How do you change the Models for a vehicle? I'm stuck.

By "stuck", are you already following certain instructions or are you looking for full instructions? Also, it might be a little more useful if you provide a little more detail on what you're trying to do.

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I downloaded a model, triple artillery cannon and want to swap it for the normal artilley cannon but have no idea where to start. I would be grateful for any help.

And do you want the weapon for the artillery to be different as well or are you just happy with a model replacement? Because a simple model replacement is pretty easy but it would not make any differences in game play. (As in, you can change the model of a Hummvee with a Mammoth Tank, but that Mammoth Tank would still shoot the Hummvee's machine gun, and be completely outgunned by a Scorpion tank)

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There was a weapon code, and from research I done i put it into the Weapon.ini. I'm not sure if thats right?

The code added to Weapon.ini should only provide the weapons, but it will not bind the weapon to the unit being replaced, unless all you did was replace parts of the weapons code

I assume you're replacing the model for the Chinese Inferno Cannon in which case, the following should be what you need:

1. Extract ChinaVehicle.ini and place it into Data\INI\Object
2. Open it up and look for the entry on the Inferno Cannon
3. For all assignments of "Model" in the entry for the Inferno Cannon, replace the model name with the model you downloaded (without the .w3d)
4. Be aware that there are multiple "ConditionState"s, each representing each state the unit is in. Make sure the correct model is allocated to each state.
5. If you added a weapon into Weapon.ini, find the "Weapon" assignments and replace them with the correct weapon names that you added into Weapon.ini

This should work if I remember correctly and didn't forget anything. I haven't modded for a while so I'm working mostly from memory of what I did back then right now.

Notes: When you extract a file from any of the .big files, if you edit them, do not put them back into the .big files. As long as the individual files are in the right place, the game engine will recognize these instead of the original ones in the .big file.

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Also, if you have custom models for the death effect - usually described with an _R at the end of the file name, you might have to re-code the OCLs of the unit's death effect.
You can find them in DeathBehavior modules near the end of the unit code, these refer to ObjectCreationList.ini file.
All you have to do is copy the OCL name, open the .ini, search the ocl code, and substitute the names.
If the death effect has CreateDebris section, just paste the filename without the .w3d extension (if it has like _D1 _D2... files, make sure you have one each, if you have some left over debris code, remove, if you need to add some, do so)
if it has CreateObject and it refers to hulk, look for the name inside Hulk.ini, and substitute the Model name inside it with the new one

Ah, good call, I completely forgot about that part.

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I edited the .big file. Is that wrong then? I have extracted the INIZH but when i go into DATA/INI/OBJECT and try and edit, it wont let me save it.

The easiest way is to put the moddified files in the "Data" folder in your game root.
If you've installed the game and didn't play the game the "Data" folder doesn't exist yet, just start a skirmishmap and exit the game and the "Data" folder will exist.
If you for example want to add a building to the SuperWeaponGeneral put the entire SuperWeaponGenerals.ini with your added code of the new building in the Data/INI/Object folder."

This is how to do it:
Open the Data folder and make a new folder named "INI", open the "INI" folder and make a new folder named "Object", open the "Object" folder and add the extracted SuperWeaponGeneral.ini with your addition to it.

You can put the W3D files and textures in the "Art" folder, that folder is in the same directory as the "Data" folder, that folder doesn't exist yet even if you've played the game, you have to make it yourself.
Make the "Art" folder and open it, make a folder named "W3D" and a folder named "Textures" and you're done.

If you for example want to add/change something to a commandset you can put the extracted Commandset.ini with your changes/additions in the Data/INI folder.

Hope i was a bit of a help for you.

Greetz, acidbrain

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thanks a lot! Does it matter if I have edited it using final big though, then extract the objects/weapon ini etc once I have changed them?

Lesson 1 in modding: make a backup of the orignal .BIG file before you start modding.
If you haven't got the original .BIG file delete the changes you've made and save it.

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I think I have a backup of it somewhere. Thank you for the help.

Yw

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