Zoo Admin Archive
Creativity Centre => Zoo Tycoon 2 => ZT2 Editing => Topic started by: MarineManiac on February 02, 2007, 12:09:11 PM
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I have currently finished an Orca variant, but it does not work in the game. The file IS in the ZT2 folder in Program Files and to make sure I wasn't panicking I purchased 40 of each gender of Orca to check to see if one had the variant, none did. So what should I do? I followed the VAT; however all my Orca files were originally named female but I deleted the F so it was general adult with no specific gender. There are also files in the originals that are named _1 and _2 should have I named my files _3 instead of my naming them _1, since there already is _1 and _2? Any help would be MUCH appreciated.
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You have to leave the F there....that's the name referenced in the NIF...if you take that out, it doesn't read them at all.
Your files should be named Orca_Adult_F_3.dds....the F does not always mean Female; only in animals that have skins for different animals does it mean that. Every file needs an M or F there.
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Okay thank you! I'm going to rename my files now. I'll let you know if it worked.
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It didn't work. This is probably a bad question but do I actually have to put the .dds at the end of my files? If I do that solves the problem. Anyways here's how I have it set up, mabye you can determine the problem:
Cream Orca Variant (zip file, it is a .z2f though)> entities>units>animals>WhaleOrca>
>WhaleOrca_Adult_F_3
WhaleOrca_Adult_Dirty_F_3
WhaleOrca_Adult_Sick_F_3
WhaleOrca_Adult_Sick_Dirty_F_3
These are the actual way they are set up.
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Being the newbie on this block, I could be wrong. But it looks right to me. But they do have to be in the .dds format.
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So I should add .dds to the end of my files? They are DDS files but it does not have .dds on the end of each file name.
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Well, are they in .dds format?
It is possible that the animal is only coded to have 2 varients plus a main skin...some of the MM2 coding is shoddy, to say the least.
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Well they do say DDS File when I click on properties, but would it make a difference if I added .dds to the end?
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Probably not.
Are you putting them in the downloads folder or in the Main folder? They need to be in the main folder, Z2F only. No folders. If you have that, then here's what I suggest -
Name the file WhaleOrca_Adult_F, just the main one for now. Now name the .z2f something with a Z. So like, Z- Cream Orca Variant. Put it in the main folder. Test the orca. If it is working correctly, it will overwrite (temporarily, till you change it again) the main skin and you will see it working.
If the skin works like that, then the problem lies in the coding, and you will have to overwrite one of the official skins in order to get it in the game.
If not, try _4. You may have another varient installed, perhaps.
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All right. So basically don't add .dds and get rid of _3, so it is at WhaleOrca_Adult_F ( only do this to one of the files) Rename the file Z-Cream Orca Variant. And run ZT2. Right? I'll try it and let you know.
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Yep! That's the drill! I'll be around.
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It didn't work! ( laughing to self) Was I supposed to keep the other 3 files inside the Z- Cream Orca Variant file with the one renamed file? If not, I'll try that again with the one file. And if so I'll try naming all three to _F_4 and get rid of the Z? After that, well I'll just see what happens.
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If it didn't work like that way then you have done something wrong, I'm afraid.
Are the files still marked "Read only?"
Reopen the file in DXTBmp - are they in fact recolored?
These sound like stupid questions but I have done that before myself.
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Yes I chekced them in DXTBMP. how would you know if they are "Read Only"? If they are not how can you make them be?
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Right click on the file, go to properties, uncheck the box in front of read only. You dont WANT them to be read only. Please recheck the files in DXTBmp again to make sure they are recolored. Sometimes its the silliest things.
You DON'T have entities in a folder too, correct? You should Right Click entities and add to archive...
Make sure all folder names are spelled correctly.
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Turn your file extensions on to make sure that it really is a .dds file...
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They are not read only. Well there is one part not recolored but I left that out on purpose. I left the edge of the mouth white on purpose I can provide a link if you want to check it out. Entities is in a folder, but only for my purpose. But when I made it into .zip I went into that folder and right clicked on entities NOT the folder it was in. When I right click on entities, I don't have add to archive so I just used Add to zip and then typed in "Cream Orca Variant.z2f" and clicked add and it made what it needed to make. If add to archive is necessary I could go into Winzip and click on new archive and add to .zip. Would that work?
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And it is in fact in c:/program files/microsoft games/zoo tycoon 2 - and that's it, correct?
Please check your spelling on everything.
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Yes it is in exactly where it should be. Spelling is correct because what I posted was exactly how it was spelt and I checked it about 3 times just to make sure I did when you suggested it.
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Well sometimes what we think we type in is not exactly what was typed in; we're just trying to help.
If you have everything exactly the way you say you have it, there should be absolutely no problem. If you want, you can send me the skins, PM me for contact info if you do.
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Just one last thought should I try and name all my files _4.dds just to see what happens?
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No because if it wasn't working as a reskin then there's something wrong and it would just be wasting time. Go ahead if you want to though.
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Okay. Thanks for your help. I'll try another variant to see what I did wrong or fiddle around with this one, but if I can't figure something out, I will PM you.
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I'm just quadruple checking because I've tested the orca with both a reskin and a variant just now and it works for me fine.
If you open your .z2f folder, you just see the entities folder? Correct?
So you have: ZOrcaVariant.z2f/entities/units/animals/WhaleOrca/WhaleOrca_Adult_F_4.dds
And when placed in your ZT2 directory, it really should work. Works perfect first time for me.
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okay, im not an expert, but are you archiving tham as a .zip or a .z2f? the game wont read .zips, just .z2f
if this has already been mentioned, sorry, but i didnt see it
EDIT: i looked again and saw that you said you made it a .z2f, but i would double check
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I'll try that, but not now, I have a Bethany Dillon concert to go to. Thanks guys!
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No it didn't work either and I decided to make a red dolphin variant just to see what happens and that didn't work either so I'm going to give the steps I did in order and hopefully there is a problem that will be pointed out:
1. I went into MY ZT2 Creations folder and made a new folder called "red dolphin"
2. Inside that folder I made enities, inside entities I made units, inside units I made animals, and inside animals I made "DolphinBottlenose"
3. I then went into my ZT2MM folder which was extracted from x200_000 and went into entities, units, animals, and DolphinBottlenose.
4. I copied Dolphin_Adult_F, Dolphin_Adult_F_Dirty, Dolphin_Adult_F_Sick, and Dolphin_Adult_F_Sick_Dirty.
5. Then I pasted those into my DolphinBottlenose Folder.
6. Next I went into DXTBMP and opened all of them and edited them with Adobe Photoshop Elements 2.0, I clicked on refresh to change to my new skin.
7. Then I went to Save As, DDS Texture, kept the file name the same except for adding _3 to the end. The drop box below said DDS DXT1. There is a DDS DXT1 (No Alpha) but I did not use that.
8. Then I pressed Save and deleted the files that were not edited. I checked the files to make sure I edited them.
9. Then I backed out of the file to entities, clicked right click to Add to zip, named the file reddolphin.z2f and it showed up in my folder as a MM2 icon with the name reddolphin.
10. Finally I copied and pasted it into the main ZT2 folder in C:/ Program Files/Microsoft Games/Zoo Tycoon 2
11. I ran the game and no variant after 50 male and 50 female dolphins.
So what should I do?
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You should save as DXT3. Otherwise I have no clue what is wrong, because I made the Orca reskin/variant straight away and it worked.
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You mean I should have saved it as Dolphin_Adult_F_3 and clicked on DDS DXT3? If so I'm going to try that right away. And I should save one DDS DXT3 for my WhaleOrca_Adult_F_3.dds?
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Yes, that is what I mean.
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Also, you did not say if you made sure the files were not read only. DXTBmp will SAY it writes it over when it doesn't really if its still read only
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I'll try that. So basically whatever number your using 1,2,3,4,5 you should save it with the corresponding DXT1,2,3,4,5?
I did that too. I made sure that read only was not checked.
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No. DXT1,2,3 etc is the TYPE of DDS file it saves as.
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no no no. the DXT number should ALWAYS be three, except for icons
Are any OTHER varients working for you right now? Like any other dled ones? Are your graphics set HIGH enough to SEE varients?
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Okay I am going to try this and I let you know if it worked.
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And it didn't, lol, I thought it was that one for sure. I have not yet downloaded any variants yet. What should I set my graphics to see the variants? Right now my graphics are set low for good game handeling but the colors look fine to me. What should I set it at though? Never knew that could be a factor. The total .z2f file is at 1,013 kb. Does that sound right in file size wise?
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You must turn your graphics up to see variants. Specifically, Object Texture Detail must be medium or higher.
Were you able to see any of the included official variants?
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For variants to appear your graphics need to be set to high, I'm afraid.
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I'm going to try that now. Just a general high setting? Its not that bad, the game still works on high.
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Specifically, Object Texture Detail must be medium or high.
This setting.
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It did not work either. I guess I'm going to try and start all over. The only thing I forgot to mention is I tired to open the files with DXTBMP instead of going into the program and finding them. It didn't work. But I don't think that would matter.
Breaking news: The entities, units, animals, and WhaleOrca folders are read only, the files are not. Would that make a difference?
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Can you please answer my question? Are you able to see the official variant skins for -any- animals at all? (For example the tiger.)
I am very willing to have a look at your .DDS files to make sure they are working properly, but I see you already refused Mika's offer. I really cannot see what your problem is, making variants is very simple and should work fine if you have your graphic settings adjusted.
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The only thing that the read only thing changes is it LETS you MAKE changes
If you would let me see your files instead of making us sit here and babysit this thread it would be much easier to see if the problem is your files or your computer
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Can you please answer my question? Are you able to see the official variant skins for -any- animals at all? (For example the tiger.)
I did when it first came out, but I haven't used those in a while, but other variants I think so. I going to try it out on my laptop, becuase I've never had the turquoise on my computer and the first it came up on my laptop.
Don't worry about babysitting this thread, if you have other things go do them. This is not very important, but i do appreciate the help you all have given.
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If it doesn't work on your laptop I have no clue what's wrong and I don't think I'd be able to help you further unless you send me the .z2f.
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so when u save a .dds in DXTBMP it has to be saved as DXT 3 or something like that? as in the file type has to be DXT 3? im working on a tiger shark and i edit it then i save in PS, then i go to DXTBMP, click rfresh after edit, then click save as, i name it SharkWhite_Adult_F_3.dds or sumthin like that. i then go to where i saved it and right click, select add to .zip. and it changes it into a .z2f file. i then put it into the ZT2 folder and it doesnt work. i have my details on high.
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I generally don't help put 5 pages of time into solving one problem; there is an easy solution and its just not able to be answered without looking at the files to see if they work on a computer other than your own.
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umm...may i send it to u to see what the prob is?
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seaworldgurl1: Yes, when using DXTBMP (or the nVidia Photoshop plugin), you should save your .DDS files as either DXT3 or DDS 888-8 32bit, as those are the .DDS types that ZT2 responds best to.
Edit: Yes, you may send your files to me seaworlgurl1 and I will have a look for you :)
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Sorry seaworldgurl that wasn't aimed at you but yes, I would be glad to check out your file. PM me for contact info
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ok...ill try that and send it to Mika if she'll let me.
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It worked! Something is up with my computer. Unfortunately the variant does not look very good so I'm going to make a new one with more subtle colors.
Thanks for all of your help ( and patience)!