How do you create a mod?(WARNING: THIS TITLE MAY BE MISLEADING.)

[Dr. Wonderful]

[move]Sorry I couldn't of thought of a better title.[/move]

So, I'm not talking about creating mods from scratch, but I have a few custom textures and icons I want to upload into TD. In other terms, I want to know use my textures.

[Kilkakon]

You'll need to use MIX Editor (NOT Mixer) to make a new C&C mix file. Make sure it's not encrypted and that it's TD format.

 

Use the filename SCWonder.mix and put it in the C&C directory. Then Insert any of your new shps into that mix file Be sure to save and compact when you are done!

[Nyerguds]

Any mix file with a name starting with "sc" (and ending on .mix of course) will automatically be accepted by the game as addon. Though to change certain special stuff you'll need to use the patch 1.06 mod system because it can load files sooner, allowing it to override certain basic game files (like the mouse cursor). For most stuff you won't need it, though. And anyway, "sc" mixfiles are the best way to quickly see mod graphics ingame.

 

Vital detail about XCC Mix Editor: make sure you set the type of the mix file before putting files in it. C&C mix files don't contain filenames but instead hash the filename to a 4-byte ID, and different games use different file name ID algorithms, and silly XCC Mix Editor generates those at the moment you drop files into it, not at the moment you save the mix file.

 

If the silly thing gives you the bug where the "new" button is disabled, just make a copy of one of the game's existing smaller mixfiles (like cclocal) and clear the contents before saving.

 

And, always save using the "compact" function. The normal "save" doesn't actually remove old files from the mix file, it just removes them from the file index so they no longer show up as being inside it, but they'll still take up disk space.

 

 

Note that from my experience, the game's sidebar icons don't respond too well to being loaded from sc*.mix files. They tend to corrupt or even crash the game when you play in two maps in a row that use different theaters. I'm not sure if this only happens when replacing lots of icons, or if it could happen from just one, but... just be mindful of it. If this gives any trouble, you can use the mod system to add your own set of theater-specific icon mix files (the temp/wint/dese/snow[XXXX].mix ones; you can see the game already contains overrides for the different supported languages).

[Kilkakon]

Typical Nyer blowing my brief advice out of the water with far more detailed instructions

[Dr. Wonderful]

Hey, don't worry, both of you did a fine job. (Meaning I know what your talking about)