<Night> tag = night camo?

[bigcat75]

Are we able to designate a night .chr for night maps, just like we do for jungle and desert?

There is a tag for "snow" too isn't there?

Edited January 8, 2008 by bigcat75

[thales100]

Tag the maps you want to use the night chrs in as "jungle" in the env files, for example, and make all "jungle" characters the night ones.

Tag all "jungle" maps from IT to be "wood" (original GR) also in the env files (simply delete the <junglemap>1<...), and youll have:

desert maps = desert chrs

wood (original) and jungle maps = wood chrs

jungle maps = night chrs

You can do the same to winter and so on.

You may of course, if working on a total conversion i.e., simply make all "wood" (original) characters as "winter" ones, in this case if you add maps and all necessary stuff to play GR with your mod.

: - )

Edited January 8, 2008 by niccola

[bigcat75]

Thanks Niccola, I became curious when I saw "xxx_snow.chrs" in Frostbite, and also I've seen some .env files with <night>1</night>.

I was going to work on some night skins but I don't know if it's worth losing my jungle camos just for a few night maps. It's not just the camo I'm worried about losing, I like the boonies, bandanas, and ghillie suits on jungle maps.

What is the Night tag used for in the .env? I thought I read somewhere that it doesn't actually affect anything.

Edited January 8, 2008 by bigcat75

[thales100]

Dont believe a <night>... tag will work adding a "night" character in game, simply cause there isnt this feature in the original game, and you cant mod what doesnt exist . It may affect the env in another way, maybe adding to the map special "night" features (like ghosts saying "there is no moon"), but as chrs, thats your question, there is a limit of only three possible envs : wood (no tag), jungle and desert, and you of course can mod them the way you want adding the respective characters to each of these choices.

Bout Frostbite, characters you may give the name you want, since you use the same names in the respective atr files.

Edited January 8, 2008 by niccola

[thales100]

So to resume:

No Tag = Ghosts will have wood camo = actors will speak russian

<DesertMap>1</DesertMap> = Ghosts will have desert camo = actors will speak eritrean

<JungleMap>1</JungleMap> = Ghosts will have jungle camo = actors will speak spanish

You may mod the way i described, including all voices, i.e. you may have a jungle map (with night chrs) with actors speaking russian if you copy the respective russian wave voice files and add to your mod renaming them to the same correpondent sounds from IT.

Edited January 8, 2008 by niccola

[bigcat75]

Thanks for the help! I finally see what you're saying. I took another look at the Frostbite .chrs and now I see they are just using "_snow" as part of the file name, nothing more. I didn't look closely enough to realize it was not being used the same way as _desert and _cuba. That had me very confused.

[ita_killabees]

"there is no moon" is a scripted sound eheh.

and a small part of the soldier voices aren't used at all

the tag of <desert> map and <jungle> map affect only two things:

1) The character it will use: it will auto_select all characters with_cuba or _desert at the end of their names but CAUTION:

normal .chr ---> ica_us_sniper_a.chr

desert .chr ---> ica_us_sniper_a_desert.chr

AND NOT ica_us_sniper_desert_a.chr THIS ONE WILL NOT WORK

You DO NOT NEED to put into the Actor file all the characters tags

<ModelName>ita_rif_02_sp.chr</ModelName>

<LOD2>ita_rif_02_sp.chr</LOD2>

<LOD3>ita_rif_02_sp.chr</LOD3>

Same for faces texture files (.RSB) remember to put _cuba and _desert AFTER the _blink part

sniper_face.rsb ---> sniper_face_desert.rsb

sniper_face_blink.rsb ---> sniper_face_blink_desert.rsb

NOT sniper_face_desert_blink.rsb

for example will autoselect the _desert and _cuba characters.

But this DOES NOT AFFECT ATTACHMENTS

You need to put yourself all the different attachments

<MidSpineAttachmentNormalLOD>backpack.qob</MidSpineAttachmentNormalLOD>

<SpineMidAttachment>abackpack_desert.qob</SpineMidAttachment>

<MidSpineAttachmentJungleLOD>backpack_cuba.qob</MidSpineAttachmentJungleLOD>

Obviously, since you put yourself the attachment, they do NOT need to be named with _desert and _cuba, their name can be totally different. For example using a "patrolcap.qob" for normal environment and a "boonie.qob" for the jungle environment.

2) Tags will operate on opposing force voices. Normal will have enemies speaking russian, Desert speaking Eritrean, Jungle speaking spanish.

NOTE FOR CHARACTERS

the desert and cuba tag will only work on PLAYER CONTROLLED ACTORS, and NOT with AI Actors.

If you are making Multiplayer characters, YOU NEED TO PUT ALL LODs

Like in default MP2 Actor Files:

<ActorFile>

<VersionNumber>1.00</VersionNumber>

<ArmorLevel>2</ArmorLevel>

<ActorName>@MP_atr_rif</ActorName>

<ClassName>rifleman</ClassName>

<ModelFace>icg_wht_cmo_02.rsb</ModelFace>

<BlinkFaceName>icg_wht_cmo_02_blink.rsb</BlinkFaceName>

<DesertModelFace>icg_wht_cmo_02_desert.rsb</DesertModelFace>

<DesertBlinkFace>icg_wht_cmo_02_blink_desert.rsb</DesertBlinkFace>

<JungleModelFace>icg_wht_cmo_02_cuba.rsb</JungleModelFace>

<JungleBlinkFace>icg_wht_cmo_02_blink_cuba.rsb</JungleBlinkFace>

<KitPath>rifleman</KitPath>

<ModelName>ica_us_rifleman.chr</ModelName>

<LOD2>ica_us_rifleman_a.chr</LOD2>

<LOD3>ica_us_rifleman_b.chr</LOD3>

<DesertLOD1>ica_us_rifleman_desert.chr</DesertLOD1>

<DesertLOD2>ica_us_rifleman_a_desert.chr</DesertLOD2>

<DesertLOD3>ica_us_rifleman_b_desert.chr</DesertLOD3>

<JungleLOD1>ica_us_rifleman_cuba.chr</JungleLOD1>

<JungleLOD2>ica_us_rifleman_a_cuba.chr</JungleLOD2>

<JungleLOD3>ica_us_rifleman_b_cuba.chr</JungleLOD3>

<Weapon>3</Weapon>

<Stamina>3</Stamina>

<Stealth>3</Stealth>

<Leadership>5</Leadership>

<ScaleX>1.000000</ScaleX>

<ScaleY>1.000000</ScaleY>

<ScaleZ>1.000000</ScaleZ>

</ActorFile>

EDIT

There's a 3rd thing that the tags operates on. That's the opposing force for the quick games like firefight, recon, and any custom player made quick mission script.

opposing_force_0.atr

opposing_force_0_desert.atr

opposing_force_0_jungle.atr

kits are always the same.

Edited January 13, 2008 by ita_killabees

[bigcat75]

Thanks for the info!! The only thing that continues to puzzle me is why adding the <desert> tag causes my desert character to NOT be used, but when I remove the tag the desert skins are enabled as they should be.

For example all I need is:

<ModelName>ica_us_rifleman.chr</ModelName>

<LOD2>ica_us_rifleman_a.chr</LOD2>

<LOD3>ica_us_rifleman_b.chr</LOD3>

then everything is okay.

If I add:

<DesertLOD1>ica_us_rifleman_desert.chr</DesertLOD1>

<DesertLOD2>ica_us_rifleman_a_desert.chr</DesertLOD2>

<DesertLOD3>ica_us_rifleman_b_desert.chr</DesertLOD3>

then I only see the default woodland camo in all maps, and my _desert.chr files are not used.

[wombat50]

I have had similar problems. In my case all is made well using the below utility. After it is installed it will appear as tex_swap.exe in the folder you installed it to.

Mike Schell's Ghost Recon Skinner v1.1

http://www.ghostrecon.net/files2/index.php...view&id=127

From the readme.txt:

Instructions(using the last tip can be very time saving)

------------

1) Run the utility.

2) Choose "File->Open CHR File" from the drop down menu and navigate to the CHR file you will be using as your base model.

3) Once the model has been opened you will be presented with a list of materials (named after body parts). Click on an entry in the list and the texture file linked to that material will be displayed in a textbox under the list.

4) To change a material's texture assignment, select it from the list (as detailed in step

5) and click the "Browse" button. Navigate to the desired replacement texture and click "Open".

6) Repeat steps 4 & 5 until all textures have been changed

7) Once your model's textures has been reassigned, select "File->Save CHR File" from the drop down menu and select a loaction and file name for you new CHR file (or you can overwrite the old one).

Tips

----

* Not all textures assignments must be changed, any unchanged materials will be left as is.

* Unlike HEX editing, textures used in this utility do not have to have file names with matching lengths (the utility rewrites the CHR file to fit your new texture name's length)

* You can change the texture assignments for more than one file at a time, simply hold shift or ctrl and select multiple materials from the list. When you click "Browse" and select a texture file it will be assigned to all of the selected materials. This is handy as GR's default models often have numerous materials assigned to the same texture.

[bigcat75]

Thanks wombat, I've been using Mike's program, actually I can't imagine not using it, you would have to do hex editing I think. Between this program and BjB's actor generator there's really almost no work at all left for us. I'm very grateful for these guys' work.

To be honest, I have played with the actor generator, just to learn how to use it, but I have not used it to actually do a complete ATR set for a mod. I bet that would eliminate any confusion I have been having.

I really need to do that at least once before I become any more confused.

Update: the actor generator worked like a charm, including all the IT/DS tags which I could not get to work. No more notepad for me, lol.

Edited January 13, 2008 by bigcat75

[wombat50]

You turned the tables on me.

I'll have to try the BjB's actor generator.

[Giampi]

The BJB's actor generator is one of the best softwares available but it has to be studied a bit. Also a fine tuning with notepad can't be ruled out.

[bigcat75]

The complicated part is setting up your text docs for faces and names, other than that the actor util is a breeze; I'm having as much fun with that stuff as I do playing the game. It's addictive.

I also got an amazing batch/file/text editor thingamajig which can do multiple file renaming and text replacing.

Edited January 13, 2008 by bigcat75

[Giampi]

This thread might interest you

[ita_killabees]

bigcat, if you change the character name, you do NOT change the texture source. its not enough to change the character name, you need to create a new one that will take the texture from a different texture file.

characther files (.chr) are the ones that determines the 3d model you see in the game, texture files (.rsb, red storm bitmap) are the ones that determines the colour applied on the 3d model.

how it works? the 3d model is divided in "parts" that takes the colour from different files, for example the head has one file and the body another.

if you use Miche Schells skinner, when u you open a .qob, .pob or .chr (as you may want!) you will see that there are many different parts.

In MP2 files these parts are BODY and HEAD. leave HEAD as it is, dont touch it (it is set with head.rsb so it will take any .rsb you set in the actor file) while in the BODY part set the .rsb you want. For example my_riflmenan_desert.rsb for a desert character and so on.

NOTE

RSB FILE NAME CAN BE TOTALLY RANDOM. you can give a texture a random name like jkdfjhkjah.rsb and, if you open an original .chr, select body, select the source .rsb like "jkdfjhkjah.rsb" it will work.

The BJB's actor generator is one of the best softwares available but it has to be studied a bit. Also a fine tuning with notepad can't be ruled out.

actor generator is great, but DO NOT CREATE ATTACHMENT JUNGLE AND DESET LODs, keep this in mind