Achilles' Lightsaber walkthrough

[Whitebloodcell]

If you are replacing blue, then you need to replace it with something that is also four characters long or else it won't work.

 

Could you explain? i am just trying to have a blue balde on Malaks Lightsaber.

 

The Files, i have extracted are

g_w_lghtsbr06.uti

g_w_sbrcrstl14.uti

iw_lghtsbr_006.tga

iw_sbrcrstl_014.tga

upcrystals.2da

w_lghtsbr_006.mdl

w_lghtsbr_006.mdx

w_lsabreblue01.txt

w_lsabreblue01.tga

 

i changed the values as per in your tutorial. Then opened w_lghtsbr_006.mdl with the Hex Editor XV132 V2.51

 

THen Hit Ctrl + F

In the Box Under Hex String I type "Blue" which is turned into BE. Click Search. And there are loads of Entries. There are also loads of Entries when I type in "01."

 

What am i doing wrong? (probably lots of things)

[Achilles]

Per my last message in this thread, you cannot change "blue" to "BE". Whatever you change it to has to have four characters. You can call it BBEE or BEEE or BBBE or FOOD or MILK or whatever, but it has to be four characters.

 

Secondly, if you do a search for 01, you are probably going to find an awful lot of entries. I would highly recommend that you search for something a little more descriptive (or at least a lot less general). I'm a big fan of "blue01" myself...mostly cuz there's only a few of them.

 

It's like doing a search in Google. If you type in "the", Google will ignore it because it's too general. Now if you type in "the lightsaber" or "the tutorial", Google will still ignore "the" but it will search for "lightsaber" or "tutorial" and you'll probably get a lot of hits. Now, if you type in "the lightsaber tutorial" you'll get much more specific results.

[Whitebloodcell]

Well I thought I had it for a moment. My item spawns with the code and has the correct name and icon. But when I clicked on it to select it the Game crashed. On my first attempt (for some reason I wasnt a jedi) it was unequipable but I could view the descirption.

 

But I think I made the mistakes in the Hex Editing. Im sorry I appear just plain stupid, but I really dont understand. I changed 15 Entrys of "BE 01" to just "02" And I just dont understand what I am changing and why.

[Achilles]

Originally posted by ClumsyClayson

But I think I made the mistakes in the Hex Editing. Im sorry I appear just plain stupid, but I really dont understand. I changed 15 Entrys of "BE 01" to just "02" And I just dont understand what I am changing and why.

 

I don't know how else to tell you that you can't use "BE". I think I made it pretty clear in my last message, however it appears that I've still failed to engage you on this fact. Please let me know what I can do to make it perfectly clear to you that you cannot use "BE"

 

In order for the game to represent your item, it needs to have a model that the character can hold, wear, etc (depending on what it is you're making). Now, depending on what it is that you're making, you can use the games models as-is. If you're going to make something complex (such as a Malak saber) you'll need to differentiate your item from the game's item, which means you will need a unique model.

 

Within the model are references to the skin that the model will use. Without a skin, the model will appear pure white in the game. Since we are going to have the model reference a unique skin, we much change the references that are built into the model.

 

For example g_w_lghtsb01 (the blue lightsaber) uses the skin w_lsabreblue01. If we were to make a new lightsaber we would have to change the game's models to reference a unique skin.

 

So, we would change w_lsabreblue01 to w_lsabreblue02. If we already have a mod that uses w_lsabreblue02 and they are not the same skin, then we would use w_lsabreblue03 and so on.

 

In order to change the model's references to the new skins, we have to open the model file and change the existing w_lsabreblue01 references to match our new w_lsabreblue02 (03, 04, etc) skin.

 

So we look for every instance of w_lsabreblue01 (there will be four in a regular saber and eight in a double saber) and change it to w_lsabreblue02 (03, 04, 05, etc). Please note that we do not change ANYTHING to "BE" (Please God, let me have made that clear this time...I cannot explain it again).

 

We only change the last two numbers. You can change the last 6 characters IF YOU REALLY HAVE TO, but I don't recommend it at this point due to the difficulty you appear to be experiencing. Example: w_lsabreblue01 to w_lsabrefood02 or w_lsabremilk02

NOT: w_lsabreBE02 (notice you deleted two characters that the model needs by using BE).

 

Again, searching for "01" will kill your entire afternoon. I'd highly recommend seaching for "blue01" and then replacing the 01 with 02 (or 03, 04, etc).

 

I hope this helps.

[Whitebloodcell]

Thanks alot for all your help. I think I must have not been explaining it clearly. I personally was not changing anything to BE. When I opened up the File I am presented with a Huge Grid of Random Numbers and letters. Then I try to search for blue01 like you said. However the program doesnt accept me putting in l or u. so i ended up searching for BE 01. From reading your Messgaes I got the idea that I should be looking at a long list of filenames. And then just searching and renaming them. So what have I done wrong?

[Darth Dex]

What do you mean could you be clearer? I'm sorry, I don't get it, maybe Achilles does.

[Achilles]

Originally posted by ClumsyClayson

Thanks alot for all your help. I think I must have not been explaining it clearly. I personally was not changing anything to BE. When I opened up the File I am presented with a Huge Grid of Random Numbers and letters. Then I try to search for blue01 like you said. However the program doesnt accept me putting in l or u. so i ended up searching for BE 01. From reading your Messgaes I got the idea that I should be looking at a long list of filenames. And then just searching and renaming them. So what have I done wrong?

Are you searching in the hex side (left) or the text side (right)? Text side should produce the results that you're looking for when searching for w_lsabreblue01. Please keep in mind, they will not be lined up nice and pretty, nor will they be close together. They will be included in random lines of ascii.

 

I hope this helps.

[Whitebloodcell]

Ok. Some progress now. I understood what you said, saw the entrys and changed the last digit. Though the entry said lghtsbr006 as opposed to w_lsabreblue01. So there is still something wrong. The Saber is Equippable and works, however, it is still Red. So Basically Ive managed to Rename Malaks Lightsaber, and give it to myself. I think I am going to try just creating a Normal Blue Lightsaber and spawning it. So If I get that correct then hopefully i'll understand what I am doing wrong. Because I think Ive used up enough of your time for now.

[Achilles]

Originally posted by ClumsyClayson

Ok. Some progress now. I understood what you said, saw the entrys and changed the last digit. Though the entry said lghtsbr006 as opposed to w_lsabreblue01. So there is still something wrong. The Saber is Equippable and works, however, it is still Red. So Basically Ive managed to Rename Malaks Lightsaber, and give it to myself. I think I am going to try just creating a Normal Blue Lightsaber and spawning it. So If I get that correct then hopefully i'll understand what I am doing wrong. Because I think Ive used up enough of your time for now.

The model also contains references for the saber hilt and tags for the weapon itself. The lghtsbr006 entries that you saw were for the weapon not the skin.

 

For Malak's saber you would need to look for w_lsabreredXX (don't remember the texture variable off the top of my head). Notice that the red saber skins use 3 characters for color instead of 4, so you won't be able to use BLUE, YELO, GREN, or PURP.

 

What I did for Merrik's saber is create a blue texture then name it w_lsabrered03 and changed the skin references in the model accordingly. You should be able to do the same with any color that you want.

 

EDIT: BTW, this goes back to what I was saying about using the Find feature. Not sure what you searched for that caused you to come back with the tags, but w_lsabre would have helped you find the texture files, even if you didn't know what color to search for.

 

I hope this helps.

[Whitebloodcell]

Thanks so much. I understand now atleast. I'll have a go tonight, several times. Again thanks

[Whitebloodcell]

When Renaming the files in the 2nd to last step doyou rename upcrystals.2da to upcrystals99.2da

 

Other than that,I've worked out how to it. Thanks for your help.

[Achilles]

Originally posted by ClumsyClayson

When Renaming the files in the 2nd to last step doyou rename upcrystals.2da to upcrystals99.2da

 

Other than that,I've worked out how to it. Thanks for your help.

Nope. Rule of thumb is that you never rename a .2da file.

To make your lightsaber upgradeable, you will need to add a new line to the table that references your weapon. Hopefully, once you've open the file it will all make sense.

 

If not, Maverick187 made an upgrade tutorial that will walk you through it step-by-step.

 

Glad to hear that you got it working

[Whitebloodcell]

Is there an easy way to get the same upgrades that happen when Using Mantle of Sith or Heart of the Guardian in my Saber?

[Achilles]

Originally posted by ClumsyClayson

Is there an easy way to get the same upgrades that happen when Using Mantle of Sith or Heart of the Guardian in my Saber?

You could use the Mantle of the Force or Heart of the Guardian uti files as the base weapon for your mod. This would accomplish what you're looking for but might require a little additional tweaking.

[Whitebloodcell]

When I have the Holowan Plug in installed one of my Sabers turns into a different one. It remains this way even after I delete all the files in override except for the Holawan Stuff? And the other Saber I made, stays in My Inventory aswell. Warum?

[RedHawke]

Originally posted by ClumsyClayson

When I have the Holowan Plug in installed one of my Sabers turns into a different one. It remains this way even after I delete all the files in override except for the Holawan Stuff? And the other Saber I made, stays in My Inventory aswell. Warum?

 

Because those are now being stored in your save games files and not coming from the override.

 

Once you pick up an item and the game saves it puts everything you have into your save game files. So later removing items from override still will not remove them from your save games.

 

I hope this helps!

[MTV2]

Is it possible to have 2 double bladed lightsabers in each hand?(im just wondering) (it might not work though because when you put both hands on the lightsaber) or if you could make the game think its just a single bladed lightsaber. (the other end might not be used though).

[Achilles]

Originally posted by MTV2

Is it possible to have 2 double bladed lightsabers in each hand?(im just wondering) (it might not work though because when you put both hands on the lightsaber) or if you could make the game think its just a single bladed lightsaber. (the other end might not be used though).

 

1) Welcome to the Forum!

2) This really belongs in the Request sticky

3) I found this by typing "two double lightsabers" into the Search field.

 

I hope that helps

[MTV2]

cool, thnx:)

[MTV2]

I followed the whole walkthrough that achilles made, but when i start my game and select my lightsaber the game crashes:confused: . i made a lightsaber before and it worked.

[Achilles]

Originally posted by MTV2

I followed the whole walkthrough that achilles made, but when i start my game and select my lightsaber the game crashes:confused: . i made a lightsaber before and it worked.

That generally happens when the game is missing a file that it needs to give you your item (usually a model). Please double check your work and be aware that sometimes you will need to scrap the original and start over if you run into problems.

 

If it happens again, feel free to post a plea for help, but please be sure to include steps that you taken to troubleshoot the issue, details about the item, etc.

 

Saying that something "doesn't work" is not enough for us to begin helping you.

 

Good luck!

[tk102]

Originally posted by MTV2

Is it possible to have 2 double bladed lightsabers in each hand?(im just wondering) (it might not work though because when you put both hands on the lightsaber) or if you could make the game think its just a single bladed lightsaber. (the other end might not be used though).

See this thread for information on how the equipableslots field in baseitems.2da works. You will find for example that two-handed items can only be equipped into the right hand (0x0010). By modding this field to 0x0030, this can be overcome.

[Simbacca]

Achilles, i read through your guide there and made another lightsabre.

 

i must admit, i did have trouble with the whole w_lsabreblue01 thing, just like that other guy kept having. i finally figured it out that, and it was because i thought the whole thing was in hex, not realizing that the two sections were seperate, one hex and one text.

 

so anyway, your walk through there showed how to make a another lightsabre, but the same thing as an already existant one. i do know there is another guide that helps to teach to modify properties such as damage or to hit, but i have a different question.

 

see i have 2 mods currently in use, one called Long Sabres, and one called White Sabres. Long Sabres provides special verisons of each of the original color crystals that when put in a standard lightsabre, the blade will be extended like Malak's. White Sabres provides a white color crystal.

 

i first had to figure out how to get them to work together, which was to combine the features of both their upcrystals.2da files. then, with your guide, i was attempting to figure out how to also duplicate the affect that Long Sabres created with a new White Sabre crystal.

 

i used copies of the violet's Long Sabre g_w_sbrcrstlxx.uti, g_w_lghtsbrxx.uti, w_lghtsbr_xxx.mdl, and w_lghtsbr_xxx.mdx files to make the changes you suggested. then i used copies of the White Sabre (standard length) iw_sbrcrstl_XXX.tga and iw_lghtsbr_XXX.tga files to make the changes you stated.

 

because of this, i have a working Long White Sabre, thank you.

 

however, in the item inventory, the picture icon of the sabre crystal and the picture icon of a sabre with the crystal use the custom violet Long Sabre picture icons. i want them to use the custom White Sabre picuture icons...

 

how do i do that?

[RedHawke]

Originally posted by Simbacca

however, in the item inventory, the picture icon of the sabre crystal and the picture icon of a sabre with the crystal use the custom violet Long Sabre picture icons. i want them to use the custom White Sabre picuture icons...

 

how do i do that?

First, open up the white saber's Icon file, it should be iw_lghtsbr_0xx.tga, and rename the last number part of the file name to the same model variation your white Malak's saber is using now.

 

So if your model variation is 19 then your icon file would be iw_lghtsbr_019.tga.

 

Once you rename a copy of the icon file drop it into your override and you should be good to go.

 

I hope this helps!

[Simbacca]

Originally posted by RedHawke

First, open up the white saber's Icon file, it should be iw_lghtsbr_0xx.tga, and rename the last number part of the file name to the same model variation your white Malak's saber is using now

 

thanks for the reply

 

i already did that though, see:

 

Originally posted by Simbacca

then i used copies of the White Sabre (standard length) iw_sbrcrstl_XXX.tga and iw_lghtsbr_XXX.tga files to make the changes you stated

 

see, on my first attempt, i did not use/modify any tga files, which in game produced a sabre without the blade (just a big square mix part white, part black missing space).

 

then, i did what i said above, took the standard White Sabre tga files and put my new model variation number at the end.

 

this produced the long white sabre blade i was after, but the icon in the inventory menu still shows the custom Violet Long Sabre icon.