This tutorial will teach you what you need to make your own voxels, where to put them so that the game can access them, and how to apply them to your units. It assumes you have the skills to make a voxel. If you don't, take a look at several tuturials at other sites
For creating voxels, the newest version of Voxel Section Editor 3 is recommended. It can be found here:
https://www.ppmsite.com/vxlseinfo/
The name of your voxel will from now on be referred to as xxx.
If you have created your voxel, make sure to make a .hva for it. A .hva is a file that tells the game how the voxel should be animated ingame.
If you need to create a HVA, run HVA editor and create a new one. A unit that not only has a body but also a turret of even a turret + barrel, will need xxxTUR.VXL and xxxBARL.VXL files as well. and of course, the correspondig .hva files. 95% of the time, you can simply copy the hva files from a unit like 4tnk, to be found in TIBSUN.MIX -> LOCAL.MIX.
2)put these two files (could be 4 or 6, depending on if you have xxxTUR.VXL and xxxBARL.VXL and their corresponding HVA files) either in the game directory, or put them in an expandyy.mix file. yy can be any number from 02 to 99, don't use 01, it's used for people that have Firestorm expansion installed. To make a new mix file, run XCC Mix Editor and create a new one, then click on insert and insert all the voxel and hva files you want to be read by the game. You can also drag them from your Explorer window to the Mix Editor window. Then Compact and Save the mix file, and just close the window.
3)Open art.ini and copy an existing unit entry that resembles your new unit. for example: for a unit with only one body, copy [MCV]. For a unit with one turret, copy [HVR]. For a unit with a turret and barrels, copy [4tnk]. This isn't really needed, making an entry with just voxel=yes will do, but these are easier and it saves time. Be sure to change their identifier to [xxx]. (xxx was the name of your voxel file without the .vxl extension)
If you also have a cameo (=sidebar image) file, refer to it in the art.ini entry (cameo=....). The cameo file, like all .shp files, should be in an ecacheyy.mix file. (again, yy is number from 02 to 99). You should know how to make a mix file by now...
4)now give the new unit that you created in rules.ini, the image=xxx tag. xxx is the section of art.ini the game will refer to when loading the unit graphics. You can forget about the image= tag if the unit's Identifier [xxx] is already the same as the art.ini entry.
Right now the game should use your new voxel when you build this unit. If the game crashes during the loading screen, you've probably forgotten about a .hva file. make sure the hva's have the exact same name as the voxel files, aside from their extension, ofcourse.
For creating voxels, the newest version of Voxel Section Editor 3 is recommended. It can be found here:
https://www.ppmsite.com/vxlseinfo/
The name of your voxel will from now on be referred to as xxx.
If you have created your voxel, make sure to make a .hva for it. A .hva is a file that tells the game how the voxel should be animated ingame.
If you need to create a HVA, run HVA editor and create a new one. A unit that not only has a body but also a turret of even a turret + barrel, will need xxxTUR.VXL and xxxBARL.VXL files as well. and of course, the correspondig .hva files. 95% of the time, you can simply copy the hva files from a unit like 4tnk, to be found in TIBSUN.MIX -> LOCAL.MIX.
2)put these two files (could be 4 or 6, depending on if you have xxxTUR.VXL and xxxBARL.VXL and their corresponding HVA files) either in the game directory, or put them in an expandyy.mix file. yy can be any number from 02 to 99, don't use 01, it's used for people that have Firestorm expansion installed. To make a new mix file, run XCC Mix Editor and create a new one, then click on insert and insert all the voxel and hva files you want to be read by the game. You can also drag them from your Explorer window to the Mix Editor window. Then Compact and Save the mix file, and just close the window.
3)Open art.ini and copy an existing unit entry that resembles your new unit. for example: for a unit with only one body, copy [MCV]. For a unit with one turret, copy [HVR]. For a unit with a turret and barrels, copy [4tnk]. This isn't really needed, making an entry with just voxel=yes will do, but these are easier and it saves time. Be sure to change their identifier to [xxx]. (xxx was the name of your voxel file without the .vxl extension)
If you also have a cameo (=sidebar image) file, refer to it in the art.ini entry (cameo=....). The cameo file, like all .shp files, should be in an ecacheyy.mix file. (again, yy is number from 02 to 99). You should know how to make a mix file by now...
4)now give the new unit that you created in rules.ini, the image=xxx tag. xxx is the section of art.ini the game will refer to when loading the unit graphics. You can forget about the image= tag if the unit's Identifier [xxx] is already the same as the art.ini entry.
Right now the game should use your new voxel when you build this unit. If the game crashes during the loading screen, you've probably forgotten about a .hva file. make sure the hva's have the exact same name as the voxel files, aside from their extension, ofcourse.