Hacking CTP: Tips From Activision

How to edit the Great Library, Sounds, and Sprites.

Great Library

If you want to edit or create your own text entries for anything in the Great Library, you must first decide which type of entry (Unit, Wonders, etc.) you wish to change. To find the filename used in the Great Library, open the respective *ICON.TXT file in \CTP_DATA\DEFAULT\GAMEDATA\. For example, open UNITICON.TXT to find the filenames used by the Legion (Unit) in the Great Library.


Each item in the *ICON.TXT files has several filenames associated with it. The .TGA is used for the still image. The .AVI is used for the rotating image. The .TXT files beginning with "GAME" are displayed in the Gameplay section of the Great Library. The .TXT files beginning with "HIST" are displayed in the Historical section of the Great Library. The .TXT files beginning with "PREQ" are displayed in the upper-left section of the Great Library. The .TXT files beginning with "VARI" are displayed in the upper-right section of the Great Library. The .TXT files beginning with "STAT" are displayed to describe the gameplay features of the item in the Production Tab.

Once you have found the proper filename, you may create your own file using the same file type and filename as the original. Create .TGA using 160x120 pixel size. Create .AVI files with 160x120 pixel size (use 15 frames per second and Indeo 5.10 compression for best results). After creating your file, place it in the proper directory to be used in the game. Place .TGA files in \CTP_DATA\DEFAULT\GRAPHICS\PICTURES. Place .AVI files in \CTP_DATA\DEFAULT\VIDEOS. Place .TXT files in \CTP_DATA\ENGLISH\GAMEPLAY\GL. The original files are stored in the .ZFS files. Do not try to change or open those files. Any file outside of a .ZFS has priority and will be used instead of the original. To revert back to the original files, simply delete your files.

Sounds

If you want to create your own sound files for Units, you must first decide the action and filename for which you wish to create a .WAV file. Refer to the SOUNDS.TXT in \CTP_DATA\DEFAULT\GAMEDATA\. Each Unit has several sounds, one for each of the actions that the Unit may perform. Match the Action and Unit to find the filename. For example, to learn the .WAV filename used for the Death of a Legion, open SOUNDS.TXT and search for "Legion". The filename "GUVV78.wav" is listed after the entry reading "SOUND_DEATH_LEGION."
Some items have different names than those displayed in the game. For example, the Mounted Archer Unit appears as "Chariot" in the text files.

To use your own .WAV file, name your file the same as the filename found in SOUNDS.TXT. Then place your .WAV in \CTP_DATA\DEFAULT\SOUND. The original .WAV files are stored in the "SOUND.ZFS" file. Do not try to change or open that file. Any file outside of the .ZFS has priority and will be used instead of the original. To revert back to the original files, simply delete your files. Use 22mHz, 16bit mono when creating .WAV files.

Unit Sprites

To change the sprite used for a Unit, open SPRITEID.TXT, which is located in \CTP_DATA\DEFAULT\GAMEDATA. Then you decide on two things. First, decide which Unit you wish to change. Then decide which other Unit's sprite you wish to replace with the first Unit. Simply change the number of the first Unit to the same number listed after the second Unit. You should write down the original number of the Unit you are changing so that you can change it back at a later time.

More details, tips & tricks to come ...
Posted by Vahn, On Behalf of CTP Map Editor Team, on Official Site