Getting Started Stable
Whether you’re a new modder or need to brush up on the basics, this is the place to be. This page will focus on what you need to begin making a mod.
If you’re a beginner, we recommend reading this page from top to bottom twice before moving on to anything else. However, if you’re here for something specific, you can jump to the desired section by clicking on one of the following..
What’s Needed?
PHXTool - For Extracting Halo Wars: DE Content
The absolute backbone of Halo Wars modding is the PHXTool by kornman00. This tool lets you unpack and re-pack Halo Wars resource archives (.era files) so that you can make use of them in new content, or edit them for existing content.
The tool has several options. The ERA Expand Path field allows you to specify where the archive will be dumped to. It is recommended to set this to an “Extract” folder either:
| Distribution | Path |
|---|---|
| Steam | C:/Program Files (x86)/Steam/steamapps/common/HaloWarsDE |
| Windows Store | C:/Username/Documents |
The ERA Build Path field allows you to specify where you want an archive to be output when it is re-built. This feature is hardly ever needed but is still sometimes useful. It is recommended to be set to your game’s install directory.
Note: Always make a backup of all your files before modifying anything. Rebuilding an archive into your install directory will overwrite the original file unless Don't overwrite existing files is checked.
To unpack an .era all you must do is drag the .era file into the tool’s GUI. The tool will then unpack all of the files contained within the archive to the path specified in the ERA Expand Path.
After the files have been extracted, you will find an .eradef file alongside the archive’s contents. This file is a manifest for all of the files contained within the archive and can be edited to include new files. All files specified in the .eradef are relative to the file itself.
To rebuild an .era simply drag the .eradef into the tool, just as you would to unpack an .era file. The resulting .era will be placed in the specified ERA Build Output path.
You will also come across files with an .xmb extension once you unpack an archive. These files are simply compressed XML. To edit them, simply drag them into the tool, just like an .era and it will output an uncompressed .xml file. This file will appear in the same directory as the source .xmb it is not affected by the ERA Expand Path.
A Decent Text Editor
Almost all of Halo Wars data files are in .xml. So with that in mind, it’s a good idea to install and use a text editor with syntax highlighting.
Notepad++ Visual Studio Code Sublime Text 3
Notepad++ and Visual Studio Code are completely free, and Sublime Text 3 has an indefinite trial period. All three are excellent programs to edit .xml files. If you have another program that you prefer, you can use that, of course. They are just text files after all.
A Little Bit of Patience
As with all things, sometimes you may encounter something that is not working as expected. If this is the case, don’t give up! Just make sure to double-check everything. Some things that can cause unwanted results are:
- Invalid XML formatting
- XML entries with duplicate
Name=""attributes - Incorrect spelling or forgotten underscores
When following a guide here, if you’re absolutely sure you did it correctly and it still will not work, there is always the Halo Wars Modding Discord where someone would be happy to assist you.
Creating Your First Mod
Now that you are familiar with the tools, let’s make a mod. The mod we will be creating here is simply increasing the population count (the number of units you can have in your army) and changing the unit that spawns at your base when you start a game (the default is the warthog, ghost, or brute chopper).
Setting Up ModManifest
First things first. ModManifest is a .txt file that tells the game where to load external content from. This file can automatically be found and opened using PHXTool, or alternatively can be found in:
| Distribution | Path |
|---|---|
| Steam | C:/Users/Username/AppData/Local/Halo Wars |
| Windows Store | C:/Users/Username/AppData/Local/Packages/Microsoft.BulldogThreshold_8wekyb3d8bbwe/LocalState |
| Steam Deck | /home/deck/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/compatdata/459220/pfx/drive_c/users/steamuser/AppData/Local/Halo Wars |
Inside of your ModManifest.txt file, you can specify paths for the game to load mods from. Each path must be on its own line. To disable a path without erasing it, simply put a semi-colon (;) in front of it. PHXTool has a GUI to automate this process, if you prefer it. It can be accessed by pressing the Edit ModManifest.txt for (Distribution) button. This button will also create the file if you do not have one already.
The Windows Store version of the game can ONLY load mods from folders in C:/Users/Username/AppData/Local/Packages/Microsoft.BulldogThreshold_8wekyb3d8bbwe/LocalState.
The Steam Deck version of the game can ONLY load mods if the game is installed on the main drive and not on an SD Card.
For the Steam version, however, mod folders can be placed wherever you want, even on another drive if you have one.
Go ahead and create a folder within the confines of your game version, and put the path of this folder in the ModManifest.txt.
Getting Into It
First, make sure you have set your expand path. Once you have verified that it is set where you want it, simply locate the root.era file in your game’s installation directory and drag it into PHXTool. PHXTool will now unpack the archive. Once it is done, your expand path should look like the image on the right.
The file we’re after now is the leaders.xmb in the data folder.
Once you find this file, drag it into PHXTool just as you did the root.era before. You will notice it creates an .xml file right next to the original .xmb named leaders.xml. Now, go to your mod folder and create a folder named data. We do this because the contents of the mod folder need to mimic that of the archives the game uses. This means that any file we want to put into our mod must still work within the file structure the game uses. Copy the leaders.xml into your new (mod)/data folder.
Note: any file in your mod directory that has the same path and name as one from the base game will overwrite the original. In this case, we’re overwriting the data/leaders.xml file. This file will be treated as the only one that exists upon loading into the game.
Now, open the leaders.xml file that you just copied to your (mod)/data folder. In this file, you will see several <Leader> nodes. These nodes contain all of the information the game uses for each specific leader, including their name, starting unit, and starting resources. The one we’re after is the one with Name="Cutter".
It will look like this:
<Leader Name="Cutter" Icon="ui/game/icon/unsc/leader/Captain Cutter" LeaderPickerOrder="2" StatsID="1" DefaultPlayerSlotFlags="0x81">
<Civ>UNSC</Civ>
<Tech>unsc_LeaderCutter</Tech>
<NameID>7000</NameID>
<DescriptionID>7001</DescriptionID>
<FlashCivID>0</FlashCivID>
<FlashImg>orbital</FlashImg>
<FlashPortrait>img://art/ui/flash/shared/textures/pregame/leaderImages/cutter.ddx</FlashPortrait>
<UIControlBackground>img://art/ui/flash/shared/textures/leaders/LeaderPict_cutter.ddx</UIControlBackground>
<Resource Type="Supplies">800</Resource>
<Resource Type="CampaignFoo">0</Resource>
<Resource Type="Collectable">0</Resource>
<Resource Type="Power">0</Resource>
<StartingUnit Offset="0,0,0" BuildOther="unsc_bldg_command_03" DoppleOnStart="true">game_base_socket_01</StartingUnit>
<StartingSquad FlyIn="false" Offset="60,0,-20">unsc_veh_warthog_01</StartingSquad>
<RallyPointOffset>50,0,0</RallyPointOffset>
<RepairRate>1</RepairRate>
<RepairDelay>20</RepairDelay>
<RepairCost Type="Supplies">35</RepairCost>
<RepairTime>30</RepairTime>
<Pop Type="Unit" Max="99">30</Pop>
<Pop Type="Spartan" Max="3">3</Pop>
</Leader>
First, let’s check out the line <Pop Type="Unit" Max="99">30</Pop>. This line determines the starting population (the value within the node), as well as the maximum value it can be (the value of the Max attribute). Go ahead and set the value within the node (here it is 30) to whatever you want.
While we’re here, let’s find the line
<StartingSquad FlyIn="false" Offset="60,0,-20">unsc_veh_warthog_01</StartingSquad>
This line’s value can be set to any squad name from squads.xml, but for now, try just changing it to unsc_inf_marine_01. This will set the starting unit to the marine squad.
Now try starting your game!
If all went well, when you start a skirmish mission as Captain Cutter, you should notice that your population capacity is whatever you set it to before (here I set it to 99, hence 1/99), and now you also start with a marine squad rather than a warthog!
This was just a simple file edit to get you familiar with how the modding environment is set up. For more in-depth tutorials, please see the Guides tab on the left of the page! There is so much more that can be done!