Bundle Structure

[Evilducky]

FILE STRUCTURE

For any bundle, all you need to do is keep the file structure that the game uses. You need to create a new folder and name it whatever you want. Your_mod lets name it. Inside that folder, you need a data folder. Now were up to Your_mod\data. Inside that you need the main folders, but only need the ones you change/modify/add to. These folders include anims, effects, fonts, gui, level, levels, lib, menu, objects, sb_templates, settings, shaders, silhouette_gen, sound, strings, textures, and units.

For mods - you can change anything you want in there and just add the folders along with there sub folders, and the files you change.

They are unlimited and can override original files.

Here is a good file structure you all can base your maps on for custom_levels:

data/

	levels/

		custom_levels/

			aas_test/

(These really arnt needed) -------	aas_readme.txt

(These really arnt needed) -------	aas_rules.xml

(These really arnt needed) -------	aas_settings.xml

				ambient_cubes.bin

				environments.xml

				massunit.bin

				minimap.tga

				mission.xml

				texture_scope.xml

				world_info.xml

				xml/

					unit_list.xml

					world.xml

	textures/

		custom_levels/

			aas_test/

				lightmaps/

					aas_test/

CUSTOM LEVELS

For custom_levels - You mainly need to focus on the levels folder and maybe the textures folder if your making new stuff. BUT as stated in the readme for bundleing,

"custom levels are not allowed to have override files in them. In other words all file inside a custom level bundle must be unique and not found inside the original game."

The only thing with levels is, inside the levels folder you will need a folder called "custom_levels" and inside that your map files will be. Also inside the textures folder there should/could possibly be a folder called "custom_levels" which holds your lightmaps folder and cub_map folder. (Off a though of this, and maybe someone at grin can say something on this, will you need a custom_levels folder in the strings folder too, to hold custom strings files? Look below to see what I mean by that).

BUNDELING

Now to bundle them, I dont know exactly how to use the bat file to bundle these files. So heres how I bundle mine. Using Vista I have a user folder. I take the bundle.exe, bundler.bat and the folder I want to bundle "Your_mod" with all the sub folders in it, and place it in that user folder. For xp, you go to C:\Documents and Folders\your user name then place those 3 files in there. Next I go to start then run and type "cmd" to bring up the command prompt. The next thing is real easy. Type "bundle Your_mod" with out the quotation marks, and walla, your new bundle file is in the folder with the 3 files you just placed are.

Basically what I see happening is, its changing that folder - Your_mod, to a .bundle file and then starting the tree at "data" then going to the sub folders and so on.

The only thing I find annoying and I dont know the extend that overriding original files goes for custom_levels, is that if you want new strings and maps names to show up, you need to edit the mission.xml in the strings file to get new names to show up.

CUSTOM LOADING SCREEN

For a new loading screen you need to edit a file in the atlas_gui\mission_gfx folder. If by doing that means you can't use the custom_levels bundle for maps, it's kinda taking away the purpose of this method. But like I said, I dont know what extent that override original files goes.

Hope that helps some tinker. If you have any other questions, or need help, I can help out maybe.

(On a side note, I would of never figured this out without brettzies help. Just wanted to give him the credit for this one.)

Ducky

Edited September 7, 2007 by Evilducky

[Rocky]

Thanks for that info, good stuff! Post split and pinned.

[Biro]

Really nice information here Evilducky! Will be useful when I'm gonna bundle up my maps later on!

[Beaver]

Just for reference, you dont actually need to create the complete directory structures and place files in them for bundles. Although ideally it's nice to keep it the same structure as the game uses.

You can actually include some of your files within the the same folder as your world_unit.xml & then adjust the paths within your XML files if you want to.

We (TuG) have generated a number of test bundles for our maps and put things such as textures & loading screens into the same folder and adjusted the paths without issue on client or server.

[Guest User Name]

hi

thx for this tuto but can you creat tuto in fresnh?

Et oui je suis francais et je ne comprend pas grand chose a l'anglais. Je souhaiterais creer des map pour ma team mais j'ai du mal avec l'anglais donc si vous pouviez le rédiger en francais, ca aiderait beaucoup de gens.

Saluttion

[Evilducky]

Sorry man, I dont speak french. The best I can say to do is to go to www.babelfish.com or use the google language tool to translate that to french. Unless someone else on here knows french and would be willing to type that up.