New Characters Sent to DAT Files Nowhere to be Found! Why?

Started by SpecterFan, March 22, 2020, 07:52:29 AM

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SpecterFan

Yes, it's me again. No, it's not about the Character Tool even though that one hasn't been resolved. This is a different problem.

I've got Freedom Force and FFvs3rdR installed and running on a laptop under Windows 10. They are installed at: "C:\GOG Games\Irrational\Freedom Force\". I bought them through GOG. I originally bought and installed from disc on Win 98SE and Win XP (I still keep these two alive and running just for these games.)

Problem: when I try to install any custom meshes via EZ Hero and send them to my DAT files, I get successful install messages. When  I open the game, I can't find any of my work available.

Has anyone out there got any ideas? This one is driving me bugs and this is my favorite part of these games!

On a passing note:

To anyone - like myself - who has been looking for a GOOD paint/rendering program that works with .tga files - try KRITA (https://krita.org/) - AND it's FREE.

As always - thanks,
SpecterFan
     

BentonGrey

Howdy SF.  So, just off the top of my head, here are my guesses as to what might be happening, both of which amount to 'check your datapaths'.  First off, since (as I'm understanding you) you have multiple installs of the games, you could be adding to a dat in the wrong game.  Alternatively, you may be accidentally adding them to the wrong mod.  So, check the data path for the dats being affected.  My guess is that's the issue. 
God Bless
"If God came down upon me and gave me a wish again, I'd wish to be like Aquaman, 'cause Aquaman can take the pain..." -Ballad of Aquaman
Check out mymods and blog!
https://bentongrey.wordpress.com/

SpecterFan

Good to hear from you again Mr.G..

I agree with you on the DAT file theory. This was, in fact, the first thing I checked - and I'm still checking. No luck so far. I checked again just now. I can't find any other game install sites.

All my DAT files for FF are located here: "C:\GOG Games\Irrational\Freedom Force\Data\Art". This is correct - right? This is the target folder that EZ Hero is set for. Am I supposed to indicate a specific folder such as "characters.dat or attributes.dat"? I seem to remember something about a file named "campdef.dat". I can't remember the specifics anymore.

BentonGrey

Ahh, I see your trouble.  So, first off, if you're going to modify the game, best to modify a mod rather than the base game.  It's way easier to clean things up if you mess something up that way.  So, your dats are all in your main FF data directory.  If you actually open up the FFvTTR/data folder and look towards the bottom, you'll see all of the various dats, campdef, characters, etc.  You don't point your EZHero directory at one of those in particular, but you point it at the directory that contains all of those.  For you, it would be: "C:\GOG Games\Irrational\Freedom Force\Data".  However, like I said, you don't want to mess with that.  It's a recipe for disaster and a broken game.

Instead, download FFX if you haven't already: http://ffx.freedomforceforever.com/downloads.htm

Install it, and you'll end up with another folder in your main  :ffvstr: directory, one called "FFX".  That's a mod folder, and you can either just modify that one, or copy and rename it to your own mod.  That's how the DCUG started for me, way back when.  Whatever you do, make sure whenever you're modifying stuff, you're modifying that one and not your main game.

So, got your mod folder chosen and named whatever you want?  Good.  Now, first of all, if you're using something other than the default FFX folder, open it up, find the shortcut to launch FFX, and right click on it.  In the 'Traget" entry look at the end.  It should say "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Freedom Force vs. the 3rd Reich\ffvt3r.exe" -game ffx3 -log".  The bolded portion at the end is the mod folder name.  Just edit that to whatever your mod's folder name is, and you'll be able to launch it with this shortcut.

Now, to add stuff.  Open up EZHero, and click on Tools/Settings.  Look at the dat files entry at the bottom and change it to point to your mod.  For example, as I'm working on the DCUG, mine looks like this:
"C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\Freedom Force vs. the 3rd Reich\DCUG"
Note that "DCUG" is my mod's folder name. 

Once you do that, you should be able to add characters to your dats just by using EZHero.  Here are three notes about this process, though. First, when you do so, EZHero does not automatically copy over your meshes, so you'll need to do that by hand.  They'll go in YourMod/Art/Characters.  For best results, you might want to convert any skins to dds format.  Let me know if you have questions about that.

Second, be aware, if you want to get a little fancier and create string entries, that when you create the prefix for powers in dat files on the add to dat window, that this changes the prefix in FFEdit (which is good for organizaiton and for length), but not in the strings file.  More on that if you want to mess with it.

Third, make sure your powers+prefix are relatively short.  I don't remember the exact number of characters, but if they are too long, they'll break the game.  I usually use abbreviations for such things and write the entire power name in the strings entries. 

Okay, I hope that is helpful!  Don't be afraid to ask for clarification for anything that you aren't sure about.
God Bless
"If God came down upon me and gave me a wish again, I'd wish to be like Aquaman, 'cause Aquaman can take the pain..." -Ballad of Aquaman
Check out mymods and blog!
https://bentongrey.wordpress.com/