Making a pod from a .LST

A .LST file is simply a text file that has a .LST extension instead of a .TXT one. The important feature of LST files is that they contain a list of all the models, art and other files you want to include in a pod — with one file listed per line. For example:

      ART\BIGFOOT1.ACT
      ART\BIGFOOT1.RAW
      ART\BIGFOOT2.ACT
      ART\BIGFOOT2.RAW
      MODELS\BIGFOOT.BIN
      TRUCK\BIGFOOT.TRK

Note that the directories are also indicated.

There are many reasons for making pods from a LST file, including some of the following:

Tracked2 will not run on your computer
you are manually editing track files
you are rebuilding the same pod many times — tweak, then check in game; tweak, then check in game
you want to add files that are not ordinarily included when making a track or truck
you are making a custom pod manually

LST files can be created several ways, including:

open a pod in C-POD, then Write LST List from the File menu
save texture lists from C-POD or BinEdit
extract one alongside Extract All
write one by hand

The two requirements

1. All the files in the LST must be in their proper folder locations on the hard drive. ACT and RAW files in the ART folder, BIN files in MODELS, TRK files in TRUCK, and so on. You can see proper file locations by examining any stock pod.

2. The LST file itself must be in the root of your working folder. Suppose you create a folder to work in:

      C:\MTM\

Then inside it you would create the art, models and other folders:

      C:\MTM\ART\
      C:\MTM\MODELS\
      C:\MTM\TRUCK\

and the LST file would sit in C:\MTM\ itself. You can work anywhere you want and call the working folder anything you want, but the LST has to be at its root. File locations are key to making this work smoothly.

Building it

When you are ready, open the .LST using Send To or Open. C-POD loads the listed files into a pod. When the file list refreshes, the pod is built — now would be a good time to edit the comment. Then Save As to give it a name and put it where you want.

It checks before it builds. Every listed file is looked for first, and if any are missing nothing is built at all: you get the count, the folder it searched, and the names of the ones it could not find.

That is worth the stop. A pod built with files missing does not fail politely — it fails in game as a fatal Bad texture size, a long way from anything that would tell you a file was absent when it was packed.