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Help: Replacing the main menu background?


AttemptedGnome

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Hi there,

 

I'm looking to replace the main menu background with an image of my own, but am having some trouble.

It seems the main menu is stored as a .swf file (namely: startmenu.swf), which I have no experience in editing.

I've been having a go at dissecting the file to see if I can figure things out for myself, using a program called SWF Quicker.

Using this program I'm able to successfully replace the background image and have it show up when I launch the game, however there are no buttons whatsoever. This means, of course, that you can't get beyond the main menu screen. I'm assuming this has something to do with the scripting related to the buttons, which gets unpacked when I try to edit the .swf file.

 

I was hoping it would be a simple 'replace the background image file' kind of thing, but it appears I was wrong (or am I simply looking at the wrong file?).

Could anyone give me some tips on how I might be able to achieve this?

 

Cheers.

Edited by AttemptedGnome
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You should probably look into Adobe's editing software as DaedricWarHammer suggested... Seeing as how they're the owners of the Flash IP, their software may be more capable or more intuitive than a third party's offerings.
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I had a play around with Adobe Flash Professional before resorting to the third party software, but that didn't result in anything. Opening or importing the .swf file just opens up the test window and states "Error opening URL 'file:gfxfontlib.swf'" in the output box.

There is also a page on editing .swf files on the Adobe website, which mentions their limitations: kb2.adobe.com/cps/410/tn_4109.html

 

I made more progress with the third party software than Adobe Flash Professional, in that I'm actually able to edit it in the third party software. I think part of the problem might be that all of the individual parts (or 'symbols', as they seem to be called) in the .swf, such as buttons and graphics, lose their specific file names. So the scripts end up pointing to files that don't 'exist' because they've been renamed.

Or at least that's my theory...

The page on Adobe's website also states that only certain parts of the file can be imported to Flash Professional.

 

Would've been nice if the background was a simple video or image file. Oh well...

 

Thanks for the responses anyway, guys.

Edited by AttemptedGnome
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SWF is a compiled version of the 'Flash movie'. You can't edit it directly; you'll need to decompile it first. The only person I've seen who has had success with this (and the extensive knowledge to do this) is Kenney (he's working on KenMOD).

 

Also, SWFs in games (at least in this case) run on Scaleform, so that probably further complicates things and how they work.

 

Do not expect to be able to get anything from Adobe that will aid you in editing SWFs. They'll only support editing of FLA (which, obviously, requires Adobe Flash).

Edited by Vannus
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  • 2 months later...

the main menu has no background, its a empty cell the game loads on start!

well not entirely empty, the dragon symbol is actually a 3d mesh,

i replaced it with a map mesh and made it bigger and centered, and added a hd texture, thus making it have a wallpaper!

 

http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=3708

 

now its a dds file to edit!

Edited by hellstorm102
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