How to Port a Mod to Age of History 2: Definitive Edition

[Łukasz Jakowski 13,386]

To port a mod to AoH2, here is a list of things to do:

 

Go to the Age of History 2: Definitive Edition game files.

#1. From the folder modsExamples/, place the folder MyOwnMod_Empty/ in mods/ and rename MyOwnMod_Empty/ to your own mod name. For this example we will use MOD_NAME/.

Now that the mod folder is set up, you can start porting the mod.

#2. Place a map folder from map/MAP_NAME/ (in this example "EarthUSGW/") in:
mods/MOD_NAME/map/

#3. Place backgrounds/ from map/backgrounds/ in:
mods/MOD_NAME/backgrounds/

And the map part of the mod is done. The map will be loaded automatically by the game.
In some cases map/data/ might also be needed.

#4. Place Civilizations from game/civilizations/ in:
mods/MOD_NAME/game/civilizations/

#5. If the mod has civs in game/civilizations_editor/ then place them in:
mods/MOD_NAME/game/civilizations_editor/

#6. Place all flags from game/flags/ in:
mods/MOD_NAME/game/flags/

#7. Place all flags from game/flagsH/ in:
mods/MOD_NAME/game/flagsH/

#8. Place all files from game/leaders/ in:
mods/MOD_NAME/game/leaders/

#9. Place all files from game/leadersIMG/ in:
mods/MOD_NAME/game/leadersIMG/

### Governments BEGIN

#10. If the mod has new Governments then place game/Governments.json in:
mods/MOD_NAME/game/Governments.json

#11. Place all government images from UI/icons/crowns/ in:
mods/MOD_NAME/UI/icons/crowns/

#12. Place all government images from UI/H/crowns/ in:
mods/MOD_NAME/UI/interface/H/crowns/

#13. Place all government images from UI/XH/crowns/ in:
mods/MOD_NAME/UI/interface/XH/crowns/

#14. Place all government images from UI/XXH/crowns/ in:
mods/MOD_NAME/UI/interface/XXH/crowns/

#15. Place all government images from UI/XXXH/crowns/ in:
mods/MOD_NAME/UI/interface/XXXH/crowns/

And all governments are done.
### Governments END

#16. Adding translations:

#17. Place the folder languages/ from modsExamples/TranslationModExample/ in:
mods/MOD_NAME/

Then you will have a file for all new translations:
mods/MOD_NAME/languages/Bundle.properties

#18. Open the file as a text file and add all or new texts from:
game/languages/civilizations/Bundle.properties
to:
mods/MOD_NAME/languages/Bundle.properties

This will allow all new Civilizations to be translated in the mod.
You can also use other languages like Bundle_tr.properties, it works the same way.

#19. If the mod has new music then place the music/ folder in:
mods/MOD_NAME/music/

#20. The same thing for sounds/:
Place the sounds/ folder in:
mods/MOD_NAME/sounds/

## NEW MAP ProvinceNamePoints.json
At the end, you need to open the game and change the map to the new map. Load it to 100%, then close the game and open it again to automatically generate the file:
map/MAP_NAME/data/ProvinceNamePoints.json
After that, move the file from:
map/MAP_NAME/data/ProvinceNamePoints.json
To your mod folder:
mods/MOD_NAME/map/MAP_NAME/data/ProvinceNamePoints.json

This generates the province name text positions and only needs to be done once.

That’s all. Never place all files from a mod directly in mods/MOD_NAME/

#21. Now you can create mod logo.png:
mods/MOD_NAME/logo.png
The logo must be below 1 MB.

#22. Then write the mod title, description, and tags for the Steam Workshop in the file:
mods/MOD_NAME/mod.txt

Example:

{
    Name: "USGW Mod",
    Description: "The best mod for the game: USGW Mod",
    
    Tags: [ "Map", "USGW", "Events" ],
    
    ChangeNote: "First release",
}

#23. Submitting a mod to the Steam Workshop:
Open the game → Go to Editor → Steam Workshop → and click the mod name and wait.