Serp66

Aight, I somehow got it to work. Downloaded a mod that increases command points, but that's the only thing it does (link is here, it's just a .big file https://www.moddb.com/mods/more-cps).Plus I renamed it with "__" to make it load last. Serp could you tell me why is it working, I edited this file as well with more command points plus added "__". and the game crashed.

thanks, I'm also currently learning modding, and I did not know that you can change command points limit without overwriting the whole gamedata.ini, that is great

Do you unpack/pack the big file with finalbig editor? And with what program do you edit the ini file? There may be text editors, that destroy formatting when saving, try notepad++.

And I learned you dont even need to pack the ini in a big file. you can simply put the "command_point_increase.ini" in data/ini/object folder in your game directory and it will be the last one loaded (after all your big files)

ok, I found out the differnce between merging asset.dat with art and the -mod command.
The -mod command is properly merging , and solves duplicates, by using the latest one. While merging art with the old asset.dat with help of Sy's Tool, wont merge it correctly, but may contain duplictates, resulting in non properly functional asset.dat. (same for ini files).

So I had to extract all textures/w3d and terrain files from the big files and big files within "apt" folder. Then I can put the new textures (eg from HD mod) and so on into those folders and replace duplicates. With that art file, I need to create a completely new asset.dat, with help of the EA Asset Builder (Sy's tool does not work here for whatever reason). The "missing dll" error of that builder is solved by copying the dll from the game directory to the builder directory.

This new asset.dat replaces the odl one in instalaltion directory. It will not work, if you put it into a .big file. But of course make sure you put the art folder from HD mod back into a big file.

So this is kind of solved
I may attach my new HD mod structure to this post, but first I will test it more, to make sure there are no problems left over.

 

Something is still overwriting the patch106

rename the patch file to "__patch106.big", so put more "_" in front of it. This may make sure, that it is loaded last. It is alphabetically.

@Mathijis: @Miraak5:

So my next try was, to merge the HD files with the game files. I used "Sy's Assetbuilder (for whatever reason it worked now) to merge the art folder of HD patch (unpacked with finalbig), with the asset.dat of the game (version 1.06). So this new asset.dat is now within the installation directory and the art folder is within a .big file named with "_z" at beginning, so it is loaded last and also put in installation directory.

But for whatever reason, all units/buildings changed by HD mod, are invisible now ingame.
I'm quite sure I did everything correct. I also tried to put the asset.dat within the big file.
And I tried the same for the edain mod (from bfme1), and there everything worked.
I tried it for the "Dwarf Holds" mod, which is also started via -mod command, but there I could not even start the game, got a crash report.

So my current conclusion is:
the -mod command may merge the arts in asset.dat differently, than the AssetBuilder? Therefore I can recreate/merge edain and other mods, that never used the -mod command, but I can not convert those -mod mods.

Maybe you can clarify why this does not work or how I can convert a -mod with asset.dat to a "normal" mod?

same issue. why publishing a "patch.exe" that is downloading the patches?! hundreds of links already dont work for such an old game, so why making a "download" patch?! Please put the files itself into the all-in-one patch!