Installing mods? Seemed technical enough for this section.
Jakers457
Join Date: 2012-08-09 Member: 155170Members
Join Date: 2012-08-09 Member: 155170Members
I'm gathering it's different from minecraft when it comes to modding but I can't really find any helpful guides on how I can install a mod for NS2, the one on the wiki was useless to me as it didn't work or didn't inform me enough to prevent any screw ups on my part. I'm still quite new to adding mods to games and the tech talk should be simple for my lesser brain.
Comments
You put the mod folder into the Natural Selection 2 folder and you need to tell the game to run the mod through a -game shortcut.
<!--c1--><div class='codetop'>CODE</div><div class='codemain'><!--ec1-->This instruction will walk you through launching a mod. For the purpose of this demonstration, we will use an imaginary mod called "tsa".
Move the Mod folder tsa into your "....\steam\steamapps\common\natural selection 2\" folder.
Right click on ns2.exe and click on send to desktop (create shortcut).
Right click the shortcut and select properties.
Find the line called target and after the "....\Steam\steamapps\common\natural selection 2\NS2.exe" add: -game tsa.
On my computer the target line reads - "F:\Games\Steam\steamapps\common\natural selection 2\NS2.exe" -game tsa
Click the general tab of the properties window.
Change the name from "shortcut to ns2" to "tsa".
Click OK.
Double Click the tsa desktop icon to launch the mod.<!--c2--></div><!--ec2-->
<!--quoteo(post=1970856:date=Sep 4 2012, 12:26 PM:name=goblin)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (goblin @ Sep 4 2012, 12:26 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1970856"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->don't worry it's still a beta, when it will be available on steam, it will use steam workshop for mods<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Really? When is this happening? NS2 will be available on steam in a couple of weeks, but there is no sign of mod support through the Steam workshop yet, at least no modder I have spoken to knows of a date. Would you mind advising where you got this info? As far as we are currently aware, NS2 will be launching with only Map support in Steam Workshop, no date for Mods yet.
Would love any help.
For example, here's what my setup looks like with multiple mods:
<img src="https://pickhost.eu/images/0005/3950/Natural_Selection_2_Mod_Setup.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />
I use Steam launch options instead of the shortcut, but that doesn't make any difference other than that the NS2 Launch Pad doesn't work anymore if you put the -game stuff in the Steam launch options.
There are some mods that are packaged with a StartMod.exe, iirc there will be a "Mod" subfolder which then contains the actual mod's files, which you should copy over to your "mods" folder. Just look at the folder structure to make sure everything is going into the right place.
Also, if you modify any shaders (like the Alien Vision), you should go to "%APPDATA%\Natural Selection 2" (just type that [without quotes] into your address bar in the explorer or use Win+R and type it there) and delete the "cache" folder. The game might use the cached shaders instead of compiling your new one, hence you won't see any effect.
Edit: And here's an old tutorial for installing Insight (which is now outdated, don't bother downloading): <a href="http://ns2comp.herokuapp.com/insight/" target="_blank">http://ns2comp.herokuapp.com/insight/</a>
I tested the two mods in question, and by combining them in a folder called mods, it works correctly.
Downloading the released mods, will work following the instructions listed. Those instructions are for launching mods and work with all mods. Creating your own mods requires you to follow the mod structure which matches the ns2 folder. Also you always have to check (although not in the case of these two mods) that none of the files are edited in both mods, or you will get problems where one or both of the mods won't work properly.
I tested the two mods in question, and by combining them in a folder called mods, it works correctly.
Downloading the released mods, will work following the instructions listed. Those instructions are for launching mods and work with all mods. Creating your own mods requires you to follow the mod structure which matches the ns2 folder. Also you always have to check (although not in the case of these two mods) that none of the files are edited in both mods, or you will get problems where one or both of the mods won't work properly.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Yeah the thing you were missing is the bit that Dghelneshi gave me about folder structure - in both cases the downloads I had were just a zip with a single file in it, so I didn't know the folder structure had to mirror the /ns2 folder. It's also worth noting that it can be hard to know where a .fx file might go for a lot of people: I only knew it should go in "shaders" because of context from the thread, I certainly don't know that off the top of my head.
- Copy the files you are modding to a separate folder in your /Natural Selection 2/ directory where the underlying folder/file structure is the same (i.e. if your modding /ns2/lua/randomfile.lua, it must be in the /ns2/lua/ directory of your mod)
- Use the -game command to run the mod either from a shortcut or via steam
The only tricky problem is if your trying to run more than one mod that has modified the same file (e.g. if two or more of the mods have changed the same lua file). However, this is rare at the moment, so I haven't had any problem running multiple mods at the same time.