The Creative Assembly, has launched the
Total War: SHOGUN 2 Assembly Kit; a suite of tools that enables ground-up modification of the entire
Total War: SHOGUN 2 product family. This release also
includes an update to TEd (the existing Battle Map Editor), which
enables Steam Workshop integration and the ability to create scripted
single-player historical battles.
A sample historical battle, custom-built by The Creative Assembly, is
available now on Steamworks to give new modders a convenient starting
point.
With the
Assembly Kit installed, modders are empowered to reimagine almost every aspect of
Total War: SHOGUN 2, and with its built-in Mod Manager, mods can be uploaded to Steam Workshop for other players to download, play and rate.
To mark this massive release, Steam will be running a
Total War Weekend. Keep a look out for some huge offers and exclusive content. “Total
War has a dedicated mod scene with some truly heroic modders wrestling
with a gigantic game and turning out some incredible work,” said Rob
Bartholomew, Brand Director. ”Until
now though there’s never been a useful set of tools that really opened
up the possibilities in the game the way we knew they wanted. However,
while we gear up for Rome II’s release next year, I’m happy to say that
the team were able pull out all the stops
and put together a kit we hope will really inspire them.”
Further Detail on the Assembly Kit
Just like TEd, the
Assembly Kit is completely free and available to download now
from the Tools section of the Steam client. It comprises a range of
powerful utilities:
·
TWeak is a software framework that contains two key plugins for Total War modding:
o
DaVE,
The Database Visual Editor tool, enables modders to edit any database
values in the game, including those which dictate campaign map start
positions, game logic, unit values and much more.
o
The Unit Editor tool enables modders to alter the look and feel of existing units and create new ones, with custom skins, armour, helmets etc.
·
BOB
is a data-processing tool, which enables modders to process models,
animations, textures and many other assets into a game-usable form.
·
The Mod Manager
enables modders to upload their mods to Steam Workshop.
The
Total War: SHOGUN 2 Assembly Kit comes preloaded with example data,
comprising buildings, units, maps and more, along with a number of 3D
Studio Max plugins and scripts to help modders create custom models.
Further
information, supporting documentation and a growing repository of
tutorials from CA staff and community members can be found at the new
TWWiki on the official
www.totalwar.com site.
