DoD Modding and Mod Installation Guide (Updated 6/5/2012)

THE CORRECT WAY TO ZIP UP A MOD

It's simple. You start with your smattering of folders -- most mods will have a Mod folder, a Skills folder, an Items folder, and maybe a Sprites folder or some such -- and then you zip THOSE FOLDERS directly into a .ZIP file with your mod's name.

So Essential DoD Skills.ZIP has the folders Mod, Skills, and Items in it. Directly. There is no intervening "Essential DoD Skills" folder you have to click through before you get to the Mod, Skills, and Items folder. If there were, the mod wouldn't load correctly.

Sorry to sound pissy, but I've had to unzip, correctly rearrange, and re-zip almost every mod I've downloaded, and I've downloaded all of them.

 

I'm interested in starting to mod this game, and I've taken a few glances at the .xml files... yeah. Just wondering, is adding skills or adding items more complicated? I figure the best way to start is to take baby steps...

 

Adding items requires graphics work, but it's much simpler to add a single item than it is to add a single skill set.

 

Sorry if I wasn't clear. It's _not_ that you want to delete entire files. My post was in response to someone describing a problem that sounded like the _default_ skills were showing up twice. If that was the problem, one possible reason would be that they included the entire original skillsDB file in their mod, and just added their own new skills to the end of that file. If that was the case, the proper solution would be to delete everything in the new skillsDB file except their own new content.

If that's not what was going on, then I'm not sure what the solution would be (as I can't be certain what the problem is based on the information in the original post I was responding too).

Having had a little more experience since then, I now _suspect_ that they were describing that they had two mods in the folder where mods go, and the game was not properly loading them. Something where only one mod loads, but any skills it adds display more than once. At the moment, the proper solution is to keep all your mods in a separate location, and only move the one you plan to play with this time to that folder. It's an annoying extra step (and limitation) that we Mac users have to go through until the devs fix it. Given that the mod manager is clearly still a work-in-progress (total conversion doesn't work, various files randomly can't be added to, etc), I expect that they will get around to fixing it. They've been very active here, and very good about updating the game. Best to be patient (but remain squeaky, per the proverb/cliche about wheels).

 

Thats what I'm doing now. I'll remain patient. This game has great playability to be able to do that.

 

Well, the other option is to do what Raust did and combine mod files into a big package.

 

ok so i made the mod folder and added the mod.xml folde and im confised causei dont have the spell and skill folders, am i supposed to get that from the mod or make them? can someone just tell me how to install Essential DoD Core Skill Rebalance v.0.1 plz? thx

 

It should be in C:/Users/[your name]/Documents/Dungeons of Dredmor/Essential DoD Core Skill Rebalance/

 

ok i have to make it called that?

what do i put it btw and do i zip it or not?

 

You put in it everything in the downloaded file. Don't zip it.

 

Ok this is what i have in the Essential DoD Core Skill Rebalance v.0.1 folder within the dungeons of dredmor fold. Also i took the mod.xml from Raust and renamed the stuff. Is this correct?

 

actually this picture is better because it show where it is

Is this correct?

 

No, that folder at the top needs to go into a /mods/ folder. Other than that it's in the right spot.

 

ok well its not showing up in the mods launcher, or does it just work with out the mod launcher?

 

He just told you. In that folder make a mods folder. In that mods folder put the mod's folder (actually given the immutability of core skills that mod in particularly might require a manual install).

 

i put the Mod's folder in the /mods/ folder lol. but i think its something different for this specific mod... D:< Y U NO TELL ME WHAT I ASK IN FIRST PLACE.

 

Well we were saying how to install mods. That mod has to directly replace the skillDB and spellDB (back them up first btw) at C:\Program Files\Steam\SteamApps\common\dungeons of dredmor\game

 

oooh ok i get it. I replaced them and ill go check if it work, and this time i know it does no effect mod launcher.