My second post today - wow - I must be on a roll.
For the member ' chickenstorm ' and anyone else who might just be starting to mod this excellent game - I have pasted a simple guide to using the excellent Finalbig utility that i originally posted on the official BFME2 forum.
Hope it helps some of you.
Simple modding guide
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Hi felow gameplayers,
I am no PC expert but i was asked by someone recently on this forum about how to 'alter' the game files (mod the game etc). I will share what i know below about how to do this and it works fine for me. I hope you find it usefull.
First - obviously you should have installed the game to the default folder it suggests and then patched the game with the latest official patch.
Now look in the main BFME2 folder ( which is located at Programme Files / Electronic Arts / The Battle For Middle Earth II.)
You will see a file calles INI.big.
The '. big' file extension at the end - just indicates that the lovely game files have been 'zipped-up' (just like winzip) using the game developers own special utility.
To 'unpack' or 'unzip' the INI.big files you just need the small utility called 'Finalbig'. I have version 036b by Matthias Wagner and i think this is the latest version - works fine for me anyway.
I can't remember where i got it - but it is easily availiable at many locations on the net - just do a quick search. Maybe someone more advanced then me can post a 'link' to it's location later.
Once you have it you simply run it by double clicking it's FinalBIG application.
This opens the main programme screen - clic on 'file' in the top left hand corner and slide down to 'open' and clic.
Now navigate to the INI. big in the BFME II folder and tell it to opn it.
Loads of files will fill up the Finalbig main screen page.
Now go up to 'file' again and slide down to 'extract all' and clic. It will give you a message telling you that you are about to extract all the files.
Extract them all to somewhere easy like your main desktop and WAIT a few minutes to ensure it has finished extracting (there is no progress bar or completed message - slight bummer ) 2 minutes is usually more then enough to wait.
Now you can close the Finalbig application and go to your desktop. You should have a folder called Data' and inside a folder called 'INI'
All we need is the INI folder (which is full of all the lovely game files we can adjust). You put this 'ini' folder in the 'data' folder in the main BFME II game folder.
VERY IMPORTANT !
Make a copy of this INI folder and keep somewhere safe. This is your 'pure' game files back up and can be swopped back into the game for internet play or if you have made mistakes 'modding'.
Last thing we have to do is to remove the original (zipped up) INI.big file which is still in the main BFME II folder. (You can also keep this somewhere safe if you like) The reason we HAVE to do this is that it is no longer needed since the game will use the new INI folder we have placed in the 'data' folder to load all the game files - BUT - if we do not remove it - then the game will 'prefer' to load the game files from this original INI.big file and therefore ignore your modded files in the 'data' folder.
THATT'S IT - ALL DONE!
Have fun modding the files in the new INI folder and do little changes at a time untill you get used to how everything works.
Most of the easyily identifiable changes can be made in the 'gamedata' file in the INI folder.
Hope this helps anyone neaw to modding!
P.S. Just realised there is a good 'stickied' thread about using the FinalBig utility and much more by ' BP ' Very good stuff and more advanced then me in other areas but I still feel my guide above is a little more detailed and idiot proof for those newbies who need every step mapped out. We have all been there and it is so easy to miss a step and mess everything up.
[This message has been edited by sniggles (edited 06-28-2006 @ 05:56 PM).]