Atlas File Missing

[UNSC Trooper]

Hey, guys. I'm new to the whole BF2 modding thing, and I have a question.

I'm trying to create new factions for a mod, but I need to edit the Atlas .dds file in the "menu" folder. Problem is, there's no such file in that folder. Do I have to create it somehow with that Dice_AtlasTextureTool program?

Thanks in advance.

[mschoeldgen[Xww2]]

Yeah, its much better to create your own atlas than to modify the existing ones. First create a folder in your mod /menu/Atlas . Create a text file called MemeAtlas_03.tac in it . Enter the pathes to your textures using the *.tac files from BF2 ( they're in menu_server.zip/Atlas ) as templates to see how the entries should look like. The first line of your memeatlas_03.tac should be:

group Menu\Atlas\MemeAtlas_03 width 2048 height 2048 format dxt5 miplevels 1 border 2

Here's an example how it could continue :

Menu\HUD\Texture\Ingame\Flags\Icons\Hud\Score\Jap\scoreBoard_Flag.tga border
Menu\HUD\Texture\Ingame\Flags\Icons\Hud\Score\Ger\scoreBoard_Flag.tga border
Menu\HUD\Texture\Ingame\Flags\Icons\Hud\Score\Gbr\scoreBoard_Flag.tga border
Menu\HUD\Texture\Ingame\Flags\Icons\Hud\Score\Aus\scoreBoard_Flag.tga border

Thats from our mod , four teams with their scoreboard flags. Your textures can be either TGA or DDS . Only make sure that the entries really point to your textures.

Once your ready with that you can run a batch file with this content:

@echo this tool creates aditional menu texture atlasses from a *.tac file and the supplied textures in their correct locations
@echo make sure to have the variables in this batch file adjusted to your game location and Modname
@echo this batch file should be placed in the BF2 EXE directory. 
@echo press Ctrl-C to interrupt now
@pause
@echo off
SET GAMEPATH="C:\games\Battlefield 2"
SET MODNAME=xww2
SET TACNAME=MemeAtlas_03

cd %GAMEPATH%\mods\%MODNAME%

%GAMEPATH%\dice_TextureAtlasTool.exe -o %TACNAME% -i menu\atlas\%TACNAME%.tac
move atlaslist.con menu\atlas
move %TACNAME%.tai menu\atlas

pause

Change the modname and gamepath to your mod and game location resp. Now it creates a new atlas and moves it into the correct location. To get the stuff ingame you should pack the mod.

Edited August 15, 2011 by mschoeldgen[Xww2]

[UNSC Trooper]

Okay, I'll get around to doing all that. Thanks a lot!