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How to play around with TMW resource files

Posted: 06 Jun 2007, 16:56
by Crush
When you downloaded TMW as a prepacked install packet for your operating system it comes without most of the graphics, maps and so on. These are downloaded at the first start by the updater. Here I will explain you how to get these files so you can play around with them, customize TMW and maybe contribute to the development.

Method A: Unpack the updates
To use this method you just need a program that can unpack zip archives and no other tools. But you won't get the most recent development versions of the resource files but only those that have been released to the general public.

1. Update the mana world
Start tmw and let an updater run to ensure that you got the newest updates.

2. Locate the updates
The updates are stored in your user directory. For users of UNIX-like operating systems this should be usr/home/*your_username*/.mana/updates/updates.themanaworld.org. Windows users find their user directory in C:\Documents and Settings\*your_username*\AppData\Local\mana\updates\updates.themanaworld.org
("Documents and Settings" is called different on different language versions of windows and the appdata directory is hidden by default)

There you find all the updates you downloaded since you first installed tmw. When you are a long-time player, most of them will be obsolete. You can find a list of the updates that are actually used in the file resources.xml.

3. Unpack the updates
Unpack the zip archives listed in resources.xml into the subfolder "data" of your tmw installation (When there are any zip archives not listed in resources.xml in your update folder don't unpack those. They contain outdated files that have been replaced by later updates).

4. Tell TMW to ignore the updates and use the files in the data directory
To do so you have to start tmw with the additional command line parameter -u

Windows users can right-click on the tmw shortcut on their desktop and select Properties. In the field Target you find the path to your tmw executable in quotation marks. Add -u behind the quotation marks. It should now read something like that:
"D:\Programs\The Mana World\tmw.exe" -u

Method B: Use Git to get the latest developer versions of all files
This method should be prefered over the other because you will receive the most recent development versions of the files. But it requires you to install a new program.

1. Install Git
Git is a distributed, commandline-based sourcecode management tool which makes it easy to work with many people on a software project.
Most linux distributions should have Git in their packet management systems.
A windows version can be found here: http://code.google.com/p/msysgit/downloads/list

2. "clone" the git repository.
Open your command shell, browse to the directory where you would like to have the files and enter:
git clone git://gitorious.org/tmw/tmwa-client-data.git tmwdata
This will create a new folder "tmwdata" and download all the files here.

3. Tell TMW to ignore the updates and use the files in your new directory
To do so you have to start tmw with the additional command line parameters -u -d path/to/your/data/folder

Windows users can right-click on the tmw shortcut on their desktop and select Properties. In the field Target you find the path to your tmw executable in quotation marks. Add -u -d behind the quotation marks followed the folder where you cloned the git repository. It should now read something like that:
"D:\programs\The Mana World\tmw.exe" -u -d D:\tmw\data

4. Update the repository from time to time
To synchronize your local repository with the newest develpmont changes open your command shell, navigate to your tmw data folder and type:
git stash
git pull
git stash apply
You can skip stash and stash apply when you didn't change any files.



Now you can edit or replace all resource files of TMW like maps, graphics, sounds and the changes will be visible in the game. You can also change what file is used for what to some extend by editing the xml files in the data directory.

Happy Hacking



Too lazy to do all this just to get one file?
You can also browse the content repository online:
http://gitorious.org/tmw/tmwa-client-data/trees/master

Posted: 20 Nov 2007, 13:23
by Tenche
Their is no folder in my users/*name*/ directory...
and nothing comes up when I search for stuff.


I am using leopard but their should be no problem apple did not change directory paths.

Posted: 03 Dec 2007, 18:14
by Status_Lock
Well i don't expect you to know what to do, unless you have a Mac yourself (ugh, damn computer) I guess the question i'm asking is, how do i unpack the files? I'm sure this would've been easier if there was a "resources2.txt" file, but i happen to not be able to find it.

Posted: 05 Dec 2007, 07:42
by Cosmostrator
The user folder for TMW is hidden in OSX. To see it you have to make hidden files visible.
Open the application Terminal and enter the following code

Code: Select all

defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles TRUE

killall Finder 
The open your home folder and look for the folder called .TMW

When you are done you can re-hide hidden files by putting the following code into Terminal

Code: Select all

defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles FALSE

killall Finder
Hope this helps-
-Cosmostrator

Posted: 06 Dec 2007, 02:24
by Saphy
Or you can just use xterm and command line on OSX :p

Posted: 24 Dec 2007, 15:42
by Tenche
I have a mac....

Re: How to play around with TMW resource files

Posted: 16 May 2008, 19:33
by Vink
I think I found another way to do it, and then you don't need to run tmw with -u, I believe:

1. Find the zipfile with the file you wish to edit.
2. Unpack it to somewhere convenient..
3. Edit the file according to your wishes.
4. Make a new zipfile and give it the same name as the original zipfile.
5. Replace the original zipfile with the one with your edited file.

Since I'm not used to these things, I assume there must be some problem with this method? Please tell me. :)

Re: How to play around with TMW resource files

Posted: 16 May 2008, 19:37
by Crush
The problem with this is that the updater will realize that the checksum of the update is wrong, assume that it is corrupted and redownload it.

Re: How to play around with TMW resource files

Posted: 16 May 2008, 19:38
by Vink
Hm... Then why did it work when I tried it? :?

Re: How to play around with TMW resource files

Posted: 16 May 2008, 19:50
by Crush
Did you cancle the updater before it finished?

Re: How to play around with TMW resource files

Posted: 16 May 2008, 20:03
by Jaxad0127
He used the "-u" option which bypasses the updater.

Re: How to play around with TMW resource files

Posted: 17 May 2008, 00:05
by Hexico
So.. hm. If I wanted to play around with this, would I just download another client? And try to keep this one seperate from the one I currently use?

I'm interested in just changing the graphics around a little bit so I can wear custom hats and such.. Even if no one else can see it..

Re: How to play around with TMW resource files

Posted: 17 May 2008, 00:17
by Vink
No, I don't think I cancelled, and I don't think I used -u.

Re: How to play around with TMW resource files

Posted: 17 May 2008, 03:28
by Jaxad0127
The preferred way is to use the customData directory.

Re: How to play around with TMW resource files

Posted: 12 Aug 2008, 12:54
by passipoliisi
How can i put the updates to a localhost server??