Adding a country... encountered a problem!

[Hrvat-Pilot]

Good afternoon everyone!

 

I am on a long trek right now, I started off at the official Lomac forums at ubi.com, I was then referred to Lockonfiles.com, and they sent me here to ask you ladies/gentlemen this question... I will post the exact same question as it still applies perfectly here....

 

My apologies if this is the wrong place to post this query...

 

(*Note - If "TekaTeka" is reading this, please reply here as I heard you made similar attempts, but succeeded, unlike me.... I would appreciate your [and anyone else's] help!!)

 

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Good evening everyone!

 

First a big hello, as I am new here and don't want to start off with business talk before the proper introduction.

 

I am an avid simmer, and a real world pilot (not military... I only wish), I now live in Canada but was born in Croatia, and am proud of being a citizen of both countries, and love them both the same!

 

Anyway, off to the problem. I tried adding a country to my game (as you may have guessed, Croatia) and failed... somewhat. I went though for about 2 hours following an example from USA to add Croatia, essentially just copying anything from the USA, and implementing the same Croatian variant. I even went in depth enough to change add the proper CLSID (or whatever) categories and such in the MEInit.xml. I added the flag, the anthem (OGG format), the awards, ranks, squadrons, pilots... etc etc etc...

 

Now, when I start the game, the problem arises when viewing the logbook. The entire ranks section is white, blank, and not working. Not only that, but Croatia is still not listed.

 

I don't understand what I did wrong, but if there is some sort of step by step walktrhough, or even just a big list of what needs to be edited when adding countries, I would appreciate it very much.

 

Yes, I know, one would ask why I want to add Croatia... well its simple... I want Croatia on the list so I can put that as my nationality rather than Canada.

 

Yes... fine... call me pointless, but I have my goal, and I have my reasons as any other human has theirs, I do not ask for your judgement, simply your help! Infact I beg for you help because I am confused.

 

Here is a list of the files/folders I have edited/added:

 

MEInit.xml - Added Croatia, making it country #17, added its flag and all info and such...

MECustom.xml - Again simply added Croatia.

UI.xml - Added Croatia respectively where required.

FUI/Common/Flags folder - Added the flag

PilotLogBook folder - Obviously, added the pilots here, the straps, the awards, the squadrons. Also edited Countries.xml to add Croatia where required, again as Country 17.

Sounds folder - Added the anthem.

 

Now, if I am missing anything, please, please let me know. If you need more information, please ask. I have seen some of you out there, one person specifically, who had a HUGE list of countries added, if that person can drop by and give me a quick step by step guide or an example of his/her files that needed to be edited, I would appreciate it so much.

 

I really just want to add this, and I thought I had it in the bag... obviously not.

 

Thank you so much for all and any help!!

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Anyway, like I said, I was referred here from ubi.com forums (originally) as well as lockonfiles.com. I was told that a similar attempt has been made, and was successfull, so if there is a "TekaTeka" out there, my call is mainly to you, I heard you were successfull in adding Japan to the roster of nations as well as to the logbooks etc.

 

Obviously, I am also asking/accepting help from ANYONE who can give me any more suggestions, I don't care how many times I have to be referred to other websites (hehe, but hopefully this is the last time before I find my solution).

[Ironhand]

Found it! This is TekaTeka's Japan Mod. Don't know why I didn't think to look for it on the Japanese language page. It's the English link that's dead. Hopefully this will help.

 

Contents:

-New country : Japan : Planes, Ground vehicles and Ships

-Pilot log data : Pilot images, Squadron patches, Straps, Awards and National anthem.

-Two new loading screen (Common and F-15)

etc.

 

BTW, the file "addon.lma" is a ModMan file. It tells that utility how to install the mod. It's not part of the mod itself.

 

EDIT: Forgot to include the forum discussion that provided the link: Crimean AirWars Needs a Country Mod - Help Please

 

Rich

[Hrvat-Pilot]

You probably read my reply on the lockonfiles forum, but here it is again anyway so that if anyone does a search here, they get the same results...

 

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Okay, great news here!

 

Problem solved, everything corrected and working better than I could have hoped!

Thank you for all of your help, I was on lockon.ru when I found that same file you just posted, and have been working feverishly for the past while fixing up my "mod". It now is fully functional and I am extremely happy, and not to mention proud of myself!

For the future, I plan on adding more squadrons, and actually doing repaints (obviously fictional as the game does not have the MiG-21) for Croatia.

 

Anyway, I want to thank you so very much, and I will be releasing this when I feel it is perfectly complete and has no bugs. I will make a new thread here when I release it.

 

Thank you!!!

[Spyros]

Good to see you worked it out. :)

 

When I added Greece to my Lockon, the Greek flag was already in the game! (but nothing more)

Maybe they were planning to add it, but didn't in the end?

[Ironhand]

...

Problem solved, everything corrected and working better than I could have hoped! ...

Great news! It's always more fun to fly under your preferred flag. :)

 

Rich

[EricJ]

See that's what happens when I don't hobnob. I still got the Iran crap from the Sacha/Alexsei stories from SimHQ floating around, a needs to be updated F-14 skin, and a F-4 skin, as well as a Mig-29A one.

[Design]

Hrvat-Pilot. Why don't you explain step by step all the process?

Personally I'm not interested, but I think some people there will be.

Thanks

[Spyros]

@ Designer

 

For quick results,

 

1. Download a Class ID generator tool from a website

2. Edit meinit.xml to add a country, giving it a CLID and an ID (17 for eg)

3. Assign the weapons-skins you want to the country.

4. Edit countries.xml to add the country, using the CLID defined in meinit.xml,

assing ranks and medals defining paths to the images, points required for award etc

5. Make images for pilots, ranks, medals, flag, etc (don't forget alpha channel) and put them in the required directories

6. Extract skins from the CDDS files and edit them, or find templates. For lom models you can add skins by adding entires in the equivalent skins file and using those IDs in meinit.xml

For cmd models you'll have to overide and existing skin.

7. If you add your new skins in a CDDS file, add an entry to graphics.cfg, otherwise just put them in temptextures

8. Add an anthem

9. Make a Modman installer. There's a tool called updategfx or smth to avoid overwriting the graphics.cfg, so it's better to use that to update it.

 

That's all as far as I can remember.

 

A better way would be to make a little xml parser if you have time and you're not bored :), which will check how many countries there are in the xml during installation and update the files accordingly, so that you won't have to overwrite meinit.xml etc

If you have even more time you can make lom models to replace cmds, so that you can add textures instead of overriding (and everybody will love you :)), or you can do some hex editing on the cmd files....ok I'm shutting up!:D

[Hrvat-Pilot]

Hehe... wow. I am not a professional modder here. I can do repaints... but what you are saying seems way over my head.

 

Anyway, I have decided to choose Lockonfiles.com forums as the place to continue this whole discussion and such, as there was a huge base of support there with people suggesting I do repaints and I wait for a MiG-21 that is apparently coming out sometime. Then actually making translations for the game, etc etc...

 

Anyway, if anyone wants to follow along or join in on the project, you can now go to http://www.lockonfiles.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=1355&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0&sid=279cc9b93c1ebca7e21b4d1e3451563a

 

Anyway, thank you all so much for your help and everything, and Spyros, that step by step list will always be my reference to make sure I did not forget anything, and I will keep your suggestions in mind.

 

Thank you very much, appreciate all the help!

[Design]

Thanks both of you :D