Stuck with Wardogs!

[Bwian]

OK...well, this has got me a bit confused.

I am trying to modf wardogs to use a new model. It's a 'Demon' type unit, which I wanted to use in a way similar to how wardogs operate. The 'handler' unit is summoning them, and directing them at a target, and off they go.

Made the unit, but now I have a roblem actually getting it to work in game.

I changed the 'incendiary pig' to point at the new model in the descr_animals file. Then I added a new animal to the model_battle file.

All seemed well...until I used the unit in a battle. I get an error saying it can't find the texture every time. The texture IS there. I also tried swapping my model for another one, and the new unit seemed to be fine.

I don't understand ...

1) The wardogs entry in descr_model_battle has no texture reference in it....does it get this information from elsewhere?
2) Do I need to edit another text file to make this work ?
3) Has anyone actually modded the wardogs successfully ?

[Duke John]

The CAS file also contains a link to a texture. This is most of the time overridden by the text files. For some other cases, like for strategic pieces and possible some battle models this is not the case and the CAS file takes care of making R:TW know which texture to use.

Perhaps you could forget about assigning the wardog texture using descr_model_battle.txt and instead assign it within the CAS file.

[hoggy]

Do you mean by assigning a new texture in max and then exporting as CAS? Will this somehow contain the new texture info? I had this same problem with the chariot textures where there is no specific tga reference.

[Bwian]

Thanks for the tip DJ. I will give this a try.

I never really bothered to set a proper texture path in Max when making new RTW models since the text file defined it. I was a bit surprised NOT to see that for wardogs.

I hope I can solve this, since it seems to me that this is a good way to implement my undead units too. There behaviour would be ideally suited to this sort of thing. That is, of course, assuming you can have any extra 'dog' type units. Haven't tried much experimentation there, but I will!

[Duke John]

hoggy
I replied to your chariot thread some time ago, but I guess you didn't see it since it was a few days after you posted your question.

But yes, CAS files do have a link to a texture. Just open a CAS file with Notepad and you will see between the garbage something like: \textures\wotr_squire.tga

I noticed this once I made new strategic pieces, you do not assign the textures in a text file, instead the game knows which texture to use by looking into the CAS file. My guess is that the same counts for chariots.

[hoggy]

cheers DJ, I missed that, I'll give it a go.

[Bwian]

Yay....that worked.

In the Max texture path I had the texture name without the .tga extension. This resulted in teh texture not found problem. Fixed that and all was well.

Sadly, it has proved less useful than I hoped...since I don;t seem to be able to add new versions of the 'wardog' without getting errors. I can replace it, but not add anything new to the animals section. I tried with the same class but a new modelname and ID...but it gives errors. Need to look at this in more detail