How-to: Create your first CoH2 Mod

Required tools/Accessories:

• Corsix's Mod Studio
  
• Dummy Archives
  
• Corsix's Lua Exploit
  
• Copernicus' SGA Extractor
  
• Copernicus' SGA Builder
  
• Notepad. You already have this.
  
• Administrative privileges
  

Rule #1: Make sure you are not running CoH2 while modding. Once -dev mode is supported again, you'll be able to edit the game in real time as well.
Rule #2: No other rules.

With this guide you will be able to set up your very first CoH2 modding environment. First, before anything else, we need to make sure you have permissions to write in CoH2 install directory.

Your CoH2 installation folder is most likely located under program files folder, which is a protected folder by default. Users with no administrative rights will be unable to edit files in this directory and if UAC (User Account Control) is On, they will get prompted with a warning dialog even though they have writing access.

To ease the modding experience, you will have to either give yourself FULL ACCESS to CoH2 installation folder or turn off UAC. Both of these actions require administrative privileges. Not having writing access to CoH2 install directory will result in a lot of issues with Modding tools and batch files. You should pick either one of the options. If you'd like to have UAC on, use tutorial #2 to edit folder permissions.

1. Turn Off User Account Control

2. Changing folder permissions (Do this for CoH2 install directory)

You will need Corsix's Mod Studio installed and some dummy archives downloaded to your CoH2 installation folder. Corsix's Mod Studio can be downloaded from Corsix.org.

You can extract the downloaded Mod Studio package to any directory in your computer. For example, you could create a new folder on your desktop and call it "CoH2 Modding tools".

Dummy archives, which are simply some CoH1 files, can be downloaded from here. They are required because Mod Studio relies on the existence of these archives: the tool will not work without them! Extract the dummy archives from the downloaded archive to your CoH2 installation directory. Make sure new folders called "Engine" and "RelicOnline" are now existing in your CoH2 installation directory.

Default path to your CoH2 installation directory:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\Company of Heroes 2

Now that we have Mod Studio installed and the CoH2 installation directory ready, we will create a .module file for your mod which will be used to describe mod properties for Mod Studio.

Start by opening Notepad and pasting in the following content:

[global]
UIName = FirstMod
Description = FirstMod
ModVersion = 1.0
ModFolder = FirstMod\

[attrib:common]
folder = FirstMod\attribArchive

[data:common]
folder = FirstMod\data

Save it to your CoH2 installation directory as FirstMod_dev.module.

What does this file do? Let's go through the lines:

UIName

Name of the mod.

Description

Description of the mod.

ModVersion

Version of the mod.

ModFolder

Path to the mod root directory in the CoH2 installation directory.

[attrib:common]
folder = FirstMod\attribArchive

Path to the folder containing attrib files.

[data:common]
folder = FirstMod\data

Path to the folder containing data files.

Your mod needs a folder system to hold all its mod files. Create the following folder system in your CoH2 installation directory:



Note that this is a very basic folder system.

You will need Corsix's lua exploit which can be found in this forum post on Relic News forums. Place the downloaded "ignore-unsigned-sga-v2b.fnt" file into FirstMod\data\font\ folder.
This Lua exploit is used to get rid of a protection system in CoH2. This protection system denies the usage of unsigned SGA archives in CoH2. It might look like illegal hacks, but don't worry. Relic has stated that they are not going to block this exploit and will not punish you for using it.

Your mod needs a locale file in order to add new locale strings. Even a blank one is required for the Mod Studio to load the mod properly.

Open Notepad and save an empty text file to FirstMod\locale\english as "FirstMod.English.ucs" with Unicode encoding. Do not use any other encoding!

Now, you can load your mod in Mod Studio by doing the following:

• Launch Mod Studio (ModStudio.exe) and select "Load CoH/OF Mod".
  
• Browse to CoH2 installation directory and select FirstMod_dev.module.
  
• Mod Studio will display a window with a label reading "Select a locale to use for this mod:". For this tutorial, select english and put a check mark next to "Remember for this mod".

You should now see your mod being loaded in Mod Studio, but there is nothing in the file tree view! Don't worry. We'll add files in the next steps. Don't close Mod Studio just yet.

In the next step we will be extracting files to your mod folders in order to edit them in Mod Studio. You'll need Copernicus' SGA Extractor for this, which can be found in this thread on Relic News forums.

Extract the downloaded package to any directory on your computer. The folder dedicated to CoH2 modding tools that you created earlier is a great place to put it.

We will now extract AttribArchive.sga. This file can be found in:

CoH2 installation directory\CoH2\Archives

Drag and drop AttribArchive.sga on cc2sga.exe, which is located in the folder where you chose to extract Copernicus' SGA extractor. A command prompt will appear to inform you that AttribArchive.sga is being extracted. The command prompt will disappear once the extraction process is finished.

Navigate to the newly created directory in:

CoH2 installation directory\CoH2\Archives\AttribArchive\attrib\

Then, go further down to:

sbps\races\german\soldiers\

Copy the "pioneer_squad" folder to your clipboard.

After this, go to:

FirstMod\attribArchive\

Create the following structure of folders inside of it:

attrib\sbps\races\german\soldiers\

Paste the copied "pioneer_squad" folder to:

FirstMod\attribArchive\attrib\sbps\races\german\soldiers\

To be able to see the new files in Mod Studio, we have to refresh its file list. You can do that by going to the "Tools" tab and by double clicking "Refresh file list". Return to the "Files" tab after this.

In the file tree view, browse to:

attrib\attrib\sbps\races\german\soldiers\pioneer_squad\

Double click pioneer_squad_mp.rgd to open it for editing.



In the data tree view, navigate to:

squad_loadout_ext\unit_list\0x4E85AA48\

Select the item called "num". This table contains the number of pioneers in a pioneer squad. Change it to 5 in the properties and click "Save".



Notice that the item "type" defines the blueprint used for each entity of the pioneer squad. In this case, it is "pioneer_mp".

This entity is located in:

CoH2 install directory\CoH2\Archives\AttribArchive\attrib\ebps\races\german\soldiers\pioneer\

You could also add this to your mod in order to edit it. Make sure to duplicate its folder structure to your mod and copy the "pioneer" folder in there.

The end result should be:

FirstMod\attribArchive\attrib\ebps\races\german\soldiers\pioneer\

You should now refresh the file list in the Mod Studio and navigate in the file tree view to:

ebps\races\german\soldiers\pioneer\

Double click "pioneer_mp.rgd" to open it for editing. Then, navigate to:

cost_ext\time_cost\cost\

In "Properties", change the value in the "manpower" field to 10.

Hit the "Save" button. You can now close pioneer_mp.rgd and pioneer_squad_mp.rgd file tabs, but it is not an absolute necessity.

We have successfully increased the pioneer squad size from 4 to 5 and lowered its cost to 10 manpower per member, which will result in a total unit cost of 50 manpower (5*10).

The next step is to pack your mod into SGA (this has to be done since -dev is currently not supported). You'll need Copernicus' SGA builder for this process. You can download it from this thread on Relic News forums. Extract the downloaded archive to:

CoH2 installation directory\FirstMod

We are extracting the SGA builder directly to the "FirstMod" folder to provide an easy access to executables via the batch file.

Make sure you have these files in your "FirstMod" directory:

pc2sga.exe
cope.Relic.dll
cope.dll

We will now create a batch file to pack your mod into SGA archives.

Open Notepad and paste in following content:

@echo off
set "location=..\FirstMod\archives\"
del %location%*.sga
pc2sga.exe attribArchive %location%FirstMod_Attrib.sga attrib
pc2sga.exe data %location%FirstMod_Data.sga data
exit

What will this do? It will remove any already existing SGA archives to prevent possible issues and then create a data and an attrib archive containing files from FirstMod\data and FirstMod\attribArchive\.

Save this file as PackMod.bat to:

CoH2 installation drectory\FirstMod 

Run it and go to FirstMod\archives\ to see if FirstMod_Data.sga and FirstMod_Attrib.sga files have been created. If so, continue to the next step.

The final step is to create a module to "tell" the game how it should load your mod. Note that the module file we created earlier for Mod Studio is completely different. Do not mix these two up!

Make a copy of RelicCoH2.module and rename the copied file to FirstMod.module. Open it in Notepad.

Scroll down to [attrib:common] and make following changes:

• Add the following line to the archive list before any other archives:
  Code

  archive.01 = FirstMod\Archives\FirstMod_Attrib

  With this line we are overriding any already existing attribute files, which is pioneer_squad_mp.rgd in this case.
  
  
• Increase other archives numbers by one. Make sure there are no duplicates. Example result:
  
  Code

  [attrib:common]
  archive.01 = FirstMod\Archives\FirstMod_Attrib
  archive.02 = CoH2\Archives\AttribArchive
  

We'll do the same process for [data:common]:

• Add to the archive list before any other archives:
  
  Code

  archive.01 = FirstMod\Archives\FirstMod_Data

  With this line we are overriding any already existing data files and adding Corsix's Lua exploit, which will allow us to use unsigned SGA archives.
  
  
• Increase other archives numbers by one. Make sure there are no duplicates. Example result:
  
  Code

  
  [data:common]
  required = 1
  folder = CoH2\Data
  archive.01 = FirstMod\Archives\FirstMod_Data
  archive.02 = CoH2\Archives\Data
  archive.03 = CoH2\Archives\Sound
  archive.04 = CoH2\Archives\MPScenarios
  archive.05 = CoH2\Archives\UI
  archive.06 = CoH2\Archives\ArtArmies
  archive.07 = CoH2\Archives\ArtEnvironment
  archive.08 = CoH2\Archives\ArtGermanEF
  archive.09 = CoH2\Archives\ArtSovietEF
  

Save changes to FirstMod.module

There are many ways to load a mod to CoH2. Here are two working methods:

Method #1 (regular shortcut):

• • Right click on "RelicCoH2.exe" and select Send to -> Desktop (create shortcut)
    
  • Default path to CoH2 installation folder in Windows 7: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Company of Heroes 2\
    
  • "RelicCoH2.exe" is located in this folder.
  
  
• Right click on your newly created shortcut. Select Properties.
  
  
• Add the following line after the last quotation mark in field called "Target" under the "Shortcut" tab:
  Code

   -mod FirstMod

  Notice the space before the last quotation mark and -mod. You could also add -nomovies to skip intro movies and get directly to the main menu screen. Example:
  Code

  "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Company of Heroes 2\RelicCoH2.exe" -mod FirstMod

  
  
• Press "Apply" and "OK".
  
• Double click this shortcut to launch CoH2 with FirstMod.

Method #2 (via steam GUI):

• Go to your steam games collection, right click CoH2 and select "Properties".
  
• Under the "General" tab, click the "Set launch options..." button.
  
• Enter "-mod FirstMod" without quotation marks and click "OK". You could also add -nomovies to skip intro movies and get directly to the main menu screen.
  
• Close the game's "Properties" window and launch CoH2.

Start a custom game vs AI, play as Germans. You should now notice that your starting pioneer squad has 5 members and that you are able to produce a 5 man pioneer squad from your HQ at a cost of 50 manpower.



However, a 5 man pioneer squad shouldn't cost 6 population. Let's fix this and make the population cost match the squad size.

Open pioneer_squad_mp.rgd if don't have it open anymore. Navigate to:

0x72F92888\personnel_pop

Change the value from 1 to 0 in "Properties".

Hit "Save", run PackMod.bat and launch CoH2. Your pioneer squad population cost should now match the squad size.

You can download a full example of FirstMod here. Extract it to your CoH2 installation directory.

The mod you just created with is fully compatible with multiplayer. If you want to play it with friends, just make sure that they all have the same version of the mod!

In this tutorial, you have learned how to edit entity and squad attributes. Feel free to experiment new things: once you get the hang of it, modding is pretty intuitive. I would suggest trying to do the same thing for Soviet combat engineers. You are now perfectly capable of doing it!

You can also read basic and advanced tutorials provided by Corsix on Corsix.org. It is a great source of information to get started with modding. While they were designed for CoH1, they will most likely work with CoH2 as well. The attrib file tree view might be different, but it's nothing you can't handle!