Hello ladies and gentlemen!
I decided to take advantage of the blog feature, in order to make a series of tutorials on how to make a complete Mount and Blade: WARBAND mod. Everything will be explained and everything will be analyzed to the maximum. So, here is a list of contents, which I will upload in due time.
1.Getting Started(general info, useful things to mind, banner creation and makings of a music pack
2. Items, OSPs, eliminating Native references and more.
3. Simple (Re)Texturing, new Graphics, new Interface(cursor, crosshaits etc.) and Sounds, new Fonts and Scenes.
4. Scripts, Codes, Dialogs and the Basics of the Module System in very simple words.
5. Troop making, Kings, Lords etc.
6. FIne-tuning your mod, last details that can make the simplest of mods to shine.
So, that's the basic outline of the tutorial and more or less the mod making proccess. Now, a couple of things that need to be said before the party starts. During the course of the tutorial, a lot of links will be posted, with works of brilliant people. Most of it is OSP, but credit them. Also, I am not claiming that I am the most talented modder ever(far from it) or that this tutorial will teach you how to work miracles. I wll give you ideas, suggestions and instructions, but you will have to use creativity, logic and most importantly spend time!
Without further ado, let's start....
So, first of all you will need a PC, the Game(of course!), common logic, basic Computer skills and some image editing skills(not compulsory) and a notebook. That is a very important thing, because otherwise you won't be able to remember your ideas, the course of the work or things you should work on etc. Now, when making a mod, it is very wise to always keep BACK-UPS, of everything you do, so if you screw sth, it is easy to fix it. So, Back-ups, Back-ups, Back-ups!!! Lastly, I will use mostly Free programs(although I use Photoshop, for example, I will say things about the free Gimp).
Starting from the most important things:
1)Have a mod idea clear in your head, not just vague thoughts.
2)Go to your game's directory and you will see a folder named Modules. There you will make your mod. Open it and you will find a "Native folder". That's the Native module you play. For now, before talking on how to use more advanced mods as a basis(such as Diplomacy or others) we will use that as our basis. So, make a folder named after your mod(let's call it MyMod for convenience now) and copy all the contents of your Native folders inside it. I will explain what each thing is and does.
MyMod contents
-Data: A folder where your data goes, font.data, floral kinds etc. We won't need to worry about that folder for now.
-Languages: the various languages of the mod. I work on the default English.
-Music:Where you will put your music files, I will teach you how to make a music pack later on this part of the tutorial.
-Resouce: Where your .brf files go, we will analyze this later, on the items and other resources tutorial.
-SceneObjects: The mod's scenes. We won't need that for now.
-Sounds: The sounds of the mod. Again, we will analyze this later, on the sounds tutorial.
Textures: Possible the most important folder of your mod, where you put all the Textures. Now remember that Mount and Blade Warband only reads .dds(diect draw surface) textures, so it would be best tohave a program that can convert you textures to .dds. I have a Photoshop plugin, but you can use the free GIMP 2 and Paint.net programs.
- Now, there are about 35 .txt files and a bmp file named "main" and an .ini file named "Module". We will analyze every .txt to its appropriate time. The main.bmp is the image that it is displayed when you select you mod from the Game Launcher, so you can easily edit that and put a proper image of your choice and making there. As for the module.ini, the most important file, watch it carefully. Now, what you will do(for now) with it: Open it and use Ctrl+F(search function, use that a lot) to find a line called scan_module_textures = 0. If it is 0 after the equalizer, replace it with 1(scan_module_textures = 1). Below it, there is a similar line, but instead of textures, it reads sounds. Do the same thing and -just to be on the certain- add another line below it: scan_module_music = 1. These lines enable the module to read the textures you make, the sounds and the music, respectively. That is more or less the basis of any mod procedure in Warband.
Now, to make new banners, I won't go into full detail, as there is a better and detailed tutorial, which I also follow: Moddb.com
It's exquisite and will help you greatly. You can make from the most easy to the most complex banners with it and some basic image editing skills. It's very clear, but if there is a something you need, ask me!
Now, how to make music for your mod. That is equally easy, fun and important. So, here goes:
Music files for "Warband" are stored in the "Music" subfolder of the main directory and are encoded in the Ogg Vorbis file format. You can replace the default music files with your own by converting your music files to the Ogg Vorbis file format. So, go to the main Game directory and you will see a folder named Music. Copy it inside your module. Then, download a program called Goldwave -it has endless trial. ;)
You can replace the default music files with your own by converting your music files to the Ogg Vorbis file formaEach music file is linked to a specific condition in "Warband" and you may need to replace several music files with your own to cover one specific condition, such as combat or shopping.
1)Launch GoldWave and click the "Open" option under the "File" menu. Navigate the "Open Sound" to the folder with the music file you wish to use with "Warband" and double-click the music file. GoldWave will open the music file and display the audio data in the main GoldWave window.
2)Click the "Save As" option under the "File" menu. Navigate the "Save Sound As" to your "Warband" directory, located in "C:\Program Files\Mount&Blade Warband." Steam versions of "Warband" are located in "C:\Program Files\Steam\steamapps\common\mountblade warband."
3)Double-click the "Music" folder in your main "Mount & Blade: Warband" directory to enter the folder. Click the "Save as type" drop-down menu and select the "Ogg" file format. Double-click on a "Mount & Blade: Warband" music file to overwrite, then click the "Yes" button in the "Confirm Save As" window. Your music file will overwrite the stock music file and will play in "Warband" when triggered.
Example: Say you want to replace the song that plays in tournaments with the one of your choice(let's say, for example's sake, you want to play the Friar Jacques tune). You find the track in the Music folder, which is called arena_1, and you go through the procedure mentioned earlier. Easy, no? Of course, first make sure you own the songs you want to put into the game. Also, there are websites with free music tracks that can be useful.
So, that was part one of the tutorial, with some basic things you need to do. As the tutorial progresses, we will see more complex features.
Thank you,
Anthony
