FFE tutorial 1 by GreenScorpion - [DC] Veteran Mod for Dawn of War

Corsix.org Corsix's Mod Studio
Mediafire.com FFE (version used in the video, now outdated)

Latest FFE version: Bitbucket.org

Welcome to FFE tutorial 1 by GreenScorpion
Today we will learn how to create a dire avenger variation which focuses a bit more on melee weapons.
First thing you should is creating a backup of the dire avenger and dire avenger exarch files.
After the backup is made you should set up an entity through Corsix's to allow you to check the results in the army painter which is often the first line of error checks.
You could just edit a guardian's entity blueprint if you are unexperienced in attribute coding as the guardian is already one of the units in the army painter by default.
After making sure the above set up is correct, open File Format Editor and click open and search for the whm file of the dire avenger.
When you open the whm you will notice there is a "folder" named MSGR. Expand that area by clicking the plus button and you can see the different objects that compose the model.
Each object is represented by one MSLC division and for our first task in FFE we will search for the object named guardian_body.
With that object selected click copy icon in the top and then open the whm file of the dire avenger exarch.
In the dire exarch click on the MSGR and then select the paste icon to paste the object into this area. You can do this action with MSGR expanded or not.
The new object will appear at the bottom of the MSGR. Now search for the object named guardian_body but already present in the exarch and expand it.
Leave that object expanded and select the object you added and move it just above the existing guardian_body with CTRL-U to move up and CTRL-D to move down in case you pass the correct position.
Click the save button and open the dire avenger file again. Search now for the object named shuriken_catapult and copy it.
Return to the dire avenger exarch and again paste it to the MSGR but do it twice as you will need to replace 2 objects with this same file (there might be issues if we did it other way).
So now just search for the avenger_shuriken_01 and rectangle02 and expand them both. Like before just move the 2 objects you pasted one to be above each of the current objects.
Select the name of avenger_shuriken_01 and with regular CTRL-C copy the name to replace (by CTRL-V) the name shuriken_catapult in the above object.
Be careful as there is a space at the end of each object name that needs to be there or you will get a pink box.
Do the same for the rectangle02 object and its correspondent shuriken_catapult. Save the file.
You can check regularly the results of each saved action in the army painter be patient as with random visibilities it might take a while to see the 3 configurations.
Now we will move into the ANIM's. Search for the one named vis_avenger_flag (near the end of the file) and expand it. Search for banner in DATA and you will notice there is a 803f causing a ? to appear.
Edit the 803f by double clicking the rectangle and change both 80 and 3f to 00. This makes the banner invisible as the dire avengers have no banner on the back but the exarchs have.
Do the same for banner_pole in that same anim. Save the file.
Go to the ANIM named vis_all and do the same work as above on cloth and gem. Save the file.
If all was done correctly, if we stop right now we will have a dire avenger looking soldier with 3 weapon loadouts:
Dual shuriken catapults;
Shuriken catapult with sword;
Small blade and spear.
To make the first weapon loadout become Shuriken and spear we will need to use some tricks. First go to vis_dual_shuriken ANIM and remove 803f for avenger_shuriken_02.
Then add 803f for power_weapon by leaving 4 pairs of zeros at the end example:
80 3f 00 00 00 00 (section ended). For non final objects always remember that 80 3f comes exactly before xx numbers followed by 3 pairs of zeros and then the main ammount of numbers for the next object.
Save the file.
If you check the model in the army painter it should now have a spear instead of a second shuriken but if you test it ingame that spear will shoot which is not desired (i suppose).
To avoid that the spear visually fires we will open the dire avenger exarch whe file and expand the events section. The events section has all the fx's and sounds the model itself uses.
Search for shuriken_catapult_muzzle_l and click CTRL-R and write in the top field eldar\weapon_fx\shuriken_catapult_muzzle_combo and in the second field write empty (empty is a "no fx" fx file check the link for it).
Do something simillar to shuriken_catapult_gem_l_2 and shuriken_catapult_gem_l_1 ( eldar\weapon_fx\shuriken_catapult_glow_combo ) to get rid of the gems glowing when there is no shuriken there.
Save the WHE and you should be ready to go and use the dire avenger variant in any mod you want, just remember to rename it to something of your own choosing like dire_avenger_melee or something like that.
This is all for today's tutorial.
If you have any doubts comment below.

Link to the empty fx:
Mediafire.com