a problem when modding units..

[Stormer]

hey, im just trying to modd some units which im doing janni archers i find easyiest but the problem i face is i edited janni_h.bif and the unit looks differant in low resulotion which i thought i was editing high resolution am i doin gthem wrong one or do i have to change janni.bif and janni_h.bif advice would be appreicate dif im going wrong somewhere.

[Wellington]

Stormer,

I can't puzzle out what your problem is from your post.

I can assure you that ALL low res and hi res BIF's contain the same images (that is, for the SAME BIF folder).

I can only assume your confusing the names of specific-units (ie: JanissaryBows) with the name of a generic-unit BIF (ie: JANNI)

There is often no relationship whatsoever. For example -
- JanissaryBows are built from the JANNI BIF's
- JanissaryHeavyInfantry are built from the CHAINHLM BIF's (and have absolutely NO relationship with the JANNI BIF's)

Is this your problem. If so you'll have to check out the relationship's between specific-units and generic-units (BIF's) in the "crusader_unit_prod11.txt" file.

If this is'nt your problem you'll have to be more specific.

[Stormer]

hmm no the folder for jan archers inside the files are called janni.bmp and janni_h.bmp right?

and dont knowwher eu got the jan infantry from but they got nothing to do with it ok i start again...

i edited the file janni_h.bmp i put stripes on each of the men back in each frame ok. (btw i was only trying to get it too work at this point) ok then i went in game put my resulotion on the lowest and played the stripes were on their backs ok?

i then tryed it on high resulonion and the stripes wernt there can u tell me why do i have to edit janni_.bmp as well ??

understand now.. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/dizzy.gif

[Wellington]

Stormer,

If you are changing images in BIF's you have to ensure you change BOTH the hi res and lo res BIF's (ok, for established modders I know that's not always 100% correct ... but). Remeber, there is a good reason why there are both Lo res AND Hi res BIF's - you can't do half-a-job and expect it all to work ok.

Only then can you be certain that your changes appear on the battlefield REGARDLESS of your PC's resolution or how close your camera is to a unit.

An easy way to ensure your changes are transparent in both BIFs is -
1) extract all 12 .BMPs from the Hi res BIF
2) modify these 12 .BMPS
3) import the modified 12 .BMPs back into the existing Hi res BIF
4) resize all 12 .BMPs to reduce them by 50% (to 256x256 as oppsed to 512x512)
5) now import the re-sized 12 .BMPs back into the Lo res BIF

Ok, you may have some filter problems depending on the Graphics package you've used for the re-sizing process - but you should now be able to see all changes - regardless.

One other point. Try to use the correct name for the units or files so people know what your attempting. For example, there is no such thing as a 'janni_h.bmp' in MTW. There IS a 'Janni_H.bif', and if you extract the BMPs from this BIF (via BifReader) you will then have a 'Janni_h_f1.bmp'. Likewise there is no such unit as 'janni archers' in MTW. There is, however, a unit named 'JannisaryBows'

I'm not biong pedantic here. There are SO many files in MTW it can be hard to see the wood from the trees at times.

[Stormer]

ok m8 i did that problem i was on janni i use short for jannisary sorry if it confueses you,

if i comlete my 12 frames in high res can i copy and paste or somethin that, over to the low res ones? or i have to do them all again for low res...

[Wellington]

Most people (I think&#33http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif tend to extract the BIFs into BMPs (using BifReader) and then use their own personal/favourite GUI Graphics Package to amend the BMPs.

(Note: You can do quite a bit of editing in BifReader but the only problem then is that you have to edit both Hi res and Lo res BIFs using BifReader.)

If you edit the Hi res BMPs using, for example, "Windows Paint" you can then resize/rescale and it wont use a filter for this process (by a filter I mean some process that tends to 'smooth' edges after rescaling - thus losing some 'sharpness/resolution&#39http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif. Othere products may well do so. Therefore YOU have to decide what product YOU will use for editing these images.

The advantage of rescaling the HI res to create the Lo res 'comes into its own' when you creating new images from scratch as it ENSURES that all images/weapons/shields have the same sized/positioned image-rectangles.

In general, amend the Hi res BMPs and resize/rescale the completed BMPs for the Lo res images.