Official Characters -- Beta v4 RELEASED (Oct 26, 2008)

[xlehnsherr]

Basically, for Nightcrawler, for example, his skins are 01 = 4702, 02 = 4703, 03 = 4704 and 04 = 4705. If you want to replace the original ones, I suggest you move then out of the actors folders into another place, backing them up and them rename the igb files you want in-game to eg. 4701, 4702, 4703, 4704... then, edit the herostat entry! Do the same thing with the other characters. I know it's the dumb way, it works for me!

EDIT* My guess of why the mod skins start at 02 instead of 01 is because there already is a 01 skin in-game (the nightcrawler prisioner in mephisto area) So if you're gonna replace the mod skins, replace the ones from the OC pack, starting 02.

I'm not sure about this though!

[Rusha_Feeni]

Yeah 4701 is the Nightcrawler npc from the game. 

I guess I am still not being clear what my problem is.  What I am saying is that in my actors folder I only have 4701.igb.  I do not have 4702,4703,4704,4705.  There are no files named 4702.igb, etc. in my MUA intall folder anywhere, yet my game still runs fine and is able to display all of Nightcrawler's skins.  If I were to place a file called 4702.igb into my actors folder, it would not display that skin file, but instead it would display what 4702 should be according to the skin image gallery.

So if I copied a Gambit skin file, renamed it 4702.igb, put it in my actors folder (I have no file there with the same name to remove), started a new game, and chose Nightcrawler, he would still appear as Nightcrawler and not Gambit.  Since there are no .igb files in my actors folder for Nightcrawler (aside from the npc one), this makes it impossible for me to remove skins 4702-4705 from the game.  It is also impossible for me to overwrite those files as I cannot find them.  My question is, where the heck is the game getting the skin files from if not the actors folder!?  It shouldn't be able to display them.  As I said before, this happens for Ronin, Black Widow, Captain Marvel, Nightcrawler, and Dr. Doom.

Note:  I have no problem downloading 4706.igb from the Alternate Skin Downloads and swapping it in for 4702 using heroselect.  I can even overwrite 4706 with the Gambit skin if I wish and it displays Gambit.  I just can't overwrite 4702 because as far as I can tell, it doesn't exist.  But I want to be able to overwrite 4702-4705 to skins that I want, especially with ronin, captain marvel, and black widow when their new skins come out.  That way, for example, I can assign the new Black Widow skins to 14802-14805 like she is supposed to be, and not have to write .pkgb files to put her in 14806-14810. 

Confusing enough?  This has been boggling my mind for days.  Sorry to hijack this thread but I think my computer is haunted.

[nodoubt_jr]

do a search of 4702.igb or one of the skins you added and see were the computer tells u its located.

[Rusha_Feeni]

That's just it, I have searched my entire MUA install folder for 4702.igb and there isn't one anywhere in any of the folders.  Oh, and I just found out that this problem is also true for Cyclops, Hawkeye, Moon Knight (only the skin from Official Characters), and Sabretooth.  It is not a problem for Magneto, Hulk and Venom, probably since I installed different mods after the ones included in the Official Characters Pack.  I have no idea why Colossus isn't affected.  Basically every skin installed from the characters pack doesn't appear in the actors folder but still works in the game.


EDIT:  Holy Jeez, I may have figured it out.  I just expanded the search to include my entire computer and found this:

c:\Users\...\AppData\Local\VirtualStore\Program Files\Activision\Marvel - Ultimate Alliance\actors\4702.igb

Could this possibly be where the game is supplying the skins from?  They are all in there.  Dare I delete it?  I think I'm going to give it a try.  May need to reinstall the Characters Pack but I will update if it works.


EDIT2:  Sweet Goodness it worked!  I deleted that folder, reinstalled Official Characters Pack, and now all those .igb files appear in the actors folder as they should and I can now edit them.  Thanks xlehnsherr and nodoubt_jr for throwing suggestions at me.  Why the heck would the game be loading files from a hidden folder!?  Whatever the reason I blame it on Vista.

[xlehnsherr]

Actually, it's because the pack files were unpacked into that folder! And since I've never used Vista (dunno if that's your case) I can't help much more.

But here's what I do, running XP: I usually open the rar file, then select everything I want from the pack (for instance, I don't need to extract the heroselect folder because I already have that) and drag it all to a folder I create for them so I can locate them and move/copy to wherever is needed.

[Rusha_Feeni]

Aha!  A Google search turned up my problem:

Starting with Vista, normal programs are no longer allowed to write into the Program Files path.  If a program designed for Vista attempts to write anywhere into Program Files, a permission denied error will occur.  Vista will save it to an alternate location called "VirtualStore".  This is done automatically, and usually without the knowledge of the user.  The VirtualStore location for the Program Files path is here:

C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\VirtualStore\Program Files

So a word to all Vista users out there:  Follow xlehnsherr's advice and never attempt to unzip directly into Program Files!  Copy to an external folder first.  Thanks everyone for your help.  I now return this thread to everyone else.  Again, sorry for hijacking but this problem has been plaguing me for days.

P.S.  I knew it was Vista's fault!

[Scabbia]

I have Vista, but I don't use the original unzip program that cam e with Vista, I use Winrar. That's such an awesome program. Been using it for over a year now, since I got Vista.

[Rusha_Feeni]

7-Zip is what I use.  It will open .zip, .rar, and .7z files.  In my experience .7z files pack tighter than anything else.

[JJcool]

Hello my friends I really am happy with the mods i have been playing this game a long time. I recently learned about this option.

I have 1 big problem while playing at Murderworld when i reach the senator he doesn't speak and when i reach the point that i have to fight with Jean grey? phoenix in front of the arcade machine nothing happens and the game is stuck.

I can't do anything from then on and i have to close the game in a bad way

[sherban1988]

Hello all.

So, I downloaded the pack on the first page of this here thread, did what it says, but I have a problem.

When i try to launch HeroSelect, I get an error saying "The application failed to initialize properly (0xc0000135). Click on OK to terminate the application."

What's the problem?

[xlehnsherr]

JJcool:
It's a problem with the conversation files. Read this thread: http://marvelmods.com/forum/index.php?topic=1184.0
It should help you. Or faster, you could download and install Dark_Mark's Magneto mod. it's got corrections to replace the ones in the game and should correct this problem for now.

Sherban:
To use heroselect, you have to have the M$ ,Net Framework installed, otherwise it won't work!

[sherban1988]

THanks, I'll do that now

[Enter Cool Name Here]

is it possible to have the all the DLC characters in simultaneously with the original lineup?

[Dihan]

No. There's only a limited amount of character slots.

[Rusha_Feeni]

Was there ever a fix for the Deadpool holding all his weapons problem?  I found a couple of herostat entries in this thread but none of them worked.  One made the weapons invisible all the time (even when he does his powers you can't see them).  If anyone could post a working herostat entry I would appreciate it.