How Do I Make My Own Total Conversions?


Decide on a name.
The filename you choose is only used to keep files that belong together together.
IMPORTANT:You cannot have spaces in your TC's filename.
Total Conversion filenames must begin with the two characters "][". After those, you choose the rest of the name.
To be active, these files must be in your TA-Mutation folder.


Data Files
To make a Total Conversion, you need to gather all the files together that are part of your TC.
In our example, we shall make the Uberhack into a TA:M compatible TC.
The Uberhack consists of a custom rev31.gp3 file, plus an additional UFO called taec.ufo


The Control File
The first step is to create a new .tc file that contains info that TA:M needs in order to operate your TC.
In our example, this is our .tc file.
It is named ][Uberhack20.tc - lets break it down:
  • The first line is the title. In our example the title is Uberhack 2.0
  • This is the first line of the description that you see when you run TA:M and the TC is active.
  • The second line is the rest of the description.
    The whole remainder of the description must all be on this line in your control file.
    The way you insert multiple lines of text is by using ## as your carriage return, as you can see in our example.
  • The third line is for the Compatibility Codes for this TC. Compatibility codes are used by other items in TA:M so they can be marked as compatible with your TC.
    You can have multiple Compatibility Codes for your TC but they must all be on line three, and have spaces between them. In our example, we use the codes UH UH20 which means that any TA:M item listed as compatible with either UH or UH20 would be accepted when this TC is active.
  • All lines from the fourth line on down are your data files.
    The lines consist of the stored filename (first) and the active filename (second) separated by a space.
    In our example, we have two data files. ][Uberhack20(1).ufo and ][Uberhack20(2).ufo
    When they are moved into the TA game folder, they are renamed to rev31.ufo and ][Uberhack20(2).ufo respecively.
    NOTE: The ][ character in front of ][Uberhack20(2).ufo indicates that the UFO manager in TA:M should ignore the file. It is important that the UFO manager ignores this file because it is part of the Uberhack TC and you wouldn't want to accidentally disable it because TA:M would get confused when it tries to move the file back when you deactivate the TC.
    It should also be noted that the filename rev31.ufo is also ignored by the UFO Manager, even without the special characters in the name. It is the only file that doesn't need the special characters because it is obvious that rev31.ufo should not be removed by the UFO Manager.


    Renaming the Data Files
  • It is highly recommended that you rename your data files to something unique, and similar to your TC's filename. This way, they show up together when viewing a file list.
    At least you should start the filenames with ][ so they are easily identified by eye as TC data files.
  • You MUST use the .ufo extension for all your TC data files. The .ufo extension defines the TC's spot in the TA load hierarchy. Otherwise your TA:M heirarchy will be lost.
    In our example, the Uberhack consisted of rev31.gp3 and taec.ufo
    We rename rev31.gp3 to ][Uberhack20(1).ufo
    We rename taec.ufo to ][Uberhack20(2).ufo
    The 20 is helpful because it allows you to have several versions of the mod installed at the same time.


    Deciding on active filenames
    You must decide what these TC data files will be renamed to when they are activated.
    TA:M handles the renaming, but you pick the names and put them in the Control File. (explained above)
    For files that are actually custom rev31.gp3 you can go ahead and use rev31.ufo as its active filename.
    For others, you can either keep the inactive name, or make up something else.
    Since only one TC can be active at any given time, its ok if multiple TCs use the same active filenames.