An Introduction to Modding

Most of you will already know that modding is short for modifying, and a mod is a modified version of the game. Rome Total War is divided into two parts, the code and the data. The code is the game engine, it determines most of how the game works at the basic level. The data is what the game loads. This includes the campaign map, unit stats unit and building descriptions and so on.



We can’t edit the code. Only CA can do that, but we can edit the data and this is what modding is. What we can’t edit is hard-coded, see a list of the hard-coded elements of the game here, but we can edit a lot. By editing a text file you can add an army here, change a factions starting cash and provinces, by editing a model and some text files you can create a completely new unit, by editing some image files you can make a completely new campaign map. You can make a new expansion for Rome, you can even make a completely new game…



And that’s what modders do, and you can download and play the fruits of their efforts. Getting slightly bored with Rome? Simply download a new mod and play away. There are three main types of mods: Those that focus on the current age of Rome – Total War, but edit it either to make it more realistic or have better gameplay, those that create a new Total War game based on a different era, such as Medieval times or the Napoleonic era or Ancient Japan etc, and finally those that aim to create a completely new game based on fantasy, or their own ideas, like Middle Earth, The Wheel of Time or Hoggy’s fantastic Blue Lotus.



Check here the list of completed mods

And find more mods still in development here in the Forge or the Hosted Mods section.



So you want to know how to mod? You’ve come to the right place. As modders work, they will often write guides and create tools to make modding easier. There is a huge collection of guides and tools out there, and if you need help on a particular question, there will almost always be someone who can help you in the General Modding Forum.



Our guides here at the .org are kept in the Scriptorium Subforum. A quick summary of whats availiable will shortly be posted here. :smile:




For more info on the structure of the modding forums, click here.



Enjoy the mods and the modding :grin:

-Myrddaal

Finally!

A complete Idiot's Guide to RTW Modding.

Thanks very much Myrddraal! :thumbsup:

Hey guys i wasn't sure where to put this and i couldn't find any tutorials for this and since i'm new to modding i thought i should put this here.
Can anyone tell me how to make new factions and how to assign them cities.
I want to make a greek mod with a slight roman modification. I want to create different greek city-states and get rid of the old greek cities faction.
I also want make them allies because at this time the greek city-states were allied.
Thanks for any help you can give.

How's the wheel of time mod coming along myrddraal? I'd love to play a wheel of time mod. They're brilliant books and a strategy game of them would be deadly! :2thumbsup:

Sorry, but you cannot create new factions, you can only have the amount in-game. But, if you wanted, you could try to make the 3 Romans into 3 Greek City states and have only one roman faction...

For this you would need to:

Mod some text files (tutorials can be found on this forum)
Make a unified Rome, and remove senate missions
Possibly make a bigger map, or add some more regions (you would need photoshop for this).

If you have any questions, just post on the modding questions forum and people will help you:2thumbsup:

Thanks for the info. It's a pity i can't add new factions but i think i will unify rome and make the main three city states of greece, thanks for the help.

Surely you'll have then 3 greek state with a roman culture?

You can change the culture of factions.

Oh! I always thought you need 4 romans, 3 greeks, 4 barbs, 2 carth. and 1 egyptian and 1 slave! Ca aidera..

the earlier versions of the game had some culture limitations - as far as I know patches 1.5 and 1.6 don't - though you have to change one of the files to do with walls if you try not having any of a culture in (show_err will tell you which file if you get that problem)

Maybe I'll try the unified Rome and 3 Greek city-states thing.
Though I'd probably need to make some new,distinct units...
And I may need photoshop,too. :embarassed:

Edit: What are settlement name limitations. The three main poleis of Greece were Athens,Sparta,and Thebes,the latter of which three are already present in Egypt. Though I could also use an ethnic name for the Greek Thebes.

21 Romans


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You can have as many thebeses as you want - just make the internal names thebes_1 thebes_2 etc and in imperial_campaign_regions_and_settlements _lookup.txt make all of them seen as Thebes.

sorely needed, thanks very much!