Rise of Nations Re-Skinning Guide

By JediAnakinSolo
Edited By One_Dead_Angel

The Zen of Modding

Thank you for coming to read this. I hope it’ll help you get started in modding for Rise of Nations. The are a few excellent modders, and there are several ways you can mod your game.

Modding is what keeps a game going. BF 1942 came out at least a year ago (I think) and the constant map making, and modding has kept it going. Modding adds a bit of taste to the game after you’ve become bored of it, or want something different. I usually see a picture somewhere, and think “Oh, that’s cool” and then put it into the game as a mod.

You can mod your game from several aspects. There’s modeling, which takes 3DsMax ($6,000), or Gmax (free, but the BHG exporter doesn’t work with it, I think), and a bit of knowledge.There is XML editing. You can use Wordpad for that, and all it takes is finding the file (Unitrules.xml is a good place to start) and changing something, pop cap, number of turns in CTW or something else.

Then there is Re-Skinning, which consists of picking a unit, opening it, and changing it to look like something else, without changing the model. Best part about this is, you can play on MP without someone else who has the same change.

Needed for Re-Skinning

1. An Image manipulation program. Anything from Adobe Photoshop to Microsoft PICTURE IT! Would work, but my favorite is Gimp. You can download it here:http://www.gimp.org/downloads/I don’t know if 2.0 needs an installer, but it probably does, just type “Gimp Installer” into Google and you should find it.

   NOTE: Paint will not work as a image manipulation program, because it eliminates the alpha channel, but we’ll get into that later.

2. An idea of what to mod. You have to know what you want to do. If you sit down and say “I want to do something” it won’t work. You need to have a vague (at least) idea of what you want, and then put into work.
3. An image to base your skin off of. You can simply type what you want into Google images search, get a picture, and then mod off that picture, instead of memory.

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By JediAnakinSolo
Edited By One_Dead_Angel

Basic Steps in Unit Skin Modding

The files needed are located in the C:\\Program Files\\Microsoft Games\\Rise of Nations\\art\\ folder. You’ll find about four-five kinds of files, but you only need to know about two. The .BH3 file and the .TGA File. The BH3 file is the model, and the TGA is the skin.

Let’s do a simple one, the general. Look into the art file, and find general. Open it up with your program, (I’m using GIMP, so we’ll base this tutorial off that) and look at it. You notice, that in the art folder, right above ‘general’ is ‘general.bh3’ That’s the model to the skin.

Now, the general looks like this:

Now, this doesn’t look the same as in the TGA file because you see the flag (underneath, and to the right of the armor) and the blanket under the saddle are the alpha channel. The alpha channel is where the player color shows through. So, you need some on there so you know whose unit that is. But, since Word and Paint can’t show the alpha channel, you can’t see it unless you look at it through GIMP (or whatever you’re using).

For this tutorial, we’ll change the flag underneath the armor. We’ll do a simple one, so, how about, your country’s flag, or another flag that you think is easy to do. I will do my flag, the American one. I recommend you do too, so you can follow along, but you don’t have to.

So look at the GIMP, and pick the pencil, then choose the size, and set it on the smallest. Next choose the color, I’m picking red. Now zoom in on the unit, using the zoom button (the magnifying glass) to where the pixels are big enough for you to easy color them, and start re-skinning. For this mod, it doesn’t matter if you replace the alpha channel on the flag to the right. If you make a mistake, just hit ctrl+z on your keyboard to undo it.

So far, I simply outlined the flag:

Now, you notice, I outlined some of the shading. I’m going to color outside of the shading, then blend the shading into it, so the flag is shaded (duh). But you’ll see more clearly when we’re done. But, for a simpler mod, don’t shade it, just color the shading in and go on with the rest.

Now, let’s fill it in. Now, you don’t have to do any of this exactly like me. I’ve been doing this for awhile, so I relatively know what will happen. If you don’t like how it turns out, change it some more and look again.

It’s filled in, now, I’m going to color it in the patterns of my flag.

Now is where you see it sort of blend in. I’ll blend the blue together, then add the white stars. If you’re doing the same flag, pick the smudge tool, the one that has the hand on it with the finger pointing (sort of).

Now, just move back and forth along where you want to blend. What it does is, it drags the colors across to the other side. You’ll see what I mean.

I made this picture a little bit bigger so you can see. See how it’s blended now in the blue area? Now to add the stars. Pick white if you’re doing the same flag. Just put the white dots in pattern, every other one or something, then take a look. This is how I did it.

If you don’t like that many stars, take some out, or vice versa. Now, for the white stripes (Again, if you’re doing the same flag as I am.) Now, doing long lines is hard at first, and if you slip and make a mistake, then hit ctrl+z and take it back, you lose the whole stripe, which is annoying. So stop often for a sec, then continue the line, so that if you make a mistake, you don’t lose the whole line.

Now, I still have those shaded lines through the middle, and that might ruin it a little bit, but you don’t want to cover them up completely. So say if a white stripe goes where the shade is, make a line one side like this: (Notice the middle shaded area cut in half by a red line)

Then blend. But, if that’s too hard (Which, I think it is, because I tried it and it doesn’t look too good), just fill in the shade with a darker color.

There, it’s done. It doesn’t have to be specific. You look at the original art files, and how precise they are, don’t try to do it unless you really want to. Just remember that the guys at BHG were professionals, were paid to do it, and probably had a lot more time to do it then you do. Now, before you save it, make a copy of the file, and paste into the art file so you don’t lose the original, then save it (Not save as) and to test the mod, open up Rise of Nations, and go to scenario editor. This model is for the European art set, so choose the French, British, or one of those nations in that area and make a general, and look at him. I promise you, you’ll be proud of him, even if he doesn’t look as good as you wanted. I’m going to give a general overview of the main buttons in GIMP, then show a before and after picture of the general.