I. Introduction

As many of you certainly know, modding projects for AoM need a huge number of files to be installed. All those files are difficult for beginners and annoying for professionals to install and administrate. For instance, King Jared's great project "The Last Stand Of Atlantis" will have to have about 200-300 files to be installed. ES used the BAR archives to store their files comfortably. I wanted to use that method too, and so I contacted one of the most important persons of the modding community ever; Ykkrosh, the creator of AoMED. With his comprehensive knowledge we succeeded to enable the most complex projects to be installed and played in nearly only one BAR archive!

With this method, the administration and installation of mods and complex campaigns will be revolutionarily easy.

II. What to do first

Everyone has to DL the BAR loading mod (only about 2 MB). Extract the file, and run the *.exe. This will extract three files on your PC:

aomxmod.exe
barlist.txt

These have to placed in the AoM folder. To run the game with the mods, simply use this *.exe instead of the normal one.

barbuild.exe

This small program is needed to create BAR archives. Place it anywhere you like.

If you only plan to play upcoming projects (see the list at the end of the article) that use this method, don't read further. The only thing you need to know is that you will have to use the modified *.exe instead of the normal one when you wish to play the projects. You can't use this file for multiplayer games though.

III. Here we go, creating new BAR archives

At first, all you need to do is to create a new folder with the name of the BAR you'd like to get. In this example I'll use "MyNewBar".

Don't forget to create subfolders in the folder if you need them. For example, the subfolder "icons" in the textures(2).bar. "history2" is an exception, in this case you'll have to determine the whole original path, i.e. make a subfolder called "history2" with the folders "units" and "techs" if you wish to add history information. You don't need to create subfolders for other filetypes though, except subfolders in the original BARs, like I mentioned before, for example "icons".

Now put all your files in the folder. Anims, models, scenarios, whatever. There're only three exceptions that I'll mention at the end of this guide. Don't forget to use the subfolders if you need them (for example "icons").

Here's an example what the content of the folder looks like for King Jared's "Motsognir The Mighty" Modpack.

If your folder is ready, simply drag the whole thing over the barbuild.exe. Remember, double-clicking the program will only open information how to use it.

Then it'll create the BAR for you. Move it in your AoM folder.

Okay, now all what we need to do now is to load the BAR into the game. Therefore the barlist.txt was made, it determines the BARs that are loaded. Open it and enter the name of your BAR in it, then save it. Remember, lines with semicolons (";") are ignored, so don't put one in front of your BAR's name.

We're done. You can now open AoMtT through the aomxmod.exe file and use the files.

III. Additional, important notes

1. Three filetypes cannot be stored in BAR files: Campaign scripts (*.cpx), AI files (*.xs) and the xpacklanguage.dll. If you use them, you'll have to place them in the game folders like we did before. All other files can be stored in your single BAR though.
2. XML files are not fully accepted in BARs. XMBs are always necessary. Sometimes you'll only need the XMB (like the protox.xmb), and sometimes you'll need both the XMB and XML (like soundsets-xpack.XMB/XML or the sound settings files for units). If you're not sure, please search the original BARs to find out how it's done.
3. The higher a mod is in the barlist.txt, the higher priority it has. I.e. when you've several mods installed and they use the same file, the file of the first one in the list will be used. So put your current favorite at the top.
4. Files in the game folders still have the highest priority. I.e. if there's a protox.xmb or xml in the data folder, the one inside your BAR will be ignored.
5. Of course more than one BAR can be loaded, simply write all the BAR's names in the list. Consider point #3, though.
6. *.lgt files in BARs will show up at the end of the light settings list in the editor, not in alphabetical order. They will be used properly though.

IV. Projects that'll use this method so far:

King Jared's Last Stand of Atlantis,
The Vandhaal's The Rhinegold,
AoMM/MC's LotR project,
FlipBizcut's updated Hive Spiders,
and eXtinction's I-39 and its demo.

Use it for your mod/campaign too! Simply write a short readme that says in brief that the user has to use the modified *.exe and to write the BAR's name at the top of the barlist.txt.

All credit goes to Ykkrosh, who has modified the *.exe and written the barbuild program!

Many many thanks Ykkrosh! We all love you !

Before anyone asks why I posted this, I contacted and motivated Ykkrosh to help us out, and we agreed that I will announce the project. Thanks for reading!

[This message has been edited by AoMPlayer000 (edited 10-04-2004 @ 02:22 PM).]