Welcome to the extended installation guide. This guide was specifically written for those members of the community who do not have a lot of experience installing a mod or are not used to install a mod manually. This guide can also provide some support if you are having trouble installing Covenant at War.
The extended installation guide is composed of seven chapters. Each chapter represents a step in the installation process. This extended installation guide makes use of the spoiler tabs to ensure an easy reading experience. You can 'unfold' a chapter by clicking the spoiler tab.
The content of this installation guide:
1. Folders: structure and content
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This paragraph will focus on the various folders which are present in the download of the mod. The folders are used to contain information, pretty much like all other folders on your computer. Let’s start by explaining how a game is installed on your computer, when you are running the installer of said game. Until not that long ago (2 years ago?) you’d visit a (web)store and buy a physical copy of game x. When you came home, you would insert the CD into your computer and this would generally launch an auto-installer. You hit ok and voila! There’s your game!
Let’s pause here and consider what has happened. For those of you who are more experienced in computers I would recommend skipping this part and head over the next one.
When hitting ‘ok’ on the auto-installer, the installer creates a structure of folders on your ‘main harddrive’. This is usually the harddrive used by your operating system (often labeled with the letter C in Windows). These folders contain the information, necessary to play the game. Similarly, the other folders on your pc all contain information to be able to run all software you have currently installed (including your operating system). The creators of said software use folders to structure information. Most of these applications go into a folder called program files.
When talking about this folder structure, we refer to it as an ‘installation path’.
Let’s say we’re installing a game called Olah on a brand new PC with windows. Your main drive has been labeled ‘C’ and the creators of the game are called fourthreefour. The installation procedure is quite old fashioned, since you had to actually pick up a physical copy! After inserting a CD to your CD drive a window pops up asking you whether or not you want to run an auto-installer. You hit yes and the installer asks you were you wish to install your game (Olah). The auto installer suggests the following folder structure: C:\Program Files\fourthreefour\Olah
This means the installer will navigate to your harddrive, into the program files folder were it will create a new folder called fourthreefour. After creating this folder it will create another folder called ‘Olah’ in the fourthreefour folder and it will start installing all files necessary to play the game.
The folder structure does not end here however. The amount of information is usually categorized into various other folders, each with their own purpose. The main branch will always feature the general lay-out and in most cases it’ll also feature a shortcut to start the game. With this in mind, let’s switch to the content of these folders, taking Empire at War Forces of Corruption (the game the Covenant at War mod was developed for) as example.
First of all it’s important to point out that the general lay-out of Forces of Corruption and Empire at War do not differ much. If you understand the general lay out of Forces of Corruption, you will also be able to apply this to Empire at War.
The installation path we’ll be using is: C:\Program Files\Lucasarts\Star Wars Empire at War Forces of Corruption.
When opening the Star Wars Empire at War Forces of Corruption folder, you will find a few other folders including a ‘data’ folder. This folder contains all specific data, necessary to run the game. This folder includes models, sounds, textures and codes. When dealing with a mod, this is one of three important folders. Usually we don’t have to touch this folder thanks to another important one (the second). This particular folder is called the ‘mods’ folder. Very important is the fact that this folder is NOT included when installing the game. If you can’t find this folder then there are two options:
1. You have never played a mod before, this means you will have to make it
2. You have installed a mod before, but simply overwritten the data folder
The third important folder is the ‘custom maps’ folder. This one is important when creating new levels with the map editor.
Now that we are aware of the various folders and their purpose, we can explain how an installation path of the mod would look like. Which will be explained in the following example:
A typical installation path for the Covenant at War mod would be: C:\Program Files\Lucasarts\Star wars Empire at War Forces of Corruption\mods\Covenant at War
The Covenant at War folder also features a data folder, which in turn includes the same subfolders that are present in the regular data folder (in Star Wars Empire at War Forces of Corruption). The folder structure allows the game engine to determine that not the regular ‘data’ folder is to be used, but rather the ‘data’ folder in the ‘Covenant at War’ folder. For this reason the regular ‘data’ folder and the ‘mods’ folder are present in the same (overall) folder. It than uses the various subfolders found in the ‘Forces of Corruption\mods\caw\data’ folder instead of the ‘Forces of Corruption\data\’.
Example of the vanilla Forces of Corruption folder
Example of the vanilla Mods folder
Example of the Steam Forces of Corruption folder
2. System check: is everything complete
Spoiler
Before installing the mod, it is very important to check all assets to avoid problems during the installation process or when trying to start/play the game. Here is a checklist of things you may want to check before installing the mod:
1. The download:
You can determine whether or not the download is complete or corrupt is by checking a few things. First of all is its size: does the size match in amount of MB or GB’s in the description? We will always inform you on what you are downloading, this being usually a .rar or .zip file. If it shows up in any other file format, you will most likely have a corrupted download. If you want to be incredibly sure your download is complete, you can always check the contents. If there is a Data folder containing at least 3 subfolders (Data, Art, XML) , than you can assume all is ok.
2. The game:
Make sure you have a ‘clean’ install of Forces of Corruption. This means that all files have to be complete and that the regular ‘data’ folder is not already hosting a mod. If you are using a ‘mods’ folder, be sure to check whether or not each mod has its own folder. If one of these ‘criteria’ are not met, the mod will not work.
3. Updates:
Do you have the latest update for Foc? This would be the 1.1 patch. Steam users and Gold pack users already have this file installed. If you are using the CD version of Foc be sure to check whether or not you have this update installed.
4. Make a backup of the Star Wars Empire at War Forces of Corruption folder. IF anything goes wrong, you can just delete the ‘corrupted’ Foc folder and copy the backup back in. So make sure to have one!
3. Installing Covenant at War manually for users of the regular Eaw/Foc discs
Spoiler
Users of the Eaw/Foc disc (the original releases) will most likely find their game in the following installation path:
C:\Program Files\Lucasarts\Star Wars Empire at War Forces of Corruption
Step 1: Extract the contents of the .rar into a ‘safe folder’. This could be a folder with a collection of your mods, or your desktop.
Step 2: Copy the content into the right folders. The 'mods' folder goes into the C:\Program Files\Lucasarts\Star Wars Empire at War Forces of Corruption. Version 1.2 doesn't feature a 'mods' folder. Be sure to copy the 'data' folder into C:\Program Files\Lucasarts\Star wars Empire at War Forces of Corruption\Mods\CaW . Copy the .batch file into C:\Program Files\Lucasarts\Star Wars Empire at War Forces of Corruption.
Step 3: Use the shortcut, batch file or Petrolauncher to run the mod (see also: How to set up a shortcut)
4. Installing Covenant at War manually for steam users
Spoiler
Users of the Steam version will most likely find their game in the following installation path: C:\Program Files\Steam\steamapps\ Common\Star Wars Empire at War\Corruption.
Step 1: Extract the contents of the .rar into a ‘safe folder’. This could be a folder with a collection of your mods, or your desktop.
Step 2: Copy the content (shortcut, batch file, mods-folder) into the C:\Program Files\Steam\steamapps\ Common\Star Wars Empire at War\Corruption Folder.
Step 3: Use the shortcut, batch file or Petrolauncher to run the mod (see also: How to set up a shortcut)
5. Installing an patch/update
Spoiler
Before installing a patch or an update, please make sure that you have the latest version of the mod and the mod has a ‘clean’ install (all files present in previous releases should be present, unaltered).
Step 1: Extract the contents of the .rar into a ‘safe folder’. This could be a folder with a collection of your mods, or your desktop.
Step 2: Copy the content (most likely a data folder) into either
- C:\Program Files\Steam\steamapps\ Common\Star Wars Empire at War\Corruption\mods\CaW
- C:\Program Files\Lucasarts\Star Wars Empire at War Forces of Corruption\mods\CaW
Step 3: When asked to merge folders click Yes. When asked to replace files click Yes.
You can speed up this process by clicking on the ‘apply for all conflicts’ box in the corner left of the pop up screen.
Step 4: Use the shortcut, batch file or Petrolauncher to run the mod (see also: How to set up a shortcut)
Note: some versions of the mod will not require previous versions. We will always notify you on which assets you will need when installing a mod. Be sure to READ! this information.
6. How to set up a shortcut
Spoiler
A shortcut in windows, is a small file containing a link to an object or a target name from another file (thank you Wikipedia). So what this basically means is that you have an imagine on your desktop, that links to either a folder or an object (such as an mp3 file). In this case, it will refer to the CaW folder.
In the event of creating a shortcut to play a mod, there are two things you’ll need to consider:
1. You will have to refer to the original game folder
2. You will have to refer to the mod folder
By referring to the original game folder, you will tell the shortcut which ‘base structure’ it needs to use. The codes in this specific folder tell the game how to behave. When referring to the mod folder, you’re ‘overwriting’ the original code with new or altered code which will allow you to play the game with different by different rules. There are two ways to create a shortcut, which I will explain in the following two paragraphs.
The first way of creating a shortcut, is customizing the one we included in the CaW release. Look for the file called “Covenant at War.Ink” and copy it into the main Forces of Corruption folder (I.e.: C:\Program Files\Lucasarts\Star Wars Empire at War Forces Of Corruption). Now open the files properties, by right clicking the file and selecting the ‘properties’ option. You will now see a whole bunch of info popping up, including the name of the file (Covenant at War), the type of target (application), a targetfolder (SwFoC), a targetline, a start-in line and a few other options).
The two crucial things here are the target line and the start-in line.
The target line tells you what folder to open, to make Covenant at War work. This should be something like: “C:\Program Files\Lucasarts\Star Wars Empire at War Forces of Corruption\swfoc.exe” MODPATH = MODS\CaW
As you can see you’re not only referring to a folder, but also to a file called swfoc.exe. This is the shortcut that launches the regular game. If you add in the works MODPATH = MODS, the shortcut knows that there is a modification and will start the afore mentioned process of ‘overwriting’ the date in the original games folder, with the content of the mods folder. It’s very important to include the quotation (“,”) marks!
The start –in line refers to the original game folder, which should be: “C:Program Files\Lucasarts\Star Wars Empire at War Forces of Corruption\swfoc.exe”
Notice how this line actually refers to the swfoc.exe file, which is the application that launches the game. Make sure this line always refers to this file and the folder it is in.
When you’re done changing the target and start-in lines click on the ‘apply’ button in the downright corner of the properties window. You can now close this window and use the shortcut to start Covenant at war.
7. Regularly occurring difficulties when installing
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This paragraph will address a few common difficulties when installing this mod. If you do not find the error you’re looking for in this paragraph, make sure to visit our moddb page or (preferably) the forums and we’ll do our best to help you.
I have steam and the installation instructions in this manual do not work
If the installation instructions provided in this guide didn’t work, you can try either one of these installation instructions written by community members ‘Ardent Prayer’ and Neronix17.
Ardent Prayer:
1. Go ahead and go to Program Files (x86)
2. Scroll down until you see the "Steam" tab.
3. Head down and go to "games"
4. Then go and select "steamapps"
5. Go to the "common" folder
6. You should see all of your games and also "star wars empire at war" Go ahead and select that.
7. You will see the "corruption" folder. Select that and create a "mods" folder.
8. Download the mod, and if you already have, copy the mod file and paste it into the "mods" folder.
YOU'RE NOT DONE YET XD
9. Go to your Steam Library and click "Star Wars Empire at War Gold"
10. Go to your launch options and write this: MODPATH=Mods/*your mod here* for example, "MODPATH=Mods/CaW <---- "CaW" should be the name of the mod you copied and pasted.
11. Select OK.
YOU'RE DONE!!!! If this doesn't work, message me because I have another way, but this method worked for me. Hope this helps!
neronix17
I see this every time with EaW mods for Steam.
1. Install mod as usual to the steam version of Empire at War
2. Open Steam, right click on the game in the list and choose properties.
3. Click Set Launch options
Then use
sweaw MODPATH=Mods\ModName for EaW
swfoc MODPATH=Mods\ModName for FoC
ModName can be swapped out for any EaW or FoC mod, so in this case it would be
swfoc MODPATH=Mods\CaW
The shortcut doesn’t accept the target and/or start-in lines
1.Make sure you have used the quotation marks (“,”)
2. Make sure the target line refers to the mods/Caw folder and that the start in line refers to the folder in which swfoc.exe is currently placed
I get an error/ I get an error saying Data\XML\GUIDialogs.xml: file has syntax errors, see log file
This is an problem with a source unknown to us and we have no idea what causes it. Make sure that your version of Foc is up to date (version 1.1 or Gold pack) and that the mod is installed correctly.
The game starts but crashes back to desktop/I get the opening screen but it returns to my desktop
This is an problem with a source unknown to us and we have no idea what causes it. Make sure that your version of Foc is up to date (version 1.1 or Gold pack) and that the mod is installed correctly.
My game crashes when I order/insert unit X
This is an problem with a source unknown to us and we have no idea what causes it. Make sure that your version of Foc is up to date (version 1.1 or Gold pack) and that the mod is installed correctly.
There are no icons and taskbars
You can download the icon fix, which will solve this problem for you. You will not need the Icon fix in Covenant at War version 1.2 or higher.
There are no ground unit/ Galactic conquest isn’t working properly
This is a SPACE SKIRMISH ONLY release (latest version is Covenant at War 1.2). You should know this information as it’s literally posted everywhere.
Special thanks to community members Ardent Prayer and Neronix17 for their contribution to the steam installation manuals.
