Slitherine

I would like to mod some of the sounds in this game but all I see in the sound/UI/turn folder is the new turn sounds - is there another folder I'm missing somewhere?

Der_Kuenstler wrote:I would like to mod some of the sounds in this game but all I see in the sound/UI/turn folder is the new turn sounds - is there another folder I'm missing somewhere?

Well, if you found that folder, you probably also know where the music is: C:\Program Files\Slitherine\Order of Battle - WWII\Order of Battle - WW2_Data\Content\Music (PC download; Steam similar; don't know Mac).

But I wager you are looking to tinker with other sounds like explosions, aircraft flying, vehicles moving. I believe those files are embedded along with unit pictures and a bunch of other stuff in the huge resources.assets file in C:\Program Files\Slitherine\Order of Battle - WWII\Order of Battle - WW2_Data\.

Now, I know from experience that it is possible to crack that file and make changes in it. I also know that it is difficult to do and requires a hacking tool (can't think of another term for it). I could point you in that direction but I will not because I probably said too much already. (Watch this moderator get banned, now! )

The game developers do not approve of tinkering with resources.assets file; they view it as proprietary. Certainly, if you run into trouble, you will not be able to appeal to Tech Support for help.

@bru: How do you know all this stuff? Do you spend every waking hour inside OoB and the game folders? Certainly is impressive.

Andy2012 wrote:@bru: How do you know all this stuff? Do you spend every waking hour inside OoB and the game folders? Certainly is impressive.

Thanks, I try. As I said to you recently,

. . . for some reason, OOB really clicks with me. Brings me back to childhood? Coincides with my historical interests? Who knows. OOB and OOTPB (Out of the Park Baseball) are the only two games that have ever taken up much of my waking hours on a consistent basis month after month, year after year.

OK - it sounds like more work than it's worth, then - thanks!

The game developers do not approve of tinkering with resources.assets file; they view it as proprietary.

Wait a second ... if the unit images are in that file then by implication that would mean the Artistocrats don`t allow people to mod them. If such a thing would have happened in a 2d game like PzC we`d have no mods basically.

Back in March 2016, I was expounding a bit in these forums about opening up resources.asset, going so far as to post a "how-to" here. (All I was doing was extracting event photos but I remember that was rather difficult to do just in itself.) At that time, I received the following message from adherbal, which I am hoping he will not mind me posting here since I don't want to disturb him about it. I don't see any harm in sharing it (fingers crossed):

adherbal wrote:Hi Bruce,

Just so you know, we're not really happy about a widespread use of these resource hacking tools. While - as long as the content is used to mod our own game - it's probably not strictly "illegal", it kind of undermines the effort we're putting into moving more and more of the game graphics and sounds to open folders. We strongly prefer to promote the usage of mod folders (compatible with the mod launcher) instead, which the hacked resources files don't support.

Hope you can understand.

Cheers,

- Lukas

I did understand . . . it was "cease and desist" or else! Just kidding.

But I think the point that he made was to not use the forums to promote hacking resources.assets although technically there is nothing illegal about it. If you know / find out how to do it, go for it but don't talk about it here.

Also, upon reading his message once again, I realized that I had overlooked this the first time I read it: "We strongly prefer to promote the usage of mod folders (compatible with the mod launcher) instead, which the hacked resources files don't support." That kind of modding is WAY beyond what I know but again, if you know / find out what he was talking about, go for it and in this case, feel free to talk about it here!

The way he phrased it you`d think they just want to control the way modding is done for OoB. I.e. mod-foldered versus overwriting content. I find it hard to think it`s just about that. While mod-foldering has its merits (though I personally don`t think it`s worth the trouble in practice), I consider that controlling modding outside of inevitably hardcoded content is somewhat silly and will not endear developers to any community (game communities tend to gravitate around modding that game). Besides, unless I`ve misplaced my gaming history, Adherbal comes from a very known modding family (the Lordz). The Napoleon TW mod they`ve made for Rome Total War many years ago was groundbreaking in more than one respect. And modding RTW was really hard let me tell you. It took the RTW community years to learn how to make some of the thing required and the release of several modding tools by modders. CA itself was not exactly modding friendly, but to their credit they`ve never tried to stop people make, release or popularize any of the extractors and convertors that gave access to the official graphics and audio content, nor editing of such content. And the RTW modding community was huge and prosperous. Now go take a look in the dedicated sub-forum above. Maybe there`s a connection.