I also need to learn how to implement the new sprites into everything, and I need an "almost done" Psi disrupter, Warp Gate and Xel'Naga Temple.
You'll have to make the graphics yourself, or request someone (like me) to do them for you. Results my vary.
The process for graphics is far more tedious than portraits or voices. With graphics, you need to edit iscript.bin entries (esp. for movable units) and make sure the frame count is proper. It requires lots of testing, but if you know what you're doing, implementing new
buildings (and other unmoving graphics) shouldn't be too difficult.
For the purposes of this mini-tutorial, we'll input a crashed Dropship, replacing the Crashed Battlecruiser graphic (unit\neutral\cbattle.grp).
PROGRAMMES YOU WILL NEED:
-WinMPQ
-DatEdit
-GRPEdit (for your own graphics)
-IceCC (for unit graphics)
STEPS:
1. Locate your graphic
You can download graphics from maplantis.mikelat.com. If you have your own graphic, use that instead.
2. Change shadow pointers in DatEdit
Go to DatEdit. Go to the Images tab, find the unit you're replacing (i.e. Crashed Battlecruiser) and find the matching shadow entry (usually directly under the unit entry). Change the shadow pointer from the shadow grp to the unit grp (i.e. from unit\neutral\cbaShad.grp to unit\neutral\cbattle.grp). Also, change unit stats and selection circle properties (under the Sprites tab) if necessary.
image
3. (MOVING GRAPHICS ONLY) Edit iscript.bin entries for the replaced graphic to accurately match the new graphic's properties
Make sure to avoid pointing at nonexistent framesets (remember: every 14 frames is a frameset) and be sure to use proper headers. Copy from existing iscripts when possible (i.e. ShadowFlare's 'Stormrider' graphic has an appropriate iscript in the Zeji Conversion mod).
4. (ORIGINAL GRAPHICS ONLY) Compile your graphic's bmps with GRPEdit
Save it as a grp file, and make sure to change the dropdown bar from 'icons.pal' to 'units.pal'.
image
5. Import the files using WinMPQ
Import the grp files under their proper filepath (e.g. unit\neutral\ for cbattle.grp). Import all dat files (arr\), iscript.bin (scripts\), and any additional files (e.g. rez\ for stat_txt.tbl).
6. Use MPQDraft to turn your .mpq file into a .exe when you are finished troubleshooting and testing.