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How to use the Forces of Corruption Map Editor with your personal mods

By 0113

This guide should help you to use your Star Wars Empire at War: Forces Of Corruption mod with the Map Editor (Terrain Editor). It aims to install the Map Editor in your mod directory, instead of the main "Forces of Corruption" directory.

I made this quick guide to use your mods with the Map Editor. Older posts on the internet would often tell you to overwrite the files in your main folder. This is bad practice, because you might end up messing with your main game files, which can lead to errors that can be difficult to track down. This is what happened to many of those posts, and who doesn't hate having to install the entire game from scratch?

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Created by

0113
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Category: Modding or Configuration, Walkthroughs

Languages: English

Posted

Updated

12 Jul, 2024 @ 5:01pm

12 Jul, 2024 @ 5:03pm

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Guide Index

Overview

Installing the FoC Map Editor

Fixing error: Missing mss64.dll and bink2w64.dll

EXCEPTION! An exception has occurred...

Checking if the Map Editor reads your mod's contents

Comments

Installing the FoC Map Editor

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A few notes:

I made this guide because it took me a while to get the Map Editor working with my personal mod. I wasn't able to find a solution online, so I tried a couple of things until I got it working. It's not pretty, and there may be an easier way of doing this, but I wasn't able to find it after a long search.

I will assume that you have some basic comprehension about how setting up a mod works. I won't go over that in this guide. You might use this process for Steam Workshop-mods, but you risk that the Map Editor may stop working correctly if the uploader updates their mod. Some mods may actually use their own MEG-files to compile their contents (explained below)!

Be alert:

You will have to delete some folders! Please prevent yourself from accidentally deleting your mod or mod files!

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Download and install

Download the Map Editor from Petroglyph's official page. You find it under the section "PATCH FOR TERRAIN EDITOR": https://www.petroglyphgames.com/eawmodtool/. You only need the file that is found at the yellow text that says "Download this file".
You do not need to download the editor from MODDB that they refer to on this page. This method works without it.
You will now have downloaded a file called FOCMapEditor.msi. You can run it from whichever location you want, you can point the installation progress towards your mod folder.
The install path should point to your mod folder. For my installation this is:
E:\Steam\steamapps\common\Star Wars Empire at War\corruption\Mods\ABC\
where "ABC" would be the name of your mod. Note that my drive letter is "E", yours may be different!
Complete the installation. Afterwards, go to your mod folder. The installation will have inserted folders and files that you do not need. You can decide if you need them, but I advise you to delete. So...
DELETE THE FOLLOWING FOLDERS AND FILES:
- EditorDocs
- MaxPlugin
- Mods (this is not your personal mod, it is a folder that comes with the map editor)
- MapEditorEULA.rtf
- PlayStevesEwokMod.bat

Fixing error: Missing mss64.dll and bink2w64.dll

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Your mod folder will now contain the program EAW Terrain Editor.exe. When you try to start it, it will give you multiple errors. That is because you are missing two files in this folder: mss64.dll and bink2w64.dll. The Map Editor needs them to work.

Good thing you can find them both in your main Forces of Corruption folder.

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Copying the files

Go to the following directory (again, depending on where you installed your game):
E:\Steam\steamapps\common\Star Wars Empire at War\corruption
Copy both mss64.dll and bink2w64.dll.
Go back to your mod folder, and paste the files there.
Start up the Map Editor again. The errors should no longer appear.

EXCEPTION! An exception has occurred...

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Yes, another error! This one tells you absolutely nothing (this is why I made this guide, if I'm being honest). The solution seems to be that the editor needs the MEG-files used by the base game. The different MEG-files are compiled files, and contain all the models, textures, maps, XML-files, et cetera.

But, because we are using a different installation directory, the Map Editor is unable to locate them correctly. So, we will copy the base game MEG-files into your mod folder.

This has no influence on your mod!

Your own mod files will overwrite the contents of the MEG-files. We are only placing them here, so the Map Editor can use them to prevent the error.

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Copying more files!

Go to the following directory (again, depending on where you installed your game):
E:\Steam\steamapps\common\Star Wars Empire at War\corruption\Data
Copy only the files (in the red square), that you see in the following image:

If your Data folder contains any other MEG-files, copy them over as well! This may be the case if your game language is not English, for example.

You also need the megafiles.xml file, or the Map Editor will not start. I have tried all combinations and it would not start without any of the files in the image.
Go to the following directory (again, depending on where you installed your game):
E:\Steam\steamapps\common\Star Wars Empire at War\corruption\Mods\ABC\Data
Replace "ABC" with the name of your mod folder.
Start up the Map Editor again. This time, it should launch after a few seconds.

Checking if the Map Editor reads your mod's contents

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If the Map Editor has launched, it should be able to read your mod's contents. Testing this is easy, if you know how the Map Editor works.

If you do not know how the Map Editor works, I suggest you look up a few tutorials first.

You will need to check if the contents of your mod are loaded in. If you have added a new space unit for example, easiest way to check is creating a new space map and use the dropdown menu to find your new unit. This also works for ground units, buildings, projectiles, any object that you have added to the game.

If you have not added anything yet, look at the bottom of this section if you want to test your setup.

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Check your objects

Start up the Map Editor from your mod's folder, if you hadn't already.
Load up a new space or land map, whichever you need to load in your desired object. I don't think space units will show up if you have created a new land map, and vice versa. You don't need to actually place the object to check if the Map Editor works correctly.
In the example below, I have added new projectiles. In the dropdown list on the left of the screen, you can see that the Map Editor has loaded them in: the "PROJ_SHIP_TURBO"-projectiles are my own creations, and they are not present in the base game Projectiles.xml file.
If your object shows up in the dropdown menu, the installation has been completed! You should now be able to create maps that use the contents from your mod.
If you haven't added anything to your mod, you can still verify your installation. Close the Map Editor first.
To do this, you need to alter the name of an object in its XML-file.

The Map Editor will display the object's name used in the internal code. For example, in SpaceUnitsFrigates.xml, the Nebulon-B Frigate is defined as:

<SpaceUnit Name="Nebulon_B_Frigate">
You can alter the name to anything you want, then save the XML-file. Don't forget to change it back later!
Start the Map Editor again. Create a new space map, and check if the altered Nebulon-B Frigate's name displays correctly. That should be it!