Tipping the balance, in your favor

[kane1]

Just like SHoWW2, FoW, and MoW, this game can be changed. You can't change the saved games, but you can change stuff like a M3 into a Tiger. So far I've changed tanks, added more spots (order of battle), gave myself more points to use and made my troops vets. The game isn't as forgiving as the other games, but it's still a lot of fun to play! Here's a vid,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PxSzd4xgyhI

[kane1]

So far this is want I can change, light tanks into heavy tanks, trucks into tanks, change arty guns. Give more deployment spots, you can put your whole army in the game. More points to spend. Change your troops into vets(this one takes time, you have to do it for each soldier). Change the ai's support into mine, arty, bombers, whatever. Change the friendly ai into my troops. So far with these changes I can win on regular and hard without reinforcements.

Ok, changing some American tanks into Tigers has a bad side effect, the tanks can't move. They can still fight but their stuck. I'm trying to work it out.

[kane1]

If anybody wants to try the first USA mission with the added changes let me know. I'm using version 1.1.0.

[Nokturnal]

Could you possibly tell people where to find the files that can be edited?

I haven't taken a look yet myself, still too busy enjoying the campaign without cheating. But it'd be nice to know for when the time comes.

I assume the editing is done much the same way it's done in MoW (though not using the saved game files)? Changing names or ID #s of units?

Anyway, seeing as nobody else has replied, thanks for once again taking the time to figure this stuff out and inform other players.

[kane1]

Your welcome, thanks for the interest. I just found out about this game a little while ago. I really like it's realism. I started a "how-to" post and it kept getting bigger. For someone like you who's got experience with changing stuff, your looking for the "Mission" file here is the path on my computer;
F:\game install here\Theatre.of.War.2.Africa.1943\Theatre of War 2\Missions\USA\Faid
This example is for the first mission for the USA. Yea that's right it's copy and paste. It's a little different than MoW but I'm sure you can figure it out, and your right it's not a saved game file so if you haven't backed it up and you make a mistake your sc@#wed.
What I think I'll do is show how to change 2 or 3 of the more important things and zip it, so keep checking back. Once again thanks for the interest and I hope my tips have given you a few more hours of fun with MoW.

[Nokturnal]

Yes i saw the post when you had first found the game and i knew it wouldn't be long before you edited something.
I've actually stopped playing MoW because i don't get enough computing time these days and ToW 2 requires so much time just to play one mission. But it's always worth it.

I'll be sure to back up the mission files before trying, thanks for pointing me in the right direction.
Still got a couple of German missions left so i might tackle those first, or just edit completed missions instead.

Still waiting on Red Tide and the other expansion for some more MoW fun. But by then the new ToW games will be out and i'll have to flip a coin.

[kane1]

Ok, this is how to add points and deployment spots. Before you use this tip first make sure you backup your files, also any time you mess around with game files sometimes you get unwanted effects. So far giving myself a lot of points has had no bad effects, on the other hand giving myself more deployment spots has crashed the game(I can still play till the end of the mission but I can't continue.) and some of my tanks and stuff end up outside the set-up grid. I've figured out how to enlarge the set-up grid but that's another post.

This example is for the USA's first mission. Using this path(it might look a little different on your computer) locate the "Faid" folder and open in

F:\game install here\Theatre.of.War.2.Africa.1943\Theatre of War 2\Missions\USA\Faid

Your looking for the "Mission" file (make sure you back it up!) Open with a text editor like notepad. Scoll down until you see this

	<ArmyComposition>
		<Cost>2650</Cost>  These are your points just change it to whatever you want.
		<Outdated />
		<Permission>
			<CompoundFilter>
				<Places>6</Places>   These are the deployment spots, just change it to what you need.
				<filter>
					<Classification>TANKS</Classification>
				</filter>
			</CompoundFilter>
			<CompoundFilter>
				<Places>5</Places>
				<filter>
					<Classification>DETACHMENT</Classification>
				</filter>
			</CompoundFilter>
			<CompoundFilter>
				<Places>3</Places>
				<filter>
					<Classification>ARMOREDCAR</Classification>
				</filter>
			</CompoundFilter>
			<CompoundFilter>
				<Places>2</Places>
				<filter>
					<Classification>FLAK</Classification>
				</filter>
			</CompoundFilter>
			<CompoundFilter>
				<Places>2</Places>
				<filter>
					<Classification>ARTILLERY</Classification>
				</filter>
			</CompoundFilter>
			<CompoundFilter>
				<Places>2</Places>
				<filter>
					<Classification>CAR</Classification>
				</filter>
			</CompoundFilter>

Yours will look different cause this has already been changed. When your done just close it and save. If something went wrong just replace it with your backup file. That's it.

[gunho]

hello kane im not sure if something is missing i remember seeing that you had also how to change tanks procedure is it still here can you give a quick rundown on how to change tanks like you had american to german plz let me know thanks