Umm, I wanted to know how to record and make a movie off of what you play and do in JA. Like how did the Asteroids TFFA team make a trailer. How did they record it off of JA?

Another question. I CAN'T mod, map, skin, model, etc. I wanted to start skinning. I am a major noob at this. What programs should I get to extract stuff from the pk3's and what programs should I get to make skins and what programs will put those skins back into a pk3?

Thx.
:fett:

Making video trailers like you saw with Asteroids is done through a program called "FRAPS" (works only with Windows 2000/XP; and it's shareware).

To open a pk3 and extract the files you just need a program that can open Zip files (I use Winzip).

Make sure file extensions are turned on and you can associate them with winzip and open. Or you can rename the extension from pk3 to zip and then open, whatever, and then change the extension back to pk3.

Make sure you put your modified files in NEW pk3's with the same directory structure though, or else you won't be able to join online games unless they have the exact same files/changes as you.

To get the editing tools, check out LucasFiles.com in the Editing and Essentials sections. You can grab the SDK, Gtkradient, etc to do all your editing with. These tools only work with the full retail version of the game, so be advised.

As far as skins are concerned, skinning is primarily about making and modifying textures. This means you need a grahpics editing program.

While you can use MS Paint, it's rather limited, so you're better off looking at something more advanced like Paint Shop Pro or Photoshop to create the images you'll use for textures.

Making a pk3 is easy, just put the files in the directories you want (look at the structure of an existing pk3 for examples) and then add files to zip (with winzip or whatever) and create an archive. Then rename it to pk3 and it should be ready to use.

For extracting/adding stuff from the pk3s you just need a zip editor like winzip or pkzip. For editing you need a graphic editing program like Paint Shop Pro or Photoshop. You can use other programs, but those are some of the best.

For recording stuff from the game, try FRAPS (http://www.fraps.com/).


Edit: KURGAN!!!

Actually, for managing pk3 files, I suggest using PakScape.

http://www.effiles.com/file.info?ID=1327)

theres also a very good video faq at the top of the page, it suggests recording demos and then playing them back to allow you to replay the same shot from multiple angles using various commands to manipulate the 3rd person camera.

Edit: KURGAN!!!

Don't feel too bad, it's happened to me enough times. ; )

Originally posted by acdcfanbill
theres also a very good video faq at the top of the page, it suggests recording demos and then playing them back to allow you to replay the same shot from multiple angles using various commands to manipulate the 3rd person camera.

If you're talking about my faq it's actually only in the outcast forum, here's a link if you're having trouble finding it:
http://www.lucasforums.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=78468)

(if you were talkin about something else I apologize ;))

nah u got it right, being in more than one forum at once confuses my already fragile mind. :) so follow that link for nutri's faq

O.K., thanks for the help guys. One more question. How do you get into glm's and gla's and how do you save to them, etc.

Also, I changed the skin on Mars's Republic Gunship, and I tried to spawn it. I renamed the vehicle and npc ext. data and tried to spawn it. Then I tried to spawn it using its real name. It didn't work. Why?

Thx.
:fett:

Hello? Can someone tell me how to open .glm's and .gla's and .npc's and.veh's? Thx.
:fett:

You can't really "open" glms and md3s. But you can open npcs and vehs with notepad.

O.K., thx, but, how do you edit .glm's and .gla's? And .efx?

You can open .efx files with Notepad, but I think there's an editor for them with Raven's editing toolkit available from jk3files.com.

I don't know much about models. You should ask about it in the modeling forum and the locals will be much more able to help you with it.