New to AoW-SM. A few questions about Community-made contents

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Age of Wonders 2 Heaven » Forums » General Discussion & Suggestions » New to AoW-SM. A few questions about Community-made contents

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Topic Subject: New to AoW-SM. A few questions about Community-made contents

AfoBetta
Member

posted 10-07-21 08:07 AM EDT (US)

Good day to all.
As the title says I am new to AoW-SM. I have not even played it yet and am still trying to work out how to install and patch / mod it so to best benefit down the road from all the amazing content made by the Community.

By the way, my respects and congrats to all those who contributed in keeping the interest in AoW-SM going so many years after its release. What was accomplished is very impressive.

So, I spent a good amount of time reading, collecting and organizing the files that seemed to fit a 'modern' AoW-SM installation. But I stil lhave a few questions.

Let's start with my understanding of the situation:
-There are 3 'bases' that still are or were until fairly recently actively maintained : Brave New World v3.2 / MP Evolution 2.0.4.209 / Unofficial Patch 1.5 (going farther back one can find more, but I guess my best bet is to keep to the recent ones). An Unofficial Patch 1.6 is also under development (Wow!)
- I read that the unofficial patch 1.4 should generally be considered as the default because it is widely used and retrocompatible with mods/maps/scenarii for previous versions. So I installed it. It also seems to come with an older 'base' called DWIGGS 5.0. The setup alllows to choose between 1.3/1.4/DWIGGS 5.0 as need be.
- I have installed MP Evolution on top of u1.4 and I seem to be able to start either MPE or still any 1.3/1.4/DWIGGS 5.0 verisons at will.

Now to my questions:
-Is there any reason to not install MPE on top of u1.4?
-Does the unofficical 1.5 patch also offer complete retro-compatibility? In other words is there any reason not to install 1.5 such as to benefit from older mods/maps/scenarii? I tried to install and see by myself and I am now offered the setup choices 'default' (which I assume is 1.5) / Patch_13 (which I assume is 1.3) / up_14 (which I assume is the unofficial patch 1.4) but DIWGGS is not there anymore. Also the starting screen of AoW-SM still says "uPatch 1.4" though I selected the 'Default' setting. (During the installation I did get the message "An error occurred trying to download 'http://aow2.net/install/ModEditor.application'." but hopefully it will have no consequence if I never use the Editor to create/modify content, just play already made content).
-What about DWIGGS 1.4 (I understand it is more recent than 5.0?). can it be installed along 1.5+MPE?
-If I go for installing MPE on top of u1.5, then the installation sequence seems to be: Unofficial Patch 1.4 -> Unofficial Patch 1.5 -> MP Evolution 2.0.4.209 -> Upatch1.5 for MP Evolution. Correct?
-What about Brave New World? Can I install it on top of 1.4+MPE/1.5+MPE and still switch between any of those?
-And finally: in the download section it is possible to filter downloads according to he 'base' they are for (AoW2/AoW-SM 1.3/1.4/1.5/MPE/BNW).

Thank you in advance for any insight.
Cheers

[This message has been edited by AfoBetta (edited 10-07-2021 @ 08:22 AM).]

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Replies:

Ziggurat Mason
HG Cherub

posted 10-07-21 07:25 PM EDT (US) 1 / 5

Sorry for the slow reply.

MPE is a mod - but it's also an engine upgrade with an easy mod switcher and mod editor. It should be considered mandatory as the baseline, IMO. Then you can install anything else as a mod to be played within that engine, though you might need to find the MPE mod folder location and install it there IIRC.

Unofficial patches such as 1.4, 1.5, 1.6 are always retro-compatible. Only total conversion mods like Dwiggs, BNW etc may not be.

[This message has been edited by Ziggurat Mason (edited 10-07-2021 @ 07:26 PM).]

AfoBetta
Member

posted 10-07-21 09:31 PM EDT (US) 2 / 5

Thank you for your answer.

On the base of what you said I went for a unofficical patch 1.5 + MPE installation.

I find myself with two sets of shortcuts to launch the game:
- one that starts the base AoW-SM (u1.5 I suppose though the menu screen still says 1.4) with its own settings program proposing 'default'/ Patch_13 / up_14, and its editor.
- another that starts the MPE version also with its own settings program (with no choice of resources so I suppose it only uses u1.5) and editor.

From you answer I gather that there should be no reason to launch a non MPE version. So I should be only using the latter set of shortcuts, right?

Ziggurat Mason
HG Cherub

posted 10-10-21 05:17 PM EDT (US) 3 / 5

MPE's "Mod Editor" lets you switch between installed mods. But it can only select mods which have been placed in the following folder:

C:\Users\Public\Documents\Age of Wonders - MP Evolution 2\Mods

A mod (or ruleset as we used to call them for AoW1) consists of about 20 files, mostly with .pfs endings, in a folder, that's what you need to put in the above directory in their own folder. So it'd be C:\Users\Public\Documents\Age of Wonders - MP Evolution 2\Mods\YOURMOD and then inside YOURMOD would be the 20 or so .pfs and other files.

So 1.5 or 1.6 will either have replaced the contents of the vanilla game's Resource folder, in the game's actual directory, (the Resource folder contains the "default ruleset") or it will have placed the new ruleset somewhere in the directory and you should be able to find it fairly easily. Then you can just copy those into the MPE directory in a folder you rename to whatever you like, and you will be able to select that mod via MPE's Mod Editor.

Mods also use graphics and sound files sometimes, those just go in the usual place in the game's actual directory.

Sorry if this explanation is vague, I haven't actually played AoW2 for a while.

[This message has been edited by Ziggurat Mason (edited 10-10-2021 @ 05:18 PM).]

AfoBetta
Member

posted 10-11-21 09:55 AM EDT (US) 4 / 5

Thank you!
Between your explanations and further search and reading I think I was able to install MPE + uP1.5 (even 1.6 actually) properly and understand how to use them (hopefully).

Let me summarize the process here as a reference for possible other newcomers and as my (albeit minuscule) contribution for the Community:


Installing MPE + UPatch 1.6
---------------------------

NB for links to the UPatch 1.4, 1.5, 1.5 Mod Editor and to MPE see the Upatch 1.6 post https://www.dropbox.com/s/v612wqsp4xgfd2i/AoWSM_UPatch_v15.exe?dl=0

1 Install the Unofficial Patch 1.4
2 Install the UPatchV1_5
3 Install the MPEvolutionV2.0.4.209 patch (it will give an error saying it didn�t not successfully install the editor). This wil create 3 new icons (MP Evolution editor,
MP Evolution settings, MP Evolution which should be from there on used instead of the original game shortcuts
4 Install the UPatchV1_5 Mod Editor (by copying the Editor folder into the AoW-SM base folder). Create a shortcut to it.
5 Install the Upatch1.5 fix for MP Evolution
http://aow2.heavengames.com/downloads/showfile.php?fileid=1197
6 Install the 5 Unofficial Patch 1.6  (It is a work in progress!) by dropping and replacing the contents of
- "AOW" to the AoW-SM base folder
-"USER PUBLIC DOCUMENTS" to C:\Users\Public\Documents\Age of Wonders - MP\Evolution 2\Mods
7 Enter in the Mod Editor (ModEditor.exe). Select the Upatch 1.6 (as default)

If everything is configured properly, the unofficial patch 1.6 should be mentioned on the main screen (when you launch the AoW � MP Evolution application) and if you run the
custom Editor (AoW � MP Evolution editor) you should see all the new creatures and heroes.

Also (optional): 
Activating the cartoon mode is done by running the cartoon_mode_on.bat file inside the AoW-SM directory (it turns all the shields and flags should off)
DeActivating cartoon mode is done by running cartoon_mode_off.bat and choosing the �All� option

Cheers!

[This message has been edited by AfoBetta (edited 10-11-2021 @ 11:07 AM).]

Gavinfoxx
Member

posted 09-25-22 08:59 PM EDT (US) 5 / 5

Where do I find the "UPatchV1_5 Mod Editor" mentioned in step 4?

Ah, the folder is 'Mod Editor' not 'Editor', I see.

For step 5, where do I copy the contents of that upatch5 folder in the zipped file to?

[This message has been edited by Gavinfoxx (edited 09-25-2022 @ 09:20 PM).]

Age of Wonders 2 Heaven » Forums » General Discussion & Suggestions » New to AoW-SM. A few questions about Community-made contents

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