Using the mod-switch utility

EU3 mod-switch utility

From the 1.1 version on, there is a built-in mod-switch utility. What does this mean? Basically that you can copy all the modified files in a mod to a separate folder and maintain the default setup (for e.g. multiplayer).

Setting up the mod-dir

In the main EU3 folder, there is a folder called mod. In this directory, create a file called e.g. MyMod.mod and a directory called MyMod. The file MyMod.mod is a text file, that can look like this:

name = "MOD_TEST_NAME"
extend = "common"
replace = "events"
extend = "history"
extend = "localisation"
extend = "map"
extend = "interface"
extend = "gfx"
extend = "sound"

Valid "commands" in this file are:

• name = "string"
• extend or replace = "common", "events", "gfx", "history", "interface", "localisation", "map" and "sound".

Extend is usually what you would want to use and works like this: If you write extend = common, any file you put in the common folder of the moddir will override the file in the default common folder. This works for all folders except gfx.

For the gfx folder, only the gfx/anims and gfx/flags is treated this way. To use other modified files in this folder, change a .gfx file in your interface directory and have it point to your new graphics file.

Replace only searches in the new location and if a file can't be found that is needed, the game will not start.

The name variable is shown in the frontend, and you can use a tag (like above) and add your own localisation for it, or just type the name right in.

Starting a mod

To start a mod you either use the launcher, where you will get a dropdown list with all mods, or add -mod MyMod to the command-line of EU3. Note that the first startup of a mod might take a long time, if you have modified the map.

Modding tips

• It is a good idea for mod makers to put their version number in the mod name of the .mod file. when this is done, it will show the name and version of the mod in the main page of the game. A date is also useful. example: "mymod version 1.1.01 3/1/07"
• Only the folders that the mod maker changes for his mod are needed to be listed in the .mod file. there is no reason to list folders that have no content that was changed.