUANIA= Lithuania

#LUXEMBOURG= Luxembourg

#MOROCCO= Morocco

#NETHERLANDS= Netherlands

#NORWAY= Norway

#POLAND= Poland

#PORTUGAL= Portugal

#REPUBLICAN_SPAIN= Republican Spain

#ROMANIA= Romania

#SAUDI_ARABIA= Saudi Arabia

#SPAIN= Spain

#SWEDEN= Sweden

#SWITZERLAND= Switzerland

#SYRIA= Syria

#TUNISIA= Tunisia

#TURKEY= Turkey

#VICHY_FRANCE= Vichy France

#YUGOSLAVIA= Yugoslavia

; Terrain IDs

#RIVER= River

#FOREST= Forest

#MOUNTAIN= Mountain

#MARSH= Marsh

#DEPRESSION= Desert

; Resource IDs

#PORT= Port

#MINE= Mine

#OIL= Oil

#FORTIFICATION= Fortification

#FORTRESS= Fortress

#CITY= City

#CAPITAL= Capital

; Unit IDs

#HQ= HQ

#CORPS= Brigade

#ARMY= Division

#ENGINEERS= Worker Groups

#PARATROOPS= Cavalry

#ROCKETS= Armoured Train

#TANK_GROUP= Tank Group

#AIR_FLEET= Air Fleet

#BOMBERS= Bombers

#BATTLESHIP= Battleship

#CRUISER= Cruiser

#CARRIER= Carrier

#SUB= Sub

#PARTISANS= Partisans

#AMPHIBIOUS_TRANSPORT= Amphibious Transport

#TRANSPORT= Transport

; Political Alignment IDs

#PA_NEUTRAL= Neutral

#PA_AXIS= Reds

#PA_ALLIED= Whites

Save your changes and you are set!

[Frost]

J P Wagner, n0Kn0k, Retributar, thanks a lot for all the info...I'm actually starting to make some progress here instead of staring blankly at the screen! I see how you can get around the default countries (UK and Germany) by changing the names in the localization file...but of course now I have another question. I know this is probably more advanced, but is there away to edit the flags of the countries or the units themselves??

[n0kn0k]

#CUSTOM_BITMAPS= 1

In the config file.

Then make a folder called Bitmaps and copy over some bitmap files from the bitmap folder in the SC2 Bitmaps folder.

flag_sprites.bmp

flag_sprites_mirrored.bmp

military_flag_sprites.bmp

tile_sprites.bmp

unit_sprites_3d.bmp

etc etc

Ohh a good hint would be to check some of the campaign folders and see what Hubert changed from the standard settings That will give you some info on how he changes stuff from the standard settings.

[Frost]

I see how just pasting in the unit sprites will overwrite the standard ones, do people out there in mod land make sprites or is there a way to make them?

[n0kn0k]

Hehe that's the problem i'm facing also.

It requires some Photoshop skills which i totally lack

[J P Wagner]

The easiest thing to do is find a good jpeg image and use PAINT or PAINT.NET to convert it to a bmp image (by using the "save as" option). You need to then resize the image to approximately a 75x75 pixel image to paste it over the original bitmap image. There may be times you need to "white out" sections of the original image if the new one does not completely cover it. I find that pictures of models look the best when you convert them to a bmp image but some photos can work as well. Practice with paint or paint.net on a copied SC2 bitmap until you are comfortable with it....if your PC has MICROSOFT'S DIGITAL IMAGE STARTER EDITION then that is a decent program to use as well.

I'm not a pro using these programs by any means, and if you look at my RCW images, you can see some flaws, such as crowding of the new bitmap images resulting in some overruns of part of one image into anothers field. My last duty will try to clean up my bitmaps before I release the mod.

[Frost]

thanks again, I'm going to do some flag photoshopping right now. As for the units, I'm going to try what you said JP, I'll see what I can come up with. I have one more question though, and this will probably be the last for a while...is there anyway to paste a map onto the editor and then go over it with the editor? I don't know if I explained that well...

[J P Wagner]

Open up the SC2 folder and you will see a folder named "extras"...open that and you will find a map making tutorial and a map generator...I never used the map generator as this was added after I already did my map so you will need to check it out yourself...perhaps someone else has tried the generator....good luck

[n0kn0k]

This might help I've been busy yesterday with a little help from Hubert.

activation_sprites.bmp

144 Width / 8 sprites = 18 pixels

42 Hight / 2 sprites = 21 pixels

border_sprites.bmp

1280 Width / 10 sprites = 128 pixels

256 Hight / 4 sprites = 64 pixels

counter_sprites.bmp

1024 Width / 8 sprites = 128 pixels

128 Hight / 2 sprites = 64 pixels

explosion_sprites.bmp

512 Width / 4 sprites = 128 pixels

128 Hight / 2 sprites = 64 pixels

flag_sprites.bmp

185 Width / 5 sprites = 37 pixels

324 Hight / 9 sprites = 36 pixels

flag_sprites_mirrored.bmp

185 Width / 5 sprites = 37 pixels

324 Hight / 9 sprites = 36 pixels

light_resource_sprites.bmp

512 Width / 4 sprites = 128 pixels

2387 Hight / 31 sprites = 77 pixels

light_river_sprites.bmp

1024 Width / 8 sprites = 128 pixels

1344 Hight / 21 = 64 pixels

light_terrain_sprites.bmp

512 Width / 4 sprites = 128 pixels

1408 Hight / 22 sprites = 64 pixels

light_tile_sprites.bmp

1024 Width / 8 sprites = 128 pixels

3200 Hight / 50 sprites = 64 pixels

light_weather_border_sprites.bmp

1536 Width / 12 sprites = 128 pixels

512 Hight / 8 sprites = 64 pixels

military_flag_sprites.bmp

170 Width / 5 sprites = 34 pixels

198 Height / 9 sprites = 22 pixels

mini_tile_sprites.bmp

32 Width / 8 sprites = 4 pixels

2 Height / 1 sprite = 2 pixels

national_tile_sprites.bmp

1024 Width / 8 sprites = 128 pixels

4032 Height / 63 sprites = 64 pixels

resource_silhouettes_sprites.bmp

512 Width / 4 sprites = 128 pixels

2310 Height / 30 sprites = 77 pixels

resource_sprites.bmp

512 Width / 4 sprites = 128 pixels

2387 Height / 31 sprites = 77 pixels

river_sprites.bmp

1024 Width / 8 sprites = 128 pixels

1344 Height / 21 sprites = 64 pixels

storm_sprites.bmp

1024 Width / 8 sprites = 128 pixels

64 Height / 1 sprite = 64 pixels

terrain_sprites.bmp

512 Width / 4 sprites = 128 pixels

1408 Height / 22 sprites = 64 pixels

tile_sprites.bmp

1024 Width / 8 sprites = 128 pixels

3200 Height / 50 sprites = 64 pixels

unit_level_sprites.bmp

80 Width / 8 sprites = 10 pixels

135 Height / 15 sprites = 9 pixels

unit_silhouettes_sprites_3d.bmp

2618 Width / 34 sprites = 77 pixels

2272 Height / 32 sprites = 71 pixels

unit_sprites_3d.bmp

2618 Width / 34 sprites = 77 pixels

1704 Height / 24 sprites = 71 pixels

unit_sprites_military.bmp

2618 Width / 34 sprites = 77 pixels

568 Height / 8 sprites = 71 pixels

weather_border_sprites.bmp

1536 Width / 12 sprites = 128 pixels

512 Height / 8 sprites = 64 pixels

[Frost]

Thanks again, I'm going to go put some of this to use!

[Frost]

Me again! Does anyone out there know a way to change the flags on the war map screen? I can't seem to find away, and I think I maybe be pushing the editor to its limits...

[n0kn0k]

Strategic Command 2 Blitzkrieg\Interface

flag_sprites.bmp

If i'm not mistaking.

Don't forget to make a Interface map for it also when you mod it And set it to 1.

[Frost]

Okay, I think I follow you. I found the interface folder and the flag_sprites.bmp, do I now just make a copy of that and bring it over to my bitmap folder for my campaign? Or something else...

thanks again!!

[J P Wagner]

You should make a copy of the entire interface folder and put it into you campaign folder and work on it from there....

[n0kn0k]

I usually just make an Interface folder and copy the bitmap in there. To save space And it's easier to see what's modded and what's not.

[Frost]

thank you both again, I'm off to mod the flags...