Battle Map Buildings - M2TW
Overview
Battle map settlements and ambient buildings in M2TW are controlled by the .world files in the data/settlements folder.
As yet only limited alterations to the settlement and buildings can be made. A variety of editors have been released by KnightErrant which make elements of the files viewable and modifiable, but to date there is a limitation in that the numbers of elements in each file can not easily be varied.
Discussion and research on this issue has largely taken place in the World Modified thread. Most of the research findings so far have been discoveries made by Argantonio.
How Settlements are Selected
Which settlement or ambient turns up in the game for each specific use is controlled by a .worldpkgdesc file. Each .worldpkgdesc file calls one specific .world file - the .world file name and location is specified inside the .worldpkgdesc file, that and other parameters can be amended with a hex editor. The .worldpkgdesc files can be located anywhere inside;
- data/settlements or
- mods/my_mod/data/settlements
they will all be read when M2TW loads (prior to reaching the menu). NOTE: the game reads ALL the .worldpkgdesc's inside the data/settlements folders, so beware of leaving copies of old ones lying around in there that you don't intend to be read!
The .worldpkgdesc options that can be used in M2TW (upgraded to the latest patches) now include, culture type, environment and faction, so each different faction could technically use different settlements instead of setting settlements purely at culture level.
World File Components
Each 'world' must have a .worldcollision file - this has to have the same name as the .world file and be located in the same folder - the path to this file cannot be specified separately.
Each .world file contains the names and paths of:
.worldpathfinding
.worldterrain
.animinstances
files and the textures and masks used in that world. These paths can be altered with a hexeditor or using the write and load textfile functions of KnightErrant's world editor programmes.
