This is a much more helpful (and up to date) modding tutorial.
It's not that outdated
- how can i add new player pictures for a new race?
If your using the races mod then look for Races_Player_Portrait_[size].tga
This tutorial I wrote works great for player pictures too.
how can i add a custom load screen (the little character standing there) for my new race?
You'll want to make your own image file for the load screen character. Then edit PlayerRace1.entity (etc) and change loadScreenCharacterBrush to a new unique name. Add an entry in Races.brushes with your new name and referencing the new image file (any brush file will work, but this is in the races mod).
brush
name "LoadScreenCharacterRace1"
content "Simple"
fileName "Race1_LoadScreenCharacter"
pixelBox [ 0 , 0 , 441 , 749 ]
pixelBox [ x, y, width, height ]
how can i add new icons?
Again, if your using the races mod then look for the Race1_Buttons_Research_CursorOver.tga, Race1_Buttons_Research_Disabled.tga, Race1_Buttons_Research_Normal.tga, Race1_Buttons_Research_Pressed.tga.
Follow the tutorial for adding research buttons. Then open the Race1_Research.brushes locate the entry for the row and column you put the image and change the name if you want.
Use this name wherever you want to use your new button.
how can i take an existing ship's ability, transfer it to my new race's ship and replace the icon with a custom one?
Copy the ability and referenced buffs and rename them all. Then rename all of the references in the new ability and buffs to reflect those changes as well. Once you have you new ability file you can change the string references and icons without impacting any other race.
Be careful to check for research pre-requisites. You may need to remove them or recreate them in your new race.
how can i correctly import my ships ingame? with new weapon sounds and particles?
Study the weebly. It has all the content necessary to import models into the game. New particles are outside of my knowledge. Sounds are pretty simple. Just look for the *.sounddata files to add new entries.
And most importantly, i would like to merge this little mod with the "distant stars" mod, "Sins of a galactic empire" mod and "sins of the fallen" mod? they are all in entrenchement v1.05 so my mod would have to be for entrenchement 1.05
So fun to see my mod mentioned The best way to merge mods in my opinion is to create a bridge mod. Look at my entrenchment sinsplus addon for example. There are lots of fun issues when it comes to merging mods, noteably dealing with shared resources like sounddata, English.str, GalaxyScenarioDef, etc, but it is possible.