adding new grps and telling sc to use them

[shaggydavid]

i want to add new grps for some of the hero units, if i make a new grp i.e. unit\terran\example.grp put in to my patch, how can i make iscript use the new grp instead of the old one i.e. instead of the battle crusire standard for hyperion use example.grp with new iscript details?

[U-238]

You'd need to remake the structure of the graphical part of that unit. While it's a relatively simple task to perform you must know that you can't do this an unlimited number of times. Reason being is because each hero unit graphic you change will require another sprite set (flingy.dat, sprites.dat, and images.dat entries) and there are only a limited number of these. (3 was the last, stable, number I know of)

So, after that warning here's the rundown of what's needed:

1st: In the graphics tab of units.dat you need to set the "Graphics" entry to an unused flingy.dat entry.

2nd: You need to go to that (flingy.dat) entry and make sure it points to an unused sprites.dat entry.

3rd: Go into the sprites.dat tab and make sure your (formerly) unused entry is pointing to an unused images.dat entry.

4th: You need to set a new iscript id for the (formerly) unused entry. You can just add an entry after the last existing one.

5th: you need to create the iscript for the unit. You can either start from scratch or copy/paste an already existing entry into your iscript and modify it from there.

6th: You need to add your grp to the images.tbl list. (Make sure it's the LAST entry)

7th: Go back into datedit and have it use your custom images.tbl file (you can set this in File>Options)

8th: Head back into the images.dat tab and use the drop down menu under "grp" to select your grp file from the list.

9th: You need to go into firegraft now and add a button set for the unit. If you know how to add buttons it shouldn't be hard to figure this step out since it's relatively the same.

10th: Once you have ALL THAT done. You should be able to play your unit.

Disclaimer: I'm not 100% sure this is the exact method. There might be a detail here or there that I may have left out. I haven't modded since the 1.14 patch so I'm a little rusty.

[shaggydavid]

thank you im going to do this now. i have been messing with firegraft i have figured how to move around buttons with the requirements and all, i have even iscripted the crashed norad and gave it an aditional frame (half built) compiled it into the firegraft patch and that stoped the game from crashing when you try to build it from the scv. the crashed norad builds norad IIand physics lab, gave the pysicslab buttons to the covert ops. covert ops builds kerrigan,kazansky,duke tank. (for now) wanting to make the crashed norad into a special ops building that can be built at a distance and still provide air and ground support. i have made special air and ground grps for some of the units. this may explain a bit on what im attempting to do. thanks again.