Model swapping

[Ryujin]

So far I've found you can swap around models (.mds) like textures, randomization works too.

To cite a simple example (I don't think I can post the actual mod as it contains British module content), you can give the US units the more accurate para SAW by extracting the para model and textures/icon from the british pack and create a mod with them in it and change the "L110" in the file names to 'm249'.

randomization works the same as with textures, just make sure to give all the lods of that model the same number.

Works fine with infantry so far, you can make USMC units without terminator goggles by using and reskining the US army units.

[nikita320106]

what program you are using for *.mds files editing??

[Ryujin]

So far I haven't been able to directly edit the .mds, just swap them around (give the US troops para SAWs from the British pack for example). I've looked into em with a hex editor, at best it seems you could change the texture file names it looks for.

However I may have some other leads related to directX, haven't had a chance to try them yet. .

[Ryujin]

I've been able to successfully use a hex editor to change the textures a model looks for, however you need to keep the file length the same, so your new texture's name should have the same length as the texture you are replacing. So for example I'm replacing the US Army with the syrian SF model with a new texture that does not interfere with the actual syrian SF.

In other news, I haven't been able to open the models in anything other than the hex editor.

[Dietrich]

you can give the US units the more accurate para SAW by extracting the para model and textures/icon from the british pack and create a mod with them in it and change the "L110" in the file names to 'm249'.

It works! Thank you so much for discovering this! Now my US pixeltruppen have more practical SAWs!

randomization works the same as with textures, just make sure to give all the lods of that model the same number.

Randomization of models? Could you please explain this a little more?

I've been able to successfully use a hex editor to change the textures a model looks for, however you need to keep the file length the same, so your new texture's name should have the same length as the texture you are replacing. So for example I'm replacing the US Army with the syrian SF model with a new texture that does not interfere with the actual syrian SF.

Does this mean that one could, for example, replace USMC infantry with US Army infantry models (so that the USMC pixeltruppen don't have tinted goggles) without having to swap the infantry textures? I tried replacing the USMC infantry models with the US Army infantry ones, but then my devil dogs were wearing ACU. :-/

[hoolaman]

I'd imagine there'd be no difference in the actual weapon stats, you'd just see a L110 but the gun would still fire and behave like a M249. Still it sounds cool for some purely cosmetic swaps like USMC vs US Army.

And unless I'm missing something, copying a texture to the name of another texture is not very revolutionary, that's how modding works.

[Ryujin]

It works! Thank you so much for discovering this! Now my US pixeltruppen have more practical SAWs!

Glad to be of assistance.

Randomization of models? Could you please explain this a little more?

The game has a built in randomization system, if you put numbers on the end of files it'll randomly select them. e.g. model 1.mds, model 2. mds

Does this mean that one could, for example, replace USMC infantry with US Army infantry models (so that the USMC pixeltruppen don't have tinted goggles) without having to swap the infantry textures? I tried replacing the USMC infantry models with the US Army infantry ones, but then my devil dogs were wearing ACU. :-/

Yes you can do that and when I get back to my home PC I think I'll make some mods. However, you need to use hexadecimal editing to change the names of the texture files the model looks for. While the actual editing involved is rather simple, it's something I'll probably have to make a guide and some examples of to explain. But what all this means is you can not only have multiple models for your infantry, but set which textures each of these models looks for.

This can solve a number of problems, like adding short or rolled up sleeves. When just editing the textures the skin color of the hands and the arms would not always agree (they were on different textures). Now you can have models that only use certain skin color faces/hands. So you can have a model for each skin color that only uses faces that work with the arms.

Anyway this might make more sense if I just make a USMC mod real quick sunday or monday. I'll try to make a guide explaining everything.

I'd imagine there'd be no difference in the actual weapon stats, you'd just see a L110 but the gun would still fire and behave like a M249. Still it sounds cool for some purely cosmetic swaps like USMC vs US Army.

And unless I'm missing something, copying a texture to the name of another texture is not very revolutionary, that's how modding works.

While this isn't very revolutionary, I'm working with models, not textures, which surprisingly hasn't been done with CMSF before. More complex model swaps require hex editing of the files, which I'll try to make a guide for.

It is completely cosmetic, but does give you some more freedom in editing the look of the units.

I'd love to be able to directly edit the models, but that doesn't seem feasible at the moment.

[MikeyD]

...which surprisingly hasn't been done with CMSF before

Hasn't been done since the game was released in 2007! Blazing an entirely new trail is quite an accomplishment!

[Dietrich]

The game has a built in randomization system, if you put numbers on the end of files it'll randomly select them. e.g. model 1.mds, model 2. mds

I understand the randomization, at least as regards how it applies to textures; in fact, just the other day I was poring over Birdstrike's ragtagging guide and fiddling with Angryson's dusty USMC infantry skins to make a quasi-ragtag mod.

When you say "model 1.mds", etc., is "model" equivalent to "us-marine" in "us-marine.mds"? How does this relate to the code below?

us-marine.mds

us-marine-lod-1.mds

us-marine-lod-2.mds

us-marine-lod-3.mds

us-marine-lod-4.mds

us-marine-lod-5.mds

Does this mean that if I created multiple *.mds files named "us-marine 1.mds", "us-marine 2.mds", etc., randomization would be introduced amongst the models? Would I need to correspondingly create multiple *-lod-#.mds files to match the multiple "us-marine #.mds" files?

[Ryujin]

The level of detail (LOD) files are something I'm still experimenting with. I think you may need us-marine 1.mds

us-marine-lod-1 1.mds

us-marine-lod-2 1.mds

and etc.

But on my settings (pretty high though) the other LODs don't seem to kick in till your far enough away that it doesn't seem to matter if they're random or not. However I haven't tried randomizing the base model and not the LODs. However I'd say make corresponding LODs for every model to be safe.

btw I found a good free hex editor, should be more than enough for some simple edits:

http://download.cnet.com/Cygnus-Hex-Editor-Free-Edition/3000-2352_4-10448945.html

You'll use this to change the name of the textures the model looks for (so you can have your army model for Marines without having to reskin the regular army units.

When you open the file, most of it will be unreadable, that's fine as the bits we need will be readable. All the texture names will be in here (generally near the bottom) and you can change the names of the textures it looks for and then create your set of skins with those names.

Here's an example, in the US army character there is a texture called "vest", however for example we want to replace the USMC without affecting the Army characters. We can use the "find" tool to find the reference to vest (sometimes kind of picky about the punctuation around it, if find doesn't work, it should be easy enough to just look for it). Anyway, when we find the reference to vest, we'll change the name to mest.

Why mest?

Two reasons, first, you need to preserve the length of the file. Any name longer or shorter than the 4 character length of "vest" may cause errors, major errors. Secondly, changing it by only the first or last letter makes it easier to remember what it is (m = marines). Just keep that in mind.

Next you copy the vest.bmp and name the copy mest.bmp, which you then texture to be your MTV or whatever, leaving the army units unaffected.

Also note skin, cvc-skin, and syria-skin determine the faces used by the model. You can make your own group of faces just like with any of the other textures.