Modding Darkside / WotN without the Editor

[MattCaspermeyer]

Originally Posted by jahes64

Thanks for reuploading KB_DB_EDIT and guiding me in using it but README.TXT file that you mentioned does not exist in it! Please upload README.TXT too.

My bad, I should have checked the ZIP file - I've edited my post and added another ZIP that includes the README and another "0.75" version of KB_DB_EDIT. Just use the one that you find works best as I'm not sure why there are so many "0.75" versions!

Originally Posted by jahes64

Btw I went for KBscaner for scanning saves to choose the best save before I start a new game, then I noticed that KB_DB_EDIT_0.75_eng.zip exist in my KBScaner archive! After comparing the file that I found with the one that you uploaded, I noticed that the file that I found in KBScanner archive is twice larger and its time stamp is newer than yours but its icon is of lower quality even though version number of both are the same.
Still README.TXT is missing.
Not sure but I think what I found is newer, so I attached it here.

I forgot that KBScanner includes KB_DB_EDIT - the whole savegame file is dumped as if it is a LOC file (and other files, too).

Originally Posted by jahes64

I made a new session and saved it but it was saved in same directory that the editor asked its address when i started it for the first time. But I failed to load LOC files in it for edit purpose!
At best I managed to load LOC file from Misc/view storage file... just for viewing purpose. And what is more, after loading LOC map was not loaded, I just got a list!
How to load Darkside maps in it?


Ok, I will do it.

Someone loaded the Legend maps into it - there is a post about it in the Editor forum, so hopefully it gives you some hints how to do it.

I can see I'm going to have to go find the folder for you where it stores the sessions you're working on...

Matt

[MattCaspermeyer]

Okay, here is where the King's Bounty Editor game data is located if you're going to use it:

<WINDOWS DRIVE>:\Users\<USER NAME>AppData\Local\VirtualStore\Program Files (x86)\1C Company\King's Bounty. Armored Princess\sessions

On my system, mine is located here:

C:\Users\Matt\AppData\Local\VirtualStore\Program Files (x86)\1C Company\King's Bounty. Armored Princess\sessions

So you should be able to find your King's Bounty Editor sessions under there that will include any new data you create (maps, etc.).

I made a new session and called it "sunset" so there is a sunset folder under there...

Good luck and keep posting questions here...

Matt

[jahes64]

Originally Posted by MattCaspermeyer

My bad, I should have checked the ZIP file - I've edited my post and added another ZIP that includes the README and another "0.75" version of KB_DB_EDIT. Just use the one that you find works best as I'm not sure why there are so many "0.75" versions!

Thanks, but that readme file is in Russian, which is of no use to me. Is there no English version of it?

Originally Posted by MattCaspermeyer

I forgot that KBScanner includes KB_DB_EDIT - the whole savegame file is dumped as if it is a LOC file (and other files, too).

You mean this tool can edit saves too?

Originally Posted by MattCaspermeyer

Someone loaded the Legend maps into it - there is a post about it in the Editor forum, so hopefully it gives you some hints how to do it.

Ok, I will try to find that post.

Originally Posted by MattCaspermeyer

I can see I'm going to have to go find the folder for you where it stores the sessions you're working on...

Matt

For me "1C Company" folder does not even exist here:
<WINDOWS DRIVE>:\Users\<USER NAME>AppData\Local\VirtualStore\Program Files (x86)\

I made another session and saved it, but again it saved in the folder that I had given its address to the editor first time that I ran the editor. (I chose a folder outside windows drive because damned "windows" folder of win7 grows up as time passes.)

That session is saved here for me (a single .strg file):
D:\_games\kbaddon\sourcemedia\terrain\in_progress\ map202

Anyway, I copied m_atrixus folder from
D:\GOG Games\King's Bounty - Dark Side\sessions\darkside\locations
to
D:\_games\kbaddon\sourcemedia\terrain\in_progress
and ran the editor, this time its name was in the list for me to choose for loading it in the editor.I loaded the map, found that bad positioned stack, corrected its location and saved it. But none of those files were updated (all had same checksums), instead a new file was created with .strg extension! I put it in mods folder, ran the game and went to fight that stack but nothing was changed!!! Then I closed the game, moved that file from mods folder to m_atrixus folder beside the files that it corrects, and ran the game again, but still position of that stack was not changed.

Should I put .strg files elsewhere to work???

[jahes64]

After not getting desired change, I said to my self: Updated file might be somewhere in editor's directory and so went to find it. Fortunately enough, I was right!
And found updated files here:
D:\GOG Games\Kings Bounty Crossworlds GOTY\sessions\orcs\locations\m_atrixus

I was surprised when I saw more than one file has been updated for a simple position change! Here is their names:

m_atrixus.atoms.loc
m_atrixus.embryos.loc
m_atrixus.land.loc
m_atrixus.lus.loc

I copied those updated files to mods folder and ran the game. Fortunately now position of that stack is corrected, but some textures such as Texture of the bridge before that stack are missing.

Do you know how can I fix this problem?

[MattCaspermeyer]

Originally Posted by jahes64

Thanks, but that readme file is in Russian, which is of no use to me. Is there no English version of it?

Man! I can't believe I keep screwing this up! Okay, I now updated the ZIP file to contain both the Russian and English README file - sorry about that!

Originally Posted by jahes64

You mean this tool can edit saves too?

Yes and no - you can use it to edit save game files, but there is a checksum that I don't know where it is stored and so if you edit it, recompile, and continue, when you finish the game it will label you a cheater when you get your final score.

However, you can use it to create cheater save games if you want to try out stuff!

Originally Posted by jahes64

For me "1C Company" folder does not even exist here:
<WINDOWS DRIVE>:\Users\<USER NAME>AppData\Local\VirtualStore\Program Files (x86)\

I made another session and saved it, but again it saved in the folder that I had given its address to the editor first time that I ran the editor. (I chose a folder outside windows drive because damned "windows" folder of win7 grows up as time passes.)

That session is saved here for me (a single .strg file):
D:\_games\kbaddon\sourcemedia\terrain\in_progress\ map202

Anyway, I copied m_atrixus folder from
D:\GOG Games\King's Bounty - Dark Side\sessions\darkside\locations
to
D:\_games\kbaddon\sourcemedia\terrain\in_progress
and ran the editor, this time its name was in the list for me to choose for loading it in the editor.I loaded the map, found that bad positioned stack, corrected its location and saved it. But none of those files were updated (all had same checksums), instead a new file was created with .strg extension! I put it in mods folder, ran the game and went to fight that stack but nothing was changed!!! Then I closed the game, moved that file from mods folder to m_atrixus folder beside the files that it corrects, and ran the game again, but still position of that stack was not changed.

Should I put .strg files elsewhere to work???

Okay, you have the GOG version of the game and I have the Gamer's Gate version. It looks like they store stuff in different places, but it looks like you have it figured out...

By the way, the STRG files I could never get to work properly with KB_DB_EDIT - they seemed to hang it so be wary of that if you try to mess with them.

Originally Posted by jahes64

After not getting desired change, I said to my self: Updated file might be somewhere in editor's directory and so went to find it. Fortunately enough, I was right!
And found updated files here:
D:\GOG Games\Kings Bounty Crossworlds GOTY\sessions\orcs\locations\m_atrixus

I was surprised when I saw more than one file has been updated for a simple position change! Here is their names:

m_atrixus.atoms.loc
m_atrixus.embryos.loc
m_atrixus.land.loc
m_atrixus.lus.loc

I copied those updated files to mods folder and ran the game. Fortunately now position of that stack is corrected, but some textures such as Texture of the bridge before that stack are missing.

Do you know how can I fix this problem?

I'm not sure how to fix the texture problem as I think that is something to do with the editor - you'll have to check the editor threads and see if someone ran into a similar problem.

But now that you have a new LOC file, you can do a file compare by decompiling both the old one and new one with KB_DB_EDIT (hopefully the file doesn't change massively, but if it does, just find the stack and compare the data). You should then manually be able to edit the decompiled LOC TXT file and then recompile it and you shouldn't have to worry about the texture problem.

By the way, the fact that more than one LOC file is generated could mean that the position of the unit is stored in a different file - that EMBRYOS file has info on the game's "embryos", but I don't know if it stores their position. One thing you can do, though, when you find the stack in the decompiled LOC file is note the various ID's associated with it and you can search on those (typically) and find that ID in the other decompiled text file(s).

Well, it sounds like you're starting to get dangerous and figuring stuff out on your own!

Keep plugging away at it and you'll be a pro in no time! Then you can school us!

Matt

[jahes64]

Originally Posted by MattCaspermeyer

Man! I can't believe I keep screwing this up! Okay, I now updated the ZIP file to contain both the Russian and English README file - sorry about that!

Ok, thanks for uploading that file.

Originally Posted by MattCaspermeyer

Yes and no - you can use it to edit save game files, but there is a checksum that I don't know where it is stored and so if you edit it, recompile, and continue, when you finish the game it will label you a cheater when you get your final score.

However, you can use it to create cheater save games if you want to try out stuff!

Then I won't bother with editing saves.

Originally Posted by MattCaspermeyer

Okay, you have the GOG version of the game and I have the Gamer's Gate version. It looks like they store stuff in different places, but it looks like you have it figured out...

By the way, the STRG files I could never get to work properly with KB_DB_EDIT - they seemed to hang it so be wary of that if you try to mess with them.

Before finding updated files I changed extension of that file from .strg to .loc and put it on mods folder, which resulted at receiving error when I tried to run the game. Guess those are some temporary files that are useless.

Originally Posted by MattCaspermeyer

I'm not sure how to fix the texture problem as I think that is something to do with the editor - you'll have to check the editor threads and see if someone ran into a similar problem.

But now that you have a new LOC file, you can do a file compare by decompiling both the old one and new one with KB_DB_EDIT (hopefully the file doesn't change massively, but if it does, just find the stack and compare the data). You should then manually be able to edit the decompiled LOC TXT file and then recompile it and you shouldn't have to worry about the texture problem.

By the way, the fact that more than one LOC file is generated could mean that the position of the unit is stored in a different file - that EMBRYOS file has info on the game's "embryos", but I don't know if it stores their position. One thing you can do, though, when you find the stack in the decompiled LOC file is note the various ID's associated with it and you can search on those (typically) and find that ID in the other decompiled text file(s).

Well, it sounds like you're starting to get dangerous and figuring stuff out on your own!

Keep plugging away at it and you'll be a pro in no time! Then you can school us!

Matt

Ok, I decompiled all those 4 files and then compared them with "total commander", and it found at least 100 differences in each file!

After some testing I figured out that {X}{p} is dealing with position of stacks! Probably x,y and z along with their decimals make that number.

So a simple replacement of that number did the job and now everything is alright.

Now I am off to read modding forum and play previous installment a few times before trying to mod the game. Developer really have abandoned the game midway! Warriors of the north along with its expansion was the best in series (though companion part of it was its biggest flaw).
Read my post here:
http://forum.1cpublishing.eu/showthread.php?t=229563

[MattCaspermeyer]

Originally Posted by jahes64

Ok, thanks for uploading that file.

Shubetcha!

Originally Posted by jahes64

Ok, I decompiled all those 4 files and then compared them with "total commander", and it found at least 100 differences in each file!

After some testing I figured out that {X}{p} is dealing with position of stacks! Probably x,y and z along with their decimals make that number.

So a simple replacement of that number did the job and now everything is alright.

Now I am off to read modding forum and play previous installment a few times before trying to mod the game. Developer really have abandoned the game midway! Warriors of the north along with its expansion was the best in series (though companion part of it was its biggest flaw).
Read my post here:
http://forum.1cpublishing.eu/showthread.php?t=229563

Fantastic find here! So {X}{p} is the position - that is good to know! I tried to see if the number of hexadecimal values was divisable by 3, but it has 16 values, so I'm not sure how the x, y, and z coordinates are generated from that number. That's where the editor came in handy for you though, since it generates those numbers for you.

Great job figuring all this out - I think you now see that using KB_DB_EDIT for small changes works wonders as long as you know what to change!

The editor can help with figuring things out or if you want to do a big mod like the Red Sands people did, then you pretty much have to use the editor.

Keep plugging away and post your progress from time to time!

Matt

[jahes64]

The Legend has been created with another engine, thus extension of its files differ, do you know how can I load its files inside Crossworlds' editor???

Fantastic find here! So {X}{p} is the position - that is good to know! I tried to see if the number of hexadecimal values was divisable by 3, but it has 16 values, so I'm not sure how the x, y, and z coordinates are generated from that number.

Guess some special formula is involved in generating this strange number!

[MattCaspermeyer]

Originally Posted by jahes64

The Legend has been created with another engine, thus extension of its files differ, do you know how can I load its files inside Crossworlds' editor???

There is a post in the editor forum where someone stated that they had indeed loaded the "The Legend" files into the editor. There were some things not working, but for the most part they were imported okay.

I'm not sure how to do that, but you may be able to post in there or PM the person who did it to see if they are still around and hopefully they'll get back to you.

I don't know the exact post, but if you go through the editor topics you should be able to find it since it is only a few pages.

Good luck!

Matt