How Do You Install New Units to CTP?

[Kramdon]

I first would like to say that I am absolutely amazed at the brilliance of the many people out there who are able to create the modifications to CTP and compile CTP data in easy to read formats (and amazed by the amount of time they must have in order to accopmplish such tasks). I also appreciate the people who have taken the time to explain how to make modifications such as create sprites.

Unfortunately, I have seen nothing (and I've searched all through this site) that explains what to do once you have a sprite. HOW DO YOU INSTALL A SPRITE INTO CTP AND CREATE A NEW UNIT?

I do have the EasyMod 3.3. When I attempted to add a New unit and launch the scenario the mod had created, I received the error message, "UNITS.txt line 2457: error. DESCRIPTION_UNIT_F22 not in String DB".

First of all I wasn't sure if the F-22 sprite was going to work because it is named "F22.spr" (obtained from Crousto's download on this site). Doesn't it have to be given a "conventional" name (as described in Activision's MakeSprite documentation)? Once you do have the .spr and .tga files, where do you put them?

Also, I noticed that the EasyMod doesn't increase the number of units in the spiteID.txt file. Are there other minor things that must be tweaked in addition to what EasyMod does?

Finally, could anyone provide a systematic outline of exactly what one must do in order to add a new unit to the game (assuming you already have the necessary .spr and .tga files)? What are all the files that must be modified in order to make a new unit work in the game?

Thank you to anyone who can help.

[alexman]

How to create a new unit using EasyMod:
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First of all go to the "units" tab. Units are all we care about here.

Select a unit that's similar to the new unit you want to create. Press the "New".
Change the unit, icon, and sprite ID's to be something that makes sense for this unit.
For example UNIT_F22, ICON_F22, and SPRITE_F22
(Note: Do not change the Description ID, because it's not used in the game. If you change it you need to manually add a string to correspond to the new ID. The rest of these stirings are in junk_str.txt)

If you want to give the unit a new sprite, change the sprite number to something that doesn't already exist, for example 200. You then need to place the sprite file,
called GU200.spr in this case, in the default\graphics\sprites folder of your scenario folder. The spriteID.txt file that will be created will change to include this new sprite after you're done with EasyMod.

If you want the unit to have a different entry in the GL than the unit you copied, edit the icon files by pressing "Files..." in the icon box. EasyMod will let you edit the new text files, and will put them in the right place. But you need to put the new graphics files in ctp_data\default\graphics\pictures (unless of course you choose file names that already exist for another unit)

Specify the sounds of the new unit by pressing the "Sounds..." button. If you want the sound of an existing unit you specify the same file as that unit. If you have a new sound file, then you specify the name of that file, which needs to go in
ctp_data\default\sounds

Edit the unit flags and other properties to have the values that you wish for the new unit.

Finished! Click OK and Easymod will create the scenario text files for you.

Hope this helps...

[Kramdon]

Thanks, alexman, I appreciate your help. The only question I have is what to do with the .tga file. Is this used? Will it need to be renamed "GU200.tga"? And will it be placed in the file "pictures"?

Thanks again . . .

[alexman]

Kramdon,

There are several files in .tga format that CTP uses. There is one image used in the GL, one used in the production tab, and one used in the scenario editor (cheat mode).
You can name these files whatever you want, as long as you specify the file name by clicking the "Files..." button in the icon group of EasyMod. Actually, I believe that the only restriction is that the scenario editor file should be named the same as the production tab file with a "b" at the end. So if you have a file named UPU200.tga in the "icon" box of EasyMod, CTP will look for the file UPU200b.tga to use for the scenario editor.

All of these graphics files go in the ctp_data\default\graphics\pictures folder.



[This message has been edited by alexman (edited September 17, 1999).]

[Kramdon]

Thanks for your sound and concise advice, alexman. I successfully added a new unit called "Stealth Fighter" to CTP with the F22 sprite I downloaded.

Unfortunately, I was unable to get any of the .tga files to work (for the Great Library and Production tab). I followed your instructions, but when I attempted to access the GL entry for Stealth Fighter or the Build button of the Production tab (where the unit picture is shown) the computer "thought" for a few seconds then the game crashed. The screen turned into a bunch of colored lines. Perhaps the .tga file I attempted to use is not of the correct size. Oh well.

Anyway, I wanted to applaud you on your very professional user created utility. I am very impressed.

Thanks for your prompt responses.

[XeeX]

OK, I tried all of that, and it still didn't work, EasyMod gave me a creating folder error.