Hi all,

Just to give something back to the community, here's how I always create my custom IMPs.

First, the list of tools/files you need:

1. JA2 Custom MERC Editor v1.03 (JA2CME.EXE)
2. HEX Editor (HxD.EXE or any other)
3. An empty IMP.dat
4. CALC.EXE for HEX conversions (Scientific Mode)
5. \Data-1.13\TableData\Items.xml

The first three are in this package:

http://rapidshare.com/files/122574427/IMPEDIT_TOOLS.zip

Now, follow these steps:

PART I - Create an IMP

1. Copy 'IMP.dat' into \Data-1.13\ folder.

2. If you want all the 6 IMPs (3 male + 3 female) then you have to create 6 copies of 'IMP.dat'.

To do this, simply select IMP.dat and press CTRL+C, then press CTRL+V six times. Now you have 6 copies of IMP.dat.

I'm going to rename these files as '1.dat', '2.dat',..., '6.dat'.



I'm going to create only one IMP using '1.dat' though, as an example.

3. Now, run JA2CME.EXE

Here's how it looks like



4. Click on 'Set IMP.dat path' button and select 'Jagged Alliance 2 (Gold)\Data-1.13\' folder.

In the file open dialog box, type '*' as 'File Name' and press 'ENTER'. Now, you will be able to select '1.dat'.



Click on '1.dat' and click 'Open'.

5. JA2CME does not read the values in .dat files automatically,
so you need to click on 'Read/Reset Custom' button once.

6. Click on 'Name' button and give your IMP a name and a call sign.
I choose 'John Doe' and 'JD'.



7. Click on 'Portrait' button and choose a portrait for your IMP.



8. Click on 'Appearance' button and customize the appearance of your IMP.



9. You can use the 'Inventory' section to give equipment to your IMP but this program is not fully compatible with 1.13 items, so only a few of the weapons such as P90, FAMAS and C7 will work with 1.13. The rest probably won't. So I recommend using the following method to give your IMP weapons, armor or other items. So I'm going to skip the 'Inventory' button here.

10. You can now choose the Attributes, Experience, Sex, Voice, Traits and Personality of your new IMP.



11. Ok, now let's save it. Click 'Save Custom'.


There are a few BUGS in JA2CME.EXE:

- JA2CME.EXE won't read the skin color from the file properly, but it saves it without any problem. So be sure the skin color is what you wanted before saving the IMP file.

- If you create a male IMP which uses the 2nd voice, the program will not save it properly. You'll need to use the HEX editor to fix it. I'm going to explain it a bit later, it's really simple to fix.



PART II - Equip your IMP (the dirty way)

This part involves a bit of HEX editing but it's really easy.

12. Run the HEX editor HxD.EXE and open '1.dat' that you've just saved.

13. Adjust 'Bytes per Row' as 8 (The red part in the pic).



14. To fix the bug I mentioned earlier (2nd voice), simply change the highlighted value from 33 to 34.



15. Now, go to the offset 000001A8. The highlighted area in the pic is where we add all of our items, such as armor, weapons, etc.



Every 4 HEX digit represents an item, so we can't have more than 19 items.

16. Now, open Items.xml and Windows calculator.

17. Here's how to calculate the HEX value of an item:

Choose an item from Items.xml. Let's take 'FO Dyneema Vest' as an example.

As you can see below the item number for FO Dyn. Vest is 869.

<uiIndex>869</uiIndex>



Now, we need to convert 869 to HEX. We can use Windows Calculator to do this.

Type 869 in the calculator and then click on the 'Hex' radio button. Now you see the HEX value 365 which means the value we're going to enter in HxD is 6503.




I prepared an MS Excel worksheet to make things easier for you. Here's how it looks like.



Mind you, some of these items may only work in Scifi mode, such as SO Vest etc. So you should either edit Items.xml or choose another item.

18. Let's enter these items in the HEX editor.




19. Save the file.

20. Create a new game in JA2, go to IMP website and type '1', then press 'ENTER' and enjoy.


That's it.


[Credits to authors of JA2CME]

I'm relatively sure about this, but, this is outdated now by the main game 1.13 and the XML Editor, correct?

there are rumours the pope might be a catholic

the times when imps were stored in *.dat-files are gone with the dinosaurs

i'm sure glad that dinosaurs are still alive in NightOps and DoM

he was talking about main 1.13, wasn't he?

i guess with DoM and nOps the 6-imp-batch is working

So how do you edit the imps now?
Lets say Ill create my guy in game on the imp website, so i can get the STOMP traits working, then i quit the game and edit the file of the merc with some real guns and and equipment.
Speaking about latest 1.13 with HAMSTOMP, where is the imp guy stored?

i only know to edit the IMP Gears through IMPItemChoices.xml file, but it must be create using the IMP creation from the game it self.

the easy way is this :
search for : [name]Marksmanship[/name]
now you will see there many tag under the Marksmanship, all you have to do is fill the tag with Item gun id found in Items.xml

example :

[bItemNo1]631[/bItemNo1]
[bItemNo2]631[/bItemNo2]
[bItemNo3]631[/bItemNo3]
[bItemNo4]631[/bItemNo4]
[bItemNo5]1[/bItemNo5]
[bItemNo6]644[/bItemNo6]
[bItemNo7]1076[/bItemNo7]
[bItemNo8]1076[/bItemNo8]
[bItemNo9]23[/bItemNo9]
[bItemNo10]630[/bItemNo10]

as you can see, i fill the tag bItemNo9 with id 23 = Diemaco C7A2 in Items.xml
the tag work like this,
bItemNo7 = marksmanship value between 61 - 70
bItemNo8 = marksmanship value between 71 - 80
bItemNo9 = marksmanship value between 81 - 90
bItemNo10 = marksmanship value between 91 - 100

so if my IMP has marksmanship between 81 - 90 the he/she will get the Diemaco C7A2

to fill other gears, you can start to experiment with other tag traits like Sniper, Ranger etc

oh don't forget about this tag :
[ubChoices]2[/ubChoices]
[ubNumItems]2[/ubNumItems]

that mean there 2 choice of item and all of it will be assign to the IMP.

i had to change the "<>" into "[]" because it seems the forum doesn't allow it

This can be done using the base XML editor that comes with 1.13? If so... THANK YOU SO MUCH!

If so, how? And, when using STOMP traits, which traits apply to which traits? Does STOMP use foo expert only? Random Item tab in particular, how does it calculate which item to give to the merc?