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Hello.
If, like me, you are frustrated by the fact that you cannot change the background and button images on the Arena Menu, then this is the thread for you.
There are several threds about the arena menu, but I have yet to see one which actually tells you exactly how to make changes.
Well. Here you go!
First off let me say that I don't pretend to know any more about all of this than I actually do. So you may have already found better work arounds than I present here. If so, feel free to share them on this thread.

NOTE: Whatever you do, DON'T make ANY changes to your "Arena Menu" in the Build Game dialog boxes. It will make your arena game into a single player one, and then (in all my tests) you cannot change it back. You'll have to rebuild the whole thing.

1.) The first thing you need to do is download and install the free FPI Maker:
http://forum.thegamecreators.com/?m=forum_view&t=62056&b=23
You will need it to edit the menu image codes which control the image links (what folders the images are stored in) and position (x and y position) your menu images appear on the menu.

2.) Next, you'll need to hand create everything on the menu. This includes the background image, and all of the text buttons. Your new buttons don't have to be in the .tga image format. To help you with the buttons, here's a list of the ones I know of which need to be changed (I'm only listing those buttons I've actually changed myself. You'll see other .tga images. You can tinker with the others as you like...Just do it in a test arena game and not your real one.).

For the "arenapage" file:
gamemenu.tga
hostgame.tga
joingame.tga
changename.tga
exitgame.tga
enteryourname.tga
selectserver.tga
chooseiporcustom.tga
edittext.tga (this is not a button. It's the graphic surrounding the place on the menu where the player enters/types their name. So it should just be a frame with a flat color in the center.)
ipaddress.tga
connecting.tga
pointer.tga (this is the arrow used to click on the buttons)

For the "gamewon" file:
youwon.tga
playagain.tga
exitgame.tga
background.jpg
pointer.tga

For the "loadingpage" file:
loading.tga
loadingbarbox.tga ( never actually made any changes to either this loadingbarbox.tga or the loadingbar.tga)
loadingbar.tga

For the "setuplevel" file:
gamemenu.tga
exitgame.tga
returntogame.tga

Note 1: When editing the "arenapage," "gamewon," "loadingpage," and "setuplevel" files in FPI Maker, make sure you have opened your finished arena game folder and not the one within FPSC's folders. It's always good to keep the original files as they were installed.


Note 2: I'm not going to list the folder locations to where you would place all of your newly created buttons or backgrounds. Just open the FPI Maker - then use it to open the "arenapage," "gamewon," "loadingpage," and "setuplevel" files. You'll see all of their respective folder location paths.
Those ("gamewon," etc) files are located in: C:\Program Files\The Game Creators\FPS Creator\MyGames\name of your game\Files\languagebank\english\gamebank\name of your game

NOTE 3: Important!!! Delete all of the DDS/tga files in the folder where your buttons are placed or it may cause a conflict with the new images.

Note 4: Make sure that you save (cut and paste into new folder) all of your custom buttons and background, your arenapage, gamewon, loadingpage, and setuplevel files to a different directory (outside your finished game folders). When you rebuild the game all of those files will be replaced with the old images and files. All you will need to do is replace them with your custom/edited ones.

That's it!

As I said before, I didn't change every single tga image you'll see when opening the "arenapage," "gamewon," "loadingpage," and "setuplevel" files in FPI Maker. I know some deal with the in game HUD images and didn't feel like messing with those.

I've included jpg images of all of the buttons I've changed and which work perfectly (zipfile). I know they're ugly, but they will tell you what text to place on each of the menu buttons.

Hope this was heloful.

Zech

Oh...

Did I forget to mention the most important thing here? Changing the actual fpi code? Silly me. LOL

In addition to placing all of your newly created buttons into the correct folder...

Open the FPI Maker - then use it to open the "arenapage," "gamewon," "loadingpage," and "setuplevel" files.
Locate and change each of the button.tga codes to the name of your new button .jpg or whatever. Just be sure to add the .jpg etc.

Most of the .tga button names are obvious, so you should know what button name goes where. For those which are not, just place the one you think goes there and then run the arena .exe file to check it.

Zech

you can change menus in the editor?!?! I always did it by hand!

I do hope that you are kidding.

I do them by hand....am I crazy? I made all the menus much more complicated for Doom: Evolved...

I always do it by hand after it's built. It's easier that way

I just changed a lot of the huds,images,etc. for my multiplayer game from the build game menu.Maybe you should check out the latest update.

Really that works now?! I thought it turned it into a single player game!?!
*Slayer_2

It does.My bad.

aww Fred you got my hopes up

Since I spent two hours changing huds,etc. my hopes were high as well until I ran what turned out to be a single player game instead of a multiplayer one.

ow that would suck

What really sucks is when you can't change your former multi-player back to multi once it's been changed into single player.
Can you say rebuild?

By the way...

I know there are some major issues with the FPSCreator_Upgrade_104
I had avoided using it until I needed it for the pack 5. Anyhow, after an entire day of testing I traced the debug error 00 to three weapons in the 5 and 6 packs. They are the M79 Impace Granade Launcher, M79 Timed, and M203.
So fare the FPSCreator_Upgrade_104 works with every other weapon in all packs.

Zech

You can't use exploding weapons in multiplayer.

Yes I know that. Figured it was a given. Any other weapons which CAN be used in multi should be fine with the FPSCreator_Upgrade_104.

I wrote a prgram to do it...


anyway, this is a good thread, i think im goin to add a link to this in the resource thread.