Copes Dawn of War II Toolbox

User Guide

Copernicus
June 13, 2010
Contents
1 Setup
1.1 Installation and configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
1.2 Installing file type plugins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
1.3 Uninstalling the tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2 Your First Mod
2.1 The right tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2.2 Creating a new mod . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2.3 Module files and file management . . . . . . . .
2.4 The user interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2.5 Modding the Space Marines Scout squad . . . .
2.5.1 Changing the number of squad members
2.5.2 Modifying the squad cost . . . . . . . . .
2.6 Testing the changes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2.7 Distributing your mod . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2.8 Closing words . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
3 Misc Features
Loading Mods, SGAs and other files
Drag and drop . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Default tool for module files . . . . .
Advanced RBF-Editor . . . . . . . .
RBF-dictionary . . . . . . . . . . . . .
RBF-library . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
UCS support . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Fully compatible to Corsix RBFConv
RelicChunky Viewer/Editor . . . . .
Plugin support . . . . . . . . . . . . .
DDS/TGA preview . . . . . . . . . .

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Copernicus

Copes Dawn of War II Toolbox - User Guide

4 FAQ
Im trying to load a mod but the tool tells me that the mods data:common and
attrib:common directories overlap. What shall I do? . . . . . . . . . . . . .
The tool crashed! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
What are tables and values? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
What is a Corsix style string? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
What is a UCS file? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
How can I add maps to my mod? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Id like to change the name/version/description of my mod. . . . . . . . . . .
Id like to learn more about modding. Where can I get more information? . .

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Copes Dawn of War II Toolbox - User Guide

1 Setup
1.1 Installation and configuration
Installing the tool is simple: Extract all the files from the archive you downloaded to
any destination and run CopeModToolDoW2.exe. Up on the first start of the application,
it might ask you to specify your Steam directory.
You shall then first check your options: Click on Tools->Options to open the Options
dialog (see figure 1). I recommend not changing anything besides unchecking the Use
Chaos Rising checkbox if you do not own Chaos Rising. You should also check that
the Steam Executable path points to your steam.exe. Both of the mentioned settings are
relevant for quickly starting your mod from the tool.

Figure 1: The Options dialog.

1.2 Installing file type plugins

To install a file type plugin you need to move the DLL of the plugin into the plguins/filetypes
subfolder located in the directory of the tool itself. Start the tool and double check the
File Type Manager (Tools->File Type Manager) and make sure that the tool is actually using
the new plugin for the selected file type.

1.3 Uninstalling the tool

Uninstalling is as easy as installing: Simply delete all the files you extracted when you
installed the tool.

Copernicus

Copes Dawn of War II Toolbox - User Guide

2 Your First Mod

In this tutorial you will learn how to create a basic Dawn of War IImodification. Our
first goal is to make some simple changes: We will increase the squad size of the Space
Marines Scout squad while keeping its original requisition cost.
This tutorial does not only aim at teaching you some basic modding skills but also at
giving you some more insight into Dawn of War IIand the use of my tool.

2.1 The right tool

Since the release of Dawn of War IIthe community created a variety of tools for modding
the game. Starting with Corsix RBFConv (which still works but is somewhat more
complicated to use) people modded the game, later on MartinNJs DoW2 Mod Studio
was released. This tool allowed people to easily create new mods; it combines multiple
other tools (like the afore mentioned RBFConv).
This guide will use my own tool as Im most familiar with it. If you experience a crash
make sure to post the log.txt from the tools directory in the tools thread on RelicNews.
You can find a link to the most recent version of the tool in that thread as well.

2.2 Creating a new mod

Start the tool and click on Start in the upper left corner of the tool and select New DoW2
Mod from the menu. Youll see a new dialog (see figure 2 on the next page). First, click
the Browse button and search for a file called DoW2.module which should be in your
Dawn of War IIdirectory. Well get to so called module files in a second. Now enter your
mods name into the second text box. Well just go with z_MyFirstMod this time. I like
using the z_ prefix to keep all my mods grouped but you really dont need to use it at
all ;). The Displayed Mod Name, the Description and the Mod Version are optional, we will
just leave them blank. Hit OK. The tool will now take some time to load all the files
required to continue, this may take some time. For me its usually a few seconds.

Copernicus

Copes Dawn of War II Toolbox - User Guide

Figure 2: The New DoW2 Mod dialog.

2.3 Module files and file management

Every mod for Dawn of War IIneeds a so called module file. This file should be placed in
the Dawn of War IIdirectory. A module file provides basic information about a mod like
which files to load, what this mod is called etc.. Its essential! Module files can easily be
edited with notepad or something similar.
I recommend taking a look into your module file which the tool created for you when
you used the New DoW2 Mod dialog (it also created a folder with your mods name in
the Dawn of War IIdirectory). Its name is just the same as the name of your mod. Having opened it youll see different sections, the most interesting ones for us are global,
attrib:common and data:common (which usually is at the end of the file).
Global contains general information, its pretty much self explanatory. Attrib:common
and data:common both list archive files (SGA archives) and directories. The game will
normally only load the archives (using the -dev command line parameter it will also
load the files from the directories). Everything from the attrib:common section contains
attribute information for the game, e.g. how strong a certain unit is, in which way an
ability works etc.; things listed under data:common contain data like textures, models,
scripts, maps, sound-containers and similar things.
If there are duplicate files in the archives of directories the one with the highest priority is used. Files from folders always have a higher priority than those from archives
and the archive (or folder) entry with the lowest index has the highest priority among
archives (or folders).

Copernicus

Copes Dawn of War II Toolbox - User Guide

[data:common]
folder.01 = GameAssets\Data
archive.01 = GameAssets\Archives\221_data.sga
archive.02 = GameAssets\Archives\220_data.sga
archive.03 = GameAssets\Archives\210_data.sga
archive.04 = GameAssets\Archives\200_data.sga
archive.05 = GameAssets\Archives\GameArt_DELTA.sga
Figure 3: Excerpt from the data:common section from the Dawn of War IImodule file.

For the sake of simplicity your mod should only use one folder for the data:common
section and one for the attrib:common section. My tool only loads up the first directory
to simplify the whole process.
You might also notice that your mod has a seperate folder for attrib and data while the
original DoW2.module does not. This is also a limit set by my tool which will help you
to keep the overview at all times. Changing that might crash the tool, so always ensure
to have a dedicated directory for attrib and data.

2.4 The user interface

By now the tool should have finished loading your newly created mod, its time to take
a closer look at the GraphicalUserInterface (GUI, see figure 4 on the following page). At
the left hand side theres the Directory View, youll notice that theres a tree view with
two main nodes: ATTRIB and DATA. These nodes contain all the directories and files
specified in the module file. Blue nodes represent virtual files (files from the archives)
whereas red nodes represent local files.
Using the Mode Selector right above the Directory View you can switch between a virtual only tree view and a combined tree view which shows both local and virtual files.
The virtual only tree view comes in handy when theres a local file with the same name
and position as a virtual file and you still want to access the virtual one. Right clicking
a node other than ATTRIB and DATA will open up a drop down menu using which you
can extract files.
Double clicking a file from the Directory View will try to open it. If theres a suitable
plugin found for the file type youre trying to open a new tab will be created in the File
Application View. The content of the tab depends on the file type. You can use the
buttons from the File Tab Control to close a tab or even all tabs at once.
There also is a quick way for testing your mod: Click Tools in the main menu at the
upper left and select Test Mod. The tool will then start Dawn of War IIusing your mod
and -dev (so the game loads all the files from the directories in addition to those from
the archives). The latter one is important because you can not edit any files from the
archives; as soon as you save the file the tool will extract the file and save the modified
version locally.

Copernicus

Copes Dawn of War II Toolbox - User Guide

Figure 4: The main GUI of the tool.

2.5 Modding the Space Marines Scout squad

Now that you know about the basic theory and the tool its time to get modding!
Well need to change some attrib files in order to achieve our goals. Those files type
is usually RBF (Relic Binary File) and fortunately my tool already ships with a custom made RBF-Editor. Navigate to ATTRIB/simulation/attrib/spbs/pvp/race_marine/troops
using the Directory View and double click sm_scout_marine.rbf to open that file (see figure 5 on the next page). All the files in the SBPS folder represent SquadBluePrints, the
PVP folder indicates that the files it contains are used in PVP matches. As you can see
on the right hand side of the tool, RBF files have a tree-like structure. Theyre basically
XML files burnt to some binary format.

Copernicus

Copes Dawn of War II Toolbox - User Guide

2.5.1 Changing the number of squad members

Youll need to change a few values in that file (marked in red in figure 5): squad_loadout_ext
contains the information about what the squad consists of, its got an entry called
unit_list which itself has an entry for every different entity in that squad. max and
num of that entry control how many instances of the specified entity (type, marked in
green in figure 5) the squad starts with (num) and can have at maximum (max). Set both
values to 4.

Figure 5: sm_scout_marine.rbf (SBP) opened with Copes RBF-Editor plugin.

2.5.2 Modifying the squad cost

Searching the SquadBluePrint for any way to control the squads cost well notice that
there is none. Prices in Dawn of War IIare calculated dynamically, each entity stores
information about its cost and the SquadBluePrint just sums it all up. Thus we need to
edit the EBP (EntityBluePrint) of the Space Marines Scout. Navigate to the EBP specified
by type (green marking in figure 5) and open it. Hit Save As RBF (marked in pink in
figure 5) and close the SBP file.

Copernicus

Copes Dawn of War II Toolbox - User Guide

In the EBP search for cost_ext/time_cost/cost and set requisition to 52.5 (452.5 = 370 =
210). Save and close the file.

Figure 6: sm_scout_marine.rbf (EBP) opened with Copes RBF-Editor plugin.

2.6 Testing the changes

Having made our exciting changes wed certainly like to see them ingame. Select Tool>Test Mod to start the game usign your mod and start a new PVP match. I recommend
playing against any AI enemy as you can only play with other players if theyve got the
exactly same mod installed and running. Lets see the changes ingame (figure 7 on the
following page).

Copernicus

Copes Dawn of War II Toolbox - User Guide

Figure 7: Our changes ingame.

2.7 Distributing your mod

Before even thinking about distribution you should ensure that (if you have any thirdparty files e.g. from other mods in your mod) you own the right to publish anything
shipping with your mod.
Releasing your mod is quite easy for you: Select Tools->Release Mod to pack your mod
into archives (one for attrib and one for data). In the new dialog (see figure 8 on the
next page) make sure to check Create Installation Instructions and Create Simple Launcher.
Select an output folder where the tool shall store the files. The tool will then create a
new module file, a launcher and some instructions on how to install the mod.
Packing your mod might take some time depending on the amount of files it needs to
pack. Youll be notified as soon as the tool has finished preparing your mod for distribution, you may then choose to open the output folder. In the output directory you will
find a directory which contains your mods archives and all the other files generated by
the tool. The only thing left to you is creating a ZIP archive and uploading the mod to
a website1 so people can download it.

e.g. http://www.filefront.com

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Copernicus

Copes Dawn of War II Toolbox - User Guide

Figure 8: The Release Mod dialog.

2.8 Closing words

Congratulations, youve successfully created your first Dawn of War IImodification - yet
there still is a lot to learn, much more than I can cover in this tutorial. You should now
try to learn about UCS as youll certainly need it in the near future, advanced RBFediting will come in handy as well. SCAR scripting is interesting for anyone who likes
to change the concept of the game itself instead of just changing some numbers.

3 Misc Features
Loading Mods, SGAs and other files
The tool is capable of loading both mods (Dawn of War IImodule files) and SGA
archives; it also supports some other file types. You can review which plugin is used
for what file type by opening the File Type Manager(Tools->File Type Manager).
Drag and drop
Theres support for drag and drop; you can simply drop module files etc. on the tool
to open them. However, some features dont work for a file which is not associated
with a mod.
Default tool for module files
Using Open with... from the Windows context menu for files you can set this tool as
the default application for Dawn of War IImodule files.
Advanced RBF-Editor
In the past if often took a long time to convert and modify RBF files. With the RBFEditor shipping with this tool its easier than ever before to change any aspect of RBFs.

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Copes Dawn of War II Toolbox - User Guide

If the tool recognizes any filepaths in RBFs it will automatically present you a collection
of other files from that directory so you can quickly modify relationships between RBFs.
RBF-dictionary
Using the RBF-dictionary you can specifiy default-values and search-paths for certain keys of RBF-values. Every release already includes a quite complete dictionary,
but you may of course add your own entries. Right-click any value in the RBF-editor
(in the table view) and select Add Value To Dictionary to add the selected value to the
corresponding key. Experienced users only: Manually editing the dictionary allows
for more control and grants you the ability to add custom searchpaths. Open the tools
directory and look for rbf_dictionary.txt. If that file does not exist, simply start and close
the tool once. Inside it youll find instructions on how to edit the dictionary manually.
RBF-library
The RBF-library allows you to store snippets (RBF-Values) from RBFs and tag them.
Tagging your entries enables you to quickly insert them in the right places; e.g. tagging
an entry from the RBF-library with actions will include it in the dropdown list of Insert
From Library Into Table everytime you right-click on a table called actions. RBFs can of
course have multiple tags. Adding values to the RBF-library is easy: Right-click any
value in the RBF-editors treeview and select Copy Into Library. Youll be prompted to
enter a unique name for your entry and at least one tag. In the RBF-editor click the
Open RBF-library button to open the RBF-library in a seperate window. You can copy
values from the library as youd do it in the RBF-editor. Experienced users only: Editing the RBF-library from outside the tool is just as easy: Open the directory of the tool
and search for rbf_library.txt. If that file does not exist, simply start and close the tool
once. Inside it youll find instructions on how to edit the library manually. But beware
and doublecheck everything, the tool isnt forgiving about mistakes and you can pretty
easily screw up your whole library.
UCS support
Its easy to quickly add new UCS strings and insert their indices right away, the RBFEditor even looks up indices for you! The tool will automatically create a new UCS file
for your mod starting with an index of your choice.
Fully compatible to Corsix RBFConv
The included RBF-editor is fully compatible to Corsix RBFConv, it allows you to copy
any value as a string readable by Corsix RBFConvand it is capable of converting strings
created by Corsix RBFConvto RBF values.
RelicChunky Viewer/Editor
You can view RelicChunky files using this tool. A lot of files used in Dawn of War
IIactually are RelicChunky files. Just double-click any file, if its a RelicChunky the RelicChunky Viewer/Editor will open, otherwise it will be opened using a very basic texteditor. If you dont know what RelicChunky is then youll probably never need this

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Copes Dawn of War II Toolbox - User Guide

feature.
Plugin support
If the tool does not support a specific file type, feel free to write a plugin for it on
your own. You can find a base file for plugins in the filetype plugin example subfolder.
As the tool is .NET based you can use any .NET language; the base file however is in C#.
DDS/TGA preview
The tool ships with a plugin which allows you to view DDS and TGA files from
within the tool.

4 FAQ
Im trying to load a mod but the tool tells me that the mods data:common and attrib:common directories overlap. What shall I do?
Mods created by the tool itself will never have overlapping data:common and attrib:common directories, so it seems like youre trying to edit another mod or the original
Dawn of War IImodule file (DoW2.module). If youre trying to edit the original module
file, better create a new mod using the tool and select the original module file as a base
module. Otherwise you need to manually edit the module file and change the first directory entry of the attrib:common section so it differs from the first directory entry of
the data:common section. See section 2.3 of this document for further help.
The tool crashed!
Post the logfile (log.txt) from the tools directory in the tools thread at RelicNews.
What are tables and values?
Every RBF file consists of lots of RBF-values which in terms consist of a key and a value.
There are five different types of values: integers, floating point values, strings, booleans and
tables. The key is always a string though. A table value is a value which can hold other
RBF-values.
What is a Corsix style string?
A Corsix style string is a string which is compatible with Corsix RBFConv. Its another
representation for the content of RBF files and usually looks like this:
ability_ext: {
| $REF: "entity_extensions\ability_ext";
| abilities: {
| | ability: "ability\pvp\race_marine\sm_repair_pvp";
| | ability: "ability\pvp\race_marine\scout\sm_damage_aoe_grenade";
| | ability: "ability\pvp\race_marine\scout\sm_stun_aoe_knockback";
| };

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Copes Dawn of War II Toolbox - User Guide

};
Corsix style is useful for posting parts of a RBF file (or the whole file) in forums or
any other text-based way of communication. Using the included RBF-Editor you can
convert any value to Corsix style: Just right-click the value and select Copy As CorsixString. You can also convert any Corsix style string to RBF using the inbuilt RBF-Editor.
Right-click any table and select Insert Value From Corsix-String Into Table, then insert
your string and hit Done.
What is a UCS file?
A UCS file contains localized text for every language. You can find the original
UCS file for your language in GameAssets/Locale/<your_language>/DOW2.ucs. Your mod
however should use an own UCS file. The tool will automatically create a UCS file as
soon as you add a UCS string (CTRL + U or Tools/Add UCS String). Every UCS string
has an index, everything which uses UCS strings will refer to a specific string using its
index.
How can I add maps to my mod?
This depends on whether the map is already packed into an SGA or not. If it is,
use Tools/Mod Settings to add it. Youll need to select the proper section (which is
data:common), click the Add SGAs button and select the maps youd like to add. The
tool will then copy these maps into your mods archive directory. If the map(s) youd
like to add are not packed, just copy them to <your_mods_directory>/Data/maps/pvp or
<your_mods_directory>/Data/maps/ffa (depending on whether the map is FFA or not).
Id like to change the name/version/description of my mod.
Use Tools/Mod Settings to change various global aspects of your mod.
Id like to learn more about modding. Where can I get more information?
You should visit the modding forums on RelicNews.

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