Modding guidelines
From VCMI Project Wiki
Creating mod
To make your own mod you need to create subdirectory in "Mods" with name that will be used as identifier for your mod.
Main mod file called mod.json and should be placed into main folder of your mod, e.g. Mods/myMod/mod.json
All content of your mod should go into "Override" directory, e.g. Mods/myMod/Override/
- TODO: separate content and override folders
- TODO: support for .zip archives
Example of how directory structure of your mod may look like:
Mods/
myMod/
mod.json
Override/
data/ - unorganized files, mostly bitmap images (.bmp, .png, .pcx)
config/ - json configuration files
maps/ - h3m maps added or modified by mod
music/ - music files. Mp3 is fully supported, ogg may be added if needed
sounds/ - sound files, in wav format.
sprites/ - animation, image sets (H3 .def files or VCMI .json files)
video/ - video files, .bik or .smk
Creating mod file
All VCMI configuration files use JSON format so you may want to familiarize yourself with it first.
Example of how mod.json should look like:
{
// This is description on how files are organized in your mod
// Make sure to replace "myMod" with name of your mod
// In most cases you do not need to modify anything else in this field
// TODO: make this entry optional
"filesystem":
{
"":
[
{"type" : "dir", "path" : "ALL/MODS/myMod/Override"}
]
},
// Name of your mod. While it does not have hard length limit
// it should not be longer than ~30 symbols to fit into allowed space
"name" : "My test mod",
// More lengthy description of mod. No hard limit
// TODO: show it in some kind of mod manager
"description" : "My test mods that add a lot of useless stuff into the game",
// Priority in which your mod will be loaded. Bigger priority will make mod load later
// and override whatever changes were made by previous mod
// Can be modified by user as well as by game so this field is more like a hint
"priority" : 20,
// Following section describes configuration files with content added by mod
// It can be split into several files in any way you want but recommended organization is
// to keep one file per object (creature/hero/etc) and, if applicable, add separate file
// with translatable strings for each type of content
// See "additional links" at the bottom of page for descriptions of each of these formats
// list of creature configuration files
"creatures" :
[
"config/myMod/creatures.json"
],
// list of factions/towns configuration files
"factions" :
[
"config/myMod/creatures.json"
]
//TODO: following types of content are not yet implemented.
// List of hero classes configuration files
"heroClasses" :
[
"config/myMod/heroClasses.json"
],
// List of heroes configuration files
"heroes" :
[
"config/myMod/heroes.json"
],
// List of artifacts configuration files
"artifacts" :
[
"config/myMod/artifacts.json"
]
}
