New Race/4th Commander Project. (4th Commander 1.0 Released!)

**Promythyus** · 16th Mar 11 4:46 AM

So, I've set up a new race in retribution, the Deathwing (don't laugh, those of you who know of the dow1 deathwing mod

)

Obviously, relic never intended for anyone to add new races, and they've made it rather hard (or, haven't made it easy).

There are issues if your race comes before any of the default races in the drop down list, it totally screws up race selection. My solution; prefix my race rbf with z (aka zdeathwing.rbf). Puts deathwing at the bottom of the list, no more issues (aside from a slight graphical glitch). But my arcane knowledge ends here. Thus, i ask several questions and post some problems.

1. Where is the file that defines what entities show in the army painter? Deathwing has no assigned entities for the army painter, and as such it's defaulting to showing chaos units/teamcolours (probably because they're the first in the list)

2. Best shown as an image: http://brooksaar.com/files/2011-03-16_00002.jpg [Probably not 56k friendly!]
The buttons highlighted in red do not work! Which means I cannot choose a race AFTER I've chosen my custom race. It works fine for any players using default races, but once I choose deathwing, it no longer works

Has anyone else encountered these problems? Indeed, has anyone else even created a custom race yet?!

Any input is appreciated, and I apologize in advance for the bold stuff, I didn't want it getting lost in the text though

Thanks!

**horusheretic** · 16th Mar 11 5:30 AM

Where is the file that defines what entities show in the army painter? Deathwing has no assigned entities for the army painter, and as such it's defaulting to showing chaos units/teamcolours (probably because they're the first in the list)

tuning info rbf. select "ui" you'll find it. only that it will show single unit type squads, so if you have multiple different enitities in a squad, youll have to remake one for the ap.

the second one i havent, but then theres a lot of race butons and images you'd likely need to add in anyway for it to work properly.

**Promythyus** · 16th Mar 11 6:26 AM

I added my units to the list, selected the correct racebp, and no luck :/

On a side note, when you remove a race from the list (eg. space marines) that previously worked, the army painter changes to a black background and has no units or schemes available for selection, meaning the engine was expecting them but didn't find them. Very different to the deathwing. I'd hazard a guess that there is another file I have to add them to :/

**horusheretic** · 16th Mar 11 6:57 AM

Well like i said there is a lot of race imagery and art that is floating around just for a race to work and also make sure the race id's are different too. I've only briefly had a look at adding a new race... so i can't help that much with it.

**Promythyus** · 17th Mar 11 2:41 PM

hmm, no luck there. It seems relic's races are hard coded into the gfx files, and when they get things they don't expect, everything breaks.

Everything works simulation wise (as i would imagine it has since vDoW2), all that's stopping me is some cruddy graphics and UI files. I had hoped since the drop down race selection list, everything would be a bit easier (no need to hack up graphics files).

I shall continue though!

**horusheretic** · 17th Mar 11 3:42 PM

You could download the UDK and see if you can use the scaleform gfx it has there. I would try but i literally cant be bothered to set it up and stuff. Its free anyway

**Khorney** · 17th Mar 11 5:48 PM

that's what i'm going todo to have a snoop around the scaleform stuff, the power of being able to edit the scaleform UI should open up some interesting oppertunties, both for the menu's and inagme (as 90% of the ingame elements are handled through scaleform now as opposed to just campaign or whatever as in DC)

**Promythyus** · 18th Mar 11 4:34 AM

Just played around with the UDK. UDK uses Scaleform GFx v3-4.x, whereas DoW2 uses Scaleform GFx v2something. Also, we need the source FLA files still

Gonna try some SWF decompilers and see how I go...

**Khorney** · 18th Mar 11 7:52 AM

extracting resources from the gfx files is easy enough - check the how-to thread

**Promythyus** · 19th Mar 11 6:05 PM

well I've decompiled hero_selection_panel.gfx with trillix as suggested, and I've done a simple edit to change some strings (i know I can hex edit these changes, but I want to do it this way in testing for larger changes), I've linked flash up to CLIK and all the classes from the UDK as per the UDK's instructions. When I compile, I get no errors (prior adding the classes I got a method not found error, it was a part of scaleform), but the entire scene turns into white nothingness, and the game just skips hero selection (intelligently just assigning random races to everyone).

Any ideas, or should I ask on a more flash/scaleform/udk oriented board?

If I can get this to recompile correctly, I think adding a 4th commander would be a piece of cake from looking at the actionscript.

**Shuma** · 19th Mar 11 6:40 PM

If I can get this to recompile correctly, I think adding a 4th commander would be a piece of cake from looking at the actionscript.

You have my attention, i don't really know anything about this UI editing mumbo jumbo but if you ever find a way to implement a 4th commander i'm totally on board on a project to add them to each race.

**Promythyus** · 19th Mar 11 11:38 PM

I DID IT.

http://cloud.steampowered.com/ugc/54...F68C0F8450C43/
http://cloud.steampowered.com/ugc/54...41C3E2827E6CD/
http://cloud.steampowered.com/ugc/54...570B0FD2C09EE/ [EYE BURN WARNING!]

I broke the graphical part, but I now have deathwing fully selectable and deselectable! It is FUNCTIONAL.

So, how did you do it prom?

I've been up for just under 24hrs so bear with me if this is a little off and doesn't make sense...

1. install udk
2. set up flash to use the scaleform tools in the udk! read: http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/Scale...essional%20CS4

3. open hero_selection_panel.gfx in XVI32 and change the first 3 bytes to FWS (from GFX), save the file as hero_selection_panel.swf

4. Decompile and convert hero_selection_panel.swf to a .FLA with "Flash Decompiler Trillix by Eltima Software" (I'm using v4.1.0.710) (DON'T CONVERT WITHIN THE MOD DIR, IT MAKES STUFF MESSY!)

5. Now open the .FLA in flash, and go to the actionscript window (press F9, or Window > Actions). Around line 941 you will see:

heroes_mc.race_sm_mc.tooltip_type = TooltipType.TypeGeneric;
heroes_mc.race_sm_mc.tooltip_description = "$9101363";

duplicate these two lines underneath themselves, and change "race_sm" to "race_zdeathwing" or whatever your race is called. Change the UCS to whatever UCS value you want. Eg;

heroes_mc.race_zdeathwing_mc.tooltip_type = TooltipType.TypeGeneric;
heroes_mc.race_zdeathwing_mc.tooltip_description = "$10000002";

where 10000002 = Select a Deathwing hero in deathwing.ucs

6. further down on line 969 you will see g_raceArray. Add your race to the array, eg;

["zdeathwing", "$10000003"],

deathwing.ucs showing 10000003 = Successor (as you see in the screenshots)

7. Save your file (you can convert to cs5 fine, don't worry about that).

8. Now go to File > Publish Settings. Untick HTML, we don't need it. Go to the flash tab, then untick "compress movie". Click settings next to script: actionscript 2.0 and ensure your classes are set up correctly (so it uses CLIK) (http://i.imgur.com/mS3Gn.png)

9. Click publish. you should get hero_selection_panel.swf or something similar next to your FLA file. Copy the published SWF file into your mod, rename it hero_selection_panel.gfx to replace the one in data.sga

Enjoy!

Now that's out of the way, does anyone have a clue how I can get the purty graphics back in? relic's files use DATA: and such, refering to SGAs. How the hell do I do that in flash?

Also, Shuma, IF i get such a thing working (fingers crossed!), i would absolutely LOVE to see whatever you come up with. I love the stuff you've put out

----------

GAH! I just wrote a massive post and lost it due to my tiredness and chrome's derpy.

OK, time to retry... FIRST, SORRY FOR DOUBLE POST... I just want to keep things separate. also sorry for my terrible writing, I'm INCREDIBLY tired, but I want to get this down before I sleep and forget or something.

Now, I GOT A FOURTH COMMANDER IN! Quick run down:

1. Same file as before, line 811, var numSlots = 4 instead of 3. Simple enough to understand.

2. then on line 964, edit var MAX_NUM_HEROES to be 4. Again, pretty simple.

3. Duplicate slot2_btn and rename it slot3_btn, move it over abit into a new space.

4. Publish the file and replace, as above.

5. Add another hero to your herolist in your racebp (probably needed for every race. I just duplicated the 3rd commander and changed the SBP to something appropriate (or not

)

I HAVEN"T TRIED AN AI ON THE NEW COMMANDER.

Screenshots;

http://cloud.steampowered.com/ugc/54...A65015F7F85AA/
http://cloud.steampowered.com/ugc/54...994B90E43118D/

^^^ Hero selection screen. Note the currently selected commander is blacked out, due to the derpy flash.

http://cloud.steampowered.com/ugc/54...8F03A2C9C33AB/

^ commissar lord librarian promythyus the techmarine looses a battle in 9 seconds. The inquisition will be rather displeased...

http://cloud.steampowered.com/ugc/54...9489B30101B1C/

^ Jonah leading scouts.

Download my WIP garbage mod;

This is exactly what i have on my HDD atm, I'm sorry if anyone else's work has slipped in, it shouldn't have. I'm not providing any support whatsoever, you need to work out how to use this yourself. It's just to show what i've done;

http://brooksaar.com/files/deathwing.7z <- main files (still uploading as of posting, should be done by the time anyone reads).
http://brooksaar.com/files/deathwing.ucs <- UCS file.

And with that, I'm done for now. I have a VERY busy fortnight ahead (drivers license, barista course, bar course, along with uni) so I probably won't do too much. But if you know of a flash developer that can help me (indeed, khorney, if you can help me clean this up graphics wise (if you're adept with flash that is

), it would be a MASSIVE help!)

edit: it automerged my posts. TECHNOLOGY!

**Copernicus** · 20th Mar 11 4:48 AM

Very nice.

**highonsinz** · 20th Mar 11 5:10 AM

Most impressive.

**Shuma** · 20th Mar 11 6:49 AM

This is making me hot

, call Gorb for his ideas on 4th commanders, call the coders, call everyone!

**horusheretic** · 20th Mar 11 8:22 AM

I love it when i point people in the right direction. Now we just need a guru to make everything look easy

XD

**Tyron** · 20th Mar 11 9:56 AM

Well Horus you are the best modder around

**horusheretic** · 20th Mar 11 11:24 AM

Thats to much credit than i deserve XD

**Promythyus** · 20th Mar 11 4:24 PM

Interesting note, it just "floats" ontop of the mp setup screen, so if we can't get it back to it's original graphical state, I think we could easily redesign it to just "pop up" over the MP setup screen in a slightly more aesthetically pleasing way. I'll be working on this

**Gabriel Gorgutz** · 20th Mar 11 4:49 PM

4th commanders for each faction:

SM: A Scout Commander character, kind of like cyrus but without the emo hair and beard. Give him a camo cloak, stalker patter boltgun with various ammo types, a special sniper weapon like the one in Deathwatch: Rites of Battle, and a grenade launcher with diff grenade types for wargear. He would be kind of similar to the Kommando nob in principle.

CSM: The Slannesh Chaos Sorceror or Chaos Lord.

IG: Col. Iron Hand Straken from the Catachans. Also, Nork Deddog to add to the command squad (not a 4th commander I know, but still would be cool to see him).

Eldar: Harlequin or Death Jester.

Tyranids: A venomthrope.

Orkz: Big mek, of course.

**Gorb** · 20th Mar 11 6:02 PM

I have my Dark Reaper and Raptor Champion ideas lying around, however I think we should concentrate first on getting this technique to a level where it can both be easily reproduced and also as visually-pleasing as possible.

All props to Promythyus though, you da man

@ Gabriel Gorgutz: a Big Mek would overlap too much in terms of utility and design with the Mekboy, in my opinion. Without replacing the Mekboy, there are various other alternatives that you can use. Skarboyz Chieftan, Goff 'Ead 'Unter, and so on. Both of these are unique and though seemingly similar to the Warboss, they wouldn't have his durability or crowd control, but they'd be potentially more lethal than the Warboss in terms of raw damage.

**uncle_anaesthesia** · 20th Mar 11 6:39 PM

4th commander would be nice would make chaos more.....orderly
but nice on promythyus, hope thiings start happening now youve opened the first lock

**Shuma** · 21st Mar 11 12:30 AM

Now that i think about it everyone would choose different commanders for their mods, kind of silly to try and agree on which they should be. Some are obvious choices like the Librarian for SM, but others like the Ork commanders... Not so much, but just for fun i'd go with:

SM: FC, Chaplain, Techmarine, Librarian.
Orks: Warboss, Kommando, Big Mek and... Uh... I wish i knew more about Orks.
Eldar: Farseer, Warlock, Autarch, Dark Reaper exarch.
Tyranids: Hive Tyrant, Lictor, Broodlord, Tyranid Prime.
Chaos: Chaos Lord, Sorceror, Champion, Demon Herald.

Dunno about IG, anyway if there's anything i can do to help with this little project count me in.

**Godlike_Power** · 21st Mar 11 6:30 AM

This is incredible work promythyus. However since adding a forth commander, I guess you'll need to add global abilities too? Otherwise it'll be blank.

Which of course brings on the question of what those abilities should be for the forth commander...so many ideas...too few to choose.

Keep up the good work!

**Gabriel Gorgutz** · 21st Mar 11 7:43 AM

I've got tons of ideas written down on this subject lol. I've waited long for this day. Emperor speed you on your way, Promythyus.

**Promythyus** · 21st Mar 11 3:43 PM

Well as Shuma mentions, modders will be able to choose anything they want, in terms of commanders and abilities. Once I get it looking better graphically, I'll release a small pack enabling modders to put whatever they want in.

Slowly working through the graphics, though I can't work out relic's technique, so i'm simply converting the DDS files to png and embedding them in the swf. Not exactly the most elegant solution and the file is already at 200kb (from relic's 80kb), but it works.

http://cloud.steampowered.com/ugc/54...FB32EACB873BA/

**horusheretic** · 21st Mar 11 3:53 PM

Nice :P But sadly WoA wont be needing this XD

Race selection, Improved squad upgrades and ui.. Now tha'ts where i am more interested.

**Croaxleigh** · 21st Mar 11 4:28 PM

Prom, you beautiful beautiful man, this is awesome. Once all of the bugs are worked out in the UI, I've got a few races lying around that might be fun to work into DoW2.

**uncle_anaesthesia** · 21st Mar 11 6:38 PM

wow! excellent progress being made

**Khorney** · 21st Mar 11 6:56 PM

nice.

i finish up uni on the weekend, so i'll be installing the UDK to try out some of the in-game stuff.

sure hanger would love this if we figure out how to unlock the skin options for non-SM races

**Promythyus** · 21st Mar 11 9:29 PM

@Khorney: I can't imagine it would be too hard to unlock the skinning options for non-SM races, the hard part would be getting it back in the game. I've been trying most of the morning, and I cannot find a way to get the 3d scene back into the game. Flash calls for a shared library, which I'd imagine is a special scaleform library to allow directx scenes within flash. So you could have your army painter, but no units would display. That said, I'm fairly sure you can just make the tem2-3-4 files and refer to them from defaultchapters.lua and it'll work. I could be entirely wrong though...

Anyway, I've gotten more of the UI back in;
http://cloud.steampowered.com/ugc/54...0956F62352747/
http://cloud.steampowered.com/ugc/54...DA50D3651E432/

Note that the librarian image isn't appearing purely because I haven't pointed to it in the RBF

Unfortunately I'm having a little trouble finding the correct bitmap to replace the red box with atm... I'll continue working away. And as I mentioned, I can't work out how to get the 3d commander back into the scene. I doubt I'll work it out without help from someone that knows this stuff, my hex skillz only go so far :/ But i shall persevere..

@Croax: I'd love to see that

@HH: From quickly examining the actionscript in some of the files in DATA:ui/movies/hud, I think that wouldn't be too hard, but again, the problem of getting the graphical parts back together might be a bitch.

Thanks for the kind words guys

**Shuma** · 21st Mar 11 9:47 PM

That said, I'm fairly sure you can just make the tem2-3-4 files and refer to them from defaultchapters.lua and it'll work. I could be entirely wrong though...

No, that does work, you can even make more than 4 schemes, Hangar himself made a 5th one for the Space marines for example. Anyway this is awesome, i guess i'll have to get back to work on the Dark Eldar now.

**Croaxleigh** · 21st Mar 11 9:56 PM

I'd already thought about doing a Steel Confessors mini-mod so that I my SC army scheme would have gears and lightning bolts in all the right places... if you get this all worked out, though, I might hold off on that and just start working on porting over bits of my Adeptus Mechanicus mod from DoW to DoW2.

**Gorb** · 22nd Mar 11 4:09 AM

Originally Posted by Promythyus

Slowly working through the graphics, though I can't work out relic's technique, so i'm simply converting the DDS files to png and embedding them in the swf. Not exactly the most elegant solution and the file is already at 200kb (from relic's 80kb), but it works.

Okay, I have no idea how Relic did it, nor have I looked at any of the required files, but I would presume they have some form of referencing set up (i.e. they reference a direct filepath which the SWF/GFX file looks up). This would keep the file size down, and also makes sense given that the art assets are stored elsewhere.

**horusheretic** · 22nd Mar 11 4:39 AM

They likely reference the lua files stored along side with gfx files. They usually have a list of referenced textures... and some seem to have a different format :S

**Promythyus** · 22nd Mar 11 5:31 AM

Yeah, the original GFX files are full of DATA:ui/texture/generic/fe/blah references. Unfortunately the decompiler doesn't understand this (obviously) and I don't know how to put these references back in. Looking at the --help section of gfxexport.exe from UDK, it seems to be able to do it for you. Combine that with a special inhouse dll from relic (which gfxexport supports, at least in the UDK) and you get your gfx files opening resources from wherever DOW2.exe says DATA is (i would imagine, anyway).

My current hero_selection_panel weighs in at a ghastly 2.9mb, compressed. Annoying, but doesn't seem to effect performance anyway.

I've almost got it back to what I would call acceptable. Everything is back to as it was before decompilation, except for a few minor graphics, apart from the 3D commander model. The only remaining issue is xp_bar_foreground width calculations don't seem to be working, which means the shiny bar doesn't progress as you get XP, and a few objects seem to be making scaleform have a bitch.

http://cloud.steampowered.com/ugc/54...3FA3B58261DE4/
^^ Almost done.

Once i've got those things sorted out, I'll post an easy to use GFX file, purely for adding a 4th commander, and another package with the source files and full instructions on how to add a race to the gfx file and export it properly. I'll also post up some simple proof of concept demo mods exhibiting the new features. Then anyone can have at it

AFTER I've done this, I'll look further into getting the commander back on screen. No promises though.

**Shuma** · 22nd Mar 11 5:50 AM

You're a hero. Anyway, i don't think the xp bar would be used in mods anyway, and screw the size.

**Khorney** · 22nd Mar 11 8:42 AM

dunno whether you saw pro, but when i was looking around the gfx files a while back there were always 2 - one was the file with the menu data, the other was a long reference ist of all the filenames of images used. so that might be worth a look (can't check now since on my laptop, but if you can't find it i'll dig up my old files)

**Promythyus** · 22nd Mar 11 6:51 PM

Well, after an awesome breakfast, and a lame internet outage, I ended up removing the XP bar. As Shuma says, it probably won't be used. That means the 4th commander side of this thread is complete

4TH Commander Mod
Mod Files
GFX File
Flash Sources for hero_selection_panel

The mod files link includes the .gfx file and a sample usage; SM have a Librarian commander (with no abilities or resurrection), IG have a cloned General (with full abilities and resurrection), and all the other races only have 3 commanders. Basically showcases the full range of the mod's capabilities. (The librarian's lack of abilities and resurrections is my crappy RBF skills, not a limitation of the mod or anything

)

The GFX file is exactly as stated, most of you will want just this.

The flash sources, are yet again, exactly as stated. I doubt any of you will want this, but it's there in case anyone wants to make some changes. I don't have the flash skills to pull it off, but I'm sure someone else could do something fancy like turn it into a sliding panel over the game setup screen or something, instead of having a dedicated screen.

Enjoy

---

The new race side is unfortunately not fully done yet. I still need to work out some army painter issues (it crashes half the time, and the other half uses chaos instead), but it's getting there!

Right now it will have to wait though, I've got some ideas to do with blood angels death companies and chaos dreadnoughts that I want to toy with

THAT SAID, if anyone wants to get started on a new race before I release, you can either:
A) Use the sources for the 4th commander mod along with my brief guide a few posts up to get it working yourself (if you have the UDK and flash set up).
OR
B) Send me a PM. Provided they don't become an every day occurrence, I'd be happy to set up your race and give you the corresponding hero_selection_panel.gfx file provided you give me the racebp filename and the associated UCS strings (or a copy of the UCS file).

---

@Khorney: Yeah, I've seen the LUA files next to the gfx files. I've been looking through them for some inspiration as to how relic got the 3d commander into the scene, but no luck

They don't actually seem to be used by the game oddly.

**General Stukov** · 22nd Mar 11 10:50 PM

NICE! I hope this is done very VERY soon... what do you have planned for the other races? (if you mentioned, sorry I have a VERY short attention... OO KITTY CAT!)

**Promythyus** · 22nd Mar 11 11:13 PM

I don't personally plan on making/adding any more commanders, not just yet anyway. This is more of a tool for other modders to use. I've actually set up the whole 4 chaos gods system in a personal mod (though it's not very fleshed out), which may one day see the light of day.

Like you, I also have a very short attention span. I have lots of half done projects

**General Stukov** · 23rd Mar 11 12:50 AM

lol, adult ADHD is a bish... anyhow I find my services as an idea man can kinda help people get the drive to work on stuff even if I've ADHD'd out of it... ask Croaxleigh, I'm slowly working my powers of persuasion for him to make a singleplayer campaign for his adeptus mod... *waves hands around* These are not the droids you are looking for... wait... *does it again* You will make more Commanders...

**Shuma** · 23rd Mar 11 4:46 AM

Amazing, after 2 years and 2 expansions the 4th commander is a reality, someone get this man a senior membership stat!

Now we only have to wait for Santos to come with his updated tool and we probably wouldn't even need Relic's official mod tools, damn, this community is amazing.

**Adratus** · 23rd Mar 11 6:49 AM

I've actually set up the whole 4 chaos gods system in a personal mod

That's the first thing I thought of when you figured this out

Well done Promythyus, you made quite a few modders happy.

**General Stukov** · 23rd Mar 11 6:11 PM

So what are the heroes if you mind me asking? I've always found it odd they would include an apoth but not a chaplain... or warp spider yet not an autarch. Hell just adding more heroes to Last Stand would make me eternally happy... I'd even pay money for that DLC...

**Promythyus** · 23rd Mar 11 6:40 PM

More characters to last stand you say...

**General Stukov** · 23rd Mar 11 6:56 PM

that are unique, lol... seriously what wouldn't be more epic to play then a warlock able to call wraithguard or perhaps a banshee... something a bit more epic then a lil farseer..

**Croaxleigh** · 24th Mar 11 1:52 PM

I copied the relevant posts from this thread that give some detail on the process to a tutorial thread here; that way there's an easier-to-find reference of what you've documented if this thread falls off the radar. This of course doesn't preclude you from doing a more in-depth tutorial on the process later, or amending that thread as needed.

**Promythyus** · 24th Mar 11 5:24 PM

Awesome stuff! Thanks Croax

I may work on a better tutorial eventually, my ramblings are pretty messy

**Gabriel Gorgutz** · 9th Jun 11 7:58 PM

Any news on the new race side of things?

New Race/4th Commander Project. (4th Commander 1.0 Released!)

Thread Tools

New Race/4th Commander Project. (4th Commander 1.0 Released!)

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

Posting Permissions