A New DTS Enhancement Mod
 

Since AHO has declared his Enhancement Addon for DtS finished, I decided to work on a sort of sister mod for it. Replacing sound files isn't a problem for me, but I need to know the following things:

• How to replace the character model of certain NPCs.
• How to add in extra objectives
• How to mark objectives and points of interest on the map
• How to add dynamite markers (like in "Eight Snipers")

Here's what I've done so far:

• Enemy pain sounds have been replaced with better ones from MoT (except for the male pain responses whenever they're hit by a fragile object or Strogov's fist... what are "voice1", "voice2", "voice3" and "voice4" in DtS used for?).
• A couple of female voice files AHO either ignored or missed out have been replaced with better ones from MoT (I doubt they'll work in-game anyway).
• "muz3_ger_loop" and "muz4_ger_loop" have been replaced with "muz_ger_1" and "muz_ger_7" from MoT respectively.

Sister mod :) sounds sweet ;)



Exchange the file names of the model files (*.SMF)


Loook at this old thread of mine:
http://forum.1cpublishing.eu/showthread.php?t=4096




This is only possible by patching the levelmaps (*.swd) ask forlik,
he knows more than me.



Well if I remeber correctly. I replaced them already :o


Well. I replaced them all ;)




I wish you good luck and don't hesitate to ask forlik or me, if you
have any question.


-AHO

For example, I would like to replace the kissing guard in "Hotel" with one of Volkov's bodyguards from "Embassy". How would I do that?

1. You need a hex editor
2. You have to edit the level map file: \Levels\Hotel\hotel.swd
3. Search inside for npc reference "Suitman15" this is the ID of this guy.
Before this entry there is the model reference "Actor\HotelGuard"
4. Replace the reference with "EmbassyAgent_2" or "EmbassyAgent_1"

(*) Problem: The refrence names must have the same length!!!
You had to clone the entry for "EmbassyAgent_*" inside the actors.shadvs
and rename it with a name that fits.

I know its a little complicated ;)

Where do I find a hex editor?

Use Google to find one ;)

How do I clone an entry?

I've never done this, but it seems that's not neccesary to modify swd files for these tasks. See svalka.lua file:


function Level.OnLoaded()
...
Actor.MarkAsTarget(Level.FindActor('SNP1') , true);
Level.EnableLevelMark('DYN1', true);

The first command marks 1st sniper as target.
The second command marks 1st dynamite as target.
SNPn and DYNn IDs are described in \svalka\map.shadvs file.
You can search svalka.lua with 'dyn' or 'dynamite' keys to find another useful commands.

Search an editor is much more easy than work with it ;)
A lot of hex editors today (free, non-free, as plugins for file managers):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_hex_editors

But remember, that any swd-file change (even 1 byte) can lead to the game crush. And it's not easy to find the reason of the crush. So, be careful and always make a copy of the swd-file (perhaps after each successfull step).

See this thread

http://forum.1cpublishing.eu/showthread.php?t=5390

and ask hykao about shadvs2txt and txt2shadvs converters.
After that you'll have possibility to modify shadvs files with any text editor (like Windows Notepad).

Hey,
what's the current state of your work?
Give us feedback ;)

I couldn't figure out what to do with the hex editor, so I haven't done anything new. Plus, I have other things on my plate. Actually, how can I place new items in rooms (eg. new clothes, new weapons)?