First of all I am pulling most of this from: http://dow.finaldeat...DNWikiHome.html

It IS OUT OF DATE, like many, many years and several expansions out of date. But I will be trying my best to update and pull only relevant information from it. Also if there is anything wrong please correct me and I will update this post.

I am going to start with basics of modding, file types and there uses. Understanding this is required for modding.

.SGA - A proprietary compressed file, this stores all game data that can be changed. So anything that isn't controlled directly by the engine.

.LUA - A powerful scripting language, implemented in many games as an easy way to make changes. .SCAR files are based on this.

.SCAR - Scripting at Relic, SCaR files are used to implement game modes and other fun stuff.

.RGD - Relic Game Data (I think), these are compiled version of the attribute data that you are editing. This is what you will be working with for the most part.

.AI - Files for controlling the AI.

.Module - A config file for defining files required for a mod or expiation to load, more details will be in another post.

.TGA - Targa Image files. Note: All TGA files need to be 32 bit, with the alpha transperency layer on, else they will be replaced by pink in game.

.RSH - Texture files requires special tools to work with.

.DDS - Texture files can be edited by standard programs.

.WTP - Texture files, these are uncompressed, multi-layered textures that allow team-colouring for use in skirmish/multiplayer.

.RTX - Texture files, these are compressed, single-layered textures (basically a compiled version of a WTP with a specific colour scheme) that can be assigned to a player in a game via SCAR, or are used in skirmish/multiplayer when team-colouring is turned off.

.WHM - Model files, some one else can give the info on these.

.WHE - Model files, see above...

.SGB - Map files, made with the map editor.

.SCREEN - This is for UI layouts.

.RAT - Relic Audio Tool, sound files round 1, sound effects.

.FDA - Proprietary sound file, sound files round 2, a MP3 like file that requires a particular tool to edit. They are converted from .AIF or .WAV files.

.UCS - Localisation files, these can be used to localise mods without having to mess with game logic.

.NIL - Inherited Game Data, no idea what this does little information on this.

If there are any other files that you find or need information on please contact me.

Edit: Added .WTP and .RTX as per Kasrkin84's information. 

Edit 2: Added .UCS files.

Edited by daxx367, 09 March 2018 - 11:23 PM.

I will add this to the master list. 

There's also two more types of textures: WTP and RTX.

WTP are uncompressed, multi-layered textures that allow team-colouring for use in skirmish/multiplayer.

RTX are compressed, single-layered textures (basically a compiled version of a WTP with a specific colour scheme) that can be assigned to a player in a game via SCAR, or are used in skirmish/multiplayer when team-colouring is turned off.

There's also two more types of textures: WTP and RTX.

 

WTP are uncompressed, multi-layered textures that allow team-colouring for use in skirmish/multiplayer.

 

RTX are compressed, single-layered textures (basically a compiled version of a WTP with a specific colour scheme) that can be assigned to a player in a game via SCAR, or are used in skirmish/multiplayer when team-colouring is turned off.

Are there any particular tools required to work with these files?

Are there any particular tools required to work with these files?

 

You need a few tools yes. For the both of them you can download this:

Texture tool 

It's super easy to use. You take the skins you want to edit, and open and close them with this tool. Long story short. This tool turns f.eks a wtp file to 5 image files, and back again.

Tutorials here.

​To get the wtp files, you either need to download one or take it from the game directly. The easiest way to do this is to use the Corsix mod tool, and go to the art files and right clik on the unit's wtp files and press make a copy.

To edit the files I recommend paint.net image editor. It's 10 times faster to use than the gimp tool. I also recommend downloading grim colour reaper for this as a very good addon.

To save the images in the correct format before turning them to wtp files, the best way is to use saint paint studio. 

May sound complicated, but is a quick process once you know how to do this. Have fun. 

The Dawn of Skimish 3.20 Advanced AI mod already has a built-in tut anyone can use for many years.

Shows you the basics of AI modding in DoW1.

It is contained in the ai\doc folder of each and every mod project that uses our advanced AI.

Hi I'm new to modding DAW (apart from general game rebalancing via Corsix).

I'm trying to sort the loading screen image. It needs to be .dds format. I downloaded the "NVIDIA_Texture_Tools_Exporter_for_Adobe_Photoshop_2020.1.3" in order to allow me to export in this format. When I come to save I am met with a lot of options and whatever I choose doesn't seem to save in a format that works.

Currently, .dds files are shown correctly in the windows File Explorer. Any time I try saving it displays as a internet explorer logo. 

Anyone got any ideas of the correct settings?

There are also .nis files used by ingame cinematics. And .ter files that set up campaign skirmish battles and hold other territory info like what honor guard and how much planetary requisition it gives.

Hi I'm new to modding DAW (apart from general game rebalancing via Corsix).

I'm trying to sort the loading screen image. It needs to be .dds format. I downloaded the "NVIDIA_Texture_Tools_Exporter_for_Adobe_Photoshop_2020.1.3" in order to allow me to export in this format. When I come to save I am met with a lot of options and whatever I choose doesn't seem to save in a format that works.

Currently, .dds files are shown correctly in the windows File Explorer. Any time I try saving it displays as a internet explorer logo. 

Anyone got any ideas of the correct settings?

Try converting it from .tga to .dds with IBBoards texture tool.


 

Use gimp, export as dds - compression DXT1, I think...? Probably the compression

Find the old wtv.exe dds viewer tool so you can open the original .dds file to see what format it is (although dxt1 would make the most sense).

EDIT:  Maybe everyone here already knows this, but .whe files are mostly human readable for easy hexediting.  Surprisingly, many of the actual values are in string format.  For example... as you probably already know, you can't just upscale a decal and have it properly upscaled ingame... however, you can lower the decal_texel_size value located in the corresponding .whe relative to the increase in texture size to fix that.  After I discovered that, I made this mod here: https://www.nexusmod...nofwar/mods/325

Edited by Daemonjax, 19 March 2021 - 11:18 AM.

UCS file format is human readable text, but uses the old UCS-2 ECS with a 2 byte BOM (little endian).

I'm not 100% sure if the game would load other file formats properly because I never tested that.  It's safer to stick with the default format.

Notepad++ recognizes the default format perfectly, but I wouldn't trust regular notepad to do it.

.WHM files are model files, but sometimes they also contains textures that were folded in -- for example the sky models.  I'm not sure what format the texture file data is in... it looks like DDS format at first glance.

Edited by Daemonjax, 09 May 2021 - 12:49 AM.