How to make new units

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All Forums >> [New Releases from Matrix Games] >> Field of Glory Series >> Scenario Design and Modding >> How to make new units

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How to make new units - 12/16/2010 2:20:30 AM

SmickeyMcgee

Posts: 6
Joined: 12/16/2010
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I'm surprised no one has made any new unit images. It's not that hard at all, only files you need to edit are the images themselves, the cropinfo file, and whatever formation you want to edit. Ive provided some examples of units i've made by just copy pasting bits of armour from one unit onto another to make a new one. Its also possible to take pictures of your own painted miniatures with a digital camera and add those ingame. Although that process is much more difficult and time consuming it can be done.
If anyone is interested please just reply and i'll put together a detailed tutorial on what you need and how you edit the in game unit images.

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< Message edited by SmickeyMcgee -- 12/16/2010 2:23:01 AM >

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RE: How to make new units - 12/16/2010 2:21:40 AM

SmickeyMcgee

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Joined: 12/16/2010
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another picture of changes ives made

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RE: How to make new units - 12/16/2010 9:42:02 AM

IainMcNeil

Posts: 2804
Joined: 10/26/2004
From: London
Status: offline

Cool stuff :)

_____________________________

Iain McNeil
Director
Matrix Games

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RE: How to make new units - 7/9/2011 4:27:55 AM

Ironwulf

Posts: 5
Joined: 1/12/2011
Status: offline

That's pretty cool - be interesting to hear more details in a how-to. I've developed 3D miniatures before along these lines using hi-res models (which I then reduced in resolution for game mods). They turned out pretty sharp lookin.

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RE: How to make new units - 10/12/2011 9:06:14 PM

SmickeyMcgee

Posts: 6
Joined: 12/16/2010
Status: offline

TUTORIAL
Needed programs Gimp 2.0 to edit unit images and XML Notepad 2007 to edit the xml files and thats it.
What i'm gonna do is replace the unit indian-EL-Elephant-b-general with a new european pikemen. First i'll copy the burgundian low countries pikemen image unit-wm13-low-country-pikeman.png (located in C:\Matrix Games\Field of Glory\armies\unit-images\medieval-burgundian-foot) then paste it in the same folder and rename the pasted version to unit_europikemen.png. Then i will open the europike image using Gimp 2.0 and edit it using the various tools in gimp.
I might do a seperate guide on how to use gimp to edit the units. This Tutorial is just gonna deal with the overall process and steps involved with adding stuff.
Now after i've edited the image in gimp to what i want the next step is adding it to cropinfo.xml located in the same folder as the unit_europikemen.png Open cropinfo.xml with XML Notepad 2007 then find wm13-low-country-pikemen (press ctrl and f to bring up search) select the folder its in called offsets. then right click and copy it then right click on the folder called cropinfo in XML and hit paste. go down to the last offsets folder in the list and open it up. you should have an exact copy of the low country pike offsets folder. rename the wm13-low-country-pikemen red letters to europikemen. Leave out the unit_ and .png just write europikemen. Then save the cropinfo.
Next goto C:\Matrix Games\Field of Glory\armies\formations then find whichever unit your going to replace with the new europikemen. I like to use indian-classical because i never use the indian army. So open up indian-classical.xml. You should see a list of folders called formation, setup in a similar way to the cropinfo.xml from the previous step. What your going to do is pick whichever unit you want to replace, in this case indian-Cav-cavalry-undrilled-a, with the image you just made of europikemen. So open up the formation folder that has indian-Cav-cavalry-undrilled-a in it and what you should see is 2 red lines that say layout and name above 3 folders called figure. Now delete all but 1 figure folder. Then open up the remaining figure folder and you should see a red line setup like this indian-classical/ind08a-indian-cavalry-command-spear. indian-classical/ is the folder the image is located in and /ind08a-indian-cavalry-command-spear is the image. So wat your gonna do is replace indian-classical with the folder that has your modified image in it, in this case medieval-burgundian-foot. Then replace the image name with the name of your modified image europikemen. Remember to only write europikmen and not unit_europikemen.png.

Now we get to the formations in game. Layout is what tells the game what the in game formation is. For example 3 men drilled or 6 men drilled or 5 men undrilled or even a 1 unit elephant. the layout will say udrMtd and that is the 3 undrilled formation. We want the 6 men drilled formation since its a pikemen unit not a cavalry or medium infantry unit. So replace the udrMtd with drHF then select your single figure folder with the right mouse button and hit copy. Then right click on the formation folder and hit paste. Do this till you have 6 folders called figure in the formation folder. The number of units in a formation is the same as the number of figures. So udrMtd has 3 figures and drHF has 6.

Your now done. Go into the scenario editor find indian-Cav-cavalry-undrilled-a and you should see your new pike unit instead of the indian cav unit. REMEMBER the stats are still that of a indian cav unit so you have to edit the unit to that of a pikemen before playing a scenario you edited using your new units.

Anyone who runs into any problems just PM me or post a reply detailing your difficulties, in this thread.

< Message edited by SmickeyMcgee -- 1/1/2015 7:43:29 AM >

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RE: How to make new units - 12/10/2011 7:45:05 PM

Halsey

Posts: 5069
Joined: 2/7/2004
Status: offline

These are very nice.
How about sharing your great work?

Though I would prefer graphic replacements without the units units changing into a different type of unit.

Some terrain graphic modules would be a nice improvement too.
Are there any out there?

I'm surprised no one has consolidated the scenario mods at a permanent location.
Google also offers free web hosting with a very large file holding ability.

< Message edited by Halsey -- 12/11/2011 12:36:51 PM >

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