Chat transcript IdolNinja teaching curly haired boy how to mod Saints Row 2 Curly haired boy: So, what programs do i need? IdolNinja: gibbed's modding tools IdolNinja: first you need to understand how it works IdolNinja: generally curly haired boy: ok IdolNinja: alrighty IdolNinja: an overview of the basics of how it works IdolNinja: you extract the contents of a couple of files in your sr2 directory IdolNinja: into a seperate folder IdolNinja: each file is a text file that is editable IdolNinja: you copy one of the files to a "modified" directory IdolNinja: and make your changes to it IdolNinja: you then use a tool which will compile the changes into a patch.vpp_pc file IdolNinja: replace that file in your directory and run the game IdolNinja: and that's it IdolNinja: simple huh? curly haired boy: simple doesn't mean easy :P IdolNinja: haha right IdolNinja: it will be though trust me curly haired boy: :D IdolNinja: first thing you'll need to do is create a folder to use IdolNinja: i call mine sr2mod IdolNinja: at the root of one of my data drives IdolNinja: call yours the same so we're talking the same language curly haired boy: will do IdolNinja: let me know when you're accomplished this IdolNinja: herculean task curly haired boy: sr2mod curly haired boy: XD curly haired boy: me/ alt+tabs IdolNinja: problems? curly haired boy: nope curly haired boy: just picking a drive to put it on :P IdolNinja: I am timing you IdolNinja: be quick curly haired boy: XD IdolNinja: you'll be graded on performance after you finish the level curly haired boy: lol curly haired boy: done IdolNinja: in your new sr2mod folder create some subfolders IdolNinja: extracted IdolNinja: modified IdolNinja: original IdolNinja: SR2WIP curly haired boy: ok IdolNinja: http://blog.gib.me/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/binaries-svn-rev10.zip IdolNinja: donwload the tools from gibbed, and extract them to the root of your sr2 mod folder IdolNinja: http://img5.imageshack.us/img5/4333/gibbed.jpg IdolNinja: should look something like that IdolNinja: there's some extra junk in there I put in for testing some stuff IdolNinja: don't worry about it IdolNinja: yet curly haired boy: ok curly haired boy: done IdolNinja: go to your sr2 installed game directory and copy your ORIGINAL common.vpp_pc and patch.vpp_pc files to the new ..\sr2mod\original folder IdolNinja: make sure they are not the modded ones we've been testing, but your original ones installed with the game curly haired boy: i renamed those .old curly haired boy: gotcha IdolNinja: after they are copied to ..\sr2mod\original, make sure to rename them back to their original names (remove the .old extension) curly haired boy: right IdolNinja: run Gibbed.SaintsRow2.ExtractPackage curly haired boy: what will that do? IdolNinja: It's going to extract the contents of the original .vpp_pc files IdolNinja: so that we can edit them curly haired boy: ahh IdolNinja: oh one thing before you continue curly haired boy: yes? IdolNinja: just leave that window up with the extractor curly haired boy: ok IdolNinja: create two subfolders in ..\sr2mod\extracted IdolNinja: name one folder: common IdolNinja: the other name: patch IdolNinja: E:\sr2mod\extracted\common IdolNinja: E:\sr2mod\extracted\patch IdolNinja: those are mine IdolNinja: as you can probably guess, we are going run the tool twice. Once to extract common.vpp_pc to the ..\sr2mod\extracted\common folder IdolNinja: and then a second time to extract patch.vpp_pc to the ..\sr2mod\extracted\patch folder IdolNinja: so go to your extraction tool that should still be up (if not, run it again) IdolNinja: Click the Extraction button IdolNinja: browse to your ..\sr2mod\original\ folder and choose common.vpp_pc IdolNinja: then extract it to your new ..\sr2mod\extracted\common folder IdolNinja: run it again and do the same again for patch IdolNinja: with patch_vpp.pc IdolNinja: and extract it to the ..\sr2mod\extracted\patch folder IdolNinja: make sense so far? curly haired boy: so far curly haired boy: i'm a little behind in steps curly haired boy: but catching up IdolNinja: I'll wait IdolNinja: tapping my foot curly haired boy: so i double click the extractpackage IdolNinja: yes curly haired boy: and a window comes up IdolNinja: and click the extract button curly haired boy: ok IdolNinja: and browse to sr2mod/original/common.vpp_pc IdolNinja: and select it curly haired boy: ahhh curly haired boy: it's working IdolNinja: so far so good IdolNinja: http://img43.imageshack.us/img43/9223/gibbed2.jpg IdolNinja: and it looks something like that when it's finished curly haired boy: do the same with the other ? curly haired boy: the patch? IdolNinja: exactly IdolNinja: extract the original patch file to ..\sr2mod\extracted\patch IdolNinja: all these files control how the world of sr2 works IdolNinja: let me know when it's extracted curly haired boy: done and done IdolNinja: right on IdolNinja: now... the extracted folder IdolNinja: and its subfolders (..\sr2mod\extracted\comman and ..\sr2mod\extracted\patch IdolNinja: NEVER MODIFY THESE FILES IdolNinja: these are the original ones IdolNinja: and we always want them clean curly haired boy: ok IdolNinja: ok, got to..\sr2mod IdolNinja: the root where the tools are IdolNinja: create a new text file and call it build.bat IdolNinja: windows will honk at you about changing the txt extension, but ignore that curly haired boy: didn't for me IdolNinja: then you probably have file extensions turned off in your view IdolNinja: and the actual file name you created is build.bat.txt curly haired boy: that's what it is, yeah IdolNinja: change that in your view menu so you can see all the extensions IdolNinja: and let me know when the file name has been corrected curly haired boy: done IdolNinja: right click on build.bat and select Edit IdolNinja: should open it up in notepad IdolNinja: and it should be empty curly haired boy: it does curly haired boy: yep IdolNinja: Gibbed.SaintsRow2.BuildPackage.exe "patch.vpp_pc" "modified" "extracted\patch" IdolNinja: paste that command in the batch file and then save and close curly haired boy: done IdolNinja: here's where it gets interesting IdolNinja: ..\sr2mod\modified is the folder we will copy various .xtbl files to edit them IdolNinja: don't run this yet, but IdolNinja: when you run your new build.bat batch file, what it does is compiles a new patch.vpp_pc and uses any new modified files in your sr2mod\modified directory, along with all the original ones IdolNinja: so IdolNinja: let's say you copy a file from one of the extracted folders curly haired boy: yeah IdolNinja: one of the orignal .xtbl files IdolNinja: and put the copy in ..\sr2\modified IdolNinja: then change a line in the copied .xtbl file and save it. then run the build.bat curly haired boy: yeah IdolNinja: it will recompile the patch with the new version of that file curly haired boy: the bat should compile it IdolNinja: and all the old files too IdolNinja: from the extracted folder IdolNinja: yes, that .bat (batch file) will compile it IdolNinja: build.bat IdolNinja: So, let's make a simple change and compile a new patch curly haired boy: ok IdolNinja: look for weapons.xtbl in the ..\sr2mod\extracted\common folder IdolNinja: and copy it (don't move it) to your ..\sr2mod\modified folder IdolNinja: btw .xtbl files are xml table files IdolNinja: they are plain text IdolNinja: let me know when it's copied curly haired boy: should i have folders in modified? IdolNinja: no IdolNinja: it should be empty IdolNinja: except for the copied weapons.xtbl file curly haired boy: copied IdolNinja: double click and open it IdolNinja: it will probably ask you to choose an application curly haired boy: windows doesn't know what to do curly haired boy: right IdolNinja: browse you're programs and choose notepad IdolNinja: and tell it to always use notepad to open .xtbl files curly haired boy: done and done! IdolNinja: you should see a bunch of gobbledygook IdolNinja: heli_fighter_01 vehicle burst 100 225 150 curly haired boy: i see VARIABLES IdolNinja: right curly haired boy: :D IdolNinja: or the technical term IdolNinja: gobbledygook curly haired boy: XD IdolNinja: have you ever done anything in html? IdolNinja: or xml? curly haired boy: some in html IdolNinja: ah ok curly haired boy: nothing in xml IdolNinja: so you know that something like bunch of crap IdolNinja: signifies a section IdolNinja: like forum posting curly haired boy: yeah IdolNinja: with tags curly haired boy: yep IdolNinja: let's find a weapon to modify curly haired boy: how bout the first one curly haired boy: i believe that's the heli cannon IdolNinja: that's a complcated one IdolNinja: let's start with something easy IdolNinja: glock IdolNinja: search for that IdolNinja: should be the first line of the weapon definition IdolNinja: for the glock curly haired boy: done IdolNinja: I'll bet you can already see some fun stuff to change IdolNinja: let's make a few basic changes curly haired boy: yeaaah :D IdolNinja: just for fun IdolNinja: Magazine_Size to 15 IdolNinja: since it's 12 now curly haired boy: 1200 curly haired boy: :D IdolNinja: careful IdolNinja: the ammo pool is declared in a different file (ammo.xtbl) curly haired boy: but don't i have infinite ammo? IdolNinja: and if the clip is bigger than the pool it will cause problems curly haired boy: oh IdolNinja: it's weird that way IdolNinja: and we can look at the ammo file later curly haired boy: 55 it is IdolNinja: cool IdolNinja: 150 IdolNinja: that's a fun one curly haired boy: 45 kojillion IdolNinja: that's how I made the orbital launcher IdolNinja: 9000 blows someone across the street IdolNinja: 50000 is the one I put on the launcher curly haired boy: hahahah :D IdolNinja: so change that to something around there IdolNinja: just for testing curly haired boy: 20000 IdolNinja: sure IdolNinja: see the Meleeattacks section? curly haired boy: i do IdolNinja: what i did for the pimpslap was just copypaste the pimp slap definitions (from later in the file) into that section IdolNinja: and replaced the ones that are there IdolNinja: so your melee smacks people sky high with the gun IdolNinja: want to try it? curly haired boy: hmm curly haired boy: no, i think i'll just adjust the RANGE :D IdolNinja: haha ok IdolNinja: muzz_handgun_nl IdolNinja: that's how I changed the muzzle flashes curly haired boy: ahh curly haired boy: pretty straightforward, this. :) IdolNinja: minimize this for a second and I want you to open another file curly haired boy: ok IdolNinja: in \extracted\common IdolNinja: open effects.xtbl IdolNinja: DO NOT CHANGE THIS FILE IdolNinja: this is our reference IdolNinja: for the different effects we can use for the muzzle curly haired boy: ahh IdolNinja: search it for blood curly haired boy: so i could just put minigun_barrel in there IdolNinja: to be clear, you change NOTHING in effects.xtbl IdolNinja: you just lookup what the names are of stuff you can change in weapons.xtbl IdolNinja: just to be clear curly haired boy: yeah, i mean i could copy minigun_barrel IdolNinja: here's the thing though IdolNinja: well the minigun is weird IdolNinja: most of the muzzle flashes you see with it are actual tracer stuff IdolNinja: we'll talk about that in the advanced course curly haired boy: ah curly haired boy: XD IdolNinja: for now, let's choose a simple one IdolNinja: search for blood IdolNinja: we'll make the muzzle flash bleed all over IdolNinja: just for kicks curly haired boy: blood_headshot curly haired boy: copy that? IdolNinja: let's try it IdolNinja: it will be within the brackets curly haired boy: the name part, or the filename? curly haired boy: ah, ok IdolNinja: blood_headshot IdolNinja: we are going to use blood_headshot curly haired boy: done and done! IdolNinja: and copy it to the muzzle flash variable in weapons.xtbl curly haired boy: yup IdolNinja: blood_headshot IdolNinja: should look like that now curly haired boy: yep IdolNinja: the next interesting section is IdolNinja: right now, the only flag is dual weildable IdolNinja: do you see it? IdolNinja: dual wieldable IdolNinja: in the glock defintion IdolNinja: in weapons.xtbl curly haired boy: i do curly haired boy: it's just below the spread multis IdolNinja: we can add extra flags to it curly haired boy: oooooo :D IdolNinja: what I want you to do is search on something in the file (it's near the bottom) IdolNinja: Search for IdolNinja: Flags for this weapon. curly haired boy: sweet IdolNinja: they are all pretty self explanatory IdolNinja: let's pick one to use with our new improved glock IdolNinja: lethal melee might be fun IdolNinja: I've never tried that one curly haired boy: ok IdolNinja: so copy the line and search again from the top for glock to get back to our weapon definition curly haired boy: done and done curly haired boy: added it to flags IdolNinja: and paste it into the flags section IdolNinja: dual wieldable lethal melee IdolNinja: should look like that curly haired boy: yep IdolNinja: let's knock Refire_delay donwn to 50 IdolNinja: so it shoots fast curly haired boy: yay IdolNinja: and now comes the fun part IdolNinja:
SFX_EXP_FLASHBANG Other InMemory <_Editor> IdolNinja: that's the first entry curly haired boy: yep IdolNinja: once again, between the tags is what we want IdolNinja: that defines the sound that's heard IdolNinja: so SFX_EXP_FLASHBANG is probably the sound fx for the flashbang explosion IdolNinja: that weeee and muffled sound thing curly haired boy: cool curly haired boy: :D curly haired boy: let's try that IdolNinja: actually I have a better idea IdolNinja: but first IdolNinja: SFX_DTH_ IdolNinja: see those definitions? IdolNinja: the 2nd one is one IdolNinja: SFX_DTH_DRUGSTILL curly haired boy: ok IdolNinja: took me a bit figure out what those were IdolNinja: DTH is death IdolNinja: it's the destruction of the ojbect IdolNinja: the sound it makes curly haired boy: ahh IdolNinja: SFX_DTH_FENCE curly haired boy: XD IdolNinja: would be the fence destroyed IdolNinja: there's one called something gasp IdolNinja: I think it's a crowd gasping curly haired boy: i'll try that one :D IdolNinja: I think it would be a funny sound to use IdolNinja: going to find it yourself and change? curly haired boy: already done curly haired boy: already edited IdolNinja: haha! IdolNinja: I knew you could do it IdolNinja: you could find some other ones for alt attack IdolNinja: or reload curly haired boy: etc. IdolNinja: some won't work FYI curly haired boy: i want to test now! :D IdolNinja: haha ok IdolNinja: let's go back to weapons.xtbl then IdolNinja: it all looks pretty good for me IdolNinja: oh, want to make it a rapid fire gun? IdolNinja: automatic? curly haired boy: sure IdolNinja: near the top of the glock definition is a tag called Trigger_Type IdolNinja: change single to rapid curly haired boy: sweet IdolNinja: I found that by looking at the kobra definition and saw that IdolNinja: there's also continuous IdolNinja: which is I believe used for the minigun IdolNinja: anyways, IdolNinja: save the file curly haired boy: yep IdolNinja: run build.bat IdolNinja: it should create a new patch_vpp.pc file in the sr2mod folder curly haired boy: how do i do that IdolNinja: double click it curly haired boy: it opens it IdolNinja: then you didn't change the name IdolNinja: of the file IdolNinja: it should be build.bat curly haired boy: oh, i gotta REMOVE the .txt from the name? IdolNinja: should be build.bat and not build.bat.txt IdolNinja: RIGHT IdolNinja: so it's a batch file IdolNinja: and runs the command contained in it IdolNinja: it should only take a second to run IdolNinja: did it work? IdolNinja: did it produce a new pathc.vpp_pc file? curly haired boy: i accidentally clicked it twice curly haired boy: XD IdolNinja: haha curly haired boy: the first time worked IdolNinja: you're just excited curly haired boy: the second time threw an error and stopped working curly haired boy: but i think it went through IdolNinja: probably because the newly created patch.vpp_pc already existed when you tried to run it the second time curly haired boy: i see it curly haired boy: now what IdolNinja: move the file to your sr2 folder where your game is IdolNinja: just like you would if it was from me IdolNinja: NOTE IdolNinja: the 2nd file in my rar IdolNinja: the preanim one IdolNinja: is ONLY for dual wielding IdolNinja: you'll probably never create one with the gibbed tools curly haired boy: ah, ok IdolNinja: it will only create the patch.vpp_pc file curly haired boy: um curly haired boy: will this break the stuff you've already given me? IdolNinja: it may IdolNinja: just don't save curly haired boy: gotta try it ;o curly haired boy: k IdolNinja: and load an earlier save IdolNinja: since you may have stuff associated with my patch curly haired boy: ok curly haired boy: gonna try IdolNinja: *fingers crossed IdolNinja: your blood gasp gun is ready to test IdolNinja: oh sorry, AUTO blood gasp gun curly haired boy: uh curly haired boy: which pistol is the glock XD IdolNinja: uh oh IdolNinja: haha IdolNinja: nr4 I think curly haired boy: kk IdolNinja: in pistols curly haired boy: ok curly haired boy: everything works IdolNinja: houston, do we have fountains of blood? IdolNinja: and gasp noises? curly haired boy: the added melee range PULLS PEDESTRIANS TOWARDS ME SO i kick them in the balls :D IdolNinja: hahahaha curly haired boy: and yes, gasps of blood :D IdolNinja: that's AWESOME IdolNinja: that must be a horror show XD curly haired boy: i gotta go increase that range :D IdolNinja: now.. there will be other additional files that you copy in to ..\sr2\modified IdolNinja: for other things IdolNinja: eventually curly haired boy: :D IdolNinja: http://img21.imageshack.us/img21/4403/gibbed3.jpg IdolNinja: that's my current modified directory curly haired boy: ahahaha curly haired boy: awesome IdolNinja: so those might be good ones to look through IdolNinja: see if you can figure out what they do IdolNinja: play around, create new patches IdolNinja: crash the game IdolNinja: fix and uncrash IdolNinja: make something cool :D IdolNinja: LESSSON 1 COMPLETE IdolNinja: STUDENT: curly haired boy passes with an A+ IdolNinja: your homework: IdolNinja: http://community.saintsrow.com/viewforum.php?f=37 IdolNinja: that's how I learned everything IdolNinja: you will also see some posts from me curly haired boy: awesome :D curly haired boy: thanks so much! IdolNinja: including code for my weapons.xtbl entries for the two new guns IdolNinja: like all I did for that light on the lazarus was use DT_spotlight01 for the muzzle flash IdolNinja: which is the spotlight effect from the police chopper and prison guard towers IdolNinja: and as you hold the trigger down it keeps spawning more and more of them making the beam brighter and wider curly haired boy: :D curly haired boy: i think i'll call my new gun the bloody roar curly haired boy: because that's what it is. :D IdolNinja: hahah curly haired boy: OH SHIT curly haired boy: OH SHIIIIIT IdolNinja: you should find some scream foley soundfx for it curly haired boy: XD curly haired boy: the cops curly haired boy: THEY HAVE IT TOO curly haired boy: they completely BLEW ME AWAY IdolNinja: hahaha IdolNinja: that's for lesson 2 IdolNinja: creating a new gun so that the cops don't have it curly haired boy: HAHAHA IdolNinja: I bet you have some wild crazy things in mind :D IdolNinja: told you it wasn't hard IdolNinja: browse through ammo.xtbl IdolNinja: if you want curly haired boy: right IdolNinja: that controls ammo pools IdolNinja: you should have enough to start causing some trouble though :D curly haired boy: well, sleep well, knowing your knowledge is in good hands IdolNinja: take some pics of your blood gun for the forum ;D curly haired boy: will do IdolNinja: I'm sure that would be pretty interesting to see curly haired boy: i changed rapid fire to continous IdolNinja: I will eagerly await them for tomorrow when I get up curly haired boy: unfortunately, melee range didn't work :S curly haired boy: ah well IdolNinja: yeah, some things are weird IdolNinja: you have to play with it IdolNinja: I usually make 1 or 2 changes at a time and test IdolNinja: scopes are weird btw IdolNinja: you need to add a couple zoom tags in your weapon def IdolNinja: the lazarus has those in the source I sent IdolNinja: if you want to see them curly haired boy: thanks IdolNinja: you can compare it side by side to the original taser IdolNinja: and see all the changes curly haired boy: which is a good guide for making my own weapon curly haired boy: :3 IdolNinja: http://community.saintsrow.com/viewtopic.php?f=37&t=27619 IdolNinja: that's the tutorial I followed for making new guns IdolNinja: it's a bit hard to follow because the author tries to base it off line numbers using a different txt editor. Once you understand the basics though it's easy IdolNinja: also, you don't need to do the cheat .xtbl mods he mentions. you can just add it to the store to buy. see later in his post IdolNinja: we'll create a new weapon tomorrow IdolNinja: together IdolNinja: so you can avoid breaking stuff like I did IdolNinja: the first one I tried ended up screwing up all the names and making my bare hands a cellphone so I couldn't melee D: IdolNinja: but definitely check out that forum and read up IdolNinja: 'night!