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| Thread: Working on Modding Tutorial |  This thread is pages long: 1 2 · NEXT» |
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Zeldor
Known Hero
The Bringer of Pestilence
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posted June 26, 2006 04:16 AM |
bonus applied. |
Edited by sfidanza at 14:18, 27 Jun 2006.
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Working on Modding Tutorial
It is just a beginning, it will get bigger and bigger 
Feel free to post ideas and questions [for FAQ] that should be included in the tutorial.
I. FAQ
¤ What is mod?
¤ Why people make mods?
¤ What do I need to start modding?
¤ Are there any tools for modding?
¤ What is checksum?
¤ What does it mean "hardcoded"?
¤
II. Console
III. Editing data.pak
IV. Making your own mod.pak
V. Balance issues
VI. Changing graphics
[Of course I could make it in notepad and post when ready, but I tink that it is impossible to make good tutorial without ideas and questions ].
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Millsy
Tavern Dweller
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posted June 26, 2006 05:48 AM |
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this is a good idea. perhaps it would be possible to do this via a wikipedia entry.
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Valeriy
Mage of the Land
Naughty, Naughty Valeriy
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posted June 26, 2006 07:15 AM |
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We already got a console guide from Curio, will be posted shortly on AOH
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You can wait for others to do it, but if they don't know how, you'll wait forever.
Be an example of what you want to see on HC and in the world.
http://www.heroesofmightandmagic.com
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Zeldor
Known Hero
The Bringer of Pestilence
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posted June 26, 2006 01:15 PM |
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Valeriy:
But it can be also put in modding tutorial Or at least link to it.
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Valeriy
Mage of the Land
Naughty, Naughty Valeriy
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posted June 26, 2006 11:33 PM |
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Bah, you misunderstood! I'll be glad to publish the whole thing when it's ready. What I'm saying is that part of it is already done, so the whole thing is closer to completion
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You can wait for others to do it, but if they don't know how, you'll wait forever.
Be an example of what you want to see on HC and in the world.
http://www.heroesofmightandmagic.com
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sfidanza
Promising
Supreme Hero
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posted June 27, 2006 02:42 PM |
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Edited by sfidanza at 14:56, 27 Jun 2006.
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First, thanks Zeldor for creating this thread. As millsy said above, that is really meant as a collaborative construction of the tutorial. As we have no wiki set up for that at the moment, this thread will do, but I'll look into the matter.
In the meantime, I've stickied the thread and edited its title to make clear it's a work in progress.
If you feel like contributing, content or sections to suggest, feel free to post here.
And to start building it, here are some more explanations on how to package your mod:
Packaging your .pak file:
When you develop your mod, the files you changed are located in the correct file structure inside the data/ folder: GameMechanics/CreatureVisual/... for example.
To package your mod, you need to zip them (with any archiving utility like WinRAR or WinZip), with their file structure.
Then, you can rename this .zip file to .pak, and name it the way you want: my_ultimate_mod.pak
Then, when you open the .pak file (with WinRAR), you should see a GameMechanics/ folder inside, in the example. Try opening other mods, like the Cleric or Treants mod. Or the official data.pak actually, which I'm sure you did already if you've made a mod. 
Then, this .pak file just need to go in the data/ folder to work.
If it doesn't, here are a few reasons why:
- the file structure inside the archive is not correct
- you used winRAR and packaged to a rar format
- some of the files in your mod are conflicting with another mod
- some of the files in your mod are ignored by the game (like UID resources or new texture files)
If you're in this last case, more work is required. I'll add more about that later, unless anybody else does...
In the meantime, and since Ma_trix is waiting for an answer , there are some elements in my post there:
http://heroescommunity.com/viewthread.php3?TID=17853&pagenumber=5
(eight post, it's big, you can't miss it...)
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Millsy
Tavern Dweller
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posted June 27, 2006 07:07 PM |
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Edited by Millsy at 19:13, 27 Jun 2006.
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I was inspired by a question asked in the main thread about <power>.
Section III could include a "Heading Dictionary", layed out by path\file.xdb.
For example:
Section III, Editing Data.pak:
I) File Explanations
a) \GsmeMechanics\ - covers certain things pertaining to who knows the totally of whats covered here ... nice messy internals eh?
i) \Creatures\Creature\faction\*.xdb - contains statistics of all creatures
 <Attack> - The creatures base attack
<Power> - Assigned accumulatively a an army of creatures to determine relative strengths of armies. A higher army power rating may cause computer controlled armies to flee/avoid enagement.
b) \MapObjects\ - contains descriptions of properties of various mapobjects
i) chest.xdb - properties of the treasure chests
<MinResources> - together with [url=http://]<MaxResources>[/url] provides an integer range of potential rewards from non-artifact treasure chests (see [url=http://]<ArtifactChance>[/url] (or whatever its called, I dont have heros installed on this computer)) to be multiplied by 500 for experience reward or (i*500)+500 for gold reward.
<MaxResources> - see [url=http://]<MinResources>[/url]
--------------------------------------------------------------------
with correct hyperlinking (again it brings to mind wikipedia) this could be a handy reference for modders.
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sfidanza
Promising
Supreme Hero
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posted June 29, 2006 05:58 AM |
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millsy, that's a good idea. But I wouldn't call it a "handy reference". Rather the "ultimate .pak guide"!!
I even doubt the devs themselves have something like that. Of course, it depends on how much we could account for...
For example, we can only guess on the <power> exact meaning and use.
On a different note, I wanted to add some explanation for the red star I gave Zeldor for starting this thread: it is meant as an encouragement to organize this great project. In a way, it's an investment in what you will do here, Zeldor, and I hope you it won't make you stop working on it.
That also shouldn't prevent anybody else to contribute or organize or whatever. The result we're aiming at deserves quality work, and as I see it, that work could be worth many red stars. I'll try to be fair and wise. However, if you see any post deserving gratification (anywhere on this forum by the way), just send me an HCM.
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Zeldor
Known Hero
The Bringer of Pestilence
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posted June 29, 2006 09:59 PM |
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sfidanza:
I will have more time during weekend to work on it So it will get much bigger. Wiki would be useful, but we do not have it 
I hope xManiax [creator of e.x. Treant mod] will have more time soon and will help me a lot
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Daystar
Honorable
Legendary Hero
Back from the Dead
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posted July 05, 2006 12:01 AM |
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Is it possible to Mod models with Animation:Master or 3DS max?
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How exactly is luck a skill?
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mindwarper2005
Tavern Dweller
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posted July 21, 2006 11:25 AM |
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I have made small mod tutorial for using txr file descriptions in MODs
u can read it here in this topic @ elrath.com (need to register first)
http://elrath.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=174
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sfidanza
Promising
Supreme Hero
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posted August 17, 2006 04:07 PM |
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Mrowa12: that's exactly the goal of this thread.
Zeldor, how is it going?
This community work really needs an update. There are some writings and explanations that do not require technical knowledge. The plan could be more detailed, with specific questions that we need to answer.
Anyone with modding experience is welcome to add technical explanations. If you have done so in another thread, put the reference here.
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alcibiades
Honorable
Undefeatable Hero
of Gold Dragons
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posted August 18, 2006 12:24 AM |
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Sfidanza > I would love to give some work on this, but I haven't got much time to do it at the moment, and also, there is a lot of things I do not know. What I would eventually like to see was an explanation of all the subfolders in the data folder, to provide info on the purpose of all the files - and then info on how each could be modded, and to what effect. Ideally, this should be crosslinked to a list of all the features in the game that can be modded. Obviously, this would be a huge (HUGE) work, and personally, I only know how some of the files work. But if someone made a star at it, I suppose we could all put it together at some time. Perhaps a Wikipedia?
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Gnoll_Mage
Responsible
Supreme Hero
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posted October 26, 2006 07:43 PM |
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Is this still happening?
I don't think it's hard to set up a wiki...
Some wikifarms
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KnightDougal
Bad-mannered
Famous Hero
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posted November 01, 2006 08:50 PM |
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Hmmmm, but what will be, if you are do a ModWorking program for the Heroes 5? Like at the Elder Scrollls 4: Oblivion, the creator bloud TES CS, or a longer name The Elder Scrolls Conruction Set... We shoud create HOMM CS, or longer name: Heroes of Might and Magic Contruction Set... If you are create it, many mods will be aded on...
I think that is need for the HOMM CS:
We can create with the mod editor, mods what can be contains:
-New creatures
-New spells
-New factions
-New landspace objects
-New skills
-New abalityes (for heroes and creatures)
-New bluidins in towns
- and all other features, etc.
So I think it is can be good...
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Daystar
Honorable
Legendary Hero
Back from the Dead
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posted December 12, 2006 01:43 AM |
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still wanting to know about actual models. What PROGRAM DO THEY USE?
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redwoodsprite
Hired Hero
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posted December 30, 2006 03:41 AM |
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Are there any step-by-step tutorials on how to do a retexture, and also how to do a replacer texture?
I have been modding for Morrowind for quite a while now, so have no problem with opening and saving dds files. And I have unpacked all the data files, and figured out how to read the text files.
I would like to do a bunch of retextures and release them as modder resources. But other than altering the textures themselves, I don't know how to proceed.
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alcibiades
Honorable
Undefeatable Hero
of Gold Dragons
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posted January 21, 2007 08:11 PM |
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Ok, I had actually written this before I noticed Sfidanza's post in Vokial's thread - which somehow covers part of this - but I'll post this anyway, because this is my suggestion as to what we could do here to get some sort of guide running on this board as well:
New Sticky thread by Moderator: Modding Tutorial
I'll suggest the board Moderator to make a new thread called Modding Tutorial, wherein users can post information about how to MOD specific things in the game. The Main post should include the following:
- A list of Contents that's updated regularly by the Moderator. List should feature section numbers and headlines of following posts, page and post #, and links to each post.
- Rules for the Thread:
--- Thread should be used solely for posting information on how to Mod things.
--- Comments and corrections will be allowed to be added to new posts, but might be deleted when original post is updated.
--- All chit-chat and unrelated will be deleted.
--- All posts should be Indexed according to the previous posts. Thus, if previous post contained section 6 and 7, next poster should lable his part 8 and onwards - with possible sub-chapters like 8.1, 8.2 etc. as poster finds appropriate.
Inclusion of the following threads already posted in other topics:
Vokials guide or alternately replicate EliteKill's entire topic if we get his consent to it, like Sfidanza said.
Radars post about abilities
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What will happen now?
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Adi_PL
Tavern Dweller
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posted February 08, 2007 02:58 PM |
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how to fix clericmod for HOF 2.1??
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IMMUNITY
Tavern Dweller
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posted March 11, 2007 12:34 PM |
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Quote:
It is just a beginning, it will get bigger and bigger
Feel free to post ideas and questions [for FAQ] that should be included in the tutorial.
I. FAQ
¤ What is mod?
¤ Why people make mods?
¤ What do I need to start modding?
¤ Are there any tools for modding?
¤ What is checksum?
¤ What does it mean "hardcoded"?
¤
II. Console
III. Editing data.pak
IV. Making your own mod.pak
V. Balance issues
VI. Changing graphics
[Of course I could make it in notepad and post when ready, but I tink that it is impossible to make good tutorial without ideas and questions ].
GOOD IDEA!
+1 
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