How it works:
Blue is the colour of the Table of Contents. In here you can see the main sections, which themselves are diveded into sub-sections.

Red is the colour of the Main Sections. They can be divided into sub-sections.

White is the colour of the Sub Sections, the tutorials.

Table of Contents:

• What a modder needs
• How to Change...
• Needs to be added
• Impossible to do

What a modder needs
First of all a modder needs a drive to change the game into something of it's own. This could either be just a unit, or maybe a whole civilization. However, one cannot mod without the proper tools.

First off, you'll need AoE3ED.
This program will let you extract the files you need from the .bar file. And it will also let you convert the files to a format you're able to edit.

Second, Notepad. This is for changing anim files, proto code etc. Another type editor can be used, but Notepad is recommended because it loads fast, works fast and doesn't screw up the code.

Third, if you're going to edit textures you'll need an image editor. Although Paint can be used, it's not recommended because of it's limited possibilities. You want to use Photoshop or GIMP, for the best result.

How to Change...

- Textures
- A Unit's Name

Textures by Argalius
Textures are the visual part of a game. They include, but are not limited to, icons, unit's skin, terrain, portraits, UI, flags, etc.

To edit a texture you must first extract it from one of the bar files. In art3.bar you'll find the terrain textures and in art2.bar you'll find the rest of the textures.

After you've extracted the texture you'd like to change, you'll have to convert the .ddt file to an editable format. So convert it with the FileConverter that came with AoE3ED and it will convert your file to .tga. Now open up your image editor and start changing your file.

When you're done changing you'll have to convert it back again, again use the FileConverter. Now that you have your texture you want it to show up in-game. This can be done by placing it on the right place in your AoE3 folder. So let's say you changed the Dutch flag. In AoE3ED you'll see that the file name is Art\objects\flags\dutch.ddt. That's the place you want to put your texture in. So go to Age of Empires III\art. There you'll see that there isn't an objects folder, let alone one with flags in it. So you'll have to create it yourself. So create folders until you get Age of Empires III\art\objects\flags and then put your texture (named dutch.ddt) in that folder and your texture should show up in-game.

A Unit's Name by Argalius
In your data folder you'll find a file named stringtable.xml.xmb. Convert this with your FileConverter to stringtable.xml. Open it with Notepad. Let's say we'd like to edit Morgan's name. We search for Morgan Black and we find this:
<string _locid="25278">Morgan Black</string>
The locid 25278 can be found in the proto code and points to use the name Morgan Black. If we want to change that name to Morgan White, we just have to change the Black into White with Notepad. Then save the file and reconvert it.

Ofcourse, this isn't very diffecult, but lets say we made our own unit, the infantry unit X. In the protocode we added this: (##### is a five number digit)
<DisplayNameID>#####</DisplayNameID> // The name of the unit you'll see in-game
<EditorNameID>#####</EditorNameID> // The name of the unit you'll see in the editor, ie. INF X

We go searching for some holes in the stringtable file. Right at the start we see this:
<string _locid="10670">Villagers gather Wood faster.</string>
<string _locid="11070">Gang Saw</string>
Note that 10671-11069 aren't used, so you can add your own strings there. We take 10671 for the DisplayName ID and 10672 for the EditorNameID. So in the proto code you'll see this:
<DisplayNameID>10671</DisplayNameID>
<EditorNameID>10672</EditorNameID>
And in the stringtable.xml you'll see this:
<string _locid="10670">Villagers gather Wood faster.</string>
<string _locid="10671">X</string>
<string _locid="10672">INF X</string>
<string _locid="11070">Gang Saw</string>

Now convert everything back and it should work.

Note that you must be carefull with sharing the stringtable file, because the file depends on a language. Mine is for instance English, but there are also French, German etc. versions of the file.

Needs to be added

- Campaign Making
- Anim Files
- etc.

Impossible to do
Because of the lack of our tools, there are some things we can't do.

- Editing models
- Editing physics