Editing atr files without ruin them

[ceptico 0]

Hi

Probably this question has been answered before, but I cant seem to find anything in the tutorials.

For my personal use I´m doing a MOD to have a larger character selection in MP. My problem is that I have the atr files named correctly, the kil file is able to find my characters but, in the jungle maps I dont have faces. I know I have to edit the atr file I created, but by doing it, either with notepad or wordpad the file is ruined. When I open it with IGOR my chr selection is gone and the game CTD.

Can you tell me what am I doing wrong?

Thanks

Jorge

[WP33 0]

Hi

Probably this question has been answered before, but I cant seem to find anything in the tutorials.

For my personal use I´m doing a MOD to have a larger character selection in MP. My problem is that I have the atr files named correctly, the kil file is able to find my characters but, in the jungle maps I dont have faces. I know I have to edit the atr file I created, but by doing it, either with notepad or wordpad the file is ruined. When I open it with IGOR my chr selection is gone and the game CTD.

Can you tell me what am I doing wrong?

Thanks

Jorge

←

An example of what the .atr text should look like when you open with a text editor:

<ActorFile>

<VersionNumber>x.xxxx</VersionNumber>

<ArmorLevel>x</ArmorLevel>

<ActorName>xxxx</ActorName>

<ClassName>xxxx</ClassName>

<ModelFace>xxxx.rsb</ModelFace>

<BlinkFaceName>xxxx_blink.rsb</BlinkFaceName>

<DesertModelFace>xxxx_desert.rsb</DesertModelFace>

<DesertBlinkFace>xxxx_blink_desert.rsb</DesertBlinkFace>

<JungleModelFace>xxxx_cuba.rsb</JungleModelFace>

<JungleBlinkFace>xxxx_blink_cuba.rsb</JungleBlinkFace>

<KitPath>xxxx</KitPath>

<ModelName>xxxx.chr</ModelName>

<LOD2>xxxx_a.chr</LOD2>

<LOD3>xxxx_b.chr</LOD3>

<DesertLOD1>xxxx_desert.chr</DesertLOD1>

<DesertLOD2>xxxx_a_desert.chr</DesertLOD2>

<DesertLOD3>xxxx_b_desert.chr</DesertLOD3>

<JungleLOD1>xxxxx_cuba.chr</JungleLOD1>

<JungleLOD2>xxxx_a_cuba.chr</JungleLOD2>

<JungleLOD3>xxxx_b_cuba.chr</JungleLOD3>

<Weapon>x</Weapon>

<Stamina>x</Stamina>

<Stealth>x</Stealth>

<Leadership>x</Leadership>

</ActorFile>

The above assumes you follow the structure of the game files and name .chr and face texture files with an environmental suffix to differentiate between normal, desert and jungle, which I, for one, do not, and assumes you use the secondary and tertiary LODs, which I also do not. Notice I didn't fool with the "scale" settings, as unless you plan on changing them, the game defaults to normal scaling.

Hope this helps.

Edit: oops, forgot to add the _blink designation to the blink faces

Edited February 7, 2005 by WP33

[ceptico 0]

←

[WP33 0]

←

the

<DesertLOD1>xxxx_desert.chr</DesertLOD1>

<DesertLOD2>xxxx_a_desert.chr</DesertLOD2>

<DesertLOD3>xxxx_b_desert.chr</DesertLOD3>

<JungleLOD1>xxxxx_cuba.chr</JungleLOD1>

<JungleLOD2>xxxx_a_cuba.chr</JungleLOD2>

<JungleLOD3>xxxx_b_cuba.chr</JungleLOD3>

is missing. Could it be the IGOR version I´m using?

←

Mm, it's possible. What version of Ghost do you have? If you have 1.4, this should not be an issue.

←

My main problem is that when I edit it with notepad to add the Jungle face details (It´s the only thing there is to edit), after saving it the chr are gone.

←

Strange. Very strange. However, when you say "gone", what do you mean, exactly, and you refer to ".chr". Is the character gone, or is it the .atr file that disappears on you? Either way, strange.

←

Another thing I remembered: I didn´t use the mp_plt1_xxx_asl.atr convention, I named the atr files like mp_plt1_xxx.atr. Do you think it is the reason for the problems I´m facing?

←

Now, the part I put into italics is the key. I'm pretty certain that this is causing you the "disappearance" of your character in the game, as the character slot may be there in the MP selection screen, yet no actor is there. As far as what you say about Igor not recognizing it? New to me, unless there's just something goofy going on with Igor. Just remember, without the mp_plt1_xxx_asl.atr-type format, the game will just not see your .atr for use in MP games.

Edited February 7, 2005 by WP33

[ceptico 0]

The version I have is 1.4 and an atr file that IGOR gives me is like this:

<ActorFile>

<VersionNumber>1.000000</VersionNumber>

<ArmorLevel>2</ArmorLevel>

<ActorName>Neptuno</ActorName>

<ClassName>rifleman</ClassName>

<ModelFace>dtd_c6.rsb</ModelFace>

<BlinkFaceName>dtd_c6_blink.rsb</BlinkFaceName>

<DesertModelFace>shemagfacewhite2.rsb</DesertModelFace>

<DesertBlinkFace>shemagfacewhite2_blink.rsb</DesertBlinkFace>

<JungleModelFace/>

<JungleBlinkFace/>

<KitPath>rifleman</KitPath>

<ModelName>teamswat.chr</ModelName>

<LOD2>teamswat_a.chr</LOD2>

<LOD3>teamswat_b.chr</LOD3> <DesertLOD1>seal_boss_desert.chr</DesertLOD1>

<Weapon>8</Weapon>

<Stamina>8</Stamina>

<Stealth>8</Stealth>

<Leadership>8</Leadership>

<ScaleX>1.000000</ScaleX>

<ScaleY>1.000000</ScaleY>

<ScaleZ>1.000000</ScaleZ>

</ActorFile>

This is all I get )

The gone part is: I start an actor from scratch, create the atr file, then edit it to have a jungle face and blink. Save it, overwriting it and when I turn back to IGOR the main chr and the correspondant LOD"s aren´t there anymore.

The thing about the naming convention is that I don"t end the name with asl or snp, etc according to the actor type. I can try to rename it all to see if there is any difference.

Recently I opened one of the atr files that came with the callmehobbes MOD US Afghanistan and it looks like this:

<ActorFile>

<VersionNumber>1.00</VersionNumber>

<ArmorLevel>2</ArmorLevel>

<ActorName>Operative#1</ActorName>

<ClassName>rifleman</ClassName>

<ModelFace>W_def_d_asl_face.rsb</ModelFace>

<BlinkFaceName>W_def_d_asl_face_blink.rsb</BlinkFaceName>

<DesertModelFace>W_def_d_asl_face.rsb</DesertModelFace>

<DesertBlinkFace>W_def_d_asl_face_blink.rsb</DesertBlinkFace>

<JungleModelFace>W_def_d_asl_face.rsb</JungleModelFace>

<JungleBlinkFace>W_def_d_asl_face_blink.rsb</JungleBlinkFace>

<KitPath>rifleman</KitPath>

<ModelName>W_def_d_asl.chr</ModelName>

<LOD2>W_def_d_asl_a.chr</LOD2>

<LOD3>W_def_d_asl_b.chr</LOD3>

<DesertLOD1>W_def_d_asl.chr</DesertLOD1>

<DesertLOD2>W_def_d_asl_a.chr</DesertLOD2>

<DesertLOD3>W_def_d_asl_b.chr</DesertLOD3>

<JungleLOD1>W_def_d_asl.chr</JungleLOD1>

<JungleLOD2>W_def_d_asl_a.chr</JungleLOD2>

<JungleLOD3>W_def_d_asl_b.chr</JungleLOD3>

<Weapon>3</Weapon>

<Stamina>3</Stamina>

<Stealth>3</Stealth>

<Leadership>5</Leadership>

<ScaleX>1.00000</ScaleX>

<ScaleY>1.00000</ScaleY>

<ScaleZ>1.00000</ScaleZ>

<HeadAttachmentNormalLOD></HeadAttachmentNormalLOD>

<HeadAttachment></HeadAttachment>

<HeadAttachmentJungleLOD></HeadAttachmentJungleLOD>

<NeckAttachmentNormalLOD></NeckAttachmentNormalLOD>

<NeckAttachment></NeckAttachment>

<NeckAttachmentJungleLOD></NeckAttachmentJungleLOD>

<RightThighAttachmentNormalLOD></RightThighAttachmentNormalLOD>

<RightThighAttachment></RightThighAttachment>

<RightThighAttachmentJungleLOD></RightThighAttachmentJungleLOD>

<LeftThighAttachment></LeftThighAttachment>

<LeftThighAttachmentNormalLOD></LeftThighAttachmentNormalLOD>

<LeftThighAttachmentJungleLOD></LeftThighAttachmentJungleLOD>

<LowSpineAttachmentNormalLOD></LowSpineAttachmentNormalLOD>

<SpineLowAttachment></SpineLowAttachment>

<LowSpineAttachmentJungleLOD></LowSpineAttachmentJungleLOD>

<MidSpineAttachmentNormalLOD></MidSpineAttachmentNormalLOD>

<SpineMidAttachment></SpineMidAttachment>

<MidSpineAttachmentJungleLOD></MidSpineAttachmentJungleLOD>

</ActorFile>

See the diferences? How do I do this?

[WP33 0]

The gone part is: I start an actor from scratch, create the atr file, then edit it to have a jungle face and blink. Save it, overwriting it and when I turn back to IGOR the main chr and the correspondant LOD"s aren´t there anymore.

←

Personally, I'd just do the editing with notepad. I've never had great luck with Igor modifying .atr files. I usually will start them in Igor, but that's it, as I don't believe Igor was modified to work correctly with Island Thunder.

Have you tried Baja Bravo's ATR Generator program at all? Perhaps you'd have better luck with that, though I find that useful mostly for only making SP actors in large batches. However, it does support the Island Thunder structure.

[ceptico 0]

I"ll try from scracth using one of this complete atr files I showed you ,follow all the naming conventions and using notepad only.

Just now I tried renaming a atr file to the correct naming convention, I opened it with IGOR and everything was there. As soon as I put the Jungle face and blink saved it and reopen in IGOR all the chr"s are gone eventhough they are in the atr text file.

I"ve tried using it but without reading much about it.

I"ll post the results.

[ceptico 0]

Finally some sucess. I'm doing all by text edit and it's working. I still have to learn more about the models to use for creating the characters (Some are different from others, like DTD (BTW Love you guys!!!)) but for now I'm on the sucess path with minor problems like attachments and head gear (Sometimes the helmets don't appear or there's some texture missing) .

My job is to make a "best of" skins for personal use to host my MP games. Now the hard part is to select from hundreds of excellent skins you guys worked for all this years. It's a hard job but someone's gotta do it.

Thanks for all the help.