A Begginers Guide 2 Ini Modding, By TOMBARNNET

The Tools.

First of all the purpose of this guide is to help newb's get started with basic and advanced modding. And will teach you how to edit basic items ingame for example unit attacks, damage, armour etc.

First of all before you can start modding you need an editing tool. I would recomend XCC which can be found here.

http://xccu.sourceforge.net/utilities/

You want the program

Download it and save it to somewhere safe like your destop. Double click on the file and extract it using winzip. Click on browse and choose a destination path.

Now after unzipping the file you want to open it. Double click on it.

Click on the writing displayed C: Program files, EA games, The battle for middle earth, Data, INI.
Then highlight all of the text right click and select copy. When this has completd close XCC and return to the desktop.
Click on my computer and follow this path C:/Program Files/EA Games/The Battle For Middle Earth/Data/INI

Basic Editing

Now in this folder you will find the files that you can edit. Find the file

and open it this file is probably the easiest to edit. On your keyboard use 'ctrl and f' To acess the find box. I know its tempting to edit all your favourite units but please dont until you get the hang of it! Otherwise you risk mucking up your game. If this does happen however attempt to fix it, if not reinstall.

Itot ox type

There you are youve found it.

Here is a simple guide to what each line does.

First of all try editing something easy like buildcost and time. Change buildcost to 10 and buildtime to 1.
Go to file up the top left and save then exit. Now go to C:/Program Files/EA Games/The Battle For Middle Earth
and find a file called gamedata, move it to the desktop. Do not delete it. Now open up BFME and test your edited soldier. You can do this for all units in the gamedat.ini file.


The Playertemplate, How To Move Heroes To New Factions


First of all go here My Computer/C:/Program Files/EA Games/The Battle For Middle Earth/Data/INI

Find the file

Open it.

Should look like this.

The only difference is i have different heroes. All you have to do is add the names listed under BuildableHeroesMP.

The only ones that you cant add here are as follows. (I will teach you how to add these in a later guide, Dont add these or you will muck up your game.)

Then save and your done test this.



Adding/Moving units.

Firstly open commandset.ini. Now find GondorBarracksCommandSet which looks like this:

Now to add a unit,I will use Rohans Elven Warriors as an example Simply add this.

To the barracks commandset so it now looks like this.

Remember to change the numbers so they go up in order. This can be done with any unit.
Another example, how to add wargs and uruks to the mordor orc pit. And if you want their upgrades.

First find this MordorOrcPitCommandSet

And change it to this.

As you can see ive added wargs,uruks and added 3 upgrades for them. Remember to change the numbers as you go.


Changing Summoned Units Lifespan.

Open your ini folder here

And open

and type in "lifetime" in the find box.Change the values, (Baring in mind the time is in milli seconds!)

But if you want the summoned unit to have no time limit delete this section.

Creating Grond In Skirmish

Two Files need edited :

Commandset.ini
Commandbutton.ini

I'll start with Commandset.ini, first find this :


CommandSet MordorSiegeWorksCommandSet
1 = Command_ConstructMordorCatapult
2 = Command_ConstructMordorSiegeTower
3 = Command_ConstructMordorBatteringRam
4 = Command_Sell
End


And replace it with this :


CommandSet MordorSiegeWorksCommandSet
1 = Command_ConstructMordorCatapult
2 = Command_ConstructMordorSiegeTower
3 = Command_ConstructMordorBatteringRam
4 = Command_ConstructMordorGrond
5 = Command_Sell
End


Now, we head over to the Commandbutton.ini

Find this :

CommandButton Command_ConstructMordorGrond
Command = UNIT_BUILD
Object = MordorGrond
Options = NEED_UPGRADE CANCELABLE
NeededUpgrade = Upgrade_StructureLevel3
TextLabel = CONTROLBAR:ConstructMordorGrond
ButtonImage = BMGreatSiegeWorks_Grond
ButtonBorderType = BUILD ; Identifier for the User as to what kind of button this is
DescriptLabel = CONTROLBAR:ToolTipBuildMordorGrond
Radial = Yes
InPalantir = Yes
ShowProductionCount = Yes
; UnitSpecificSound = GondorArcherVoiceBuy
End


And replace it with this :


CommandButton Command_ConstructMordorGrond
Command = UNIT_BUILD
Object = MordorGrond
Options = NEED_UPGRADE CANCELABLE
NeededUpgrade = Upgrade_StructureLevel1
TextLabel = CONTROLBAR:ConstructMordorGrond
ButtonImage = BMGreatSiegeWorks_Grond
ButtonBorderType = BUILD ; Identifier for the User as to what kind of button this is
DescriptLabel = CONTROLBAR:ToolTipBuildMordorGrond
Radial = Yes
InPalantir = Yes
ShowProductionCount = Yes
; UnitSpecificSound = GondorArcherVoiceBuy
End

You can now create Grond.


Getting Rid of the Forged Blade Upgrades Glow


To do this do the same as above but search for:

You have now got rid of the unrealstic glow.


Getting Rid Of The Intro Movies.

Go here C:\Program Files\EA Games/Data/Movies.

And delete the following files.

NewLineLogo.vp6
THX.vp6
EALogo.vp6
intel.vp6
And for the story 242.vp6

Installing Mods

Now for those of you who have problems installing mods read this. Most downloaded ods come with instructions, some of which can be hard to understand. Generally with most mods you download,they come with a file called

. To use the mod you will need to replace the existing INI with the downloaded one.
This is where you will find the INI,

. Simply move the INI in this folder to the desktop and then overite the INI here

With the downloaded INI. Some mods may require you to also manually add asset.dat files as well, simply follow the instructions in the readme.


Installing Maps

To install player made/doenloaded maps simply extract them and place them here.

Getting Campain Maps In Skirmish
'
Simply open up XCC,Finalbig extract the

to '

Then play them,baring in mind the levels where you dont start with a camp,castle,expansion plot etc arnt playable :|


REALLY great thanks to TOMBARNNET for this

woah that looks good if i had the attention span to read it

There is no INI file in data.

Its just because he calls the FOLDER a file