Installing mods
Installing Mods
MegaGlest has a wide variety of mods.
If Mods have a good stage and are fully playable, titi ( or anyone else of the MegaGlest team ) makes them available in the ingame-ModCenter. This is the first place you should look for new stuff ;-) .
Other mods have to be installed manually.
Installing mods via ingame Mod Center
MegagGlest has an ingame Mod-Center that let you install a lot of mods already. If the mod is not available in the mod center you have to install it manually
Installing Mods in network games
If you join a network game, MegaGlest lets you download all needed maps/tilesets/techtrees automatically. Just press "yes" :D .
To make this work Tilesets and Techtrees must be available as 7z archives, placed side by side to their tileset/techtree folder positions. ( bananworld.7z must be placed in same folder as banaworld/ and must have the same content ) Maps don't need a special treatment, they are available as they are because maps are VERY small in MegaGlest.
Manual installation
Sometimes a manual installation is needed because you the mod is just available as a download somewhere.
Archives
Because mods are usually a compilation of multiple files, they are usually compressed into an archive. This is a special file format that greatly reduces filesize and ensures that all the files are available together. In order to use the files, you must first extract them from this archive. Common archives used for Mod packing are:
- 7z - One of the most common, this is the 7-Zip file format, and has the best compression rate. The free program 7zip is required to extract/archive them. This is the native way MegaGlest uses to distribute Mods ingame or via modcenter.
- zip - This is still used by some modders, but is not very common anymore, due mostly to its poor compression rates. Windows, Linux, and Mac can all extract and compress zip files by default, as can the program 7zip.
unusual formats
- rar - A less common program because free tools can only decompress it. 7zip (free) or winRAR (commercial) can extract these files. Only winRAR can archive in this format. Using this format is not recommended because it is a proprietary format and that clashes with the free beliefs of Glest.
- tar.gz / tar.bz2 - This is a duel file format. First, the data is stored with the tar format, then compressed with Gzip/Bzip2. If extracting, you must extract TWICE (once for the gz/bz2, once for the tar file). Linux can extract by default, as can the 7zip program.
Install locations
The mods are installed in the homedirectory of the user. Once the game was started one time you will find the following folders in your home directory. In Linux this location is in ~username/.megaglest ( typically this is in /home/username/megagglest ).
In Windows you will find those folders in ???? ( please update if you know )
|------------maps ("Map" files go here)
|------------scenarios ("Scenario" folders go here)
|------------techs("Techtree" folders go here)
|------------tilesets ("Tileset" folders go here)
|------------tutorials ("Tutorial" folders go here)
Maps
Maps should be a mgm (megaglest map) file. All mgm files are placed in the maps folder. ( original glest gbm files work too, but are deprecated )
Scenarios
The scenario's folder needs to be placed in the scenarios folder of Glest. In GAE, it goes in the gae/scenarios/category folder (where category can be any folder name desired, as they are just ways of sorting the scenarios).
Techtrees
Techtrees Techtree's are simply copied into the techs folder. How do you know if its a techtree? Open the folder, and if there is a resources folder, it is a techtree. If there isn't a resources folder, its a faction (see above).
Tilesets
Tilesets go into the tileset folder of Glest.
Tutorials
In the original Glest and MegaGlest, tutorials go in the tutorials folder. In GAE, they are treated like scenarios (see above).
Full Conversions
Full conversion typically come as standalone game. ( for example Annex_Conquer_The_World ). They have there own installer or installation procedure.