Mod folder layout?

(DiaZ) #1

Well, my map is about to get finished, and it includes so much new stuff that I’m going to release it as a mod. The question is, where do the DLL’s go? I see the original ones are in the RTCW root folder, and I don’t think you have to overwrite them if you make a mod. So, where do you put them, and how do you tell the game where to look for them? Thanks.

(DiaZ) #2

No one knows? :???:

(Salteh) #3

Are you going to release 1 map as a mod?

(fretn) #4

I suppose you are talking about a single player mod ?

if you do, I want to know this also :slight_smile:

have tried (10 minutes :wink: ) it in the past but didn’t got it to work :frowning:

fretn

(DiaZ) #5

Yup it’s single player. I want to release as a mod mostly because it includes new stuff in the DLL’s. With a mod I mean that it will run for a folder that is not /Main, not that it’s going to be a totalconversion or something. It just includes a lot of non-rtcw stuff.

(fretn) #6

how the hell did you test your new stuff in the dll ??? :slight_smile:

fretn

(DiaZ) #7

Overwritting the RTCW DLL’s with mine. It’s not a good way to go, that’s why I ask if there’s another way to do it :slight_smile:

(fretn) #8

lol :slight_smile:

fretn

(kat) #9

did you do a search for ‘mods’?? There should still be a post that sock commented on, most people just make SP pk3s and drop those into the main folder but what you should do (the recommened approach) is to create a subfolder to the RtCW directory. Mine for instance reads like this…

X:\Program Files\Return to Castle Wolfenstein\SPKAT

Any files you create (including the new *.dlls) go in there and follow a similar structure to the default install… (where ‘…’ = your folder name)
… extures
…\maps
…\etc…\

You then need to create the *.BAT file (copy/paste what’s posted in that thread mentioned above) which is the ‘exe’ that starts your mod running from your folder.

If you get it set up properly you can change anything you want, not just content but the actual interface as well… if you look at my website the general design for that site is exactly what the interface to my own SP stuff currently looks like…

[EDIT] like to that page…
http://www.splashdamage.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=382&highlight=mini+mod

(DiaZ) #10

Yep, that’s what I’ve done for the map/texture/ui/notebook stuff because those files go into rtcw/Main folder and thus can be put on another folder to be used as a mini-mod (e.g. rtcw/liner which is what I am using). But the point is that DLL’s go in rtcw/, not rtcw/main, so if I put them in the Mod directory the game won’t find them. Is there a command for this?

(fretn) #11

"[DRIVE]:Return to Castle WolfensteinWolfSP.exe +set fs_homepath main +set fs_game rtdm +set nextmap “spmap rtdm” +exec

aha ! I think the +set fs_homepath yourmod is the one we were looking for :slight_smile:

I only used the +set fs_game parameter

I’ll try it tonight

fretn

(DiaZ) #12

It doesn’t work :frowning:

(fretn) #13

/me looking at digibob and screams: “heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeelp !” :slight_smile:

(DiaZ) #14

Come on, I can’t believe there isn’t someone who knows about this…
No SP mods have ever been released?
I can’t release my map like this :frowning:

(kat) #15

I don’t think you can do this without effectively creating a TC. The mothod posted above works when you just create new content but as soon as you change the DLL’s you basically altering the way the game works so you’ll need to alter how that is referenced, I don’t think anyones done an SP the way you’ve done - even Ghast and he’s doing some wierd funky stuff atm…!

Look at some of the *.menu files which call various things when the game starts and see if you can alter a filepath in something to tell it too look at what you’ve done, that’s the only way I can think that you’d be able to get it to work.

(SoM) #16

Ok, here is the deal. RTCW uses the normal win32 dll loading methods (most likely anyway) which means that it will look for the DLL files in the EXE’s path first. So before RTCW can even attempt to look in any subdirs, it must first (by law of teh windows) look in your base RTCW directory for the dll files (and guess which ones it finds!)

The only way you can get RTCW to use custom dlls is to move the original dlls out of the base RTCW directory and into the Main\ subdir. This won’t stop normal RTCW from running correctly as Main\ is always in it’s search path but it will cause problems if you run SP mods that don’t have those dlls (however you can just copy the dlls to any mod dirs that need them).

So Diaz, try moving the three amigos (the standard RTCW dlls) to the Main subdir and then try running your mod with the +set fs_game parameter.

BTW, there is a reason for the DLL search order, the idea is that applications might need a modified dll but you can’t just override one that’s located in C:\Windows\System so it will look for any dll in the exe’s path first, so everyone can be happy, I’ve actually used this feature of windows before while developing programs for it. It is getting in the way now though heh.

Stephen