Octopus Rex

Rating: Ultra Noob Friendly

THIS IS FOR DARK CRUSADE 1.2

It's about time I got round to this.

This tutorial is for setting a distinct mod that is separate from Relic DC. There's some types of modding that may not need you to set them up this way, eg re-skins or map making. This is for Attribute Editing and general new mods.

Your version of Dark Crusade must be patched to version 1.2 for the tools to work.

Download the 1.2 ModTools - http://forums.relicnews.com/showthread.php?t=144448

Install them.

Get .net Framework. - http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...&displaylang=en

Install it.

Note: the .net Framework bit is needed for the ModTools archive viewer, I've simply added it in here so that you're not surprised later when that Tool doesn't work.

Your folder "THQ/Dawn of War - Dark Crusade" should now look similar to this.



I will call this folder the DOW folder from now on. The new and relevant things in this folder are:
My_Mod folder
My_Mod.module file
pipeline.ini
w40kME.exe
ModTools folder

The Module File and Mod Folder
Copy the My_Mod folder (unmodified at this point please!) and paste it in the same location. Rename this copy to the name of your mod. This name must have no spaces and must be exactly the same for every part of the process the involves this mod. It must be different from every other mod you've previously done or donwloaded. This folder is usually called the Mod folder but can also sometime be referred to as the ModData folder or similar althuogh this is not the best term for it.

Copy My_Mod.module and paste the copy into the same folder. Rename this copy to the name of your mod. open the new module file with a simple text editor and change all the instances of My_Mod to the name of your new mod.



This is what the default should look like when you open your module file.


Change it to this:

Note that UINAme is allowed to be different (although I haven't renamed it in this case). The UI Name is the name that appears in the Game Manager and so could be "Octo's Balance Mod" or anything like that.

Pipeline.ini

Open up the pipeline.ini file with a simple text editor. Scroll down and you will see this at the bottom:


Before editing this you will need to come out of it, right-click on it and get Properties up, then uncheck the read-only box, otherwise you won't be able to save it when yo've edited it.

Copy this chunk of text and then paste it on the bottom. On this second copy change all instances of My_Mod to your mod name. The bottom will now look like this:

Now save this.

Now open up the ModTools folder that's in the DOW folder. Then open up the DataGeneric folder. It should look like this:



Copy the My_Mod folder (again, unmodified at this point) and paste in the same location. Rename this folder to the name of your mod as before.

Your mod is now set up.

Go to the start menu and open the Attribute Editor (AE). Two windows will open: one is a debug window that you can ignore for now, the other is the main window. Go to File then Open Mod Project.



Select your mod, click OK and another small window will appear. This is for choosing alternate data sets; you don't need this right now, just select none then press OK and go get a coffee. WARNING: Depending on your computer the AE will take in the region of 15 minutes to load. Your PC will grind to a halt and the AE will say Not Responding, but it is really working away. The reason for this is that the AE has to open several thousand text files at the same time. If you want it to open fast then get some RAM. I had 1Gb of RAM and it would take up to 15 minutes to load. Now I have 3Gb of RAM and it takes less than a minute to open.

Edit: you may find that the AE seems to close once it's loaded and you can't open it (it disappears off the taskbar at the bottom). Don't worry, open up the task manager (CTRL + ALT + DEL) and you can switch to it in there. It is still running, it's just hiding!

Eventually it will finish opening and you should get a screen like this.



Now you can edit attributes.

Try something simple: here I have expanded the trees until I have reached the scout squad. See picture.



I have changed unit_min from 2 to 3. This means that the Scout will spawn with three units (and will also cost more as squad cost is definte by unit cost multiplied number of units). It's important to know how to test things in a simple way. This test is visually very obvious and will not take long to test as Scouts are the first unit available. If you alter Terminators then you will have to get to T3 to test them which can be very time consuming. Now open the File menu and "Save Binary". This will take quite a while as before. It will prompt you with a box asking about PerForce - just click OK on this.

Now open up Relic DC, go into the Game Manager which is on the Main Opening Screen Menu. Select your mod and press Activate, this will restart the game.



Note that the top left corner will have your mod name in it.



And here we have a Scout Squad spawning with three members.



Note for FinalDeath - I've compressed the images and put a thumbnail in there for the biggest one so none of them are very big. Do I need anymore thumbs or is it okay as it is? Only imgaeshack is poo and it kills the flow of the tutorial.

Ultimatum

This a fantasic tutorial for someone wanting to Mod.
Edit: which part of the tree is the unit_min under?

Finaldeath

Image size looks fine, but it'd have been better to PM me that question, I almost missed it.

These things are always better added to the appropriate wiki's - which can have multiple pages, automatic image resizing, thumbnails, captioning and interwiki links. However, I'd be the first to admit the new wiki doesn't have the required content to make this work

Octopus Rex

FD: I've been adding all my tutorials to the wiki as I go. The last three are already up. The wiki does need a whole lot of work before it's anywhere near useful, I'll just do my little bit and hope that everyone begins to chip in. New tutorials would be better than just copying the olds ones across but blah blah blah we've been over the wiki seeral times now.

@ultimate Chaos: I've added a thumbnail for the bit you're talking about, I left a placeholder at the time you posted.

Finaldeath

K, good job, I didn't check because you included no link to the wiki version.

Kudos!

Unregistered

My Computer Cnnot open the mymod.module file...wot should i download so i can c it?

o lol...never mind i opened it with notepad...and thanks a lot for this guide...its very helpful for me (first time modder) ;-)

Woohamer40

i modified the flash gitz squad amount but there's not happening

Promythyus

Did you Save Binary in the AE?

Can you Post the LUA?

EDIT: Oh yeah, and the Warnings.log too, please

Woohamer40

I'll try and how do i do that?

Promythyus

Ok, the LUA is the File in DoW/Modtools/DataGeneric/[your_mod]/attrib/...
Should be under SBPs/Races/Orks/

and the Warnings.log is in the Dawn of War Directory

Tobreich

I opened my mod in the atribute editor but I got this error:
"luaconfigsave.c/659:!Failed to load lua file 'TOOL:designmode.lua'"
Does this matter?

Octopus Rex

Nah that doesn't matter. Ignore it.

Primal

Hi Octo,

I have done everything you said in the thread but unfortunately nothing appears in the Game Manager Menu.
I am sure I have gone wrong somewhere.
Can you just clarify where I should be saving the folders to please.
This is the first time I have ever done any modding so sorry in advance!!

Octopus Rex

No apoligies necessary dude.

Unforunately these statements contradict each other. Only one of them can be true., and I'm guessing it's the second one.

If the mod is not appearing in the game manager then the problem is with your .module file. Carefully go over this part of the tutorial. Make sure you rename it to match your folder, make sure you place it in the right place (it should go in the folder that is in that big screenshot at the top, in other words it goes in the same folder as the original my_mod.module, the same folder as your mod's folder, and the same folder as the DXP2 folder and all the DLL files etc.), make sure you open it and edit correctly and make sure you change the UI name otherwise you get 2 x 'My Mod' appearing in the game manager.

Note: the mod not appearing in your game manager has nothing to do pipeline.ini and nothing to do with the datageneric folder.

Primal

Yeah sorry bro.

I will let you know how I go......

Primal.

Orkster

This was really helpful for me, it all worked and I have started to experiment with the atribute editor to see what I can do with it. Cheers! (Although it take forever to save or load, oh well)

Unregistered

I cant find the pipeline.ini file in the data folder where is it located normally?

Octopus Rex

Hmm, I can see how the tutorial could be a little misleading and so have edited it. You see the first screenshot of a folder? That's where the pipeline.ini is. It's in c:/program files/thq/dawn of war - dark crusade. Post again if you still can't find it.

Psychosis

Ok I found it ty (was the guest decided to make a account =P)
Only problem is now the ae refuses to save when I click save binary about 5 minutes after the click the program complains about some error then closed itself =/.

Edit: I got it working now just redid it under a new name awesome tutorial! =D

Octopus Rex

Cool! I wasn't too sure what was going wrong there, so I'm glad you've got it sorted now!

Unregistered

AE said that it couldn't read the pipeline file and closed when I tried to open it. What now?

Octopus Rex

Well, sounds like you messed up the pipeline.ini file. Redo it.

Unregistered

The problem is, I think, the fact that I can't directly edit the pipeline and have to copy the text into a new text document, edit that, and replace the original with the new one. And it looks just like what you've shown in the first post.

Octopus Rex

Right-click on the pipeline.ini file and get the properties, it will be set to read-only. Uncheck that and you will be able to edit it. I was pretty sure I mentioned that in the tutorial, but it seems I didn't, I'll go and edit it.

Also, if you are saving it make sure that you have the right extension on the end and it's not pipeline.ini.txt or something. If you don't have your settings right then Windows will hide all the extensions of known file types and this is what may be occurring wihtout you being able to see it.

ClockworkOrange

So I've followed your layout for setting up my first mod, however, when I go to activate it in the game manager, the only thing I see is the "Dawn of War: Dark Crusade", and the original "My_Mod" files. I've gone through the steps you laid out about 4 times now, and I've even uninstalled the game once to redo it also. My operating system is Window's Vista 32bit, do you think it has to do something with that? I've had to turn off the User Control Access to be even able to save the .ini and .module file (in addition with turning off the read-only option) I'm sorry if this has been asked somewhere else, I seem to remember seeing a post that concerns this somewhere but I can't seem to find it again! So if you can help me, that would be greatly appreciated.

Edit - Wow. Spoke too soon. Guess I was just too flustered to see what I was doing wrong. Sorry about that! :P

nemesis646

I'm having a problem downloading versions like 1.20. I can't mod til I get that. Could somebody tell me where it is?

Octopus Rex

Just log on to Gamespy (from main menu - multiplayer - internet) and it will download automatically.

nemesis646

Thanks Octo.

Unregistered

Any tutorials for increasing attack and defense of units[include any links please.] Much obliged

nemesis646

How long do patches take to download? I waited two hours once, and it still hadn't downloaded.

Unregistered

Excellent Job, this thread really got me rolling! I used to mod DOOM 2 a lot when I was a kid but haven't modded anything in a long time so I'm a bit rusty The tools Relic has realeased are excellent too, they really leave the modder with limitless options!

Thanks a ton for your work on this thread!

Titanic

I made Quite alot of changes, And It still acts like normal Dawn Of War Dark Crusade.

Posting LUA Files soon. Ok forget that. I can't seem to find anything important, Just core files.

Octopus Rex

Make sure you:

a) are actually playing your mod. It's quite easy to forget to actually activate your mod in the game manager (on the main menu).

b) have Saved to Binary. Save only saves to LUA, which don't affect the game. Saving to Binary burns them to RGD which is what affects it.

c) setup your pipeline.ini right otherwise the RGDs won't burn to the right place.

d) you load up the right mod in the AE.

Titanic

I ensured all except I don't quite understand C, I did pipeline and stuff... Here:

Module: [global]

UIName = Realism Mod
Description = Realistic Gameplay from the Codex.
DllName = WXPMod
Playable = 1
ModFolder = RealismMod
ModVersion = 0.1
TextureFE = Art/UI/Textures/Title_winter_assault.tga
TextureIcon =

;; //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
;; List of folders to map for this MOD
;; order is important - the first Archives registered will be scanned for files first
DataFolder.1 = %LOCALE%\Data
DataFolder.2 = Data
DataFolder.3 = Data_Shared_Textures\%TEXTURE-LEVEL%
DataFolder.4 = Data_Sound\%SOUND-LEVEL%
DataFolder.5 = Data_Music
DataFolder.6 = Data_Whm\%MODEL-LEVEL%

;; //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
;; List of archives to load for this MOD
;; order is important - the first Archives registered will be scanned for files first
ArchiveFile.1 = %LOCALE%\DXP2DataLoc
ArchiveFile.2 = %LOCALE%\DXP2DataKeys
ArchiveFile.3 = DXP2Data
ArchiveFile.4 = DXP2Data-SharedTextures-%TEXTURE-LEVEL%
ArchiveFile.5 = %LOCALE%\DXP2Data-Sound-Speech
ArchiveFile.6 = DXP2Data-Sound-%SOUND-LEVEL%
ArchiveFile.7 = DXP2Data-Music
ArchiveFile.8 = DXP2Data-Whm-%MODEL-LEVEL%

;; //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
;; List of MODs that this MOD requires to work
RequiredMod.1 = DXP2
RequiredMod.2 = W40k



PipeLine: ; pipeline.ini
; this file contains all pipeline settings

; NOTE: unless fully qualified, all paths are relative to this file

[global]
ToolsData = ModTools\ToolsData
WkDir = ""
Registry = Relic\Dawn of War - Dark Crusade Mod Tools\v1.0
EngineLocale = Engine\Locale\English

[attrib]
lua = \attrib\
rgd = \attrib\

; Got Perforce? Use the following format for tools integration where available: p4warhammer:1670, otherwise leave this BLANK!
[p4]
RevControlPort =

[bugreport]
ExePath = bugReport\BugReport.exe

[burner]
burnerPath = ModTools

; there should be one entry for each project
[project:engine]
Description = Base game engine project - do not edit!
DataSource = ModTools\DataSrc\Engine
DataIntermediate = ModTools\DataInt\Engine
DataGeneric = ModTools\DataGeneric\Engine
DataBurn = Engine
DataFinal = Engine\Data
DataExtra =
LocaleFolder = Engine\Locale\English
Parent =
DataSourceShared = ModTools\DataSrc\Engine
DataPreview =
AttrLoc =

[project:w40k]
Description = Warhammer 40k mod project - do not edit!
DataSource = ModTools\DataSrc\W40k
DataIntermediate = ModTools\DataInt\W40k
DataGeneric = ModTools\DataGeneric\W40k
DataBurn = W40k
DataFinal = W40k\Data
DataExtra =
LocaleFolder = W40k\Locale\English
Parent = Engine
DataSourceShared = ModTools\DataSrc\W40k
DataPreview =
AttrLoc =

[project:dxp2]
Description = Dark Crusade mod project - do not edit!
DataSource = ModTools\DataSrc\DXP2
DataIntermediate = ModTools\DataInt\DXP2
DataGeneric = ModTools\DataGeneric\DXP2
DataBurn = DXP2
DataFinal = DXP2\Data
DataExtra =
LocaleFolder = DXP2\Locale\English
Parent = w40k
DataSourceShared = ModTools\DataSrc\DXP2
DataPreview =
AttrLoc =

[project:RealismMod]
Description = Realism Mod
DataSource = ModTools\DataSrc\RealismMod
DataIntermediate = ModTools\DataInt\RealismMod
DataGeneric = ModTools\DataGeneric\RealismMod
DataBurn = RealismMod
DataFinal = RealismMod\Data
DataExtra =
LocaleFolder = RealismMod\Locale\English
Parent = DXP2
DataSourceShared = ModTools\DataSrc\RealismMod
DataPreview =
AttrLoc =

Octopus Rex

1. Your module file has a lot of unnecessary information in it that isn't doing anything, but this stuff won't be breaking your game, so never mind.

2. Have you set up a folder for your mod's LUAs in the DataGeneric folder? I.e. THQ/Dark Crusade should have w40k, DXP2 and RealismMod folders, THQ/Dark Crusade/ModTools/DataGeneric should also have w40k, DXP2 and RealismMod folder too, as they inherit information in the same way. That's all I can really think of in terms of why you can't find any LUAs to show us.

Unregistered

When the AE finished loading and disappeared, I couldn't find it, not even by looking in the task manager. Help please.

Unregistered

Nevermind got it working now. But now I've got a different problem... none of the mods appear in the game manager.

Octopus Rex

None of them appear in the Game Manager? Do you have other mods there that other people have made?

That'll be a problem with the 'module' file for your new mod. Double check you've edited it right and that you've changed the name etc. so it reads differently in the game manager. Does My_Mod appear there?

Unregistered

My_Mod doesn't appear, and neither does my own, I made two to see if it changed anything but still, nothing. I haven't downloaded any other mods though.

Octopus Rex

Hm, so you've installed the ModTools properly and My_Mod doesn't appear in the Game Manager? That really is odd. K, these may sound silly but sometimes the mistake is so simple it's overlooked:

1. Are you playing Dark Crusade Dawn of War Original?

2. Did you use the link in the tutorial to get the ModTools are did you download them from somewhere else? (do they say 1.41 ModTools on them?)

3. Does Dark Crusade appear in the list when you click on the Game Manager option in the menu?

Other than, well, all I'm kind of stumped. All I could suggest is uninstall the tools and try again.

Unregistered

I'm playing Dark Crusade, I downloaded the modtools from the link on this tutorial, no dark crusade does not appear in the list, the ME says 1.41 if I click the -about- option, but I'm not sure about any of the others. I hope that helps.

Octopus Rex

So nothing at all appears in the list, but you can still get that list box to appear? Can you take a screen shot of your Dark Crusade folder (the one with tons of dlls and folders and module files in) with the folder tree by the side (view>explorer bar>folders) and post it so I can check that, because the fact the DC doesn't appear is VERY odd indeed.

But before, do try uninstalling the tools and reinstalling them as this may well solve it without further hassle.

Unregistered

I should've reinstalled them at the start. That worked, thanks. Not too sure how exactly it did, but it worked.

Octopus Rex

Weee! Oh well, at least it's working now!

Panic

hmm i dont know where i went wrong but the mod name entry doesn't come up in the AE

Panic

oh woops nvm i forgot to change the entry in the pipeline regarding [project:my_mod]

Unregistered

I happen to have the same problem that Primal had, nothing appears in my game manager, the game beahves as if the mod tools were never installed. I have an Alienware Aurora M9700 withe 2 Gb ram and a 2.4 GHz processor running XP professional. I followed everything you instructed to the letter and triple checked myself, I even got coffee when you said to. Here is the warning file from the last time I tried to run my mod

02:18:14.92 DARKCRUSADE started at 2007-12-29 02:18
02:18:14.92 OS NT 5.1, 2048MB Physical Memory
02:18:14.92 RUN-OPTIONS
02:18:14.92 WORKING-DIR C:\Program Files\THQ\Dawn of War - Dark Crusade
02:18:14.92 USER Cameron
02:18:14.92
02:18:22.39 MATHBOX -- Version=5, Cpu=AMD Athlon 64:f=15,m=4, Mode=SSE
02:18:22.39 FILESYSTEM -- filepath failure, path does not exist 'Engine\Locale\english\Data'
02:18:22.39 GAME -- Warning: Failed to map folder 'Engine\Locale\english\Data'.
02:18:22.39 GAME -- Warhammer, 1.1, Build 95874
02:18:22.39 GAME -- Available memory: 2047MB RAM, 3889MB Pagefile
02:18:22.39 State::State - set socket send buffer to 131072
02:18:22.39 State::State - set socket receive buffer to 131072
02:18:22.39 HostState - 192.168.1.101:6112 / 192.168.1.101:6112
02:18:22.39 Session : Now Host
02:18:22.39 Session : We are now a Host
02:18:22.39 PeerState - 192.168.1.101:6112 / 192.168.1.101:6112
02:18:22.39 PeerState::ConnectCallbackHost - connecting to host at 255.255.255.255:6112
02:18:22.39 GSTransport::Connect - GT2AddressError
02:18:22.39 SPOOGE - Driver[Dx9 : Hardware TnL] on adapter[0], version[4,32]
02:18:22.39 SPDx9 -- Driver Name = nv4_disp.dll Device = \\.\DISPLAY1 Desc = NVIDIA GeForce Go 7900 GS
02:18:22.39 SPDx9 -- Driver Vendor = 0x10DE Device = 0x0298 SubSys = 0x2052161F Rev = 0x00A1
02:18:22.39 SPDx9 -- Driver Version Product = 0x0006 Version = 0x000E SubVersion = 0x000A Build = 0x211A (8474)
02:18:22.39 SPDx9 -- Driver GUID = {D7B71E3E-41D8-11CF-B554-580000C2CB35}
02:18:22.39 SPOOGE -- 500.00MB available texture memory
02:18:22.39 SPOOGE -- 500.00MB available texture memory
02:18:22.39 GAME -- Beginning FE
02:18:22.43 MOVIE -- Opening movie 'movies:dxp_relic_intro.lua'
02:18:23.04 MOVIE -- Closing movie 'movies:dxp_relic_intro.lua'
02:18:23.04 MOVIE -- Opening movie 'movies:nvidia_logo.lua'
02:18:23.29 MOVIE -- Closing movie 'movies:nvidia_logo.lua'
02:18:23.29 MOVIE -- Opening movie 'movies:dow_intro.lua'
02:18:23.45 MOVIE -- Closing movie 'movies:dow_intro.lua'
02:18:23.45 FE -- Loading front end.
02:18:23.45 FE -- Cursor hidden.
02:18:25.92 GAME -- Unable to load the DLL for MOD 'dxp2' -- please use the matching executable!
02:18:25.92 MOD -- Initializing Mod dxp2, 1.0
02:18:25.92 MOD -- Warning: Failed to load archive 'W40k\W40kDataGOTY.sga'
02:18:25.92 MOD -- Warning: Failed to open folder 'DXP2\Locale\english\Data'.
02:18:25.92 MOD -- Warning: Failed to open folder 'DXP2\Data_Shared_Textures\Full'.
02:18:25.92 MOD -- Warning: Failed to open folder 'DXP2\Data_Sound\Full'.
02:18:25.92 MOD -- Warning: Failed to open folder 'DXP2\Data_Music'.
02:18:25.92 MOD -- Warning: Failed to open folder 'DXP2\Data_Whm\High'.
02:18:25.92 MOD -- Warning: Failed to open folder 'W40k\Locale\english\Data'.
02:18:25.92 MOD -- Warning: Failed to open folder 'W40k\Data_Shared_Textures\Full'.
02:18:25.92 MOD -- Warning: Failed to open folder 'W40k\Data_Sound\Full'.
02:18:25.92 MOD -- Warning: Failed to open folder 'W40k\Data_Whm\High'.
02:18:27.64 GAME -- Using player profile Voidrender
02:19:14.26 GAME -- Ending FE
02:19:14.26 GAME -- Shutdown quit
02:19:14.26 MOD -- Shutting down Mod 'dxp2'...
02:19:14.39 SPOOGE -- 499.00MB available texture memory
02:19:14.39 SPOOGE -- 500.00MB available texture memory
02:19:14.45
Application closed without errors

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

Iv'e also re-installed the mod tools, I just can't figure out what's wrong.

Octopus Rex

This bit seems interesting. You have not patched to 1.2 it looks like. You need to be at version 1.2 for the tools to work. I'm going to add this to the tutorial now. Hope that solves it for you!

Unregistered

Hey, I've downloaded the tools, set up the mod via the tutorial etc and that all works fine. The problem I have is loading the AE. I can open it and select my mod from the list, it then makes my computer come to a grinding hault as mentioned in the tutorial, then disappears after about 15 minutes. The problem is, when I go into the task manager it isn't there, and I don't seem to be able to open it up again. Also, the CTRL+ALT+TAB thingy doesn't work on my computer, is it the same thing as CTRL+ALT+DEL? Look forward to your reply soon.