159 replies to this topic

[SparedLife]

I have extracted most of the skin files from Nightfire (eagerly awaiting the editing tools). There were over 5000 total but I put most of the character skins in a zip file and made it available on my site. It's still over 10 meg but includes many of the main character skins and the ladies. I know they are useless in Nightfire right now unless someone knows how to make the game access custom skins but I thought some skinners out there would like to make bond character skins for other games.

http://www.sparedlif.../Bond/Index.asp

[MrMeltedPlastic]

How did you extract them?

[superracer0022]

id like to have bond for multiplayer, and how did you extract them?

[Blue Eyes]

Heck, that's just freaky looking.

If they can be extracted, can't they be reinserted?

[mrdefender]

Dont think so.. You can open .PK3 archives (Quake3, ST: Elite Force, SW:JK2) with winzip, but it doesnt work if you make a zip file and rename it to pk3... :/

Tried opening the assest.007 file with winzip.. didnt work (gave me a 'bad file type' error...)


So what did you use?

[SparedLife]

Actually I am pretty sure they can be re-inserted but I am willing to bet once you tinker with your assets it won't work in multiplayer. When you extract a PNG nothing is changed in the assets file but if you modify the PNG and return it to the assets file that is a different story. I get crc check errors in Serious Sam when I edit the player skins and NOLF2 is not to forgiving if you run mods on multiplayer. I was just thinking that these skins would be good for modelers or skinners wanting to put Bond characters in another game.

If you look at the assets file with a hex editor you will notice the PNG header and footer strings that all PNG files contain. I used a code extractor to extract the code in between the headers and footers. In theory if you know the exact location you extracted the file from then you could modify the PNG file and then re-insert it back into that location with a hex editor. Basically this whole process can be achieved with a program wrote in VB, C, or any other programming language.

Blues Eyes - I take it you haven't done much game skinning. After the hundreds I have done the eyeballs and teeth still freak me out.

[shadowolf]

Ooh, awesome! Certainly a start to where we're all heading of customizing our multiplayer, eh?

[MrMeltedPlastic]

I developed a Bond skin for The Sims. If anyone wants it, e-mail me.

[SparedLife]

Maybe like HL in Nightfire there needs to be a model folder with a complete model and not just a skin to work. In my HL I have:

c:sierraHalf-lifeValveModelplayerSkin1

The model shows up in the MP selection menu.

BTW I have this in the Nightfire/bond/autoexec.cfg

SV_CHEATS 1
CONSOLE 1
bind f12 "r_screenshot 1" and it still is not taking screenshots. Can anyone see where the error is

MrMeltedPlastic - SimBond too cool

[MrMeltedPlastic]

If you want the skin, just click here. It's not perfect, but it's still pretty cool.

[superracer0022]

does anybody know when they plan to release the sdk for nightfire?

[PaulZ108]

Thanks! I can't wait to get some accurate multiplayer character skins if we ever get the SDK.

I noticed that the generic Bond of AUF is in there, with both major skins from the game. The generic versions of film characters are actually good when you look at just the skin, matching the character without matching the actor.

[mrdefender]

SparedLife, I've sent you a PM.

[SparedLife]

I got it thanks for the help. Much appreciated

[mrdefender]

any time




edited: has anyone noticed (well, im sure some have...) that if you don't write enough in your reply in the space at the bottom of a post... The "Report this post to a moderator" and "IP: Logged" are kinda screwed... ?

[SparedLife]

For anyone trying to download from my site, I am having major server problems. The server has been running flawlessly for well over 2 years until last week. It seems to be bogged down or something. I can reboot and everything is fine for 5 minutes or so then it starts loading pages slower and slower until it just won't load them anymore. Then I reboot and start the process over. I have another system almost ready to go but no time to swap out. So patience and you will be able to download the skins soon.

Has anyone given thought to a VB or C program for extracting and replacing the skins yet? An address pointer and file length should be enough to put in a custom skin.

[superracer0022]

is ea going to release the sdk?

[MrMeltedPlastic]

I've thought about designing an app, but I don't have the time or know-how to write the code. If anybody has the code ready, I can compile it with VB.net.

[superracer0022]

well im gonna hold ea to releasing the sdk because they said they would and they said they would release the patch and they released that

[mrdefender]

Now if only they can keep they'd stay with their release date, we'd be set (i.e .. if only it would be released on the first 'release date' they planed...)


Though, this problem has been popping up from everywhere

It just gives them more time to release teasers

[MrMeltedPlastic]

Has anybody tried copying their custom textures into the "texture" folder? That's where EA put their extra map textures.....

[SparedLife]

Oh I didn't have a "texture" folder and I guess I have no other EA game to compare folders. I will certainly give it a try though. I'll get back to you.


Ok I see DM texture names like i_dm_christmas_jones.png is this the texture name that would go into that folder?


Nope tried adding various names to the texture folder ie: kako_face.png, mayday_face.png, and ninja_head.png among others and no good. Should it be "textures" or "texture" folder

[MrMeltedPlastic]

The dir is ".../ea games/nightfire/bond/textures/". Maybe we should place them in a sub-folder (i.e., "textures/skins/"). That could make things a little more difficult

[superracer0022]

i think we should start a petition or something asking for a sdk for nightfire then ea might release it because how hard could it be to make a program to make skins and maps?

[MrMeltedPlastic]

As much as I hate to say it, I don't think a petition would do anything but pressure EA into releasing the SDK prematurely, which would probably require a patch of it's own. I think we should wait patiently a couple more months for the SDK to be released. By that time, EA should at least have a beta version ready for download....

UPDATE:
Just made a potentially imporatant discovery... If you place an image 128 pixels high and 128 pixels wide in the folder "bondguifrontend" named "i_dm_austria.png" or "i_dm_office.png", it will replace the preview of the said map. However, it seems that when you use certain colors, the image doesn't show up. I'll see if this trick works with skins as well.....

UPDATE #2:
Scratch the theory about putting skins there too. It seems that the GUI folder is reserved for.... you guessed it... the user interface. I guess I should have put that much together. I'll keep trying with the other texture folder.

[SparedLife]

I have been working on it all day I can extract edit and replace textures at this point but it is a pain. All I have done is the first texture because it's easy to get to. Dominique's texture dom_facetexture.png is 616 png positions within the assets file. MazeMan is assisting me now in writing an extraction program that will extract the skin by pointer and save the position so re-inserting will be easier. Hopefully we will have it user friendly.

That texture folder is not working but I am not sure if PNG or the skin names are correct. I see that BF 1942 uses the texture folder. It looks like they use another type of file format instead of raw PNG.

I know we can wait for the SDK but this is much more fun trying to figure this out

Well we got the extraction, pointer, and file size adjustment working but the assets crashes in game, I am pretty sure this has to do with a checksum. The only alternative seems to be the external folder option but the game may not look for external files until an SDK patch tells it.

[superracer0022]

i never knew it takes that long to make a sdk for a game

[SparedLife]

Maybe their just waiting to see how well we do, they are probably sitting back reading this thread and laughing their heads off. I am stumped at this point as to where to go next.

I see the file size inticators for each skin but changing them to the new skin file size corrupts the assets file. I can add bytes to the new skin file to make it the exact size as the one I extracted and the assets is ok with that but it changes the texture.

[superracer0022]

i think that is just stupid and if they have it they should give it to us, i say just give us the tools they used to make the game or something for us to make additions to the game

[SparedLife]

You see what happens when you rip off Pierce's face from the Bond model and slap it on a No One Lives Forever Mime model