How to use DevEd - Age of Wonders Heaven Forum

Topic Subject: How to use DevEd

LordDragatus
Member

posted 03-15-02 03:46 AM EDT (US)

Every some much time a "I need help with DevEd" thread used to pop up. The first time you answered it's no problem, but after a few times it slowly becomes annoying.

So I came up with this thread. It was a place where I tried to explain the basic of DevEd and answered questions.

One day I wrote the DevED Beginner's Guide so the primary purpose of this thread (explaining the basics) is now obsolete. But feel free to post questions about things that are not in the guide or things which are in the guide, but may be a little confusing. Whatever.

Have fun with modmaking.

Edit (February 2011):

Galvais1 wrote: "I am in need of help with "installing" DevEd. I download the file and extract it, but it seems that I never extract it in the right place...?? I'm not sure what to do. My OS is Windows XP. "

Froster answered: "Hello Galvais1. If you still need the help, extract the 3 files in the "dev" folder (ie AoWEd, AoWEPACK, AoWTCPCK) into your main patched AoW folder, replacing the originals. To switch back, extract the 3 files in the "136" folder into the main AoW folder."

To elaborate, the download of DevEd is a .zip file called devedit.zip. You're supposed to unzip it to ".../Age of Wonders/Release". This creates a folder called DevEdit in the Age of Wonders/Release folder. And in the DevEdit folder there are two subfolders. One is called 136 and the other one is called dev.

If you're having toruble understanding this, here's a picture to help you understand:

If you copy the 3 files from the folder called dev to your main Age of Wodners folder that will allow you to use DevEd, but you won't be able to play the game. If you want to play the game you need to copy the 3 files from the folder called 136 and paste them in the main Age of wodners folder. You don't have to do this every time, only after you've been using DevEd.

Lord Dragatus, 30th member of BTOOIC, The One Who Killed the Cow.

[This message has been edited by LordDragatus (edited 02-11-2011 @ 02:40 PM).]

Author

Replies:

Alphax
Member

posted 07-28-02 06:08 AM EDT (US) 26 / 87

About level 5+ units...

Offhand, I think i read somewhere that you make a level 3 or 4 unit, place it in the production queue, and then change the level of the unit. I'm not sure if it works, but try it anway.

Should this be in this thread? Nojd, please move it if it shouldn't.

~~=====================================~~ Alphax ~~==================================================~~ LASFS Operative #4 ~~=============~~The VoW Inn"I'll bribe you to change the inn link in your sig." -- TDK~~================================================================================~~

Drakken
Member

posted 08-21-02 07:59 PM EDT (US) 27 / 87

Can you actually add a new race with cities and all, and keep the old races with DevEd? If so, how do you do it without it crashing the game?

N/M I see no way to make that happen.

[This message has been edited by Drakken (edited 08-22-2002 @ 06:53 PM).]

LordDragatus
Member

posted 09-15-02 04:46 AM EDT (US) 28 / 87

I'm not sure, but I think it might be possible, but very complicated. You would need a separate tool to make the city .ILB files and unit gfx. But the main problem is that AoW was designed to host 12 races, causing problems when you pick a scenario or select races in AoWEd.

Lord Dragatus, 30th member of BTOOIC, The One Who Killed the Cow.

Drakken
Member

posted 09-15-02 09:03 AM EDT (US) 29 / 87

I'm sure there's an exe aspect to it, because of race realtions being preset...no matter their alignment.

Black Hound
Member
(id: Emperor_Bone14)

posted 10-09-02 06:43 PM EDT (US) 30 / 87

I'm experiencing a strange problem. See, I edited the Charlatan in one Release file, into another unit. However, when I saved that Release file under a different name and brought in a normal TS136 file from a mod folder, the Charlatan wasn't there, instead there was the new unit! Should I edit the new unit and give it the Charlatan's exact stats? Will that fix it? It's no big problem, it's not like the Charlatan is worth a lot of trouble over. In fact the new unit is far more fun, if more expensive, and existing Charlatans on maps are transformed into my new, improved unit.

So, should I even continue trying to fix it, even though I'm happier with it this way, or will problems come up?

[This message has been edited by Emperor_Bone14 (edited 10-09-2002 @ 06:44 PM).]

Krayduk
Member

posted 10-10-02 01:26 AM EDT (US) 31 / 87

I'm going to go ahead and guess.

You probably want to change it back. At least if you want to play Multiplayer you will. If you never play multiplayer I don't see a problem.

LordDragatus
Member

posted 10-12-02 03:01 AM EDT (US) 32 / 87

Did you save the new release file in the same directory as the TS136 release file? If yes, saving the modified file in another directory should fix the problem.

Lord Dragatus, 30th member of BTOOIC, The One Who Killed the Cow.

Black Hound
Member
(id: Emperor_Bone14)

posted 10-14-02 11:27 AM EDT (US) 33 / 87

The problem is fixed, sort of. I copied and pasted the units off of a pure Release in another folder and pasted it into the game, and that seemed to fix it. Unfortunately, now it seems that one of each race's level 3 units has been removed from their slot so you can no longer build them. I'm going to reinstall the TS136 patch, which should replace the Release file with a good one.

LordDragatus
Member

posted 10-18-02 03:02 PM EDT (US) 34 / 87

I alaways keep my different release.hss files in different folders and have never expirienced any trouble. I recomend it to all potential modmakers.

Lord Dragatus, 30th member of BTOOIC, The One Who Killed the Cow.

Nojd
Member

posted 01-04-03 08:05 PM EDT (US) 35 / 87

LordDragatus has submitted a complete Beginner's Guide for DevEd as an article, which is now available in the Mods section. Thanks!

Here it is: DevEd Beginner's Guide

LordDragatus
Member

posted 01-18-03 08:21 AM EDT (US) 36 / 87

That sort of makes the primary purpose of this thread obsolete. So from now on this is where you can ask me questions I can't answer.

Lord Dragatus, 30th member of BTOOIC, The One Who Killed the Cow.

GOJ_Warrindawg
Member

posted 01-22-03 05:54 PM EDT (US) 37 / 87

I clicked on the devedit.bat, and it said "You did not supply any of hte expected aprameters 136 or dev" and i didnt know what i meant, so i tried to go to the two different AoWED (in two seperate folders, 136, and dev) but it kept saying "A repuired .DLL file was not found. Cant remember what file it said wasnt found, but can someone plz help me! PLZ! Im so eager to create mods. Thx.

LordDragatus
Member

posted 01-23-03 04:32 AM EDT (US) 38 / 87

If it makes you feel any better I had the same problem. To make you feel even better I'll tell you how I fixed it.

First I installed DevEd to the suggested directory (Age of Wonders\Release\DevEdit) and checked if all files were installed. Then I tried running it and expirienced the problem you talked about. I solved it by copying devedit.bat two times as a shortcut (just copy it, right-click and select "Paste shortcut"). I renamed the first shortcut to DevEd and the second to 136. I rigt-clicked the shortcuts and selected "Properties". Then I selected the "Program" tab from the top of the window that appeared. see the "command line"? At the end of it you have to enter a parameter (either dev or 136).
For enabling DevEd the command line should look like this:
C:\PROGRA~1\TRIUMP~1\AGEOFW~1\RELEASE\DEVEDIT\DEVEDIT.BAT dev
For switching back to the game the command line should look like this:
C:\PROGRA~1\TRIUMP~1\AGEOFW~1\RELEASE\DEVEDIT\DEVEDIT.BAT 136

Now you should be able to switch between DevEd and the game by double-clicking the shortcuts. The shortcuts should work no matter in which directory they are.

An alternative is to use LordofMaps' Rule Changer. You'll have to copy the folder DevEdit from "Age of Wonders\Release" to "Age of Wonders" to make it work though.

Just remember the golden rule of modmaking: always back up the important files. (Ok, I made it up just now, but it's true enough.)

Lord Dragatus, 30th member of BTOOIC, The One Who Killed the Cow.

Arctic Wolf
Member

posted 02-05-03 09:59 PM EDT (US) 39 / 87

Help! Help!

I have built my own release file with devedit. I have also built several Hero Libraries based upon this release file, as well as several Item Libraries. Then I modified my entire Orcs of the Southron Kingdom Campaign (2nd branch complete and now boasting 46 maps with 8 endings) to work with this release file and those Item and Hero Libraires.

Everything works great on my computor. However I copied the release file, the item libraries, the hero libraries, and the scenarios to my laptop and Voila!! It doesn't work.

My Laptop version of AOW (1.36) is the same as my computor version. I need to know which files in the release folder must be copied, which files in the user folder must be copied and any other files that might have been created that I don't know about.

I have considered copying the entire Release folder across as well as the entire User folder but this seems like overkill as I plan to release the Campaign as soon as this is sorted out. I'm guessing most people won't want their entire User Folders and Release Folders replaced as they won't be able to keep the other mods accessable that way.

PLEASE HELP ME!!!

[This message has been edited by Arctic Wolf (edited 02-05-2003 @ 10:03 PM).]

Jadrax
Member

posted 03-26-03 07:35 AM EDT (US) 40 / 87

Possably a dumb question, haven't looked in detail but dont rember it coming up.

Is it possable to use deved to edit a races freindly and hostile terrain types?

LordDragatus
Member

posted 03-29-03 07:24 AM EDT (US) 41 / 87

Someone once wrote that the release.hss file mainly contains information about terrain and I belive that's true.

Let's put it this way:
If you changed/added any units copy Unitres.pfs.
If you changed/added any unit/hero gfx copy Unitgfx.pfs.
If you changed/added any spells copy Spells.pfs.
If you changed/added any items copy Items.pfs.
If you changed/added any item gfx copy Itemgfx.pfs.
If you changed/added any abilities copy Ability.pfs.
If you changed/added any portraits copy Faceres.pfs.

There are a few more files, but I don't know what exactly they do. Well, I do suspect that Herores.pfs contains the information about the hero types and it seems logical that TEXT.pfs would contain text (diplomatic messages that AI players send you), but concerning the others I'm unsure what their effect is.

If after copying the "known" files it doesn't work try doing the following:
On your laptop restore the original files.
Copy the modified files one by one and examine the results.

Hope this helps.

Lord Dragatus, 30th member of BTOOIC, The One Who Killed the Cow.

Arctic Wolf
Member

posted 04-18-03 04:00 PM EDT (US) 42 / 87

Thanks Lord Dragatus, That does help albeit a little late as I released the second branch already with the recommendation to others to copy entire directories. As my last branch of the campaign is nearing completion I may experiment a little along the lines you suggest to make a cleaner installation process for the campaign. I am trying to find the actual file which has the campaign intro text. I would like to modify the text to suit my campaign better. Any suggestions here? BTW I have successfully modified the relations text which sends AI messages for declaring war and such, but in the end I like the games text much better than mine so I changed it back.

LordDragatus
Member

posted 04-19-03 07:08 AM EDT (US) 43 / 87

If I remember it corectly the intro text for the campaign is in the same file as the AI diplomatic messages.

Jadrax, I'm sorry, I didn't notice your post until now. The answer: I don't know any way to modify friendly/hostile terrain.

Lord Dragatus, 30th member of BTOOIC, The One Who Killed the Cow.

Jadrax
Member

posted 04-20-03 09:18 AM EDT (US) 44 / 87

Yeah, I pretty nuch came to the conclusion it can't be done in dev edit.
Having said that, changing the race names properly looks like it requires hexediting too, so at some point I might play around with it.

Lord Hexagh
Member

posted 04-24-03 01:57 PM EDT (US) 45 / 87

Hey ppl, sorry to bust in,but I'm new to the AOW forums, and I'm very intrested in the challenge of making a mod for AOW (that improves the gameplay as well as changing it). You all sound like experts (hint), got any DevEdit tips or 'things to remember' you can share?

If this message is in the wrong forum, direct me to a more appropraite one, thanks.

Who put the coffin in my back yard??!!

Jadrax
Member

posted 04-24-03 03:56 PM EDT (US) 46 / 87

Make lots of backups of everything in the release folder. Theres a lot of changes you can make that can really muck things up.

For example changeing the race city graphics dosent seem to work and will stop you playing dead.

Only way around this seems to be to test everything you do frequently.

Lord Hexagh
Member

posted 04-24-03 05:55 PM EDT (US) 47 / 87

Cool, thanks for the advice.

Who put the coffin in my back yard??!!

LordDragatus
Member

posted 04-25-03 12:54 PM EDT (US) 48 / 87

Updated the first post, so that it includes a link to the DevEd Beginner's Guide.

Lord Dragatus, 30th member of BTOOIC, The One Who Killed the Cow.

Scorpi0
Member

posted 06-11-03 05:47 AM EDT (US) 49 / 87

About Installing DevEdit

The instructions say how to install it in 98 and 2000. . .
Does anyone know how to install it in Windows XP?

Nojd
Member

posted 06-12-03 03:51 AM EDT (US) 50 / 87

Win XP works the same way as Win 2000.

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