Option 1 - If you're having a problem with black squares in your map after painting, here is what I've been doing in order to correct the problem. Note the this does not always work correctly see option 2.
Option 2 - One of the first things I do when making a new map is delete all
of the files in the "details and Color" folders. Then go back into the
editor and paint my textures. This was the only way I could get the black squares
to go away.
Open the folders called Detail and Color located in My_Map level and delete
ALL files (leave the folders). I've found doing this right after you
create a new map level is best, other wise you will have to paint it twice.
1. Bring up your textures and in the tweak bar set "LowDetailType" to 1 or 2
for all of your textures.
For horizontal planes set to "1"
For vertical planes set to "2"
Set the side tiling X=8 and Y=6
2. After changing all textures in tweak box select each individual texture one at a time in the resource/texture
and hit "Set Low Detail Texture" then "Generate Low Detail map".
You should see the change instantly in the editor.
Disclaimer.
If its just the billboard texture then
just keep the original name and add an extension like: billboard_dice_01_you
where "you" is your 3 character suffix.
all you have to do then is creating
the hierarchy inside your map folder like
yourmap/Objects/StaticObjects/../../billboard_dice01_you.dds
then change the suffix within the init.con to mach your suffix that's it for textures.
To get static's on the map you have
to call them in the init.con too.
don't got those EF thingy installed atm
but I think you simply have to call the absolute path of the file - don't know
what file that was exactly will look for it.
think it was the mesh and the tweak
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you will need to create a custom
folder hierarchy inside your map folder that matches the default bf2 one were
your texture is located, for instance create an objects folder inside your main
map folder, than create a StaticObjects folder inside that one, than go on from
there, I'm sure someone can explain this more clearly because I'm not sure
exactly were you should put your objects mesh
I would try Objects/staticobjetcs/yourobject/mesh, and for your texture- objetcs/staticObjects/textures/yourobjects
texture
than you will need to create a custom texture suffix, for instance if you named
your objects texture Building_1 you need to add something like _custom texture
to the end of it so it reads building_1_customtexture, than open up your maps
init.con and add your custom texture suffix between the quotes like so-
if v_arg1 == BF2Editor
LevelSettings.CustomTextureSuffix "custom_texture"
else
texturemanager.customTextureSuffix "customtexture"
endIf
Ok lets get started shall we.....
1. Navigate to Levels/your_custom_map or BF2 map if that's what your working on.
2. Open up the server.zip/Init.con
3. Add the green text to your run commands like so.
run ClientArchives.con
run Heightdata.con
LevelSettings.InitWorld
run Terrain.con BF2Editor
run StaticObjects.con BF2Editor
run Sounds.con
run Sky.con BF2Editor
run Editor/GamePlayObjects.con host
UndergrowthEditable.create
Undergrowth.load Levelsyour_map
run Overgrowth/Overgrowth.con
Overgrowth.editorEnable 1
run AmbientObjects.con BF2Editor
run Water.con
else
run ClientArchives.con
run Heightdata.con
run Terrain.con v_arg2
run Sky.con v_arg2
run CompiledRoads.con
run Sounds.con
run tmp.con v_arg1
Undergrowth.load Levelsyour_map
run Overgrowth/Overgrowth.con
run Overgrowth/OvergrowthCollision.con
run AmbientObjects.con
run Water.con
You should now see what we're getting at.
4. Go to EA GAMES/Battlefield 2/Mods/bf2 and copy the ClientArchives.con uncheck
read only in the file properties and add it to your_maps/server.zip
5. Open the server.zip/ClientArchives.con that you just added and in notepad amend
it to look like this.
fileManager.mountArchive Levels/your_map/Objects_client.zip
Objects
fileManager.mountArchive Objects_client.zip Objects
fileManager.mountArchive Common_client.zip Common
fileManager.mountArchive Menu_client.zip Menu
fileManager.mountArchive Fonts_client.zip Fonts
fileManager.mountArchive Shaders_client.zip Shaders
6. You are now going to copy the entire BF2 Objects_client.zip from mods/BF2
into Levels/Your_Map (Don't worry we are going to be deleting everything except
the folder structure and the texture/s that you are going to customize, stay
with me on this)
7. Now depending on what you want to give a custom skin will determine which
folder/s textures you keep in the Objects_client.zip for the purpose of this
exercise I changed the US soldier skin, this will probably be the most popular
thing to be customized anyway.
8. Delete everything in the .zip except soldiers/Us/Textures/us_3p_heavy_c and
US_3p_Light_C (we will only be changing the 3rd person textures)
9. Open the textures in Photoshop and work your magic, save as DXT 1. Keep the
same name but add a _BFA (underscore BFA is my custom texture suffix, you can
add whatever you like as long as you have the _ ) So my texture name looks like
this: us_3p_heavy_c_BFA
10. Open up Levels/your_map/Objects_client.zip delete the original BF2 textures
and add your newly repainted and renamed US 3p textures.
Nearly done now folks.
11. Open up Levels/your_map/server.zip/Init.con and change the custom texture
suffix, remember mine is BFA yours may be whatever you want. Mine looks like
this:
if v_arg1 == BF2Editor
LevelSettings.CustomTextureSuffix "BFA"
else
texturemanager.customTextureSuffix "BFA"
endIf
Congratulations your done. Load up the map jump in a vehicle and change the
camera angle so you can see your nice new 3p custom textures added to your map.
Note: You will need to uncheck the read only properties of the maps Init.con if working on a stock BF2 map. This will work best with bundledMesh's as they don't use the texture layers but should work with static's however will require more work on the textures unless you just want to change the detail, haven't tested it though and I don't know if the custom texture suffix will work with them, someone confirm please.
******************************************** END *******************************************
Well I don't see why it wouldn't work with objects,
but getting them into the editor via the maps/Objects_client/server.zip could be
a problem.
Also you can rename the Objects_client/server.zip to whaterver you want like
Croupiers_Objects_client.zip and then run it like this:
fileManager.mountArchive Levels/your_map/Croupiers_Objects_client.zip Objects.
For adding custom objects I suppose you could add that line to the BF2
ClientArchives.con and maybe access your content with BF2's in the Editor. Plus
you would need to add client and server archives.
Well if people are out there that say they have done this before, then why the
heck aren't you sharing with the community, it's not like this is secret mod
stuff as it really only pertains to custom mapping. Mods don't need to add this
to maps. Everything in the mod is already customized. Also talking about it and
actually doing it are two separate things.
--------------------
The key is the fileManager.MountArchive statement
needs to be in a separate con file from the init.con. I had tried to put that statement
in init.con but it failed and I dismissed it as impossible via this route (this
appears to be the only exception, cause for the most part you can put any valid
con code in any con file and as long as the con file is ran, it works. However,
this is not the case with archive mounting).
Also note that name means nothing. All that matters is that all the code points
to the right place, and that the filemanager statement is in a separate con from
the init.con.
Also I noticed that you cannot override existing textures, you must create your
own set.
---------------
Also I noticed that you cannot override existing
textures, you must create your own set. That's why I added the texture suffix
BFA.
------------------
I figured after I started playing with it. I also
noticed that for some odd reason I got it work when I renamed the
ClietnArchives.con to objects.con, but now I cannot get it to work. Does
ClientArchives.con have to be the name of the con file which contains all the
filemanager statements?
Also after looking at the textures for static's, I noticed that they all share a
set of textures. Which means that since you cannot override textures you cannot
create a suffix for static's. I really hope someone can prove me wrong on this
one.
