Here is a guide to all of you out there who want to make a specialized unit with an overall different paint job. This is way more complicated than the line:

<no_colorization_color> X, X, X, X </no_colorization_color>

This can still be used by changing the overall color, though.

First here is a list of all that you need:

a photo editing program (Paint Shop Pro, Photoshop, ect...}

.DDS format reading/writing capabilities (usually requires a plugin)
here is a link for how to install the plugin: Link
Note on link: go to the part, DDS Plugin Installation

.DDS Utilities

a Hex Editor (a good one is HexEdit)
Any hex editor will do, but one with a search button will help a lot.

a .MEG Extractor

Ok now that that you have all the programs required we will start with what you have to do.

STEP 1: .MEG extrator and gathering files

Ok if you've read any other tutorials on editing units, you already know that you have to extract the data from the .MEG files so that you can reach the .xml files that you can mod. This mod is no different

First you go to my documents and add three folders (2 if you don’t have the xml files yet)

Name the first one: Empire At War Extracted Data

And the second one: EaWEDm

And the third one : EaWEDt

The second step in this process is to open the .MEG extractor

Then open C:\Program Files\LucasArts\Star Wars Empire at War\GameData\Data with the extractor

The first .MEG you have to extract is config.MEG
Extract it to: C:\Documents and Settings\(user name)\My Documents\Empire at War Extracted Data

The second .MEG file is Models.MEG
Extract that to: C:\Documents and Settings\(user name)\My Documents\EaWEDm

The last .MEG file you extract is Textures.MEG
Extract that to: C:\Documents and Settings\(user name)\My Documents\EaWEDt

After that, copy the art folder inside EaWEDm and paste it in C:\Program Files\LucasArts\Star Wars Empire at War\GameData\Data. Go inside the art folder inside EaWEDt and copy the textures folder and put it inside the art folder in C:\Program Files\LucasArts\Star Wars Empire at War\GameData\Data. Lastly, copy the xml folder from inside Empire at War Extracted Data and paste it in C:\Program Files\LucasArts\Star Wars Empire at War\GameData\Data.

Step 2: Modifying the .DDS file

The first part of this step is to know what files we need to access. To find that out you have to pick a unit that you will be editing the color on. I am going to use a custom star destroyer named the devastator.(very original name huh?)

Ok now that you know what unit you are going to edit now you need to find the .DDS file that goes with it. The .dds files are located in textures, which is in the art folder.

Notice that there are 2 files under the .DDS format for Star Destroyer:

The first one is: Ev_stardestroyer.DDS

The second one is: Ev_stardestroyer_bc.DDS

We only need one of them so to find out which one we need, we need to open them up in Paint Shop Pro (or Photoshop).

**NOTE** I used paint shop pro and I find it easier to edit the .dds file, but you can use either one if you have the plugins required.

Ok so let’s open up Ev_stardestroyer.DDS

When you select open, it will say something about MIP maps. Answer no to this question.

Once you get it open you notice that it looks like the outside of a star destroyer

Open up Ev_stardestroyer_bc.DDS

Notice how it is blue and doesn't look that much like the outside of a star destroyer

The first one is the one we need

After you exit out of EV_stardestroyer_bc.DDS you're left with the one that looks like the outside of a star destroyer.

We are going to change it black (using paint shop pro)

The first thing we have to do is change the colors to the ones we want. So click on the adjust column on the top and go down to color balance. In the color balance options, go to the last one, Red/Green/Blue...

A screen should come up

In this screen there are three values. Mess around with them until you get the color you need. For me I’m going for black.

NOTE** you can't have 100 percent black or else the skin won't show very well.

So since it can’t show black, I’ll use a dark grey.

Ok so my 3 values are, -75, -75, and -75. You can have them any way you want to have them.

The next thing to do is go under adjust again, but this time go to the brightness and contrast option. Click on the first option, brightness/contrast.

Again the exact values for this vary to what color your using. For the black use a brightness of -10 and a contrast of 10.

Now your .DDS should look dark grey (if you did it the way I did.)

Now it’s time to save in the .DDS format. Make sure you have the NIVIDA .DDS utilities installed.

Go to file, the go to save as. Go to save as type and change it to .dds. Make sure that there is only one layer, or esle you cant save. Save as the same name as the file, but save one letter off. For example, the star destroyer's .dds file is EV_Stardestroyer. Save it as something like EF_Stardestroyer.dds.

Now it should bring you to the NIVIDA screen. You should save it under DXT3 in the save format. The next thing you have to make sure of is the MIP maps settings. If you did as I said and said no to the MIP maps before, say generate MIP maps and make sure it says "all" right next to it. The last thing is to make sure on the bottom right is has 2D texture selected.

Now we have an edited texture, but no model that uses it.

**NOTE** Here is the trickiest part of the process. Hang in there its not as hard as it sounds.

STEP 3: Editing the Models with a Hex Editor

Here is the tricky part, using a hex editor to change the name of the texture used by the model file to the new file you just created.

OK now we need to find the name of the model the ship uses.
For my star destroyer it is:

<SpaceUnit Name="The_Devastator">
<Text_ID>TEXT_UNIT_DEVASTATOR</Text_ID>
<Encyclopedia_Good_Against> Corellian_Corvette Corellian_Gunboat Nebulon_B_Frigate </Encyclopedia_Good_Against>
<Encyclopedia_Vulnerable_To> Y-wing Calamari_Cruiser </Encyclopedia_Vulnerable_To>
<GUI_Row> 1 </GUI_Row>
<Space_Model_Name>EV_STARDESTROYER.ALO</Space_Model_Name>

Notice the part in bold? Well that where you can find the name of the model.

The models are located in the models folder, inside the art folder.

Ok before we open up the models we have to start the hex editor (im using hex edit)

Now with the hex editor, open up the model file. For me it would be EV_stardestroyer.ALO

Notice there is more than one file for the star destroyer (or whatever unit you’re using). If you want the color to affect the unit all the time, we have to do this for each file that it uses for the appearance of the unit.

After you open the file, you see a bunch of numbers on the left, and some words and a lot of periods on the right.

First we have to find the bit of information that has to do with the texture. It will be located on the right side, the side that has words.

With HexEdit, click the find tab (on row of buttons above the columns) select ANSI string from the pull out menu (you have to select this or else you cant even type the letters) and type .tga (the uncopressed .dds file. The game decompresses the files in-game so it changes to .tga. Same thing as using a .rar file or .zip file to hold other types of files). With some units, there are more than one entry for the .tga for the skin (such as obiwan). So make sure you change them all (only the ones that use the same .dds file you modified, some will have other .tga files, such as small lasers, and base textures.)

If you’re using the star destroyer, it should say Base Texture EV_stardestroyer.tga. change that to the renamed .dds file. For me it would change to EF_stardestroyer.tga.

Now its time to save. Go to save as. Now save it as EF_stardestroyer.alo (make sure to add the ending or else it will save as a file type called file, and the game doesn't use it that way).

Now you have to edit the other files for the unit the same way you edited the original model file. Make sure to change the names and add the proper ending while saving.

**NOTE** not all of the files that are associated with the unit in the model folder have the base texture line in there. Only the ones that have to do with the skin, such as hard points have it. You should still check every one to make sure.

**NOTE**Just save the files that you changed. I found a way to use another units animation instead, so you can use the original star destroyer's movement, which save a lot of time.

Step 4 Editing the Unit

The first thing to do is to open up the data folder where the folder XML is located. Once you have that go to the xml file that contains the unit that you are changing the color of.

Mine is under Spaceunitscapitial

Now to back to the place where you found your model

<SpaceUnit Name="The_Devastator">
<Text_ID>TEXT_UNIT_DEVASTATOR</Text_ID>
<Encyclopedia_Good_Against> Corellian_Corvette Corellian_Gunboat Nebulon_B_Frigate </Encyclopedia_Good_Against>
<Encyclopedia_Vulnerable_To> Y-wing Calamari_Cruiser </Encyclopedia_Vulnerable_To>
<GUI_Row> 1 </GUI_Row>
<Space_Model_Name>EV_STARDESTROYER.ALO</Space_Model_Name>

I changed EV_STARDESTROYER.ALO to EF_STARDESTROYER.ALO so it looks like this

<SpaceUnit Name="The_Devastator">
<Text_ID>TEXT_UNIT_DEVASTATOR</Text_ID>
<Encyclopedia_Good_Against> Corellian_Corvette Corellian_Gunboat Nebulon_B_Frigate </Encyclopedia_Good_Against>
<Encyclopedia_Vulnerable_To> Y-wing Calamari_Cruiser </Encyclopedia_Vulnerable_To>
<GUI_Row> 1 </GUI_Row>
<Space_Model_Name>EF_STARDESTROYER.ALO</Space_Model_Name>

Also in the unit file add the tags (best spot would be right after the model)
<Land_Model_Anim_Override_Name></Land_Model_Anim_Ov erride_Name>
for me it would become:
<Land_Model_Anim_Override_Name>EV_stardestroyer.ALO</Land_Model_Anim_Override_Name>
This makes the unit use the original star destroyer's animation (the .alo/.ala files that didn't contain .tga files) instead of you having to copy and paste the original star destroyer's animation files and renaming them to the new unit's name (that part was one of the longest parts in this process).

Now we have to modify the breakable hard points so that they are the same color.

While keeping the xml where your unit is located still up, open up the hard points xml.

Go find the hard points of your units.

The star destroyer's are the first one on the page.

Since you don’t want all the star destroyers in the game to have colored hard points, you have to copy and paste the hard points to another spot inside the unit’s hard point area.
For example,

<HardPoint Name="HP_Star_Destroyer_Weapon_FL">
<Type> HARD_POINT_WEAPON_LASER </Type>
<Is_Targetable>Yes</Is_Targetable>
<Is_Destroyable>Yes</Is_Destroyable>
<Tooltip_Text>TEXT_WEAPON_TURBOLASER</Tooltip_Text& gt;
<Health>325.0</Health> <!-- Was 250 -->

<Death_Explosion_Particles> Large_Explosion_Space_Empire </Death_Explosion_Particles>
<Death_Explosion_SFXEvent>Unit_Hardpoint_Turbo_Laser_D eath</Death_Explosion_SFXEvent>

<Damage_Type> Damage_Star_Destroyer </Damage_Type>
<Model_To_Attach>EV_StarDestroyer_HP00_L-F.alo</Model_To_Attach>
<Attachment_Bone>HP_F-L_BONE</Attachment_Bone>
<Collision_Mesh>HP_F-L_COLL</Collision_Mesh>
<Damage_Decal>HP_F-L_BLAST</Damage_Decal>
<Damage_Particles>HP_F-L_EMITDAMAGE</Damage_Particl es>

<Death_Breakoff_Prop> Hardpoint_Breakoff_Star_Dest_Weapon_FL </Death_Breakoff_Prop>

<Fire_Bone_A>FP_F-L_00</Fire_Bone_A>
<Fire_Bone_B>FP_F-L_01</Fire_Bone_B>
<Fire_Cone_Width>160</Fire_Cone_Width>
<Fire_Cone_Height>130.0</Fire_Cone_Height>
<Fire_Projectile_Type>Proj_Ship_Turbolaser_Green</F ire_Projectile_Type>
<Fire_Min_Recharge_Seconds>3.0</Fire_Min_Recharge_Seconds>
<Fire_Max_Recharge_Seconds>4.0</Fire_Max_Recharge_Seconds>
<Fire_Pulse_Count>7</Fire_Pulse_Count>
<Fire_Pulse_Delay_Seconds>0.2</Fire_Pulse_Delay_Seconds>
<Fire_Range_Distance>2000.0</Fire_Range_Distance>
<Fire_SFXEvent>Unit_Turbo_Fire</Fire_SFXEvent>

<Fire_Inaccuracy_Distance> Fighter, 70.0 </Fire_Inaccuracy_Distance>
<Fire_Inaccuracy_Distance> Bomber, 70.0 </Fire_Inaccuracy_Distance>
<Fire_Inaccuracy_Distance> Transport, 70.0 </Fire_Inaccuracy_Distance>
<Fire_Inaccuracy_Distance> Corvette, 7.0 </Fire_Inaccuracy_Distance>
<Fire_Inaccuracy_Distance> Frigate, 1.0 </Fire_Inaccuracy_Distance>
<Fire_Inaccuracy_Distance> Capital, 10.0 </Fire_Inaccuracy_Distance>
<Fire_Inaccuracy_Distance> Super, 1.0 </Fire_Inaccuracy_Distance>
</HardPoint>

The bold parts are the ones you have to change. First change the name. I added a 2 to the end of the name. Now go back to your unit's xml file, and go to the hard points area. Change the name of the hard point you just edited in hard points to the name of the new hard point.

Like So:
<HardPoints>
HP_Star_Destroyer_Weapon_FL2, HP_Star_Destroyer_Weapon_FR, HP_Star_Destroyer_Weapon_BL, HP_Star_Destroyer_Weapon_BR,
HP_Star_Destroyer_Weapon_ML, HP_Star_Destroyer_Weapon_MR, HP_Star_Destroyer_Shield_Generator, HP_Star_Destroyer_Engines,
HP_Star_Destroyer_Tractor_Beam, HP_Star_Destroyer_Fighter_Bay
</HardPoints>

The second thing you have to do is edit the model the hard point uses. Check to see if you modified the texture to that model. If the model was textured then add in the renamed one. Mine would be changed to ED_stardestroyer_HP00_L-F.alo.
Here is what the hard point looks like when it’s done

<HardPoint Name="HP_Star_Destroyer_Weapon_FL2">
<Type> HARD_POINT_WEAPON_LASER </Type>
<Is_Targetable>Yes</Is_Targetable>
<Is_Destroyable>Yes</Is_Destroyable>
<Tooltip_Text>TEXT_WEAPON_TURBOLASER</Tooltip_Text& gt;
<Health>325.0</Health> <!-- Was 250 -->

<Death_Explosion_Particles> Large_Explosion_Space_Empire </Death_Explosion_Particles>
<Death_Explosion_SFXEvent>Unit_Hardpoint_Turbo_Laser_D eath</Death_Explosion_SFXEvent>

<Damage_Type> Damage_Star_Destroyer </Damage_Type>
<Model_To_Attach>ED_StarDestroyer_HP00_L-F.alo</Model_To_Attach>
<Attachment_Bone>HP_F-L_BONE</Attachment_Bone>
<Collision_Mesh>HP_F-L_COLL</Collision_Mesh>
<Damage_Decal>HP_F-L_BLAST</Damage_Decal>
<Damage_Particles>HP_F-L_EMITDAMAGE</Damage_Particl es>

<Death_Breakoff_Prop> Hardpoint_Breakoff_Star_Dest_Weapon_FL </Death_Breakoff_Prop>

<Fire_Bone_A>FP_F-L_00</Fire_Bone_A>
<Fire_Bone_B>FP_F-L_01</Fire_Bone_B>
<Fire_Cone_Width>160</Fire_Cone_Width>
<Fire_Cone_Height>130.0</Fire_Cone_Height>
<Fire_Projectile_Type>Proj_Ship_Turbolaser_Green</F ire_Projectile_Type>
<Fire_Min_Recharge_Seconds>3.0</Fire_Min_Recharge_Seconds>
<Fire_Max_Recharge_Seconds>4.0</Fire_Max_Recharge_Seconds>
<Fire_Pulse_Count>7</Fire_Pulse_Count>
<Fire_Pulse_Delay_Seconds>0.2</Fire_Pulse_Delay_Seconds>
<Fire_Range_Distance>2000.0</Fire_Range_Distance>
<Fire_SFXEvent>Unit_Turbo_Fire</Fire_SFXEvent>

<Fire_Inaccuracy_Distance> Fighter, 70.0 </Fire_Inaccuracy_Distance>
<Fire_Inaccuracy_Distance> Bomber, 70.0 </Fire_Inaccuracy_Distance>
<Fire_Inaccuracy_Distance> Transport, 70.0 </Fire_Inaccuracy_Distance>
<Fire_Inaccuracy_Distance> Corvette, 7.0 </Fire_Inaccuracy_Distance>
<Fire_Inaccuracy_Distance> Frigate, 1.0 </Fire_Inaccuracy_Distance>
<Fire_Inaccuracy_Distance> Capital, 10.0 </Fire_Inaccuracy_Distance>
<Fire_Inaccuracy_Distance> Super, 1.0 </Fire_Inaccuracy_Distance>

</HardPoint>

Do this for the rest of the hard points. Make sure to change the names back in the unit’s xml or else it won't do anything. After doing all the hard points for the star destroyer, the unit’s hard points in the unit's xml should look like.

<HardPoints>
HP_Star_Destroyer_Weapon_FL2, HP_Star_Destroyer_Weapon_FR2, HP_Star_Destroyer_Weapon_BL2, HP_Star_Destroyer_Weapon_BR2,
HP_Star_Destroyer_Weapon_ML2, HP_Star_Destroyer_Weapon_MR2, HP_Star_Destroyer_Shield_Generator2, HP_Star_Destroyer_Engines,
HP_Star_Destroyer_Tractor_Beam, HP_Star_Destroyer_Fighter_Bay
</HardPoints>

Congratulations!! You have made your unit have a unique color. The Devastor came out black, and with the <no_colorization_color> line I made it to red. It came out great.

Here is a picture next to a star destroyer

If you have any questions just ask me on this thread.

Update:
As of now i will be sharing some photos of specialty colored units next to regular ones
here is a venator and a custom one

The Home One, and a modified version, the Home Three

A captured AT-AT

[This message has been edited by atomic_slash (edited 04-19-2006 @ 02:26 AM).]