Very sweet looking, are you making more to this mod, or will this just be a single unit?

very good! despite his chest.....

I won't let him be killed!(I hate the ending in the movie)
news say that he will be brought back in Gladiator 2 strange...

May be some make Roman Legionaire together will be better!

Are his armors already in iron? If yes, they needed to be improved. Anyway good work! again~

I think you should be able to resize textures (as BMPs) and use them on the models without any other changes (since that happens internally with mipmapping anyway), as long as the dimensions remain powers of two. The largest existing DDT is 512x512 pixels ("cine a arkantosman mapblue.ddt"), but 256x256 is the biggest for anything else, which should still give much better quality (at the expense of lower framerates if you have dozens on screen).
I could, however, be completely wrong, since I've never actually tried anything like it (I don't understand how texture mapping works - I just copy the UV coordinates directly from BRGs into 3ds max and it all looks perfect...)

But it's still very impressive, especially being the first texture-changing mod I've seen

Thanks for feedback guys.

Mojo14-I'm working on the Norse unit now. I want to have at least three total.

andylo-When you say his armor can be improved, do you mean more detailed or do you mean upgraded. I could make it so his armor gets better as you change ages. Example-first age, blue burlap outfit, no helmet second age- plain black leather chest no helmet...etc
I'm trying to make a Legionaire, but the big rectangular shield is stumping me. Hopefully I'll find an object to use that is close to that shape.

Ykkrosh-His actual texture is only 64x128 (half is the alpha channel, so only 64x64 is actual skin) so if what you saying, I could more than double the size, getting much better detail. I'll give it a try. Man, if that works, that would be great.

I want to make an Egyptian counterpart, but all my ideas are kinda lame. (Scorpian king, or one of the warriors in Star Gate) I'd like it to be a melee fighter any ideas would be great. I just don't remember many Egyptian type warriors. Thanks guys

I think there were 3 major types of Gladiators:

1. Light armor with sword and shield
2. Heavy armor with mace or similar crushing weapon
3. Essentially no armor with a trident (or spear) and net

It worked kind of like Rock, Paper, Scissors.

Person 2 beat person 1, because he had better armor and weapons. Person 3 beat person 2 because person 2 was slow and got tangled in the net, and couldn't get past the trident. Person 3 lost to person 1 because person 1 was fast and avoided the net and trident.

when is maximus going to be finished?

Hey, ra....

Im also dabbling w/ making new units for aom.

I would really like to talk w/ you about some stuff...

could you send me your e-mail address?

mine: rodya_255@hotmail.com

[This message has been edited by rodya_255 (edited 01-04-2003 @ 01:33 PM).]

Well Ykkrosh, your theory on texture sizes was correct. Some can have HUGE textures and others just a little larger than the original size. It took me several hours to update Maximus. His model, not including his sword, has 4 different textures. Kind of a pain. Some myth units only have one texture. Well here is the new "improved" Maximus.
You can compare it with the orginal with the link at the first thread. Thanks to Ykkrosh, much greater detail can be accomplished.

http://www.geocities.com/kainkamots/max.jpg

MUCH better

Very nice work

How do you create a unit?

ra5946
for an egyptian unit why dont u do a medji(pharos boadyguard).also please could u try to make an orc unit?

What program do you use to change the textures?? And how do you change unit names??

yea what do you use, do you need a 3d program, would 3ds max work

Very impressive Now you just need much higher resolution grass

AOMEd (info here) converts between DDT textures and plain BMP files (which can be edited in any image editor), and Vachu's Text Editor is probably the way to change names.
3ds max (or gmax (which is similar but free)) is only necessary for editing the actual 3d model (which isn't yet possible) (though it might be useful for UVW unwrapping stuff...)

[This message has been edited by Ykkrosh (edited 01-05-2003 @ 01:56 PM).]

k thx, where can i find how to use it

what unit does he replace?If its a major one like the greek swordsman call him gladiator .Then if u want to use his unit for a snc he isnt called maximus.Just an idea.

The AOMEd isn't very clear. Could anyone explain how to use it or where I can find a tutorial? And where can I find the textures?

The tool I use for textures is Ykkrosh' AOMEd. This tool is also used for extracting any .bar file. Information on this tool can be found here http://mods.dgdn.net/forum/

For chaning text (you need to do this to change heads, weapons and attachments for a unit) I use HexWorkshop, a hex editor. There are better ones out there, but I'm just comfortable with this one.

I don't like replacing units, so I add in new ones, which envolves changing the proto file and the language.dll file (only if you want a new name for your unit). The proto file contains all the units used in AoM. Sounds complicated, but it's not that bad. Check out the site listed above and these forums for info on the different files. I'm horrible at explaining things, so I appologize for not giving an in- depth "tutorial" on this. I pretty much just used trial and error. If you want to mess with files, create a folder and make a backup of any file you want to alter. If you screw something up, you can delete your creation and you have an orginal backup file. Every unit, even rocks and weapons has an anim, file. This contains information about the model of a unit. The Maximus unit I made is a Myrmidon body, a large shield and a Hypaspist head (iron version). You can only change parts between units that have seperate models for that part. For instance, a Minotaur does'nt change heads, so there is'nt going to be a model of just his head. It's connected to his body as one big model, so you can't put a minotaur head on a archer. It's mostly only infantry that has seperated heads. I think the centaur, medusa and a few archers and calvary chenge out to. When playing the game, if you notice a unit change shape when upgrading, there is model for that upgrade. Most infantry get a "new" head for different ages or upgrades. I'm kinda rambling on, but what is neat about the anim files, you can add more than one texture per unit. Go in the editor and check out the cow, it has like three textures, brown, brown+white and black+white. You can do this with any unit. I changed most my units anim files so that I can right click through all their upgrades instead of having to research a tech. You can have about 4 different looking versions of a unit at one time. Here are some of the things I've made just messing around with the files

http://www.geocities.com/kainkamots

Richard the God-I'll look to see if I can find a picture for that unit (medji), I've never heard of it. As far as a orc goes, I'm currently not able to alter an actual model. I could make a nice skin, but I'm not sure what current unit I could wrap it around, maybe an Einherjar. If you have an idea, let me know.

Ykkrosh-I know you're constantly busy writing programs, but if you get a bit of free time, could you look at terrain textures. When I change them back into .ddt format, the editor does'nt like it. It makes a huge RBG checkerboard instead of my texture. I would greatly appreciate being able to add new terrain. Thanks for AOMed by the way, it's a great program and it makes a mediocre editor much more enjoyable.

Thanks for the info ra5946!Im sorry i made a mistake.Ther not called medji ther called medjay.Ther on the film the mummy and the mummy returns but i dont class the films as acurate.Im finding out info as a write.
so far ive found this:Medjay - A Nubian tribe whose members came to Egypt as soldiers. Eventually they evolved into a peace-keeping force. The term later applied to Egyptians who joined.
Nubians wer black tribe peole who came from africian tribes.
some more info:
Medjay
name given to the units of the Nubian forces long in service of Egypt, particuarly under Kamose of the 17th dynasty when he began his campaigns to drive otu the Hyksos. Kamose's father, Sekenerre-Tao II had started the war. The Medjay, famed as warriors of cunning and stamina, served as couts for the Egyptians on the marches or at the oases of the Libyan Dseret. In battle they formed light infantry units and rushed to the front lines, delighting in hand-to-hand combat.
also for maxamus's idle animation why dont u have him crouching on the ground feeling the earth like he does in the film?
kind find a picture but i hope u can think of somethink with this info.

[This message has been edited by Richard the God (edited 01-06-2003 @ 12:52 PM).]

ok well once you you edited the BMP how do you get them back to ddt so i can get it back to a bar, and whats this thing about a default.txt you need before you put it back into a bar, thx

[This message has been edited by Zakthegreat (edited 01-06-2003 @ 01:56 PM).]

Zakthegreat-I'll give you a quick rundown on the textures. It seems you've gotten a little ways, but I'll start from the begining.You need AOMed to extract the file 'textures.bar'. This file is found in the texture sub folder of the AoM game folder. Use the second set of buttons on AOMed to do this procedure, since there are tons of files. I would extract it to a seperate folder you create, just for cleanliness purposes.
Look at all your new textures, and find the one you want to change. There are a few files with the extension .bti, but otherwise they should all be .ddt. Lets say you want to change the minotaur. Open AOMed and use the 'direct file conversion' select the .ddt you want (special g minotaur)
and save it somewhere. (your choice). Take note of the information it gives you. When saving it will say something like 15bit 1-alpha[1] 5 mip map. Write this down unless you have a good memory. You now have a .bmp of your texture. Alter it in any paint program. When you're done with the texture, save it as the current .bmp. Go to AOMed and click on the direct file conversion again. It will now change the .bmp to the .ddt. It will ask for the alpha channel and map info. Once saved as the .ddt, put the new texture in the texture subfolder of the AoM game folder. The models can bend and stretch some textures, so everything might not look perfect, but your new "skin" should be present. If not, make sure the .ddt has the correct name and or check to see if you gave the corret info when converting it back to a .ddt. Hope this helps.

Richard the God-I saw a bit of info on the unit, but the only pictures I could get were a man in black. This is fine, but AoM tends to really darken textures, and a all black unit would lose a lot definition. I could use the kemsyt unit and darken him a little and add some face paint. I'll keep trying different combos. Thanks for the ideas. The crouching anim would be really neat, but I currently can't change the actual animations. Ykkrosh's newest version
of AOMed allows you to put the AoM models in 3D studio max, but I'm not sure it can convert it back. Trust me, once models and their animations can be "easily" altered I'll change a lot of units. I think I might be able to modify a sphinx unit to look like a griffon. I also want to make a unit like Pan (half goat, half man). You should try your hand at making textures. It's kinda fun.

I just finished the "exterior" of the Norse unit. I wanted to use a head with long hair, but the female heads were too small for the male body. I had to change his kilt design, because the pattern was too dark. The bottom strip of his kilt is player color.

http://www.geocities.com/kainkamots/wallace.jpg

Do you know how to make certain parts of a unit transperant?

Do you paint it a specific color? I heard if it's a TGA you have to mess with it's alpha channels or something..

No, That's something I was really hoping to do. Since I'm working with .bmp it's not a real alpha channel and it deals with the player color. I would use tga, but I would'nt know how to convert it back to .ddt. Do you think a .tga could display the "player color channel" and a alpha?

I messed with tga's a lot making Empire Earth textures. The alpha is essentially a layer which the lighter the color is, the less transparent it is. It works in grey scale (white-black). If you paint a section white, that area of the texture will be seen on the model. If you paint it black, the part of the texture will be invisible. Anything in between (greys), will make a translucent texture. So if you took a texture and made the alpha channel a medium grey, your unit would appear like a ghost.