Author Topic: PLEASE HELP..New to this need some tips..... (Read 1765 times)

hazed- · « **on:** October 06, 2002, 01:35:46 PM »

ok this is the help file for editing a skin:

To change the skin on a plane or object, first select a shape from the Available Shapes list, then click the Save Texture button and close the Terrain Editor. All of the textures for that shape will be exported as .bmp files into your ../HTC/ahedit/terrains/myterr/savedtex folder. Before editing any of the .bmp files, be sure to make a copy of the file first.

After the .bmp files are edited to your satisfaction, copy only the edited files into your ../HTC/ahedit/terrains/myterr/texsrc folder. Start the Terrain Editor and locate one of the edited objects to view the new skin.

When editing skins, it’s a good idea to delete your ../HTC/ahedit/terrains/myterr/savedtex folder prior to saving textures of another shape. Some shapes contain many .bmp files, and deleting the savedtex folder before exporting a shape will cut down on confusion when editing the files.

Files that include an “_a” in the name are the alpha textures that overlay the .bmp of the same name and they need to be copied back to the texsrc folder along with the edited file. For example, if you export the FACTDRT shape, two files are written to your ../HTC/ahedit/terrains/myterr/savedtex folder: FCTRYDRT.bmp and FCTRYDRT_a.bmp. If you edit just the FACTRDRT.bmp file, you still must copy both of the FCTRYDRT files to your ../HTC/ahedit/terrains/myterr/texsrc folder to change the look of the FACTDRT shape.

To keep the terrain compact in size, only edited .bmp’s should be copied to your ../HTC/ahedit/terrains/myterr/texsrc folder. The exception is, of course, unedited “_a” files that are paired with edited files.

now this all goes ok up until this help says copy only the edited files into your ../HTC/ahedit/terrains/myterr/texsrc folder
On my computer ther is no texsrc folder. Ive searched the help file to find out how its created but theres nothing that explains it.

I tried manually creating a folder by that name and putting ONLY my edited files in there (i.e. 190A5 bmp. TAIL.bmp and SPIRAL.bmp) and reopened the editor but when it says Start the Terrain Editor and locate one of the edited objects to view the new skin. i go to the 190A5 and click on it then as far as i can tell the only way to look at it is to add it as an object to my terrain? well i tried this and for some reason it puts the old 190A5 skinned aircraft in as an object.

This help file is far too sparse to be of much use! we need a much more in depth one if you want more skins!

anyway heres a jpg of what i had made (Kurt Ruppert 9./JG26,Moorseele, August 1942)

please help as it took a fair while and im unable to see my own work

....thnx in advance ....

Dux · « **Reply #1 on:** October 06, 2002, 01:55:49 PM »

You're almost there, Hazed.

You did right by creating the Texsrc folder... it doesn't already exist. Did you put this texsrc folder into the directory of the terrain you are working on? Each terrain needs its own Texsrc folder.

Is your "190A5.bmp" actually the name of the original-exported file? It needs to be exactly the same. Many textures I've seen have a couple of files... i.e., F6F5-1, F6F5-2, etc.

All you need to do in the TE after this is open your custom terrain OBA file (from the same folder that your new Texsrc folder is in) and build. No object placing, nothing. Just build.

Make sure you copy your newly created terrain RES file from the Terrains folder in your editor directory into the Terrains folder in your Aces High directory.

Like I said, you're almost there... don't give up.

[edit: hmmm... one other thing; Don't manually type ".bmp" onto the file. name it "190A5" and if it is in fact a BMP then it will have an invisible extension already on it. You may be accidentally naming it "190A5.bmp.bmp". This would confuse the Editor.]

poopster · « **Reply #2 on:** October 06, 2002, 02:33:04 PM »

Hazed that actually is 'Yellow 4' of Hauptmann Siegfried Schnell, Staffelkapitan of 9./JG 2 Vannes, France, February 1943.

The 'Richthofen' cockerell is the dead give away

Worn on the cowling of Bf 109F's and Fw 190A's of III/JG 2 early war in France.

Old JG 2 skinner from WB. Nice skin

hazed- · « **Reply #3 on:** October 06, 2002, 04:58:49 PM »

Dux i did what you said :

Ok ive basically done this Ive opened a new terrain named it 'pop'

ive got my blue ocean and havent added any objects etc (left it as is)
ive gone to 190A5 object, highlighted it and saved texture.
then closed TE
Ive then gone to savedtex folder and copied 190a5.bmp tail.bmp spiral.bmp and edited them(into my new skin), then pasted them back over the old files in savedtex
Ive then created a folder called texsrc (inside my folder called 'pop')
pasted in my edited 190.bmp spiral.bmp and tail.bmp
ive then reopened TE, opened 'pop'
ive then hit build

and it crashes

says:

AHEDIT caused an invalid page fault in
module AHEDIT.EXE at 017f:0044a32c.
Registers:
EAX=00000000 CS=017f EIP=0044a32c EFLGS=00010246
EBX=00802588 SS=0187 ESP=00f6fb74 EBP=02a9d6c0
ECX=0047e6b4 DS=0187 ESI=019d4975 FS=70d7
EDX=00f70284 ES=0187 EDI=00f7028d GS=0000
Bytes at CS:EIP:
c6 00 00 52 53 8d 84 24 18 04 00 00 68 48 e6 47
Stack dump:
00f70284 0047e6b4 00f7fa3c bff52d8a bff55a0f 00802588 00000004 00000000 00f6fbb4 019d4958 00f70584 019d4850 00f77d84 00f77e84 00f77f84 00f78084

what have i done wrong?

Tilt · « **Reply #4 on:** October 06, 2002, 05:30:45 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by hazed-
Dux i did what you said :

what have i done wrong?

You will have to flip the pictuire to get it to sit properly on the AC.............but that is not what is causing your crash...............

check you have the files the correct size and colour depth (256)

its the terrain thats crashing not your skin...........check the files in settings and ensure that they are correct...............eg curterr should just have the word pop.........

Run the object checker.................you may find you have to add some stuff.....................at least a field if you want to see your plane and probably some HQ's and fields for each country

if you have special tiles (now called cells) and a special strat map (pop.bmp) then these also have to go into texsrc

Kweassa · « **Reply #5 on:** October 06, 2002, 08:57:15 PM »

I'm sorry to say it seems like its out of our hands, hazed.

Basically the problem we all had was the TE crashing to desktop when no new terrain was "opened". People would try to do something in the default light-blue screen and crash.

But if you've already opened a new terrain...

I have one suggestion which you might have tried. I seem to remember that there are "minimum requirements" for a terrain - such as at least one spawn point.

1. "Open" a new terrain in 64x64, left click and drag on the screen and it will mark the range of your drag in crosshairs.

2. Choose something like a "grass" or "snow" tile and click "set type" on the TE and it will set the tiles on the marked range.

3. Then, find an airfield in the shape group and place it on the terrain.

Then, try building it. If what I'm guessing is right, you seem to be trying to "build" a terrain which has no way a plane can up and thus, probably causing a crash.

ps) If you might wish, you can send me the BMPs and maybe I can test them. (heh, but I know, it's not polite for someone else to ask for the first honor of new skin

)

Dux · « **Reply #6 on:** October 06, 2002, 10:04:46 PM »

Good point, Kweassa. I believe you also have to have an HQ for all 3 countries in the map.

Which brings up a really good point, guys. I know everyone is excited about skinning and all, but skinning is really an advanced aspect of terrain creation. Do yourselves (and us) a favor, and spend the 2 hours it takes to learn the basics of the Terrain Editor. The help file really is helpful when you start from the beginning. Trust me, it is NOT rocket science, but you do have to take baby steps.

Start at Step 1, not step 28... it'll get a whole lot easier that way.

Thank you.

Dux · « **Reply #7 on:** October 06, 2002, 10:19:43 PM »

This is for encouragement...

Dux · « **Reply #8 on:** October 06, 2002, 10:24:01 PM »

... pretty nice work, Hazed. You will need to vertically flip the exported texture before you add text in order for it to come out right. I had to flip it for you before I loaded it.

See, the skin creation really is pretty easy. You had it the whole time. Now go learn the Terrain Editor. Really, two hours at the most.

icemaw · « **Reply #9 on:** October 06, 2002, 10:59:17 PM »

Couple questions I have never used TE before I just wanted to make some plane skins. Do I have to create a terrain to see the skin I created? I have pretty much figured out how to make a skin. Thank much for posting the info on that. The help file in the TE is useless. Allso I cant find all the plane skins in the objects tab on the TE. I wanted to do a p51d and f4ud but they are not in the object list. Any help you can give me would be very much apriciated.

Dux · « **Reply #10 on:** October 06, 2002, 11:56:38 PM »

Ice, go into the Terrains folder in your Editor directory, there is a file called "Shpfilter". Open this file, and you will see a list of all kinds of different shapes. From this list, delete the ones that you want to show up in the Available Objects list in the editor. Not sure what the purpose of this file is.

And yes, you need to create a terrain for your skins to be imported into.

icemaw · « **Reply #11 on:** October 07, 2002, 01:28:45 AM »

Thanks for the info. One more question instead of going tru building a terrain can I open one thats allready done rename it and upload new skins into that? Or can someone send me a built terrain I can open and upload sikins into?

Innominate · « **Reply #12 on:** October 07, 2002, 01:43:10 AM »

Quote

Originally posted by icemaw
Thanks for the info. One more question instead of going tru building a terrain can I open one thats allready done rename it and upload new skins into that? Or can someone send me a built terrain I can open and upload sikins into?

Terrain in 5 mins:

Make a copy of the "blank" directory, rename it to whatever, then rename the files in it to whatever, leaving thier extensions the same.

Open that in the terrain editor, create a large square block of land, and put three airfields down.

instant terrain.

WldThing · « **Reply #13 on:** October 07, 2002, 09:10:35 AM »

k i got 1 question. I got the texture with 3 fields on the TE. I placed my "texsrc" file where the terrain i am working on.

I edited a BMP and flipped it and i copied that flipped bmp into my texsrc folder.
Now where i am stuck is i go back into TE and i go to File ... Open... and i open my terrain application, (name of my map).

Now i see my piece of land and i see the 3 fields that are on that field. Now how do i place the edited version of the part im working on, on my TE screen? Because if i try to open the BMP file, my terrain needs to close, which causes TE to Close. So the final question is how do i put the BMP picture onto my TE Map?

Thanks.

Dux · « **Reply #14 on:** October 07, 2002, 09:56:14 AM »

Nope, you're done. If you put the edited BMP in the Texsrc folder, it automatically imported when you opened your terrain OBA with the Editor.

All you have to do now is "Build" your terrain. This puts a RES file in your editor's terrains folder... copy this RES file to your Aces High terrains folder.

ps. make sure you have an HQ for all three countries in your terrain.