Battlezone Forums

Modding BZ2 101: unpack the pak-files and look through them.
End of lesson.

2mg wrote:Just so I can learn, what inf file/what to set in it (command list anywhere?)? Don't bother if you need a wall of text to explain.

If someone writes you a wall of text, then they are doing you a favor by explaining in-detail so you get it right.

You seem to want everything handed to you on a silver platter. Why don't you learn to look for things for yourself. Most modders do and have done that. It doesnt take a degree in rocket surgery to look inside of a pak file and see how the existing files are set up.

Zero Angel wrote:

2mg wrote:Just so I can learn, what inf file/what to set in it (command list anywhere?)? Don't bother if you need a wall of text to explain.

If someone writes you a wall of text, then they are doing you a favor by explaining in-detail so you get it right.

You seem to want everything handed to you on a silver platter. Why don't you learn to look for things for yourself. Most modders do and have done that. It doesnt take a degree in rocket surgery to look inside of a pak file and see how the existing files are set up.

I meant if it's longer than

Red Spot wrote:Modding BZ2 101: unpack the pak-files and look through them.
End of lesson.

then don't waste your time, I'll somehow find out on my own.

Most of the things you can do in BZ2 are pretty straightforward or give you testable results. If you do have specific questions, those can be answered with direct answers instead of basicly having to tell you how you should/could mod this game.
Do the basics yourself, you'll apreciate it later on.

The best thing to do to get yourself started is to play around with the variables in the odf files stored in a pak. Two things; patch13.pak takes precedence over data.pak, and you should never modify a pak file. Instead, save your modified files to addon.

AHadley wrote:The best thing to do to get yourself started is to play around with the variables in the odf files stored in a pak. Two things; patch13.pak takes precedence over data.pak, and you should never modify a pak file. Instead, save your modified files to addon.

Or create a separate .cfg and folder for his modded files and make them take precedence over patch13 and data paks (this is done by listing your folder above them in the cfg)

Files required by a bz2 map.
.bzn file created by bz2edit.exe.
.ter file created by bz2edit.exe.
.wat file created by bz2edit.exe.
.sky file created by bz2edit.exe, but you can save yourself a lot of effort by just renaming one of the originals.
.trn file created by YOU, but you can save yourself a lot of effort by just renaming and editing one of the originals.
.inf file created by YOU, but you can save yourself a lot of effort by just renaming and editing one of the originals.
.odf the description of your map displayed in game.

You should be able to CREATE a new map with just a Mymap.trn, Mymap.odf and Mymap.inf. By using the command line
BZ2Edit.exe /edit Mymap.trn
to start BZ2edit once these files exist. Just for the first time. After you have saved it you use
BZ2Edit.exe /edit Mymap.bzn
to edit it.
There will be no texture on the terrain when you first make it, so its invisible.
Save your map to create the .bzn .ter .wat and .sky files.

Thank you, I already downloaded one empty map, I'm just about to start recording things.

I recorded weapon stats, then it's performance in Combat, and then in Assault mode, vs unarmored unit, light armored unit, heavy armored unit and a structure, and a few vs active AI. I tried to approx. show maximum range too. I have also screenshot every unit statistic from production facility interfaces, and I in the end there is a video showing why some units prefer some weapons more than others - Mauler vs Scavenger compared to Quill/Fang Warrior vs Scavenger. Each video is approx. 2-3 minutes, and weighs between 20-60MB. I am considering converting them to .gifs, but I need to know is something like this good enough (quality, presentation...)?

2mg wrote:I recorded weapon stats, then it's performance in Combat, and then in Assault mode, vs unarmored unit, light armored unit, heavy armored unit and a structure, and a few vs active AI. I tried to approx. show maximum range too. I have also screenshot every unit statistic from production facility interfaces, and I in the end there is a video showing why some units prefer some weapons more than others - Mauler vs Scavenger compared to Quill/Fang Warrior vs Scavenger. Each video is approx. 2-3 minutes, and weighs between 20-60MB. I am considering converting them to .gifs, but I need to know is something like this good enough (quality, presentation...)?

Code: Select all

http://speedy.sh/uTBNp/Gauss-Gun-C.avi

Code: Select all

http://speedy.sh/zaynF/Gauss-Gun-A.avi

I personally would suggest you upload them to YouTube

DarkCobra262 wrote:I personally would suggest you upload them to YouTube

Meh, I don't do Youtube. Plus, I'm not sure if YT would even degrade those videos more. I still need input on my approach for the weapon showcase.

I'm no expert of video, but usually you would want to convert an uncompressed Avi (huge), just once, to a more compressed format like mp3, the quality of videos depends a lot on how and by what they are processed.

Nvm, I'm remaking it with a better quality and a different approach...

2mg wrote:Nvm, I'm remaking it with a better quality and a different approach...

Kewl, but,

MrTwosheds wrote:I'm no expert of video, but usually you would want to convert an uncompressed Avi (huge), just once, to a more compressed format like mp3, the quality of videos depends a lot on how and by what they are processed.

is right.

I'll upload the whole package zipped later, you guys can distribute it any way you want...

Most vids last less than a minute, and quality is much higher, it's much easier to read weapon information. Couple of examples will be linked here too.