Mod help?

Sombre · #1 March 15th, 2007, 02:28 AM

I find it difficult to see how a text editor with more features than notepad is actually beneficial for editing .dm files. They are incredibly simple.

But hey, use whatever. It's just raw text editing after all.

Edi · #2 March 15th, 2007, 02:54 AM

Sombre, things like "find and replace", "find", changing case for words, lines etc. I've done a crapload of map editing and reading mods and so forth and the last thing I want is having no tools to quicken the process.

If you want an accurate comparison:

A 600 MHz Celeron with a Matrox G200 graphics card and 392 MB memory
A Core 2 Duo E6600 with Nvidia 7900GT graphics card and 2 GB memory

Both of those can run Dominions 3, but do you REALLY want to pick the first option if the second is available? Because Crimson Editor is nearly that much more powerful than Notepad. I'll take the steel knife and let others chip away with their flint-bladed stone age tools if they are so inclined. But I'm never going back to Notepad.

If you want to see what I'm talking about, download and install Crimson Editor and try it. Then tell me what you think. The program is freeware for personal use, so it'll not cost you anything. I've noticed you do a LOT of modding, so you could probably find use for some of the additional features. You don't absolutely NEED them, but they make things easier.

Sombre · #3 March 15th, 2007, 04:03 AM

Notepad has find and replace.

You can say it's much more powerful, but then Microsoft Word is also much more powerful than notepad - it doesn't mean it's any help modding .dm files,.. which is the only thing I use notepad for.

There are certain modding tools which would be very helpful and I'd like to see. For instance a prog that output a mod-ready version of a unit from the vanilla database. It would make changing the equipment of units that much easier. Or a full blown unit editor where you input fields, browse for pictures etc.

paradoxharbinger · #4 March 15th, 2007, 04:39 AM

a unit editor would be really sweet, even if it lacked a database of the in-game units and just allowed for creating new ones.

BandarLover · #5 March 15th, 2007, 08:53 AM

Very nice.

It's nice to know I just need stuff that's already on my comp. I'll prolly toy around with some of the things Sombre first posted. And I will check out the other programs as well.

I know it has been suggested that I not worry about custom graphics at first, but eventually I would like to. How do most of you modders go about this? Do you import graphics into your paint program or make them from scratch? Can you simply edit and add to some units already in game?

Thank you guys very much for the help. Who knows, I may just see this through and (hopefully) have something up here for others to check out.

Sombre · #6 March 15th, 2007, 09:17 AM

I often use graphics from the game as a template,.. but I don't use a time consuming and precise method to extract them, so I only get one sprite (from the unit recruitment screen, enlarged by about 120% width, 140% height) and it's blurry due to enlargement, has some other graphical glitches etc. I then go about a process of chopping bits off, sharpening it up, changing colours and adding bits. I sometimes use graphics from other sources too, but recently (with Ulm Reborn for instance) it's been my own work on top of a Dom3 recruitment screenshot template.

Psientist · #7 March 15th, 2007, 02:41 PM

Bandarlover:
Here's my suggestion. Don't even start with a nation - start even simpler by just modding a couple of items, monsters, or spells. I started with a new pretender!

Don't restrict your modded monsters/items/spells by nation. Don't worry about graphics - use the #copyspr to copy graphics from an existing unit (check out the various Units View maps to get the numbers).

Play and tweak.

That way, you can have a simple mod up and running in a few minutes. Then you can start building around a theme and get more ambitious.