Rome at War - For non-16bit Windows users.

[BF_Tanks]

Hello, Don't know if this is the right place to post, but here goes -

I'm BF_Tanks, A reasonably-well respected map designer, modder and member of Black Forest Studios - Over at Age of Kings Heaven.

It's dawned on me that Rome at War is still a popular mod, even with non-AoKH members of the Age of Empires community (Mostly with people on ModDB, GameRanger and even some on Voobly). However, Due to my status as a large-scale mod maker, I've had a few requests from people asking me if I could make a version of the mod that is useable by 64-Bit Windows users - who don't want to go through the hassle of setting up Virtual OS' for running Mod Pack Studio (Because it only works on 16-bit/32-bit OS').

I, myself, think this would be a great idea - and easily done, too. Though it would require the .SLP files which would be imported into .Drs files and then having magic worked with AGE2 to get them working brilliantly in the game. Would something like this be a possibility to consider for you guys?

Not offering to do it myself, unless asked. I'm merely suggesting.

I want to also ask if, at all, I can use SLPs myself for an upcoming Scenario Editor enhancement mod. (The successor of Enhanced Eye-Candy Editor v1)

[Wijitmaker]

Hi BF_Tanks,

I made the R@W mod over 10 years ago and I've forgotten a lot of what I did and how the tools work. But, I'd be happy let you do whatever you want with the .slp files. I'm not sure how AoK is modded these days, nor what the capabilities are. Is it possible to simply take all the .drs files from a 32 bit install and copy them into a 64 bit install in order to get the mod to work?

I could be wrong, but I think the mod was open and available for anyone to modify it in mod pack studio as they desired. I think you would just need someone with MPS installed to pull out the individual SLPs you want.

[Strongground]

Hey, that is a great thing!

If there is a way to support you doing this, BF_Tanks, I'd gladly to it (like a Flattr-button or whatever).

Just a few weeks ago I tried to install ModPack Studio and remembered that 64bit problem.

I'd really like to play a session or two with my father again.

Cheers!

[BF_Tanks]

Hi BF_Tanks,

I made the R@W mod over 10 years ago and I've forgotten a lot of what I did and how the tools work. But, I'd be happy let you do whatever you want with the .slp files. I'm not sure how AoK is modded these days, nor what the capabilities are. Is it possible to simply take all the .drs files from a 32 bit install and copy them into a 64 bit install in order to get the mod to work?

I could be wrong, but I think the mod was open and available for anyone to modify it in mod pack studio as they desired. I think you would just need someone with MPS installed to pull out the individual SLPs you want.

Nowadays we use a powerful tool called the Advanced Genie Editor 2. The things we can do with it are only ever really limited to our imagination and the hard-coding of the game.

When you say "take all the .drs files from a 32 bit install and copy them into a 64 bit install", do you mean having the mod loaded with MPS then permenantly installed, and just using those .drs files?

The way I'd make RaW into a useable-by-64bit version would be to take all the individual .slp files and add them to the gamedata or graphics.drs files. I believe Mod Pack Studio pretty much does this. It injects the new .slp's temporarily into the .drs, but keeps everything clean in one file. The thing is that Mod Pack Studio doesn't install on 64-bit operating systems like Windows 7, so some people are missing out on the great mod. The "64-bit" RaW would have more files and the installation process would be different to using MPS, of course - though we're only talking a couple more files at best. The modified Data (empires2_x1_p1/empires2_x1 for non-C patch) file and the modified .DRS file that would have all of the new SLPs added to it (It wouldn't be that big, either. We can use Gamedata_x1_p1.drs, as it's a smaller file and any slps in there will be loaded. An example of this is in the Graphics.drs file there's SLPs of an old, chunkier looking Turtle Ship, and in the Gamedata file there are the graphics we see today - and they are the same .slp number, so one can only assume that anything in Gamedata_x1_p1 overwrites whatever is in Graphics.drs).

Installing a mod using this method isn't as safe as using MPS, though - There's the risk of making the mod permenantly installed if you forget to backup the original files.

Hey, that is a great thing!

If there is a way to support you doing this, BF_Tanks, I'd gladly to it (like a Flattr-button or whatever).

Just a few weeks ago I tried to install ModPack Studio and remembered that 64bit problem.

I'd really like to play a session or two with my father again.

Cheers!

Support me?

I once had a Donations box when I was working on a large-scale project, though it never got used. I never even encouraged anyone to donate, really. I was never too fussed by it. But what is a Flattr-button?

[Wijitmaker]

When you say "take all the .drs files from a 32 bit install and copy them into a 64 bit install", do you mean having the mod loaded with MPS then permenantly installed, and just using those .drs files?

What I'm suggesting is... request all of the .drs files from a friend who used MPS and has permanently installed the R@W mod on their Windows 32 bit computer. Then take their .drs files and using windows explorer - drag and drop them into your 64 bit install (or another instance of your install - rename your original files if you'd like, perhaps a second install on another partition). I think this would allow you access to view and modify this new .drs with the Advanced Genie Editor 2 tool just like you would have used it for the original .drs files?

[BF_Tanks]

That would be possible, actually. Injecting the SLPs into the .drs is basically what I'd be doing and then sorting out the .dat file so the SLPs for the units were all correct. But actually just taking a permenantly installed .drs file and using that would be perfect, and nothing would need to be changed in the .dat file. (There's no difference between 64-bit and 32-bit AoK, so the .drs files are just the same..

I'd just need someone with mod pack studio working.

The mod could be taken further. I believe with the combination of a newly made Patch (known as the UserPatch, that edits the .exe to allow things like more terrains in the editor and more Civs and whatnot) and me modding the game using Advanced Genie Editor, we could make the Roman civs into actual new civs, instead of replacing the mesoamerican civs. Though I'm not totally sure how stable using new civs is at the moment, I can look into it.