Some questions.

[Birdy]

Hi there!

Im quite new to glest and to programming stuff. I searched the web but I found nothing that answered my questions... So here they are:

1. How to install a mod om megaglest? I know  theres a mod page but it doesnt show things like the Elvish, Dwarven or African mod... So how do you install it?

2. I downloaded the Ming and jappanese mod via the mod tab in megaglest. But when you play it you can only be japanse. Is there a way to add the jappanese mod into the megapack? (If you dont understand my question: Can you make a "ultrapack" which includes magic, jappanese, ming, tech, romains, Elves, Dwarfs ect???)

3. Can someone post a download link for the woodsman mod? (The download links in the topic dont work...)

Thanks!

[tomreyn]

Hi Birdy, and welcome to the MegaGlest forums. I'll try to answer your questions thorougly.

1. How to install a mod om megaglest? I know  theres a mod page but it doesnt show things like the Elvish, Dwarven or African mod... So how do you install it?

There's exactly one proper way of structuring a MegaGlest mod. How to do this, depends on the type of mod (techtrees, tilesets, maps, scenarios). What you listed (Elvish, Dwarven, African) are probably either factions or techtrees (which consist of one or more factions and other data). Historically modders who created factions didn't place them in techtrees, but made them available 'as is', to be placed in the existing Megapack techtree. This is no longer supported, so modders need to create their own techtree now, even if they only have a single faction and want to reuse existing Megapack content/data.

If modders have not done this, then you'll need to do it yourself. The best way to get started there is probably to install a proper techtree from the 'Game Mods' menu, such as Japanese, and to take a look at the structure it takes on disk. If you're on Linux, you will see that after installation there is now a directory ~/.megaglest/techs/japanese which contains the actual japanese faction in the faction/japanese/ subdirectory, as well as containing a set of resources/ (i.e. a structural and audio-visual definition of those things you can harvest or spend) as well as the japanese.xml file which glues it all together.

So, for a more applied view, to install those old factions you would place them in ~/.megaglest/techs/NAME_OF_TECHTREE/factions/, and you could place a copy (or a subset of) the resources directory at ~/.megaglest/techs/NAME_OF_TECHTREE/resources/ and finally you would add an adjusted copy (just the techtree and faction names will probably need adjustments) of the XML file at ~/.megaglest/techs/NAME_OF_TECHTREE.xml.

So unfortunately this mean more fiddling than you may want to do. It would be great if some modders could reorganise these old factions for MegaGlest so this becomes easier...

2. I downloaded the Ming and jappanese mod via the mod tab in megaglest. But when you play it you can only be japanse. Is there a way to add the jappanese mod into the megapack? (If you dont understand my question: Can you make a "ultrapack" which includes magic, jappanese, ming, tech, romains, Elves, Dwarfs ect???)

Yes, you can do this in MegaGlest by creating a new techtree ("Ultrapack" is what you call it) with faction links. These are just references to factions in other techtrees you have already installed so you do not need to duplicate the data. However, this is a somewhat experimental feature and it's not clear whether this would work for playing online. Alternatively you could just duplicate the data, assuming that licensing terms permit/are compatible. Finally, and most importantly, while creating such a huge techtree with lots of factions may initially seem to be desirable and make a lot of sense, you will soon realise it's actually not a good idea, since it is very hard to do the balancing which is needed to make a techtree fun to play, and this gets really difficult as soon as you're talking three or more factions. So while you can create this huge techtree technically, it won't be much or any fun to play, since everyone will just pick the most powerful faction and the others will just die.

3. Can someone post a download link for the woodsman mod? (The download links in the topic dont work...)

While your other questions would fit both places, this one definitely belongs into the mods forums. And personally I don't know the answer to it.

[Birdy]

Thanks for the answers! But...    I still dont understand how to make a "Ultrapack".....

Also, Do you know a good (FREE) program for opening 7z files?

[tomreyn]

Thanks for the answers! But...    I still dont understand how to make a "Ultrapack".....

Can you be more specific? Which part of my explanation is difficult to understand? Maybe it would help if you would ask specific questions about the process of creating a new techtree from existing factions.

Also, Do you know a good (FREE) program for opening 7z files?

7-Zip is one. ;-)

[Birdy]

Can you be more specific? Which part of my explanation is difficult to understand? Maybe it would help if you would ask specific questions about the process of creating a new techtree from existing factions.

I dont understand how to do it 

What are XML's? Can you make a guide like this one? That would realy help!

There's exactly one proper way of structuring a MegaGlest mod. How to do this, depends on the type of mod (techtrees, tilesets, maps, scenarios). What you listed (Elvish, Dwarven, African) are probably either factions or techtrees (which consist of one or more factions and other data). Historically modders who created factions didn't place them in techtrees, but made them available 'as is', to be placed in the existing Megapack techtree. This is no longer supported, so modders need to create their own techtree now, even if they only have a single faction and want to reuse existing Megapack content/data.

If modders have not done this, then you'll need to do it yourself. The best way to get started there is probably to install a proper techtree from the 'Game Mods' menu, such as Japanese, and to take a look at the structure it takes on disk. If you're on Linux, you will see that after installation there is now a directory ~/.megaglest/techs/japanese which contains the actual japanese faction in the faction/japanese/ subdirectory, as well as containing a set of resources/ (i.e. a structural and audio-visual definition of those things you can harvest or spend) as well as the japanese.xml file which glues it all together.

So, for a more applied view, to install those old factions you would place them in ~/.megaglest/techs/NAME_OF_TECHTREE/factions/, and you could place a copy (or a subset of) the resources directory at ~/.megaglest/techs/NAME_OF_TECHTREE/resources/ and finally you would add an adjusted copy (just the techtree and faction names will probably need adjustments) of the XML file at ~/.megaglest/techs/NAME_OF_TECHTREE.xml.

[Omega]

Can you be more specific? Which part of my explanation is difficult to understand? Maybe it would help if you would ask specific questions about the process of creating a new techtree from existing factions.

I dont understand how to do it 

What are XML's? Can you make a guide like this one? That would realy help!

I gotta be honest, any type of mod requires a fair bit of technological work. XMLs are the most basic of the basics, so if you don't even know what that is, nor can Google it, you'd have quite a ways to go. At the most basic level, you could navigate to the techtree folder of of the techtree which contains the faction you want to add to the MegaPack (techs/[techtree_name]) and copy the factions and resources folders into the techtree folder of the MegaPack (techs/megapack), choosing to NOT overwrite files, if prompted. Provided the resources aren't too different (as is the case in most techtrees), this method shouldn't cause any problems.

If you want to be able to still player multiplayer, you'll want to first make a new copy of the MegaPack folder, and rename the "megapack.xml" file to be the same name as whatever the you named the copied folder (with the ".xml" extension, of course). Your new merged MegaPack will not be multiplayer compatible.

Now for the tricky part. Unless the techtree happened to use the exact same attack and armour types, you're going to have to manually "merge" the techtree XML. I'd recommend that before you try to do this, see if the techtree will run in MegaGlest. If it does, then there's no new attack/armour types in the XML, and your work is done. Otherwise, read on.

If you don't know what an XML is, Google it, they're pretty basic, formatting wise, and you're just going to be copy-pasting. Now, bear in mind that it's really only practical to merge "similar" techtrees. If you wanted to put an alien faction with blasters into the MegaPack, forget it; the attack and armour types would be so radically different that's not going to work out. At any rate, you'll have to open the techtree XML files for both techtrees (the one you were copying from and the one you are merging it into). This is the only XML file located in the techtree folder. You should find a number of damage-multiplier tags. Compare the two files and copy any the mergee has that the merged doesn't into the latter. That's it.

Also may be helpful to take a look at the Glest Wiki documentation, particularly the XML/Techtree and Modding pages.

[tomreyn]

At the most basic level, you could navigate to the techtree folder of of the techtree which contains the faction you want to add to the MegaPack (techs/[techtree_name]) and copy the factions and resources folders into the techtree folder of the MegaPack (techs/megapack), choosing to NOT overwrite files, if prompted. Provided the resources aren't too different (as is the case in most techtrees), this method shouldn't cause any problems.

Actually that's exactly how you shouldn't do it, though. Do not touch Megapack. In fact, do not touch any of the data which is part of the release. Only then can you expect to get support. Any custom data should always go below the UserData_Root directory only. On Windows, when you've installed using our installers, there's a convenient Start menu shortcut to this directory. On Linux, it points to ~/.megaglest/ by default. It's safe to place custom data there, and there only.

Please do not suggest otherwise, Omega, since it does cause problems. I've seen people who had five or more extra factions in a customized Megapack, and as soon as they joined a server, others would get disconnected. Or when they hosted, others would have to download the data. It can also cause trouble to the data verification code, so you may end up with warnings on techtree differences, while there are none (besides the extra factions), or, worse, they other way around. It's simply not safe and not a good idea to mess around with the Megapack, so people should never do it, nor be encouraged to do so. It may seem simple at first, but it actually makes supporting these people difficult. So just don't do this.

It's totally fine to create a renamed copy of the Megapack below the UserData_Root directory, though. I fully agree there, and that's probably the best way to get started if you want to create a techtree which includes both the Megapack factions and other factions (though you may want to use faction links to save disk space).

[atze]

...
3. Can someone post a download link for the woodsman mod? (The download links in the topic dont work...)

Thanks!

I hope there are no problems when I upload this here, this mod is not my work. 
Got it from source here in the forum, put together.
Load it to you, and unpack it into your techs folder in the installation directory. (or when you use linux in [username]/.megaglest/techs ) If you want to share it with others (when you host a game), let the zipped file into this folder. That's all. Have fun with it. 

download: (woodsmen.7z) http://www.sendspace.com/file/pvjzjn

[Birdy]

Thx