MODDing Assistance

bo12333 · Post by **bo12333** » Sun Jun 21, 2009 9:03 am

I am New at modding, and most website post very limited help that is not specifically useful to help me at all; So i have some problems i hope the modders on-line can help me personally.

OK..., firegraft is quite easy to work with once i finally got to change my game version. so anyways, i got to the button set page and add raynor, Gui, and Kerrigian to the list of button to be pressed. i have added their unit and tech requirements with the thing FG provided like the parameter and whatever thing.
i changed it into a MPQ, and ran it with MPQ draft. Nothing new happens. I can't create these units. with the Barrack. Why not?

Also, i have trouble working with modding the turret units (like the tank turrets and the Goliath turrets) I can get units like the wrath and BC to work with graphic mod cause it's easy... but not the turret units. plus, the units like mutas (that move while not attacking) is really hard to mod...I need help so please help me........

Post by **IskatuMesk** » Sun Jun 21, 2009 10:15 am

"Mod" is not capitalized.

You need to create a firegraft exe, not an mpqdraft exe. This is done through firegraft itself.

The other question makes no sense at all. Please put some effort into actually describing your problems coherently if you expect people to help you.

Post by **Hercanic** » Sun Jun 21, 2009 10:39 am

FireGraft is capable of making its own executable. You will never need MPQDraft when making a FireGraft mod.

Open your saved FireGraft mod. Go to File -> Save as. At the bottom of the dialogue box, select the "Save as type" dropdown box. There are two options, one being "MPQ Archive (*.mpq, *.scm, *.scx)", and the other being "Self-Executing Patch (*.exe)". Select Self-Executing Patch. In fact, I recommend always using this option no matter what, because you can still open the EXE with WinMPQ and treat it just like a normal MPQ file, except it can be activated and tested with a simple double-click. Just keep in mind, between editing the EXE in FireGraft/WinMPQ and running it, never try to do either of these simultaneously. If you are running the mod and try to edit it with WinMPQ, for instance, no changes will be made because it is running.

As for your other issues, you'll need to be more clear in describing what you did step by step, what applications you used, what you're trying to achieve, and what the actual result has been.

Post by **Hercanic** » Sun Jun 21, 2009 7:52 pm

Turrets communicate with their base in their iscripts. When adding an air attack to the Tank turret, you need to also look at how the Tank base functions in its ground attack and map that onto the Tank base's air attack iscript.

As for graphic changes on the Goliath, again there is a lot of communication that has to happen between the base and turret. If, for instance, you replace the turret graphic with a one that has fewer frames than the original, this will crash. The base signals the turret when to use certain frames, and vice versa, but if those frames aren't there you'll get a crash.

bo12333 · Post by **bo12333** » Mon Jun 22, 2009 6:27 am

ummm... sorry, but i looked hard and cannot find the where the script connects to the two parts....
Is there a specific location in the script i should try to look for?

Xelrick · Post by **Xelrick** » Mon Jun 22, 2009 10:31 am

Hmmm this sound familiar I know I seen a mod do what your asking with the turrets units but I long forgot its name (it may been Sickel with me missing with it) many of the turrets may have been code to act like Goliath turrets anyway I remember Tanks still had problem instand of crashing it spawned zerg egg when hit air units every few shots but I can help if want some I can look into problem although others know what to do better then i do...
I can decipher hex code 70% of the time... Good Luck

bo12333 · Post by **bo12333** » Mon Jun 22, 2009 3:08 pm

well then.. new question; why does the vulture air attack fails even when i changed it the the exact steps Mesk put on another website and why doesn't the mutalisk work when i copy the exact code Mesk put in he tutorial (other than the picture)??!!!

Post by **Hercanic** » Mon Jun 22, 2009 5:09 pm

Oh, almost forgot, any frame count changes done to a turret also need to be reflected in the .LO* file.

bo12333 · Post by **bo12333** » Tue Jun 23, 2009 7:35 am

ummm.. wtf is .LO*

It's not anything i can find or see mesk has talked about...

Post by **IskatuMesk** » Tue Jun 23, 2009 7:41 am

Lo files are for offsets. A lot of units use them, though I've rarely needed to do anything to them except for changing the positions of turrets. Turrets use lo files for positioning.

bo12333 · Post by **bo12333** » Tue Jun 23, 2009 2:53 pm

umm.. where do i find the Lo files and please explain to me how they interact with the base of the turret

and p.s.

your mutalisk thing (with exact copy and paste) does not work with the bomber or any graphics i download to test with.

Post by **Hercanic** » Wed Jul 01, 2009 6:18 am

.LO* files tell Starcraft where to place an overlay every frame. There is an astrix at the end of LO because there are LOS, LOF, LOL, LOA, LOB, etc, files.

Go to Images.dat, using either DatEdit or PyDAT. See Extra Overlay Placements? Attack, Damage, Special, Landing Dust, Lift-off Dust, and Shield. In the search bar, type in Missile Turret or Goliath or Siege Tank. They all use a LO*. You are also given what folder these files are in within the MPQ. Look there to grab the files.

When editing the LO file, you just need to ensure it has the same number of frames. Unless you wanted to get fancy and actually move around the coordinates for the overlay. This would allow you to change where Protoss/Terran building fire or Zerg bleeding appears, where the landing/lift-off dust appears, where turrets are placed, etc.

bo12333 · Post by **bo12333** » Sat Apr 10, 2010 3:48 pm

Ok, so I am finally back to modding again, and I am now trying some graphic modding

One graph i tried to use was one called the Dreadnaught from mesk's waxdough collection. That worked perfectly. I noticed that all the .grp has only 16 frames that are usedful, and only have them rotating to the left; My question is why is the other half of the graphic not required?!

also, what do i use to make a a unit able to fire like 5 missiles or lasers at the same time? Iscript? and how?

Post by **Lavarinth** » Sat Apr 10, 2010 5:22 pm

bo12333 wrote: Ok, so I am finally back to modding again, and I am now trying some graphic modding

One graph i tried to use was one called the Dreadnaught from mesk's waxdough collection. That worked perfectly. I noticed that all the .grp has only 16 frames that are usedful, and only have them rotating to the left; My question is why is the other half of the graphic not required?!

also, what do i use to make a a unit able to fire like 5 missiles or lasers at the same time? Iscript? and how?

They are simply mirrored to reflect the opposite direction.

bo12333 · Post by **bo12333** » Sun Apr 11, 2010 7:39 am

Then can someone please tell me why I can never get a organic unit (such as Hero Kerrigan) work with a graphic I insert but it works with a graphic change such as Battle cruiser?

P.S. I use 'unit\terran\ughost.grp' where i make Kerri-ghost look like the Keeper from Mesk's Waxdough collection of ships.