I wanted to watch some TAC recs and I got a little confused when the rec stopped suddenly. Then I figured out I didn't have the Balance Patch installed :roll: . So I went to Voobly single player and watched them there. Afterward I figured out how to use the mod offline without overriding normal AoC.
This example is for the AoC Balance Patch, other data mods can be similar to this.
Step 1: Set up the mod folder and .xml.
Go into the "Games" folder in your AoE2 directory(if you don't have that folder, then create it) and create a subfolder, in this case called "Balance Patch".
Create an xml file for the mod based of the standard "age2_x1.xml" which looks like this:
You can open any text editor and paste this code in as a base, edit it for the specific mod, and save the file with a .xml extension. There are two important things to note. One is that the configuration game name should match the name of the xml file. The game configuration name can have any continuous name(no spaces), so if you find "Balance_Patch" to be more distinguishable than "age2_x3", you can do that. The other is that the <path> must match the name of the folder you just created.
http://i.imgur.com/7Nz9YIC.png
Step 2: find the data that the mod runs on.
In the case of the balance patch, you can find the data using the direct download here.
Or if you have the mod installed on the Voobly Workshop, you can find the data in the "Voobly Mods/AOC/Data Mods/Balance Patch" in your AoE2 directory.
Once you have all this, create a "Data" folder inside the folder you created for the mod. Paste all the data in here.
http://i.imgur.com/yBGIm69.png
Step 3: Create a shortcut to run the separate data.
Go into your age2_x1 folder in your AOE2 directory. Create a shortcut for the .exe you are using. Go to the properties of the shortcut. After the last quotation, add a space and type "game=(game configuration name)".
http://i.imgur.com/xKqlQQp.png
Running this shortcut will run AoC 1.4 with the modified data without overriding any of the regular AoC data. The advantage to using this is that you can put recorded games in the "SaveGame" sub-folder in the mod's folder and view them separately compared to regular AoC games. Note that as of now, double-clicking a recorded game in a mod's respective SaveGame folder does not automatically run the game with the proper mod loaded. So you have to access the game through the shortcut and browse for the game from there.
http://i.imgur.com/1NO7Uws.png
Well, this is my way of doing it. I hope it wasn't too confusing .If you have a better way do it use it. Otherwise I recommend taking advantage of this method. If there are any questions please ask!
This example is for the AoC Balance Patch, other data mods can be similar to this.
Step 1: Set up the mod folder and .xml.
Go into the "Games" folder in your AoE2 directory(if you don't have that folder, then create it) and create a subfolder, in this case called "Balance Patch".
Create an xml file for the mod based of the standard "age2_x1.xml" which looks like this:
Code:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<configuration game="age2_x1">
<name>Age of Empires II: The Conquerors Expansion</name>
<path>The Conquerors</path>
<civilizations langId="10230" descId="20150" aiNameOffset="140" uiBaseId="51100" uiStride="20" uiOffset="2">
<civilization id="0" name="gaia" soundFile="stream\random.mp3" scoutUnit="448" uniqueUnit="0" eliteUniqueUnit="0" uniqueUnitLine="0" uniqueUnitUpgrade="0" uniqueResearch="0" />
<civilization id="2" name="briton" soundFile="stream\british.mp3" scoutUnit="448" uniqueUnit="8" eliteUniqueUnit="530" uniqueUnitLine="-277" uniqueUnitUpgrade="360" uniqueResearch="3" />
<civilization id="6" name="frankish" soundFile="stream\french.mp3" scoutUnit="448" uniqueUnit="281" eliteUniqueUnit="531" uniqueUnitLine="-272" uniqueUnitUpgrade="363" uniqueResearch="83" />
<civilization id="7" name="gothic" soundFile="stream\goth.mp3" scoutUnit="448" uniqueUnit="41" eliteUniqueUnit="555" uniqueUnitLine="-279" uniqueUnitUpgrade="365" uniqueResearch="16" />
<civilization id="16" name="teutonic" soundFile="stream\teuton.mp3" scoutUnit="448" uniqueUnit="25" eliteUniqueUnit="554" uniqueUnitLine="-273" uniqueUnitUpgrade="364" uniqueResearch="11" />
<civilization id="9" name="japanese" soundFile="stream\japanese.mp3" scoutUnit="448" uniqueUnit="291" eliteUniqueUnit="560" uniqueUnitLine="-274" uniqueUnitUpgrade="366" uniqueResearch="59" />
<civilization id="5" name="chinese" soundFile="stream\chinese.mp3" scoutUnit="448" uniqueUnit="73" eliteUniqueUnit="559" uniqueUnitLine="-280" uniqueUnitUpgrade="362" uniqueResearch="52" />
<civilization id="3" name="byzantine" soundFile="stream\byzantin.mp3" scoutUnit="448" uniqueUnit="40" eliteUniqueUnit="553" uniqueUnitLine="-281" uniqueUnitUpgrade="361" uniqueResearch="61" />
<civilization id="13" name="persian" soundFile="stream\persian.mp3" scoutUnit="448" uniqueUnit="239" eliteUniqueUnit="558" uniqueUnitLine="-271" uniqueUnitUpgrade="367" uniqueResearch="7" />
<civilization id="14" name="saracen" soundFile="stream\saracen.mp3" scoutUnit="448" uniqueUnit="282" eliteUniqueUnit="556" uniqueUnitLine="-276" uniqueUnitUpgrade="368" uniqueResearch="9" />
<civilization id="17" name="turkish" soundFile="stream\turk.mp3" scoutUnit="448" uniqueUnit="46" eliteUniqueUnit="557" uniqueUnitLine="-278" uniqueUnitUpgrade="369" uniqueResearch="10" />
<civilization id="18" name="viking" soundFile="stream\viking.mp3" scoutUnit="448" uniqueUnit="692" eliteUniqueUnit="694" uniqueUnitLine="-282" uniqueUnitUpgrade="398" uniqueResearch="49" />
<civilization id="12" name="mongol" soundFile="stream\mongol.mp3" scoutUnit="448" uniqueUnit="11" eliteUniqueUnit="561" uniqueUnitLine="-275" uniqueUnitUpgrade="371" uniqueResearch="6" />
<civilization id="4" name="celtic" soundFile="stream\celt.mp3" scoutUnit="448" uniqueUnit="232" eliteUniqueUnit="534" uniqueUnitLine="-269" uniqueUnitUpgrade="370" uniqueResearch="5" />
<civilization id="15" name="spanish" soundFile="stream\spanish.mp3" scoutUnit="448" uniqueUnit="771" eliteUniqueUnit="773" uniqueUnitLine="-264" uniqueUnitUpgrade="60" uniqueResearch="440" />
<civilization id="1" name="aztec" soundFile="stream\aztecs.mp3" scoutUnit="751" uniqueUnit="725" eliteUniqueUnit="726" uniqueUnitLine="-268" uniqueUnitUpgrade="432" uniqueResearch="24" />
<civilization id="11" name="mayan" soundFile="stream\mayans.mp3" scoutUnit="751" uniqueUnit="763" eliteUniqueUnit="765" uniqueUnitLine="-266" uniqueUnitUpgrade="27" uniqueResearch="4" />
<civilization id="8" name="hun" soundFile="stream\huns.mp3" scoutUnit="448" uniqueUnit="755" eliteUniqueUnit="757" uniqueUnitLine="-265" uniqueUnitUpgrade="2" uniqueResearch="21" />
<civilization id="10" name="korean" soundFile="stream\koreans.mp3" scoutUnit="448" uniqueUnit="827" eliteUniqueUnit="829" uniqueUnitLine="-270" uniqueUnitUpgrade="450" uniqueResearch="445" />
</civilizations>
</configuration>
http://i.imgur.com/7Nz9YIC.png
Step 2: find the data that the mod runs on.
In the case of the balance patch, you can find the data using the direct download here.
Or if you have the mod installed on the Voobly Workshop, you can find the data in the "Voobly Mods/AOC/Data Mods/Balance Patch" in your AoE2 directory.
Once you have all this, create a "Data" folder inside the folder you created for the mod. Paste all the data in here.
http://i.imgur.com/yBGIm69.png
Step 3: Create a shortcut to run the separate data.
Go into your age2_x1 folder in your AOE2 directory. Create a shortcut for the .exe you are using. Go to the properties of the shortcut. After the last quotation, add a space and type "game=(game configuration name)".
http://i.imgur.com/xKqlQQp.png
Running this shortcut will run AoC 1.4 with the modified data without overriding any of the regular AoC data. The advantage to using this is that you can put recorded games in the "SaveGame" sub-folder in the mod's folder and view them separately compared to regular AoC games. Note that as of now, double-clicking a recorded game in a mod's respective SaveGame folder does not automatically run the game with the proper mod loaded. So you have to access the game through the shortcut and browse for the game from there.
http://i.imgur.com/1NO7Uws.png
Well, this is my way of doing it. I hope it wasn't too confusing .If you have a better way do it use it. Otherwise I recommend taking advantage of this method. If there are any questions please ask!