[cabbageking]

as it said how do i locate an ecache file?

[Psico]

You don't locate them you have to create it. Unless you already made the mix file, then just look where you put it.

EDIT

Use the xcc utilities. It helps.

[cabbageking]

im a newbie but i have xcc utilities
please xplain more

[Psico]

open xcc mixer. launch mix editor. click on new. open your red 2 yr directory. type in ecache# where # is anything ya want. Say ok. The new mix file is created and opened.

- something along those lines anyway. Havent done it in a while.

[cabbageking]

so what do i do now? what does it do?

[bobing]

create an ecachemd##.mix file, then in that file you place any new graphics images you want, if theres anything in your mod that replaces files already in the game, you want to create an expandmd##.mix, this is where you place your rulesmd.ini file.

basicly, if all you do is edit the rulesmd.ini file, then you would place rulesmd.ini in expandmd93.mix and that is your mod. ra2md.csf needs to remain outside of a mix file.

[cabbageking]

are there any newbie frendly graphics editors - if not how do i get the destroyer's image?

[Death3464]

well, OS SHP Builder 3.31 is good, but I am not good at all at making graphics of any kind. Cabbage, do you have an MSN address?

[bobing]

some usefull graphics tools include:
Paintshop pro (PSP)
Photo shop (PS)
VXLSE III 3.1
HVA Builder
OS SHP Builder 3.31
and XCC utilities

to edit something that exists, first find it in ra2.mix or ra2md.mix, usually VXLs are in local, SHPs can be in various differnt mixes within ra2(md).mix

if you want to edit something, you want to extract a VXL, or convert a SHP to PCX/PNG, used to be PCX only, but since windows XP has become popular and doesn't have the PCX suport that windows 98/me had, PNG is more usefull.

you can extract SHPs and edit them in OS SHP builder, but, i find it better to extract to PCX/PNG then edit in paintbrush and PSP

HVA Builder contains a nice feature to grab images ready for cameo creation, simply paste that onto a nice looking cameo background, removing the blue first, then resize to 60x48, and use PSP to add a cameo effect, and add text.

anyway, i hope this info helps, but i'll leave the playing to you