Soulstorm Attribute Editor - Instructions to Get It Working

[Octopus Rex]

If you haven't modded DC/SS before you will need to check out this thread on setting up DC as this thread assumes previous knowledge of how to do all that.

To get the AE working in SS you need these heavily trimmed LUAs that I made. All the single player stuff has been taken out, other than the wargear commanders and their associated bits and bobs. NPC stuff and environment stuff has gone too. This is a complete set and is a combination of the SS luas Buggo gave us and the w40k files too, making the w40k folder of
LUAs redundant. If you need any single player stuff or anything that isn't there then you can add them yourself by hand.

If you're not sure about modding and feel like a bit of a newb then probably best that you don't try this as it requires you to know your file system quite well already.

The Instructions

You will need to have DOW installed for this to work. It's doable without DC, but I wouldn't recommend unless you're sure you know what you're doing.

(0. Find, download and install the Relic DC 1.2 Mod Tools if you haven't already)

1. Find, download and install the older Relic DOW 1.41 Mod Tools

2. Copy and paste the pipeline.ini (no need to reset it if you've already been modding), My_mod folder and my_mod.module file from the DC main folder in the the main SS folder.

3. Copy and Paste the folder called DOW/Modtools (not DC/Modtools) into your Soulstorm folder so it forms Soulstorm/Modtools

4. In SS/Modtools/Datageneric (the one you just copied over from DOW) delete or rename w40k and wxp to something benign

5. Copy and paste SS/Modtools/DataGeneric/My_Mod next to itself and rename it to DXP2

6. Extract SXP3Attrib.zip into Modtools/DataGeneric/DXP2 so it goes SS/Modtools/DataGeneric/DXP2/Attrib and it should have a load of folders in there called Abilities, EBPS and SBPS etc.

7. Open up the AE direct from the exe in the SS/Modtools folder and open DXP2 mod to check it works (don't edit it though). Your old shortcuts should not work anymore. If you get a prompt asking you which folders (racebps, ebps, sbps etc) your want to open then you've opened the wrong version.

8. To get your mod in to SS and the AE, copy over the module file, mod folder and lua files, and make sure the pipeline.ini that you have already moved is setup ok. I cannot guarantee any compatibity as your mod may rely on files that I have removed. It will be up to you to figure out which ones are missing and to add them across from the full set yourself.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Watch out for blanks with crosses next to them in some of the file. These are references to single player things that I have cutout , like researches. These should burn fine in the end, though I can't really check.

I cannot check this in Soulstorm as I do not have it and won't be getting it for a while probably. I did this so you guys could get modding and also because I'm just naturally curious as to why it didn't work. If you get stuck please try a few times to get things right before posting. Don't post stupid bullshit like "where do I get the 1.41 Tools?" - just google it FFS. This is much more fiddely than official tools, so it may take some head scratching, but it seems to work. At worst, you can just alter the instructions so you can mod in DC and then copy the data over into SS. That should work fine too.

PS - Mirrors for the files would be appreciated guys.

To get the OE and FX tool working:

ToolsData = ModTools\ToolsData

The real directory is Modtools\Data. This is why the OE or FX editors don't work. To fix this rename "Data" to "ToolsData".

[ravenmorpheus]

Nice to see relic making it easy for us

I really wish Relic hadn't changed the game so much that we can't use the existing mod tools without a lot of faffing around and problems...

[Promythyus]

I LOVE YOU OCTO! In a Totally Non-Gay Way.. Maybe.. :P

Thanks for this!

I'll do this now & report back if anything bad pops up

EDIT: Uh oh.. My Mod-Fu is Bad.. The AE Still crashes on me..

[keelan85]

Man I hope they release the tools for this shortly, because I don't think I can be bothered to actually do all of that just to change a few things. I have my old mod but I just wanted to get rid of the air units.

[Quak0r]

Thanks a lot!!

Here goes:

http://rapidshare.com/files/98943085/SXP3Attrib.zip

and

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=NDYO87FI

Edit: and here is the Direct Download Link

Cheers

[cagecrawler]

Very useful, well done.

http://www.dow-mods.com/downloads/SXP3Attrib.zip

[Quak0r]

Maybe this should be moved to "DoW Modding Tutorials and How-Tos"

[BulletSix]

Thanks for this, Octopus Rex

Just a small sidemark: you can use some the unmodified .luas with the AE editor.
e.g. just select only the SM-files for loading into the AE.
Weapon-files seem to work, too.
[
i edited the SM honour-guard to consist of 4 marines and C+p and edited the standard sergeant to give them one furthermore i lowered the sniperrifle-reload time a bit. All changes work in the campaign.
Yes, this makes it easier for the SM and may be unbalancing. Please refrain from comenting about that I only want to say, that it works
]
As somewhere stated by someone: the main "problem" seem to be the new races ...

why i am writing this? ... well since the .luas posted here miss the single-player stuff

Anyway ...
happy modding

[Croaxleigh]

For those who don't have DoW/WA installed, I have backups of the .lua's that Buggo asked me to post up for the community to use... I'll post the link sometime tomorrow most likely, since I'm currently not at home and as such obviously don't have access to the stuff on my computer.

Raven: It's not that they changed the game a lot... existing mods port pretty much directly, so there's no trouble with game changes. From my experience and what Octo's said, I think it's that there are for the most part just so many files that the AE runs out of memory and goes fubar. It's a limitation imposed by the tools, not the .lua's.

[Octopus Rex]

BulletSix: yeah, originally that was my suggestion for a solution: just don't load all of them at once. But the trouble with that is that the metadata won't read properly, so lots of the drop boxes may not work, depending on which files you've loaded, meaning that while you've loaded the files you wanted to edit, the lack of other files may mean you can't edit it how you wanted.

Thanks for the mirrors guys.

Croax - pretty sure those LUAs come with the 1.41 tools.

Edit - just to clarify, the files themselves are unmodified in terms of data, all I have done is remove some.

[BulletSix]

hmm ok, thats a point

since i only did some small adjustments, i didn´t notice anything missing ... yet

[Octopus Rex]

Whatever works for you dude, just thought it was something you want to watch for. Chopping out files was something I didn't want to have to do and yeah, I'd much rather the SP stuff was in there too, and so we still could do with new tools, but they'll take a while. Either way will do for the time being. Whatever floats your boat!

BTW - thinking about it, if you load one races EBPS along with all the other folders, you should probably be free of blank drop boxes. Just watch out with Eldar and Necron, as the necron tunnel inherits from an eldar building. So if you only load the necron structures this will fail to load the tunnel (but if you not using it then it doesn't matter).

[hellhunter]

Octo, have you tried to add the same that you did to weapon_table? Many tables have increased count of these boxes. For instance, modifiers are now up to 50.

[SmEg]

Nice fix

Oh, and just to clarify, you can edit the sbps without loading the ebps files, for example; the blank boxes just mean the AE cant see the info to edit. When you burn to rgd the info is still carried over so there is no data loss.

[Riess]

Bumping the thread, so people see it in the Tutorials section. Don't do this at home, kids.

[Foxracer007]

when i got the 1.41 tools, it says i needed original DOW to use it... does that pretty much screw me over?

[Octopus Rex]

Hmm, potentially, but I doubt it'll be a problem. Basically it will install the tools to the root C: drive I think if you don't have DOW. Just go find where they've landed and copy them over from there, you should be okay I reckon. Had a similar thing happen to someone without DC and it was ok.

[Foxracer007]

my mistake,
it says "Dawn Of War Version 1.41 or Greater required to install"
... bad? I have soulstorm and dark crusade only.

[Octopus Rex]

No mistake; you interpreted it right the first time. You don't have DOW 1.41, you have DC 1.2 and SS 1.0 (which install into different folders). So: Same answer as before.

Dude, just install them and see what happens. Nothing bad will happen.

[durruti]

if i recall correct you don't even get the option to install those modtools when the installer doesn't find just that: dow 1.41+. maybe someone could upload the folders/files?

[Foxracer007]

I'd really hate to be a tick,
but I downloaded it straight into the soulstorm folder, and it still says the same thing

[durruti]

alright, use the dc modtools and overwrite the ae with this one.

[Octopus Rex]

Ah, I see now, I didn't realise it wasn't actually letting you do it, I just thought you were reading it from a readme file, sorry.

[Foxracer007]

Er... I have tried to follow the guide, but as soon as I finished and tried loading the AE, the debug window suddenly floods, and then it says failed to load files "(pretty much everything)"

I don't exactly know where I went wrong, but there were some parts of the tutorial that didn't make sense,
"4. In SS/Modtools/Datageneric (the one you just copied over from DOW) delete or rename w40k and wxp to something benign"
I deleted it, but because I didn't have dow/modtools I took durruti's advice and overwrote the dark crusade mod tools with the one he provided, Before anything with the pipeline.ini and whatnot I could atleast open it. Heres the thing, In data generic I didn't have a wxp folder, but the next few steps wanted me to make a new dxp so I deleted the dxp and w40k folders, maybe I went wrong there.

Any help or feedback would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

[Sthamper]

Fox... I have the same problem, and am currently working through it.
I'll post more when I have it.

[Sthamper]

Maybe I give up too easy, but 3hrs. is enough for me.

I keep getting the "Failed to load blahblah.lua" when I open dxp2 mod project.

Hell.. I even tried Octo's Setting up Your First Mod http://forums.relicnews.com/showthread.php?t=151627

Still refusing to load the lua's (example)
23:04:15.34 LUAGAMEDATA -- Could not Load TOOL:C:\THQ\Dawn of War - Soulstorm\ModTools\DataGeneric\DXP2\attrib\ebps\races\sisters\troops\sisters_veteran_superior_sp_dxp3_prisoner.lua

Maybe one of the ModGod's could put an eye on this one.
ANY help will be greatly appreciated.

[Octopus Rex]

Are you guys sure you're using my stripped down LUAs? Because that failed one you listed should not be in the stripped down set, which would lead me to think you're not using them.

Foxracer: the WXP folder comes in the DOW modtools, the DC ones don't have it, hence why you're missing it. Deleted them all was the right thing to do, but backing them up somewhere else is always useful. Again, make sure you're using the stripped LUAs other wise you'll be in trouble.

Btw: that other tutorial is for DC only.

[Sthamper]

Octo: Down loaded from Quak0r's link.
I just downloaded yours, placed in C:\THQ\Dawn of War - Soulstorm\ModTools\DataGeneric\DXP2. Now it crashes to desktop w/o any errors...

17:49:48.45 ATTRIBUTEEDITOR started at 2008-03-31 17:49
17:49:48.45 OS NT 5.1, 2047MB Physical Memory
17:49:48.45 RUN-OPTIONS
17:49:48.45 WORKING-DIR C:\THQ\Dawn of War - Soulstorm\ModTools
17:49:48.45 USER Kevin
17:49:48.45

I guess I win the "DeeDeeDee of the day" award.

[Octopus Rex]

Nah, that exactly what happens if you're using the DC Attribute Editor. Previously you'd get a load of errors then it would crash. It wasn't crashing because of the errors, it was crashing afterwards. Any errorred files simply won't load and it will carry one regardless.

So: make sure you're using the 1.41 Attribute Editor. There's a few DLLs in there dude, so maybe you can't just copy across the exe by itself. I'm not sure how it all works, but basically the crashing with out errors is what happens with the DC one. I copied the whole set across, DLLs and all.

[Sthamper]

Octo... NEVER let it be said that you don't rock.

Thanks a lot for guiding me down the path of Mod'ing enlightenment.

It is working great so far.

[Octopus Rex]

Glad you got it working dude!

[MonkeyMagic]

W00t it works, I give this thread an A*

[Tarik GK]

Never been able to get mod tools to work before this tutorial is great :3

Small question though didn't their used to be a map maker along with the mod tools? or was that an other program?

Edit: Dam the AE still takes a while to load you'd think a 3.2Ghz dual core and 4 Gb of Ram would speed things up xD

[Sentinel]

There is a mission editor in the mod tools. The icon for it looks like a little black shoulder pad with a green rim. It also has the letters ME on it. It should be in the same list as the AE.
The AE always takes a long time to load, it can take up to half an hour sometimes.

[Tarik GK]

Yea I thought that was the case but its not there (in SS anyways) but it is in my DoW folder, will running it from the DoW folder allow me to make maps for SS/Dc? ( sorry if this isn't the place to ask this btw ^^;;; )

[Sentinel]

The SS mod tools aren't out yet so I can't give you much help on that I'm afraid.
All maps are forward compatible, so if you make a map in Dow, it'll work in all games, but if you make a map in DC it won't work in DoW or WA.
If you have DC I'd recomend getting the 1.2 mod tools.

[The_Void]

You are awesome, now I can finally make my super-hacked race.

[Octopus Rex]

To all you satisfied readers out there: Glad to be of service.

[fuggles]

Ha! I pwn my HDD. I have made space and am patching up to 1.41.

The Tower Defence mod for SS will soon be on it's way (to a muted reception, based on my last teaser shot)!!!



EDIT - bugger it all! I get 317 errors when trying to load the DC TD mod. Something must be bothering it :z

Time to start again then

[Ultragamer]

The OE or FX editor never worked for me by doing this procedure to get modtools working for SS. I came to think that "It's just a copied version of DOW tools, why won't it work just being present in an SS folder?" I looked at pipeline.ini and found this at line #7 -

ToolsData = ModTools\ToolsData

The real directory is Modtools\Data. This is why the OE or FX editors don't work. To fix this rename "Data" to "ToolsData". Just a slight flaw in your directions that I found, Octo . You should edit your post and add this step if you like, this way newbies won't get confused .

EDIT: I get this error in the OE when I make a new sgm and open an sgm "failed to initialize systems, please check the warnings log!"

 
14:04:46.81 SPOOGE -- 621.00MB available texture memory
14:04:46.81 SPOOGE -- 621.00MB available texture memory
14:04:47.01 SOUND -- Sound root path (Data:Sound) does not exist
14:04:47.12 *Unnamed* -- Failed load for step: ''
14:04:47.12 SPOOGE -- 621.00MB available texture memory
14:04:47.12 SPOOGE -- 621.00MB available texture memory

Wonder why

*Unnamed* -- Failed load for step: ''

happens?

[Octopus Rex]

This tutorial is just for the attribute editor.

[Ultragamer]

Yea I was just stating "please use the dow or DC tools' OE and FX (and anything else except AE), don't use SS's." Just getting word out for any newbs.

[papper124]

i don't know what i did wrong but when i try to load up DXP2 nothing happens, and all i get in the debug screen is:

21:11:20.68 ATTRIBUTEEDITOR started at 2008-05-21 21:11
21:11:20.68 OS NT 5.1, 895MB Physical Memory
21:11:20.68 RUN-OPTIONS
21:11:20.68 WORKING-DIR C:\Program Files\THQ\Dawn of War - Soulstorm\ModTools
21:11:20.68 USER Owner
21:11:20.68
21:11:20.71 attributeeditor.c/64:!AttributeEditor -- Starting...
21:11:25.75 0 attribute files loaded, 0 failures
21:11:25.75 luaconfigsave.c/648:!Failed to load lua file 'TOOL:designmode.lua'

...i need help

[Octopus Rex]

0 attribute files loaded, 0 failures - this definitely means you did something wrong.

Possibilites - you didn't move/handle the stuff in the datageneric folder properly? Dunno, just a guess, but basically it's not reading the source, most likely because it can't find them.

[papper124]

weird...now it works...but thx for the help anyways ........i wonder what i did wrong...

[Retributor_x3rs]

How can i open the ".lua" files with the attribute editor? I can't see ".attrib" files there.

[cagecrawler]

When you load a mod, the lua files are loaded for that mod in the left panel. You don't need .attrib files (in fact, there aren't any anywhere).

[Retributor_x3rs]

How can i load the mod in the Attribute Editor? My_Mood.attrib? Tryed it but der are no Datas in it.
The LUA files i can't open.
All datas get "unrecognized file" when i want to open.

[Octopus Rex]

You open up the Attribute Editor (AE) on its own first. You open the AE using the Start Menu or shortcut and then from inside there you select the mod you want to edit. However, there's a little more to it than that: Be sure to check out this other tutorial on setting up your first mod, I was sure I linked it in the above thread, but apparently not. I'll go edit it. Even though it says it's for DC 1.2, the steps are still the same.

[Retributor_x3rs]

I have the next problem: I can't open the ".module" file from the mod and don't find any programm to open it.
Oh i must open the texteditor first and then the file. *g*
Well it worked. *g*

The mod selection in the attribute editor doesn't come.
Must all "My_Mod" folders must have the pipline.ini and my_mod.Module?

Oh i get a though: Must i take the "My_Mod" folder from Dawn of War or from Soulstorm?