Let's just be clear about one thing, and I don't want to discourage you because I believe the investment is worth the time, but... there is nothing "quick" about this. I can say that, once learned and set-up properly, export/importing models is minutes work. You're looking at hours for your first stuff.

Edit: just so you understand what the different programs will do. Havok content tools allows you to view models on their own from elemental. 3d ripper DX rips them from havok content tools (the preview tool). 3ds max allows you to import the rip, and export it to maya. Maya allows you to export a model back to havok. Full circle, baby.

 3ds max can also be used to export to havok, but I recommend against it. Sooner or later you'll want to export something that is animated or bound to a skeleton, like a head model, and then you'll need maya. So might as well use it from the get-go.

I actually respond better to difficult challenges than most. 

I will e-mail you when I need help, but I need to be able to do this. Mater how long it takes. Thanks for the help!

Incredible idea on limiting the paths. I imagine the same could be used to create class specific armors and weapons. 

I read the thread you linked to before and after your post, I still can't find anything about locking the ability to build custom units. If it is not possible right now, it's not a big deal anyway seeing how this is going to be a SP game. 

Thanks again for your help!

Unfortunately, the same idea cannot be used for items, items don't respect prerequisites for unitstats other than unitlevel. I have a request here for it: https://forums.elementalgame.com/417022/get;3071746

As a modder, you can create custom designs that cannot be altered by the player in-game. The post I linked above was to indicate that the AI would build such units.

As I have shown, in .77 the AI doesn't even respect the unitstats for level either...

https://forums.elementalgame.com/416951

Ah ok, that is close enough. I want to restrict it to the player as well, but it is not that important. It is a shame about weapons, hopefully they will see it our way .

I don't understand, how do you want to restrict it to the player? Do you want to create a unitdesign that only the AI can use, and can't upgrade?

I want it where the player cannot design anything in the unit designer. I'll probably be the only person playing the mod so in retrospect there is no reason to really remove it, besides aesthetics.

Imho, a big problem in E:wom was that people had half-finished mods they didn't release. Release everything! If 1% enjoys it, or 1% can be used in another mod, I think it's worth uploading it and just making a quick post about it.

I'm sending you a PM with modded UI files that will hide the ability to design your own units.

Although you have a good point, I doubt that a few half finished mods would have improved the modding community. But who knows, maybe someone could use some of it. So if I ever loose interest in any of my (as of yet unstarted) mods, I'll think about releasing them as is, ok?

I was quite selfish with my mods, but they didn't work with After the War anyways. This time I am going to share and be modular. 

Well crap. I wrote out a reply to this and somehow I wasn't signed into the forum. 

I intend to release all art assets, useful XML and custom tiles I create. But I won't be releasing all those things combined into the "Jshores uber MasterOfMagicDominions3AgeOfWondersCiv4DarkAgeOfCamelotShadowbaneMagicTheGatheringDungeonsAndDragons mod" that I intend to make.

Basically, I intend to release everything that can be useful to other modders for their mods .

Art assets will be the biggest help. Make lots of monsters!

Yeah, that's how I have my stuff planned as well. Keep it modular, revolving around the main game. Then players can pick and choose.

That is probably beyond my abilities. The original art content I contribute will probably be icons for spells and gear. 

Just another thought for your Gnomes race: why not include halflings and dwarves with the gnomes and make it a littlefolk or something. Since the devs are adding non-champ magic users, you could suit the gnomes for INT, halflings for DEX, and dwarves for STR just as D&D would put them. Just a thought.

Then, obviously, along these lines you could have all the different varieties of elves, too.

It isn't just about calling them different things, its about having a visual identity for them. Unfortunately, I have only one littlefolk model at the moment.

I understand that, in D&D they all looked very much different

Just a small update on what my plans are.

My main effort will be going into the Goetia mod, it has my highest priority since it is an area (summoning) I want to make more important in the game.

ExpandedFactions will be the 2nd mod I'm working on, but it will have a longer development time than I anticipated. The reason is when I started adding these faction-specific goblin units to the greenskin faction, it really lifted the game up a very long way in terms of fun. So, I've decided to make for ExpandedFactions a sub-mod (a mod-mod) that adds these unique units to every expanded faction. That mod will be done at the same time as I do the expandedfactions. Thus each faction is going to take a lot longer to make.

There is also a third mod I'm working on, which will be revealed at a later date.

Today I spent some time building a script to help me with some background stuff. As you know, each faction has a number of unittypes that become available at different times, such as "archer" and "knight". The problem is that these are actually crucial for the AI to function. But they also contain a LOT of data, such as what model to use, what unitstats they have, and how they feel in the morning. In addition, when things change, they change pretty big. For example, when we moved from beta 1 to beta 2, every unit changed its initiative to 20 instead of 10 default. And there were also a myriad of other small changes like that. To make things even worse, I know for a fact that Frogboy is looking to add even more unittypes. As you can imagine by now, the idea of updating a mod based on these pieces of data is starting to sound extremely painful.

So I basically built a script that allows me to select one of the already existing factions, reads in their data, then replaces things that need to change with what I want, then spits it all out again. So rather than having to study miniature changes in every patch, I can just run this script and have a finished setup done in a second.

It also made some funny issues appear. For example, the living stone only have one model for their units, and yet they have different genders (unlike the greenskin that don't have any genders at all). So, that's something that will need adressing since the players should be able to tell a male from a female unit by looking at it.

Can't wait to try it out, looks like it will be the perfect addition to this game. Honestly it seems like alot of work but I guess you enjoy doing it? I will enjoy it immensely in any event I am curious though, is it fun to think/plan and build a mod or is the fun the end product and playing with it?

I think it's something you build up to. I mod because I enjoy bringing "life" to different things. But at some point, I already have a vibrant world to play with. So you start out enjoying modding very much, but playing with it not so much. And when you're done, you don't want to mod more, but play much more.

One thing missing from the vanilla game is a simple way to understand what unitstats the faction has (and they ARE different). Seems obvious to put something like this in: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/32649007/FallenEnchantress_1331209882.jpg

Here's a 0.1 version of the mod. Only the Angels, Greenskin and the Living Stone are in. It's a massive WIP, but I figure it should be good for a playthrough if anyone's tired of the current beta.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/32649007/ExpandedFactions0.1.zip

Factions don't have anything special except their faction bonuses, a couple of unit design traits, and a race mount.

Edit: Just to be clear, the unique units for each faction aren't in.

To deepen the lore of the individual factions, each faction will also come with 3-4 champions that go into the general pool to be found and recruited when exploring the world. http://dl.dropbox.com/u/32649007/FallenEnchantress_1331382499.jpg

Edit: Oops, it says human... should be living stone.