Modding Guide for Mount&Blade Warband

This guide contains among other things

• Setting up the Module System

• Module System Syntax and Usage

• Documentation Module System

• Documentation module.ini

• Game Engine Settings, Formulas and Info Tidbits

• BRF Resource Management

last edited at: 29. Dezember 2021

 Abstract

Here a little text about the content of the modding guide (Collections of informations and
tutorials) and what won’t be content here, at least not en detail (3d-modelling, world map and
scening).
Credits for those who helped at writing down this guide and/or provided informations at the
forum which have been integrated (alphabetic order):
Abhuva, Amman d Stazia, Antonis, Arch3r, Baskakov_Dima, bryce777, burspa, Caba’drin,
cmpxchg8b, Colt, Dargor, Dalion, Darth Mongol the Unwise/MongolFromForest, Dj_FRedy,
Doggy, dstn/Dustin/SupaNinjaMan, dunde, Dusk Voyager, Earendil, fisheye, GetAssista, Ho-
kieBT, InVain, ithilienranger, jacobhinds, jik, K700, kalarhan, Khamukkamu, kraggrim, kt0, La
Grandmaster, Lav, Leonion, Llew2, lllew, Lumos, MadocComadrin, MadVader, Mammoet, Mas-
terancza/Garedyr, maw, Mirathei, mtarini, Neophyte, Norwood Reaper, NPC99, Pitch, rabican,
Ritter Dummbatz, _Sebastian_, Seek & Destroy/Seek n Destroy, Sicnarf, silverkatana, Siniste-
rius, smiling_cataphract, Somebody, SonKidd, Specialist, Swyter, The_dragon, The Bowman,
Thorgrim, Veledentella, Vetrogor, Vjeffae, Waldzios, Watakushi, Winter, WookieWarlord, xPear-
se.

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Table of Contents

1 Introduction 13

2 Localization and Modularity 16

3 Setting up the Module System 19

3.1 header_*files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
3.2 ID_*files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
3.3 module_*files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
3.4 process_*files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

4 Module Syntax and Usage 26

4.1 The Basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
4.1.1 Variables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
4.1.2 Module System Prefixes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
4.1.3 Module_Scripts, Parameters, Arguments, etc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
4.2 Terminology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
4.2.1 Troop vs Agent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
4.2.2 Parties and Party Templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
4.2.3 Slots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
4.3 Control and Conditional Operations and Syntax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
4.3.1 List of Conditional Operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
4.3.2 List of Control Operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
4.3.3 Boolean AND and OR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
4.3.4 If-Then-Else . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
4.3.5 Conjunctive and Disjunctive Normal Form . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
4.3.6 For-Next Loop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
4.3.7 Loop Breaks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
4.3.7.1 Method 1: Changing the Loop’s End . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
4.3.7.2 Method 2: Using an Condition Test . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
4.3.8 Loop Extension . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
4.4 Intendation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

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5 Documentation Module System 41
5.1 Introduction, Configuration and Interaction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
5.1.1 Module Info . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
5.1.2 Interaction between Module System Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
5.2 Gameplay-related Module System Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
5.2.1 Module Constants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
5.2.2 Module Variables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
5.2.3 Module Strings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
5.2.3.1 Strings and Syntax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
5.2.3.2 Gender/Skin-based Alternations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
5.2.3.3 Difference between Strings and Quick Strings . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
5.2.3.4 Other notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
5.2.4 Module Scripts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
5.2.4.1 Game Engine Scripts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
5.2.4.2 Can-fail (cf_x) Scripts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
5.2.4.3 Other Tidbits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
5.2.5 Module Simple Triggers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
5.2.5.1 Save-game Compatibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
5.2.5.2 Deprecated Hardcoded Triggers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
5.2.6 Module Triggers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
5.2.6.1 Remarkable Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
5.2.6.2 Randomness of Triggers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
5.2.6.3 Randomly Delayed Trigger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
5.2.7 Module Factions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
5.2.7.1 Difference between Faction and Culture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
5.2.7.2 Changing Faction Relations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
5.2.7.3 Faction Flags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
5.2.7.4 Differences between Player’s Faction and Player Supporters’ Faction . 59
5.2.7.5 Maximum Amount of Factions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
5.3 Agent-related Module System Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
5.3.1 Module Skills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
5.3.1.1 Native Skills and Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
5.3.1.2 Hard-coded Skills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
5.3.1.3 Skill Flags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

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 5.3.1.4 Maximum Skill Level . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
5.3.1.5 Adding, Combining, Deleting and/or Editing Skills . . . . . . . . . . 63
5.3.2 Module Skins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
5.3.2.1 Adding a New Skin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
5.3.2.2 Skin Flag and Morph Key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
5.3.2.3 Face Keys Code . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
5.3.2.4 Skin Colour . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
5.3.2.5 Scaling Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
5.3.2.6 Skins for Horses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
5.3.2.7 Bones List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
5.3.2.8 Blood Particles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
5.3.2.9 Skin/Gender/Race-based Voice Entries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
5.3.3 Module Troops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
5.3.3.1 Troop Flags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
5.3.3.2 Scene Entry Point . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
5.3.3.3 Troop Faction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
5.3.3.4 Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
5.3.3.5 Random Attribute and Skill Points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
5.3.3.6 Health/Hit Points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
5.3.3.7 Proficiencies/Weapon Points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
5.3.3.8 Creating Face Codes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
5.3.3.9 Troop DNA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
5.3.3.10 Equipment Selection of Bots/AI Troops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
5.3.3.11 Troop Image . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
5.3.3.12 Troop Trees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
5.3.3.13 Differences between Classes, Subclasses and Divisions . . . . . . . . . 85
5.3.3.14 Division/Class Settings of Troops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
5.3.3.15 Other Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
5.3.4 Module Items . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
5.3.4.1 Item Types/Classes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
5.3.4.2 Item Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
5.3.4.3 Item Capabilities (itc & itcf) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
5.3.4.4 Item Stats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
5.3.4.5 Item Damage Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102

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 5.3.4.6 Maximum Weapon Damage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
5.3.4.7 Item Modifiers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
5.3.4.8 Usage of ixmesh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
5.3.4.9 Item Extra Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
5.3.4.10 Item Triggers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
5.3.4.11 Equipment Slots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
5.3.4.12 Maximum Inventory Items . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
5.3.4.13 Books . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
5.3.4.14 Morale Effect of Food . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
5.3.4.15 Food slot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
5.3.4.16 Other Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
5.3.4.17 Items as Scene Props . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
5.3.5 Module Animations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
5.3.5.1 Animation Capability Flags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
5.3.5.2 Animation Master Flags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
5.3.5.3 Animation Sequence Flags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
5.3.5.4 Upper and Lower Body at Animations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
5.3.5.5 Variations for Animations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
5.3.5.6 Animation Sounds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
5.3.5.7 Ragdolls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
5.3.5.8 Skin/Race-specific Animations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
5.3.5.9 Animations and Item Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
5.3.5.10 Animations and Item Capability Flags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
5.3.5.11 Other notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
5.4 Scene-related Module System Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
5.4.1 Module Scene Props . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
5.4.1.1 Scene Prop Flags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
5.4.1.2 Destroyable Scene Props . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
5.4.1.3 Using Scene Props . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
5.4.1.4 Moving Scene Props . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
5.4.1.5 Vertex-animated Scene Props . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
5.4.1.6 Light Source Scene Props . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
5.4.1.7 Shadows on Scene Props . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
5.4.1.8 Water River Scene Props . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139

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 5.4.1.9 Horses and Stairs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
5.4.1.10 Scene Prop Variables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
5.4.1.11 Scene Prop Variants - Alternative Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
5.4.1.12 Scene Prop Meta Types, Sub Kind ID and Variation IDs . . . . . . . 139
5.4.1.13 Other notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
5.4.2 Module Scenes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
5.4.2.1 Scene Flags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
5.4.2.2 Scene Borders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
5.4.2.3 Water Level . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
5.4.2.4 Terrain Code . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
5.4.2.5 Outer Terrain Border . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
5.4.2.6 Other Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
5.4.2.7 Character Creation Screen aka Meeting Scene . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
5.4.3 Module Mission Templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
5.4.3.1 Mission Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
5.4.3.2 Spawn Records . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
5.4.3.3 Mission Template Spawn/Entry Flags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
5.4.3.4 Mission Template Alter Flags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
5.4.3.5 Mission Template Triggers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
5.4.3.6 Jumping from Mission Template to Mission Template . . . . . . . . . 153
5.4.3.7 Weather . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
5.4.3.8 Other notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
5.4.4 Flora Kinds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
5.4.5 Skyboxes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
5.5 Map-related Module System Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
5.5.1 Module Map Icons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
5.5.1.1 Map Icon Flags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
5.5.1.2 Map Icon Trigger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
5.5.2 Module Parties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
5.5.2.1 Checking of Coordinates at World Map . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
5.5.2.2 Party Flags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
5.5.2.3 Party Speed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
5.5.2.4 AI-Behaviour Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
5.5.2.5 Maximum Number of Stacks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167

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 5.5.2.6 Experience Constants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
5.5.2.7 Fiefs’ Association with each other . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
5.5.2.8 Other Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
5.5.3 Module Party Templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
5.5.3.1 Personality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
5.5.3.2 Creating a New Party Template . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
5.5.4 Ground Specs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
5.6 UI-related Module System Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
5.6.1 Module Info Pages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
5.6.2 Module Dialogs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
5.6.2.1 Requirements and the Condition Block . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
5.6.2.2 Declarations for Dialogs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
5.6.2.3 Dialog Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
5.6.2.4 Conversation with Multiple People . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
5.6.2.5 Other notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
5.6.3 Module Quests . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
5.6.3.1 Bare-bones for New Quests . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
5.6.3.2 Quest Flags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
5.6.4 Module Meshes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
5.6.4.1 Mesh Flags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
5.6.5 Module Game Menus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
5.6.5.1 Menu Flags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
5.6.6 Module Presentations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
5.6.6.1 Presentation Flags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
5.6.6.2 Text Flags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
5.7 Audio-related Module System Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
5.7.1 Module Music . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
5.7.1.1 Music Track Flags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194
5.7.1.2 Culture Flags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196
5.7.1.3 Native Music Code . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196
5.7.1.4 Tips for Music Designers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
5.7.1.5 Tips for Scripters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
5.7.1.6 Optimal Music File Format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
5.7.2 Module Sounds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201

8
 5.7.2.1 Sound Flags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
5.7.2.2 Optimal Sound File Format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202
5.7.2.3 Other notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203
5.8 VFX-related Module System Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
5.8.1 Module Particle Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
5.8.1.1 Particle System Flags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
5.8.1.2 Other notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
5.8.2 Module Postfx . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
5.8.3 Module Tableau Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208

6 Documentation module.ini 209

6.1 Module General Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
6.1.1 Versions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
6.1.2 Loading Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
6.1.3 Enabling Content . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210
6.2 World Map Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210
6.2.1 Map Constants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210
6.2.2 Time and Date Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212
6.2.3 Leveling-related Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212
6.2.4 Item Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214
6.2.5 Party Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
6.2.6 Game Menus Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
6.2.7 Others . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
6.3 Battle Scene Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216
6.3.1 Combat Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216
6.3.2 Battle Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218
6.3.3 Physics Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
6.3.4 Others . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
6.4 Other Parameters and Details . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
6.4.1 Enabling Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
6.4.2 Graphical Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222
6.4.3 Multiplayer Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222
6.4.4 Performance and Logs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223
6.4.5 Savegames . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223

9
7 Game Engine Settings, Formulas and Info Tidbits 224
7.1 Remarks regarding txt Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224
7.1.1 games_variables.txt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224
7.1.2 variables.txt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224
7.1.3 variable_uses.txt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224
7.1.4 rlg_log.txt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225
7.1.5 rlg_config.txt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225
7.2 Damage System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225
7.2.1 Hit Detection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225
7.2.2 Damage Formula . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225
7.2.3 Weapon Speed Formula . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227
7.2.4 Shot Speed/Missile Starting Velocity Formula . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
7.2.5 Missile Speed Formula . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
7.2.6 Maximum Speed and Acceleration Formulas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230
7.3 Other Remarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231
7.3.1 World Map Speed Formula . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231
7.3.2 Gain Experience Formula . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233
7.3.3 Experience Formula for Leveling Up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235
7.3.4 Colour Codes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235
7.3.5 Usage of Unicode Characters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236
7.3.6 Weapon Switch System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236
7.3.7 Calculation for Reticle Size at Aiming with Ranged Weapons . . . . . . . . . . 236
7.3.8 Kicking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236
7.3.9 Chance for horses being crippled or killed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237
7.3.10 Crosshair . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237
7.3.11 Ammo Drop and Pick Up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237
7.3.12 Melee Weapon Bounce . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237
7.3.13 Biggest Value that a Variable can hold . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238
7.3.14 Semi-randomness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238
7.3.15 Save Game Compability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238
7.3.16 Quoted and Unquoted Variables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239
7.3.17 Uninitiated Variables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239
7.3.18 Mount&Blade Engine and Multithreading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239
7.3.19 List of Native Key Kombinations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239

10
 7.3.20 In-game Cursor Info . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239

8 Most Common Errors at Modding 240

8.1 Most Common Errors at Compiling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240
8.2 Most Common other Errors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242
8.3 World Map Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243
8.4 Errors appearing in-game . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245

9 Good Practice 246

9.1 Multiplayer and hard-coded presentations related notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247

10 In-game Editor 252

10.1 Using the Edit Mode for Scening . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253
10.1.1 How to get to Edit Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253
10.1.2 Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253
10.1.3 Adding an Object . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253
10.1.4 Painting the Ground Texture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254
10.1.5 Spawnpoints in Native . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254
10.1.6 Other notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254
10.2 Ingame Troop Viewer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255

11 Frequently Asked Questions 256

11.1 What is a tuple? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256
11.2 What is the difference between neg and neq? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256
11.3 What are Fixed Point Values/Numbers? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256
11.4 Why can’t I see the changes I made to my mod? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257
11.5 How to read OPCode errors? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257
11.6 Is there an upper limit to the number of troop types or cities/villages/castles available?257
11.7 How to create a Native Compatible Multiplayer Mod? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257
11.8 Why is the initial loading time of a new game getting longer? . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257
11.9 How does the Auto-Calc Battle work? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257
11.10Default warnings of Native in rgl-log . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258
11.11Banners . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258
11.12Startup of Game . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258
11.13How can I skip the Character Creation for Quick Testing? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258
11.14How can I change the Battle Size? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258

11
 11.15Is the Game actually doing something with the Names of Scripts, Presentations, etc.? 258
11.16The Usage and Usefulness of Decompilers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258

12 BRF Resource Management 260

12.1 What is OpenBRF and what are BRF Files? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260
12.1.1 BRF File Format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260
12.1.2 Loading Order . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260
12.2 Meshes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261
12.2.1 Multi-meshing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261
12.2.2 LODs, the Level of Details . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263
12.2.3 Rigging . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263
12.2.4 Vertex Animations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264
12.2.5 Vertex Colouring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266
12.2.6 Others . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266
12.3 Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267
12.4 Textures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267
12.5 Collision Meshes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267
12.6 Skeletons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268
12.7 Animations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268
12.8 Performance Optimization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268
12.9 Remaining notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269
12.10Shaders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269

12
1 Introduction1

What actually is “modding“?

As you probably already know, the word “modding“ comes from “modifying“, and “mod“ can mean
either “modification“ or “module“. But what the word means doesn’t really matter. Shortly put,
“modding“ means modifying something. In this case you’re going to modify the game Mount&Blade
or one of its derivatives. Modding actually is programming, but on a basic level, so if you have
experience in programming, you shouldn’t have any problems in understanding how to mod.

And how does modding in M&B work?

To understand this, you need to understand a few basic, easy concepts of programming. So, open up
your Mount&Blade\Modules folder. There is the Native mod that ships with the game, and any mods
you may have downloaded and played. Note that I say “Mount&Blade“, but this can be any of the
games you want. We’ll presume we’re talking about Warband, so your folder will be “Mount&Blade
Warband“. Or whatever.
Take a peek inside the Native folder. You’ll see a bunch of text files and some folders. Open a
text file, let’s say “presentations.txt“, and scroll down a bit... Unintelligible, isn’t it? Except for some
text here and there, the rest of it is digits. This is what the game reads, and this is how a mod looks
like when it’s done.
To make a mod, you can directly edit the text files, although this is a boring, tedious, error-prone
job. My advice: don’t do it. Of course, I also did it when I first started out (not to make a mod, but to
give myself some über stats and... um... yeah). The other way is to use the “Module System“, which is
a set of script files (with understandable language and much less numbers!) that are compiled using
Python, a programming language. It is important for you to know that although the files from the
Module System (I call it ModSys for short) have the .py extension (Python file), the ModSys itself
is not written in Python, and (for 99.99 % of your needs) you don’t need to know it (yes, you can
use it for complicated stuff if you know it.). The ModSys uses something way easier - just a bunch of
“operations“ which do the job. And after you mod these .py files, the real pythonic compiler compiles
(translates) these files and creates the .txt files you saw earlier, which the game can read.
The M&B “language“ does not have a fixed name. I call it Mount and Blade Language - MABL
(pronounced “Mable“), but many people seems to prefer M&B Script. This does not matter at all,
though. You can call it “Ni!“ and it would still work. (If you have a shrubbery... lol)
1
Taken from The Ultimate Introduction to Modding by Lumos.

13
All right, I got it. What do I need to do to modify my game?

It depends on what you want to do. If you want to tweak stuff, add some new items, or some troops,
or change existing stuff, and you want to do this for personal use (mostly), you can edit the text files
- either by hand (NOT recommended) or by using any suitable modder-made application from the
Unofficial Editing Tools board. If you have a serious project in mind, you’ll need the ModSys. Also,
keep in mind that compiling the ModSys overwrites any changes done in the .txt files.
There are, in my humble opinion, three main categories of modding. These are Coding (writing
scripts for awesome stuff, creating new game features) - which means working with the ModSys,
Modelling (making the visible stuff: items, houses, anything that is a 3D model) - which is mostly
not working with the ModSys. However, to add your stuff to the game you’ll still need to know how
the ModSys works; and Texturing (giving the 3D models an actual look by using drawings) - of
course, most modellers are texturers, but you can include any other type of 2D art (and the game
uses that too) in this category. ModSys knowledge not required, but recommended.

I’m beginning to think that you’re going to talk about this ModSys even more.

You’re right. I’m a coder. My 3D modelling skills are... hm, pre-intermediate at best, and my texturing
skills are minimal. (I’m sorry, but I can’t draw with a mouse. I draw reasonably good on paper, but
I suck hard with the mouse.) And, as a coder, I’m going to focus more on the coding side. Of course,
I’ll talk only about the basics, which everyone should know.

And what if I don’t want to be a coder?

Very good, but you could still learn something that you’ll use someday in the future. If you’re looking
for software, you can use anything that exports as an .obj/.smd for models and anything that can
edit .dds files for textures (or use the DDS Converter for that).
Software for 3D modelling includes Wings3D and Blender (freeware), 3DSMax, Maya, ZBrush
(paid) and so on and so forth. Software for texturing includes GIMP, Paint.NET (freeware), Photo-
shop (paid) and others. Look around the tutorials in this forum to understand more game-specific
stuff about modelling/texturing. This will be a very good place for you to start.

14
 Kudos to you for reading these sentences. Of course, it’s presumed you’ve read through the whole
preamble. Now grab yourself a beer or something... if you haven’t already.
- Lumos

15
2 Localization and Modularity2
Usually, mods have their own folders with their own files as you will learn soon but files for Native
are nowhere to be found. Try looking a level or two up, directly in the game folder. CommonRes
(a Resource folder), languages, music, Sounds, and Textures are identical to their mod folder coun-
terparts, but are common to every mod. This however doesn’t mean that they will be fully used in
every mod (pretty much only in Native). To make a mod fully independent, you’ve got to modulize
it. This includes localizing the files by copying files from the common folders to the mod specific
folders. Next, you must get the module to read from the right directory. More information on this
below.

Mod Folders and Files

What exactly constitutes a mod? A mod essentially is a bunch of files in a bunch of folders. If you
change the files, you create a new mod. Therefore, it makes sense to learn about what file types go
in each folder and which software to use for what. This is covered below.
All of these files and folders can be found here, where Mod is the name of the mod.
1 C: \ Program F i l e s \Mount&Blade ( Warband/With F i r e and Sword ) \ Modules \Mod

Languages

Use Notepad for the CSV files. Simply localize to modulize, otherwise it reads from the common
languages folder. The CSV files contain various text found in-game such as hints. You may only edit
the text after the | in each line. To add a new hint, add a new line starting with hint_#| in hints.csv.
See module.ini for more information.

Music

Use Audacity for OGG, WAV, and MP3 files. To modulize, use the music track flag mtf_module_track
for all applicable tracks in module_music.py within the module system. The folder contains audio
specifically for background music.

CommonRes/Resource

For BRF files. Use OpenBRF in conjunction with Wings3D, Blender or another programme of your
choice. To modulize, use load_mod_resource or load_module_resource instead of load_resource for
2
Taken from Modding Tools and Files by Pyrate.

16
each applicable BRF in module.ini. This folder contains graphics such as skeletons, animations and
meshes. Skeletons provide the animations for rigged meshes. Meshes give objects in the game their
three-dimensional form. These are what materials are UV-mapped to or wrapped around. The folder
also contains data for materials, textures and shaders. To rework skeletons, animations or meshes
simply export then import them into Wings3D, Blender or another programme.

SceneObj

Use the in-game editor for SCO files. They are always local and modulized. The folder contains scene
data such as terrain and props. Access the editor by opening the game, clicking Configure, clicking
the Advanced tab, clicking the box left to Enable Edit Mode so it is checked, clicking Play, going
in-game to the scene you want to edit, pressing ALT+ENTER, and finally CRTL+E to enter and exit Edit
Mode.

Sounds

Use Audacity for OGG, WAV, and MP3 files. To modulize, simply change scan_module_sounds =
0 to scan_module_sounds = 1 in module.ini if it isn’t already. This folder contains audio specifically
for sound effects.

Textures

For DDS, TGA, and JPEG files you can use GIMP or paint.net. To modulize, simply change
scan_module_textures = 0 to scan_module_textures = 1 in module.ini if it isn’t already. The
folder contains image files used for different kinds of files used in materials such as diffuse textures,
bump maps, environment maps, and specular maps. Diffuse textures are used to color materials.
Bump maps look blue or green and provide some depth to your material with lighter areas being
raised up and darker areas being sunken in. Environment maps are reflections that show up on your
material. Speculars use a similar technique as bump maps but are black and white and determine
how reflective a material is instead.

main.bmp

A BMP file for which you can use GIMP or paint.net. Simply localize to modulize, otherwise reads
from the common main.bmp file. This is the image that appears on the splash screen when the mod
is selected. Just remember before exporting, click the + to the left of Compatibility Options, then
click on the box left of Do not write color space information to check it.

17
module.ini

Use Notepad for the INI file. This file is always local and modulized and contains various mod
configuration settings such as the number of hints to display at num_hints and tells the game which
BRFs to load.

map.txt

A TXT file which is always local and modulized. As of yet, there are no updated tools to easily edit
this. Thorgrim’s map editor may be old, but still works, Bloodpass Warband Map Editor would be
an alternative.

*.txt

For the many other TXT files which aren’t mentioned use the appropriate Module System. Always
local and modulized. These files contain data on which files of every other type to use in the mod
and pretty much all the inner workings of the mod.

18
3 Setting up the Module System3

Are you finished with the theory? I want to start modding now.

Yes, I am. So, now let’s start the modding. You want to setup a Module System, don’t you? Well then,
just go to the thread where we summarise downloads, the Warband Modder’s Download Repository,
and get yourself a fresh ModSys for your particular game of choice. (You’re looking for the “Download
Module System“ section, can’t miss it!)
Now. In order to be able to compile the files into game-readable text files, full of numbers and
numbers and numbers, and to make your awesome mod come true, you need Python (the language).
Having a real pet python might help, but don’t count on it. Now, don’t go rushing into downloading
the latest Python. Here’s something really important that you should know: The ModSys does NOT
work with any Python newer than 2.x4 . Fortunately, the same thread you’ve already got open also
features a link to the Python website, so you’ve been saved a Googling; grab the latest 2.x.x version
from there.
Now all you have to do is to install Python. Using Admin rights, please. Oh, it’s a good idea to
install it in its preferred C:\Python27 directory (if you’re still using Python 2.7 in your day and age,
oh reader from the future!). Next up. Go to your Environment Variables to see if everything is OK.
For those that don’t know what Environment Variables are - well, these are OS things, which your
Windows uses. You will only have interest in the “PATH“ variable. Now open that window and get
to business.

Windows XP -> My Computer (right-click) -> Properties -> Advanced -> Environment Variables

3
Taken from The Ultimate Introduction to Modding by Lumos.
4
That’s actually a lie. If you’re familiar with Python, you’re free to re-write the Python “compiler“ that the ModSys
uses, and thus convert it to Python 3.

19
Windows 7,8 -> My Computer (right-click) -> Properties -> Advanced system settings -> Environment Variables

Scroll that list until you find the “Path“, then click it and hit the “Edit“ button down there. This
Path variable is basically just a string of paths to certain things which are important for your OS.
It’s different on every computer. In order for your compiler to work without any hacks or fixes, you
must have your Python folder in your Path variable. For an example, if you did install your Python
in C:\Python27, then you should add
1 ;C: \ Python27

at the end of the Path. Do NOT alter the Path in any other way! As it contains important system
stuff, it’s definitely NOT recommended. Just add that ;C:\Python27 if it’s not there. I think it won’t
be there, since I had to enter it manually. I think.
Anyways, notice the semicolon (;) that is before the C:\Python27? Entries for different applications
are separated with semicolons in the Path variable string, so you should add that semicolon so your
OS knows what you’re talking about. For Windows 10, be sure not to include the semicolon because
it will cause an error during the module setup. And that’s about it for setting Python up.

And where is the modding?

Modding comes next. Are you OK? Still alive, computer not exploded? Very well, keep reading!
You’ve set your Pythonic compiler up, now it’s time to compile the basis for your new mod.
Now, make sure you have permissions to read and write in your ModSys folder and in your
Mount&Blade folder (best is if you can freely change the whole folder). Now, open up your Mount&
Blade\Modules, copy Native and paste it in the same place. Change the folder name to your new mod’s
name.
Now that you have your new mod folder, you have to make your ModSys use it. Open up your
ModuleSystem folder, locate
1 module_info . py

and open it. Important! Do NOT double-click the file. If you do it, Python will think that you’re
trying to compile a Python program, and will basically do nothing. In order for you to edit ModSys
files, you need to use a text editor. You can use Notepad, although I’d strongly recommend using
Notepad++, a very powerful and free text editor. Python ships with IDLE, a text editor, but it’s
old and bad, don’t use it. Anyways, open up your module_info with your favourite text editor, and
you will see this:
1 # P oi nt e x p o r t _ d i r t o t h e f o l d e r you w i l l be k e e p i n g your module
2 # Make s u r e you u s e f o r w a r d s l a s h e s ( / ) and NOT backward s l a s h e s ( \ )
3

20
4 e x p o r t _ d i r = " . . /WOTS/ Modules / N a t i v e /"
5 #e x p o r t _ d i r = "C: / Program F i l e s /Mount&Blade / Modules / N a t i v e /"

Now this right here, “WOTS“, is a remnant from pre-2005 (or so), when the game was (temporarily)
called “Way of the Sword“. If you’ve played the very first versions of M&B, you can see old stuff still
hanging around.

Right. So, you see what you have to do. Now, let’s give you some overhead. The # mark you see
right there means that this line is a comment. If you’re a programmer, you know what a comment is,

21
if you’re not - a comment is something that stands there for the programmer, not for the computer.
Comments are used to take notes, make documentation and whatnot. Damned useful, comments are.
Everything followed by a comment is invisible to the compiler, so if someone tells you you have to
change both lines, tell them to **** off.
Change your export_dir (the non-commented one) so that it points to your new mod
folder, and follow the lead for the slashes.
As you can see, the second (commented) line is not changed, and it works OK. Now, you’ve set your
mod up. And here comes the first challenge.

Challenge? What challenge?

Don’t worry, it’s nothing. You have to double-click the build_module.bat file in your ModSys folder -
this is the compiler. Now a console window will pop up and you will see some output. If you’ve done
everything correctly, you’ll see a good output without any errors and you can be happy.

But if you’ve failed to do something from the above, you can get errors. The highest chance of an
error you’ll get is to see
1 ’ python ’ i s not r e c o g n i z e d a s i n t e r n a l o r e x t e r n a l command , o p e r a b l e program o r
batch f i l e .

about twenty times in a row. What this means is that you haven’t set up your “Path“ variable properly.
Feel free to consult the stickied How to fix "’Python not recognised..."’ thread in the forum. If/When
everything works OK, keep reading.

22
Uh... I’m getting a “can’t open file“ or something“ error! What do I do?

You must be sure to have Read/Write permissions to your ModSys folder, and to your new mod’s
folder, of course. You can try running the build_module.bat as an admin, it may work - I haven’t
tried it, I don’t know. However, putting the ModSys folder on the Desktop or in My Documents is
bound to fix the problem.

I’m getting another error!

Use the forum’s search function (it’s in the top-right corner) or ask a question in the Modding Q&A
board. Do not make a new thread specifically for your question.

All right, my mod compiles properly. What now?

Well, my friend, this means you’re done. You have the basis for your mod completed, and all that’s
left is the real modding itself. One more thing you should know, though. As you probably noticed,
there are four types of .py files in the ModSys folder. Read on below to understand their purposes.

3.1 header_*files
Header files contain constants for the game. You can change them, but it’s generally not recommended
or needed. If you want to define yourself a new constant, you can do it in the appropriate module_*
file. All operations are documented in header_operations.py.

3.2 ID_*files
ID_* files contain the numerical indexes for everything in your mod. In MABL/MBScript/whatever,
everything can be looked at as a list of stuff represented by an index, and ID_* files contain these
indexes. ID_* files get re-created with every compile you do, but don’t change them. You can use
ID_* files to check what indexes your stuff has - if you get game errors that report an index but not
a name, for an example.

3.3 module_*files
As you already saw, we edited module_info.py. Module_* files contain all the game stuff, and they are
the ones that you will edit. They contain nearly everything - troops, items, scene props, scenes, etc.
You are allowed to edit them. Backing up your ModSys folder from time to time is recommended.

23
3.4 process_*files
The process_* files are responsible for compiling your mod into the game’s beloved numbers. Modi-
fication to these files seldom happens, and before you do anything, you have to be absolutely sure
that you know what you’re doing - but for a start, just don’t touch them. The process_* files, unlike
the other parts of the ModSys, are written in real Python.

But wait, aren’t you going to tell me how to mod?!

This is a path that everyone must walk on their own. In other words, no, I’m not going to tell you
how to mod. I will, however, give you some tips and links that will be useful for you.

Fine. What are they?

Here we go...

• Firstly, grammar and attitude. Remember these two words, for they are very important. Write
properly, be polite to others, and your chances of getting help will increase exponentially. Put
spaces after punctuation marks, remember that “u“ and “y“ and other crap are not words but
letters, and no “halp plox“. Treat others as your equals, in the way that you want to be treated.
Members with experience (that even spare time to answer your questions) should be treated
with all the respect you (should) treat your mentors with. Don’t be afraid to ask your questions
and to use the word “please“.

• Stickied topics are your friend. Stickied topics are threads on the forum which always stay on
the top, and do that because they are important. Reading them is always a good idea.

• Read the forum rules. They aren’t a lot, and are put quite shortly and understandably. Also
remember to read the box that appears when you make a new topic. Read it at least once, it
won’t hurt you.

• If you have a small question, do not make a topic about it. Post your question in the Modding
Q&A board instead.

• Use the forum search and/or Google search on the forum to find things you need.

• The best way to learn modding is to try. Start off small, although that may seem boring as an
advice. But trust me, I know it from experience. Starting off small is the good way to start;
trying to make a gigantic project from the beginning is a very, very bad idea. Trust me.

• You can read what each “operation“ (i.e. ModSys function) does in header_operations.py.

24
Wait, how can I edit the World map?

Since you asked, here’s something important. In modding, the term map refers only to the World
Map, the one where you move around towns with your little guy. Multiplayer maps, called like that
similarly to other MP games, are called scenes in the modding section. Know that, because it’s
highly annoying to come across a person who asks how to edit a map, while he’s actually referring
to a scene.
But let’s get back on the question. To edit the World Map, you need a Map Editor application.
There are a few in existence, but the most well-known of them all is Thorgrim’s MapEditor. It was
made for the old M&B, but it can work with Warband, no matter what people may be telling you.
An alternative is Bloodpass’ Warband Map Editor.
Demonwolf’s tutorial How to make Campaign Maps is very good (I’ve followed it myself) and
will get you started on the actual map editing.
Also, please note that the larger the map, the more cumbersome it is. Maps with loads of vertices
(yes, the map is actually a 3D mesh), like more than 80000, will put a lot of pressure onto people’s
computers and should generally be avoided.

Is that it?

That’s about it. Now it’s time for you to venture into the big wide world of modding.
- Lumos

25
4 Module Syntax and Usage5

4.1 The Basics

A listing of all of the valid commands and operations that can be used in the module system is found
in the file header_operations.py. It includes comments (following the # sign) that may give a hint
as to each operations use, but also identify what arguments need to be included with each operation.
Every operation used in the module system takes the following form:

1. It is enclosed in parentheses: (operation)

2. It is immediately followed by a comma: (operation),

3. Arguments within the operation parentheses are separated by a comma: (operation, argument,
argument)

Additionally, the header_operations file assigns a numerical code to each of the operations listed
there. For instance, call_script = 1. When the game gives errors, they are in the form of SCRIPT
ERROR ON OPCODE ##:.... OPCODE number provided refers to the number assigned to the operation

in header_operations. So, if the error was with OPCODE1, the line of code in question used the
operation call_script.
Items contained within the various module files are indexed, that is assigned an ordinal numeric
value based on the order they are found in the file. These indexes begin with 0 and count by 1 to each
next value. Thus, troops, items, triggers, scenes, etc, once compiled into .txt files, are referred to by
their index value. So, if you see an error code in “trigger 0“, that is the first trigger in the indicated
file, and if the error is in line 4, you are looking for the fifth operation within that trigger.

4.1.1 Variables

Local variables - ":variable" - variables declared with a : are local variables. They only exist in the
current code block–enclosed by brackets [ ] –and cannot be referenced in other code blocks unless
passed as script parameters. One should initialize them (to 0 or another suitable value) before they
are used as they may contain a value already.6 They are enclosed with quotations . Ex: ":agent_id"
Global variables - "$variable" - variables declared with a $ are global variables. They are availa-
ble to be referenced in any part of the code, from any module_*, once they are defined. Their default
5
Taken from An Introduction to Module Syntax and Usage by Caba‘drin.
6
If you have a script that is called repeatedly (from a loop) the local variables within this script are NOT reset
with every call due to the quick succession of the script calls. One must initialize them at the beginning of the script
so they are re-set with every call. Caba‘drin, Modding Q&A.

26
value is 0. They are enclosed in quotations . Ex: "$g_talk_troop".7
Registers - reg(#) OR reg# - are variables used by the engine to store bits of information
temporarily. They are global in scope, but may be accessed by a variety of different scripts for their
duration and are then left for another bit of code to use them. In header_common, registers reg0 to
reg65 are declared.8
Strings - s# - are specific ’registers’ used to hold a string, rather than an integer. Strings not
declared in module_strings (quick strings) begin with the @ symbol. In header_common strings s0
to s67 are declared.
Positions - pos# - Unlike the previous two “registers“, positions store more than one piece of
information; each position stores X, Y, Z coordinates as well as rotations on each X, Y, and Z axis.
In header_common positions pos0 to pos64 are declared, with pos64 beginning an unspecified range
of positions used by siege towers (belfries).
Constants - constant - are constants that are declared in module_constants, maintain the nume-
rical value assigned there, and cannot be altered save through editing module_constants. They can
be called from any module_* file and any code block. Constants are not enclosed with quotations.
Local and global variables, as well as registers, are declared with the
1 ( a s s i g n , <v a r i a b l e \_name>, <v a r i a b l e \ _value >) ,

operation. The variable value field can be another variable name. Strings and positions have their
own unique operations, as defined in header_operations
Keep in mind that registers and variables can only be used where they are meant to go: in
conditions and operations blocks.9

7
Global variables values are saved with saved games and a global variable declared in the start game script won’t
be redeclared when a game is loaded. Caba‘drin, Modding Q&A.
8
reg(#) is the old way which is still working but got replaced by reg# on newer versions of the Module System.
You can can still see some leftovers on the Native Module System that were not updated; kalarhan, Modding Q&A.
9
Yoshiboy, Modding Q&A.

27
4.1.2 Module System Prefixes

Within the Module System (eg module_mission_templates), one can refer to code or information
stored in other files of the Module System by using a prefix before the label for the piece of code.
Only module_dialogs.py has no prefix since it is never directly referenced.

module_animations: "anim_" module_pstfx: "pfx_"

module_factions: "fac_" module_presentations: "prsnt_"
module_info_pages: "ip_" module_quests: "qst_"
module_items: "itm_" module_scene_props: "spr_"
module_game_menus: "menu_" module_scenes: "scn_"
module_map_icons: "icon_" module_scripts: "script_"
module_meshes: "mesh_" module_skills: "skl_"
module_mission_templates: "mst_" module_sounds: "snd_"
module_music: "track_" module_strings: "str_"
module_particle_systems: "psys_" module_tableau_materials: "tableau_"
module_parties: "p_" module_troops: "trp_"

4.1.3 Module_Scripts, Parameters, Arguments, etc.

Most of the module_* files contain self-contained code for the most part. Files such as _skills,
_troops, _items etc. simply define these various elements for the game. module_game_menus con-
tains all of the various menus, their options etc. Presentations has all of the more complicated
presentation-drawing data, etc.
But module_scripts is referenced from many of these files–it contains “common“ functions to
be called upon by every part of the game code. You can consider ( call_script , "script_scriptname", <
optional_aruments>), a Goto:, Jump, function call, what have you.
To fascilitate this process, the call script operation allows information to be passed from the
current code to the script without using global variables. These arguments or parameters can be local
variables generated by the current bit of code. The script code in module_scripts will then begin by
storing the parameters passed to it into local variables for use throughout the script. Scripts cannot
pass information back to the code they were called from in the same way though. To do this, registers
are typically used. In the calling code, once the script has completed, these registers are recorded to
local variables for ease of use. Up to 15 script parameters can be passed with any one call.
1 / / . . . statements . . . / /
2 ( assign , " : local_variable_1 " , 10) ,
3 ( assign , " : local_variable_2 " , 5) ,
4 ( c a l l _ s c r i p t , " script_example_script " , " : local_variable_1 " , " : local_variable_2 ") ,
5 ( a s s i g n , " : l o c a l _ v a r i a b l e _ 3 " , r e g 0 ) , #l o c a l _ v a r i a b l e _ 3 = 15
6 / / . . . f u r t h e r s t u f f , working with l o c a l _ v a r i a b l e _ 3 . . . / /

28
1 # script_example_script
2 # Input : v a r i a b l e _ 1 , v a r i a b l e _ 2
3 # Output : Sum i n r e g 0
4 (" example_script " , [
5 ( store_script_param , " : num1" , 1 ) , #now num1 i s 10
6 ( store_script_param , " : num2" , 2 ) , #now num2 i s 5
7 ( store_add , " : sum " , " : num1" , " : num2" ) ,
8 ( a s s i g n , reg0 , " : sum " ) ,
9 ]) ,

4.2 Terminology

4.2.1 Troop vs Agent

Troops refer to the entries in module_troops by the name assigned to them there. "trp_player" is the
player, "trp_npc##" for the various companions, "trp_knight_#_##" for lords, and "trp_swadian_footman
" etc, etc. With more generic soldiers, the entry in module_troops is used as a “template“ to create
multiple instances of them in each party, etc.
Alternatively, agents refer to the specific actors, by number, in a scene (whether that scene is a
battle, a tavern or what have you). Agents are created from the templates in module_troops, for the
player, companions, NPC lords. They are still unique but with generic soldiers multiple agents can
be created from a single troop template. Each agent has a unique number for that scene but when
the scene ends the agent doesn’t exist any more so its agent id is meaningless.

4.2.2 Parties and Party Templates

A “party“ is any entity on the world map, be that the player’s party, bandits and their lairs, NPC lords,
or a town/castle/village. The different types of parties are separated into categories in the first party
slot "slot_party_type" (or party slot 0–see the discussion of slots below), which contains an integer
associated with a certain type. These types are defined in module_constants and begin with the
heading spt_* (for slot_party_type). Some examples of spt_* values are spt_kingdom_hero_party
(for NPC lords) and spt_castle (...for castles).
Each party has an ID number that it is referenced by in the code. For instance, the player’s party
is "p_main_party" which has always an index value or Party ID of 0. Certain parties have constant or
static ID numbers, such as the player’s party and all towns, castles and villages. Those parties with
static IDs are defined in module_parties. You can see their ID number in the file ID_parties.py after
you compile your module.

29
 For all parties NOT defined in module_parties.py, those are created, dynamically, by the game
based on a party template, in a manner somewhat parallel to the agent/troop division above. These
party templates are defined in module_party_templates and have names that are referenced with the
prefix "pt_#". The template contains, primarily, a list of troops that are contained in that template
and a numeric range that is used to determine how many of each troop type will be given to that
template in game (the engine randomly picks a number within that range). A party template can
be used to create a new party with the command <spawn_party>. This new party is assigned an ID
number and then can be classified with a slot_party_type value, etc. Party templates can also be
used with already existing parties. One can add a template (the troops defined in that template) to
another party to “reinforce“ an existing party in this way.

4.2.3 Slots10

Slots are essentially ways to have variables arrayed by an object (party, troop, agent, team, faction,
scene, item, player, scene prop, or party template). Each party, troop, agent, item etc has a number of
“slots“ (variables) assigned to it. That variable has a common name "slot_item_SLOTNAME" for each
version of the object is assigned to (items in this case), which is useful, but stores unique information
for each object. Where it looks like a “constant“ is the fact that the engine turns the name of the
arrayed variable (the slot) into a number in module_constants (slot_item_base_price = 53). This
means that the engine looks at the 53rd slot-variable associated with a given item to find that item’s
base price.
So, when you see operations using slots such as
1 ( item_get_slot , " : b a s e _ p r i c e " , " : item_id " , s l o t _ i t e m _ b a s e _ p r i c e ) ,

you can see that you need to specify exactly which item you want to get the base price for. But,
since the variable is arrayed, you could embed that in a try_for_* loop and iterate through many
":item_id"s to do things to the base price of every item, say.
You can access the price for a specific item with the item_get_slot operation, change it via
item_set_slot, and test for equality with item_slot_eq and the like.
If you know C-like programming languages, slots work a lot like this:
1 slot_troop_spouse
2 s p o u s e [ t r o o p 1 ] = spousename
3 s p o u s e [ t r o o p 2 ] = spousename
4 s p o u s e [ t r p _ p l a y e r ] = spousename

10
With additional information bits by Dalion.

30
which the engine reads as troop_variable_30[troop1], troop_variable30[trp_player] etc. since the
slot slot_troop_spouse is set as slot 30 in constants.
1 slot_item_base_price
2 b a s e p r i c e [ item1 ] = p r i c e A
3 b a s e p r i c e [ item2 ] = p r i c e B
4 b a s e p r i c e [ item3 ] = p r i c e C

and the engine reads that as item_variable_53[item1], item_variable_53[item2] etc. since it is set
as 53 in constants.
Before being set with a *_set_slot operation, the value of all slots is 0 like for a global variable11 .
Each slot has unique storage for a large number; each slot number can store a 64 bit integer, but
other parts of the game engine (like multiplayer network messages) can only deal with 32 bit integers,
so you should keep within the -2147483648 to 2147483647 range to be safe. For each type of object
you can use slot numbers (the ones defined in module_constants.py) from 0 to 1048575 (2ˆ20), but
you should keep the slot numbers fairly close together to avoid wasted memory usage - the engine
allocates a continuous array of slots up to the highest number used.12 If you try to use slot higher
than the upper bound, it won’t be assigned, and retrieving its value will always give 0.13

Slots are globals tied to some object.14 For instance, troop slots define what lords personalities are
since they are unique for each lord. Agent slots define which agents are running away since
it’s also unique behavior for each agent and using global variables for this just won’t do the
job. Once you understand how slots work, you will always choose them over globals in some
situations, not only because there is no other way, but sometimes because the feature will work
better this way. Three things to remember when using slots:

1. They can be defined in any file the are used in, not just module_constants. Make sure
though that other files in which this slot is in have the file with definition included on the
top with *. Or they could not be defined at all: if you are sure that you will remember their
meaning you can use (agent_set_slot, ":agent", <slot_no>, <value>) instead of (agent_set_slot
, ":agent", <slot_name>, <value>). This is actually true for any constant, not just slots.

2. You can have multiple slots with the same number but make sure they are different
“category“. I.e. it is fine to have troop slot 145 and party slot 145 but avoid using two
troop slots with number 145.
11
Which is because global variables are slots as cmpxchg8b remarks in the Modding Q&A thread.
12
Vornne, Modding Q&A.
13
Dalion, Mount & Blade Modding Discord.
14
Whole passage by Dalion, Mount & Blade Modding Discord.

31
 3. Slot names are not saved anywhere during compilation, so they can be used to make your
code more difficult to understand in compiled form (if that is what’s you are after). When
someone looks on code of your compiled module, to understand a global sometimes it’s
enough to look at its name. But to understand a compiled slot, you should look up all its
uses and make conclusions based on them so it’s far more difficult.

Should you face slots with appearantly wrong naming, like slto_kingdom_hero for example, take
note that slto stands for slot_troop_occupation, marking the constant values for these slots. So it
is not a spelling mistake which needs to be corrected, merely a naming convention of TaleWorlds.15
Not sure how to work in phantom values in slots16 . There are also different comments with varying
values17 and some most probably outdated informations which might be interesting if still valid.18
Comment of cmpxchg8b about game engine dealing with slots19

15
Somebody, Modding Q&A.
16
MadVader, Modding Q&A.
17
_Sebastian_, Modding Q&A and Modding Q&A.
18
Hellequin, Modding Q&A and Modding Q&A.
19
cmpxchg8b, Modding Q&A.

32
4.3 Control and Conditional Operations and Syntax
In general, it is imperitive to note that the game engine treats every conditional operation as an “IF“
and all of the code that follows after a conditional operation as the “THEN“ in an If-Then statement.
As the engine goes through lines of code, it will stop any time a conditional operation fails, and it
will not read the remainder of the code.
To isolate If-Then(-Else) statements to allow failure but continue processing the remainder of the
code, one must use a “try block“ with (try_begin), (else_try), and (try_end), This is discussed in
more detail below.

4.3.1 List of Conditional Operations

1 ( eq ,< va lue >,<va lue >) , Does Value 1 = Value 2?

2 ( gt ,< value >,<value >) , I s Value 1 > Value 2?
3 ( ge ,< val ue >,<val ue >) , I s Value 1 >= Value 2?
4 ( l t ,< valu e >,<valu e >) , I s Value 1 < Value 2?
5 ( l e ,< va lue >,<va lue >) , I s Value 1 <= Value 2?
6 ( neq ,< valu e >,<valu e >) , Does Value 1 != Value 2?
7 ( is_between ,< val ue >,<lower_bound >,<upper_bound >) , I s Lower <= Value < Upper ?

Also, any operation that includes "_is_" can be considered a true-false condition test. For instance,
(agent_is_alive,<agent_id>), will do a conditional test to check if the agent ID provided is alive. If the
test is true, the code continues. If it is false, the code stops.
To test for “FALSE“ rather than “TRUE“ in any "_is_" T/F conditional test, use the following:
8 ( neg |< o p e r a t i o n >) ,

From our previous example,

1 ( neg | a g e n t _ i s _ a l i v e ,< agent_id >) ,

the code will only continue if the agent identified by the ID number is dead (NOT alive).

4.3.2 List of Control Operations

1 ( try_begin ) ,
2 ( try_end ) ,
3 ( else_try ) ,
4 ( try_for_range ,< d e s t i n a t i o n >,<lower_bound >,<upper_bound >) ,
5 ( try_for_range_backwards ,< d e s t i n a t i o n >,<lower_bound >,<upper_bound >) ,
6 ( t r y _ f o r _ p a r t i e s ,< d e s t i n a t i o n >) ,
7 ( try_for_agents ,< d e s t i n a t i o n >) ,

33
Destination is the variable that will be iterated in a loop. The iteration will begin at the lower bound
and go to Upper Bound -1

4.3.3 Boolean AND and OR

Since, as discussed above, the engine treats every conditional operation as the “IF“ in an If-Then and
all the code beneath it as the “THEN“, the boolean AND can be accomplished simply by stringing
multiple conditional operations after one another.
For instance, if one wanted to locate an agent who is alive AND a horse AND an enemy, the code
would simply be:
1 ( a g e n t _ i s _ a l i v e ,< agent_id >) ,
2 ( neg | agent_is_human ,< agent_id >) ,
3 ( neg | a g e n t _ i s _ a l l y ,< agent_id >) ,

To check for one condition OR another, the following is used:

4 ( this_or_next |< o p e r a t i o n >) ,

By our previous logic, it can be strung together multiple times as well. For instance, to see if a
variable is 1 OR 5 and, if so, continue:
5 ( this_or_next | eq , " : t e s t _ v a r i a b l e " , 1 ) ,
6 ( eq , " : t e s t _ v a r i a b l e " , 5 ) ,

4.3.4 If-Then-Else

Since all condition operations apply to every line of code beneath them, there needs to be a way to
separate portions of code so the condition operation only applies to one section and then the code
continues on regardless of the result of the test.
To do this, one uses a “try block“, code enclosed by (try_begin) and (try_end). One can think of
them as creating a typical If-Then statement, with the first lines of code after the (try_begin) being
the “If“ in the form of conditions tests and the following lines being the “Then“ with consequence
operations, which are closed by the “End If“ of (try_end)
As in all good If-Thens, (else_try) emerges as the “Else If“ statement. At any point that a condi-
tion fails in the try before an (else_try) the engine will begin looking in the subsequent (else_try).
Example:
1 #Code above , d o i n g whatever
2 ( try_begin ) ,
3 ( eq , 1 , 1 ) , #True , go t o next l i n e

34
 4 ( gt , 2 , 5 ) , #F a l s e , go t o e l s e t r y
5 #c o n s e q u e n c e o p e r a t i o n s h e r e
6 ( else_try ) ,
7 ( eq , 0 , 1 ) , #F a l s e , go t o next e l s e t r y
8 #c o n s e q u e n c e o p e r a t i o n s h e r e
9 ( else_try ) ,
10 ( eq , " : f a v o r i t e _ l a n c e " , " : j o u s t i n g " ) , # Maybe?
11 ( assign , " : p r i s o n e r s " , 100) ,
12 ( try_end ) ,
13 #Code c o n t i n u i n g on , r e g a r d l e s s o f whether t h e f a v o r i t e l a n c e=j o u s t i n g and
p r i s o n e r s was s e t t o 100

4.3.5 Conjunctive and Disjunctive Normal Form20

Stringing multiple conditional operations after one another can sometimes lead to quite complex
checks which evaluate eventually in a conjunctive normal form (CNF) or a disjunctive normal form
(DNF). A CNF is for those who know mathematical logic a conjunction of disjunctions, a stringing
like if (a or x) and (b or y) and (c or z). Such one can easily be expressed in MABL as follows:
14 ( this_or_next | eq , " $ v a r i a b l e _ a " , 1 ) , ( eq , " $ v a r i a b l e _ x " , 1 ) ,
15 ( this_or_next | eq , " $ v a r i a b l e _ b " , 1 ) , ( eq , " $ v a r i a b l e _ y " , 1 ) ,
16 ( this_or_next | eq , " $ v a r i a b l e _ c " , 1 ) , ( eq , " $ v a r i a b l e _ z " , 1 ) ,

If you want to express a stringing of conditional operations like if (a and x) or (b and y) or (c and z)
then you want to express a DNF. There are two different ways to achieve such via MABL. The more
intuitive way, depending on your familiarity with logical expressions, is longer and uses more registers
as can be seen here:
17 ( try_begin ) ,
18 ( eq , " $ v a r i a b l e _ a " , 1 ) , ( eq , " $ v a r i a b l e _ x " , 1 ) ,
19 ( assign , reg (1) ,1) ,
20 ( try_end ) ,
21 ( try_begin ) ,
22 ( eq , " $ v a r i a b l e _ b " , 1 ) , ( eq , " $ v a r i a b l e _ y " , 1 ) ,
23 ( assign , reg (2) ,1) ,
24 ( try_end ) ,
25 ( try_begin ) ,
26 ( eq , " $ v a r i a b l e _ c " , 1 ) , ( eq , " $ v a r i a b l e _ z " , 1 ) ,
27 ( assign , reg (3) ,1) ,
28 ( try_end ) ,

20
Summary of three notes by fisheye and Winter, Modding Q&A.

35
29 ( this_or_next | eq , r e g ( 1 ) , 1 ) ,
30 ( this_or_next | eq , r e g ( 2 ) , 1 ) ,
31 ( eq , r e g ( 3 ) , 1 ) ,
32 <b l o c k c o n t i n u e s with whatever you want>

The alternative approach would be to convert the DNF to a negation of a CNF using the De Morgan’s
laws. After the conversion the above wanted string of conditional operations would thus be if ~( (~a
or ~x) and (~b or ~y) and (~c or ~z) ) then. The negated CNF is then expressible in MABL as follows:
33 ( try_begin ) ,
34 ( this_or_next | neq , " $a " , 1 ) , ( neq , " $x " , 1 ) ,
35 ( this_or_next | neq , "$b " , 1 ) , ( neq , " $y " , 1 ) ,
36 ( this_or_next | neq , " $c " , 1 ) , ( neq , " $z " , 1 ) ,
37 ( else_try ) ,
38 ( do s t u f f h e r e ) ,
39 ( try_end ) ,

It might not be immediately obvious to you that the negated CNF is in fact equivalent to the DNF
you want. Just take your time to think about it.

4.3.6 For-Next Loop

The M&B Module System has a number of different variations of the For-Next loop. The most basic is
accomplished with a (try_for_range, ":iterator ", <lower bound>, <upper bound>), then looped operations
and capped by a (try_end), instead of a “Next iterator“ or what have you.
The iteration will begin at the lower bound and go to upper bound -1, making single integer steps,
counted by the variable assigned as destination, in the example above the local variable ": iterator ".
The ": iterator " must be used in the code that follows in the try_for_range block, but it cannot be
altered to skip integer-step iterations toward upper bound -1. If the ": iterator " is not used in the code
that follows the variable ":unused_iterator" MUST be used in its place.21 Otherwise loads of warnings
about the unused iterator variable will come up.
Example:
1 ( try_for_range , " : i " , 0 , 1 0 ) ,
2 ( store_add , " : count " , " : i " , 1 ) ,
3 ( a s s i g n , reg0 , " : count " ) ,
4 ( display_message , "@{ r e g 0 } " ) ,
5 ( try_end ) ,
6 #This code w i l l d i s p l a y a message on s c r e e n c o u n t i n g from 1 t o 1 0 .

21
Credit to Masterancza/Garedyr for clarification about ":unused_iterator", Mount & Blade Modding Discord.

36
 There is also (try_for_range_backwards, ":iterator", <lower bound>, <upper bound>), where the itera-
tion will begin at upper bound -1 and count down to lower bound. Ignore the comments in hea-
der_operations that say to switch the order of the lower and upper bounds. They are wrong. This
is useful for removing something from a list (members from a party, for instance) without messing
up the indexing of that list.
Note, that both the lower bound and the upper bound need not be a “plain number“; they can
easily be variables that are set earlier in the code. Examples of this in the next section.
Two more specific (try_for_*) loops exist: (try_for_agents, <agent_id>), and (try_for_parties, <
party_id>),. These will cycle through all agents in a scene or all parties in the game, respectively. The
iterator represents the Agent’s (or Party’s) ID number and should be stored in a local variable.
Example:
1 ( get_player_agent_no , " : p l a y e r " ) ,
2 ( agent_get_team , " : p l a y e r t e a m " , " : p l a y e r " ) ,
3 ( try_for_agents , " : a g e n t " ) , #Loops through a l l a g e n t s
4 ( a g e n t _ i s _ a l i v e , " : a g e n t " ) , #Checks i f c u r r e n t a g e n t i s a l i v e
5 ( agent_is_human , " : a g e n t " ) , #I f a l i v e , c h e c k s i f c u r r e n t a g e n t i s human ( not a
horse )
6 ( agent_is_non_player , " : a g e n t " ) , #I f a l i v e and human , c h e c k s t h a t t h e c u r r e n t
agent isn ’ t the player
7 ( agent_get_team , " : team " , " : a g e n t " ) , #I f a l i v e , human and non−p l a y e r , g e t s t h e
c u r r e n t agent ’ s team .
8 ( eq , " : team " , " : p l a y e r t e a m " ) , #Checks t h a t t h e c u r r e n t a l i v e , human , non−p l a y e r
a g e n t i s on t h e p l a y e r ’ s team .
9 #Consequence o p e r a t i o n s go h e r e t o do s t u f f with t h i s a l i v e , human , non
player , a l l y agent .
10 ( try_end ) , #Go t o next a g e n t

4.3.7 Loop Breaks

Many times you may want to loop through all agents to locate one particular agent, or loop through
another range of things (items for instance) to locate one particular weapon, and there is no need
to loop through the rest–you’ve already found what you needed. Enter the loop break. The M&B
Module System does not have any operations specifically to accomplish this, but there are a few
simple tricks to effectively break a loop. The trick to use depends on the type of Module System
(try_for_*) loop you are using.

37
4.3.7.1 Method 1: Changing the Loop’s End

- Breaking a try_for_range loop:

You can break a try_for_range loop easily by changing the upper bound so it equals the lower
bound. That way, when the engine tries to iterate to the next instance of the loop, it appears the
loop has already reached the last iteration and is complete. The loop will exit without running the
code again. To do this, the loop’s upper bound must be a variable defined before the loop begins,
and it must be variable that can be modified without loss of data–make a new variable or a copy of
another if necessary. Once the code has been executed enough times, something has been found, etc,
set the variable for the end of the loop to equal the loop’s lower bound (either assign it the variable
value or the constant value that the loop began with). Example:
1 #Within a l a r g e r ( t r y _ f o r _ a g e n t s ) l o o p
2 ( a s s i g n , " : end " , " i t m _ g l a i v e " ) , #S e t t h e loop ’ s upper bound
3 ( try_for_range , " : item " , " i t m _ j o u s t i n g _ l a n c e " , " : end " ) , #Loop through t h e l a n c e s
i n t h e game
4 ( agent_has_item_equipped , " : a g e n t " , " : item " ) , #Check i f t h e a g e n t has t h e
c u r r e n t l a n c e equipped
5 ( agent_set_wielded_item , " : a g e n t " , " : item " ) , #I f t h e c u r r e n t l a n c e i s equipped
, make t h e c u r r e n t a g e n t w i e l d i t
6 ( a s s i g n , " : end " , " i t m _ j o u s t i n g _ l a n c e " ) , #l o o p b r e a k e r − make t h e upper bound
e q u a l t h e l o w e r bound − s t o p l o o k i n g through t h e l a n c e s
7 ( try_end ) ,
8 #Continue on w i t h i n t h e t r y _ f o r _ a g e n t s l o o p

- Breaking a try_for_range_backwards loop:

The same method is used for a backwards loop. This time, however, the lower bound is the “loop’s
end“ so the lower bound will need to be the variable changed, and it should be changed to equal the
upper bound. Example:
1 #Code above . . . s e t s t h e v a r i a b l e " : t r o o p " t o some v a l u e
2 ( a s s i g n , " : array_begin " , 0 ) , #S e t t h e loop ’ s l o w e r bound
3 ( try_for_range_backwards , " : i " , " : array_begin " , 1 0 ) , #Loop from 0 t o 10
4 ( party_slot_eq , "p_main_party_backup " , " : i " , 0 ) , #Check i f t h e i t h p a r t y s l o t
f o r t h e p l a y e r ’ s p a r t y backup e q u a l s 0
5 ( p a r t y _ s e t _ s l o t , "p_main_party_backup " , " : i " , " : t r o o p " ) , #I f i t does , s e t t h a t
s l o t t o t h e v a r i a b l e troop ’ s v a l u e
6 ( a s s i g n , " : array_begin " , 1 0 ) , #Loop b r e a k e r − make l o w e r bound e q u a l t h e upper
bound − don ’ t check o t h e r s l o t s
7 ( try_end ) ,

38
 4.3.7.2 Method 2: Using an Condition Test

- Breaking a try_for_agents or _parties loop

With try_for_agents and try_for_parties loops, it is not possible to change the loop’s “upper bound“.
Instead, a conditional test (typically for equality) is used at the start of the code to execute within
the loop. So long as it is true, the code within the loop will run. Once it is set false, the loop will
keep going, but nothing inside the loop will happen since the first condition always fails - the loop
will end quickly.
To do this, set a variable up before the loop with a given value (it is easiest to create a new
variable with the value 0). Then, just inside the loop, set up an conditional operation testing for
that value. After the block of code you want only ran once, change the value of the variable so the
condition test fails the next time the loop runs.
Example:
1 #Code above . . . s e t s pos1 t o some v a l u e
2 ( a s s i g n , " : break_loop " , 0 ) , #S e t up v a r i a b l e t o break l o o p and a v a l u e t o t e s t
3 ( try_for_agents , " : a g e n t " ) , #Loop through a l l a g e n t s
4 ( eq , " : break_loop " , 0 ) , #See i f t h e loop−b r e a k e r i s s t i l l true
5 ( a g e n t _ i s _ a l i v e , " : a g e n t " ) , #I f so , keep g o i n g ; check i f t h e c u r r e n t a g e n t i s
alive
6 ( agent_is_non_player , " : a g e n t " ) , #I f a l i v e , check i t i s n ’ t t h e p l a y e r
7 ( agent_is_human , " : a g e n t " ) , #I f a l i v e and not t h e p l a y e r , check t h a t i s i s
human
8 ( a g e n t _ g e t _ p o s i t i o n , pos0 , " : a g e n t " ) , #I f a l i v e , human and non−p l a y e r , g e t i t ’
s l o c a t i o n and r e c o r d t o pos0
9 ( get_distance_between_positions_in_meters , " : d i s t a n c e _ t o _ t a r g e t _ p o s " , pos0 ,
pos1 ) , #See how f a r pos0 i s from pos1 and r e c o r d t h a t i n t h e l o c a l v a r i a b l e
10 ( l t , " : d i s t a n c e _ t o _ t a r g e t _ p o s " , 1 0 ) , #Check i f t h e a l i v e , human non−p l a y e r
a g e n t i s w i t h i n 10 m e t e r s o f pos1
11 ( a s s i g n , " : agent_at_target " , " : a g e n t " ) , #I f so , r e c o r d t h i s c u r r e n t agent ’ s ID
t o t h e l o c a l v a r i a b l e " agent_at_target "
12 ( a s s i g n , " : break_loop " , 1 ) , #Agent Loop Breaker − change t h e t e s t v a r i a b l e s o
t h e e q u a l i t y t e s t f a i l s on t h e next t r y
13 ( try_end ) ,
14 #The l o o p w i l l break t h e f i r s t time an a l i v e , human , non−p l a y e r a g e n t i s found
w i t h i n 10 m e t e r s o f t h e t a r g e t p o s i t i o n pos1
15 #F u r t h e r code can now do s t u f f with t h e a g e n t t h a t was found

39
4.3.8 Loop Extension

In a similar way like you can break a loop if a specific conditions is met you can also extend a loop
if a specific condition is (not) met. See as an example the following script:
1 ( store_add , " : range_end " , towns_begin , 1 ) , # " : range_end " = towns_begin+1
2 ( try_for_range , " : town " , towns_begin , " : range_end " ) , # t r y f o r towns_begin t o
towns_begin+1
3 ( eq , " : town " , " : found " ) , # i f c o n d i t i o n i s t r u e . . .
4 # more h e r e
5 ( else_try ) ,
6 ( neq , " : town " , " : found " ) , # i f c o n d i t i o n i s not t r u e . . .
7 ( val_add , " : range_end " , 1 ) , # " : range_end " = " : range_end "+1 , i . e . c o n t i n u e t h e
try_for_range
8 ( try_end ) ,

This loop basically keeps adding 1 to the upper bound of the try_for_range if the conditions aren’t
met.22

4.4 Intendation
Write some lines about it here. Declarations outside body can’t be tabbed, Python intendation
matters and VC auto intendation23

22
Winter, M&B Scripting Q&A.
23
kalarhan, Modding Q&A.

40
5 Documentation Module System24

5.1 Introduction, Configuration and Interaction

The module system uses Python lists to represent collections of game objects. A Python lists starts
with a square bracket [ , includes a list of objects and ends with a closing square bracket ] . If you
open and view any of the module files you will see that it usually contains such a list. We call the
objects tuples. Tuples, like lists, contain elements seperated by commas but they start and end with
parentheses. Take note that there is no need for a comma when there is only one entry in a list,
although the comma is needed when there is only one entry in a tuple.25 The structure of each tuple
object is documented at the beginning of the respective module file.
In this guide you will find this documentation always at the beginning of each module_*.py sub-
chapter. Examples for module_*.py files which differ from the normal structure are module_info.py,
module_info_pages.py and module_constants.py which will also get addressed first. After observa-
tions and examinations of example tuples there will also be all available flags listed which can get
used by you. Be aware: All flags with mask and bits in the name cannot and should not be changed
by you! They will therefore also not be listed.

5.1.1 Module Info

1 # P oi nt e x p o r t _ d i r t o t h e f o l d e r you w i l l be k e e p i n g your module

2 # Make s u r e you u s e f o r w a r d s l a s h e s ( / ) and NOT backward s l a s h e s ( \ )
3
4 e x p o r t _ d i r = " . . /WOTS/ Modules / N a t i v e /"
5 #e x p o r t _ d i r = "C: / Program F i l e s ( x86 ) /Mount&Blade Warband/ Modules / N a t i v e /"

module_info is only needed for setting up the Module System as described in Chapter 3.

5.1.2 Interaction between Module System Files

24
Partially taken from Updated Module System Tutorial by jik and for some clear descriptions from the Mount&Blade
Wiki Fandom.
25
cmpxchg8b, Modding Q&A.

41
5.2 Gameplay-related Module System Files

5.2.1 Module Constants

1 These c o n s t a n t s a r e used i n v a r i o u s f i l e s .
2 I f you need t o d e f i n e a v a l u e t h a t w i l l be used i n t h o s e f i l e s , j u s t d e f i n e i t
h e r e r a t h e r than c o p y i n g i t a c r o s s each f i l e , s o t h a t i t w i l l be e a s y t o change
i t i f you need t o .

module_constants.py is a very simple file: It is filled with constants – you should already know a
bit about them from reading the Subchapter 4.1.1 of this Modding Guide. The constants defined
here work exactly the same way as constants defined anywhere else. However, constants which are
used in multiple module files should be defined in module_constants so that the module system
always knows where to find them. It also serves as an organised, easily-accessible list where you can
change the value of a constant whenever you might need to. Any changes will immediately affect all
operations and scripts using the constant, so you don’t have to manually find and replace them. For
example, changing
1 h e r o _ e s c a p e _ a f t e r _ d e f e a t _ c h a n c e = 80

to hero_escape_after_defeat_chance = 50 would immediately change any operations or scripts using

hero_escape_after_defeat_chance, treating the constant as the value 50 instead of the value 80.

42
 This file also stores the range markers such as kings_begin = "trp_kingdom_1_lord" and kings_end =
"trp_knight_1_1". It is recommended to first look up these ranges and to get a grasp of them since,
to stay with the example of troops, it determines at which places you should implement new kings,
merchants, mercenaries, etc. in module_troops.
Another powerful tool defined in the constants section is the use of slots about which you should
have read already in Subchapter 4.2.3. Slots can be assigned to any tuple object (troops, factions,
parties, quest, etc.) and can store a specific value that is used by all in that object type. These are
used as indices by the Module System for object_get/set_slot to fetch and/or store data in array
format for the various objects that exist in-game.26 Let’s look at where the definition for quest slots
are listed as an example:
1 ###################################################
2 ## QUEST SLOTS
3 ###################################################
4 slot_quest_target_center = 1
5 slot_quest_target_troop = 2
6 slot_quest_target_faction = 3
7 slot_quest_object_troop = 4
8 ##s l o t _ q u e s t _ t a r g e t _ t r o o p _ i s _ p r i s o n e r = 5
9 slot_quest_giver_troop = 6
10 slot_quest_object_center = 7
11 slot_quest_target_party = 8
12 slot_quest_target_party_template = 9
13 slot_quest_target_amount = 10
14 s l o t _ q u e s t _ c u r r e n t _ s t a t e = 11
15 s l o t _ q u e s t _ g i v e r _ c e n t e r = 12
16 slot_quest_target_dna = 13
17 s l o t _ q u e s t _ t a r g e t _ i t e m = 14
18 s l o t _ q u e s t _ o b j e c t _ f a c t i o n = 15
19 s l o t _ q u e s t _ c o n v i n c e _ v a l u e = 19
20 s l o t _ q u e s t _ i m p o r t a n c e = 20
21 slot_quest_xp_reward = 21
22 slot_quest_gold_reward = 22
23 s l o t _ q u e s t _ e x p i r a t i o n _ d a y s = 23
24 slot_quest_dont_give_again_period = 24
25 slot_quest_dont_give_again_remaining_days = 25
26
27 ###################################################

26
Somebody, Modding Q&A.

43
On the left side of the “=“ are the names given to each slot. The slot number is on the right side of the
“=“. The names make it easier to know what the slot is used for. To be specific, "slot_quest_xp_reward"
is used by native code to store how much XP you get from completing the quest. When referencing
this value, you can either reference it as slot_quest_xp_reward or by the number 21. When looking
through the code it’s easier to understand the name over the number.
If you want to add slots, simply define your new slot to be any value - if it’s too high, then objects
will reserve memory up to that index and there will be a performance issues. If you define it to be a
value that already exists, then the game will simply use the same space for both - it doesn’t really
care what name you give it. Is your item for example a gun, you can safely use the same slot as food or
books - item slots are rarely used in Native anyways. After you’ve done so, simply use (item_set_slot
, "itm_gun", slot_item_whatever, val) from anywhere to store a value. This is always a number but that
number can be a reference to another object - for example "snd_lyhyt" from module_sounds.py.
Notice that the reference without quotes takes on the index value generated in id_sounds.py, while
the quoted reference has probably the same value bitshifted to prevent conflicts.27
Make sure that the files at which you use the here implemented constants are referencing to
module_constants.py via from module_constants import ∗ at the top of the file, otherwise you might
encounter an error at compiling.

27
Somebody, Modding Q&A.

44
5.2.2 Module Variables

Write here a few lines about how useless this file is.

45
5.2.3 Module Strings

module_strings.py is arguably the simplest file in the module system. It contains strings, so blocks
of text which can be displayed in various ways. Strings are used all throughout the module system,
from module_dialogs to module_quests; whenever a block of text needs to be displayed on the
screen. module_strings.py, however, is a repository for independent strings, which are not bound to
any single file. Therefore they can be called by operations from anywhere in the module system. You
can see these strings used in various places in the game, as white scrolling messages at the lower left
of your screen, or in a tutorial box, or even inserted into a game menu or dialogue sequence.
Much like module_factions, this file immediately begins with a Python list: strings = [. Again,
the first few tuples are hardwired into the game and should not be edited. Example of a string:
1 ( " bandits_eliminated_by_another " , "The t r o u b l e s o m e b a n d i t s have been e l i m i n a t e d by
another party . " ) ,

or
2 ( " s5_s_party " , "{ s 5 } ’ s Party " ) ,

Tuple breakdown:
1 1 ) S t r i n g i d . Used f o r r e f e r e n c i n g s t r i n g s i n o t h e r f i l e s .
2 2) String text .

One notable feature of strings is the ability to put a register value or even another string inside of
it. You can do this by adding, for example, reg0 in the string. This will display the current value of
reg(0). reg10 would display the current value of reg(10), and so on.
For additional strings, you must use the string register instead of a normal register; this is because
strings are stored separately from registers. For example, s2 would display the contents of string
register 2 and not the contents of reg(2). You can freely use string register 2 and reg(2) at the same
time for different things, they will not overlap or interfere with each other.
String registers have two uses, and two uses only28 :

1. You can put values in them using the various str_store_xxx commands (which you can find
in header_operations.py); and you can clear them using the str_clear command.

2. They can be referenced in strings displayed using the display_message command, using the
notation s# where ’#’ is the number of the string-register.

For instance, if you have an entry in your module_strings.py file that looks like
28
Neophyte, Modding Q&A.

46
1 ( " lets_meet_in " , " Let ’ s meet i n { s 1 0 } . " ) ,

and a script which contains the lines:

1 ( str_store_party_name , 1 0 , " p_zendar " ) ,
2 ( display_message , " str_lets_meet_in " ) ,

then that piece of code will display the message

1 Let ’ s meet i n Zendar .

when it’s executed. The s10 part in the string-entry means “put the current contents of string-
register 10 here“, while the (str_store_party_name, 10, "p_zendar") part means “store the name of the
party p_zendar in string-register 10“.

5.2.3.1 Strings and Syntax29

At strings you have to keep in mind some special Syntax rules. You might notice the usage of a \
at some places. It breaks the length of the string but does not add a carrage return in game, it just
makes the code easier to read. A ^ is a nextline character, allowing you to make line breaks at the text
in-game. A \ on the other hand is getting used as a Python trick to break the text into multiple lines
(easier for us humans to read). You can not add any extra spaces on the start of the lines though or it
will give a syntax error.30 A {!} is getting used as a placeholder for an empty string, which otherwise
causes problems for the game. It’s usually followed by registers or strings, which can be null and
won’t display properly. It also excludes them from generating a line when you create translation .csv
files.31 It won’t show up in-game unless it’s a part of a string literal (i.e. party name). Also a "_"
can get used inside a string which is treated like an empty space (the same is true at the names of
items, troops, etc.).32 E.g. the two strings ("cant_use_inventory_now","Can’t access inventory now."), and
("cant_use_inventory_now","Can’t_access_inventory_now."),, would display the same result in-game.
{reg#} will output the value of that register when used in a string. Using this method the following
lines show how the number of a global variable can be used in a string:
1 ( a s s i g n , reg1 , " $ g _ y o u r _ g l o b a l _ v a r i a b l e " ) ,
2 ( s t r _ s t o r e _ s t r i n g , s1 , "@The v a l u e o f t h e g l o b a l v a r i a b l e i s { r e g 1 } . " ) ,
3 ( s t r _ s t o r e _ s t r i n g , s0 , s 1 ) ,

29
Bundeling notes of jik, Updated Module System Tutorial, page 20; WookieWarlord, Modding Q&A and Somebody,
Modding Q&A, Modding Q&A.
30
kalarhan, Modding Q&A.
31
Somebody, Modding Q&A.
32
Swyter, Modding Q&A.

47
As you might already be aware of, a @ begins any quick string which you haven’t declared in modu-
le_strings.py.
{reg#?str1:str2} tests if reg# is true, and if so, displays str1. Otherwise it displays str2. The value
of reg# is here a simply boolean with 1 being true and 0 being false.

5.2.3.2 Gender/Skin-based Alternations

Sort out informations given above, currently a mixmax subchapter.

One notable feature of strings is the ability to put a register value or even another string inside
of it. You can do this by adding, for example, reg0 in the string. This will display the current value
of reg(0). reg10 would display the current value of reg(10), and so on.
For additional strings, you must use the string register instead of a normal register; this is because
strings are stored separately from registers. For example, s2 would display the contents of string
register 2 – not the contents of reg(2). You can freely use string register 2 and reg(2) at the same
time for different things, they will not overlap or interfere with each other.
In dialogue, it is also possible to display parts (or all) of a string’s contents differently depending
on the gender of the person being addressed. For example, inserting sir/madam into a string will
cause the word “sir“ to be displayed when the addressed person is male, and “madam“ if the person
is female.
All of these options (except gender-based alternation) will work perfectly in any kind of string
field. Gender-based alternations only work in dialogue.
For the purposes of the operation display_message, it is possible to display a string in various
colours, by appending a hexadecimal colour code to the operation. For example, (display_message,<
string_id>,[hex_colour_code]),. For the colour codes see Subchapter 7.3.4.
Gender at Dialogues
Gender issue dialogues (read carefully and think about improvements at MS)33
34
new race gender problem
gender true false dialog35
gender of new races36
Third option at gender decission not possible and chaining37
gender dialog38
33
dunde, Modding Q&A.
34
Somebody, Modding Q&A.
35
Somebody, Modding Q&A.
36
Lumos, Modding Q&A.
37
Lumos, Modding Q&A and Modding Q&A, and Somebody, Modding Q&A.
38
gsanders (credits), Modding Q&A.

48
 gender new races39
gender of skins40
male female strings41

5.2.3.3 Difference between Strings and Quick Strings

Quick strings are "@strings", while normal strings are "str_strings". At compiling quick strings
are put into quick_strings.txt but are not getting referenced like strings are. Why would you ever
use quick strings over strings? Why doesn’t the Module System just put it into strings instead? It
is obvious that for momentary message displays quick strings are much more useful, as they can be
defined on-the-fly. At the strings in module_strings.py the order (and indexes) are important since
some scripts match some other id (for example a scene id) with the string id offset the same distance
from the start. Lists can only be made with strings. Both, strings and quick strings, are getting
translated though. Internally, there is no difference between strings and quick strings.42
str_ can be reffered to, @ can’t. It’s literally the only difference. If you are planning "fire and
forget"text, use @. If it will participate in other fetures later, save as str.43

5.2.3.4 Other notes

No string comparision44
max lenght for strings45
Hardwired strings46
make variable to string47
store string in global var48
Convert value to a string49

39
kalarhan, Modding Q&A.
40
kalarhan, Modding Q&A.
41
Multiple participants, Male races.
42
Summary of Discussion by Lumos, cmpxchg8b and Vornne, Modding Q&A.
43
Dalion, Mount & Blade Modding Discord.
44
The_dragon, Modding Q&A.
45
cmpxchg8b, Modding Q&A.
46
Lav, Modding Q&A.
47
Arch3r, Modding Q&A.
48
kalarhan, Modding Q&A.
49
kalarhan, Modding Q&A.

49
5.2.4 Module Scripts

5.2.4.1 Game Engine Scripts

hard-coded scripts50
Not going into details, short description of content and linking to Tutorial and Code Example
Sections game_get_troop_wage : for weekly wage of troop game_get_join_cost : for cost when
joining game_get_upgrade_cost : for cost of upgrading
Some special behaviour of game_get_skill_modifier_for_troop51

5.2.4.2 Can-fail (cf_x) Scripts

You have either noticed some scripts in module_scripts.py with the prefix cf_ or gottem some
warning at compiling your module with the following content:
1 WARNING: S c r i p t can f a i l a t o p e r a t i o n #x . Use cf_ a t t h e b e g i n n i n g o f i t s name :
some_script_name

The prefix cf_ indicates a script that can fail. MaBL/MBScript requires that every command (line)
is true or it jumps to the next block (scope). cf_-scripts are a handy way to use this:52
1 top l e v e l s c o p e
2
3 | second l e v e l scope
4 |
5 ( try_begin )
6 ( c a l l _ s c r i p t , " cf_something " ) , # goes to l i n e 2 ( true ) or 4 ( f a l s e )
7 ( assign , " : true " , 1) ,
8 ( display_message , " @ o l o l o l " ) ,
9 ( else_try ) ,
10 ( a s s i g n , " : t r u e " , 0 ) , # i f cf_ f a i l s ( i s f a l s e )
11 ( try_end ) ,

You can read the warning as a recommendation, since you have a conditional operation that would
cause the script to fail within the top level scope of the script rather than inside a try block. Therefore,
if that operation causes the script to fail, the scope where the call_script operation calls this script
50
MadocComadrin, Modding Q&A.
51
cmpxchg8b, Modding Q&A and [WB] Warband Script Enhancer v3.2.0.
52
kalarhan, Modding Q&A.

50
would also fail.53 cf_-scripts are usually used as complex conditionals, you can use them to write
your own conditional functions.54
To give a short example for a complex conditional: cf_-script can be used as a part of a
this_or_next operation:
1 Example 1 :
2 ( this_or_next | eq , 1 , 0 ) ,
3 ( c a l l _ s c r i p t , " script_cf_eq_1_1 " ) ,
4
5 Example 2 :
6 ( this_or_next | c a l l _ s c r i p t , " script_cf_eq_1_1 " ) ,
7 ( eq , reg1 , 0 ) ,

Example 1 will work as a cf_-script can be used as the last case. Example 2 on the contrary does
not work as intended, it just fails or continues as with a normal call_script operation.55
Coming back to the warning message mentioned above. Two ways have been now indicated on
how to deal with it. The first option is to add the prefix cf_ infront of the script name, not because
you simply want the warning message to disappear but because you understood the effect of it and
how this script might affect your work. The second option is nearly as simple: If you don’t want your
script to behave like a can-fail one, wrap the entire script code between try_begin and try_end.56

5.2.4.3 Other Tidbits

Scripts called by the game engine are getting read top to bottom, so only the first script will be called
in case there are numerous scripts with the same name. The script numeric ID is getting created
at the compilation: the compiler loops through all scripts, starting from the first script (with the
numerical ID 0), and compares the script identifier for which we are looking ("script_abcd") with
each script’s string id. Once one occurrence is found, the numeric id of that script is returned, so the
search stops and will never return the second or third occurrence of a script.57
Recheck this one, perhaps useful info58

53
This means that scripts (or triggers) calling this cf_-script at the top level scope can also fail.
54
Caba‘drin, Modding Q&A, and Somebody, Modding Q&A.
55
Vornne, Modding Q&A and Modding Q&A.
56
The_dragon, Modding Q&A.
57
The_dragon, Modding Q&A.
58
RecursiveHarmony (credit), Script file unknown float variable.

51
5.2.5 Module Simple Triggers

1 Each s i m p l e t r i g g e r c o n t a i n s t h e f o l l o w i n g f i e l d s :
2 1 ) Check i n t e r v a l : How f r e q u e n t l y t h i s t r i g g e r w i l l be checked
3 2 ) O p e r a t i o n b l o c k : This must be a v a l i d o p e r a t i o n b l o c k .

There are two types of triggers at the M&B game engine: Regular triggers and simple triggers. We
will begin with the simple triggers because they are generally smaller and easier to understand.59
Before that though, what is a trigger? A trigger is a block of code that executes multiple times
as the game progresses. It’s called a trigger, because it fires - that is how it’s called when the time
comes for the trigger to do its job.
Simple triggers are the alternative to old style triggers. They do not preserve their state and
are thus simpler to maintain. Simple triggers are generally found in module_simple_triggers.py and
despite being simpler, they are not to be underestimated. Let’s have a look at a simple trigger:
1 (24 , [
2 ( troop_add_gold , " t r p _ p l a y e r " , 1 0 0 ) ,
3 ]) ,

This is rather simple, isn’t it? Every 24 hours, so every day at the world map, this trigger will give
100 gold to the player. Yes, it makes no sense, but it works. And that is basically how every simple
trigger operates. Here is the structure: (check_interval, [operations_block]),
This is shared by each and every simple trigger, including the gold-giving one which we have got
above. Now let’s look at the components: The check interval is how frequently this trigger will
be checked, measured in in-game hours. Using 24 will make the trigger fire once every day, using 1
will make it fire 24 times per day. Using 0 as a check interval will make the trigger fire once every
frame, which can be many times per second, dependending on the user’s frame rate. Such triggers
are potential performance hogs, so be cautious when using them.
The operations block is what happens when the trigger fires, and can contain whatever codes
you want to place in it. Yes, checks are allowed. For an example, we can enhance our aforementioned
code by doing this:
1 (24 , [
2 # ( try_begin ) , # We don ’ t need t r y b l o c k s r i g h t now
3 ( l t , " $player_honor " , 0 ) ,
4 ( troop_add_gold , " t r p _ p l a y e r " , 1 0 0 ) ,
5 # ( try_end ) ,
6 ]) ,

59
The upfollowing paragraphs are taken from Lumos, Modding Q&A.

52
Now it will give a hundred gold per day to the player, if he/she is dishonourable. It makes even less
sense now, but whatever. As you can see, a trigger can fail with no problems whatsoever, however
be careful when not wrapping statements in try_ blocks. Of course, it’s always safer to use the try
blocks, just in case.
1 (24 , [
2 ( try_begin ) , # B e t t e r s a f e than s o r r y
3 ( l t , " $player_honor " , 0 ) , # Make s u r e your i n d e n t a t i o n i s always c o r r e c t !
4 ( troop_add_gold , " t r p _ p l a y e r " , 1 0 0 ) ,
5 ( try_end ) ,
6 ]) ,

Right, so we’ve got the basics covered now. There are more things you need to know though. Simple
triggers are also used in other places, such as on items and scene props, but with special condi-
tions in form of hard-coded conditions passed by the engine at the right times, like for example
ti_on_weapon_attack or ti_on_init_scene_prop. A list of all such special check intervals can be
found in header_triggers.py.
This sums up pretty much everything related to simple triggers, so you can move on to the next
chapter about triggers.

5.2.5.1 Save-game Compatibility

save-game compatibility.60

5.2.5.2 Deprecated Hardcoded Triggers

ti_on_party_encounter and ti_simulate_battle fully deprecated or still useable (given it makes

sense to use them)? Two game scripts get active at the trigger moment anyway.
switch to world map trigger perhaps simple trigger specific61

60
cmpxchg8b, Modding Q&A.
61
kalarhan, Modding Q&A.

53
5.2.6 Module Triggers

1 Each t r i g g e r c o n t a i n s t h e f o l l o w i n g f i e l d s :
2 1 ) Check i n t e r v a l : How f r e q u e n t l y t h i s t r i g g e r w i l l be checked .
3 2 ) Delay i n t e r v a l : Time t o w a i t b e f o r e a p p l y i n g t h e c o n s e q u e n c e s o f t h e t r i g g e r .
4 A f t e r i t s c o n d i t i o n s have been e v a l u a t e d a s t r u e .
5 3 ) Re−arm i n t e r v a l : How much time must p a s s a f t e r a p p l y i n g t h e c o n s e q u e n c e s o f t h e
t r i g g e r f o r t h e t r i g g e r t o become a c t i v e a g a i n .
6 You can put t h e c o n s t a n t t i _ o n c e h e r e t o make s u r e t h a t t h e t r i g g e r n e v e r
becomes a c t i v e a g a i n a f t e r i t f i r e s once .
7 4 ) C o n d i t i o n s b l o c k ( l i s t ) : This must be a v a l i d o p e r a t i o n b l o c k . See
h e a d e r _ o p e r a t i o n s . py f o r r e f e r e n c e .
8 Every time t h e t r i g g e r i s checked , t h e c o n d i t i o n s b l o c k w i l l be e x e c u t e d .
9 I f t h e c o n d i t i o n s b l o c k r e t u r n s t r u e , t h e c o n s e q u e n c e s b l o c k w i l l be e x e c u t e d .
10 I f t h e c o n d i t i o n s b l o c k i s empty , i t i s assumed t h a t i t always e v a l u a t e s t o
true .
11 5 ) Consequences b l o c k ( l i s t ) : This must be a v a l i d o p e r a t i o n b l o c k . See
h e a d e r _ o p e r a t i o n s . py f o r r e f e r e n c e .

The regular triggers, called only triggers, are a bit more complex and versatile than their simpler
counterparts, but are largely the same. This kind of triggers is however more important because they
are also getting used in the mission templates, about which we will talk in a later chapter. Triggers
within module_triggers.py fire however only at the world map. Let’s examine the structure of a
trigger: (check_interval, delay_interval, re−arm_inverval, [conditions_block], [operations_block]),62
As you can see, there are more fields present here than there are at the simple triggers. Now let’s
examine them one by one.

• The check interval is absolutely the same as before - how often the trigger fires;

• The delay interval is how much the consequences should be delayed once the conditions are
true;

• The re-arm interval is how long the trigger should remain inactive once the consequences are
applied;

• The conditions block contains the code that needs to be checked in order to allow for the
consequences to fire;

• The consequences block is where the majority of your ocde is usually located, it will be
executed once the conditions are evaluated to true and the delay interval wears off.
62
The upfollowing paragraphs are taken from Lumos, Modding Q&A.

54
Now, how would our senseless simple trigger from the chapter before look like as a regular trigger?
1 (24 , 0 , 0 , [ ] , [
2 ( try_begin ) ,
3 ( l t , " $player_honor " , 0 ) ,
4 ( troop_add_gold , " t r p _ p l a y e r " , 1 0 0 ) ,
5 ( try_end ) ,
6 ]) ,

This is perfectly valid, but it’s frankly kind of stupid if we are going to use a regular trigger. Let’s
buff up the rewards and rework the code a bit in order to make use of the systems that this trigger
allows us:
7 (24 , 6 , 48 , [
8 ( l t , " $player_honor " , 0 ) ,
9 ], [
10 ( troop_add_gold , " t r p _ p l a y e r " , 4 0 0 ) ,
11 ]) ,

Now, every 24 hours this trigger will evaluate the player’s honour. If it’s below zero, six hours will
pass, keeping the player on edge (okay, not really), and then he or she will be awarded four hundred
gold. However, the trigger will not fire for the next 48 hours, which kind of compensates for the
greater reward. Yes, the trigger is still dumb, but it serves as a nice example.
Regular triggers also have (in other files than module_triggers.py) their special conditions, most
of which related to missions like for example ti_before_mission_start or ti_on_agent_spawn,
once again listed in header_triggers.py.

5.2.6.1 Remarkable Notes

1. The check, delay and re-arms interval of triggers within module_triggers.py are in hours and
of triggers within module_mission_templates.py they are in seconds. Setting a zero as check
interval lets the trigger however fire at every frame, it is not affected by the party movement
or difference in time flow. It even runs when your party stops and the world map pauses.63

2. Avoid too many specific triggers64

3. Local variables are not transferred between conditions and consequences. In other words, you
will need to store a variable again to modify it in the consequences if you have already stored
it to check it.
63
kalarhan and RecursiveHarmony, Modding Q&A.
64
kalarhan, Modding Q&A.

55
 4. When dealing with triggers with special conditions, you are likely to need to check their para-
meters using the operations store_trigger_param_*. Consult header_triggers.py for a list of
parameters for each trigger.

5.2.6.2 Randomness of Triggers

(simple) triggers a bit random65

5.2.6.3 Randomly Delayed Trigger66

Now you know that the check intervals at triggers already fire randomly. What now if you want a
randomly delayed trigger instead? Say, instead of a trigger that fires once after 24 hours, like this
one
1 ( 2 , 2 4 , ti_once , [ ] , [< your code >]) ,

you want one that fires once but randomly delayed between 24 and 48 hours after it got triggered? In
that case you should use two triggers and global variables to do it, like you can see in the following
example
1 ( 2 , 0 , ti_once , [ ( store_random_in_range , " $g_delayed " , 2 4 , 4 9 ) , ( a s s i g n , "$g_run " ,
0) , ] , [ ] ) ,
2
3 ( 1 , 0 , ti_once , [ ( val_add , "$g_run " , 1 ) , ( gt , " $g_run " , " $g_delayed " ) , ] , [< your code >])
,

65
Leonion, Modding Q&A.
66
dunde, Modding Q&A.

56
5.2.7 Module Factions

1 Each f a c t i o n r e c o r d c o n t a i n s t h e f o l l o w i n g f i e l d s :
2 1 ) F a c t i o n i d : used f o r r e f e r e n c i n g f a c t i o n s i n o t h e r f i l e s .
3 The p r e f i x fac_ i s a u t o m a t i c a l l y added b e f o r e each f a c t i o n i d .
4 2 ) F a c t i o n name .
5 3 ) F a c t i o n f l a g s . See h e a d e r _ f a c t i o n s . py f o r a l i s t o f a v a i l a b l e f l a g s
6 4 ) F a c t i o n c o h e r e n c e . R e l a t i o n between members o f t h i s f a c t i o n .
7 5 ) R e l a t i o n s . This i s a l i s t o f r e l a t i o n r e c o r d s .
8 Each r e l a t i o n r e c o r d i s a t u p l e t h a t c o n t a i n s t h e f o l l o w i n g f i e l d s :
9 5 . 1 ) F a c t i o n . Which o t h e r f a c t i o n t h i s r e l a t i o n i s r e f e r r i n g t o
10 5 . 2 ) Value : R e l a t i o n v a l u e between t h e two f a c t i o n s .
11 Values r a n g e between −1 and 1 .
12 6 ) Ranks
13 7 ) F a c t i o n c o l o r ( d e f a u l t i s gray )

module_factions.py contains all the factions used by the module system and by M&B’s artificial
intelligence. Though a small file, it governs several important settings which we will cover here.
The file immediately begins with a Python list: factions = [. As in most of the module files, the
first few tuples are hardwired into the game and should not be edited. If you scroll down just a bit,
you will find the "deserters" tuple as an example of a faction:
1 ( " d e s e r t e r s " , " D e s e r t e r s " , 0 , 0 . 5 , [ ( " manhunters " , −0.6) , ( " merchants " , −0.5) , ( "
p l a y e r _ f a c t i o n " , −0.1) ] , [ ] , 0 x888888 ) ,

This is a short, simple tuple. It governs the "deserters" faction, whose major enemies are the "manhunters
", "merchants", and "player_faction" factions. If a faction’s relation with "deserters" is not defined any-
where in module_constants, it will automatically be set to 0, hence the two factions will be absolutely
neutral to each other.
"deserters" tuple examination:
1 1) Faction id = " d e s e r t e r s "
2 2 ) F a c t i o n name = " d e s e r t e r s "
3 3) Faction f l a g s = 0
4 4) Faction coherence = 0.5
5 5 ) I n t e r −f a c t i o n r e l a t i o n s :
6 5 . 1 ) F a c t i o n = " manhunters " , " merchants " , " p l a y e r _ f a c t i o n "
7 5 . 2 ) R e l a t i o n = −0.6 , −0.5 , −0.1
8 6 ) no Rank i s l i s t e d
9 7 ) t h e c o l o r o f t h i s f a c t i o n i s s e t t h e t o t h e hex v a l u e o f 0 x888888 ( J u s t l i k e
with s t r i n g s , o n l y t h e l a s t 6 d i g i t s a r e t h e RGB v a l u e s )

57
This faction has no flags, a neutral faction coherence, and three enemies defined in its tuple. However,
if we look elsewhere, we can find that (for example) all "kingdom_#"s have a relation of -0.02 with
"deserters", as defined in any of the kingdom tuples (such as "kingdom_1", the "Kingdom of Swadia").
This is because a relation works two ways – it only needs to be set once, and the value will count
for both factions. In general, the value 0 means that the factions are at peace and a negative value
means that those factions are at war. Positive numbers do not really matter with Native diplomacy.67
It should also be possible to declare a constant like default_kingdom_relations before the faction list
is beginning in which some often used relationships are getting defined and which are then replacing
some of the tuples.
Regarding field 6, “Ranks“: It is a vestigial feature from the M&B versions 0.7xx and earlier - you
could earn faction reputation from quests and earn stipends from being a retainer. Instead of being
a vassal holding land and such, you used to get paid by advancing in ranks.68 It is now deprecated
and not getting used anymore.

5.2.7.1 Difference between Faction and Culture

In Native you will discover at some point that there exist factions and cultures. The culture setup
basically allows a kind of meta-faction to exist. For example, if the Kingdom of Swadia is wiped out,
their culture (Swadian) still exists in their original villages and towns. The culture is not a kingdom -
just a placeholder of sorts for the basic tier 1-5 troops, town walkers, etc.69 . A culture is thus basically
just a reference to a specific troop tree since it is mostly used at the recruitment to define the type of
recruits which depend on the culture of the village. However, if you search for culture_1 at the files
you will also find the script "get_culture_with_faction_for_music". This script assigns a music track to
each faction, in our example to Kingdom 1, assigning the flag mtf_culture_1 which has been defined
in header_musics.py and been set up in module_music.py. At the world map and at the scenes the
player hears at the respective locations the music tracks for this culture. Those flags represent a soft
limit for the number of different cultures since you cannot define more than six. However, as long as
you ignore the part with the music tracks70 you can setup as many cultures as you want.

5.2.7.2 Changing Faction Relations71

The most direct method would be to use the operation set_relation but that doesn’t taken into
account the various political consequences. It is therefore recommended to look in module_scripts.py
67
Caba‘drin, Modding Q&A.
68
Somebody, Modding Q&A and Modding Q&A.
69
Somebody, Modding Q&A.
70
For which you can find workarounds like they can be found for e.g. at the Mod “The Last Days of the Third Age“.
71
Summary of posts by Somebody and Ikaguia, Modding Q&A.

58
for its usage. Take note that when you change Faction A relation with Faction B to X, you are
automaticly changing Faction B relation with Faction A to X too. The relation should be between 1
(friendly) and -1 (hatefull) with 0 being neutral. Anything less than 0 will cause atacks with a value
of -1 causing the most atacks.

5.2.7.3 Faction Flags

ff_always_hide_label: This flag is getting used by the "Innocents" and "Merchants" factions. It
hides the faction name when hovering with the mouse over any party icon belonging to that
faction in the ’popup tooltip’.

5.2.7.4 Differences between Player’s Faction and Player Supporters’ Faction

The similar sounding constants fac_player_faction and fac_player_supporters_faction, and

the variable $players_kingdom might be irritating at first sight. Latter one is a variable which
will hold different values depending on the what the player is doing in the game. If a player is
a vassal of a kingdom, "$players_kingdom" will hold the faction ID ("fac_kingdom_X") value of
that faction. The "fac_player_supporters_faction" is the actual faction that gets assigned to
"$players_kingdom" and to the player’s vassals if the player is a rebel or creates their own faction.
The "fac_player_faction" tracks player-specific relations with other factions, etc.

5.2.7.5 Maximum Amount of Factions

There is a hard-coded limit of 128 factions, 0 to 127 (signed small int). You can’t bypass the engine
with Python hack.72
72
kalarhan, Modding Q&A.

59
5.3 Agent-related Module System Files

5.3.1 Module Skills

1 Each s k i l l c o n t a i n s t h e f o l l o w i n g f i e l d s :
2 1 ) S k i l l i d ( s t r i n g ) : used f o r r e f e r e n c i n g s k i l l s i n o t h e r f i l e s . The p r e f i x skl_
i s a u t o m a t i c a l l y added b e f o r e each s k i l l −i d .
3 2 ) S k i l l name ( s t r i n g ) .
4 3 ) S k i l l f l a g s ( i n t ) . See h e a d e r _ s k i l l s . py f o r a l i s t o f a v a i l a b l e f l a g s
5 4 ) Maximum l e v e l o f t h e s k i l l ( i n t ) .
6 5 ) S k i l l d e s c r i p t i o n ( s t r i n g ) : used i n c h a r a c t e r window f o r e x p l a i n i n g t h e s k i l l s .

module_skills.py contains all the skills used by the module system. A skill grants an ability or buff
to a character or a party. The level of the skill determines its potency. In Native each of a character’s
skills can be increased from level 0 to level 10 and there are 24 skills.
Each skill has a base attribute. A character’s level of a skill cannot surpass one third of their level
in its base attribute (except through the use of Books). For example, Tactics has Intelligence as its
base attribute; if Intelligence is level 9, Tactics cannot surpass level 3. For players, initial skill levels
are dictated by their character’s background and may exceed this limitation.
The type of a skill determines how it affects the party. There are three types of skills:

Party skill A party skill grants an ability to the party as a whole. The level of a party skill is
chosen from the party member who has the highest level in that skill, regardless whether it is
the player or a companion. If the player has a party skill trained to level 2 or higher, a bonus
may be awarded (see below).

Leader skill Like a party skill, a leader skill grants an ability to a party. However, only the party-
leader’s level in the skill is used.

Personal skill A personal skill grants an ability to an individual party-leader or companion. In

general this ability only benefits the individual. However, in the case of ’Trainer’, the whole
party benefits from bonus experience. Therefore multiple companions with ’Trainer’ can be
used to give a greater advantage to the party.

Party Skill Bonuses If the player character has a sufficient level in a party skill, a bonus will be
awarded. If the party’s highest skill is not from the player character, the member who has the
highest level in that skill will determine the party skill base value, while the player character’s level
will grant level bonuses according to the chart below. This means that party skills can obtain a
maximum level of 14 when the player character is trained up to level 10. Once this level of skill is

60
achieved, other members of the party with the same skill only serve a backup role in case the party
leader falls below the health threshhold for their skills to be active.

Skill Level Bonus

0-1 (+0)
2-4 (+1)
5-7 (+2)
8-9 (+3)
10 (+4)

5.3.1.1 Native Skills and Effects

1 0) Trade ( Party s k i l l ) : Every l e v e l o f t h i s s k i l l r e d u c e s your t r a d e p e n a l t y by 5

%.
2 1) L e a d e r s h i p ( Leader s k i l l ) : Every p o i n t i n c r e a s e s maximum number o f t r o o p s you
can command by 5 , i n c r e a s e s your p a r t y morale and r e d u c e s t r o o p wages by 5 %
3 2) P r i s o n e r Management ( Leader s k i l l ) : Every l e v e l o f t h i s s k i l l i n c r e a s e s
maximum number o f p r i s o n e r s by 5 .
4 7) P e r s u a s i o n ( P e r s o n a l s k i l l ) : This s k i l l h e l p s you make o t h e r p e o p l e a c c e p t
your p o i n t o f view . I t a l s o l o w e r s t h e minimum l e v e l o f r e l a t i o n s h i p needed t o
g e t NPCs t o do what you want .
5 8) E n g i n e e r ( Party s k i l l ) : This s k i l l a l l o w s you t o c o n s t r u c t s i e g e equipment and
f i e f improvements more e f f i c i e n t l y .
6 9) F i r s t Aid ( Party s k i l l ) : Heroes r e g a i n 5 % p e r s k i l l l e v e l o f h i t −p o i n t s l o s t
during mission .
7 1 0 ) S u r g e r y ( Party s k i l l ) : Each p o i n t t o t h i s s k i l l g i v e s a 4 % chance t h a t a
m o r t a l l y s t r u c k p a r t y member w i l l be wounded r a t h e r than k i l l e d .
8 1 1 ) Wound Treatment ( Party s k i l l ) : Party h e a l i n g s p e e d i s i n c r e a s e d by 20 % p e r
l e v e l of this s k i l l .
9 1 2 ) I n v e n t o r y Management ( Leader s k i l l ) : I n c r e a s e s i n v e n t o r y c a p a c i t y by +6 p e r
skill level .
10 1 3 ) S p o t t i n g ( Party s k i l l ) : Party s e e i n g r a n g e i s i n c r e a s e d by 10 % p e r s k i l l
level .
11 1 4 ) Path−f i n d i n g ( Party s k i l l ) : Party map s p e e d i s i n c r e a s e d by 3 % p e r s k i l l
level .
12 1 5 ) T a c t i c s ( Party s k i l l ) : Every two l e v e l s o f t h i s s k i l l i n c r e a s e s s t a r t i n g
b a t t l e advantage by 1 .
13 1 6 ) Tracking ( Party s k i l l ) : Tracks become more i n f o r m a t i v e .
14 1 7 ) T r a i n e r ( P e r s o n a l s k i l l ) : Every day , each h e r o with t h i s s k i l l adds some
e x p e r i e n c e t o e v e r y o t h e r member o f t h e p a r t y whose l e v e l i s l o w e r than h i s /
hers . Experience gained goes as : {0 ,4 ,10 ,16 ,23 ,30 ,38 ,46 ,55 ,65 ,80}.

61
15 2 2 ) L o o t i n g ( Party s k i l l ) : This s k i l l i n c r e a s e s t h e amount o f l o o t o b t a i n e d by 10
% per s k i l l l e v e l .
16 2 3 ) Horse Archery ( P e r s o n a l s k i l l ) : Reduces damage and a c c u r a c y p e n a l t i e s f o r
a r c h e r y and t h r o w i n g from h o r s e b a c k .
17 2 4 ) R i di ng ( P e r s o n a l s k i l l ) : Enables you t o r i d e h o r s e s o f h i g h e r d i f f i c u l t y
l e v e l s and i n c r e a s e s your r i d i n g s p e e d and manuever .
18 2 5 ) A t h l e t i c s ( P e r s o n a l s k i l l ) : Improves your r u n n i n g s p e e d .
19 2 6 ) S h i e l d ( P e r s o n a l s k i l l ) : Reduces damage t o s h i e l d s ( by 8 % p e r s k i l l l e v e l )
and improves s h i e l d s p e e d and c o v e r a g e .
20 2 7 ) Weapon Master ( P e r s o n a l s k i l l ) : Makes i t e a s i e r t o l e a r n weapon p r o f i c i e n c i e s
and i n c r e a s e s t h e p r o f i c i e n c y l i m i t s . L i m i t s go a s : 6 0 , 1 0 0 , 1 4 0 , 1 8 0 , 2 2 0 ,
260 , 300 , 340 , 380 , 420.
21 3 3 ) Power Draw ( P e r s o n a l s k i l l ) : L e t s c h a r a c t e r u s e more p o w e r f u l bows . Each p o i n t
t o t h i s s k i l l ( up t o f o u r p l u s power−draw r e q u i r e m e n t o f t h e bow ) i n c r e a s e s
bow damage by 14 %.
22 3 4 ) Power Throw ( P e r s o n a l s k i l l ) : Each p o i n t t o t h i s s k i l l i n c r e a s e s t h r o w i n g
damage by 10 %.
23 3 5 ) Power S t r i k e ( P e r s o n a l s k i l l ) : Each p o i n t t o t h i s s k i l l i n c r e a s e s melee damage
by 8 %.
24 3 6 ) I r o n f l e s h ( P e r s o n a l s k i l l ) : Each p o i n t t o t h i s s k i l l i n c r e a s e s h i t p o i n t s by
+2.

5.3.1.2 Hard-coded Skills

There exists a list of hard-coded skills which are (indexed, beginning with 0): Trade (0), Leadership
(1), Prisoner Management (2), Engineer (8), First Aid (9), Surgery (10), Wound Treatment (11),
Inventory Management (12), Spotting (13), Pathfinding (14), Tactics (15), Tracking (16), Trainer
(17), Horse Archery (23), Riding (24), Athletics (25), Shield (26), Weapon Master (27), Power Draw
(33), Power Throw (34), Power Strike (35), Ironflesh (36).
The effects of these skills can only be removed if the skill is disabled with sf_inactive flag.73 If
you want to add a new skill, use the reserved skills or use soft-coded skills.

5.3.1.3 Skill Flags

sf_base_att_str: This flag sets Strenght as base attribute of this skill.

sf_base_att_agi: This flag sets Agility as base attribute of this skill.

sf_base_att_int: This flag sets Intelligence as base attribute of this skill.

73
Khamukkamu however remarks that hiding any of the default skills will cause the game to crash. It is better to
just rename the skill to −−. Mount & Blade Modding Discord.

62
sf_base_att_cha: This flag sets Charisma as base attribute of this skill.

sf_effects_party: With this flag the skill grants an ability to the party as a whole.

sf_inactive: Disables a skill.

5.3.1.4 Maximum Skill Level

Skills are stored in 4 bits - that is to say, limited to 15 (it’s higher for attributes). If you look properly
at header_skills.py, you will see that every skill increment is a multiple of the first (which is a power
of 16) - this is so that all possible skill combinations can be fit into a single field.74 However, in Native
the maximum skill level is at 10 since it is missing the definitions for the upper ones. You need to
define them by yourself or make use of a more expanded version of the Module System.

5.3.1.5 Adding, Combining, Deleting and/or Editing Skills

You can add a new skill by using one of the 18 reserved skills of which you can edit the skill ID and
name as you wish. Keep in mind that it is not possible to add more skills,75 so you are restricted to
42 skills in total.
If you add a new skill you might get irritated by your character window in-game since the skill list
is expanding and thus moving up, ending in a result like in the image below. The easiest way to fix this

is to remove some other skill but that is in most cases not something you would like to do. Although
the character window is a hard-coded menu you have some possibilities to alter the panel itself. The
background image is stored as mesh character_window in one of the CommonRes/core_*.brf files.
You can create your own resource file declaring the same mesh with a different texture and it should
override the default one. Or you can just copy the texture character_window.dds to your module’s
Textures folder and edit that one to your heart’s content.
74
Somebody, Modding Q&A.
75
cmpxchg8b, [WB] Warband Script Enhancer v3.2.0.

63
 Once you have enough space on the background, you will need to edit the text and/or elements
positioning. The coordinates for them are stored in the file game_variables.txt - they are annotated
and should be easy to find. Just keep in mind that base x/y coordinates and container sizes are usually
absolute (with screen having 1.0 * 0.75 dimension, no matter what aspect ratio it actually has), while
element/text size values are usually relative (so width 2.0 doesn’t mean "twice wider than screen"but
"twice wider than element’s mesh as measured by ruler in OpenBrf").76
You might want to combine, edit or delete some of the Native skills and ask yourself if that
is possible. It depends, most skills have hard-coded effects while some other effects are defined in
the Module System. Latter one can easily be edited. For the hard-coded ones you would need to
reverse engineer the effects if possible and then apply your own effects. For example, the skills
Spotting and Pathfinding can be simulated via the game scripts game_check_party_sees_party
and game_get_party_speed_multiplier while Tracking is a skill which can not be simulated.77
When checking for a skill effect you have three options:

1. hard-coded stuff (will require extra work to override)

2. hard-coded stuff but with open settings on module.ini (so just tweak the flag/variable there)

3. Module System effect (open code)

Start by finding the reference (key). It is a skill, so go to module_skills.py. For skills you add
skl_, so the code reference is skl_leadership for the key Leadership, etc. Now do a full text
search for this on your Module System and check where it is getting used. To stay with the example,
you would eventually find the script game_get_party_companion_limit that implements the logic
around party size limit. Note also how the script name normally tells you what it is used for.78

76
Lav, Modding Q&A.
77
_Sebastian_, Ikaguia and Somebody, Modding Q&A.
78
kalarhan, Modding Q&A.

64
5.3.2 Module Skins

1 Each s k i n r e c o r d c o n t a i n s t h e f o l l o w i n g f i e l d s :
2 1 ) Skin i d : used f o r r e f e r e n c i n g s k i n s .
3 2 ) Skin f l a g : s k i n w i l l u s e t h i s morph key / frame o f a mesh i f m u l t i p l e a r e g i v e n .
4 3 ) Body mesh .
5 4 ) C a l f mesh ( l e f t one ) .
6 5 ) Hand mesh ( l e f t one ) .
7 6 ) Head mesh .
8 7 ) Face k e y s ( l i s t )
9 8 ) L i s t o f h a i r meshes .
10 9 ) L i s t o f beard meshes .
11 10) L i s t of h a i r t e x t u r e s .
12 1 1 ) L i s t o f beard t e x t u r e s .
13 12) L i s t of f a c e t e x t u r e s .
14 13) L i s t of v o i c e s .
15 1 4 ) S k e l e t o n name
16 1 5 ) S c a l e ( doesn ’ t f u l l y work y e t )
17 1 6 ) Blood p a r t i c l e s 1 ( do not add t h i s i f you wish t o u s e t h e d e f a u l t p a r t i c l e s )
18 1 7 ) Blood p a r t i c l e s 2 ( do not add t h i s i f you wish t o u s e t h e d e f a u l t p a r t i c l e s )
19 1 8 ) Face key c o n s t r a i n t s ( do not add t h i s i f you do not wish t o u s e i t )

module_skins.py is where all the skins for the troops and heroes are defined. They are getting
used for genders as well as for different races, so whenever you wish to make a new skin for troops,
this is the file you will be modding. You can have a maximum of 16 different skins which is given by
header_troops.py and cannot be increased:79
1 troop_type_mask = 0 x 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 f
2 t f _ h e r o = 0 x00000010

If each race has a male and female version, then there will be 8 races. Take note that in the multiplayer
you can have only two races because the netcode only uses 1 bit for skin80 which are usually used
for the male and female skin.

5.3.2.1 Adding a New Skin

Note that you don’t need a new race unless you want to change any of the following: body mesh,
face shape, war cries, death noises, blood effects. The rest can be done really easily with extra face
textures and careful face code usage. If you are adamant about having different face shapes, be aware
79
dunde, Modding Q&A.
80
cmpxchg8b, Modding Q&A.

65
 that you would have to make the meshes and vertex animations yourself, fit the beards to the new
mesh, and make a bunch of new textures with different mapping.81
In the Native Module System you can either reactivate the skin “undead“, by removing the # in
front of it, or you add following lines beneath it (but before last ]):82
1 (
2 "<r a c e >", 0 ,
3 "<r a c e >_body " , " r a c e _ c a l f _ l " , " race_handL " ,
4 "<r a c e >_head " , race_face_keys ,
5 [] ,
6 [] ,
7 [] ,
8 [] ,
9 [(" <RACE>face_a " , 0 x f f f f f f f f , [ ] ) ,
10 ("<RACE>face_b " , 0 x f f c a f f c 0 , [ ] ) ,
11 ] , #f a c e t e x t u r e s
12 [ ] , #v o i c e sounds
13 " skel_human " , 1 . 0 ,
14 ),

Change all <race> to the name of your new race and models. The models which are refered here, are
stored in body_meshes.brf. skel_* referes to the skeleton for the race. If you want to add Dwarves,
Goblins, Hobbits, Giants or something like this, you will probably want to change this and need
a custom skeleton. Afterwards add in header_troops.py the new skin flag. You will see there the
following entries:
15 #Troop f l a g s
16 tf_male = 0
17 tf_female = 1
18 ##tf_undead = 2

When adding a new race, you should add them here after the commented-out undeads (or replacing
that line). You need to remember that the number which follows the skin must be unique (the
undeads are commented out, so you can use 2). So it should look like:
19 tf_dwarf = 2
20 tf_hobbit = 3

Now you can use the new troop flag for all troop entries which should have the new skin. Next, if you
want race to be selectable for player, go to module_game_menus.py and search for ("start_male".
under this:
81
jacobhinds, Modding Q&A.
82
Following here onward a post of lllew, Modding Q&A.

66
21 ( " s t a r t _ f e m a l e " , [ ] , " Female " ,
22 [
23 ( troop_set_type , " t r p _ p l a y e r " , 1 ) ,
24 ( assign , " $character_gender " , tf_female ) ,
25 ( jump_to_menu , " mnu_start_character_1 " ) ,
26 ]
27 ),

but before ("go_back",[],"Go back", you have to add something like this:
28 ( " start_ <r a c e >" ,[] ," < Race >",
29 [
30 ( troop_set_type , " t r p _ p l a y e r " , 2 ) ,
31 ( a s s i g n , " $ c h a r a c t e r _ g e n d e r " , tf_<r a c e >) ,
32 ( jump_to_menu , " mnu_start_character_1 " ) ,
33 ]
34 ),

Note that the 2 after "trp_player" refers to the number which you used in header_troops.py.

67
5.3.2.2 Skin Flag and Morph Key

Tuple field 2, Skin Flag, determines which morph key is getting used for that skin. Basically you can
use this bit to tell the game if the skin (in most cases a race) requires some body transformation,
in the same way as the female armour has narrower shoulders and breasts. If you open up openbrf
and look at an armour which features a feminised form you will notice that the female form will be
in frame number two with time 10. To tell the game to use this vertex animation frame and time
for a particular race you use skf_use_morph_key_10 as the time of the frame is 10. Following the
same logic you can create your own new frames for particular races and use skf_use_morph_key_20
up to skf_use_morph_key_70.83 The available flags at header_skins.py determine that you cannot
have more than eight morph keys for the frames.
While you should use a different vertex animation frame for each race that use different skeleton
(you can use OpenBRF to reskeletonize the armors and add the frames, see the chapters missing and
12.2.4.)84 the game engine only makes use of the morph key if such a frame is given. If you assign an
armour85 to a troop of a race with a different skeleton which has not such vertex animation frame
given, the game will use the default one.

5.3.2.3 Face Keys Code

Each face code consists of hexadecimal numbers in a specific order that define all the traits of a
person (hair color, age, beard type etc. etc.), with the traits having a range (let’s say 00 would be
almost closed eyelids, ff widely opened eyelids, and then everything in between).86
face codes explained87
documentation face key string88
You can get a face that ages by giving the material of your face an old version texture as diffuseB
and old version normal map as specular.89
You might get an issue where faces are white from a distance but turn normal at closer distance.
This is because you need a .LOD material (note the capitals) as well as meshes. Look at how
everything else is set up in materials_face_gen.90
If you are using a face key on a register note that it doesn’t use the 0x (also remember to set
83
La Grandmaster, Modding Q&A.
84
dunde, Modding Q&A.
85
Morph keys work only on body armors (boots and helmet only with WSE); cmpxchg8b, Modding Q&A.
86
Lord Szentgyorgyi, Modding Q&A.
87
Yoshiboy, random face code generator.
88
Dusk Voyager, Modding Q&A, and k61824, Modding Q&A.
89
dunde, Modding Q&A.
90
Somebody, Modding Q&A and Modding Q&A.

68
both keys or use the default operation).91
1 ( s t r _ s t o r e _ s t r i n g , s1 , "
@000000000a00000136db6db6db6db6db00000000001db6db0000000000000000 " ) ,

5.3.2.4 Skin Colour

Posts to integrate: Yoshiboy, Modding Q&A;

Vertex painting92
skin colours troops93
skin colour94
vertex colour body95
forearm vertex colour96
skin coloured meshes97
face colour codes98
Other materials for hair99
some module skins explanation100
face key registers101
Some skin stuff102

5.3.2.5 Scaling Problems

Tuple field 15, Scale, is an interesting but also sadly not fully functional field. The scale factor
multiplies everything, so the skeleton, the hitboxes and all meshes getting used by troops with the
respective skin flag. It seems to be thus an easy useable way to create Dwarves or Giants. It comes
however with some drawbacks: If the troop gets hit by missiles, the missiles sticking in the troop
scales with the same factor.103 The walk cycles for shorter races are faster while the one for bigger
races is slowier which is in most cases wanted. Also it might come to an scale up bug, a ragdoll
issue, when the size is set to an factor bigger than 1. That one might however be fixable by delaying
91
kalarhan, Modding Q&A.
92
GetAssista, Modding Q&A.
93
Somebody, Modding Q&A.
94
Somebody, Modding Q&A.
95
Somebody, Modding Q&A.
96
Somebody, Modding Q&A.
97
jacobhinds, Mount & Blade Modding Discord.
98
Leonion (credit), Modding Q&A.
99
xPearse, Modding Q&A.
100
snouz (credit), Modding Q&A.
101
cmpxchg8b, [WB] Warband Script Enhancer v3.2.0.
102
jcsm130988, Body-Head Color Tone Mismatch.
103
DtheHun, Modding Q&A.

69
the time the death agent turning into a ragdoll on any death animations104 or fixing the associated
hitboxes.105
For a more detailed explanation it is recommended to read the report of scale experiments per-
formed by Khamukkamu which contained a variety of tests, explanations and summaries.106 It is also
recommended to look up how the scale factor is getting used in Viking Conquest: the developers
used their largest character (Tall) to be of the standard (scale = 1) size. From there, they redu-
ced the scale of each skin (something like normal height=0.9, short=0.85, child=0.75). Beside the
faster walk cycles for the shorter/normal characters they found thus a good way around the other
above-mentioned issues.

5.3.2.6 Skins for Horses

You cannot add a new horse skeleton107 . However, you can vary its scale. Use for this in modu-
le_items.py the entry horse_scale(110) for a bigger horse and horse_scale(90) for a smaller
horse, you can experiment around with them. horse_scale(30) can for example be used to animate
cats with the horse skeleton and animations.108 Be aware that the set of animations is the same
for every mount. It’s however possible to find workarounds here as well as some mods removed for
example the galloping by mounting the mount on one bone to get a proper futuristic motorbike.109
dynamic positioning of horse skeleton110

5.3.2.7 Bones List

list of bone id111

agent bones112
bones list113
hit detection114
Also reference to hit detection of engine subchapter.
order of bones cannot be changed.115
104
dunde, Modding Q&A.
105
Maelubiyet, Modding Q&A.
106
Khamukkamu, Of Trolls, Orcs, and Elves: Experiments using SCALE from module_skins.py.
107
GetAssista, Modding Q&A, and dunde, Modding Q&A.
108
NPC99, Modding Q&A.
109
dunde, Modding Q&A.
110
Norwood Reaper, Modding Q&A.
111
MitchPTI, Modding Q&A.
112
_Sebastian_, Modding Q&A.
113
Swyter, [WB] Warband Script Enhancer v3.2.0.
114
Norwood Reaper, Modding Q&A.
115
cmpxchg8b, Suggestions/requests thread – post yours here.

70
5.3.2.8 Blood Particles

open question about new races blood116

Blood on agents117
blood particle118
Remove blood of armour119 or troop120

5.3.2.9 Skin/Gender/Race-based Voice Entries

Tuple field 13, the list of voices, is something which gets often missed when adding new skins.121
Looking at the Native man skin entry, you can see the following sound entries for different occassions,
like when the agent dies, gets hits, yells or makes a victory cheer:
1 [ ( v o i c e _ d i e , " snd_man_die " ) , ( v o i c e _ h i t , " snd_man_hit " ) , ( voice_grunt , " snd_man_grunt " )
, ( voice_grunt_long , " snd_man_grunt_long " ) , ( v o i c e _ y e l l , " snd_man_yell " ) , (
voice_stun , " snd_man_stun " ) , ( v o i c e _ v i c t o r y , " snd_man_victory " ) ] , #v o i c e sounds

Compare it to the Native woman skin entry and you will discover that it has far less entries:122
1 [ ( v o i c e _ d i e , " snd_woman_die " ) , ( v o i c e _ h i t , " snd_woman_hit " ) , ( v o i c e _ y e l l , "
snd_woman_yell " ) ] , #v o i c e sounds

A look into header_skins.py reveals which voice events can get used by modders:
1 voice_die = 0 # Agent d i e s
2 voice_hit = 1 # Agent g e t s h i t
3 voice_grunt = 2 # Agent s w i n g s a weapon
4 voice_grunt_long = 3 # Agent s w i n g s a heavy weapon ( ? )
5 voice_yell = 4 # Agent
6 voice_warcry = 5 # Agent
7 voice_victory = 6 # Agent makes a v i c t o r y c h e e r
8 voice_stun = 7 # Agent g e t s stunned

116
Khamukkamu, Modding Q&A.
117
Jacobhinds, Putting blood on agents.
118
K700, [WB] Warband Script Enhancer v4.8.0 for 1.174.
119
GetAssista and Somebody, Modding Q&A.
120
Specialist, Modding Q&A.
121
The upfollowing notes are taken from nema, How to resolve problem with silent troops, updated by new infobits.
122
This is also the reason why female victory cheering has often been reported as a problem, there is simply a
voice_victory entry missing for it to work.

71
5.3.3 Module Troops

1 Each t r o o p c o n t a i n s t h e f o l l o w i n g f i e l d s :
2 1 ) Troop i d ( s t r i n g ) : used f o r r e f e r e n c i n g t r o o p s i n o t h e r f i l e s . The p r e f i x trp_
i s a u t o m a t i c a l l y added b e f o r e each troop −i d .
3 2 ) Troop name ( s t r i n g ) .
4 3 ) P l u r a l t r o o p name ( s t r i n g ) .
5 4 ) Troop f l a g s ( i n t ) . See h e a d e r _ t r o o p s . py f o r a l i s t o f a v a i l a b l e f l a g s
6 5 ) Scene ( i n t ) ( o n l y a p p l i c a b l e t o h e r o e s ) For example : s c n _ r e y v a d i n _ c a s t l e | e n t r y
(1) puts troop in reyvadin c a s t l e ’ s f i r s t entry point
7 6 ) Reserved ( i n t ) . Put c o n s t a n t " r e s e r v e d " o r 0 .
8 7) Faction ( i n t )
9 8 ) I n v e n t o r y ( l i s t ) : Must be a l i s t o f items , a t max . 64 i t e m s .
10 9 ) A t t r i b u t e s ( i n t ) : Example u s a g e : str_6 | agi_6 | int_4 | cha_5 | l e v e l ( 5 )
11 1 0 ) Weapon p r o f i c i e n c i e s ( i n t ) : Example u s a g e :
12 wp_one_handed ( 5 5 ) | wp_two_handed ( 9 0 ) | wp_polearm ( 3 6 ) | wp_archery ( 8 0 ) | wp_crossbow
( 2 4 ) | wp_throwing ( 4 5 )
13 The f u n c t i o n wp( x ) w i l l c r e a t e random weapon p r o f i c i e n c i e s c l o s e t o v a l u e x .
To make an e x p e r t a r c h e r with o t h e r weapon p r o f i c i e n c i e s c l o s e t o 60 you
can u s e something l i k e : wp_archery ( 1 6 0 ) | wp( 6 0 )
14 1 1 ) S k i l l s ( i n t ) : See h e a d e r _ s k i l l s . py f o r a l i s t o f s k i l l s . Example :
15 knows_ironflesh_3 | knows_power_strike_2 | knows_athletics_2 | knows_riding_2
16 1 2 ) Face code ( i n t ) : You can o b t a i n t h e f a c e code by p r e s s i n g c t r l+E i n f a c e
generator screen
17 1 3 ) Face code ( i n t ) ( 2 ) ( o n l y a p p l i c a b l e t o r e g u l a r t r o o p s , can be o m i t t e d f o r
h e r o e s ) : The game w i l l c r e a t e random f a c e s between Face code 1 and Face code 2
for generated troops
18 1 4 ) Troop image ( s t r i n g ) : I f t h i s v a r i a b l e i s s e t , t h e t r o o p w i l l u s e an image
r a t h e r than i t s 3D v i s u a l d u r i n g t h e c o n v e r s a t i o n s

module_troops.py is where all regular troops, heroes, chests and town NPCs are defined, complete
with faces, ability scores and inventory. Whenever you wish to make a new character or troop type,
this is the file you’ll be modding.
The file begins with a small block of code that calculates weapon proficiencies and some other
non-moddable code. Skip ahead to the list troops = [. Here we find tuples for the player and several
other troops important to the game. Just below that are the various fighters we encounter in the arena
fights. We’ll study a few of these, as they are excellent examples of regular troops’ level progression.
Observe:
1 [ " n o v i c e _ f i g h t e r " , " Novice F i g h t e r " , " Novice F i g h t e r s " , t f _ g u a r a n t e e _ b o o t s |
tf_guarantee_armor , no_scene , r e s e r v e d , fac_commoners ,

72
2 [ itm_hide_boots ] ,
3 str_6 | agi_6 | l e v e l ( 5 ) ,wp( 6 0 ) , knows_common , mercenary_face_1 , mercenary_face_2 ] ,

This is a bog-standard troop called "novice fighter". "novice fighter" is low-level, not very
good at fighting, has low ability scores, and is otherwise unremarkable. Novice_fighter tuple exami-
nation:
1 1) Troop i d = " n o v i c e _ f i g h t e r "
2 2) Troop name = " n o v i c e _ f i g h t e r "
3 3) P l u r a l t r o o p name = " n o v i c e _ f i g h t e r s "
4 4) Troop f l a g s = t f _ g u a r a n t e e _ b o o t s | tf_guarantee_armor
5 5) Scene = no_scene
6 6) Reserved = r e s e r v e d
7 7) F a c t i o n = fac_commoners
8 8) I n v e n t o r y = [ itm_sword , itm_hide_boots ]
9 9) A t t r i b u t e s = str_6 | agi_6 | l e v e l ( 5 )
10 1 0 ) Weapon p r o f i c i e n c i e s = wp( 6 0 )
11 1 1 ) S k i l l s = knows_common
12 1 2 ) Face code = swadian_face1
13 1 3 ) Face code 2 = swadian_face2

There are three things worth noting about this tuple.

Our "novice fighter " has tf_guarantee_armor, but no armour of his own. However, this does not
make tf_guarantee_armor redundant; the troop will put on any armour he receives during the game.
To begin with (ie, at Level 1), "novice_fighter" has a STR of 6 and an AGI of 6. Upon start of the
game, he is bumped up to level 5, with all the usual stat gains that implies.
He has the skill knows_common. knows_common is a collection of skills that was defined at the
beginning of module_troops; scroll up in module_troops.py and observe this collection now.
1 knows_common = knows_riding_1 | knows_trade_2 | knows_inventory_management_2 |
knows_prisoner_management_1 | knows_leadership_1

A troop that has knows_common will have every skill listed here; a Riding skill of 1, a Trade skill
of 2, an Inventory Management skill of 2, a Prisoner Management skill of 1, and a Leadership skill
of 1. knows_common is what is known as a constant ; a phrase that represents something else, be
it a number, an identifier, another constant, or any other valid object. A constant can represent any
number of objects, as long as those objects are in the right order for the place where you intend to
use this constant.
In this case, knows_common is defined as having everything on the right side of the = sign. So
in effect, by putting knows_common in the Skills field, the module system will function just as if
you had typed out all of that in the skills field.

73
 Now let us look at the next entry in the list.
1 [ " r e g u l a r _ f i g h t e r " , " Re gul ar F i g h t e r " , " Re gul ar F i g h t e r s " , t f _ g u a r a n t e e _ b o o t s |
tf_guarantee_armor , no_scene , r e s e r v e d , fac_commoners ,
2 [ itm_hide_boots ] ,
3 str_8 | agi_8 | l e v e l ( 1 1 ) ,wp( 9 0 ) , knows_common | knows_ironflesh_1 | knows_power_strike_1 |
knows_athletics_1 | knows_riding_1 | knows_shield_2 , mercenary
4 _face_1 , mercenary_face_2 ] ,

In this example, you can see the slightly stronger "regular fighter "; this one has higher ability scores,
is level 11, and knows some skills beyond knows_common. In-game, if some "novice fighters " in our
party had reached sufficient experience to reach level 11, we might want to allow them to upgrade
into "regular fighters ". We will see later how troop trees are done.
In a similar way you can declare constants for the attributes (including the level or not) and the
weapon proficiencies, e.g. as follows:
1 d e f _ a t t r i b = str_7 | agi_5 | int_4 | cha_4
2 k n i g h t _ a t t r i b _ 1 = str_15 | agi_14 | int_8 | cha_16 | l e v e l ( 2 2 )
3 wp_swadia_low_tier = wpex ( 9 0 , 7 5 , 7 5 , 5 0 , 5 0 , 6 0 )

Again, take care that those objects are in the right order for the place where you intend to use new
declared constants and make sure that you implement the constants properly into the troop tuple.
Look up examples in the Module System of Native or of other Open Source Code Mods.

5.3.3.1 Troop Flags

tf_male determines that the character is male.

tf_female determines that the character is female.

tf_undead is basically the third gender/race (same thing in M&B). It can’t be simply used since
it requires some more work at module_skins and some bad skinning at the default undead
meshes.

tf_hero is given to every unique NPC which the player can encounter in-game, even the merchants
are counted as Heroes. The main differences between Heroes and regular troops are:

• Heroes are unique, you can have only one of each Hero unless they are cloned by error
or by design. Even by design, however, cloning Heroes is a bad idea. Since there should
be only one specimen of each Hero, they have no plural troop name. Field 3 of the Hero
tuple is therefore identical to Field 2.

74
 • Heroes are unkillable, their health is represented by a percentage value.

• Heroes take up a full party stack, each an own one.

• Heroes show up properly in a scene when they are assigned to one in their troop tuple.

• Heroes stay with the player when he is defeated by an enemy party - the Heroes are not
captured by the enemy - but the player can capture enemy Heroes as normal.

tf_inactive is used for non-NPC troops like chests, markers, etc. Troops with this flag are not
dressed even with other flags set. Normally scene props or meshes get spawned at their positions.

tf_unkillable deprecated, not useable anymore.

tf_allways_fall_dead lets hero and non-hero troops always die in battle, so they can’t get
knocked out and healed later.

tf_no_capture_alive is a deprecated flag from the old M&B that determined that the Troop
can’t be captured alive, it can’t become a Prisoner. Not useable anymore.

tf_mounted enables that the Troop’s movement speed on map is determined by riding skill.

tf_is_merchant causes Heroes to not equip any of the items in their inventory, except what they
are originally assigned in their troop tuple. In other words, these merchants can receive all sorts
of items over the course of the game, but they will not wear or use the items, and the items
will properly show up for sale.

tf_randomize_face randomizes the face at the beginning of the game. Requires two face codes at
the troop tuple.123

tf_guarantee_boots guarantees the troop will have boots if there are some in their loadout.

tf_guarantee_armor guarantees the troop will have an armour if there is one in their loadout.

tf_guarantee_helmet guarantees the troop will have a helmet if there is one in their loadout.

tf_guarantee_gloves guarantees the troop will have gloves if there are some in their loadout.

tf_guarantee_horse guarantees the troop will have a horse if there is one in their loadout, and
puts the troop in the cavalry troop category (overrides the flag tf_guarantee_ranged).124

tf_guarantee_shield guarantees the troop will have a shield if there is one in their loadout.
123
Waldzios, Modding Q&A.
124
Dusk Voyager, Modding Q&A.

75
tf_guarantee_ranged guarantees the troop will have a ranged weapon if there is one in their
loadout, and puts the troop in the archer troop category.

tf_guarantee_polearm guarantees the troop will have a polearm if there is one in their loadout.

tf_unmoveable_in_party_window means that unless the troop is an enemy prisoner, you can-
not garrison this troop or trade it to another party. Normally used for Hero troops.

Two more flags are defined in module_troops.py which are combinations of above explained flags:
1 t f _ g u a r a n t e e _ a l l = t f _ g u a r a n t e e _ b o o t s | tf_guarantee_armor | t f _ g u a r a n t e e _ g l o v e s |
tf_guarantee_helmet | t f _ g u a r a n t e e _ h o r s e | t f _ g u a r a n t e e _ s h i e l d | tf_guarantee_ranged
2 tf_guarantee_all_wo_ranged = t f _ g u a r a n t e e _ b o o t s | tf_guarantee_armor |
t f _ g u a r a n t e e _ g l o v e s | tf_guarantee_helmet | t f _ g u a r a n t e e _ h o r s e | t f _ g u a r a n t e e _ s h i e l d

5.3.3.2 Scene Entry Point

Tuple field five goes hand in hand with the mission template entry flag mtef_scene_source. This
flag is used for troops that have a site/entry point defined statically. It spawns them on the first frame
of the mission only if the entry point defined in the tuple has the flag.125 Could be quasi deprecated
due to the usage of other scripts, up4research.126
Work in other posts here127
two ways to spawn troop128

5.3.3.3 Troop Faction

troops can’t have multiple factions, morale script129

5.3.3.4 Attributes

A character has four major attributes, which affect what you can do in very profound ways. Attributes
do two things: they give you some kind of immediate advantage, and they also allow you to increase
skills that are dependent on that attribute. Strength and Intelligence also allow better armor or
books to be used, respectively. Skills can only be raised to one third of a certain attribute (rounded
down). For example, Ironflesh is a Strength based skill, so a character with 14 Strength can only
125
cmpxchg8b, Modding Q&A.
126
Somebody, Modding Q&A.
127
Lumos, Modding Q&A, MadVader, Modding Q&A, Lumos, Modding Q&A, Docm30, Modding Q&A and other
note.
128
kalarhan, Modding Q&A.
129
Lav, Modding Q&A.

76
raise their Ironflesh up to level 4, while 15 Strength will allow Ironflesh up to level 5. Furthermore,
each attribute carries its own benefits.
When players create a new character in Native after selecting a background, they will get four
points to spend on attributes, and upon each level-up, they will receive one more. These choices
cannot be changed once committed. The maximum level for attributes is 63.130

Strenght (STR) Every point adds +1 to hit points. (Hidden bonus: increases damage of melee
weapons, bows, and thrown weapons).

Agility (AGI) Each point gives five weapon points and slightly increases movement speed on the
battlefield.

Intelligence (INT) Every point to intelligence immediately gives one extra skill point.

Charisma (CHA) Each point increases your party size limit by +1.

130
_Sebastian_, Modding Q&A, and Garedyr, Modding Q&A.

77
5.3.3.5 Random Attribute and Skill Points

Sometimes you will encounter in-game that after adding or editing troops in the Module System,
their attributes (STR, AGI etc.) and/or skills will vary after compiling from the values which you
actually assigned them. This has to do with the level and skill redistribution which occurs with every
new game. The engine checks that every troop has the total amount of attribute and skill points
which they should have accordingly to their assigned level. If there are less points distributed, the
game assigns by itself randomly attribute and skill points. You can avoid this by either reducing the
level or cranking up useless stats like Charisma or Persuasion.131
Alternatively you can of course distribute them accordingly to their level.132 For attributes the
formula is as follows:
1 Native :
2 T o t a l A t t r i b u t e P o i n t s = 17 + 16 + Troop L e v e l ∗ 1
3 In g e n e r a l :
4 T o t a l A t t r i b u t e P o i n t s = 17 + D e f i n e d S t a r t A t t r i b u t e P o i n t s + Troop L e v e l ∗
a t t r i b u t e _ p o i n t s _ p e r _ l e v e l ( module . i n i s e t t i n g )

The defined start attribute points can be found in the first hard-coded tuple at module_troops.py,
the player one, which cumulate to 16 in Native.
1 [ " p l a y e r " , " P l a y e r " , " P l a y e r " , t f _ h e r o | tf_unmoveable_in_party_window , no_scene ,
reserved , fac_player_faction ,
2 [] ,
3 str_4 | agi_4 | int_4 | cha_4 , wp( 1 5 ) , 0 , 0
x000000018000000136db6db6db6db6db00000000001db6db0000000000000000 ] ,

For the skill points take note that each point given to the attribute Intelligence gives one additional
skill point. The formula is thus as follows:
1 Native :
2 T o t a l S k i l l P o i n t s = 13 + Troop L e v e l ∗ 1 + INT
3 In g e n e r a l :
4 T o t a l S k i l l P o i n t s = 13 + Troop L e v e l ∗ s k i l l _ p o i n t s _ p e r _ l e v e l ( module . i n i s e t t i n g
) + INT

At your character creation you can also keep the limiter in mind. In Native skills can only be raised
to one third of a certain attribute (rounded down). You can alter this via a setting in the module.ini
file of your mod, attribute_required_per_skill_level, which has a default value of 3 at Native.
131
Somebody, Modding Q&A.
132
Earendil: The following formulas are constructed by using the player troop in-game. They can thus contain
misstakes.

78
 spare skill points at higher levels of troops133

5.3.3.6 Health/Hit Points

health formula: 35 + skl_ironflesh * 2 + strenght

5.3.3.7 Proficiencies/Weapon Points

Weapon Proficiencies are the player’s ability to use specific weapons. There are six in total and they
include: One Handed Weapons, Two Handed Weapons, Polearms, item Archery, item Crossbows and
item Throwing. In With Fire & Sword (WFaS) the crossbows are getting replaced by firearms. As you
might have noticed there are also mods which have both since there is also a hidden firearm proficiency
which can get activated. Both, the replacement and the activation, by setting the respective lines in
module.ini to 1 instead of 0.
1 use_crossbow_as_firearm = 0
2 display_wp_firearms = 0

The three melee proficiencies covers the use of swords, axes, spears, maces, etc. Polearms can be one-
or two-handed but are considered their own weapon class. Using a weapon will increase its related
proficiency. Increasing a proficiencies allows the character to deal more damage with a melee weapon,
and use ranged weapons more accurately. It also improves the weapon’s attack speed.
The player can increase proficiencies in two ways: By simply using the weapon in combat and by
spending Proficiency Points gained upon level-up on the proficiency of their choice. The maximum
level for any weapon proficiency is 699, where points cannot be added to a weapon proficiency
anymore. The Weapon Master skill level imposes a cap on all the proficiencies, restricting how these
points can be spent. The cap does not prevent increases earned through actual use. Each point of
Weapon Master increases the standard proficiency limit. The proficiency cap progression starts at
60 (for a Weapon Master skill of 0) and the cap increases by 40 points for each additional point of
Weapon Master skill.
The higher the Proficiency is, the more Proficiency Points are needed to raise it further. For
example, to increase the One-Handed Proficiency by one point when it is at 20 would take one
Proficiency Point. If that skill was 380, the player might need to spend between 10 and 16 Proficiency
Points to increase the proficiency by one point. This amount varies based on how high the Weapon
Master skill is. The higher the proficiency skill, the more points one will have to spend.
Increasing weapon proficiencies will result in increased damage (when using a melee weapon or
a ranged weapon if it benefits from Power Draw/Throw skill), faster attack speeds and increased
133
TheCaitularity (credit), Modding Q&A.

79
accuracy (when using a ranged weapon). All results are gradual and may need as many as 50 points
in a proficiency to see a notable difference, though results are much more noticeable while proficiency
is still low. The Weapon Master skill increases the rate at which proficiency points are earned, and
raises the spending cap on all proficiencies.
Proficiency increases more quickly when fighting higher level opponents and slower when fighting
lower level opponents, in addition to other factors. It is also possible to benefit more from a single
attack if the attack was particularly difficult or damaging. The more damage that is dealt with a
weapon, the more experience the player earns towards that weapon’s proficiency. Ranged weapon
proficiencies increase faster when more difficult shots are landed rather than when damage is done
(damage still counts, just not as much). Headshots provide a bonus to the difficulty multiplier as
well as shooting while on a moving horse. Additionally, the type of ranged weapon used also affects
shot difficulty. Thrown weapons receive a moderate increase in shot difficulty as they are universally
shorter ranged than other ranged weapon types while crossbows receive a penalty for their ease of
use. Bows receive neither a bonus or a penalty to shot difficulty calculations.
The weapon proficiency is not affected by random point redistribution as it happens with the
attribute and skill points as mentioned above. You can still try to achieve a roughly fitting setting.
Take note that each point given to the attribute Agility gives five additional weapon proficiency
points. The formula you can orientate upon is thus as follows:
1 In g e n e r a l :
2 T o t a l Weapon P r o f i c i e n c y P o i n t s = Troop L e v e l ∗ weapon_points_per_level ( module .
i n i s e t t i n g , 10 i n N a t i v e ) + 5 ∗ AGI + D e f i n e d S t a r t Weapon P r o f i c i e n c y P o i n t s
+ parameter o f own c h o i c e between 10 and 60

Add little passage about how to edit the hard-coded proficiency names.134 Need to look up where
else such note could be useful (if not opening up a new capitel with new module files extension)

5.3.3.8 Creating Face Codes

If the troop you want to assign a facecode to is a “hero“ (a lord, merchant or any other troop that’s only
supposed to turn up once), then you only need to set up the tuple field 12 (there are some exceptions,
mostly ladies). For everyone else, the game chooses a random face between the two face codes in the
tuple fields 12 and 13. Bear in mind that the game’s idea of “randomisation“ is incredibly screwy and
without setting a dummy skin/race in module_skins.py, it will mostly ignore your choices.135 To get
rid of the problem of reused faces you need to add a dummy skin to module_skins.py since there
is a hard-coded switch that disables that functionality completely if the number of skins is not 2.
134
Specialist, Modding Q&A.
135
jacobhinds and Ikaguia (upfollowing post), Modding Q&A.

80
The purpose of that functionality was probably to improve performance.136 How the randomisation
works exactly is unknown.137
With Edit Mode enabled, go to the Character menu and click the Edit Face button. Play around
with all the sliders and settings until you have got the face you are after. Now click Ctrl+E, and you
will notice a box/button pop up at the top right with a string of characters in it. Click this and it will
copy the face code to the clipboard. In module_troops.py, simply paste in it in as the face code.138
You can also make use of the predefined face codes given to you at the top of module_tropps.py,
starting with swadian_face_younger_1, for example
1 woman_face_1 = 0 x0000000000000001000000000000000000000000001c00000000000000000000

and add woman_face_1 as a valid face code into your troop tuple. You are free to create your own
face code definitions at the top. Beneath the for Native predefined face codes you will also stumble
above reused definitions like
1 r e f u g e e _ f a c e 1 = woman_face_1

You will perhaps think ’Why not simply using woman_face_1 again?’. The reason is simply that you
might want to give the refugees at a later stage of development more individual face codes but are
for now setting another defined one as a kind of placeholder.
When you are starting a new race, add a new troop near the beginning of module_troops.py
136
cmpxchg8b, Modding Q&A.
137
Questionlog to K700
138
Thorgrim, Modding Q&A.

81
(but after the hard-coded ones). Then go to the Character menu ingame and press “next“ above the
image of the player until you get to the new race troop. Setting the initial face codes of such a new
troop to zero before will save you time to set this template troop’s face codes directly.139
At the multiplayer you have to differentiate between troop templates for the players and troop
tuples for the bots (Native differentiates them for example with an additionally _ai at the troop id).
Multiplayer troop faces are overriden by the ones in the player’s profile engine-side, so the face codes
which you assign are only functionable for the bots. What you can do, however, is spawn another
agent and use the operation player_control_agent instead of player_spawn_new_agent.140
facecode seed determines troop loadout?141 Perhaps also with reference to the later subchapter
about this.
face key operations142
Facecode stuff143
MP hero troops need always the same face code twice to work normally144
setting facecode to 0145

5.3.3.9 Troop DNA

It might very well be that it’s a footstep subchapter to equipment selection.

troop dna146
troop dna147

5.3.3.10 Equipment Selection of Bots/AI Troops

bots with more than one weapon148

bots choosing armour149
bots choose items based on price (search before reasking K700) some posts later linked to another
post which I should have also marked150
multiple item entries in troop inventory151
139
jacobhinds (read up until post #19.723), Modding Q&A.
140
Somebody, Modding Q&A.
141
Somebody, Modding Q&A and Modding Q&A.
142
kalarhan, Modding Q&A.
143
SupaNinjaMan, WSE problem.
144
TortenSkjold, Mount & Blade Modding Discord.
145
jacobhinds, Modding Q&A.
146
Fisheye, M&B Scripting Q&A.
147
Lav, Lumos and cmpxchg8b, Modding Q&A, Modding Q&A and Modding Q&A.
148
jacobhinds, Modding Q&A.
149
kalarhan, Modding Q&A.
150
kalarhan, Modding Q&A.
151
kalarhan redirect, Modding Q&A.

82
 item selection distribution152
ai at weapon selection153
AI selecting armour154
item distribution of bots155
156
weapon guarantee

5.3.3.11 Troop Image

During dialogue you normally see the current speaking troop inside a conversation scene, with camera
movement between speakers. However by using the Troop Image entry, you can set a static image
to be displayed instead. While it is recommended to use a 2D planar mesh, the entry will accept any
mesh from any brf file loaded inside the module.ini. Unlike similar features in menus and presentations
it is not necessary to register the mesh inside module_meshes.py, you only need to enter the mesh
name from the brf as a string.

The mesh is rendered orthographically with the camera facing downwards from +Z to -Z with
+Y being Up and +X being Right. The meshes are not required to be centered as they are centered
automatically. Meshes are scaled to fit the boundaries of the dialogue window. The forced scaling
can cause rendering issues such as squashing or stretching the mesh to fit the aspect ratio of the
window. Furthermore, for non-rectangular meshes, the space behind the mesh isn’t redrawn each
frame, causing a visual artifact where the relations pop-up stays on screen.
Note that areas with partial transparency will become less and less transparent each frame as it
is drawn over, and added to, the previous image of the mesh each frame. Total transparency will not
152
kalarhan, Modding Q&A.
153
InVain, kalarhan and _Sebastian_, Modding Q&A, Modding Q&A, Modding Q&A and Modding Q&A.
154
jacobhinds, Modding Q&A, and kraggrim, Modding Q&A.
155
kalarhan, Modding Q&A.
156
Somebody, Modding Q&A.

83
have this problem.
Also of note, if two troops are talking, one with a Troop Image and one without, the camera will
never show the second troop, just the Troop Image. Further testing is required to see what happens
when multiple troops with images are in the same conversation, however it appears the first speaker
will take priority and be featured as the image.

5.3.3.12 Troop Trees

The list of which troops can be upgraded into what is contained at the very bottom of modu-
le_troops. This defines which troops can be upgraded, including what they can upgrade into, when
the experience conditions are met.
As you can see, each troop’s upgrade choices must be defined here through the operation upgra-
de(troops). The first string is the ID of the troop to be upgraded, the second string is the ID of the
resulting troop. For example, upgrade(troops,"farmer", "watchman") will allow a "farmer" to upgrade into
a "watchman", when the "farmer" has accrued enough experience.
There are two types of upgrade operations:

• upgrade(troops,"source_troop", "target_troop_1") offers only one upgrade choice; "source_troop" to

"target_troop_1".

• upgrade2(troops,"source_troop", "target_troop_1", "target_troop_2"), however, offers the player a choi-

ce to upgrade "source_troop" into either "target_troop_1" or "target_troop_2". Two is currently
the maximum number of possible upgrade choices.

Notice that the upgrade section is outside of the main code block for troops (after the last ’]’). It
is important to watch for where aspects of the code are located, as it is important for the compiler
to see things in a specific order. Also note that here they do not have commas (,) after each line.
Always keep in mind where you are in or outside the code, and the conventions being used.
At the upgrade event there are two scripts getting called by the engine. When you select a troop
in the party window, the game calls the script "game_get_upgrade_cost" once for each available
upgrade path - that is, once or twice. You can check if the script is supposed to be called once or
twice by checking that the troop has a second upgrade path available. When the troop is upgraded,
the script "game_get_upgrade_cost" is called once to get the cost of selected upgrade, and then
twice to get all upgrade costs. No idea why. So for troops with one upgrade path, the script is thus
called three times during the upgrade and for troops with two upgrade paths five times.157
157
Somebody, Modding Q&A, and Caba‘drin and Lav, Modding Q&A. In case you want to change how the upgrade
costs mechanic is working read Lav’s comment en detail and also the post of Waldzios, [WB] Warband Script Enhancer
v3.2.0.

84
 Note that the troop tree can’t have more than two upgrade paths. This is a hard-coded limit,
not only in the party screen, even the "Troop" C++ class of the game engine has only two upgrade
fields.158159 This is however just the normal system. There is nothing preventing you from creating
your own system via own code, UI, etc. It is just super easy to use the two-path system as that one
is already all done and ready for use, that is all.160

5.3.3.13 Differences between Classes, Subclasses and Divisions

Classes are from the original M&B. They are always - unless you code them differently - either infan-
try, archers, or cavalry (class numbers 0, 1, and 2), depending on the guarantee flag which you set for
them (infantry is set on default, archers if tf_guarantee_ranged and cavalry if tf_guarantee_horse
is set, with latter one overriding the former flag). Classes apply thus to troop templates, while di-
visions only apply to agents in battle. Divisions have been introduced with Warband and you can
call them in a battle with the number keys (1-9 or division numbers 0-8). For the most part, you
can ignore classes in Warband without much consequence. Sub-classes are a messy way to refer to
divisions, typically, in the various order operations.161

5.3.3.14 Division/Class Settings of Troops

Some notes regarding the flags

division setting of troops162

5.3.3.15 Other Notes

Perhaps some little chapter about how to quasi revive the flag? no capture alive outdated163 Are
those troop flags cancelling each other? One shouldn’t even work164
Make sure that those settings are all already present in latest Native MS. firearm proficiency165 ;
top part module troops166
agent set x modifier167

158
cmpxchg8b, Problem with upgradeoptions for one trooptype.
159
While KON_Air demonstrated at the MBX forum, Random Notes, that it was possible at an older engine version
to add a third troop path, it does not seem like he found a way to make use of it or to test if it is even working.
160
kalarhan, Modding Q&A.
161
Caba‘drin, Modding Q&A.
162
Lav, Modding Q&A.
163
NPC99, Modding Q&A and Modding Q&A.
164
Discussion, Modding Q&A.
165
Somebody, Modding Q&A.
166
Somebody, Modding Q&A.
167
Somebody, Modding Q&A.

85
5.3.4 Module Items

1 Each item r e c o r d c o n t a i n s t h e f o l l o w i n g f i e l d s :
2 1 ) Item i d : used f o r r e f e r e n c i n g i t e m s i n o t h e r f i l e s .
3 The p r e f i x itm_ i s a u t o m a t i c a l l y added b e f o r e each item i d .
4 2 ) Item name . Name o f item a s i t ’ l l appear i n i n v e n t o r y window
5 3 ) L i s t o f meshes . Each mesh r e c o r d i s a t u p l e c o n t a i n i n g t h e f o l l o w i n g f i e l d s :
6 3 . 1 ) Mesh name .
7 3 . 2 ) M o d i f i e r b i t s t h a t t h i s mesh matches .
8 Note t h a t t h e f i r s t mesh r e c o r d i s t h e d e f a u l t .
9 4 ) Item f l a g s . See header_items . py f o r a l i s t o f a v a i l a b l e f l a g s .
10 5 ) Item c a p a b i l i t i e s . Used f o r which a n i m a t i o n s t h i s item i s used with . See
header_items . py f o r a l i s t o f a v a i l a b l e f l a g s .
11 6 ) Item v a l u e .
12 7 ) Item s t a t s : B i t w i s e −o r o f v a r i o u s s t a t s about t h e item such a s :
13 weight , abundance , d i f f i c u l t y , head_armor , body_armor , leg_armor , e t c . . .
14 8 ) M o d i f i e r b i t s : M o d i f i e r s t h a t can be a p p l i e d t o t h i s item .
15 9 ) [ O p t i o n a l ] T r i g g e r s : L i s t o f s i m p l e t r i g g e r s t o be a s s o c i a t e d with t h e item .
16 1 0 ) [ O p t i o n a l ] F a c t i o n s : L i s t o f f a c t i o n s t h a t item can be found a s m e r c h a n d i s e .

module_items.py begins with a number of constants that are used to govern item modifiers which
adjust the items we see in-game. Bent polearms, chipped swords, heavy axes, they are all created
from a tuple in module_items and then given an appropriate item modifier to adjust their stats up
or down.

86
 After the constants, the list of tuples begins. The first one of interest is the weapon "practice_sword
", which will function as a good example. Let’s look at this tuple:
1 [ " p r a c t i c e _ s w o r d " , " P r a c t i c e Sword " , [ ( " p r a c t i c e _ s w o r d " , 0 ) ] ,
2 itp_type_one_handed_wpn | itp_primary | i t p _ s e c o n d a r y | itp_wooden_parry |
itp_wooden_attack , i t c _ l o n g s w o r d ,
3 3 , w e i g h t ( 1 . 5 ) | spd_rtng ( 1 0 3 ) | weapon_length ( 9 0 ) | swing_damage ( 1 6 , b l u n t ) | thrust_damage
( 1 0 , b l u n t ) , imodbits_none ] ,

This is a basic practice weapon, used in the arena fights and training fields. Practice_sword tuple
examination:
1 1 ) Item i d = " p r a c t i c e _ s w o r d "
2 2 ) Item name = " p r a c t i c e _ s w o r d "
3 3 ) L i s t o f meshes :
4 3 . 1 ) Mesh name = " p r a c t i c e _ s w o r d "
5 3.2) Modifier bits = 0
6 4 ) Item f l a g s = itp_type_one_handed_wpn | itp_primary | i t p _ s e c o n d a r y | itp_wooden_parry
| itp_wooden_attack
7 5 ) Item c a p a b i l i t i e s = i t c _ l o n g s w o r d
8 6 ) Item v a l u e = 3
9 7 ) Item s t a t s = w e i g h t ( 1 . 5 ) | spd_rtng ( 1 0 3 ) | weapon_length ( 9 0 ) | swing_damage ( 1 6 , b l u n t )
| thrust_damage ( 1 0 , b l u n t )
10 8 ) M o d i f i e r b i t s = imodbits_none
11 9 ) T r i g g e r s = None .

We can now tell all of "practice_sword"’s details from its tuple:

• It uses the mesh "practice_sword" as its default mesh.

• It uses item flags that mark it as a one-handed melee weapon. Troops who are equipped with
"practice_sword" will consider "practice_sword" when choosing a primary melee weapon from their
inventory listing. They will also consider "practice_sword" when choosing a backup (secondary)
weapon. (Note: The secondary weapon function is currently nebulous. It’s unclear when it’s
used or if it’s used at all. However, melee troops certainly will not switch to different melee
weapons during combat.)

• It has all the animations defined in the constant itc_longsword, so "practice_sword" is able to
be used as a long sword would be.

• It weights 1.5 kilograms. Its speed rating is 103, its weapon length is 90. It does a base 16 blunt
damage while swinging, and a base 10 blunt damage while thrusting.

• It uses no item modifiers.

87
5.3.4.1 Item Types/Classes

There exists a range of item types which you should not confuse with item properties even if they
have the same shorttag in front of their names.168 The weapon item types decide which animations
are getting used for the idle stance and movements of the agent carrying them.169 The armoury item
types on the other hand replace specific parts of the body meshes of the agent. The remaining item
types are horses, animals, goods and books. Keep in mind that an item is not intended to have more
than one item type. Also, you cannot declare a new weapon, armour or horse item type, you can
only repurpose the Native ones, which may or may not have the correct set of animations and AI
behaviour associated with it.170 .

itp_type_one_handed_wpn itp_type_bow itp_type_arrows

itp_type_two_handed_wpn itp_type_crossbow itp_type_bolts
itp_type_polearm itp_type_thrown itp_type_bullets
itp_type_shield itp_type_pistol
itp_type_musket
itp_type_head_armor itp_type_horse itp_type_goods
itp_type_body_armor itp_type_animal itp_type_book
itp_type_foot_armor
itp_type_hand_armor

While the weapon and armoury item types as well as the item class horse are pretty self-
explanatory, the three rather unusual item classes animals, goods and books might irritate you
and shall get explained shortly:

itp_type_animal Animals are basically the same as Horses regarding the animations and the item
entry. The difference is that agents with this flag instead of itp_type_horse can’t be mounted
by human agents (the dialog box to mount does not appear) and the item can appearantly
also not be used at the food slot (see Subchapter 5.3.4.15 for the details) in case you have
reactivated that one.

itp_type_book Books serve no purpose in the M&B game series except for being items to raise
the player’s character stats. They can either appear in form of readable or reference books.
Readable books are one time use objects giving the player an one-time skill or attribute bonus
after the book has been read completely. Reference books on the other hand give the player
168
This is especially important at the usage of the two operations item_get_type and item_has_property.
169
In contrast to them the item capability flags are used for attack, defend and carry animations. To see which item
capability and item property type flags are connected with which animations and animation sequences see the chapters
5.3.5.9 and 5.3.5.10.
170
Somebody, Modding Q&A. Other item types could possible be added and will need to get their effects scripted in
manually, up4research.

88
 a skill bonus while he has the book in his inventory. At both kind of books you need to take
care that you have placed new books alongside the others, respecting the declared constants in
module_constants.py.

itp_type_goods Goods summarise all food and manufactured items, excluding armoury, which
are getting sold by merchants in the villages or towns or looted when raiding a caravan or
a bandit lair. They are either needed for provision or for trade purposes and are also used a
couple of times as quest items. Goods affect with their weight the travel speed at the world
map.

5.3.4.2 Item Properties

There exists a list of item property flags which assigns specific properties to each item. You have to
differentiate here between item property type flags, which specify the type of the item as you can
find them at the section about the item stats, and more genuine item property flags as they are listed
below, in alphabetic order:

itp_always_loot ensures that the item will always appear in the normal post-battle loot screen.

itp_attach_armature needed for rigged items.(?)

itp_bonus_against_shield multiplies the damage by 2.0 when striking vs shields and by 1.1 vs
destructible constructions.171

itp_can_penetrate_shield enables the item to penetrate shields. It is only for ammunition.

itp_can_knock_down gives the weapon a chance to knock down the enemy.

itp_cant_reload_on_horseback prevents reloading the weapon while being on horseback.

itp_cant_reload_while_moving forces the player to stand still for reloading the weapon.

itp_cant_reload_while_moving_mounted forces the player to stand still with his horse for
reloading the weapon.

itp_cant_use_on_horseback disables the item to be used on horseback.

itp_civilian marks civilian cloths and/or armour which can be worn when indoors.

itp_consumable marks consumable items which perish slowly with each day. Used in Native Mo-
dule System in an inconsistent way.
171
_Sebastian_, Modding Q&A.

89
itp_couchable makes spear/lance couchable, couched lance damage will be applied at successful
attacks.

itp_covers_beard removes beard mesh for armours only.

itp_covers_head removes head mesh.

itp_covers_hair removes hair mesh for armours only.

itp_covers_hair_partially is a flag which has been introduced with VC, meant to fix the clipping
issue from the flag before. For this it is using a vertex animation for the hair meshes and causes
that one to switch to its alternate frame if it has one. Frame 1 needs the setting 10 for this, see
the hairs at VC as examples.172

itp_covers_legs removes the leg meshes of the body. If you do not have this flag on a piece of
body armor, it will load def_trousers as a submesh of the armor.173 It’s a purple default mesh
which you can find in item_meshes1.brf.174

itp_crush_through affects that the melee weapon can break through blocks, dealing damage and
stuns over a shield or weapon block. It does not happen always though, it depends on the speed
bonus, the resistance of the shield, and some luck. It tends to occur against a shield in most
cases, and very rarely against weapons. When on foot, only the overhead swing can result in a
crushing blow. Not sure yet how crush_through_treshold = 2.4 in module.ini affects it, up for
research.

itp_default_ammo sets this item as default ammo, like a specific bolt for all crossbows. Without
an additional ammo pack, the preloaded bolt will be the default ammo.

itp_disable_agent_sounds disable agent related sounds, but not voices; useful for animals.

itp_doesnt_cover_hair lets the item not cover the hair. Clipping will probably occur, not sure
what the difference is to not having this flag set at all.

itp_extra_penetration is - based on the given informations - a flag introduced with WFaS which
adds a multiplicator to the attack damage. The multiplicators can be set in module.ini, the
172
kalarhan, Modding Q&A, and Fredelios, Modding Q&A.
173
Somebody, Modding Q&A, and dstn, Mount & Blade Modding Discord. Somebody and Mandible talk here about
a tag called doesn’t_cover_legs, it’s however literally an armour without itp_covers_legs.
174
Somebody, Modding Q&A.

90
 respective lines are extra_penetration_factor_soak = 1.0 and extra_penetration_factor_reduction = 1.0.
In Native there are no extra penetration flags set, so they are kept ineffective.175

itp_fit_to_head should deform the helmet item such way that it adapts to the form of the head
mesh. Up for research.

itp_food lets the item give a morale bonus to the party. Used in Native Module System in an
inconsistent way.

itp_force_attach_left_forearm forces the item to be always carried at the left forearm.

itp_force_attach_left_hand forces the item to be always carried with the left hand.

itp_force_attach_right_hand forces the item to be always carried with the right hand.

itp_force_show_body forces showing body (works on body armour items).

itp_force_show_left_hand forces showing left hand (works on hand armour items).

itp_force_show_right_hand forces showing right hand (works on hand armour items).

itp_has_bayonet adds a special agent animation when switching weapon modes, it still needs the
flag itp_next_item_as_melee to have a secondary item as melee. Without the flag weapon
mode switching happens instantly without any animation.176

itp_has_upper_stab lets weapons stab instead of swing at upper attacks.

itp_ignore_friction prevents the item to get slowed down by the air.

itp_ignore_gravity prevents that trajectory bends the item downwards, so it becomes weightless.
Disables effectively a bullet drop.

itp_is_pike allows for a new attack animation when crouching, pike bracing.

itp_merchandise makes an item available in shops.

itp_next_item_as_melee lets the weapon use the next item as melee weapon, it has to have
the same mesh though. You can only toggle ranged->melee or melee->melee.177
175
The flag will not work on ammunition, probably caused by the same logic that takes the firing weapon’s damage
type instead of the ammo’s; ithilienranger and MadocComadrin, Modding Q&A. Not sure if this flag can only be added
to melee weapons or to missile weapons too. Specialist hints in a message that he believes it also work on shields but
he never posted any test results. Therefore up for research.
176
_Sebastian_, Modding Q&A.
177
I still need to understand the bottom part of this discussion here.

91
itp_no_blur removes the blur effect when swinging a spear.

itp_no_parry disables the parry function of the item, typically given to weapons which are short,
with a reach no greater than 60.

itp_no_pick_up_from_ground prevents that the player can pick up this item from the ground.

itp_offset_lance moves the polearm forward, holding it further down the shaft, for couching
purposes.

itp_offset_musket flips item upside down, offset -20 + weapon_length

itp_penalty_with_shield gives a damage penalty when used with a shield.

itp_primary is marking a weapon such way that Troops who are equipped with it will consider it
when choosing a primary melee weapon from their inventory listing.

itp_remove_item_on_use is for ammo like bolts, arrows and throwables. After a battle ends
they won’t refill normally. The operation agent_refill_ammo won’t refill it neither.178

itp_secondary is marking a weapon such way that Troops who are equipped with it will consider it
when choosing backup (secondary) weapon. (Note: The secondary weapon function is currently
nebulous. It’s unclear when it’s used or if it’s used at all. However, melee troops certainly will
not switch to different melee weapons during combat.)

itp_two_handed lets the player carry only this item actively, so it is not possible to carry addi-
tionally a shield type item.

itp_unbalanced enables that the weapon can’t cancel hits mid-swing and also delays blocking
when an attack has been finished.

itp_unique ensures that the item cannot be looted via the normal post-battle loot screen.

itp_wooden_attack gives the weapon a wooden sound at attacking.

itp_wooden_parry gives the weapon a wooden sound at parrying.

178
Dalion, Mount & Blade Modding Discord.

92
5.3.4.3 Item Capabilities (itc & itcf )179

itcf ’s are item capability flags (basically what moves you can make with the item)180 and itc’s are
item capabilities, a combination of item capability flags and/or other item capabilities. So basically,
taking the Bastard Sword as an example, all the itc_bastardsword is actually doing is combining
two-handed and one-handed capabilities. Here is the entry in module_items.py of the weapon:
1 [ " bastard_sword_a " , " Bastard Sword " , [ ( " bastard_sword_a " , 0 ) , ( "
bastard_sword_a_scabbard " , ixmesh_carry ) ] , itp_type_two_handed_wpn |
i t p _ m e r c h a n d i s e | itp_primary , i t c _ b a s t a r d s w o r d | i t c f _ c a r r y _ s w o r d _ l e f t _ h i p |
itcf_show_holster_when_drawn ,
2 294 , w e i g h t ( 2 . 0 ) | d i f f i c u l t y ( 9 ) | spd_rtng ( 9 8 ) | weapon_length ( 1 0 1 ) | swing_damage ( 3 5
, c u t ) | thrust_damage ( 2 6 , p i e r c e ) , imodbits_sword_high ] ,

Taken from header_items.py:

3 i t c _ b a s t a r d s w o r d = itc_cut_two_handed | itcf_thrust_twohanded |
itc_parry_two_handed | i t c _ d a g g e r

So itc_bastardsword is a combination of a few other combined capabilities and a non-combined

capability (the itcf_thrust_twohanded).
Well, itc_bastardsword is obviously no good if you don’t want the weapon to have a thrust attack.
Instead you want one without the itcf_trust_twohanded. Oh, itc_nodachi has that:
4 i t c _ n o d a c h i = itc_cut_two_handed | itc_parry_two_handed

Good. But what about the itc_dagger thing then?

5 itc_dagger = i t c _ c l e a v e r | itcf_thrust_onehanded

Ah, so all you actually need is itc_nodachi and itc_cleaver. Hmm...

6 i t c _ m o r n i n g s t a r = itc_cut_two_handed | itc_parry_two_handed | i t c _ c l e a v e r

There’s your itc. Of course, I could just have said “it’s itc_morningstar“, but then you wouldn’t have
learned anything from it. Basic rule, always check the appropriate header files for the details when
dealing with stuff like that or read the explanations at the beginning of the file, ike in this case the
one of field five in the item tuple:
7 5 ) Item c a p a b i l i t i e s . Used f o r which a n i m a t i o n s t h i s item i s used with . See
header_items . py f o r a l i s t o f a v a i l a b l e f l a g s .

179
Working in the informations given in the thread Turning most one-handed swords into bastard type weapons by
Beaver, with additional other remarks.
180
These flags are used for attack, defend and carry animations. It are the item property type flags that decides what
animation is used on idle stance and for movement. To see which item capability and item property type flags are
connected with which animations and animation sequences see the chapters 5.3.5.9 and 5.3.5.10.

93
You can of course simply define some new combined flags which will make adding these flags to
weapons a lot easier.181 Take however note that you cannot add new itcf flags, they are hard-coded
into the game engine.182 It is also recommended to check first for the already existing flags and look
up their usage at the Native items before creating own new definitions. At the M&B game engine
you have the following item capability flags available for weapon attacks:

itcf_thrust_onehanded itcf_thrust_twohanded itcf_thrust_polearm

itcf_overswing_onehanded itcf_overswing_twohanded itcf_overswing_polearm
itcf_slashright_onehanded itcf_slashright_twohanded itcf_slashright_polearm
itcf_slashleft_onehanded itcf_slashleft_twohanded itcf_slashleft_polearm
itcf_shoot_bow itcf_throw_stone itcf_reload_pistol
itcf_shoot_crossbow itcf_throw_knife itcf_reload_musket
itcf_shoot_pistol itcf_throw_axe
itcf_shoot_musket itcf_throw_javelin
itcf_shoot_javelin
itcf_horseback_slashright_onehanded itcf_overswing_spear
itcf_horseback_slashleft_onehanded itcf_overswing_musket
itcf_thrust_onehanded_lance itcf_thrust_musket
itcf_horseback_slash_polearm

Take note that itcf_throw_axe and itcf_throw_knife will also spin the item (with the knife letting
the mesh stuck in body the opposite side the axes would), while itcf_throw_stone won’t leave a
projectile behind when it hits something.183
The flags itcf_horseback_thrust_onehanded, itcf_horseback_overswing_right_onehanded,
itcf_horseback_overswing_left_onehanded and itcf_thrust_onehanded_lance_horseback are
not getting used by the game engine and are thus deprecated.
Beside the above mentioned flags you have also the following item capability flags available for
defend actions:
itcf_parry_forward_onehanded itcf_parry_forward_twohanded itcf_parry_forward_polearm
itcf_parry_up_onehanded itcf_parry_up_twohanded itcf_parry_up_polearm
itcf_parry_right_onehanded itcf_parry_right_twohanded itcf_parry_right_polearm
itcf_parry_left_onehanded itcf_parry_left_twohanded itcf_parry_left_polearm

Notice that an item does not necessarily need item capability flags which assign attack and defend
actions to it. By giving an item only parry flags you will get a weapon with which you can only
defend but not attack with.184 Vice versa you can also create a weapon with which the player is
not capable to parry. In a similar way you can create a weapon only useable by riders, by assigning
181
This kind of flags which can be defined by yourself via combining other flags are so called utility flags.
182
kalarhan, Modding Q&A.
183
Somebody, Making An Item Throwable, and Dalion, Mount & Blade Modding Discord.
184
GetAssista, Modding Q&A.

94
merely the horseback-only (and perhaps normal parrying) capability flags to it, although you should
be aware of that the AI will still try to use their weapons in this fashion while dismounted.185
At last but not least there are the item capability flags with which you can specify for each
weapon the carry location of its sheathed version. In contrast to the others before the game engine
does not connected them with an animation but uses a set of hardwired positions and bones for the
various wearable scabbards, quivers, etc.. So for each carry-locations the games has a fixed bone and
a fixed roto-translation to apply.186 The following ones are available to you:

itcf_carry_sword_left_hip itcf_carry_revolver_right itcf_carry_buckler_left

itcf_carry_axe_left_hip itcf_carry_pistol_front_left itcf_carry_crossbow_back
itcf_carry_dagger_front_left itcf_carry_bowcase_left itcf_carry_bow_back
itcf_carry_dagger_front_right itcf_carry_mace_left_hip itcf_carry_spear
itcf_carry_quiver_front_right itcf_carry_axe_back itcf_carry_board_shield
itcf_carry_quiver_back_right itcf_carry_sword_back itcf_carry_katana
itcf_carry_quiver_right_vertical itcf_carry_kite_shield itcf_carry_wakizashi
itcf_carry_quiver_back itcf_carry_round_shield itcf_show_holster_when_drawn

185
Dusk Voyager, Modding Q&A, Somebody, Modding Q&A, and _Sebastian_, Modding Q&A.
186
mtarini, How to mount scabbards in custom skins (was: bones). When using itcf_carry_quiver_front_right the
mesh gets appearantly flipped/mirrored, _Sebastian_, Modding Q&A.

95
5.3.4.4 Item Stats

In this segment you will find a comprehensive list of stats187 and a breakdown of their function. As
some stats mean different things for different item types, I have organized the list by item types.
Generally:

abundance – Percentage value: This stat governs how often the item will appear in merchant
inventories and combat loot. 100 is standard; can be more or less than 100 (down to 0), as 100
does not mean that it will show up 100 % of the time. Currently I do not know the ceiling
number that equals 100 %.

weight – Kilogramme value: Defines the weight of the item in kilogrammes. The item weight
limit of the Native Module System is 63.75 kg with a precision of up to 0.1 kg. Expanded
Module Systems can have a higher weight limit up to 655.35 kg with a precision of up to 0.01
kg. Note that the game engine will round displayed weight to nearest 0.1 kg anyway.

itp_type_horse

body_armor – Value: Determines the horse’s armour rating and number of hit points. A higher
value means more armour and more hit points.

difficulty – Value: Determines how high the player’s Riding skill needs to be to be able to mount
this horse.

horse_speed – Value: The horse’s speed on the battle map. Higher values make faster horses.

horse_maneuver – Value: The horse’s manoeuvrability on the battle map.

horse_charge – Value: Determines how much damage the horse will do when charging infantry,
and how much speed the horse will lose during each collision with an infantryman. Higher
values will allow horses to do more damage and wade through more infantry.

itp_type_one_handed_wpn

difficulty – Value: The minimum STR score needed to be able to use this weapon. If a troop does
not have greater or equal STR, he will not be able to wield it.

spd_rtng – Value: The attack speed of the weapon, both swing and thrust.

weapon_length – Centimetre value: The length of the weapon in centimetres. This stat deter-
mines how far the weapon will be able to reach in-game, regardless of the mesh size.
187
For spd_rtng max is 255, higher values are truncated. Also 255 is max for all except horse_scale(max 1023),
hit_points(max 65535), weapon_length(max 1023) and shoot_speed(max 1023); Wampirzy Lord, Rapid Fire.

96
swing_damage – Value, damage type: The base damage and damage type of the weapon when
performing a swing attack.

thrust_damage – Value, damage type: The base damage and damage type of the weapon when
performing a thrust attack.

itp_type_two_handed_wpn

Same as itp_type_one_handed_wpn.

itp_type_polearm

Same as itp_type_one_handed_wpn.

itp_type_arrows

weapon_length – Centimetre value: The length of the arrow in centimetres. Modifies how deep
the arrow goes into the target (so bolts for example don’t go all the way in on impact)

thrust_damage – Value, damage type: The amount of damage this type of arrow adds to the
bow’s base damage, and the damage type.

max_ammo – Value: The number of arrows in one stack. The maximum ammo is 255.188

itp_type_bolts

Same as itp_type_arrows.

itp_type_shield

difficulty – Value: The minimum Shield skill score needed to be able to use this shield. If a troop
does not have greater or equal Shield skill, he will not be able to wield it. You need to add
difficulty(X) alongside the other stats for it to appear since it’s not implemented at Native
items.189

hit_points – Value: The base number of hit points for this shield.

body_armor – Value: The amount of damage subtracted from every hit to the shield.

spd_rtng – Value: The speed with which the shield can be brought up into defensive mode.
188
Somebody, Modding Q&A.
189
GetAssista, Modding Q&A.

97
weapon_length – Value: Shield coverage, shield width. Higher values allow the shield to cover
more body area, offering shield protection from arrows to larger sections of the body. Take note
that it’s the radius or half-width of the shield.190

shoot_speed – Value: Shield coverage, shield height. Needed for rectangular shaped shields to
combine height with width. Use width only for round shields.191

itp_type_bow

difficulty – Value: The minimum Power Draw score needed to be able to use this bow. If a troop
does not have greater or equal Power Draw, he will not be able to wield it.

spd_rtng – Value: The bow’s reloading speed. IE, how fast a troop will be able to take an arrow
from quiver, notch, and draw the bow again. Higher values will mean quicker reload times.

shoot_speed – Value: The speed at which ammunition from this weapon flies through the air.
Higher values will mean faster ammunition; note, however, that very fast ammunition may clip
through nearby enemies without hitting them, so try to keep it below 200m/s.192 High shot
speed will mean the projectile has less drop and so goes further.

thrust_damage – Value, damage type: The base damage and damage type inflicted by hits
from this weapon.

accuracy – Percentage value: The chance of a shot flying exactly at the troop’s aiming point.
100 represents a 100 % chance, lower values will greatly decrease the chance of a hit. This is
not used on the Native bows and crossbows, but can be added.

itp_type_crossbow

difficulty – Value: The minimum STR score needed to be able to use this crossbow. If a troop
does not have greater or equal STR, he will not be able to use it.

spd_rtng – Value: The crossbow’s reloading speed. IE, how fast a troop will be able to take a
bolt from quiver, notch, and pull back the string for firing. Higher values will mean quicker
reload times.
190
kalarhan, Modding Q&A.
191
kalarhan, Modding Q&A.
192
This is an old game engine bug that occurs with high missile speed, the maximum is 212.5 m/s before overflowing
happens. The limit at the game engine is actually at 255 m/s. However, you have to differ if you spawn missiles via the
operation add_missile or if a missile is shot by an agent. At latter case the game engine multiples the shoot_speed
by 1.2 in the end, resulting in the 212.5 m/s limit. _Sebastian_, Mount & Blade Modding Discord. At the multiplayer
the operation add_missile has a limit of 204.7 m/s since the value which is being sent over the network is capped to
2ˆ11, so 0-2047 in 0.1 meter steps._Sebastian_, Mount & Blade Modding Discord

98
shoot_speed – Value: Same as at itp_type_bow.

thrust_damage – Value, damage type: Same as at itp_type_bow.

max_ammo – Value: The number of bolts that can be fired from this crossbow before it must be
reloaded. The maximum ammo is 255.193 194

accuracy – Percentage value: Same as at itp_type_bow.

itp_type_thrown

difficulty – Value: The minimum Power Throw score needed to be able to use this weapon. If a
troop does not have greater or equal Power Throw, he will not be able to use it.

spd_rtng – Value: The reloading rate for this weapon. IE, how fast the next piece of ammunition
can be readied for throwing.

shoot_speed – Value: The speed at which this weapon’s ammunition flies through the air.

thrust_damage – Value, damage type: The base damage and damage type inflicted by hits
from this weapon.

max_ammo – Value: The number of weapons (ammunition) contained in one stack. The maxi-
mum ammo is 255.195

weapon_length – Centimetre value: The weapon’s length in centimetres.

itp_type_goods

food_quality The impact a food item will have on party morale. Values above 50 will improve
morale while the item is being consumed, lower values will lower morale.

max_ammo The number of consumable parts for this item.

itp_type_head_armor

head_armor – Value: The amount of damage this piece of armour will prevent to the head of the
troop.

body_armor – Value: The amount of damage this piece of armour will prevent to the body of
the troop.
193
Somebody, Modding Q&A.
194
Be aware that AI agents won’t use crossbows if they have not been given ammo, the same goes for pistols and
muskets; MadVader, Modding Q&A.
195
Somebody, Modding Q&A.

99
leg_armor – Value: The amount of damage this piece of armour will prevent to the legs of the
troop.

difficulty – Value: The minimum STR required to wear this piece of armour.

itp_type_body_armor

Same as itp_type_head_armor.

itp_type_foot_armor

Same as itp_type_head_armor.

itp_type_hand_armor

Same as itp_type_head_armor.

itp_type_pistol

difficulty – Value: Warband does not specify the attribute/skill requirement for firearms. If you
set the value higher than 0 you will make the weapon unuseable.

spd_rtng – Value: The pistol’s reloading speed. IE, how fast a troop will be able to reload the
pistol and aim it again.

shoot_speed – Value: The speed at which ammunition from this pistol flies through the air.

thrust_damage – Value, damage type: The base damage and damage type inflicted by hits
from this pistol.

max_ammo – Value: The number of bullets that can be fired from this pistol before it must be
reloaded. The maximum ammo is 255.196

accuracy – Percentage value: The chance of a shot flying exactly at the troop’s aiming point.
100 represents a 100 % chance, lower values will greatly decrease the chance of a hit.

itp_type_musket

Same as itp_type_pistol. Keep in mind that pistols and muskets share bullets and firearm profi-
ciency which is hard-coded into the game engine.197

itp_type_bullets
196
Somebody, Modding Q&A.
197
Somebody, Modding Q&A.

100
 Same as itp_type_arrows. Note that you always need to tag a mesh as ixmesh inventory for bullets,
so a ("cartridge_a", ixmesh_inventory) instead of the more commonly-styled ("cartridge_a", 0), or
you get a niche bug with the bullets leaving their flying mesh in the scenery.198 Add some note
about hard-coded mesh199

Difficulty Requirement

You might ask yourself how to change on which Attribute or Skill a requirement for an armoury or
a weapon is based on. However, you can’t change this, it is hard-coded. You are also not able to
introduce new requirements at other weapon types.200

198
dstn, Mount & Blade Modding Discord.
199
Hatonastick and Specialist, Modding Q&A.
200
Lumos, Modding Q&A, and _Sebastian_, Moding Q&A.

101
Attribute Requirements in Native for Orientation

Armour either has no attribute requirement or Strength requirements between 6 and 9 (Plate Ar-
mour). The Black Armour has a requirement of 10. Heavy helmets such as the Winged Helmet also
have a requirement of 10.
Melee weapons will require between 8 (Scimitar) to 12 (Sledgehammer) Strength, but certain
weapon modifiers can add 1, 2, or 4 to Strength required. Thrown and Bow weapons indirectly require
minimum Strength, due to their Skill requirements. Thrown weapons need 0-4 Power Throw before
modifiers and Bows 0-4 Power draw before modifiers. Some Crossbows have strength requirements,
those are in the 8-10 Range (10 for the Siege Crossbow).
Horses indirectly require Agility, as they require Riding skill. Armored horses require a minimum
of 12 Agility (4 Riding). The modifiers Stubborn or Champion also increase skill requirements; +1
and +2 Riding respectively.
Books have Intelligence requirements between 7-12. In contrast to the other items the requirement
for books is not getting set up in the item entry but in the script initialize_item_info.

5.3.4.5 Item Damage Types

As we’ve observed in the tuple examination, "practice_sword" does blunt damage. Obviously this is
because it’s a practice weapon, but it provides a good incentive to look into the different damage
types available in M&B, to which weapons and ammunitions can get assigned to.
First, there is cut damage. Cut damage represents the slicing action of a sharp blade, such as
a sword or an axe. Cut damage gets a bonus against unarmoured or lightly-armoured enemies, but
conversely it has a large penalty against heavy armour. Cut damage will kill an enemy if it brings
the enemy to 0 hit points.
Next we have blunt damage. Blunt damage represents the bludgeoning effect of weapons without
an edge, such as a mace or hammer. Blunt damage gets a 50 % bonus against heavy armour, but
blunt weapons are often shorter than cutting weapons and they do less damage overall. The largest
advantage of blunt damage is that it knocks an enemy unconscious when the enemy is brought to 0
hit points, instead of killing him. Unconscious enemies can be captured and sold into slavery. There
does even exist a special weapon order which tells troops to use blunt weapons. Charging horses also
do blunt damage.
Finally, pierce damage represents the penetrating tip of arrows, crossbow bolts and similar
weapons. Pierce damage gets a 50 % bonus against heavy armour, but piercing weapons usually do
less damage overall in order to balance it with the other damage types. Pierce damage will kill an
enemy if it brings the enemy to 0 hit points.

102
 You can also influence how each damage type incluenfes the soak factor and the reduction factor of
armour. Look up the settings armor_soak_factor_against_* and armor_reduction_factor_against_*
at the module.ini documentation chapter.

5.3.4.6 Maximum Weapon Damage

As the ibf_damage_mask is 0x3ff and 2 bits are for damage type the maximum damage is 255. The
Module System does damage & 0xFF to avoid the value leaking into the damage type bits, so that
a 9999 damage is effectively cut down to 15 damage.201
1 0010 0111 0000 1111 ( 9 9 9 9 )
2 &
3 0000 0000 1111 1111 ( 0xFF)
4 =
5 0000 0000 0000 1111 ( 1 5 )

5.3.4.7 Item Modifiers

Modifiers are labels that precede the name of an Armor, Shield, Weapon, or Horse, indicating either
specific bonuses or penalties to defense, damage, skill, attribute requirements, speed ratings and/or
costs. Every item has the modifier plain which is the normal default item.202 The available modifiers
are all listed in header_item_modifiers.py but also in the tables below which also give informations
about their boni or penalties as well as their cost effects.
Take care that you differentiate between imods and imodbits and use them accordingly. The
imodbits are the possible imods of the item. While an item entry gets assigned an imodbit (or
multiple ones) at tuple field 8 of its item entry, it are at most (if not all) operations and scripts the
imods for which you need to check for.203 You add the possibility of an imod to be used or present
on a item with the imodbit variable at the before mentioned tuple field on module_items.py. If you
add a new sword you could have an entry similar to this one:204
1 [ " item " , " Item " , [ ( " mesh " , 0 ) ] , ... , imodbits_sword ] ,

Here the constant imodbits_sword gets used which is not one of the base modifiers but a predefined
constant which you can find at the beginning of the file module_items.py. These defined constants
consist of bundles of the standard item modifiers. You can of course still use only specific modifiers or
decide to have none (using imodbits_none) at your item or define your own new constant, bundling
201
dunde and cmpxchg8b, Maximum Weapon Damage?.
202
Ikaguia, Warband Script Enhancer v3.2.0.
203
kalarhan, Modding Q&A.
204
The example shows a simple item entry without any item trigger or faction tuple field.

103
anew some of the standard item modifiers. The following constants for modifiers have already been
set for ease of use:
1 imodbits_none = 0
2 i m o d b i t s _ h o r s e _ b a s i c = imodbit_swaybacked | imodbit_lame | i m o d b i t _ s p i r i t e d |
imodbit_heavy | imodbit_stubborn
3 i m o d b i t s _ c l o t h = i m o d b i t _ t a t t e r e d | imodbit_ragged | imodbit_sturdy | i m o d b i t _ t h i c k |
imodbit_hardened
4 imodbits_armor = imodbit_rusty | i m o d b i t _ b a t t e r e d | imodbit_crude | i m o d b i t _ t h i c k |
imodbit_reinforced | imodbit_lordly
5 i m o d b i t s _ p l a t e = imodbit_cracked | imodbit_rusty | i m o d b i t _ b a t t e r e d | imodbit_crude |
imodbit_thick | imodbit_reinforced | imodbit_lordly
6 imodbits_polearm = imodbit_cracked | imodbit_bent | imodbit_balanced
7 i m o d b i t s _ s h i e l d = imodbit_cracked | i m o d b i t _ b a t t e r e d | i m o d b i t _ t h i c k |
imodbit_reinforced
8 imodbits_sword = imodbit_rusty | imodbit_chipped | imodbit_balanced | imodbit_tempered
9 imodbits_sword_high = imodbit_rusty | imodbit_chipped | imodbit_balanced |
imodbit_tempered | imodbit_masterwork
10 imodbits_axe = imodbit_rusty | imodbit_chipped | imodbit_heavy
11 imodbits_mace = imodbit_rusty | imodbit_chipped | imodbit_heavy
12 i m o d b i t s _ p i c k = imodbit_rusty | imodbit_chipped | imodbit_balanced | imodbit_heavy
13 imodbits_bow = imodbit_cracked | imodbit_bent | i m o d b i t _ s t r o n g | imodbit_masterwork
14 imodbits_crossbow = imodbit_cracked | imodbit_bent | imodbit_masterwork
15 i m o d b i t s _ m i s s i l e = imodbit_bent | imodbit_large_bag
16 imodbits_thrown = imodbit_bent | imodbit_heavy | imodbit_balanced | imodbit_large_bag
17 imodbits_thrown_minus_heavy = imodbit_bent | imodbit_balanced | imodbit_large_bag
18 imodbits_horse_good = i m o d b i t _ s p i r i t e d | imodbit_heavy
19 imodbits_good = imodbit_sturdy | i m o d b i t _ t h i c k | imodbit_hardened | i m o d b i t _ r e i n f o r c e d
20 imodbits_bad = imodbit_rusty | imodbit_chipped | i m o d b i t _ t a t t e r e d | imodbit_ragged |
imodbit_cracked | imodbit_bent

A short look reveals the bundle which makes up the constant imodbits_sword:
2 imodbits_sword = imodbit_rusty | imodbit_chipped | imodbit_balanced | imodbit_tempered

This results in-game into the appearance of "rusty", "chipped", "balanced" and "tempered" forms
of the newly added sword. The items you find in merchants and in loot will draw their modifiers
randomly from the to them assigned imodbits. This means vice versa that modifiers which are not
listed in an item’s modifier bits will not be considered for merchant inventory or battle loot. For more
experienced modders, it is interesting to note that modifiers which aren’t listed in an item’s modifier
bit can still be used with the operation troop_add_item. For example, longbows usually come only
in "plain", "bent" and "cracked" forms; but if we were to add a longbow to the player’s inventory

104
with the modifier "balanced" on it, the player will receive a balanced longbow.
Take note that imods are just a hard-coded way to give boni or penalties to your items since,
the effects are hard-coded. While you cannot alter effects you can rename the item modifiers and
edit the price factor and the rarity of them. For this, copy the file item_modifiers.txt (path: "game
folder/Data/item_modifiers.txt") to the Data folder of your mod (path: "game folder/module/my-
mod/Data").205 It contains lines as follows:
1 imod_plain Plain_%s 1 . 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 . 0 0 0 0 0 0
2 imod_cracked Cracked_%s 0 . 5 0 0 0 0 0 1 . 0 0 0 0 0 0
3 imod_rusty Rusty_%s 0 . 5 5 0 0 0 0 1 . 0 0 0 0 0 0
4 ...
5 imod_large_bag Large_Bag_of_%s 1 . 9 0 0 0 0 0 0 . 3 0 0 0 0 0

The first field is the imod ID, the second is name, the third is the price modifier with the plain imod
as reference (so how many times more expensive than a plain item is an item with the respective
modifier) and the fourth field is the rarity. Modify the fields two to four to your likings. While you
cannot change the effects of modifiers, you can always add custom effects with triggers on a mission
206
template which give an agent other boni or penalties based on the imod of their items or horse.
There are different opinions about the usage of hard-coded modifiers. Some see no use for them
except for the above mentioned built-in loot and merchandise randomization. Others however use
them either to create item variants, as shall be explained in the upfollowing paragraphs, or to “fac-
tionalize“ items without creating a bunch of variants, especially if one repurposes some unused item
modifiers that have no effect on item stats (to which we come later). It might also prove useful where
you have just updated graphical resources and the new ones can be marked as the plain default mesh
while the outdated ones can be marked by imodbits_bad. The downside is that you can’t use them
as equipment overrides or re-equip agents with them or display them on item mesh overlays.207
Using Modifiers for Item Variants 208
Beside their effects on stats and costs, modifiers enable you to have a variety of different skins for a
item by adding multiple meshes to the respective tuple fields, referencing a modifier bit out of the
ones at tuple field 8. Add it as follows at tuple field 3:
3 [ " item " , " Item " , [ ( " mesh " , 0 ) , ( " mesh_a " , imodbit_rusty ) , ( " mesh_b " , imodbit_chipped )
, ( " mesh_c " , imodbit_balanced ) ] , ... , imodbits_sword ] ,

205
Alternatively you might have a file named module_item_modifiers.py in your Module System if you use a custom
one and can compile it into the Data folder. There is also a way to modify the compilation of module_troops.py so
that you can assign items with modifiers already to a troop entry. It involves the 0 digit following the item ID, and
you need to bitshift the appropriate imod, which is done by some overhauled Module Systems.
206
Compilation of posts of Somebody, Modding Q&A, Lav, Modding Q&A, Ikaguia, Modding Q&A, kalarhan, Mod-
ding Q&A, Modding Q&A and Modding Q&A, and dunde, Modding Q&A, Modding Q&A and Modding Q&A.
207
See the comments of MadVader and Somebody, Modding Q&A.
208
Taken partially from maw, Python Script/Scheme Exchange.

105
Now every time the item is pulled randomly and is imodbit_rusty, it shows up with the mesh_a mesh,
every time it randomly appears in a merchants inventory as “balanced“ it is the mesh_c mesh. You
get the idea. The modifier plain is, as mentioned before, the normal default item, the zero behind
the mesh name has actually the same effect as an imodbit_plain. You can also assign directly a
specific item modifier via an operation. At this place it is recommended to look into (a documented
version) of header_operations.py and look up all available operations at which the imodbit can play
a role via the keyword item_modifier. Take note that you can also add a mesh variant at scabbards
(and probably at inventory and flying projectiles too), given the respective item has such:
4 [ " item " , " Item " , [ ( " mesh " , 0 ) , ( " mesh_scabbard " , ixmesh_carry ) , ( " mesh_a " ,
imodbit_rusty ) , ( " mesh_a_scabbard " , ixmesh_carry | imodbit_rusty ) , . . . ] , ... ,
imodbits_sword ] ,

Why does this all come in handy? Well, you can edit an armour or a weapon mesh just slightly
to reflect its condition, then associate it this way so it really looks like tagged with that condition.
For example you can make a mesh reflecting a ragged leather that actually looks ragged or a rusty
sword with rust on it. This mixes up a bit the visuals in-game. By adding all the meshes to one item,
they (and their values) are all associated with one item entry. So various swords with roughly the
same stats can all be called in the class of ’longsword’ or ’shortsword’ or ’bastard sword’ but allow
different visuals.209
At Vanilla M&B, so the predecessor of M&B Warband, this functionality could also be used
to circumvent the maximum number of items which modders could add to the game. This limit is
at 915210 but is not directly given anymore at Warband. Instead the maximum number of items
you can have equals the number of scene props you have defined.211 Otherwise you will face an
indirect item limit in the multiplayer at dropping a weapon: Items dropped on the ground can then
change identities but that apparently only happened after the benchmark of 2048 items is hit.212 It
is a known bug, but TaleWorlds refused to fix it because it would break client-server compatibility.
Adding dummy scene props will however raise the limit for droppable items.213
Armour Modifiers
Cloth and leather can typically receive Tattered, Ragged, Sturdy, Thick or Hardened while metallic
armor can be Rusty, Battered, Crude, Thick, Reinforced and Lordly. Cracked is only used on heavy
metal armor made from plates.
209
Keep in mind that you can also make use of inactive or unused modifiers. You can also rename or hide the imodbit
prefix in the ui.csv file.
210
The limit to somewhere between 911 and 919 items, with most reports stating 915. Exceeding it causes the game
to crash to the desktop (CTD).
211
Lumos, Modding Q&A.
212
Discovered by Watakushi, Modding Q&A, also referenced by Lumos, Modding Q&A.
213
cmpxchg8b, Modding Q&A.

106
 Modifier Bonus Cost
Lordly +6 +1050 %
Reinforced +4 +550 %
Hardened +3 +290 %
Thick +2 +160 %
Sturdy +1 +70 %
Crude -1 -17 %
Battered -2 -25 %
Ragged -2 -30 %
Rusty -3 -45 %
Tattered -3 -50 %
Cracked -4 -50 %

Weapon Modifiers
Weapons which have no requirement do not gain one from the Heavy, Strong, or Masterwork modi-
fiers. For instance, while a Masterwork Short Bow has a Power Draw requirement of 5 rather than
1, a Masterwork Hunting Bow, like a standard Hunting Bow, has no Power Draw requirement.

Modifier Requirement Speed Damage Cost

Masterwork +4 +1 +5 +1650 %
Tempered - - +4 +670 %
Strong +2 -3 +3 +360 %
Balanced - +3 +3 +250 %
Heavy +1 -2 +2 +90 %
Chipped - - -1 -28 %
Rusty - - -3 -45 %
Bent - -3 -3 -35 %
Cracked - - -5 -50 %

Ammunition Modifiers
The quantity increase is rounded down to the nearest integer, with a minimum of +1. For example,
a Large Bag of Arrows will have 34 in a quiver instead of the standard 30: 30*1.15=34.5, the .5 is
truncated to leave 34. Thrown Axes normally have four in a bundle, but a Large Bag of Thrown
Axes will have five: 4*1.15=4.6; since .6 is less than 1, it receives the minimum value of +1.

Modifier Quantity Damage Cost

Large Bag +15 - +90 %
Bent - -3 -35 %

Due to their status as ranged and melee weapons as well as ammunition, some throwing weapons
can benefit from the Large Bag modifier as well as the Balanced or Heavy modifier. When the Bent

107
modifier is applied, it is taken from the Weapon Modifiers table above, rather than the Ammunition
Modifiers table.
Shield Modifiers
These are the only possible shield modifiers. Shields described as “Old“, “Heavy“, or “Plain“ are not
modified, but rather a completely different item that can still carry any one modifier listed in the
table above.
Contrary to armor, weapon, and projectile, shield modifiers can be changed. If a shield is destroyed
in battle, it may become “deformed“, losing a positive trait or gaining a negative one.

Modifier Durability Resistance Cost

Reinforced +83 +4 +550 %
Thick +47 +2 +160 %
Battered -26 -2 -25 %
Cracked -56 -4 -50 %

Horse Modifiers
A horse “killed“ in battle may lose its current modifier and become Lame. After the battle, an unused
Lame horse in the inventory will recover over time to become a standard one, without any modifier.214
This also means buying a Lame horse may be a good idea if it stays in the inventory for enough
time, resulting in a standard horse later for less than half the price. Purposely killing a Swaybacked
horse in order to make it Lame then having it heal back to normal is also a discount compared to
regular prices, although there is a risk of losing the horse altogether.
Beneficial modifiers are a costly addition to the more expensive horses and one should be careful
when using one in combat as a Lame horse will never recover back into a Champion. There is also
the risk of the horse simply dying outright, thus wasting all the money put into it.

Modifier Armour Speed Maneuver Charge Hit Points Requirement Cost

Champion - +4 +2 +2 - +2 +1350 %
Spirited - +2 +1 +1 - - +550 %
Heavy +3 - - +4 +10 - +90 %
Stubborn - - - - +5 +1 -10 %
Swaybacked - -4 -2 - - - -40 %
Lame - -10 -5 - - - -60 %
Meek - 0 - - - - ?%
Timid - 0 - - - - ?%

Timid and Meek are at Native inactive modifiers for horses and can be activated via their entries
in module.ini:
214
The horse recovery is hard-coded and dictated by the player’s Wound Treatment skill. Lumos, Modding Q&A.

108
1 timid_modifier_speed_bonus = 0
2 meek_modifier_speed_bonus = 0

Changing the values to any other value gives horses with these modifiers the respective speed bonus
or penalty.215

Food Modifiers
Food modifiers can be applied manually but have also their own effects while the days pass. Following
modifiers are given:
1 imod_fresh = 37
2 imod_day_old = 38
3 imod_two_day_old = 39
4 imod_smelling = 40
5 imod_rotten = 41

215
Effects on the costs have not been tested yet.

109
The game checks now for some specific food items what their current modifier is and edits it with
days passing. For this a trigger is used which can be found in module_simple_triggers.py:
1 # S e t t i n g item m o d i f i e r s f o r f o o d
2 (24 ,
3 [
4 ( t r oo p_ g et _i n ve nt o ry _c a pa c it y , " : i n v _ s i z e " , " t r p _ p l a y e r " ) ,
5 ( try_for_range , " : i _ s l o t " , 0 , " : i n v _ s i z e " ) ,
6 ( t r o o p _ g e t _ i n v e n t o r y _ s l o t , " : item_id " , " t r p _ p l a y e r " , " : i _ s l o t " ) ,
7 ( this_or_next | eq , " : item_id " , " itm_cattle_meat " ) ,
8 ( this_or_next | eq , " : item_id " , " itm_chicken " ) ,
9 ( eq , " : item_id " , " itm_pork " ) ,
10 ( troop_get_inventory_slot_modifier , " : modifier " , " trp_player " , " : i _ s l o t ") ,
11 ( try_begin ) ,
12 ( ge , " : m o d i f i e r " , imod_fresh ) ,
13 ( l t , " : m o d i f i e r " , imod_rotten ) ,
14 ( val_add , " : m o d i f i e r " , 1 ) ,
15 ( troop_set_inventory_slot_modifier , " trp_player " , " : i _s lo t " , ": modifier
") ,
16 ( else_try ) ,
17 ( l t , " : m o d i f i e r " , imod_fresh ) ,
18 ( t r o o p _ s e t _ i n v e n t o r y _ s l o t _ m o d i f i e r , " t r p _ p l a y e r " , " : i _ s l o t " , imod_fresh )
,
19 ( try_end ) ,
20 ( try_end ) ,
21 ]) ,

This trigger is getting active every 24 hours. It affects only specific food items (cattle meat, chicken,
port) and checks if the item has an modifier with a value between 37 (including the modifier fresh)
and 41 (excluding the modifier rotten). If so, the modifier will go on one step, so for example a
one-day-old (38) chicken will become a two-day-old (39) chicken. If the food item has no modifier
yet at all, the modifier fresh will be set (else_try part) and the item will find its way into the other
circulation at the next day.
Unused modifiers
Some extra modifiers exist in the code but are not used. These include: Cheap, Poor, Deadly, Powerful,
Exquisite, Rough, Fine, Sharp, Meek, Superb, Old, Timid, Plain, Well-Made. It seems likely that
Old and Plain were intended for shields before those words were simply incorporated into specific
types of shields. Timid and Meek are for horses and can be activated as mentioned above.
Except imod_fine (adds +1 dmg) they are all deprecated and have no effect on weapons. Since
it is not possible to create new weapon modifiers it is however an option to give those unused ones

110
a “second life“ manually via:
1 ( troop_get_inventory_slot_modifier , " : item_modifier " , " trp_player " , " : cur_slot ") ,
2 ( eq , " : i t e m _ m o d i f i e r " , imod_deadly ) ,

This way it would be possible to create for example an NPC whose weapon is having a “deadly“
modifier. In a mission templates you can create a ti_on_agent_hit trigger that instantly kills the
target if it has less than 50 % hp and if it was hit with mentioned weapon. Of course the “deadly“
modifier can’t appear on weapons on the usual way, so this feature will be kinda unique. It’s just an
example but you get the idea.216

5.3.4.8 Usage of ixmesh

In header_items.py you will find three ixmesh flags which can be used to assign extra mesh IDs to
the item entry:

ixmesh_carry is getting used to assign an extra mesh to the weapon item entry which is getting
used when the player hasn’t drawn the weapon and is just carrying it at his body. Usually used
for scabbards, bows, throwing weapons, quivers and bolt bags. Take note that scabbards, quivers
and bolt bags are making use of vertex animations to work properly, and that ixmesh_carry
cannot be used at crossbows.217

ixmesh_flying_ammo is typically getting used at arrows, bolts, throwing and if given bullet
item entries. With this entry you can control which mesh is getting used for flying projectiles.
Usually the flying missile mesh is the same as the weapon, arrow or bolt or is a simpler, less
performance heavy shape. Be aware that you are not able to assign particle systems to flying
projectiles.218

ixmesh_inventory is getting used to set a different mesh for the inventory picture. That way you
can use multimeshed or rigged items but still have them oriented and textured correctly in the
inventory.219 The ixmesh_inventory mesh also always matches the icon of the game UI ammo
icon which is otherwise showing the main mesh.220 Additionally it is the mesh which will appear
as the spawned item.221

216
Dalion, Mount & Blade Modding Discord.
217
HokieBT reported such for Vanilla M&B, ixmesh_carry flag doesn’t work for some items?, confirmed at current
engine version by Dalion.
218
MadocComadrin, Modding Q&A.
219
Mandible, Modding Q&A.
220
Lumos, Modding Q&A.
221
dstn, Mount & Blade Modding Discord.

111
5.3.4.9 Item Extra Description

You might have an item to which you want to add some kind of description, giving the player some
additional informations about the item. When you see the weapon information, you can see there
the stats and things like Unbalanced or Can crush trough blocks. For this you need to edit the script
game_get_item_extra_text.222 The item description at the popup text is working in a callback
style, meaning that the script gets called every time an item detail frame is displayed. It returns a
string using
1 ( s e t _ r e s u l t _ s t r i n g , " @ t h i s t h i n g i e w i l l be d i s p l a y e d a t t h e bottom ^_^") ,

and optionally you can also specify the custom color by using, for example, (set_trigger_result,
0x00ff7f).223 You can also set up a bunch of definitions (in module_constants.py) for the range
of your newly added items (for example artifacts), and then put their descriptions strings in the
same order as the items (in module_strings.py). Then, by finding the offset, you can easily find the
description:224
1 ( else_try ) ,
2 ( is_between , " : item_no " , a r t i f a c t s _ b e g i n , a r t i f a c t s _ e n d ) ,
3 ( try_begin ) ,
4 ( eq , " : e x t r a _ t e x t _ i d " , 0 ) ,
5 ( store_sub , " : o f f s e t " , " : item_no " , a r t i f a c t s _ b e g i n ) , #g e t o f f s e t
6 ( val_add , " : o f f s e t " , " s t r _ a t r i f a c t _ 1 " ) , #g e t s t r i n g
7 ( set_result_string , " : o f f s e t ") ,
8 ( s e t _ t r i g g e r _ r e s u l t , 0xFFEEDD) ,
9 ( else_try ) ,

5.3.4.10 Item Triggers

At the optional tuple field 9 of the item entry you can add one or a list of simple triggers which are
then associated with the item. As the file header_triggers.py shows, there are four different simple
triggers possible to be implemented here:225

ti_on_init_item contains the trigger parameter 1, the agent ID of the item wearer (-1 if none),
and the trigger parameter 2, the troop ID of the item wearer (-1 if none). This trigger will run if
222
Somebody, Modding Q&A, and Seek n Destroy, Modding Q&A. Latter one gives a nice example for how to
implement a new description for an item. At VC you can also use the script get_item_modifier_effects that adds
the description of the item modifier like Lordly, Lame, etc. and replace the text or add an own new one for your specific
case; kalarhan, Modding Q&A.
223
Swyter, Modding Q&A.
224
Somebody, Modding Q&A.
225
Base informations taken from cdvader, Documentation on Triggers, bundled with additional information snippets
taken from kalarhan, VC_Tweaks_Tool header_items.py.

112
 a item is initialized, for example, in the inventory window or in scenes. This simple trigger does
not work at horses, boots and gloves which implies that the operations cur_item_add_mesh
and cur_item_set_material will also not work for them. Most commonly used for heraldic
mail, heraldic shield and for the torch item.

ti_on_weapon_attack contains the trigger parameter 1, the agent ID of the item wearer, and
the position register 1, the weapon items position of the weapon which performed the attack.
This trigger will run if a item is used, for example, if you shoot a crossbow. It works on ranged
and melee items and gets fired on attack release (so not on left-click but on left-click release).226
Does not fire on client side in multiplayer missions.

ti_on_missile_hit contains the trigger parameter 1, the agent ID of the shooter who just fired
the missile, trigger parameter 2, the object type it hits, and the position register 1, the position
of the missile which just landed somewhere. This trigger will run if a missile lands somewhere,
for example, if you shoot your bow and the arrow lands. It works only on projectiles (arrows,
bolts, throwing) and not on launchers (bows, crossbows, muskets, pistols)227 . Not all hits will
be registered on client-side in multiplayer missions. The different object type parameters are:

0 world (landscape)

1 hostile agent

2 dynamic prop

3 world object (trees, stones, scene interior basic mesh)

4 mission object (most scene props)

8 friendly agent

9 neutral agent

10 under water

You can use this simple trigger to create particle effects when the missile hits the ground,
implementing something like
1 ( p a r t i c l e _ s y s t e m _ b u r s t ,< par_sys_id >, pos1 , [ p e r c e n t a g e _ b u r s t _ s t r e n g t h ] ) ,

into the item trigger.228 Take note that it is not possible to get the instance of a flying missile.229
Missiles have IDs but they are reused all the time - as soon as a missile hits, it’s not valid
226
Highlander, Modding Q&A.
227
Throwing weapon count as both, as a projectile and as a launcher, which enables this simple trigger for them.
228
The_dragon, Modding Q&A.
229
cmpxchg8b, Modding Q&A.

113
 anymore. In some cases (ground hit, scene prop hit) a mission object gets created, in some
others (agent hit, shield hit, spawned prop hit) a mesh gets created, but in any case the actual
missile is deleted.230

ti_on_shield_hit contains the trigger parameter 1, the agent ID of the receiver who carries the
shield, the trigger parameter 2, the agent ID of the dealer who hit the shield, the trigger
parameter 3, the inflicted damage on the shield, the trigger parameter 4, the item ID of the
weapon (ranged weapon in case of ranged attack), and the trigger parameter 5, the item ID of
the missile (ammo in case of ranged attack). If set_trigger_result is used in the code, the
operation parameter will override the damage dealt to the shield.

All other simple triggers referencing items have to be called within a mission template.

5.3.4.11 Equipment Slots

There are in total ten equipment slots available. This amount is hard-coded into the game engine,
you cannot add new ones. You can however create a workaround with slots. Take note that the food
slot cannot be repurposed to something else, in Native it is currently deactivated (see Subchapter
5.3.4.15 for the details). The following equipment slots are given.
1 ek_item_0 = 0
2 ek_item_1 = 1
3 ek_item_2 = 2
4 ek_item_3 = 3
5 ek_head = 4
6 ek_body = 5
7 ek_foot = 6
8 ek _ g l o v e s = 7
9 ek_horse = 8
10 ek_food = 9

5.3.4.12 Maximum Inventory Items

In header_items.py you might have found the line maximum_inventory_items = 96. It might give
you the impression that changing that number increasing the maximum amounts of items which a
person can carry in his inventory. It is however just a contant that helps you to calculate the amount
of items to offset by when playing with inventories. The actual limit of 96 is hard-coded.231
230
cmpxchg8b, [WB] Warband Script Enhancer v3.2.0.
231
Somebody, Modding Q&A.

114
 5.3.4.13 Books

If you think about adding new books it is the best to first look up how the other books are getting
handled. As mentioned above there are two different kind of books, readable books and reference
books. You will also see them sorted like this in the Native Module System:
1 #This book must be a t t h e b e g i n n i n g o f r e a d a b l e books
2 [ " b o o k _ t a c t i c s " , " De Re M i l i t a r i " , [ . . . ] ,
3 [ " book_persuasion " , " R h e t o r i c a ad Herennium " , [ . . . ] ,
4 [ " b o o k _ l e a d e r s h i p " , " The L i f e o f A l i x e n u s t h e Great " , [ . . . ] ,
5 [ " b o o k _ i n t e l l i g e n c e " , " E s s a y s on L o g i c " , [ . . . ] ,
6 [ " book_trade " , "A T r e a t i s e on t h e Value o f Things " , [ . . . ] ,
7 [ " book_weapon_mastery " , "On t h e Art o f F i g h t i n g with Swords " , [ . . . ] ,
8 [ " b o o k _ e n g i n e e r i n g " , " Method o f Mechanical Theorems " , [ . . . ] ,
9
10 #R e f e r e n c e books
11 #This book must be a t t h e b e g i n n i n g o f r e f e r e n c e books
12 [ " book_wound_treatment_reference " , " The Book o f H e a l i n g " , [ . . . ] ,
13 [ " b o o k _ t r a i n i n g _ r e f e r e n c e " , " Manual o f Arms " , [ . . . ] ,
14 [ " b o o k _ s u r g e r y _ r e f e r e n c e " , " The Great Book o f S u r g e r y " , [ . . . ] ,

The two books at the beginning of each book kind have to be there since they are declared as the
first item within their respective category in module_constants.py:
15 r e f e r e n c e _ b o o k s _ b e g i n = " itm_book_wound_treatment_reference "
16 reference_books_end = trade_goods_begin
17 readable_books_begin = " itm_book_tactics "
18 readable_books_end = reference_books_begin
19 books_begin = readable_books_begin
20 books_end = reference_books_end

The best way to add your own books is to add it at the end of the respective category. Then
do a full text search for a similar book to locate the scripts and the simple triggers which hand-
le the books and their effects. You should find then the scripts game_get_item_extra_text and
game_get_skill_modifier_for_troop or the simple trigger coming after the comment # Read books
if player is resting . There you add then your new books with their effects.
Keep in mind that a book doesn’t need to be a book: You can also have a special artifact or such
which gives a permanent skill bonus while being carried in the inventory, just like a reference book.

115
5.3.4.14 Morale Effect of Food232

Above we already discussed the existing food modifiers. You might now also want to alter the size
of the morale effect of the single food items.233 For this you can first take a look into the script
get_player_party_morale_values in module_scripts.py. Filtering for the keyword “food“ leaves
you with the following code snippet:
1 ( a s s i g n , " $g_player_party_morale_modifier_food " , 0 ) ,
2 ( try_for_range , " : c u r _ e d i b l e " , food_begin , food_end ) ,
3 ( c a l l _ s c r i p t , " sc ript_cf _player _has_it em_with out_mod ifier " , " : c u r _ e d i b l e " ,
imod_rotten ) ,
4 ( item_get_slot , " : food_bonus " , " : c u r _ e d i b l e " , slot_item_food_bonus ) ,
5
6 ( val_mul , " : food_bonus " , 3 ) ,
7 ( val_div , " : food_bonus " , 2 ) ,
8
9 ( val_add , " $g_player_party_morale_modifier_food " , " : food_bonus " ) ,
10 ( try_end ) ,
11 ( val_add , " : new_morale " , " $g_player_party_morale_modifier_food " ) ,
12
13 ( try_begin ) ,
14 ( eq , " $g_player_party_morale_modifier_food " , 0 ) ,
15 ( a s s i g n , " $g_player_party_morale_modifier_no_food " , 3 0 ) ,
16 ( val_sub , " : new_morale " , " $g_player_party_morale_modifier_no_food " ) ,
17 ( else_try ) ,
18 ( a s s i g n , " $g_player_party_morale_modifier_no_food " , 0 ) ,
19 ( try_end ) ,

You start out with a food morale modifier of 0 (line 1), so the calculation starts anew each time this
script is getting called. For every item within the constants food_begin and food_end -1 (line 2) a
script is called to check if the player has such item with a rotten modifier (line 3). If yes, the script
fails (cf_scripts are can_fail_scripts), the loop is thus broken for this item and it continues with
the next one. If not, the food bonus variable is fetched from slot_item_food_bonus (line 4), gets
multiplied with 3 and divided by 2 (lines 6 and 7) and then added to the global variable summarizing
the food morale modifier (line 9). If the script has looped through all food items it adds the total
food morale modifier to the new morale (line 11).
Afterwards a check is getting done: If the player has no suitable food and thus a food morale
multiplier of zero (line 14) the player gets a morale penalty of 30 assigned (line 15) which gets
232
Integrating informations given in posts by Swyter, Modding Q&A, and Somebody, Modding Q&A.
233
For the consumption rate of food look for the comment Consuming food at every 14 hours in modu-
le_simple_triggers.py.

116
substracted of the new morale (line 16). Otherwise the penalty is set to 0 (line 18). If the player has
no food in his inventory for multiple days in a row, his morale penalty gets therefore stacked up.

How to edit the morale effect of food? Multiple ways are pointed out above, depending on what you
want to achieve. The two most obvious ones are either to edit the declared range of constants or to in-
clude new food items within it. To alter the amount of items getting checked you can edit the range of
the food items by redefining the constants food_begin and/or food_end in module_constants.py. To
re-enable drinks for example, you can change food_begin from "itm_smoked_fish"to "itm_wine".
Make sure that you have your food items sorted accordingly in module_items.py.
Alternatively you can also alter the individual item food bonus. For this you have to watch out
for the slot slot_item_food_bonus. That one gets initialized via the script initialize_item_info.
There you find at the top the for us relevant code lines:

117
 1 # S e t t i n g f o o d b o n u s e s − t h e s e have been changed t o i n c e n t i v i z e u s i n g h i s t o r i c a l
r a t i o n s . Bread i s t h e most c o s t − e f f i c i e n t
2 #S t a p l e s
3 ( i t e m _ s e t _ s l o t , " itm_bread " , slot_item_food_bonus , 8 ) , #brought up from 4
4 ( i t e m _ s e t _ s l o t , " itm_grain " , slot_item_food_bonus , 2 ) , #new − can be b o i l e d a s
porridge
5
6 #Fat s o u r c e s − p r e s e r v e d
7 ( i t e m _ s e t _ s l o t , " itm_smoked_fish " , slot_item_food_bonus , 4 ) ,
8 ( i t e m _ s e t _ s l o t , " itm_dried_meat " , slot_item_food_bonus , 5 ) ,
9 ( i t e m _ s e t _ s l o t , " itm_cheese " , slot_item_food_bonus , 5 ) ,
10 ( i t e m _ s e t _ s l o t , " itm_sausages " , slot_item_food_bonus , 5 ) ,
11 ( i t e m _ s e t _ s l o t , " itm_butter " , slot_item_food_bonus , 4 ) , #brought down from 8
12
13 #Fat s o u r c e s − p e r i s h a b l e
14 ( i t e m _ s e t _ s l o t , " itm_chicken " , slot_item_food_bonus , 8 ) , #brought up from 7
15 ( i t e m _ s e t _ s l o t , " itm_cattle_meat " , slot_item_food_bonus , 7 ) , #brought down from 7
16 ( i t e m _ s e t _ s l o t , " itm_pork " , slot_item_food_bonus , 6 ) , #brought down from 6
17
18 #Produce
19 ( i t e m _ s e t _ s l o t , " itm_raw_olives " , slot_item_food_bonus , 1 ) ,
20 ( i t e m _ s e t _ s l o t , " itm_cabbages " , slot_item_food_bonus , 2 ) ,
21 ( i t e m _ s e t _ s l o t , " itm_raw_grapes " , slot_item_food_bonus , 3 ) ,
22 ( i t e m _ s e t _ s l o t , " itm_apples " , slot_item_food_bonus , 4 ) , #brought down from 5
23
24 #Sweet i t e m s
25 ( i t e m _ s e t _ s l o t , " itm_raw_date_fruit " , slot_item_food_bonus , 4 ) , #brought down from
8
26 ( i t e m _ s e t _ s l o t , " itm_honey " , slot_item_food_bonus , 6 ) , #brought down from 12
27
28 ( i t e m _ s e t _ s l o t , " itm_wine " , slot_item_food_bonus , 5 ) ,
29 ( i t e m _ s e t _ s l o t , " itm_ale " , slot_item_food_bonus , 4 ) ,

You can also see at the comments that the developer tried to bring some systematic into it and
documented some little changes here. You can now either edit those numbers to be more to your
liking and/or add respective lines of newly added food items and/or delete them vice versa.

118
5.3.4.15 Food slot

foot slot spits out certain item (recheck since Somebody mentions out of order), check also if only
specific things can be thrown into the food slot or everything. Hard-coded items234

5.3.4.16 Other Notes

Need to integrate them to the respective categories.

Riders with daggers don’t fight, daggers can’t block235 What exactly defines a dagger, itc flag or
weapon length?
arcs and heights throwing items236 , range of weapon237
Projectile distance damage power with some testings at upfollowing page238
damage value determines accuracy239 , more accurate distance weapon240
max weight of items241
attack speed242
crush through243 , can crush through blocks244
no left handed weapons.245
equipment and inventory slots246
spears longer than 2,4 m need custom hitbox?247
hard-coded horse crippling248
Need to write down for the guide how power draw requirement limits the use of power draw skill.
It’s basically written at the list of available module skills but it should be marked more clear at the
item section that a higher power draw requirement has a direct effect on this.
consumable items249
bonus items requirements250
234
Somebody, Modding Q&A.
235
Somebody and dunde, Modding Q&A.
236
DanyEle, Modding Q&A.
237
kraggrim (credit), Modding Q&A.
238
Discussion and test, Modding Q&A.
239
Somebody, Modding Q&A.
240
Zirkhovsky and MadocComadrin, Modding Q&A, and Willhelm (credit), Modding Q&A.
241
Vornne, Modding Q&A.
242
Lav, Modding Q&A.
243
Ikaguia (credit), Modding Q&A.
244
Somebody, Modding Q&A.
245
Somebody, Modding Q&A.
246
kalarhan, Modding Q&A.
247
jacobhinds, Modding Q&A.
248
jacobhinds, Modding Q&A.
249
kalarhan, Modding Q&A.
250
kalarhan, Modding Q&A and Modding Q&A.

119
 item Abundance value251
weapon unsheathable252

5.3.4.17 Items as Scene Props

Note: Place here code lines of Sebastian which do automatically increase the number of sceneprops.

251
Tegan (credit), How do I add items to merchants?.
252
Somebody, Modding Q&A.

120
5.3.5 Module Animations

1 There a r e two a n i m a t i o n a r r a y s ( one f o r human and one f o r h o r s e ) . Each a n i m a t i o n

in these arrays contains the f o l l o w i n g f i e l d s :
2 1 ) Animation i d ( s t r i n g ) : used f o r r e f e r e n c i n g a n i m a t i o n s i n o t h e r f i l e s . The
p r e f i x anim_ i s a u t o m a t i c a l l y added b e f o r e each animation−i d
3 2 ) Animation f l a g s : c o u l d be a n y t h i n g b e g i n n i n g with acf_ d e f i n e d i n
header_animations . py
4 3 ) Animation master f l a g s : c o u l d be a n y t h i n g b e g i n n i n g with amf_ d e f i n e d i n
header_animations . py
5 4 ) Animation s e q u e n c e s ( l i s t ) .
6 4 . 1 ) Duration o f t h e s e q u e n c e . B a s i c a l l y t h e s p e e d o f t h e animation , t h e h i g h e r
t h e number , t h e s l o w e r t h e a n i m a t i o n w i l l p r o g r e s s .
7 4 . 2 ) Name o f t h e a n i m a t i o n r e s o u r c e .
8 4 . 3 ) B e g i n n i n g frame o f t h e s e q u e n c e w i t h i n t h e a n i m a t i o n r e s o u r c e .
9 4 . 4 ) Ending frame o f t h e s e q u e n c e w i t h i n t h e a n i m a t i o n r e s o u r c e .
10 4 . 5 ) Sequence f l a g s : c o u l d be a n y t h i n g b e g i n n i n g with arf_ d e f i n e d i n
header_animations . py
11 4 . 6 ) Sound Timing ( f l o a t ) : O p t i o n a l . Used t o p l a y sounds i n a n i m a t i o n s with
arf_make_walk_sound and arf_make_custom_sound .
12 Can be used i n c o n j u n c t i o n with p a c k 2 f o r p a c k 4 f t o make t h e a n i m a t i o n
13 p l a y t h e sound m u l t i p l e t i m e s . Timing assumed t o be p e r c e n t a g e s o f
14 a n i m a t i o n c o m p l e t i o n . For example a t i m i n g o f 0 . 0 w i l l p l a y a t t h e s t a r t
15 w h i l e 1 . 0 w i l l p l a y a t t h e end .
16 4 . 7 ) O f f s e t P o s i t i o n ( f l o a t , f l o a t , f l o a t ) : O p t i o n a l . Used t o move t h e a n i m a t i n g
agent ’ s p o s i t i o n a t t h e end o f t h e a n i m a t i o n .
17 Requires acf_displace_position f l a g
18 4 . 8 ) Unknown F l o a t . O p t i o n a l . S p e c u l a t e d t o be anim dela y , but r e s e a r c h i s s o f a r
inconclusive

module_animations.py is where the animation of the module are getting recorded and defined.
The file has a declaration of constants before the usual list of tuples begins.
The animations are semi-hard-coded: Many animations are hard-coded such way inside the game
engine that their position (if its #1, #100, etc.) matters. However, while the game engine expects
animation #30 to do something when a particular action is used (like a block) you can still edit
the individual sequences, resources or times and thus define your own visual animation and special
flags. Important is that each animation must stay at the same position, otherwise the game won’t
run properly! You must not change the IDs of used animations!253
253
Mixed description of Native MS with some words of kalarhan, Modding Q&A.

121
 To add an animation, you need to overwrite one of the “unused“ animations.254 Those are place
holder animations and thus free, and can be used for stuff like a special animation for sitting, for a
npc working on a field, etc. Stuff you will define by hand and for which you have a suitable animation
resource at hand. Also keep in mind there are animation for humans and animations for horses, don’t
mix them. If the animation is for humans, you need to replace one of the anim_human_unused-lines
and if it is for horses, replace one of the anim_horse_unused-lines. So comment out the first available
“unused“ animation and add or paste yours above or below it. You can also change the ID name of
your animation to your likings.255
At adding new animations you need to provide a set of flags to control the execution, frames,
speed, sync, if it should be on a cycle or not, the effect on rigging and how to blend in with the next
animation.256 Unfortunately the official documentation lacks details, so we try to slowly fill out the
gaps of knowledge about the meaning of some of the flags.

5.3.5.1 Animation Capability Flags

The following animation capability flags are available for usage:257

acf_align_with_ground aligns the agent with the angle of the ground.

acf_displace_position is getting used in conjunction with tuple 4.7 to offset the agent at the end
of the animation.258

acf_enforce_all Up4research.

acf_enforce_lowerbody Up4research.

acf_enforce_rightside rotates the right arm to the look direction (more than the rest of the upper
body).

acf_ignore_slope forces the agent (obiously horses) to not align with the ground? Up4research.

acf_left_cut Up4research.

acf_lock_camera gets used for falling animations, Up4research.

254
This is actually not true since you can actually add animations at the bottom (sorting at the existing ones is
still important though!) and they will work just fine. The possible amount which can get added is unlimited for the
Singleplayer and about 800 max for the Multiplayer. cmpxchg8b, Warband Script Enhancer v3.2.0. For beginners it
is however advised to start with overwriting the unused animation entries.
255
Remarks of Caba‘drin, Modding Q&A, and kalarhan, Modding Q&A.
256
kalarhan, Modding Q&A.
257
Working in many remarks of _Sebastion_, Animation flags and their usage.
258
cmpxchg8b, Undocumented fields in module_animations.py.

122
acf_overswing Up4research.

acf_parallels_for_look_slope seems to rotate the upper body towards the look direction as
well. Up4research.

acf_right_cut Up4research.

acf_rot_vertical_bow Up4research.

acf_rot_vertical_sword Up4research.

acf_rotate_body a Vanilla M&B flag, it might work in the same way as acf_displace_position
but for rotation? Up4research.

acf_synch_with_horse synchronises the rider animation with that of their mount.

acf_thrust Up4research.

5.3.5.2 Animation Master Flags

The following animation master flags are available for usage:

amf_accurate_body up4research.

amf_client_owner_prediction sends more precise animation info, like direction and frame to
the server, for accurately combat calculations? Up4research.

amf_client_prediction forces the animation to not sync with the server, or vise versa. Up4research.

amf_continue_to_next plays sequencially the upfollowing animation when the current one has
ended, regardless of its priority.

amf_hide_weapon unused in Native and DLCs, up4research.

amf_keep lets the animation hold at the last frame of the animation until an animation of equal
or greater priority gets called.259

amf_play lets the animation play through and end when reaching the final frame.

amf_restart restarts the animation even if it is the current animation.

amf_rider_rot_bow is probably limiting the rotation of a mounted agent to some unknown

degree.
259
Using it together with arf_cyclic while having a variety of animation resources will probably let the agent stick
to a specific randomly chosen animation until the agent switches to a different action. Up4research.

123
amf_rider_rot_couched_lance is probably limiting the rotation of a mounted agent to some
unknown degree.

amf_rider_rot_crossbow is probably limiting the rotation of a mounted agent to some unknown

degree.

amf_rider_rot_defend is probably limiting the rotation of a mounted agent to some unknown

degree.

amf_rider_rot_overswing is probably limiting the rotation of a mounted agent to some un-

known degree.

amf_rider_rot_pistol is probably limiting the rotation of a mounted agent to some unknown

degree.

amf_rider_rot_shield is probably limiting the rotation of a mounted agent to some unknown

degree.

amf_rider_rot_swing_left is probably limiting the rotation of a mounted agent to some un-

known degree.

amf_rider_rot_swing_right is probably limiting the rotation of a mounted agent to some un-

known degree.

amf_rider_rot_throw is probably limiting the rotation of a mounted agent to some unknown

degree.

amf_rider_rot_thrust is probably limiting the rotation of a mounted agent to some unknown

degree.

amf_start_instantly prevents that the animation needs to wait to start and interrupts all current
animations to play.

amf_use_cycle_period repeats the same animation if multiple animation resources are tied to
a single action? Up4research.

amf_use_defend_speed lets the defend speed of the used item influence the time it takes for
the animation? Up4research.

amf_use_inertia slows down the animation related to weapon mass? Up4research.

124
amf_use_weapon_speed lets the weapon speed of the used item influence the time it takes for
the animation? Up4research.

Restrict rotation when mounted260

amf_client_prediction doesn’t let animation sync.261
amf_use_weapon_speed262
horse animation263
Integrate custom declared animation priority flags with notes of dstn.
give animation higher priority.264
animation higher priority265
custom mount animation and also some note about priority266

5.3.5.3 Animation Sequence Flags

The following animation sequence flags are available for usage:

arf_blend_in_x lets blend in an animation to the one currently playing. It is currently unknown
if this is in frames, or some unknown measurement of time, up4research.

arf_cyclic causes the animation sequence to loop.

arf_lancer up4research.

arf_make_custom_sound lets a sound be played when specific animations are getting triggered.
The animations as well as the connected sounds are hardcoded, modders can basically just
toggle the sound on or off by setting or removing this flag. The animation triggers and sound
connections are as follows:

This flag is getting used together with the pack2f function in tuple 4.6. The first value of it
determines at which percentage of the animation completion the first occasion sound (Get new
ammo) is getting played, the second value the trigger moment of the second occasion sound
(Reload ranged weapon) is getting played. The third occasion (Agent falling) has only one
sound stage, so the second value is always zero.

arf_make_walk_sound up4research.
260
cmpxchg8b, Modding Q&A.
261
cmpxchg8b, Modding Q&A.
262
Shredzorz (credit), [WB] Warband Script Enhancer v3.2.0.
263
Caba‘drin, Modding Q&A.
264
Somebody, Modding Q&A.
265
dunde, Modding Q&A.
266
The_dragon, Modding Q&A and Modding Q&A.

125
 Animation Sound
1) Get new ammo
anim_ready_bow snd_pull_arrow
anim_reload_crossbow snd_reload_crossbow
anim_reload_crossbow_horseback snd_reload_crossbow
anim_reload_musket snd_reload_crossbow
anim_reload_musket_full snd_reload_crossbow
2) Reload ranged weapon
anim_ready_bow snd_pull_bow
anim_reload_crossbow snd_reload_crossbow_continue
anim_reload_crossbow_horseback snd_reload_crossbow_continue
3) Agent falling
anim_fall_face_hold snd_body_fall_small
anim_fall_chest_front snd_body_fall_small
anim_fall_abdomen_hold_front snd_body_fall_small
anim_fall_head_front snd_body_fall_small
anim_fall_right_front snd_body_fall_small
anim_fall_body_back snd_body_fall_small
anim_fall_rider_right_forward snd_body_fall_small
anim_fall_rider_right snd_body_fall_small
anim_fall_rider_left snd_body_fall_small
anim_rider_fall_right snd_body_fall_small
anim_rider_fall_roll snd_body_fall_small
anim_strike_fall_back_rise snd_body_fall_small
anim_horse_fall_right snd_body_fall_small
anim_horse_fall_roll snd_body_fall_small

arf_use_stand_progress lets the animation use the current stand animation progress? up4research.

arf_stick_item_to_left_hand up4research.

arf_two_handed_blade up4research.

arf_use_walk_progress lets the animation use the current walk animation progress or agent
speed affects the animation speed. Up4research.

arf_use_inv_walk_progress same as arf_use_walk_progress, but plays the animation in re-

verse. Up4research.

Stick item to left hand animation problem267

5.3.5.4 Upper and Lower Body at Animations

upper and lower body at animation268

267
Somebody, Modding Q&A.
268
Example, Modding Q&A.

126
 uperbody part animation269

5.3.5.5 Variations for Animations

It is possible to add different variations of the same animation, just put them in the list of animation
reference entries. If the animation has multiple parts and you have variations, they might however
not sync up properly during the transitions.270

5.3.5.6 Animation Sounds

The settings pack2f and pack4f (pack two/four floats) are assigning sound to the animations, defining
at what percentage of the animation a sound is getting played. If more than two values are needed,
pack4f is used instead of pack2f. How many and what sounds are actually played is almost entirely
hardcoded.271 See the descriptions of the animation sequence flags arf_make_custom_sound and
arf_make_walk_sound for more details.

5.3.5.7 Ragdolls

Entry field 4.8 contains the the time during the animation that the ragdoll effects will begin, used
at the death animations in Native. You can disable ragdolls in the Options in-game.272

5.3.5.8 Skin/Race-specific Animations

Unfortunately, specific movement or combat animations for custom races are not possible without
extremely inefficient workarounds, i.e. working out when each animation would play (if the agent is
further left than it was in the last frame, use the move left animation). It is made harder by the fact
that for some silly reason animations have to be assigned at every frame, which also causes lag.273
Fun fact: After “researching“ the engine it’s quite obvious that the developers planned to have
per-agent action sets but for some reason they scrapped the idea without even removing the code.274

5.3.5.9 Animations and Item Types

The walking and holding animations are influenced by the item types of the weapons an agent is
carrying and, to some lesser degree, by the item property and capability flags of the prementioned
269
jacobhinds, Modding Q&A.
270
Somebody, Modding Q&A.
271
cmpxchg8b, Modding Q&A.
272
Ruthven, Modding Q&A.
273
Jacobhinds, Race specific animation.
274
cmpxchg8b, Suggestions/requests thread – post yours here.

127
weapons. For this you will find first a description of each of the four cases and then, sorted by the
cases, the animations connected to each case.

Case 0 is the default case, basically used for unarmed agents.

Case 1 gets gets applied if an agent carries 1) an item of either the type itp_type_crossbow or
itp_type_musket AND with the item capability flag itcf_reload_pistol or 2) every other
not in case 2 or 3 mentioned combination. Basically, this case contains all one-handed weapons
(and whenever the agent carries a shield too) as well as all kind of throwing weapons, bows
and pistols.

Case 2 gets applied if an agent carries 1) an item with the flag itp_type_polearm AND no
secondary item in the left hand or 2) an item of either the type itp_type_crossbow or
itp_type_musket AND without the capability flag itcf_reload_pistol. Basically, this case
contains all polearms, crossbows and muskets.

Case 3 gets applied if an agent carries an item of either the type itp_type_one_handed, itp_
type_two_handed or itp_type_polearm AND with the item property flag itp_two_handed.
Basically, this case contains all two-handed weapons.

128
 The connection between item flags and the running and walking animations is a simple one as
can be seen in the table below. Take note that the * is replacing the direction of the animation, so
backward, forward, left or right (or a combination of them like forward left etc.).275

Case Animation
Walking
0 anim_walk_*, m_walkActionNo(?)
1 anim_walk_*_onehanded
2 anim_walk_*_staff and anim_walk_*_polearm
3 anim_walk_*_greatsword and anim_walk_*_twohanded
Common anim_walk_*_hips_left/right
Running
0 anim_run_*
1 anim_run_*_onehanded
2 anim_run_*_staff and anim_run_*_polearm
3 anim_run_*_greatsword and anim_run_*_twohanded
Common anim_run_*_hips_left/right
Turning
0 anim_turn_right/left
1 anim_turn_right/left_single
2 anim_turn_right/left_staff
3 anim_turn_right/left_greatsword

275
It seems like the developers didn’t watch out for their own naming conventions, resulting in mixed uses of pole-
arms/staff or greatsword/twohanded, even within the same animation category.

129
 The standing animations are also depending on the item types and item property flags as well as
if the agent is idle or crouching:

Case Animation and

Case 0 IF Alarmed Agent OR Player in Battle OR mtf_team_fight OR Multiplayer
Crouch anim_crouch_unarmed
Idle anim_stand_unarmed
Case 1
Crouch anim_crouch_single
Idle anim_stand_single
Case 2 IF itp_crossbow
Crouch anim_crouch_crossbow
Idle anim_stand_crossbow
IF itp_is_pike AND turn amount < MAX(brace_rotation_limit; 0.01)
Crouch anim_crouch_pike
Else
Crouch anim_crouch_staff
Idle anim_stand_staff
Case 3
Crouch anim_crouch_greatsword
Idle anim_stand_greatsword

130
5.3.5.10 Animations and Item Capability Flags

The engine is hard-coded to allocate only certain types of combat animations to items with certain
item capability flags. You can always try combining existing animations to clear up slots or use up
the sets that aren’t in use in your module, like the pistol and musket animations in Native. Shield
bash, horn blowing and other actions aren’t weapon animations - they take up one of the unused
human animation entries and are called on-demand by a trigger.276
The following tables list which animations are connected with which item capability flags, starting
with the defending animations. Keep in mind that the animation entries can be named different than
the animations inside the brf files. Look up always the name of the animation resource at the tuple
entry of the mentioned animation. Take note that the normal defending animations are getting
overruled by the shield animations if the agent wears a shield, and are getting overruled by the fist
defending animations if no weapons are given at all:

itcf Defend Action Keep Action

Shield overrules anim_defend_shield anim_defend_shield_keep
Unarmed defense anim_defend_fist anim_defend_fist_keep

If the agent has no shield the defending animations are as follows:277

itcf Defend Action Keep Action

Defend thrust
itcf_parry_forward_onehanded defend_forward_onehanded defend_forward_onehanded_keep
itcf_parry_forward_twohanded defend_forward_greatsword defend_forward_greatsword_keep
itcf_parry_forward_polearm defend_forward_staff defend_forward_staff_keep
Defend right
itcf_parry_right_onehanded defend_right_onehanded defend_right_onehanded_keep
itcf_parry_right_twohanded defend_right_twohanded defend_right_twohanded_keep
itcf_parry_right_polearm defend_right_staff defend_right_staff_keep
Defend left
itcf_parry_left_onehanded defend_left_onehanded defend_left_onehanded_keep
itcf_parry_left_twohanded defend_left_twohanded defend_left_twohanded_keep
itcf_parry_left_polearm defend_left_staff defend_left_staff_keep
Defend up
itcf_parry_up_onehanded defend_up_onehanded defend_up_onehanded_keep
itcf_parry_up_twohanded defend_up_twohanded defend_up_twohanded_keep
itcf_parry_up_polearm defend_up_staff defend_up_staff_keep

276
Somebody, Modding Q&A.
277
The prefix anim_* has been removed from the animation names due to shortage of space.

131
 For ranged weapons the itcf determine the ready and release animations as follows:278

itcf Ready Action Release Action

itcf_shoot_bow anim_ready_bow anim_release_bow
itcf_shoot_crossbow anim_ready_crossbow anim_release_crossbow
itcf_shoot_pistol anim_ready_pistol anim_release_pistol
if crouching anim_crouch_ready_pistol anim_crouch_release_pistol
itcf_shoot_musket anim_ready_musket anim_release_musket
itcf_throw_stone anim_ready_stone anim_release_stone
itcf_throw_knife anim_ready_throwing_knife anim_release_throwing_knife
itcf_throw_axe anim_ready_throwing_axe anim_release_throwing_axe
itcf_throw_javelin anim_ready_javelin anim_release_javelin

Crossbows, muskets and pistols are the only ranged items which have a separate reloading ani-
mation, at the others it is integrated into the ready action.279

itcf Reloading Action

itcf_shoot_crossbow anim_reload_crossbow
if mounted AND <no itp_cant_reload_on_horseback> anim_reload_crossbow_horseback
itcf_reload_pistol anim_reload_pistol
if <use_phased_reload = 1> and reload interrupted at middle anim_reload_pistol_half
itcf_reload_musket anim_reload_musket
if <use_phased_reload = 1> and reload interrupted anim_reload_musket_full

278
The exact effect of itcf_shoot_javelin is still up for research. It seems to flip the physical model of the weapon
backwards so that one needs to use a separate jav-variant for it.
279
If use_phased_reload is set to 1 in module.ini, the reloading of muskets and guns can get done with intermediate
steps.

132
 For close combat weapons the itcf determine the ready and release animations for unmounted
agents as follows:280

Ready Action Release Action

Thrust
itcf_thrust_twohanded AND <no shield>
anim_ready_thrust_twohanded anim_release_thrust_twohanded
itcf_thrust_polearm AND <no shield>
anim_ready_thrust_staff anim_release_thrust_staff
itcf_thrust_onehanded AND (<shield> OR <no itcf_thrust_polearm>)
anim_ready_thrust_onehanded anim_release_thrust_onehanded
itcf_thrust_onehanded_lance AND (<shield> OR <no itcf_thrust_polearm>)
anim_ready_thrust_onehanded_lance anim_release_thrust_onehanded_lance
itcf_thrust_musket AND (<shield> OR <no itcf_thrust_polearm>)
anim_ready_thrust_musket anim_release_thrust_musket
Overswing
itcf_overswing_twohanded AND <no shield>
anim_ready_overswing_twohanded anim_release_overswing_twohanded
itcf_overswing_polearm AND <no shield>
anim_ready_overswing_staff anim_release_overswing_staff
itcf_overswing_onehanded
anim_ready_overswing_onehanded anim_release_overswing_onehanded
itcf_overswing_spear AND <no shield>
anim_ready_overswing_spear anim_release_overswing_spear
itcf_overswing_musket AND (<shield> OR <no itcf_overswing_polearm>)
anim_ready_overswing_musket anim_release_overswing_musket
Swing left
itcf_slashleft_twohanded AND <no shield>
anim_ready_slashleft_twohanded anim_release_slashleft_twohanded
itcf_slashleft_polearm AND <no shield>
anim_ready_slashleft_staff anim_release_slashleft_staff
itcf_slashleft_onehanded
anim_ready_slashleft_onehanded anim_release_slashleft_onehanded
Swing right
itcf_slashright_twohanded AND <no shield>
anim_ready_slashright_twohanded anim_release_slashright_twohanded
itcf_slashright_polearm AND <no shield>
anim_ready_slashright_staff anim_release_slashright_staff
itcf_slashright_onehanded
anim_ready_slashright_onehanded anim_release_slashright_onehanded

280
Pay attention to the different conditions alongside the itcf!

133
 For mounted agents the ready and release animations are as follows:

Ready Action Release Action

Thrust
itcf_thrust_onehanded
anim_ready_thrust_onehanded_horseback anim_release_thrust_onehanded_horseback
itcf_thrust_onehanded_lance
anim_ready_thrust_onehanded_lance anim_release_thrust_onehanded_lance
Overswing
itcf_overswing_onehanded
anim_ready_overswing_onehanded anim_release_overswing_onehanded
Swing left
itcf_horseback_slashleft_onehanded AND itcf_horseback_slash_polearm
anim_ready_slash_horseback_polearm_left anim_release_slash_horseback_polearm_left
itcf_horseback_slashleft_onehanded
anim_ready_slash_horseback_left anim_release_slash_horseback_left
Swing right
itcf_horseback_slashright_onehanded AND itcf_horseback_slash_polearm
anim_ready_slash_horseback_polearm_right anim_release_slash_horseback_polearm_right
itcf_horseback_slashright_onehanded
anim_ready_slash_horseback_right anim_release_slash_horseback_right

Might be that I missed all the parry animations :P

Changing blocking speed281
thrust_onehanded_horseback animation282
bow mounted inactive animations283
unequip animations would be interesting to know the relation/connection to flags.

5.3.5.11 Other notes

some constants are getting declared at the beginning (a bit strange, need to review en detail)
Creating animation test284
set animation in mp285
agent set animation for horse286
Some jumping animation info287
knockdown animation288
281
Somebody, Modding Q&A.
282
Mammoet and Somebody, Modding Q&A and Modding Q&A.
283
jacobhinds, Modding Q&A, and rgcotl (credit), Modding Q&A.
284
xenoargh, Modding Q&A.
285
Vornne and MadocComadrin, Modding Q&A.
286
Somebody, Modding Q&A.
287
Lumos, Modding Q&A.
288
_Sebastian_, Modding Q&A.

134
 stop cyclic animation289
kill player at certain frame of animation290
it is possible to use an engine trick in WB to shoot a pistol through a shield, using a custom
animation291

289
_Sebastian_, Modding Q&A.
290
The_dragon, Modding Q&A.
291
Darth Mongol the Unwise, Mount & Blade Modding Discord.

135
5.4 Scene-related Module System Files

5.4.1 Module Scene Props

1 Each s c e n e prop r e c o r d c o n t a i n s t h e f o l l o w i n g f i e l d s :
2 1 ) Scene prop i d : used f o r r e f e r e n c i n g s c e n e p r o p s i n o t h e r f i l e s . The p r e f i x spr_
i s a u t o m a t i c a l l y added b e f o r e each s c e n e prop i d .
3 2 ) Scene prop f l a g s . See header_scene_props . py f o r a l i s t o f a v a i l a b l e f l a g s
4 3 ) Mesh name : Name o f t h e mesh .
5 4 ) P h y s i c s o b j e c t name : Name o f t h e c o l l i s i o n o b j e c t a s s o c i a t e d with t h e mesh .
6 5 ) T r i g g e r s : Simple t r i g g e r s t h a t a r e a s s o c i a t e d with t h e s c e n e prop .

Add some intro text here

5.4.1.1 Scene Prop Flags

sokf_add_fire Unused in Native, WFaS, VC and NW. Eventually deprecated.

sokf_add_light Unused in Native, WFaS, VC and NW. Eventually deprecated.

sokf_add_smoke Unused in Native, WFaS, VC and NW. Eventually deprecated.

sokf_destructible makes the scene prop destructible/destroyable.

sokf_dont_move_agent_over Speculation: Moving scene props are not affecting the agents?

sokf_dynamic up4research.

sokf_dynamic_physics up4research.

sokf_enforce_shadows up4research.

sokf_face_player lets the scene prop always face the player.292

sokf_handle_as_flora up4research.

sokf_invisible makes the scene prop invisible. Typically used for invisible barriers and light scene
props.

sokf_missiles_not_attached prevents missiles from sticking in the scene prop.293

292
cmpxchg8b, Modding Q&A.
293
Somebody, Modding Q&A.

136
sokf_moveable enables movements for the scene prop - together with its collision mesh294 - which
also get automatically synced with multiplayer clients.295 The flag prevents the scene prop from
casting shadows.296

sokf_place_at_origin positiones an already placed scene prop such way to always be at entry
point 0.297 . Typically used for the player’s inventory.

sokf_show_hit_point_bar shows the remaining hit points of the destructible scene prop.

sokf_static_movement has been added for NW. The server runs code in the game engine to
detect whether players are looking at a usable prop which gets impacted when the prop is
also moveable. The flag reduces the performance impact of this combination if the scene prop
movement and collision detection is not very important (like a door that just moves between a
few positions, as opposed to a ship with agents on it who wouldn’t want to fall off).298

sokf_type_ai_limiter marks scene props which prevent movement of the AI but not of the player.

sokf_type_ai_limiter3d same but for 3D objects? Used in VC, up4research.

sokf_type_barrier marks a simple 2d barrier, typically an invisible sceneprop, to restrict the

player movements at the scene(?).

sokf_type_barrier_leave marks a simple 2d barrier, typically an invisible sceneprop, to restrict

the player movements at the scene and at which the scene can be leaved via the town menu(?).

sokf_type_barrier3d marks a simple 3d barrier, typically an invisible sceneprop, to restrict the

player movements at the scene(?).

sokf_type_container determines that the scene prop can be used as a chest.

sokf_type_ladder causes slow movements on the scene prop.

sokf_type_player_limiter up4research.

spanim_linear up4research.

spanim_loop_linear up4research.

spr_hit_points(x) determines how many hitpoints that destructible scene prop has.
294
cmpxchg8b, Modding Q&A.
295
Somebody, Modding Q&A.
296
_Sebastian_, Modding Q&A.
297
Somebody, Modding Q&A.
298
Vornne, Map Stability and Crashes.

137
spr_use_time(x) determines how long it takes to use the scene prop. Typically used in multi-
player, make sure to set can_use_scene_props_in_single_player = 1 in module.ini to ma-
ke scene props useable in singleplayer too. Keep in mind that a scene prop needs to have a
collision mesh for this to work.299 This flag is also need to be set to make use of the trigger
ti_on_scene_prop_use.300

5.4.1.2 Destroyable Scene Props

Destroyable scene props.301

5.4.1.3 Using Scene Props

getting using information text302

disable scene prop use303

5.4.1.4 Moving Scene Props

Moving sceneprops in MP304

5.4.1.5 Vertex-animated Scene Props

vertex animating scene prop305

vertex animated scene prop306
Usage of prop_instance_deform_in_range for operating the vertex animation seen in brf307

5.4.1.6 Light Source Scene Props

Keep in mind that there is a limit of 10 light sources for exterior and 4 for interior scenes. You
can place many more but they will not paint the terrain. The player model will still reflect light
though.308 Work in this remark and this remark, as well as this potential workaround.
max point lights309
299
Sinisterius, Modding Q&A.
300
_Sebastian_, Modding Q&A.
301
ithilienranger, Modding Q&A.
302
dunde, Modding Q&A.
303
Somebody, Modding Q&A.
304
Vornne, Modding Q&A.
305
Lumos, Modding Q&A, meanwhile it is possible though, Dalion.
306
HyperCharge (credit), Animating - import / export.
307
Dalion, Mount & Blade Modding Discord.
308
The Bowman, Mount & Blade Modding Discord.
309
cmpxchg8b, [WB] Warband Script Enhancer v3.2.0 and [WB] Warband Script Enhancer v3.2.0.

138
 maximum light stuff310
Scene maximum lightsources311

5.4.1.7 Shadows on Scene Props

shadow engine bug (module scene props, connected with collision mesh iirc)312
agent shadow313

5.4.1.8 Water River Scene Props

water river props314

5.4.1.9 Horses and Stairs

Let horses walk stairs315

5.4.1.10 Scene Prop Variables

Maximum value for each of both variables is 127.316 A more general explanation about use of them
is also needed.

5.4.1.11 Scene Prop Variants - Alternative Materials

Alternative material for scene props317

example code, scene prop prefab318

5.4.1.12 Scene Prop Meta Types, Sub Kind ID and Variation IDs319

Internally, most items on the scene are instances of the same class (mission object) and are even
stored in the same collection. What distinguishes them is meta type, sub kind id and two variation
ids. Meta type identifies the type of the object. You can distinguish between the following:

Meta Type 0: Scene props (placed in Editor)

310
Somebody and cmpxchg8b, Modding Q&A.
311
Ruthven and _Sebastian_, Modding Q&A, and _Sebastian_, Modding Q&A.
312
_Sebastian_, Modding Q&A.
313
cmpxchg8b, Modding Q&A.
314
_Sebastian_ and InVain, Modding Q&A, Gotha (credit), problem with river_water, Marko (credit), Modding
Q&A, and InVain and Marko, Modding Q&A.
315
NPC99, Modding Q&A.
316
Dalion, Mount & Blade Modding Discord.
317
Lav, Modding Q&A, Antonis and La Grandmaster, Modding Q&A and Modding Q&A.
318
dstn, Mount & Blade Modding Discord.
319
Bundeling of informations given by cmpxchg8b, Modding Q&A.

139
Meta Type 1: Entry points

Meta Type 2: Scene items (placed in Editor)

Meta Type 3: No idea what this is

Meta Type 4: Flora (trees, rocks, ...)

Meta Type 5: Passages

Meta Type 6: Spawned items (dropped by player)

Meta Type 7: Spawned items (created on missile hit)

Meta Type 8: Spawned items (dropped on death)

Meta Type 9: No idea what this is

Meta Type 10: Spawned scene props

The sub kind id is the id of the underlying item (item kind id for items, scene prop id for scene props,
etc.). The variation ids are used for various stuff, e.g. for items that hold item mesh variation, for
passages menu id, etc. You might have seen or will perhaps see a server error like this:
1 S y n c h r o n i z a t i o n with s e r v e r f a i l e d : t r y i n g t o r e c r e a t e e x i s t i n g o b j e c t ( i d : %d ,
meta_type : %d , sub_kind_id : %d , v a r i a t i o n _ i d : %d ) with meta_type : %d ,
sub_kind_id : %d , v a r i a t i o n _ i d : %d , do_prune : %d

Now you know at least roughly what those fields mean.

Strangely sokf_missiles_not_attached works for scene props placed in the Editor (meta type
0) while the developers noted that it only works for dynamic mission objects. Dynamic mission
objects are items that you drop (meta type 6), items that you drop on death (meta type 8), items
created by missiles when they hit something (meta type 7) and spawned scene props (meta type 10).

5.4.1.13 Other notes

One sided collision mesh320

hard-coded scene props?321

320
Somebody, Modding Q&A.
321
Somebody, Modding Q&A.

140
5.4.2 Module Scenes

1 Each s c e n e r e c o r d c o n t a i n s t h e f o l l o w i n g f i e l d s :
2 1 ) Scene i d { s t r i n g } : used f o r r e f e r e n c i n g s c e n e s i n o t h e r f i l e s . The p r e f i x scn_
i s a u t o m a t i c a l l y added b e f o r e each s c e n e −i d .
3 2 ) Scene f l a g s { i n t } . See h e a d e r _ s c e n e s . py f o r a l i s t o f a v a i l a b l e f l a g s
4 3 ) Mesh name { s t r i n g } : This i s used f o r i n d o o r s c e n e s o n l y . Use t h e keyword " none
" f o r outdoor s ce n e s .
5 4 ) Body name { s t r i n g } : This i s used f o r i n d o o r s c e n e s o n l y . Use t h e keyword " none
" f o r outdoor s ce n e s .
6 5 ) Min−pos { ( f l o a t , f l o a t ) } : minimum ( x , y ) c o o r d i n a t e . P l a y e r can ’ t move beyond
this limit .
7 6 ) Max−pos { ( f l o a t , f l o a t ) } : maximum ( x , y ) c o o r d i n a t e . P l a y e r can ’ t move beyond
this limit .
8 7 ) Water−l e v e l { f l o a t } .
9 8 ) T e r r a i n code { s t r i n g } : You can o b t a i n t h e t e r r a i n code by c o p y i n g i t from t h e
terrain generator screen
10 9 ) L i s t o f o t h e r s c e n e s a c c e s s i b l e from t h i s s c e n e { l i s t o f s t r i n g s } .
11 ( d e p r e c a t e d . This w i l l p r o b a b l y be removed i n f u t u r e v e r s i o n s o f t h e module
system )
12 ( In t h e new system p a s s a g e s a r e used t o t r a v e l between s c e n e s and t h e p a s s a g e ’
s v a r i a t i o n −no i s used t o s e l e c t t h e game menu item t h a t t h e p a s s a g e l e a d s
to . )
13 1 0 ) L i s t o f c h e s t −t r o o p s used i n t h i s s c e n e { l i s t o f s t r i n g s } . You can a c c e s s
c h e s t s by p l a c i n g them i n e d i t mode .
14 The c h e s t ’ s v a r i a t i o n −no i s used with t h i s l i s t f o r s e l e c t i n g which troop ’ s
inventory i t w i l l access .

Pages 23-25

5.4.2.1 Scene Flags

sf_indoors removes the skybox and lighting by sun for this scene.

sf_force_skybox forces adding a skybox even if indoors flag is set.

sf_generate generates terrain by terrain-generator.

sf_randomize randomizes terrain generator key.

sf_auto_entry_points automatically places entry points in randomly generated scenes.322 Does

it place them only at randomly generated scene or also at others?
322
GetAssista, Modding Q&A, and Docm30, Modding Q&A.

141
sf_no_horses is a scene marker for the operation scene_allows_mounted_units. Does nothing
on its own(?).

sf_muddy_water changes the shader of the river mesh.

5.4.2.2 Scene Borders

min/max border scenes323

internal and external border324
Scene entry numbers deprecated?325

5.4.2.3 Water Level

water level modifier (not working?)326

water splash sounds and slow speed, question 2327

5.4.2.4 Terrain Code

Size of scene328
edit scene size via code329
black area at editing scene size330
extend borders of scene331
Terrain borders.332
Flora333
hard-coded trees at scene334
Biggest possible scene335

5.4.2.5 Outer Terrain Border

eleventh field is missing, optional in some unusual way.

323
Ruthven (credit) and kalarhan, Modding Q&A and Modding Q&A.
324
Swyter, Modding Q&A, and GetAssista, Modding Q&A.
325
InVain, Mount & Blade Modding Discord.
326
InVain, Modding Q&A, Mount & Blade Modding Discord and Mount & Blade Modding Discord.
327
Yoshiboy, Questions about making new rooms and some other questions.
328
Vornne, Modding Q&A.
329
kalarhan, Modding Q&A.
330
Lumos, Modding Q&A and Modding Q&A.
331
InVain, Modding Q&A.
332
Modding Q&A.
333
Dargor, Modding Q&A.
334
jacobhinds, Modding Q&A.
335
InVain, Mount & Blade Modding Discord.

142
5.4.2.6 Other Notes

scene stuff336

5.4.2.7 Character Creation Screen aka Meeting Scene

A first look around would perhaps let you think that it is the scene meeting_scene_plain. It is however
no scene, it is made up by the game engine on the fly. It doesn’t even have a real terrain, the game
engine is just loading the mesh ch_meet_plain_a (CommonRes/particles_2.brf). Note that you can
not change the lighting settings at it.337 The character creation scene uses the very first skybox
defined in Skyboxes.py.338 The character uses the animation stand_man which is hardcoded.339

336
cmpxchg8b, Modding Q&A.
337
cmpxchg8b, Modding Q&A, Modding Q&A and Modding Q&A.
338
_Sebastian_, Mount & Blade Modding Discord.
339
Veledentella, Mount & Blade Modding Discord.

143
5.4.3 Module Mission Templates

1 Each m i s s i o n −t e m p l a t e i s a t u p l e t h a t c o n t a i n s t h e f o l l o w i n g f i e l d s :
2 1 ) Mission −t e m p l a t e i d ( s t r i n g ) : used f o r r e f e r e n c i n g m i s s i o n −t e m p l a t e s i n o t h e r
files .
3 The p r e f i x mt_ i s a u t o m a t i c a l l y added b e f o r e each m i s s i o n −t e m p l a t e i d
4 2 ) Mission −t e m p l a t e f l a g s ( i n t ) : See h ea d er _m i ss i on _ te m pl a te s . py f o r a l i s t o f
available flags
5 3 ) Mission −type ( i n t ) : Which m i s s i o n t y p e s t h i s m i s s i o n t e m p l a t e matches .
6 For m i s s i o n −t y p e s t o be used with t h e d e f a u l t party−meeting system ,
7 t h i s s h o u l d be ’ charge ’ o r ’ charge_with_ally ’ o t h e r w i s e must be −1.
8 4) Mission d e s c r i p t i o n text ( s t r i n g ) .
9 5 ) L i s t o f spawn r e c o r d s ( l i s t ) : Each spawn r e c o r d i s a t u p l e t h a t c o n t a i n s t h e
following fields :
10 5 . 1 ) entry −no : Troops spawned from t h i s spawn r e c o r d w i l l u s e t h i s e n t r y
11 5 . 2 ) spawn f l a g s .
12 5 . 3 ) a l t e r f l a g s . which equipment w i l l be o v e r r i d e n
13 5.4) ai flags .
14 5 . 5 ) Number o f t r o o p s t o spawn .
15 5 . 6 ) l i s t o f equipment t o add t o t r o o p s spawned from h e r e (maximum 8 ) .
16 6) L i s t of t r i g g e r s ( l i s t ) .
17 See m o d u l e _ t r i g g e r s . py f o r i n f o m a t i o n about t r i g g e r s .

The file module_mission_templates.py contains the Mission Templates. Mission templates are
sets of scripts that govern different events known as missions, in simple terms. They can range from
simple quests to complex battles with reinforcements.340 If you need to test outcomes of combat, this
is the file you will need to work in.
Anytime you have a confrontation battle, these code blocks are checked. You can also set up what
macro keys (such as TAB) will do during the battle. Before the meat of the mission templates, a
bunch of local constants are set. The first two are designed as item overrides. We will see more on this
later, but if you are picking up the workings of the Module System, you should understand what they
do. Next you will see some other longer tuple constants, such as common_battle_mission_start. You
should recognize the format of these constants. They look just like tuples from module_triggers.py.
This is because they are triggers. As you can see in the header of module_mission_templates.py, the
sixth part of these tuples are triggers. By defining some common triggers at the top as constants,
you will not have to type these triggers for each tuple that will need them.
At about line 1275, you will see the start of the mission templates mission_templates = [ . Let’s look
at the breakdown of the first mission template tuple “town_default“ as defined in this file’s header:
340
Veledentella, What are mission templates.

144
1 1 . M i s s i o n t e m p l a t e ID ( p r e f i x e d with mt_) = " town_default "
2 2 . F l a g s ( a s d e f i n e d i n header_mission_template . py ) = 0
3 3 . M i s s i o n Type i n t e r g e r . Should be ’ charge ’ o r ’ charge_with_ally ’ o t h e r w i s e must
be −1 = −1
4 4 . M i s s i o n d e s c r i p t i o n t e x t = " D e f a u l t town v i s i t "
5 5 . L i s t o f spawn r e c o r d s ( l i s t ) . Breakdown o f t h e l i s t ( entry −no spawn p o i n t ,
spawn f l a g s , a l t e r / equipment o v e r r i d e f l a g s , AI f l a g s , number o f t r o o p s t o
spawn , l i s t o f equipment t o add t o t r o o p s spawned h e r e with a maximum o f e i g h t
items ) =
6 [
7 ( 0 , mtef_scene_source | mtef_team_0 , a f _ o v e r r i d e _ h o r s e , 0 , 1 , p i l g r i m _ d i s g u i s e ) ,
8 ...
9 ( 7 , mtef_scene_source | mtef_team_0 , a f _ o v e r r i d e _ h o r s e , 0 , 1 , [ ] ) ,
10 ( 8 , mtef_scene_source , a f _ o v e r r i d e _ h o r s e , 0 , 1 , [ ] ) ,
11 ...
12 ( 1 2 , mtef_scene_source , a f _ o v e r r i d e _ h o r s e , 0 , 1 , [ ] ) ,
13 ( 1 3 , mtef_scene_source , 0 , 0 , 1 , [ ] ) ,
14 ( 1 4 , mtef_scene_source , 0 , 0 , 1 , [ ] ) ,
15 ( 1 5 , mtef_scene_source , 0 , 0 , 1 , [ ] ) ,
16 (16 , mtef_visitor_source , af_override_horse , 0 , 1 , [ ] ) ,
17 ...
18 (31 , mtef_visitor_source , af_override_horse , 0 , 1 , [ ] ) ,
19 ],
20 6 . L i s t o f t r i g g e r s ( s e e m o d u l e _ t r i g g e r s . py f o r format on t r i g g e r s ) =
21 [
22 ( 1 , 0 , ti_once , [ ] , [
23 ( s t o r e _ c u r r e n t _ s c e n e , " : cur_scene " ) ,
24 ( s c e n e _ s e t _ s l o t , " : cur_scene " , s l o t _ s c e n e _ v i s i t e d , 1 ) ,
25 ( try_begin ) ,
26 ( eq , " $sneaked_into_town " , 1 ) ,
27 ( call_script , " script_music_set_situation_with_culture " ,
mtf_sit_town_infiltrate ) ,
28 ( else_try ) ,
29 ( eq , " $ t a l k _ c o n t e x t " , t c _ t a v e r n _ t a l k ) ,
30 ( c a l l _ s c r i p t , " s c r i p t _ m u s i c _ s e t _ s i t u a t i o n _ w i t h _ c u l t u r e " , mtf_sit_tavern ) ,
31 ( else_try ) ,
32 ( call_script , " script_music_set_situation_with_culture " , mtf_sit_travel ) ,
33 ( try_end ) ,
34 ]) ,
35 ( ti_before_mission_start , 0 , 0 , [ ] , [ ( call_script , "
script_change_banners_and_chest " ) ] ) ,

145
36 ( ti_inventory_key_pressed , 0 , 0 , [ ( s e t _ t r i g g e r _ r e s u l t , 1 ) ] , [ ] ) ,
37 ( ti_tab_pressed , 0 , 0 , [ ( s e t _ t r i g g e r _ r e s u l t , 1 ) ] , [ ] ) ,
38 ],
39 ),

5.4.3.1 Mission Types

cancel_attack

cancel_reinforce

charge

charge_with_ally

intend_battle

leave_during_battle

leave_wo_battle

speak

stay_back

stay_back_with_ally

surrender

5.4.3.2 Spawn Records

From Mirathei, need to explain it better. Also note of Khamu about mission template entry and
spawn record341
1 [ ( 1 , mtef_ d e f e n d e r s , 0 , group ( 1 ) | a i f _ s t a r t _ a l a r m e d ,8 ,[]) ,
2 ^ Entry number
3 ( 0 , m t e f _ d e f e n d e r s , 0 , group ( 1 ) | a i f _ s t a r t _ a l a r m e d ,0 ,[]) ,
4 ^ Who spawns h e r e
5 ( 4 , mtef_attackers ,0 , aif_start_alarmed ,8 ,[]) ,
6 ^ How do they behave
7 ( 4 , mtef_attackers ,0 , aif_start_alarmed ,0 ,[]) ,
8 ^ How many spawn
9 ],

341
Khamukkamu, Mount & Blade Modding Discord.

146
5.4.3.3 Mission Template Spawn/Entry Flags

After the spawn entry points, you need to set the spawn/entry flags. The first flag sets the con-
frontation style, also called ’filter flags’ in header_mission_templates.py. This can be for example
mtef_attackers or mtef_defenders, the flags for field encounters. Attackers would be the party in-
itiating the encounter, the defender would be the other party. Multiple flags are divided by a ’|’. All
available flags are given in the list below:

mtef_ally_party not used in Native, up4research.

mtef_archers_first gives archers troops of the party priority at spawning as first ones at this
entry point(?).

mtef_attackers sets the spawned troop to be part of the party which initiated the encounter(?).

mtef_cavalry_first gives cavalry troops of the party priority at spawning as first ones at this
entry point(?).

mtef_conversation_source not used in Native, up4research.

mtef_defenders sets the spawned troop to be part of the party which got encountered(?).

mtef_enemy_party not used in Native, up4research.

mtef_infantry_first gives infantry troops of the party priority at spawning as first ones at this
entry point(?).

mtef_leader_only bundels mtef_no_companions and mtef_no_regulars so that only the leader

of a party spawns at this entry point(?).

mtef_no_auto_reset if you want to move entry points you have to mark them as mtef_no_auto_reset.
Otherwise they will “auto reset“ every ten frames.342

mtef_no_companions prevents companions of parties to spawn at this entry point(?).

mtef_no_leader prevents leaders of parties to spawn at this entry point(?).

mtef_no_regulars prevents regulars of parties to spawn at this entry point(?).

mtef_regulars_only bundels mtef_no_leader and mtef_no_companions so that only regulars of

a party spawn at this entry point(?).
342
cmpxchg8b, Modding Q&A.

147
mtef_reverse_order spawns troops in reverse order regarding to their sorting at the party(?).

mtef_scene_source is used for troops that have a site/entry point defined statically (see tuple
field 5 at module_troops.py). It spawns them on the first frame of the mission only if the entry
point defined in the tuple has the flag.343

mtef_team_0 sets that the spawned troop would be part of team 0.

mtef_team_1 sets that the spawned troop would be part of team 1.

mtef_team_2 sets that the spawned troop would be part of team 2.

mtef_team_3 sets that the spawned troop would be part of team 3.

mtef_team_4 sets that the spawned troop would be part of team 4.

mtef_team_5 sets that the spawned troop would be part of team 5.

mtef_team_member_2 not used in Native, up4research.

mtef_use_exact_number lets the exact number of troops spawn here which are declared at a
later part of the spawn record.

mtef_visitor_source is used for adding visitors to the site on the fly. It enables the usage of the
operation add_visitors_to_current_scene at this entry point.344

5.4.3.4 Mission Template Alter Flags

We now look at the alter flags. These are set to override certain items that may not be allowed in
this mission. If it would be more sporting to fight on foot at your planned mission, you will want to
override horses. All available flags are given in the list below:

af_override_weapons overrides all weapons.

af_override_weapon_0 overrides the weapon in equipment slot 0.

af_override_weapon_1 overrides the weapon in equipment slot 1.

af_override_weapon_2 overrides the weapon in equipment slot 2.

af_override_weapon_3 overrides the weapon in equipment slot 3.

343
cmpxchg8b, Modding Q&A.
344
cmpxchg8b, Modding Q&A.

148
af_override_head overrides the helmet in equipment slot 4.

af_override_fullhelm overrides the helmet in equipment slot 4 if the item entry of the helmet
has the flag itp_covers_head.345

af_override_body overrides the armour in equipment slot 5.

af_override_foot overrides the footwear in equipment slot 6.

af_override_gloves overrides the gloves in equipment slot 7.

af_override_horse overrides the horse in equipment slot 8.

af_override_everything bundles some alter flags such way that everything gets overriden.

af_override_all bundles some alter flags such way that everything except the footwear gets over-
riden.

af_override_all_but_horse bundles some alter flags such way that everything except the foot-
wear and the the horse gets overriden.

af_require_civilian lets the troop only wear items with the flag itp_civilian.

The next flag is the AI flag. A look into module_mission_templates.oy shows you that in the most
cases it is set to aif_start_alarmed which makes the AI ready to fight. Otherwise it is set to 0. After
this you set the number of troops to spawn.
The last part of the list (inside the ’[]’) is for equipment to add to the troops spawned here, to a
maximum of 8 items. If you override all other equipment the troop will pick from what is listed here.
If you want the troop spawning here to have a choice between a wooden staff or a wooden sword for
example, override all equipment and add the aforementioned items to be randomly chosen.

345
Somebody, Modding Q&A.

149
5.4.3.5 Mission Template Triggers346

simple triggers, triggers and mission templates explained, taking over the other passages to the
upfollowing chapters.347
A trigger in mission templates (and in module_triggers for that matter) takes the following form
First Part: how often the trigger is checked, either in seconds* or as a hard-coded event such as
"ti_on_agent_hit"

Second part: the delay, in seconds*, between reading the conditions block and executing the con-
sequences block. This does not work if you are using a “word“/hard-coded event interval, such as
"ti_on_agent_hit"

Third part: the re-arm delay, in seconds*, between when the consequences block was finished and
when the trigger can be checked again. A special re-arm delay "ti_once" is used for triggers that should
only complete themselves (have their condition pass and then execute their consequence) once and
then never fire again.
Fourth part: the conditions block, always executed when the trigger is called
Fifth part: the consequences block, only executed if the conditions block does not fail, and after
the delay interval has passed.
*Note, unlike other numbers in the module system, the 3 intervals/delays of triggers do NOT need
to be integers.
In practice, it looks like this:
1 (10 , 2 , 60 ,
2 [
3 ( eq , 1 , 1 ) ,
4 ],
5 [
6 ( val_add , " $ g l o b a l _ v a r i a b l e " , 1 0 ) ,
7 ]) ,

In this instance, the check interval is every 10 seconds, so the trigger will be checked every 10 seconds.
The delay interval is 2 seconds, so if the conditions block is true, the consequences block will fire 2
seconds later. The re-arm interval is 60 seconds, so after the conditions block is found to be true, it
will be one minute until this trigger can be checked again.
The conditions block is a simple equality test 1==1, that will always pass, so the consequences
block will always fire 2 seconds after the trigger is checked. The consequences block then takes a
global variable and increments it by 10.
346
Taken from An Introduction to Module Syntax and Usage by Caba‘drin
347
Lumos, Modding Q&A.

150
Timed Triggers
Understanding the check interval/delay/re-arm intervals of timed triggers can be tricky so here
is an illustration:
1 ( 2 , 1 , 3 , [<a c o n d i t i o n t h a t sometimes f a i l s , sometimes p a s s e s >] ,
2 [
3 #some c o n s e q u e n c e s
4 ]) ,

This trigger, like all timed triggers with a check interval >0, will start to be checked around the first
1 second of the mission:
1 Second Event
2 1 T r i g g e r checked ; c o n d i t i o n f a i l s −−apply check i n t e r v a l (+2
seconds )
3 3 T r i g g e r checked ; c o n d i t i o n f a i l s −−apply check i n t e r v a l (+2
seconds )
4 5 T r i g g e r checked ; c o n d i t i o n p a s s e s −−apply c o n s e q u e n c e d e l a y (+1
second )
5 6 Consequence f i r e s and c o m p l e t e s −−apply check i n t e r v a l (+2) ; apply
re−arm d e l a y (+3)
6 11 T r i g g e r checked ; c o n d i t i o n f a i l s −−apply check i n t e r v a l (+2 s e c o n d s
)
7 13 T r i g g e r checked ; c o n d i t i o n p a s s e s −−apply c o n s e q u e n c e d e l a y (+1
second )
8 14 Consequence f i r e s and c o m p l e t e s −−apply check i n t e r v a l (+2) ; apply
re−arm d e l a y (+3)
9 19 T r i g g e r checked . . . .

So, although we have specified a “check interval“ of 2 seconds, we see that the trigger is not checked
only on even seconds; instead it is checked in seconds 1, 3, 5, 11, 13, 19.
If one wants a completely “scheduled“ trigger, both consequence and re-arm delays cannot be
used.
Two Triggers of the Same Type/Interval
When there are two triggers of that have the same check interval (be that in seconds, or on an
event ti_*) the order they appear in the mission template matters. The trigger that appears first in
the template will fire first, followed by the next trigger of the same interval, and so on. That means if
you have two triggers that fire ti_on_agent_spawn, the one that appears in the file first will execute
before the second one.
Triggers near the beginning of a Mission

151
 Logically, the trigger ti_before_mission_start takes place before the scene is set up and before
agents are spawned into the scene.348 Next, spawning takes place before any other triggers fire–
ti_on_agent_spawn triggers are the only triggers firing at this point. Next, ti_after_mission_start
triggers fire, as well as any triggers with a check interval of 0 (every frame) as the mission timer
starts. Event-based triggers will not be called until their ti_* event occurs; other timed triggers
begin being called somewhere in the first second of the mission, though after ti_after_mission_start
triggers and every frame (check interval 0) triggers.
If you have triggers that do not need to fire that close to mission start, adding something like
1 ( store_mission_timer_a , r e g 0 ) , ( gt , reg0 , <second−to−s t a r t −c h e c k i n g >) ,

to the conditions block will help ease the CPU load at mission start.
Neither ti_before_mission_start nor ti_after_mission start need "ti_once" in their re-arm delay
as they will only ever fire one time.
To summarize, at the start of a mission we have:

• ti_before_mission_start

• Spawning– (ti_on_agent_spawn)

• Time Begins–

• ti_after_mission_start & triggers with check intervals of "0" (which fire at a mission time of
approximately 0.2 seconds)

• Timed Triggers (still within the first 1 second of the mission)

• Event-based triggers

ti on item wielded is mp only349 Nah, I saw it in singleplayer mission templates too.

The problem is, for throwing weapons and with the ti_on_agent_hit trigger, the weapon can will
fly through people and hit multiple people.350 As always, one modder’s bug can be another modder’s
feature.
equivalent triggers351
rearms and delays at named triggers352 no delay and no rearm for specific triggers353 timed triggers
and event triggers (named triggers)354
348
It’s hard to spawn something in a scene if the scene itself doesn’t exist yet; cmpxchg8b, Modding Q&A.
349
Somebody, Modding Q&A.
350
SonKidd, Modding Q&A.
351
Caba‘drin, Modding Q&A.
352
cmpxchg8b, Modding Q&A.
353
Somebody, Modding Q&A, and kalarhan, Modding Q&A.
354
Vornne, Modding Q&A.

152
 trigger check interval355

5.4.3.6 Jumping from Mission Template to Mission Template356

There might come up a situation at your modding project at which you would like to switch from
a scene to another scene without any menu between. This could be because of the plot or story
driven basics of your mod or because you want to design a special scenario appears in the player’s
campaign. Now you cannot make a simply jump at the end of the mission template since after the
mission terminates, the game will send the players to the game menu that was first loaded when they
encountered the map party. For example if it was a town, they get booted back to the town menu.
At that point you could cause a new scene to be loaded.
The solution here is however to basically just move the “jump_mission“-operations to the condi-
tions block. Then the players can jump straight from one mission to another. For this, change your
triggers to look similar to the following example:
1 ( 1 , 6 0 , ti_once ,
2 [
3 ( store_mission_timer_a , r e g ( 1 ) ) ,
4 ( ge , r e g ( 1 ) , 1 0 ) ,
5 ( all_enemies_defeated , 2 ) ,
6 ( neg | main_hero_fallen ) ,
7 ( set_mission_result , 1 ) ,
8 ( a s s i g n , " $battle_won " , 1 )
9 ( set_jump_mission , " m t _ f o r c e _ c o n v e r s a t i o n " ) ,
10 ( a s s i g n , " $other_char " , " $other_char_win " ) ,
11 ( jump_to_scene , " $other_scene_win " ) ,
12 ( change_screen_mission ) ,
13 ] ,[]) ,
14
15 ( 1 , 4 , ti_once ,
16 [
17 ( main_hero_fallen )
18 ( set_jump_mission , " m t _ f o r c e _ c o n v e r s a t i o n " ) ,
19 ( a s s i g n , " $other_char " , " $ o t h e r _ c h a r _ l o s e " ) ,
20 ( jump_to_scene , " $ o t h e r _ s c e n e _ l o s e " ) ,
21 ( assign ," $player_lost " ,1) ,
22 ( change_screen_mission ) ,
23 ] ,[]) ,

355
kalarhan, Modding Q&A.
356
Based upon a discussion between fisheye, ex_ottoyuhr and silverkatana at the Modding Q&A.

153
5.4.3.7 Weather

Some weather info bits357

random rain at scene358
It can’t rain and snow at the same time359
multiplayer weather360
crossbows shoot bad at fog via engine?361
basic principles of using weather in a scene362
yellow fog instead of black363
low fog value probably due to yellow fog problem?364
weather stuff365
change skybox for scene (not sure if weather or mission template)366
paint skybox367
mp weather stuff368
weather in edit mode just for preview369
setting weather370
remove fog from scene371
Problems with fog372
global cloud amount sets fog too373
skyboxes daytime374
Darker nights375
Global cloud amount376
357
Caba‘drin, Modding Q&A.
358
Roemerboy, Modding Q&A.
359
Somebody, Modding Q&A.
360
Somebody, Modding Q&A
361
Somebody, Modding Q&A and Modding Q&A.
362
Abhuva, Nordous’ Sceners Guild.
363
Somebody, Modding Q&A.
364
Marko, Modding Q&A.
365
Sim00n (credit), Modding Q&A.
366
kalarhan, Modding Q&A.
367
kalarhan, Modding Q&A.
368
Namakan (credit), Modding Q&A, and _Sebastian_, Modding Q&A.
369
_Sebastian_, Modding Q&A.
370
_Sebastian_, Modding Q&A.
371
Dj_FRedy, Modding Q&A.
372
here and here.
373
Khamukkamu, Modding Q&A.
374
Ruthven, Modding Q&A.
375
Pitch, Modding Q&A.
376
cmpxchg8b, Modding Q&A.

154
5.4.3.8 Other notes

Maximum number of entry points per scene is 128, ranging from 0 to 127. You can however use some
unique scene props that could act as some sort of makeshift entry points.377
Formula used to calculate the number of agents a player gets at a battle’s start.378
ti_on_agent_dismount.379 ti on agent dismount fires when horse dies 380
, so at both381
add_visitors_to_current_scene and entry_point_set_position.382
Teams in Singleplayer383
Condition block check timing.384
mtf_battle_mode385
ti_on_leave_area and ti_on_player_exit386
Delay doesn’t work for named triggers but rearm works fine387
Teams count SP and MP.388 InVain also made some little test there, need to fetch note for that.
ti_on_agent_killed_or_wounded389
Bundle triggers (read comments along the whole page)390
Teams in SP391
Adding list of triggers392
Adding triggers to Mission template always at top.393
maximum number teams in mission394
ti on item dropped only mp395
entry point limit396
Some stuff explained already, check if all present397
377
Lumos, Warband Script Enhancer v3.2.0, and cmpxchg8b, Modding Q&A, Modding Q&A, Modding Q&A and
additional remark at Modding Q&A.
378
Caba‘drin, Modding Q&A.
379
Caba‘drin and dunde, Modding Q&A.
380
Caba‘drin and Mammoet, Modding Q&A.
381
Caba‘drin, Modding Q&A.
382
Vornne and dunde, Modding Q&A.
383
Caba‘drin, Modding Q&A.
384
GetAssista, Modding Q&A.
385
cmpxchg8b, Modding Q&A.
386
Caba‘drin and Somebody, Modding Q&A.
387
cmpxchg8b, Modding Q&A and Modding Q&A.
388
Somebody, Modding Q&A.
389
Caba‘drin, Modding Q&A.
390
Caba‘drin, Modding Q&A.
391
Caba‘drin, Modding Q&A.
392
Caba‘drin, Modding Q&A.
393
_Sebastian_, Modding Q&A.
394
dunde and Caba‘drin, Modding Q&A.
395
dunde, Modding Q&A.
396
Lumos, Modding Q&A.
397
Somebody, Modding Q&A.

155
 strange ai behaviour398
no consequences after trigger399
open questions about spawning agent400
entry points and entry number401
mt flags override player inventory402
mp end map403
how much time is it (add also to module triggers if not already)404
listing triggers405
bundle triggers406
some mission template stuff407
no delays for engine events408
hard-coded mission templates409
list of triggers410
entry points at mission templates411
additional teams remark412
prevent save or quicksave mid-scene413
entry point vs spawn record414
Characters remove helmets in conversations415
Override behaviour of some keys416
list of triggers417
scene_source flag418
398
Multiple discussions.
399
Swyter, Modding Q&A.
400
Lav, Modding Q&A.
401
Waldzios (credit), Modding Q&A.
402
Lav, Modding Q&A.
403
Ikaguia, Modding Q&A.
404
The_dragon, Modding Q&A.
405
Somebody, Modding Q&A.
406
kalarhan, Modding Q&A.
407
kalarhan, Modding Q&A.
408
_Sebastian_, Modding Q&A.
409
kalarhan, Modding Q&A.
410
kalarhan, Modding Q&A.
411
Khamukkamu and kalarhan, Modding Q&A.
412
Vornne, Modding Q&A.
413
kalarhan, Modding Q&A.
414
kalarhan, Modding Q&A.
415
kalarhan, Modding Q&A.
416
kalarhan, Modding Q&A.
417
kalarhan, Modding Q&A.
418
need to reread, Strange "set_visitor" error.

156
 charge flag419
Scene source people never wear hats?420
Entry points limit421
Working around 127 event limit422

419
nijis and bryce777 (credit), Breaking the random encounter scene spawnpoints.
420
Yoshiboy, NPCs not wearing hats.
421
cmpxchg8b, [WB] Warband Script Enhancer v3.2.0.
422
cmpxchg8b, [WB] Warband Script Enhancer v3.2.0.

157
5.4.4 Flora Kinds

Compiling the file423

compiling data files424

5.4.5 Skyboxes

425
format skyboxes,
Also, is it possible to alter the worldmap skybox so it changes with the time like in battles?
It is kind of possible, you have to create a party with the sky box for the mesh and have a trigger
that constantly makes it re-locate to the player party. The problem with this is that it disappears
when the player party is not in view. Essentially going back to normal. You can then switch this
party for different times of day.
Last Question at thread here

423
kalarhan, Modding Q&A.
424
Dj_FRedy, Modding Q&A.
425
Yoshiboy, Data folder modular.

158
5.5 Map-related Module System Files

5.5.1 Module Map Icons

1 Each map i c o n r e c o r d c o n t a i n s t h e f o l l o w i n g f i e l d s :
2 1 ) Map i c o n i d : used f o r r e f e r e n c i n g map i c o n s i n o t h e r f i l e s .
3 The p r e f i x icon_ i s a u t o m a t i c a l l y added b e f o r e each map i c o n i d .
4 2 ) Map i c o n f l a g s . See header_map i c o n s . py f o r a l i s t o f a v a i l a b l e f l a g s
5 3 ) Mesh name , f o r N a t i v e they can be found i n t h e b r f f i l e s map_icon_meshes ,
map_icons_b , and map_icons_c
6 4) Scale .
7 5 ) Sound .
8 6) O f f s e t x p o s i t i o n f o r the f l a g icon .
9 7) O f f s e t y p o s i t i o n f o r the f l a g icon .
10 8) O f f s e t z p o s i t i o n f o r the f l a g icon .

module_map_icons.py begins with two constants that are used to govern the scale of the map
’avatars’ and banners which we see in-game.
1 banner_scale = 0.3
2 avatar_scale = 0.15

They are pretty much self-explanatory. Editing the value at banner_scale rescales the size of the
banners and the value at avatar_scale accordingly the size of the ’avatars’ at the world map. You
will see those constants getting used at the entries of the map icons, to avoid making accidentally
some misstake at copy pasting the numbers. You are free to add new constants there, fitting to your
purposes. Hereinafter you will find the following lines:
1 map_icons = [
2 (" player " , 0 , " player " , avatar_scale , snd_footstep_grass , 0 . 1 5 , 0.173 , 0) ,
3 ( " player_horseman " , 0 , " player_horseman " , a v a t a r _ s c a l e , snd_gallop , 0 . 1 5 , 0 . 1 7 3 ,
0) ,
4 ( " gray_knight " , 0 , " knight_a " , a v a t a r _ s c a l e , snd_gallop , 0 . 1 5 , 0 . 1 7 3 , 0 ) ,
5 ( " v a e g i r _ k n i g h t " , 0 , " knight_b " , a v a t a r _ s c a l e , snd_gallop , 0 . 1 5 , 0 . 1 7 3 , 0 ) ,
6 ...

Taking again the first tuple ("player ",0," player", avatar_scale, snd_footstep_grass, 0.15, 0.173, 0), as exam-
ple of observation:
1 1 ) name o f t h e i c o n = " p l a y e r "
2 2) icon f l a g s = 0
3 3 ) Mesh name = " p l a y e r "
4 4 ) Mesh s c a l e = a v a t a r _ s c a l e

159
5 5 ) sound i d = s n d _ f o o t s t e p _ g r a s s
6 6 ) Flag o f f s e t x = 0 . 1 5
7 7 ) Flag o f f s e t y = 0 . 1 7 3
8 6 ) Flag o f f s e t z = 0

The player icon has no icon flag and is using the mesh “player“ as visual. The mesh is scaled down
to the constant avatar_scale which has been defined before as 15 percent. While the icon is moving
on the world map the sound footstep_grass is getting played.
Take note that sounds entered in tuple field 5) need to be set up as well in module_sounds.py.
Be also aware that multi-meshing is not possible at map icons. You can however have multiple static
parties in one location (like bridges), with only one of them being e.g. the city itself.426
There is a limit of 256 map icons hardcoded into the game engine. Most modders get around this
by condensing the hundreds of flag icons into heraldic ones.427 While the limit of 256 map icons is
getting applied by the operation party_set_icon too, modders who seek an 256+ range can also
make use of the operations party_set_banner_icon and party_set_extra_icon which are also
working for 256+ map icons.428

5.5.1.1 Map Icon Flags

mcn_no_shadow prevents that the respective map icon casts a shadow.

5.5.1.2 Map Icon Trigger

ti_on_init_map_icon will run if a map icon is initialized. Trigger Parameter 1 is the ID of the
Party whose map icon was just initialized.

426
Multiple people, Modding Q&A.
427
Somebody, Modding Q&A. Of good use here is the FISH&CHIP OSP - Heraldry&Retexturing Unleashed by Lav.
428
Burspa, Mount & Blade Modding Discord.

160
5.5.2 Module Parties

1 Each p a r t y r e c o r d c o n t a i n s t h e f o l l o w i n g f i e l d s :
2 1 ) Party i d : used f o r r e f e r e n c i n g p a r t i e s i n o t h e r f i l e s .
3 The p r e f i x p_ i s a u t o m a t i c a l l y added b e f o r e each p a r t y i d .
4 2 ) Party name . This i s t h e party ’ s name a s i t w i l l appear in−game . Can be a s
d i f f e r e n t from t h e party−i d a s you l i k e .
5 3 ) Party f l a g s . See h e a d e r _ p a r t i e s . py f o r a l i s t o f a v a i l a b l e f l a g s . The f i r s t
f l a g o f e v e r y p a r t y o b j e c t must be t h e i c o n t h a t t h i s p a r t y w i l l u s e g i v e n
t h a t you have not s e t t h e f l a g p f _ d i s a b l e d .
6 4 ) Menu . ID o f t h e menu t o u s e when t h i s p a r t y i s met . The v a l u e 0 ( t h e c o n s t a n t
no_menu i s 0 ) u s e s t h e d e f a u l t p a r t y e n c o u n t e r system .
7 5 ) Party−t e m p l a t e . ID o f t h e p a r t y t e m p l a t e t h i s p a r t y b e l o n g s t o . Use pt_none a s
the d e f a u l t value .
8 6 ) F a c t i o n . This can be any e n t r y from m o d u l e _ f a c t i o n s . py .
9 7 ) P e r s o n a l i t y . See h e a d e r _ p a r t i e s . py f o r an e x p l a n a t i o n o f p e r s o n a l i t y f l a g s .
10 8 ) AI−b e h a v i o r . How t h e AI p a r t y w i l l a c t on t h e world map .
11 9 ) AI−t a r g e t p a r t y . The AI−beh avio ur ’ s t a r g e t .
12 1 0 ) I n i t i a l c o o r d i n a t e s . The party ’ s s t a r t i n g c o o r d i n a t e s on t h e o v e r l a n d map ; X,
Y.
13 1 1 ) L i s t o f s t a c k s . Each s t a c k r e c o r d i s a t r i p l e t h a t c o n t a i n s t h e f o l l o w i n g
fields :
14 1 1 . 1 ) Troop−i d . This can be any r e g u l a r o r h e r o t r o o p from module_troops . py .
15 1 1 . 2 ) Number o f t r o o p s i n t h i s s t a c k ; d o e s not vary . The number you i n p u t h e r e
i s t h e number o f t r o o p s t h e town w i l l have .
16 1 1 . 3 ) Member f l a g s . O p t i o n a l . Use pmf_is_prisoner t o n o t e t h a t t h i s member i s a
prisoner .
17 Note : There can be a t most 6 s t a c k s .
18 1 2 ) Party d i r e c t i o n i n d e g r e e s [ o p t i o n a l ]

At the beginning of the file module_parties.py you will see some constants declarations. They can
make repeated flags a lot easier to enter. You are again free to add there your own constants.
1 no_menu = 0
2 #pf_town = p f _ i s _ s t a t i c | p f _ a l w a y s _ v i s i b l e | p f _ h i d e _ d e f e n d e r s | pf_show_faction
3 pf_town = p f _ i s _ s t a t i c | p f _ a l w a y s _ v i s i b l e | pf_show_faction | p f _ l a b e l _ l a r g e
4 p f _ c a s t l e = p f _ i s _ s t a t i c | p f _ a l w a y s _ v i s i b l e | pf_show_faction | pf_label_medium
5 p f _ v i l l a g e = pf_is_static | pf_always_visible | pf_hide_defenders | pf_label_small

First, Understand that parties can be anything that you come in contact with on the map. These
can be traveling groups or stationary villiages, towns or other locations of your own design. One
key to parties is that an encounter is triggered when two or more parties meet. In general, static

161
parties are those found in module_parties.py, like the usual towns, castles and villages on Native
and dynamic parties are those created using a party template in party_templates.py. The static ones
can be enabled and disabled - think of a town that is visible as active. They all have a known ID.
The dynamic parties on the other hand can be created and destroyed. Every new spawned or created
party gets a new ID as an unique identifier. Thus you need to check if a certain ID is still valid,
controlling for if that dynamic party is still around or was already destroyed.
Let’s look at an example of a party. If you scroll down a bit you will come to the tuple
1 ( " town_1 " , " S a r g o t h " , icon_town | pf_town , no_menu , pt_none , f a c _ n e u t r a l , 0 ,
ai_bhvr_hold , 0 , ( − 1 . 5 5 , 6 6 . 4 5 ) , [ ] , 1 7 0 ) ,

This tuple places the town of Sargoth on the map. Sargoth’s various qualities are set in the appropriate
fields which can be broken down as follows:
1 1 ) Party−i d = "town_1"
2 2 ) Party name = " S a r g o t h "
3 3 ) Party f l a g s = icon_town | pf_town
4 4 ) Menu = no_menu
5 5 ) Party−t e m p l a t e = pt_none
6 6 ) Party f a c t i o n = f a c _ n e u t r a l
7 7 ) Party p e r s o n a l i t y = 0
8 8 ) AI−b e h a v i o u r = ai_bhvr_hold
9 9 ) AI−t a r g e t p a r t y = 0
10 1 0 ) I n i t i a l c o o r d i n a t e s = ( −1.55 , 6 6 . 4 5 )
11 1 1 ) L i s t o f t r o o p s t a c k s = [ ] ( None )
12 1 2 ) Party d i r e c t i o n = 170

The field 4) is deprecated, which means that it’s outdated and no longer used. As of M&B version
0.730, this field has no effect whatsoever in the game. Instead the script game_event_party_encounter
is getting called from the game engine whenever the player party encounters another party or a battle
on the world map. The same applies at field 4) in module_party_templates.py.
When adding an own town, castle or village take note: In the case of module_parties.py and
certain other module files, you should not add your new towns at the bottom of the list. There will
be comments in these files warning you about doing this, as it can break operations in the native
code. In module_parties.py, it is recommended that you add for example any new towns between
"town_1" and "castle_1". This is defined in the module_constants.py. Look up there the defined ranges
for the different categories of map icons. Towns, villages and castles get usually added as neutral
since they are getting assigned to a faction and a lord at game_start.

162
5.5.2.1 Checking of Coordinates at World Map

The 10th field of the tuple requires valid coordinates from your side. Ingame, with Edit Mode on
and “Show framerate“ ticked from the launcher, you will get the coordinates of the player’s party
("p_main_party") displayed at the top-left corner when pressing Ctrl+E.429 The coordinates end up
in the top left in green colour right under the framerate counter. If you don’t have a “Terrain“ button
at the bottom left next to “Camp“ you are probably not in Edit Mode.430 Turn on cheat mode, too,
and ctrl-click to any point on the map to get the coordinates.
An alternative is to use of the operation (party_get_position) as follows:
1 ( s e t _ f i x e d _ p o i n t _ m u l t i p l i e r , <p r e c i s i o n >) ,
2 ( p a r t y _ g e t _ p o s i t i o n , pos1 , "p_main_party " ) ,
3 ( position_get_x , reg1 , pos1 ) ,
4 ( position_get_y , reg2 , pos1 ) ,
5 ( display_message , " @Player i s a t ( { r e g 1 } , { r e g 2 } ) " ) ,

Use whatever value you want as <precision> - popular values are 100 and 1000. If you use 1, then
you are using the base distance units. On the global map that is the distance that a party with speed
of 1.0 traverses in 1 second.431 Another scripting approach is the following432 :
1 cmenu_locate = 10

1 ( " game_context_menu_get_buttons " ,

2 [
3 ( store_script_param , " : party_no " , 1 ) ,
4 ( context_menu_add_item , "@Where am I ? " , cmenu_locate ) ,
5 ( try_begin ) ,
6 ( neq , " : party_no " , "p_main_party " ) ,
7 ( context_menu_add_item , "@Move h e r e " , cmenu_move ) ,
8 ( try_end ) ,
9 ...
10 ( " game_event_context_menu_button_clicked " ,
11 [ ( store_script_param , " : party_no " , 1 ) ,
12 ( store_script_param , " : button_value " , 2 ) ,
13 ( try_begin ) ,
14 ( eq , " : button_value " , cmenu_center_note ) ,
15 ( change_screen_notes , 3 , " : party_no " ) ,
16 ( else_try ) ,
17 ( eq , " : button_value " , cmenu_locate ) ,
429
Caba‘drin, Modding Q&A, and Ikaguia, Modding Q&A.
430
kt0, Modding Q&A.
431
Lav, Modding Q&A.
432
Somebody, Modding Q&A.

163
18 ( p a r t y _ g e t _ p o s i t i o n , pos1 , " : party_no " ) ,
19 ( str_store_party_name , s1 , " : party_no " ) ,
20 ( position_get_x , reg1 , pos1 ) ,
21 ( position_get_y , reg2 , pos1 ) ,
22 ( display_message , "@{ s 1 } i s a t x : { r e g 1 } , y : { r e g 2 } " ) ,

One more way to get a location on the map is to hold down the Z key in Thorgrim’s Map Editor,
and move the cursor over the map. When you release the z key the location is also copied into the
clipboard so you can paste it into a python script or whatever you need it for.433 It is also possible
to just make all changes in the map editor, save it so it updates the parties.txt, and then use either
HokieBT’s UpdateModuleParties or kt0’s Party Script to copy the coordinates back to your python
code.434

5.5.2.2 Party Flags

pf_disabled hides the party at the world map, used for bandit spawnpoints or temporary parties
for example. Locations still show up in the factions list though. Scripts and try_for_parties
loops still see it.

pf_is_ship enables the party to travel on water. Passable terrains are: rt_water, rt_river and
rt_bridge.

pf_is_static marks a party which will not move, like locations for example.

pf_label_small assigns a small label to that party, used for villages for example.

pf_label_medium assigns a medium label to that party, used for castles for example.

pf_label_large assigns a large label to that party, used for towns for example.

pf_always_visible makes villages, castles and towns always visible on the worldmap (to the player
sight, AI parties won’t bother the flag)435 . Otherwise the player only sees that party within
spotting range.

pf_default_behavior (?) unknown, up for research.

pf_auto_remove_in_town disbands travelling parties after reaching a town. Used for caravans,
a group of survivors after a battle (running away to a secure location/routed), a messenger,
etc.
433
Thorgrim, Modding Q&A with reference to Thorgrim’s Map Editor.
434
HokieBT, Modding Q&A.
435
dunde, Modding Q&A.

164
pf_quest_party used for the player party main_party via scripts. Setting it to 1 tells the game
that the player is on a quest. You can set it back to 0 if the quest gets canceled. Used for the
tutorial and new game quest chain. (Not sure if still up to date)

pf_no_label hides the party name at the world map.

pf_limit_members marks that the party size is restricted according to the leadership skill of the
leader of the party. In Native only used for the player party. This flag works for any party and
you can remove this from player party to disable the cap. The operation add_companion_party
sets this flag to a spawned party. The flag will get ignored when using the operations par-
ty_force_add_members and party_force_add_prisoners.

pf_hide_defenders hides the garrison numbers on the world map.

pf_show_faction shows the faction name of a party, without this flag the party will appear like
looters and manhunters.

pf_is_hidden commented out flag; used in the engine, do not overwrite this flag!

pf_dont_attack_civilians prevents that this party can attack parties with the flag pf_civilian.

pf_civilian marks a party as civilian so that parties with the flag pf_dont_attack_civilians are
not attacking it.

pmf_is_prisoner is a party member flag which turns the selected troop into a prisoner when
getting added to the party via entry field 12).

carries_goods(x) used for slowing down the party, the higher x the bigger the slow down. The
factor x gets multiplied with the factor 50, the result gives the additional weight the party has
to carry. This flag does not cause additional loot. The engine contains following formula:
1 f l o a t t o t a l W e i g h t = ( ( m_flags & pf_carry_goods_mask ) >> pf_carry_goods_bits
) ∗ 50.0 f ;

Not sure if and how useable the two upfollowing flags are. They are most probably unused by the
engine.

pf_carry_gold_multiplier defines the multiplicator effect for carries_gold(x).

carries_gold(x) unused by the engine.

165
5.5.2.3 Party Speed436

Party speed is how fast a party moves on the map. It is affected by many factors, including morale,
the party’s highest Pathfinding skill, the amount of units in a party which are mounted, prisoners, the
terrain, day and night cycle, inventory items (e.g., iron) and weather. Some troops can be marked with
the flag tf_mounted which enables that these troops’ movement speeds on the map are determined
by their riding skill even though they fight on foot, such as Hired Blades. Morale is one of the simplest
factors in the equation, as it can be increased through the Leadership skill, food variety, a smaller
party size, and positive recent events such as winning battles.
Weight accumulated from inventory items, particularly trade goods437 , can significantly slow a
party down. This is also where the flag carries_goods(x) gets important. Some of the encumbering
effects of trade goods can be counteracted by having spare horses in the inventory which will act
as pack animals and carry the trade goods for the player. The type of horse is irrelevant. However,
horses themselves also slow you down, so filling your inventory with horses will result in a negative
effect. The speed penalty for larger party sizes is also unaffected by extra horses in the inventory.
For the exact formule check subchapter 7.3.1, World Map Speed Formula.

5.5.2.4 AI-Behaviour Settings

ai_bhvr_hold lets a party stand completely still on the world map, given that the party’s faction
is neutral with every other faction.

ai_bhvr_travel_to_party gives the party a predetermined travel destination. The party doesn’t
disappear when reaching its destination (just like caravans don’t) but turns invisible, and there
is no party encounter you can pick up in code or dialogs.

ai_bhvr_patrol_location lets a party patrol around a predetermined area, like Steppe Bandits
in Native.

ai_bhvr_patrol_party lets a party patrol around a predetermined other party, like Steppe Ban-
dits in Native.

ai_bhvr_track_party deprecated, use the alias ai_bhvr_attack_party instead.

ai_bhvr_attack_party lets a party attack a predetermined other party.

ai_bhvr_avoid_party lets a party avoid a predetermined other party.

436
Working in the informations given in the thread Map speed/pack animals, Trade skill and town relations tested by
Sicnarf and for some clear descriptions from the page Party speed of the Mount&Blade Wiki Fandom.
437
The weight of weapons and armouries has appearantly no effect on the party speed.

166
ai_bhvr_travel_to_point gives the party a predetermined position on the world map as travel
destination.

ai_bhvr_negotiate_party (?) unknown, up4research.

ai_bhvr_in_town gives the information that a party is in a town.

ai_bhvr_travel_to_ship (?) unknown, up4research. Gives the party a predetermined travel des-
tination which is a ship?

ai_bhvr_escort_party lets the party escort a predetermined other party.

ai_bhvr_driven_by_party drives this party by a predetermined other party. Used in Native for
the cattle herd quest.

5.5.2.5 Maximum Number of Stacks438

While there can be at most 6 stacks in the party tuple you can add up to 255 stacks via scripts
after template is spawned via the operations party_add_members, party_add_prisoners or the
forced versions of them. if you open the party screen with change_screen operations you will have
a scrollable list but it obviously wouldn’t fit in global map tooltip. There you see at maximum 32
party member stacks which have been the old limit. The old limit explains also another bug which
you might have encountered or will encounter: It doesn’t save the upgrades of 33+ stacks. To save
them you need to manually move them higher than 32th position which can get annoying at times.

5.5.2.6 Experience Constants

Take note that two constants are getting declared in header_parties.py which influence the outcome
of various scripts, the so called experience constants
1 p l a y e r _ l o o t _ s h a r e = 10
2 hero_loot_share = 3

They are getting called in the script calculate_main_party_shares, player_loot_share additio-

nally in the scripts party_calculate_loot and party_give_xp_and_gold, so they influence expe-
rience, gold and loot after a battle.

5.5.2.7 Fiefs’ Association with each other

The game uses the slot ßlot_village_bound_center" to determine which fiefs are associated with
each other. When you start a new game the script "game_start" does all the setup, which includes
438
Conversation of Dalion and Earendil, Mount & Blade Modding Discord.

167
the distribution of villages to towns and castles. The Native rule is that each castle gets assigned one
village, while towns can have several villages. It uses the distance to a center to choose who belongs
to who. Search for the abovementioned slot on module_scripts.py to see the code.439
These are the Native rules, yours can be whatever you want them to be. The economy, recruiting,
caravan transport, production of goods, prosperity of center, etc. are all defined on the Module
System. If you want to remove/replace/do something else you will need to edit the respective code.
It is not an easy “edit this line of code“, it is more like “edit this 100 lines of code spread on 50
different places and files“, so that means you need some level of experience with coding MaBL and
testing your features first. Instead of using Native you can alternatively use an Open Source mod
that already does that as your base.440

5.5.2.8 Other Notes

Note slot number, function of higher ones?441

Party and Lord AI (chapter about AI?)442
city assignment overwrites faction assignment at parties (remark)443
carries goods444
party initiative445
party flags446

439
kalarhan, Modding Q&A.
440
kalarhan, Modding Q&A.
441
Lumos, Modding Q&A.
442
Lav, Modding Q&A.
443
Fire_and_Blood, Modding Q&A.
444
Ikaguia, Modding Q&A.
445
kalarhan, Modding Q&A.
446
kalarhan, Modding Q&A.

168
5.5.3 Module Party Templates

1 Each p a r t y t e m p l a t e r e c o r d c o n t a i n s t h e f o l l o w i n g f i e l d s :
2 1 ) Party−t e m p l a t e i d : used f o r r e f e r e n c i n g party−t e m p l a t e s i n o t h e r f i l e s .
3 The p r e f i x pt_ i s a u t o m a t i c a l l y added b e f o r e each party−t e m p l a t e i d .
4 2 ) Party−t e m p l a t e name .
5 3 ) Party f l a g s . See h e a d e r _ p a r t i e s . py f o r a l i s t o f a v a i l a b l e f l a g s
6 4 ) Menu . ID o f t h e menu t o u s e when t h i s p a r t y i s met . The v a l u e 0 u s e s t h e
d e f a u l t p a r t y e n c o u n t e r system .
7 5) Faction
8 6 ) P e r s o n a l i t y . See h e a d e r _ p a r t i e s . py f o r an e x p l a n a t i o n o f p e r s o n a l i t y f l a g s .
9 7 ) L i s t o f s t a c k s . Each s t a c k r e c o r d i s a t u p l e t h a t c o n t a i n s t h e f o l l o w i n g f i e l d s
:
10 7 . 1 ) Troop−i d .
11 7 . 2 ) Minimum number o f t r o o p s i n t h e s t a c k .
12 7 . 3 ) Maximum number o f t r o o p s i n t h e s t a c k .
13 7 . 4 ) Member f l a g s ( o p t i o n a l ) . Use pmf_is_prisoner t o n o t e t h a t t h i s member i s a
prisoner .
14 Note : There can be a t most 6 s t a c k s .

The file module_party_templates.py begins with the usual Python list: party_templates = [, fol-
lowed by several templates that are hardwired into the game and should not be edited. You’ll notice
that the tuples in module_party_templates.py are very similar to those in module_parties.py, but
the two are not interchangeable. Look for example at the following party template:
1 ( " v i l l a g e _ f a r m e r s " , " V i l l a g e Farmers " , i c o n _ p e a s a n t | p f _ c i v i l i a n , 0 , f a c _ i n n o c e n t s ,
m e r c h a n t _ p e r s o n a l i t y , [ ( trp_farmer , 5 , 1 0 ) , ( trp_peasant_woman , 3 , 8 ) ] ) ,

It is a template which we all have encountered in-game. Parties of this template will be called
"farmers", they are marked as civilians, they will behave cowardly in-game, and each of them has
two troop stacks made up of farmers and peasant women. Breaking down the tuple fields yields:
1 1 ) Party−t e m p l a t e i d = " v i l l a g e _ f a r m e r s "
2 2 ) Party−t e m p l a t e name = " V i l l a g e Farmers "
3 3 ) Party f l a g s = icon_peasant , p f _ c i v i l i a n
4 4 ) Menu = 0
5 5) Faction = fac_innocents
6 6) P e r s o n a l i t y = merchant_personality
7 7) L i s t of s t a c k s :
8 7 . 1 ) Troop−i d = trp_farmer , trp_peasant_woman
9 7 . 2 ) Minimum number o f t r o o p s i n t h e s t a c k = 5 f a r m e r s , 3 p e a s a n t women
10 7 . 3 ) Maximum number o f t r o o p s i n t h e s t a c k = 10 f a r m e r s , 8 p e a s a n t women
11 7 . 4 ) Member f l a g s ( o p t i o n a l ) = None a r e s e t .

169
Keep in mind that there can be at most six different troop stacks in a party template (the same is
valid for a party declared in module_parties.py).
Parties are not to be confused with party templates. In the simplest terms, party templates are a
set of guidelines from which parties on the map are spawned. This marks the most notable difference
between parties and party templates - parties are unique entities on the map, whereas templates do
not physically exist in the game world. They serve only as a list of guidelines from which to spawn
parties. Therefore, certain operations that use a party_id for input will not work when they are fed
a party_template_id.
Parties that are spawned from a template do not have to be unique. There can be many parties
of the same template; each will have a random number of troops depending on the player’s level and
the minimum or maximum troop limits defined in the template.
If you’ve followed the documentation since the beginning, you should be fairly adept at reading
tuples by this point and you will have noticed the one field in this tuple that’s unlike any other field
we’ve encountered before: Field number 6, the Personality flags field.

5.5.3.1 Personality

As mentioned in the tuple breakdown, the Personality field determines party behaviour on the map.
Here you can assign custom scores for Courage and Aggressiveness, or use one of the preset perso-
nalities such as merchant_personality. These presets are constants, each containing a Courage and
an Aggressiveness score. The presets are all defined in header_parties.py, so you can open that file
now and scroll to the bottom to see the constant definitions for yourself. You find them also listed
hereinafter. There you will also notice the list of possible Courage and Aggressiveness settings.
The constant merchant_personality is used in many templates throughout the file. Parties with
this personality will be friendly, they will not go out to attack the enemy or raid weaker parties.
This is because merchant_personality sets the party’s Aggressiveness to aggresiveness_0. A party
with aggresiveness_0 will never attack another party, whereas normal combative parties with the
preset soldier_personality will have aggresiveness_8. This will let them attack other parties if the
attackers’ faction is on bad terms with the defenders’ faction, and if the would-be attackers aren’t
badly outnumbered.
Courage is the score that determines when parties will run away from another, larger party. Higher
Courage means they will be less quick to turn away when the numbers aren’t entirely favorable.
merchant_personality parties have a Courage of 8, where soldier_personality have a Courage of 11.
These settings scale from 0 to 15, allowing you to precisely set the desired behavior for your party

170
templates. New modders, however, are recommended to stick with the presets. They cover the full
range of personalities you should need for your first mod.
Finally, for bandit templates, there is the flag banditness. This causes the bandit party to con-
stantly consider other nearby parties as prey, and if the prey is carrying significant amounts of gold
and/or trade goods, the bandit party will attack. Ideally, a bandit party should have low aggres-
siveness or low troop numbers so that it does not attack soldier parties. NOTE: You may not see
the banditness flag directly used at party templates but it is listed in headers_parties.py as part of
bandit_personality.
The exact functionality of aggressiveness/courage scores (as well as things like ’banditness’) on
whether parties will approach one another or run away is hard-coded and can therefore not be altered,
as is the pathfinding of AI parties.447
List of available settings:

courage_x The lowest courage level x for a party is 4, extremely cowardly, it will run away from
much smaller enemy parties. A level of 8 signifies a party with neutral courage. A party with
a courage level of 15 is extremly brace and will be willing to fight much larger enemy parties.

aggressiveness_x The lowest aggressiveness level x for a party is 0, unaggressive, it will never
actively attack another party. On the contrary, a party with an aggressiveness level of 15 is
extremely aggressive.

banditness

Following predefined personality constants are given, you are free to add your own behind them.
1 s o l d i e r _ p e r s o n a l i t y = a g g r e s s i v e n e s s _ 8 | courage_9
2 m e r c h a n t _ p e r s o n a l i t y = a g g r e s s i v e n e s s _ 0 | courage_7
3 e s c o r t e d _ m e r c h a n t _ p e r s o n a l i t y = a g g r e s s i v e n e s s _ 0 | courage_11
4 bandit_personality = a g g r e s s i v e n e s s _ 3 | courage_8 | b a n d i t n e s s

5.5.3.2 Creating a New Party Template

You can of course create new party templates. For easiest insurance that they will be used correctly,
define a new slot_faction_reinforcements_YOURLETTER slot in module_constants.py. Populate
it then in the script “initialize_faction_troop_types“ with the others and call it in the appropriate
reinforcement scripts. A quick search for slot_faction_reinforcements_a in module_scripts.py will
show you the places you need to edit. There are not many, and other than declaring the slot in
constants and creating the new template(s), that is the only file that needs editing by you.448
447
Caba‘drin, Modding Q&A.
448
Caba‘drin, Modding Q&A.

171
5.5.4 Ground Specs

map textures and the scene textures

world terrain stuff?449
ground specs, green tint on large sceneprops (not sure yet where to put that)450

449
Yoshiboy, Data folder modular.
450
Docm30, Modding Q&A, and Lumos, Modding Q&A.

172
5.6 UI-related Module System Files

5.6.1 Module Info Pages

1 Each q u e s t r e c o r d c o n t a i n s t h e f o l l o w i n g f i e l d s :
2 1 ) I n f o page i d : used f o r r e f e r e n c i n g i n f o p a g e s i n o t h e r f i l e s . The p r e f i x ip_ i s
a u t o m a t i c a l l y added b e f o r e each i n f o page i d .
3 2 ) I n f o page name : Name d i s p l a y e d i n t h e i n f o page s c r e e n .

module_info_pages contains informations about morale, economy, courtship, politics, character

backgrounds and military campaigns which the player can open up at the World Map by clicking
“Notes“ and then “Game Concepts“. The character limit for entries is 2^14 = 16384. Forward slashes \
don’t count as characters because they are not displayed in game, they serve only for easier editing
purposes in the .py file, ^ characters do count though.451

451
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5.6.2 Module Dialogs

1 During a d i a l o g , t h e d i a l o g l i n e s a r e scanned from top t o bottom .

2 I f t h e d i a l o g −l i n e i s spoken by t h e p l a y e r , a l l t h e matching l i n e s a r e d i s p l a y e d
f o r t h e p l a y e r t o p i c k from .
3 I f t h e d i a l o g −l i n e i s spoken by another , t h e f i r s t ( top−most ) matching l i n e i s
selected .
4
5 Each d i a l o g l i n e c o n t a i n s t h e f o l l o w i n g f i e l d s :
6 1 ) D i a l o g u e p a r t n e r : This s h o u l d match t h e p e r s o n p l a y e r i s t a l k i n g t o .
7 U s u a l l y t h i s i s a troop −i d .
8 You can a l s o u s e a party−template −i d by appending ’ | party_tpl ’ t o t h i s f i e l d .
9 Use t h e c o n s t a n t ’ anyone ’ i f you ’ d l i k e t h e l i n e t o match anybody .
10 Appending ’ | p l y r ’ t o t h i s f i e l d means t h a t t h e a c t u a l l i n e i s spoken by t h e
player
11 Appending ’ | o t h e r ( troop_id ) ’ means t h a t t h i s l i n e i s spoken by a t h i r d p e r s o n
on t h e s c e n e .
12 ( You must make s u r e t h a t t h i s t h i r d p e r s o n i s p r e s e n t on t h e s c e n e )
13 2 ) S t a r t i n g d i a l o g −s t a t e :
14 During a d i a l o g t h e r e ’ s always an a c t i v e Dialog −s t a t e .
15 A d i a l o g −l i n e ’ s s t a r t i n g d i a l o g s t a t e must be t h e same a s t h e a c t i v e d i a l o g
s t a t e , f o r t h e l i n e t o be a p o s s i b l e c a n d i d a t e .
16 I f t h e d i a l o g i s s t a r t e d by meeting a p a r t y on t h e map , i n i t i a l l y , t h e a c t i v e
dialog state is " start "
17 I f t h e d i a l o g i s s t a r t e d by s p e a k i n g t o an NPC i n a town , i n i t i a l l y , t h e a c t i v e
dialog state is " start "
18 I f t h e d i a l o g i s s t a r t e d by h e l p i n g a p a r t y d e f e a t a n o t h e r party , i n i t i a l l y ,
the a c t i v e d i a l o g s t a t e i s " party_relieved "
19 I f t h e d i a l o g i s s t a r t e d by l i b e r a t i n g a p r i s o n e r , i n i t i a l l y , t h e a c t i v e d i a l o g
state is " prisoner_liberated "
20 I f t h e d i a l o g i s s t a r t e d by d e f e a t i n g a p a r t y l e d by a hero , i n i t i a l l y , t h e
a c t i v e d i a l o g s t a t e i s " enemy_defeated "
21 I f t h e d i a l o g i s s t a r t e d by a t r i g g e r , i n i t i a l l y , t h e a c t i v e d i a l o g s t a t e i s "
event_triggered "
22 3 ) C o n d i t i o n s b l o c k ( l i s t ) : This must be a v a l i d o p e r a t i o n b l o c k . See
h e a d e r _ o p e r a t i o n s . py f o r r e f e r e n c e .
23 4 ) D i a l o g Text ( s t r i n g ) :
24 5 ) Ending d i a l o g −s t a t e :
25 I f a d i a l o g l i n e i s pi cked , t h e a c t i v e d i a l o g −s t a t e w i l l become t h e p i c k e d l i n e
’ s e n d i n g d i a l o g −s t a t e .
26 6 ) Consequences b l o c k ( l i s t ) : This must be a v a l i d o p e r a t i o n b l o c k . See
h e a d e r _ o p e r a t i o n s . py f o r r e f e r e n c e .

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27 7 ) Voice−o v e r ( s t r i n g ) : sound f i l e n a m e f o r t h e v o i c e o v e r . Leave h e r e empty f o r no
voice over

In this Subchapter we will be examining module_dialogs.py, by far the largest file in the module
system and one of the most important, as it contains all dialogue in Mount&Blade. Any new dialogue
that you wish to create will go into this file. Understand that this file is read from top to bottom
each time a dialog is started. When the criteria for a tuple is met, then it will be executed.
The module_dialog.py file is a bit more complex than it used to be. Looking at the first few
tuples, you will see that the target “anyone“ is used with the various start-dialog states (explained
later). There conditions are getting checked and registries, string registries and global variables set.
What may seem odd is that each one’s dialog text states that the dialog is not displayed. These
dialogs set up these pieces of information to be used further down in the file. This way, these code
blocks only need to be typed in once, not in every conversation.
If the dialog partner does not fit the criteria for that tuple, then it is skipped. This makes it easier
for you to add new generic NPCs, village elders, etc. without having to worry about setting their
conversations. Take a quick look at one of them near the top:
1 dialogs = [
2 [ anyone , " s t a r t " , [ ( s t o r e _ c o n v e r s a t i o n _ t r o o p , " $g_talk_troop " ) ,
3 ( s t o r e _ c o n v e r s a t i o n _ a g e n t , " $g_talk_agent " ) ,
4 ( s t o r e _ t r o o p _ f a c t i o n , " $ g _ t a l k _ t r o o p _ f a c t i o n " , " $g_talk_troop
") ,
5 # ( t r o o p _ g e t _ s l o t , " $ g _ t a l k _ t r o o p _ r e l a t i o n " , " $g_talk_troop " ,
slot_troop_player_relation ) ,
6 ( call_script , " script_troop_get_player_relation " , "
$g_talk_troop " ) ,
7 ( assign , " $g_talk_troop_relation " , reg0 ) ,
8 ...
9 ( try_begin ) ,
10 ( this_or_next | is_between , " $g_talk_troop " ,
village_elders_begin , village_elders_end ) ,
11 ( is_between , " $g_talk_troop " , mayors_begin , mayors_end ) ,
12 ( party_g et_slot , " $ g _ t a l k _ t r o o p _ r e l a t i o n " , " $current_town " ,
slot_center_player_relation ) ,
13 ( try_end ) ,

There is more, but this will give you the idea. This will be checked when you start a conversation
with anyone. Looking at the try block, we see that it checks if "$g_talk_troop" is listed between the
constants "village_elders_begin" and "village_enders_end". Since the operation this_or_next is used,
this condition and the next condition are read as an OR condition. This would mean that if the first

175
condition is not met but the second condition (is_between, "$g_talk_troop", mayors_begin, mayors_end)
is true, the rest of the code block is still executed.
The used constants are defined in module_constants.py. This is why, if you want to add a village
elder, it should be placed between "trp_village_1_elder" and "trp_merchants_end" as defined
in that file to take advantage of the settings pre-defined for village elders.
Let’s scroll down a bit, and find a more specific dialog, namely the start conversation with Ramun
the slave trader:
1 [ trp_ramun_the_slave_trader , " s t a r t " , [
2 ( troop_slot_eq , " $g_talk_troop " , slot_troop_met_previously , 0 ) ,
3 ] , "Good day t o you , { young man/ l a s s i e } . " , " ramun_introduce_1 " , [ ] ] ,

Breaking down the tuple field of Ramun’s opening statement:

1 1 ) D i a l o g u e p a r t n e r : trp_ramun_the_slave_trader
2 2 ) S t a r t i n g Dialog −S t a t e : " s t a r t "
3 3 ) C o n d i t i o n s b l o c k : ( troop_slot_eq , " $g_talk_troop " , slot_troop_met_previously ,
0) ,
4 4 ) D i a l o g t e x t s t r i n g : "Good day t o you , { young man/ l a s s i e } . "
5 5 ) Ending d i a l o g −s t a t e : " ramun_introduce_1 "
6 6 ) Consequences : [ ]

The most important things to note in this tuple are the dialog-states, both the starting and ending
dialog-states. We will delve into these more deeply now.
The ending dialog-state "ramun_introduce_1" is what leads a conversation from one line to
the next. The ending dialog-state can be anything you like but there must be another tuple with
a matching starting dialog-state. For example, if we were to make a tuple with the ending state
"blue_oyster", this would lead into any tuple with the starting state "blue_oyster". There must
be an exact match; if no match exists, build_module.bat will throw an error upon trying to build.
If there are multiple tuples with the starting state "blue_oyster", something special happens. If
the tuples are spoken by the player, they result in a menu where the player can choose between the
provided tuples. In Vanilla M &B the game only has room for five dialogue options at a time while
the limit is 1024 at the Warband engine. The lines can’t be too long, either, or they will either shrink
or spill out of their box. If it is the player’s answer, it will shrink as much as it can before getting
out. If it is the other partner’s dialog line, it will spill out right away452 . If the tuples are spoken by
an NPC, the module system will use the first tuple in module_dialogs.py for which all conditions
are met, even if there are multiple lines that qualify.
452
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 To end a conversation, you must use the ending dialog-state "close_window". To start a conver-
sation, there are several special starting dialog-states from which you can choose. We will refer to
these as initial dialog-states . Here is the full list of initial dialog-states:

start is considered when speaking to a NPC in a scene or when a conversation is triggered inside a
scene.

party_encounter is considered when encountering another party on the overland map or in a

scene.

party_relieved is considered when assisting a battling party on the overland map, once the player
has won the fight.

prisoner_liberated is considered when the player defeats an enemy party with one or more Hero
prisoners.

enemy_defeated is considered when the player defeats an enemy party led by a Hero.

event_triggered is considered when a dialogue is triggered by an operation while not in a scene.

As you can see, each initial dialog-state is designed for a specific situation. It will not be considered
anywhere outside its situation.

5.6.2.1 Requirements and the Condition Block

The dialogue interface is very flexible, and can be used in a great number of ways. It handles both
events on the overland map and events in scenes. It allows dialogues to be triggered whenever you
want them. In the following segments, we examine how to use the dialogue interface to its fullest.
As we have outlined in the last segment, a dialogue line will only be considered if all its re-
quirements are met. First of all, the player must be speaking to the correct troop. A line with
trp_ramun_the_slave_trader will not be considered if the player is addressing trp_constable_hareck.
The constant anyone may be used if the line is to be spoken by anyone the player is addressing at
the time.
Second, the starting dialog-state must be in accordance with the situation - either the dialogue
line is initiated by an initial dialog-state, or the line follows from a matching ending dialog-state in
another line. If the starting dialog-state does not meet specifications, it won’t be considered for use.
Thirdly, the same logic of the previous two points applies to the conditions block. Unless all of
a line’s conditions are met, the line will not be considered. If either the conditions or the starting
dialog-state are erroneous, you will experience problems; either build_module.bat will throw an error,

177
or the erroneous dialogue lines will simply freeze in-game, since their ending dialog-states will not
be able to find another tuple to activate. This is the reason why you must be careful with conditions
blocks. Make sure you don’t break your own dialogue by planting conditions which are not properly
set.
However, when everything is working in harmony, conditions blocks can be very powerful since
they can contain try blocks. You can call slots from inside a conditions block, and then use the result
in a condition operation inside the same block. You can set registers and string registers in order to
use them in the actual dialogue.
You can observe the use of a conditions block in the tuple of module_dialogs.py which is used to
talk with Ramun the slave trader:
1 [ trp_ramun_the_slave_trader , " s t a r t " , [ ( troop_slot_eq , " $g_talk_troop " ,
slot_troop_met_previously , 0 ) , ] ,

This block contains only one condition, which requires the variable slot_troop_met_previously
of "$g_talk_troop" to be equal to 0. This is because all registers and variables are equal to 0 at the
beginning of a new game. And if you look at the next tuple, you will notice the consequences block:
1 [ trp_ramun_the_slave_trader | p l y r , " ramun_introduce_1 " , [ ] , " F o r g i v e me , you l o o k
l i k e a t r a d e r , but I s e e none o f your m e r c h a n d i s e . " , " ramun_introduce_2 " , [
2 ( t r o o p _ s e t _ s l o t , " $g_talk_troop " , slot_troop_met_previously , 1 ) ,
3 ]] ,

The troop_set_slot operation in this block sets the variable slot_troop_met_previously of "
$g_talk_troop" (to whom you are talking) to 1 after the line has been displayed. In other words, after
this line has been displayed once, it will never be displayed again - because afterwards, the variable
slot_troop_met_previously will no longer be equal to 0. The dialogue system will then ignore this
line and instead go to the next tuple in the file which meets requirements:
1 [ trp_ramun_the_slave_trader , " s t a r t " , [ ] , " H e l l o , { playername } . " , " ramun_talk " , [ ] ] ,

The only requirements on this line are that the player must be speaking to Ramun in a scene. It will
always be selected when speaking to Ramun after he has delivered his speech.
It is important to know that various variables are set in the first three tuples of this file.
They are set when you talk with anyone. Each has its specific dialog start state, but only co-
vers conversations between you and someone you are specifically targeting for a conversation. "
$g_talk_troop" is just one of the variables cataloged and set in this process. In the first few lines
of the first tuple, they also store your relation with "$g_talk_troop" from reg0, which is calcula-
ted in the script troop_get_player_relation (check it out in module_scripts.py) and stored in
"$g_talk_troop_relation":

178
1 [ anyone , " s t a r t " , [ ( s t o r e _ c o n v e r s a t i o n _ t r o o p , " $g_talk_troop " ) ,
2 ( s t o r e _ c o n v e r s a t i o n _ a g e n t , " $g_talk_agent " ) ,
3 ( s t o r e _ t r o o p _ f a c t i o n , " $ g _ t a l k _ t r o o p _ f a c t i o n " , " $g_talk_troop " )
,
4 # ( t r o o p _ g e t _ s l o t , " $ g _ t a l k _ t r o o p _ r e l a t i o n " , " $g_talk_troop " ,
slot_troop_player_relation ) ,
5 ( call_script , " script_troop_get_player_relation " , "
$g_talk_troop " ) ,
6 ( assign , " $g_talk_troop_relation " , reg0 ) ,

Things are done this way so you won’t have to do this kind of thing every time you create a new
dialog block. If you will be having special dialogs that will take into consideration things like your
relation with the target, then it would be good to scan through these (or the specific start-dialog
state) and see if what you will be checking is already set.
Pages 27-30

5.6.2.2 Declarations for Dialogs453

anyone dialog will start with anyone if you send the game to its dialog state. I.e. it won’t check for
the specific troop id.

plyr dialog answer will be played from the player agent.

party_tpl the dialog will be issued only when you meet a party of specified template on global
map. See Native examples for the syntax.

auto_proceed dialog answer won’t require player to press left mouse button to continue further
as dialogs usually do. It is instant, so the player can’t even see the text. It is assumed that this
flag is for assigning some important variables that will be used in the dialog it jumps to.

multi_line is for plyr answers only. It makes them behave like your partner’s answers i.e. lets the
text jump to the next line instead of shrinking it as it would be otherwise as can be seen in the
picture below.

repeat_for_factions creates a list of factions as player answers, the amount of options will depend
on how many factions module_factions.py file has.

repeat_for_parties creates a list of parties as player answers, the amount of options will depend
on how many parties module_parties.py file has.
453
Dalion

179
repeat_for_troops creates a list of troops as player answers, the amount of options will depend
on how many troops module_troops.py file has.

repeat_for_100 restricts the list of answer options to 100.

repeat_for_1000 restricts the list of answer options to 1000.

All the repeat_for_x declarations create a list of player options (so plyr is required), where each option
is a separate object. The amount of options depends on the last number in the respective ID_xxx.py
file (max 1024). The declarations should be used on pair with the operation store_repeat_object
(in both brackets of the dialog answer, so in the condition and consequences ones). The example is
shown here: https://imgur.com/a/dizGEM9 (need to integrate that in some way).

5.6.2.3 Dialog Notes454

The first section

1 " [ . . . some code h e r e . . . ] "

is a block that exists to test a condition or series of conditions. It’s only purpose is to return TRUE
or FALSE. And every single dialog gets checked until a TRUE result occurs.
Secondly, the parts after "start" can only be accessed IF "start" happened, their branch is active
AND their own condition block is TRUE. So, if you want something that always happens when
454
Taken from An Introduction to Module Syntax and Usage by xenoargh

180
 Generalissimo EvilGuy meets your player on a Tuesday, but you want him to do something else on
Wednesday, his "start" might look like this:
1 #S t a r t o f D i a l o g b l o c k
2 [
3 #See h e a d e r _ d i a l o g s f o r what can be h e r e b e s i d e s " anyone " . A l l D i a l o g s must have
a " start ".
4 anyone , " s t a r t " ,
5 #S t a r t c o n d i t i o n b l o c k h e r e
6 [
7 ( eq , " $g_talk_troop " , " t r p _ g e n e r a l i s s i m o _ e v i l g u y " ) ,#ONLY RUN ME IF EVILGUY
8 ( try_begin ) ,
9 ( eq , "$g_day_of_week " , 2 ) ,#DO THIS TUESDAYS
10 ( a s s i g n , " $g_conversation_temp " , 1 ) ,
11 ( s t r _ s t o r e _ s t r i n g , s17 , "@This i s my Tuesday c o n v e r s a t i o n s t a r t " ) ,
12 ( else_try ) ,
13 ( eq , "$g_day_of_week " , 3 ) ,#WEDNESDAYS
14 ( a s s i g n , " $g_conversation_temp " , 2 ) ,
15 ( s t r _ s t o r e _ s t r i n g , s17 , "@This i s my Wednesday c o n v e r s a t i o n s t a r t " ) ,
16 ( else_try ) ,
17 ( a s s i g n , " $g_conversation_temp " , 3 ) ,#IF ALL ELSE FAILS . . .
18 ( s t r _ s t o r e _ s t r i n g , s17 , "@This i s what I say any o t h e r day o f t h e week " ) ,
19 ( try_end ) ,
20 ],
21 #C o n d i t i o n i s TRUE; we ’ r e t a l k i n g t o EvilGuy , now we need our custom t e x t :
22 " s17 " ,
23 #Now we t h e P l a y e r t o be a b l e t o say something , even i f i t ’ s something p r o s a i c
l i k e , " l e a v e " , to e x i t t h i s Dialog .
24 " player_response_or_responses_here " ,
25 #Consequences , i f any :
26 [] ,
27 #End o f d i a l o g b l o c k
28 ],

I don’t like doing Dialogues using a Troop in that first block; it makes it easier to accidentally create
logic errors. I prefer to do it in the Conditions block, like so:
1 [ anyone , " s t a r t " , [ ( eq , " $g_talk_troop " , " t r p _ p l a y e r _ c a s t e l l a n " ) , ] , "What can I do
f o r you { playername } " , " c a s t e l l a n _ t a l k " , [ ] ] , [ / code ]
2 That means t h a t I can have m u l t i p l e s t a r t s f o r t h a t Troop , depending on t h e
c o n d i t i o n s b l o c k r e t u r n i n g TRUE, l i k e t h i s :
3 [ code ]
4 [ anyone , " s t a r t " ,

181
5 [
6 ( eq , " $g_talk_troop " , " t r p _ p l a y e r _ c a s t e l l a n " ) ,
7 ( eq , " $g_some_game_global " , 1 ) ,
8 ] , "What can I do f o r you { playername } " , " c a s t e l l a n _ t a l k " , [ ] ] ,
9 [ anyone , " s t a r t " ,
10 [
11 ( eq , " $g_talk_troop " , " t r p _ p l a y e r _ c a s t e l l a n " ) ,
12 ( eq , " $g_some_game_global " , 2 ) ,
13 ] , "Oh, i t ’ s { playername } , t h a t scummy d e v i l , come t o b o t h e r me a g a i n ! " , "
castellan_talk " , [ ] ] ,
14 [ / code ]
15 The o n l y major e x c e p t i o n t o t h i s i s d e a l i n g with Party e n c o u n t e r s where you may be
t a l k i n g t o any random guy i n t h e Party , f o r example , t h e Looter ’ s s t a r t :
16 [ code ] [ p a r t y _ t p l | p t _ l o o t e r s | auto_proceed , " s t a r t " , [ ( eq , " $ t a l k _ c o n t e x t " ,
tc_party_encounter ) , ( e n c o u n t e r e d _ p a r t y _ i s _ a t t a c k e r ) , ] , " { ! } Warning : This l i n e
s h o u l d n e v e r be d i s p l a y e d . " , " l o o t e r s _ 1 " , [
17 ( s t r _ s t o r e _ s t r i n g , s11 , " @It ’ s your money o r your l i f e , {mate/ g i r l i e } . No
sudden moves o r we ’ l l run you through . " ) ,
18 ( s t r _ s t o r e _ s t r i n g , s12 , "@Lucky f o r you , you caught me i n a good mood . Give us
a l l your c o i n and I might j u s t l e t you l i v e . " ) ,
19 ( s t r _ s t o r e _ s t r i n g , s13 , "@This a robbery , eh ? I g i v i n ’ you one chance t o hand
o v e r e v e r y t h i n ’ you got , o r me and my mates ’ l l k i l l you . Understand ? " ) ,
20 ( store_random_in_range , " : random " , 1 1 , 1 4 ) ,
21 ( s t r _ s t o r e _ s t r i n g _ r e g , s4 , " : random " ) ,
22 ( play_sound , " s n d _ e n c o u n t e r _ l o o t e r s " )
23 ] ] , [ / code ]
24 Note t h e r e t h a t t h e r e a r e not two but f o u r t h i n g s t h a t must be TRUE:
25 1. I t ’ s a Party e n c o u n t e r on t h e o v e r w o r l d .
26 2. The Party Template i s p t _ l o o t e r s .
27 3. $ t a l k _ c o n t e x t == tc_party_encounter .
28 4. e n c o u n t e r e d _ p a r t y _ i s _ a t t a c k e r must be TRUE

5.6.2.4 Conversation with Multiple People

Link

5.6.2.5 Other notes

Dialog states455
455
cwr (credit), Modding Q&A.

182
 Rare dialog setup456
party template dialog457

456
jacobhinds, Modding Q&A, and Somebody, Modding Q&A.
457
cwr (credit), Modding Q&A.

183
5.6.3 Module Quests

1 Each q u e s t r e c o r d c o n t a i n s t h e f o l l o w i n g f i e l d s :
2 1 ) Quest i d : used f o r r e f e r e n c i n g q u e s t s i n o t h e r f i l e s . The p r e f i x qst_ i s
a u t o m a t i c a l l y added b e f o r e each quest −i d .
3 2 ) Quest Name : Name d i s p l a y e d i n t h e q u e s t s c r e e n .
4 3 ) Quest f l a g s . See h e a d e r _ q u e s t s . py f o r a l i s t o f a v a i l a b l e f l a g s
5 4 ) Quest D e s c r i p t i o n : D e s c r i p t i o n d i s p l a y e d i n t h e q u e s t s c r e e n .
6 Note t h a t you may c a l l t h e opcode setup_quest_text f o r s e t t i n g up t h e name and
description

module_quests.py is a small, simple file. It contains quests, including all the text related to those
quests. Putting new quests here allows them to be activated via the module system, so that operations
can read the quest’s current status and use that status as a condition operation. It also defines a
quest object, for which the aforementioned slots can be used. Example of a quest:
1 ( " d e l i v e r _ m e s s a g e " , " D e l i v e r Message t o { s 1 3 } " , qf_random_quest ,
2 " { ! } { s 9 } asked you t o t a k e a message t o { s 1 3 } . { s 1 3 } was a t { s 4 } when you were
given t h i s quest ."
3 ),

This quest is one of many generic delivery request a king may give you.458 Tuple breakdown:
1 1 ) Quest i d = " d e l i v e r _ m e s s a g e "
2 2 ) Quest Name = " D e l i v e r Message "
3 3 ) Quest f l a g s = qf_random_quest
4 4 ) Quest D e s c r i p t i o n = "{ s 9 } asked you t o t a k e a message t o { s 1 3 } . { s 1 3 } was a t {
s 4 } when you were g i v e n t h i s q u e s t . "

This quest uses string registers (s9, s13, and s4) to indicate who gave the quest(s9), the recipient
(s13), and where the target was last seen (s4). Looking at similar quests, it would seem that s9 is
always used as the requester’s name, s13 is the intended target troop/party and s4 is used as their
last location.
In the progress of creating a new quest, you will be using some of the in Subchapter 5.2.1
mentioned slots for your quest. This way, the value can be set in one place, and if it needs to be
changed you only need to change it in one place. The other benefit is that if the player has more
than one quest active, you don’t have to worry that you might be over-writing variables we defined.
Each quest (like all tuple objects) has its own slots.
You will quickly notice that it takes only a few changes to make a new quest, but incorporating it
458
This specific quest is defined as the first governer quest in module_constants.py, as you can read in the comment
above it. Again, if comments are given, read them. In most cases they contain useful informations for you.

184
into the game requires a lot more work. You need a place for the player to get the quest, the “actors“
that will play a part in the quest and some dialog to make it interesting.

5.6.3.1 Bare-bones for New Quests459

Here is the bare-bones way to create new quests with MABL. First, you need a consequence block
(at the end of a dialogue line, for example) that begins your quest, such as this one:
1 [ [ assign , " $do_stuff_quest_active " , 1 ] ,
2 [ setup_quest_text , " q s t _ d o _ s t u f f " ] ,
3 [ start_quest , " qst_do_stuff " ] ] ] ,

[[ assign ,"$do_stuff_quest_active",1], is just a string, not related to the actual quest but handy for co-
ding quest-related condition and consequence blocks later. [setup_quest_text,"qst_do_stuff"], activates
the quest text for qst_do_stuff. From experience, this is not strictly necessary but it pays to play
things safe. [start_quest,"qst_do_stuff"]]], is the consequence that will actually begin your quest. You
can use this kind of consequence block in module_dialogs.py, module_game_menus.py and modu-
le_triggers.py (and in others probably as well).
Next, you have to input your quest text at the bottom of module_quests.py.
4 ( " d o _ s t u f f " , "Do some r e a l l y amazing s t u f f " , qf_show_progression ,
5 "Some guy asked you t o do some r e a l l y amazing s t u f f , and he ’ l l g i v e you some g o l d
."
6 ),

("do_stuff", "Do some really amazing stuff", qf_show_progression, is where most of the action happens. The
first string sets up the name of your quest, the second string sets up the short text as you will see it in
the top left-hand bar of the quest window, and then come the quest flags, which determine whether
you want this to be a random quest (qf_random_quest) OR if you want to show what percentage
of this quest is completed (qf_show_progression). It should be possible to put a 0 there if you
don’t want any quest flags. "Some guy asked you to do some really amazing stuff, and he’ll give you some gold
." is the long quest text that will show up in the large top-right window of the quest screen. And
), closes your block as you might have guessed already. Having done this, input whatever content
(dialogue, fights and so on) you want this quest to have.
With everything else done the time has come to close your quest.
7 [ [ add_xp_as_reward , 1 0 0 ] ,
8 [ complete_quest , " d o _ s t u f f " ] ,
9 [ s e t _ q u e s t _ p r o g r e s s i o n , " qst_do_some_more_stuff " , 4 0 ] ,

459
Winter, Modding Q&A, might be outdated though. Thus verification needed.

185
10 [ a s s i g n , " $quest_succeeded_do s t u f f " , 1 ] ] ] ,

[[ add_xp_as_reward,100], is a way to add XP as a reward for your quest. There are other ways to reward

the player as well, such as add_gold_to_troop, add_item_to_troop, and so on. [complete_quest

,"do_stuff"], completes your quest. You can also use succeed_quest or fail_quest, but they are
not really necessary when you can use a simple string to do the same job. If you have set the
qf_show_progression flag on your quest, use the operation [set_quest_progression,"qst_do_some_more_stuff
",40], to adjust the percentage shown. 40, in this example, will show the quest “do_some_more_stuff“

as 40 % complete. [ assign ,"$quest_succeeded_do stuff",1]]], is a string you can use for future conditions
blocks which depend on whether the player has succeeded, failed or otherwise finished the quest. You
can make the string anything you like and use any number of strings for this purpose.
This is all you need for a basic quest. More complex ones will require more complicated finagling,
especially quests involving heroes.

5.6.3.2 Quest Flags

If you wish to make a quest without any flags, simply put a 0 in the flags field. Otherwise you have
the following two available:

qf_show_progression shows what percentage of this quest is completed.

qf_random_quest determines that this quest is a random one.

quests and slots (also later messages at that page)460

quests461

460
Khamukkamu and kalarhan, Modding Q&A.
461
kalarhan, Modding Q&A.

186
5.6.4 Module Meshes

1 Each mesh r e c o r d c o n t a i n s t h e f o l l o w i n g f i e l d s :
2 1 ) Mesh i d : used f o r r e f e r e n c i n g meshes i n o t h e r f i l e s . The p r e f i x mesh_ i s
a u t o m a t i c a l l y added b e f o r e each mesh i d .
3 2 ) Mesh f l a g s . See header_meshes . py f o r a l i s t o f a v a i l a b l e f l a g s
4 3 ) Mesh r e s o u r c e name : Resource name o f t h e mesh
5 4 ) Mesh t r a n s l a t i o n on x a x i s : W i l l be done a u t o m a t i c a l l y when t h e mesh i s l o a d e d
6 5 ) Mesh t r a n s l a t i o n on y a x i s : W i l l be done a u t o m a t i c a l l y when t h e mesh i s l o a d e d
7 6 ) Mesh t r a n s l a t i o n on z a x i s : W i l l be done a u t o m a t i c a l l y when t h e mesh i s l o a d e d
8 7 ) Mesh r o t a t i o n a n g l e o v e r x a x i s : W i l l be done a u t o m a t i c a l l y when t h e mesh i s
loaded
9 8 ) Mesh r o t a t i o n a n g l e o v e r y a x i s : W i l l be done a u t o m a t i c a l l y when t h e mesh i s
loaded
10 9 ) Mesh r o t a t i o n a n g l e o v e r z a x i s : W i l l be done a u t o m a t i c a l l y when t h e mesh i s
loaded
11 1 0 ) Mesh x s c a l e : W i l l be done a u t o m a t i c a l l y when t h e mesh i s l o a d e d
12 1 1 ) Mesh y s c a l e : W i l l be done a u t o m a t i c a l l y when t h e mesh i s l o a d e d
13 1 2 ) Mesh z s c a l e : W i l l be done a u t o m a t i c a l l y when t h e mesh i s l o a d e d

Some intro text here

5.6.4.1 Mesh Flags

render_order_plus_1

187
5.6.5 Module Game Menus

1 Each game menu i s a t u p l e t h a t c o n t a i n s t h e f o l l o w i n g f i e l d s :

2 1 ) Game−menu i d ( s t r i n g ) : used f o r r e f e r e n c i n g game−menus i n o t h e r f i l e s .
3 The p r e f i x menu_ i s a u t o m a t i c a l l y added b e f o r e each game−menu−i d
4 2 ) Game−menu f l a g s ( i n t ) . See header_game_menus . py f o r a l i s t o f a v a i l a b l e f l a g s .
5 You can a l s o s p e c i f y menu t e x t c o l o r here , with t h e menu_text_color macro
6 3 ) Game−menu t e x t ( s t r i n g ) .
7 4 ) mesh−name ( s t r i n g ) . Not c u r r e n t l y used . Must be t h e s t r i n g " none "
8 5 ) O p e r a t i o n s b l o c k ( l i s t ) . A l i s t o f o p e r a t i o n s . See h e a d e r _ o p e r a t i o n s . py f o r
reference .
9 The o p e r a t i o n s b l o c k i s e x e c u t e d when t h e game menu i s a c t i v a t e d .
10 6 ) L i s t o f Menu o p t i o n s ( L i s t ) .
11 Each menu−o p t i o n r e c o r d i s a t u p l e c o n t a i n i n g t h e f o l l o w i n g f i e l d s :
12 6 . 1 ) Menu−o p t i o n −i d ( s t r i n g ) used f o r r e f e r e n c i n g game−menus i n o t h e r f i l e s .
13 The p r e f i x mno_ i s a u t o m a t i c a l l y added b e f o r e each menu−o p t i o n .
14 6 . 2 ) C o n d i t i o n s b l o c k ( l i s t ) . This must be a v a l i d o p e r a t i o n b l o c k . See
h e a d e r _ o p e r a t i o n s . py f o r r e f e r e n c e .
15 The c o n d i t i o n s a r e e x e c u t e d f o r each menu o p t i o n t o d e c i d e whether t h e o p t i o n
w i l l be shown t o t h e p l a y e r o r not .
16 6 . 3 ) Menu−o p t i o n t e x t ( s t r i n g ) .
17 6 . 4 ) Consequences b l o c k ( l i s t ) . This must be a v a l i d o p e r a t i o n b l o c k . See
h e a d e r _ o p e r a t i o n s . py f o r r e f e r e n c e .
18 The c o n s e q u e n c e s a r e e x e c u t e d f o r t h e menu o p t i o n t h a t has been s e l e c t e d by
the player .
19 Note : The f i r s t Menu i s t h e i n i t i a l c h a r a c t e r c r e a t i o n menu .
20 G e n e r a l s t r u c t u r e : ( menu−id , menu−f l a g s , menu_text , mesh−name , [< o p e r a t i o n s >] , [<
o p t i o n s >]) ,

Pages 21-23, some intro text here

5.6.5.1 Menu Flags

mnf_auto_enter lets the player automatically enter the town with the first menu option.

mnf_disable_all_keys disables the usage of the keys P, I, C.

mnf_enable_hot_keys enables the usage of the keys P, I, C.

mnf_join_battle lets the game consider this menu when the player joins a battle.

mnf_scale_picture scales the menu picture to offest screen aspect ratio.

188
 menu text colour462
Passages in scenes463
only things executed between menu condition and consequences464
Passages465
enable hotkeys466
hard-coded alphabetic sorting in note list467
menus are hard-coded presentations468
Perhaps useful but probably outdated index of menus469

462
Caba‘drin, Modding Q&A.
463
Somebody, Modding Q&A.
464
cmpxchg8b, Modding Q&A.
465
Somebody, Modding Q&A.
466
Somebody, Modding Q&A.
467
The_dragon, Modding Q&A.
468
kalarhan, Modding Q&A.
469
Khalid ibn Walid (credit), 0.89x game_menus - index.

189
5.6.6 Module Presentations

1 Each p r e s e n t a t i o n r e c o r d c o n t a i n s t h e f o l l o w i n g f i e l d s :
2 1 ) P r e s e n t a t i o n i d : used f o r r e f e r e n c i n g p r e s e n t a t i o n s i n o t h e r f i l e s . The p r e f i x
prsnt_ i s a u t o m a t i c a l l y added b e f o r e each p r e s e n t a t i o n i d .
3 2 ) P r e s e n t a t i o n f l a g s . See h e a d e r _ p r e s e n t a t i o n s . py f o r a l i s t o f a v a i l a b l e f l a g s
4 3 ) P r e s e n t a t i o n background mesh : See module_meshes . py f o r a l i s t o f a v a i l a b l e
background meshes
5 4 ) T r i g g e r s : Simple t r i g g e r s t h a t a r e a s s o c i a t e d with t h e p r e s e n t a t i o n

Some intro text here

5.6.6.1 Presentation Flags

prsntf_manual_end_only

prsntf_read_only

5.6.6.2 Text Flags

tf_center_justify

tf_double_space

tf_left_align

tf_right_align

tf_scrollable

tf_scrollable_style_2

tf_single_line

tf_vertical_align_center

tf_with_outline

Only one active presentation at any time.470

471
New menu background.
prsntf_read_only flag.472
470
Somebody, Modding Q&A.
471
Somebody, Modding Q&A.
472
Caba‘drin, Modding Q&A.

190
 overlay_set_area_size.473
Arena training presentation474
Something about a flag and dxt7475
476
presentation coordinates
mouse hovers above troop name477
Rendering order478
tf_right_align479
text flag480
presentation basics481
prsnt_game_escape482
presentation get text box s483
0 valid overlay id484
overlay scales up485
worldmap presentations and stuff486
reference for designing presentations487
no background for presentation488
presentation triggers489
check if presentation is finished490
info bits about presentations491
Kuba helper presentation492
Presentation reference examples493
473
Somebody, Modding Q&A.
474
Somebody, Modding Q&A.
475
Vornne, Modding Q&A.
476
Vornne, Modding Q&A.
477
Caba‘drin, Modding Q&A.
478
Vornne and Lav, Modding Q&A.
479
cmpxchg8b, Modding Q&A.
480
Caba‘drin, Modding Q&A.
481
Vornne and MadVader, Modding Q&A.
482
The_dragon, Modding Q&A, and Lumos, Modding Q&A.
483
Somebody, Modding Q&A, Modding Q&A and Modding Q&A.
484
MadocComadrin, Modding Q&A.
485
Lav, Modding Q&A.
486
Ikaguia and Lav, Modding Q&A.
487
DerGreif (credit), Modding Q&A.
488
kalarhan, Modding Q&A.
489
kalarhan, Modding Q&A.
490
kalarhan, Modding Q&A.
491
kalarhan, Modding Q&A.
492
kalarhan, Modding Q&A.
493
kalarhan, Modding Q&A.

191
 presentations stuff494
Avoid using reg0 at presentations495
set background mesh496

494
Arch3r (credit), Modding Q&A.
495
kalarhan, Modding Q&A.
496
Somebody and kalarhan, Modding Q&A.

192
5.7 Audio-related Module System Files

5.7.1 Module Music497

1 Each t r a c k r e c o r d c o n t a i n s t h e f o l l o w i n g f i e l d s :
2 1 ) Track i d : used f o r r e f e r e n c i n g t r a c k s .
3 2 ) Track f i l e : f i l e n a m e o f t h e t r a c k .
4 3 ) Track f l a g s : s e e header_music . py f o r a l i s t o f a v a i l a b l e f l a g s .
5 4 ) Continue Track f l a g s : Shows i n which s i t u a t i o n s o r c u l t u r e s t h e t r a c k can
c o n t i n u e p l a y i n g . See header_music . py f o r a l i s t o f a v a i l a b l e f l a g s .

module_music.py is where the music tracks of the module are getting recorded and defined. The
file simply consists of a list of tuples. Observe:
1 ( " ambushed_by_vaegir " , " ambushed_by_vaegir . ogg " , mtf_culture_2 | mtf_sit_ambushed |
mtf_sit_siege , mtf_sit_fight | mtf_sit_multiplayer_fight | mtf_culture_all ) ,

This is a standard music track called "ambushed by vaegir" which gets played when the player gets
ambushed under certain circumstances. Lets do a short tuple examination:
1 " ambushed_by_vaegir "

The name of the track as known by the code. You can reference to it at other places in the Module
System with track_ambushed_by_vaegir.
2 " ambushed_by_vaegir . ogg "

The name of the physical music file. If mtf_module_track is present in the third field, the file is in
(module direction)/Music. Otherwise it is a Native file in (M&B direction)/Music. The first mistake
which you will probably make is to forget to put the mtf_module_track flag when adding your own
track.
3 mtf_culture_2 | mtf_sit_ambushed | m t f _ s i t _ s i e g e

The play conditions, so when the track will play: in what situation and in what culture? In our
example here: The track will play only if the culture is 2 (Vaegir) AND the situation is either
Ambush OR Siege. Not having culture flags is the same as putting mtf_culture_all (will match all
cultures) - this may be confusing, but this is what M&B does.
4 mtf_sit_fight | mtf_sit_multiplayer_fight | mtf_culture_all ) ,

The continue condition, so whether the track continues to play when the situation and/or culture
changes (otherwise it will fade out). In our example here: The track will continue to play in any
497
Most parts of the explanations in this chapter are taken from Music modding reference by MadVader.

193
culture AND if the situation is Ambush OR Siege OR Fight. The track will also continue to play
at the multiplayer. Note that the start play conditions are automatically added to continue play
conditions (and it makes sense to do so - see process_music.py if you are curious). Usually you will
ignore it (stick with the culture in the play condition) or put mtf_culture_all (when you want
maximum chance of continuing play - if your play field has no mtf_culture_x, this is implied and
can be omitted).

5.7.1.1 Music Track Flags

The following music track flags are available for use (describing their Native behaviour):

mtf_culture_1 lets the music play if the culture is culture 1 (Swadia).

mtf_culture_2 lets the music play if the culture is culture 2 (Vaegirs).

mtf_culture_3 lets the music play if the culture is culture 3 (Khergits).

mtf_culture_4 lets the music play if the culture is culture 4 (Nords).

mtf_culture_5 lets the music play if the culture is culture 5 (Rhodoks).

mtf_culture_6 lets the music play if the culture is culture 6 (Sarranids).

mtf_culture_all will allow the music to continue playing at any culture which handles the case
when the player is hopping across the invisible border regularly.498

mtf_looping loops the track until continue conditions are not met (anymore).

mtf_module_track must be added to custom tracks for the mod located in the music folder at
the module directory.

mtf_persist_until_finished plays the track until finished and nothing can stop it. Use with care!

mtf_sit_ambient_music sets the music preference to have an ambient setting. This flag has been
introduced with VC and needs first to be added to the header_music.py if using the Native MS
(mtf_sit_ambient_music = 0x02000000). A simple plugin and use of this flag is not possible,
look up its usage at the VC MS.

mtf_sit_ambushed sets the music situation when an ambush is happening or if the odds against
the player in a battle are worse than 2:1.
498
MadVader, Modding Q&A.

194
mtf_sit_arena sets the music situation when the player enters an arena, joins a tournament or
duels with a lord.

mtf_sit_day sets the music situation when it is daytime at the world map (not used in Native).

mtf_sit_encounter_hostile is not really getting used in Native, the track encounter_hostile_nords.ogg

never plays.

mtf_sit_feast sets the music situation when a feast is going on in a lords hall which gets visited.

mtf_sit_fight sets the music sitation when a battle goes on.

mtf_sit_killed sets the music situation if the player got defeated in battle or is retreating.

mtf_sit_main_title sets the music at the main menu.

mtf_sit_multiplayer_fight sets the music at the multiplayer.499

mtf_sit_night sets the music situation when it is nighttime at the world map.

mtf_sit_siege sets the music situation when a siege is going on.

mtf_sit_tavern sets the music situation when visiting a tavern.

mtf_sit_town sets the music situation when visiting a town.

mtf_sit_town_infiltrate sets the music situation when infiltrating a town.

mtf_sit_travel sets the music situation when traveling on the world map.

mtf_sit_victorious sets the music situation if the player is victorius in battle.

mtf_start_immediately removes the delays between tracks and overrides song priority.500

Be aware that you can edit the usage of the already existing situation flags, they are not hard-coded
(with the great exception of mtf_sit_main_title). There are 16 defined defined music situations
in header_music.py but you can implement up to three more with the unused values between the
mtf_sit_feast and mtf_module_track constants.501 The flag mtf_sit_ambient_music is a prime
example for this.
499
MadVader, Which music tracks play in multiplayer, in Warband??.
500
Swyter, Warband: Engine-Related Questions.
501
Lav, Editing Music.

195
5.7.1.2 Culture Flags

There are six defined cultures (mtf_culture_1 to mtf_culture_6) with mtf_culture_all denoting
all of them. As mentioned above, setting no culture flags is the same as putting mtf_culture_all.
in original Vanilla M&B the sixth culture is used to denote a neutral faction, but is actually used
for various bandits in the code. In Warband the sixth culture is used for Sarranids and, interestingly
enough, still for various bandits. Note that in Native the player’s party culture is 0, until he becomes
a vassal. Examples for the usage of culture flags:
1 ( " ambushed_by_neutral " , " ambushed_by_neutral . ogg " , mtf_sit_ambushed | m t f _ s i t _ s i e g e ,
mtf_sit_fight )

This track Will play and continue in all cultures, mtf_culture_all is implied due to no culture flag
being set.
2 ( " ambushed_by_neutral " , " ambushed_by_neutral . ogg " , mtf_culture_1 | mtf_culture_2 |
mtf_sit_ambushed | m t f _ s i t _ s i e g e , mtf_culture_4 | m t f _ s i t _ f i g h t )

Will start playing for cultures 1 and 2, will continue playing for cultures 1, 2 and 4 (i.e. will fade out
in cultures 3, 5 and 6).
Take note that it is not possible to add new culture music flags like mtf_culture_7 as tho-
se six flags are hard-coded in the game engine. You can however control the music with operati-
ons (the ones affecting the music tracks are play_track, play_cue_track, music_set_situation,
music_set_culture) and thus override the default music system to have it be based on some other
in-game variable than the culture flags.502
Besides the vanilla setup, you may use the fact that Warband is picking music tracks based on
the current culture/situation combination. Nothing prevents you from treating those cultures and
situations as just abstract numbers. And instead of six cultures and 19 situations - remember, three
more can be added to the 16 Native ones - you get 6*19 = 114 unique situations. Actually less as some
situations are quite specific (for example mtf_sit_main_title) but you can still get a respectable
number to create the needed variety.503

5.7.1.3 Native Music Code

Most of the code in the game changes the music through the script music_set_situation_with_culture.
For scripters, it is a wrapper for music_set_situation and music_set_culture. For everybody else,
it analyzes a situation (see mtf_sit_x flags) and finds one or a variety of cultures appropriate to the
502
Somebody, Modding Q&A, and kalarhan, Modding Q&A. The DLC Viking Conquest and the Mod The Last Days
have custom music systems for example.
503
Lav, Editing Music.

196
situation. Multiple cultures will cause more matches found among the tracks, which will either add
to the variety of music or confuse the player with seeming randomness. It is a thin line between both.
This script only implictly plays music, the M&B internal music system detects changes in situation
and culture and does the actual playing.
Examples of situations and cultures:

• In town (mtf_sit_town), set the culture to the original faction of the town.

• While travelling the map (mtf_sit_travel), set the culture to the faction of the nearest town
AND the player’s culture (two cultures max).

• In battle (mtf_sit_fight or mtf_sit_ambushed), set the culture to both the leading parties
AND the faction of the nearest center (three cultures max).

• If victorius in battle (mtf_sit_victorious), the culture is player’s own, if defeated in battle

(mtf_sit_killed), the culture is the enemy’s.

• In multiplayer, set the culture to both team factions (two cultures).504

• Some situations are not culture-specific (culture=0) - make sure you don’t put mtf_culture_x
play conditions with these in module_music.py: mtf_sit_tavern, mtf_sit_siege, mtf_sit_arena.

• Some situations are never used by the code, so don’t waste your tracks with these: mtf_sit_town
(Warband uses this), mtf_sit_day, mtf_sit_night (MnB: calm_night_2.ogg never plays,
Warband uses this), mtf_sit_encounter_hostile (encounter_hostile_nords.ogg never plays).

Some common music situations (mtf_sit_x) as set in the code are Town menu (travel), Town
streets (travel, Warband: town or night), Streets night (travel), Tavern (tavern), Arena Master (tra-
vel), Arena melee (arena), Village walk (travel), Castle menu (travel) and Castle hall (travel).
Battles are special as they use triggers to play music. The common battle trigger fires every 30
seconds and sets the situation to mtf_sit_fight or mtf_sit_ambushed if the odds against the player
are worse than 2:1. Siege battles start with common siege music, then play battle music as normal.
The world map has a trigger that fires every game hour and tries to play travel music which sets
the situation to mtf_sit_travel.
There are also some exceptions since some tracks are explicitely played from scripts, so they
don’t need any flags. Examples are for example the Native music tracks captured, empty_village,
escape, victorious_evil and (only in Warband) wedding.
504
Check script_multiplayer_init_mission_variables for more details.

197
5.7.1.4 Tips for Music Designers

You may want to have special tracks for every possible situation in the game - resist the urge! From
a player point of view more varied travel and battle tracks may bring better value.
When deciding which tracks can continue where (continue condition flags) think in terms of what
the average player is likely to do - if he spends only a few seconds in your taverns, maybe you could
allow the travel or town or lord’s hall music to continue there, so you will not change your music
every few seconds; if your taverns are more interesting to hang out, do not allow anything to play
there except tavern music.
Try to use mtf_persist_until_finished on shorter tracks only (like Native’s victory tracks). If
you want to annoy the player, maybe because he is a cheater, a pirate or you are just plain evil, set
these flags:
1 ( " p u n i s h _ p l a y e r " , " p u n i s h _ p l a y e r . ogg " , mtf_looping | m t f _ p e r s i s t _ u n t i l _ f i n i s h e d |
mtf_module_track , 0 )

The track will loop forever and cannot be stopped until the player quits the game.

198
5.7.1.5 Tips for Scripters

If you want to let any current music fade out, use (music_set_situation, 0). The new music will
start playing when the situation is set again. Use the play_track operation when you want to play
a specific music track and don’t want to allow M&B to choose one randomly. Watch out for the
continue flags or your music track may stop short. You can use the operation play_cue_track to
play a music track over any already playing track. However, there couldn’t be thought of a good use
for this yet.
The simplest way to play a music track only for a specific encounter (e.g. a zombie horde) is done
in following steps:

1. In game_event_party_encounter() add these lines:

1 ( try_begin ) ,
2 ( eq , " $g_encountered_party_template " , " pt_zombie_horde " ) ,
3 ( play_track , " track_zombie_horde " , 1 ) ,
4 ( try_end ) ,

2. Add a new track in module_music.py (and put zombie_horde.ogg in (mod dir)/Music):

5 ( ( " zombie_horde " , " zombie_horde . ogg " , mtf_module_track , m t f _ s i t _ f i g h t |
mtf_sit_ambushed | m t f _ s i t _ t r a v e l | m t f _ c u l t u r e _ a l l ) ,

As mentioned above in Chapter 5.7.1.1 about the music track flags, you can add up to three more
situation flags to the Native ones. The flag mtf_sit_ambient_music was already mentioned as a
prime example for how one got added by the developers of VC. There was also a Native situation
flag which got removed out of unknown reasons but for which you can still find remnants in the code.
So for reimplementing lord’s hall (castle and town castle hall) music you will need to follow these
easy steps:

1. Add this line to header_music.py:505

1 mtf_sit_lords_hall = 0 x02000000

2. Find both lines in module_mission_templates.py and uncomment them:

2 # ( call_script , " script_music_set_situation_with_culture " ,
mtf_sit_lords_hall ) ,

3. Add one line to music_set_situation_with_culture in module_scripts.py:

505
Obviously you need to use 0x04000000 instead if you have also added mtf_sit_ambient_music.

199
 3 ( this_or_next | eq , " : s i t u a t i o n " , m t f _ s i t _ t o w n _ i n f i l t r a t e ) ,
4 ( this_or_next | eq , " : s i t u a t i o n " , m t f _ s i t _ l o r d s _ h a l l ) , <<<−−−
5 ( eq , " : s i t u a t i o n " , m t f _ s i t _ e n c o u n t e r _ h o s t i l e ) ,

4. Add tracks to module_music.py (change the flags as you like), and add .oggs to your mod’s
Music folder:
6 ( " l o r d s _ h a l l _ s w a d i a n " , " l o r d s _ h a l l _ s w a d i a n . ogg " , mtf_module_track |
mtf_culture_1 | m t f _ s i t _ l o r d s _ h a l l , mtf_sit_tavern | m t f _ c u l t u r e _ a l l ) ,
7 ( " l o r d s _ h a l l _ v a e g i r " , " l o r d s _ h a l l _ v a e g i r . ogg " , mtf_module_track |
mtf_culture_2 | m t f _ s i t _ l o r d s _ h a l l , mtf_sit_tavern | m t f _ c u l t u r e _ a l l ) ,
8 ( " l o r d s _ h a l l _ k h e r g i t " , " l o r d s _ h a l l _ k h e r g i t . ogg " , mtf_module_track |
mtf_culture_3 | m t f _ s i t _ l o r d s _ h a l l , mtf_sit_tavern | m t f _ c u l t u r e _ a l l ) ,
9 ( " l o r d s _ h a l l _ n o r d " , " l o r d s _ h a l l _ n o r d . ogg " , mtf_module_track | mtf_culture_4 |
m t f _ s i t _ l o r d s _ h a l l , mtf_sit_tavern | m t f _ c u l t u r e _ a l l ) ,
10 ( " l o r d s _ h a l l _ r h o d o k " , " l o r d s _ h a l l _ r h o d o k . ogg " , mtf_module_track |
mtf_culture_5 | m t f _ s i t _ l o r d s _ h a l l , mtf_sit_tavern | m t f _ c u l t u r e _ a l l ) ,
11 ( " l o r d s _ h a l l _ s a r r a n i d " , " l o r d s _ h a l l _ s a r r a n i d . ogg " , mtf_module_track |
mtf_culture_6 | m t f _ s i t _ l o r d s _ h a l l , mtf_sit_tavern | m t f _ c u l t u r e _ a l l ) ,

5.7.1.6 Optimal Music File Format

At music the file format seems to be not as important as at the sounds. You can use OGG, MP3
and WAV files as music tracks. The developers used the format OGG Vorbis because is free to use
and doesn’t include any patents506 OGG Vorbis is a patent-free container with even better quality
than the costly MP3 and the game fully understands it.507 This file format has a backdraw at sounds
which is why you should read also the subchapter about the optimal sound file format! However,
testing indicates that music files can remain OGG; they are supposed to be in a streaming format
and changing them to WAV is probably not a good idea.508 Make sure your tracks are stereo, mono
tracks might have some problems playing properly.

506
Swyter, Added music doesn’t play on time.
507
Swyter, Modding Q&A.
508
xenoargh, Optimization Announcement: Sound and your Mods.

200
5.7.2 Module Sounds

1 Each sound r e c o r d c o n t a i n s t h e f o l l o w i n g f i e l d s :
2 1 ) Sound i d : used f o r r e f e r e n c i n g sounds .
3 2 ) Sound f l a g s : s e e header_sounds . py f o r a l i s t o f a v a i l a b l e f l a g s .
4 3 ) Sound f i l e : f i l e n a m e o f t h e sound .

module_sounds.py is where the sound effects of the module are getting recorded and defined. As
module_music.py before the file simply consists of a list of tuples. Sounds are getting used at a huge
variety of occassions, like footsteps of troop and horse agents, yelling sounds of human agents and
snorts of horses or clashes and releases of weapons, to name just a few of them.

5.7.2.1 Sound Flags

The following sound flags are available for usage:

sf_2d lets the sound’s volume level not be depend anymore on its distance to the camera but be
constant. 2d sounds should also only take stereo into account.

sf_always_send_via_network forces a sound run on server with the operation agent_play_sound

to always be synced to all clients, even if they are more then 20 meters away from this agent
(the default limit).509

sf_looping lets the sound loop.

sf_priority_x determines on a scale from 1 to 15 the priority of this sound. Higher priority sounds
tend to overwrite lower ones if all sound channels are currently being used (at the same time).
Distance also manipulates the resulting priority:510
1 # sound p r i o r i t y o f 0−256 ( 0 h i g h t e s t 256 l o w e s t ) c a l c u l a t e d a s such :
2 # f l o a t pf = ( base_dist / ( base_dist + d i s t ) ) ∗ ( ( 1 . 0 f − p r i o r i t y _ e f f e c t ) +
priority_effect ∗ ( priority_squared ? get_priority () ∗ get_priority () :
get_priority () ) ) ;
3 # sounds p r i o l o w e r then 225 o v e r r i d e o t h e r sounds i n t h e l i s t with l o w e s t
priority .
4 sound_base_dist = 3 . 5
5 sound_priority_effect = 0.45
6 sound_priority_squared = 1
7 log_sound_priority = 0

509
Vincenzo, Version 1.150 - 1.151 - 1.152 - 1.153 released.
510
_Sebastian_, Modding Q&A.

201
sf_start_at_random_pos lets the sound start at a random position in the sound file.

sf_stream_from_hd lets this sound be streamed from harddisk. Recommended for large sound
files that are not played often.

sf_use_next_for_far WFaS sound flag. Up4tests if working in Native as well.

sf_vol_x determines on a scale from 1 to 15 the volume of a sound, the higher the value the higher
the level of volume.

5.7.2.2 Optimal Sound File Format

Most of the knowledge about this topic is based on many tests of xenoargh who was afterwards fairly
confident that he has pinpointed the problem of seemingly random lockups that would halt the game
state, and found a solution. It turned out that problem isn’t graphics at all; HERR_BUFFER_LOCK
errors were a symptom of CPU lock states happening, not the result of running out of VRAM.
The real lockup issue appears to be sounds. In particular, the sound format. He converted all
of the OGG files (including all of the Taleworlds sounds) to 16-bit 22kHz mono WAV and the
HERR_BUFFER_LOCK errors disappeared.511
As for music tracks you can in theory use OGG and WAV (and MP3) files for the sound effects.512
Warband is however known to have problems with sounds. The sound engine used is performing much
better with WAV files. If you have only OGG files, these will perform worse and crash the engine
sooner or later. All short files should be WAV! Using WAV files might increase the overall filesize of
the DLC but in the end you are going to profit from it.513
It is a common misconception that OGG files are smaller but they are only smaller on disk. As
soon as the game engine starts up it will unpack all these OGG files and put them into memory. Your
6kb large OGG files will become 10mb.514 Warband just reuses the reference decompressor libraries
which are free. However, they use them probably inefficiently, because the game engine is the one
having to implement the streaming part with the generic tools and FMOD (which is the middleware
they use). Storing sounds as WAV might seem pretty wasteful, albeit sounds and music are still a
511
xenoargh, Optimization Announcement: Sound and your Mods. It should however be noted that late posts at this
thread as well as at the thread Testing a possible optimization: all sounds converted to .wav format that using .wav
files instead of .ogg doesn’t increase performance with Warband 1.143 (as opposed to 1.134 at which xenoargh did his
tests). cmpxchg8b notes however that a great majority of players use on-board sound cards, which offload as much
processing as possible to the CPU and thus cause the CPU bottleneck. Therefore the here reported findings hold still
up at the most recent stable game version 1.174.
512
Swyter, Added music doesn’t play on time.
513
Death by EMP posting for an anonym person, The REAL reason why this DLC is performing bad and crashing
- Including Tips.
514
Death by EMP posting for an anonym person, The REAL reason why this DLC is performing bad and crashing
- Including Tips.

202
small part of the mod package. However, if the CPU is bottlenecked in Warband due to all the stuff
going on and the game engine doesn’t use extra threads/CPU cores for decoding/uncompressing
Vorbis/MP3 sound, then it makes sense that doing that extra processing every frame adds some
overhead which the WAV format doesn’t have. This is just educated guessing.515
Contrary, large sound files that are not played often should be streamed from harddisk. This
will mean they are not loaded into memory at the startup and will not strain the memory so much.
These sound files should be in OGG to not get in trouble with harddisk slowness. Use the sound flag
sf_stream_from_hd at the respective entries in your module_sounds.py.516

5.7.2.3 Other notes

Open question about upper limit at sounds.517 , answered here518

Different death sounds519
sf_priority520
Sounds info bits521
extra faction tuple in sound entries at WFAS522
sounds for different kinds of horses523
2D determines just plays stereo with left and right determining volume in each channel, without
falloff from distance. 3D determines the volume by distance from listener, with the left and right
channels being determined by listener facing. Native obviously supports 3D audio. (dstn)
Silencing horses524
limit of sounds to a weapon525
32 samples per sound526
sounds at distance527
sound priority528
bullet sounds529
515
Swyter, Mount & Blade Modding Discord.
516
Death by EMP posting for an anonym person, The REAL reason why this DLC is performing bad and crashing
- Including Tips.
517
Caba‘drin, Modding Q&A.
518
MadVader, Modding Q&A.
519
Somebody, Modding Q&A.
520
MadVader, Modding Q&A.
521
Caba‘drin, Modding Q&A.
522
Somebody, Modding Q&A.
523
MadVader, Modding Q&A.
524
Lumos, Modding Q&A.
525
kalarhan, Modding Q&A.
526
_Sebastian_, Modding Q&A.
527
_Sebastian_, Modding Q&A.
528
_Sebastian_, Modding Q&A.
529
kalarhan, Modding Q&A and Modding Q&A.

203
 speed of sound simulation script530
Sound modification531

530
_Sebastian_, Modding Q&A.
531
Colt, Sound Modification Guide.

204
5.8 VFX-related Module System Files

5.8.1 Module Particle Systems

1 Each p a r t i c l e system c o n t a i n s t h e f o l l o w i n g f i e l d s :
2 1 ) P a r t i c l e system i d ( s t r i n g ) : used f o r r e f e r e n c i n g p a r t i c l e s y s t e m s i n o t h e r
files .
3 The p r e f i x psys_ i s a u t o m a t i c a l l y added b e f o r e each p a r t i c l e system i d .
4 2 ) P a r t i c l e system f l a g s ( i n t ) . See h e a d e r _ p a r t i c l e _ s y s t e m s . py f o r a l i s t o f
available flags
5 3 ) Name o f t h e mesh .
6 4 ) Num p a r t i c l e s p e r s e c o n d : Number o f p a r t i c l e s e m i t t e d p e r s e c o n d .
7 5 ) P a r t i c l e L i f e : Each p a r t i c l e l i v e s t h i s l o n g ( i n s e c o n d s ) .
8 6 ) Damping : How much p a r t i c l e ’ s s p e e d i s l o s t due t o f r i c t i o n .
9 7 ) G r a v i t y s t r e n g t h : E f f e c t o f g r a v i t y . ( N e g a t i v e v a l u e s make t h e p a r t i c l e s f l o a t
upwards . )
10 8 ) Turbulance s i z e : S i z e o f random t u r b u l a n c e ( i n m e t e r s )
11 9 ) Turbulance s t r e n g t h : How much a p a r t i c l e i s a f f e c t e d by t u r b u l a n c e .
12 1 0 , 1 1 ) Alpha k e y s : Each a t t r i b u t e i s c o n t r o l l e d by two k e y s and each key
13 1 2 , 1 3 ) Red k e y s : has two f i e l d s : ( time , magnitude ) . For example
14 1 4 , 1 5 ) Green k e y s : s c a l e key ( 0 . 3 , 0 . 6 ) means s c a l e o f each p a r t i c l e
15 1 6 , 1 7 ) Blue k e y s : w i l l be 0 . 6 a t t h e time 0 . 3 ( where time=0 means
16 1 8 , 1 9 ) S c a l e k e y s : c r e a t i o n and time=1 means end o f t h e p a r t i c l e )
17 The magnitudes a r e i n t e r p o l a t e d i n between t h e two k e y s and remain c o n s t a n t beyond
the keys .
18 Except t h e a l p h a always s t a r t s from 0 a t time 0 .
19 2 0 ) Emit Box S i z e : The d i m e n s i o n o f t h e box p a r t i c l e s a r e e m i t t e d from .
20 2 1 ) Emit v e l o c i t y : P a r t i c l e s a r e i n i t i a l l y s h o t with t h i s v e l o c i t y .
21 2 2 ) Emit d i r randomness
22 2 3 ) P a r t i c l e r o t a t i o n s p e e d : P a r t i c l e s s t a r t t o r o t a t e with t h i s ( a n g u l a r ) s p e e d (
degrees per second ) .
23 2 4 ) P a r t i c l e r o t a t i o n damping : How q u i c k l y p a r t i c l e s s t o p t h e i r r o t a t i o n

Some intro text here

5.8.1.1 Particle System Flags

psf_always_emit marks particle systems which are always emitting.

psf_global_emit_dir

psf_emit_at_water_level

205
psf_billboard_2d

psf_billboard_3d

psf_billboard_drop

psf_turn_to_velocity

psf_randomize_rotation

psf_randomize_size

psf_2d_turbulance

psf_next_effect_is_lod

5.8.1.2 Other notes

Links to posts which contain informations about particle systems, need to integrate them at a later
stage: fisheye. Modding Q&A; bryce777, Modding Q&A; fisheye, Modding Q&A; Somebody, Mod-
ding Q&A; ithilienranger, Modding Q&A, Modding Q&A; cmpxchg8b, Modding Q&A; Somebody,
Modding Q&A; cmpxchg8b, Modding Q&A; Patta, Modding Q&A; Vornne, Modding Q&A; Some
particle system discussion here and here; Vornne and cmpxchg8b, here;
Particle system values532
particle limitations533
particle stuff534
535
particle effects
particle system only shows up at night536

532
jacobhinds, Modding Q&A.
533
jacobhinds, Modding Q&A, and Somebody, Modding Q&A.
534
Docm30, Modding Q&A.
535
_Sebastian_, Modding Q&A.
536
Abhuva (credit), Nordous’ Sceners Guild.

206
5.8.2 Module Postfx

skybox postfx stuff537

537
Vornne, Modding Q&A and Modding Q&A.

207
5.8.3 Module Tableau Materials

Tableau material can use arbitrary tableau meshes, with different textures.538
Heraldic items submeshes affected too539
banner background colour array540
clickable tableaus541
character screens542
heraldic boots543
gloves and boots no heraldic tableau544
545
No submeshes for heraldic items
parameter tableau material546
full helmet taken off at tableau547

538
GetAssista, Modding Q&A.
539
oliver, Mount & Blade Modding Discord.
540
MadVader, Modding Q&A, and _Sebastian_, Heraldic Armor issue [help].
541
Somebody, Modding Q&A.
542
The_dragon, Modding Q&A.
543
Discussion, Modding Q&A.
544
Somebody, Modding Q&A.
545
NPC99, Modding Q&A.
546
cmpxchg8b, [WB] Warband Script Enhancer v3.2.0.
547
Somebody, Modding Q&A.

208
6 Documentation module.ini
INI, short for initialization, is a Microsoft standard for the initialization and configuration of pro-
grams. Use a basic text-editor such as Notepad for the INI file. This file is always local and mo-
dularized and contains various mod configuration settings and tells the game which BRFs to load.
Following options in module.ini can be set (sorted in categories; marked with VC if introduced with
Viking Conquest, NW with Napoleonic Wars):

6.1 Module General Parameters

6.1.1 Versions

module_name = Calradia string, is used for naming your module.

module_version = 0 int, can be used for multiplayer and single player (saved game) module
versioning.

compatible_module_version = 0 int, can be used for multiplayer module versioning.

compatible_multiplayer_version_no = 1170 int, current multiplayer version, used with com-

patible_module_version to determine if a player can connect to a server.

compatible_savegame_module_version = 0 int, can be used for single player (saved game)

module versioning.

compatible_with_warband = 1 boolean, is most probably getting used to mark original M&B

mods that they can get played with M&B Warband too.

works_with_version_max = 1011 deprecated, int, use compatible_savegame_module_version

and module_version instead.

works_with_version_min = 1000 deprecated, int, use compatible_savegame_module_version

and module_version instead.

6.1.2 Loading Resources

Outside of module configuration options, module.ini is also used to tell the engine what .BRF
resources to load, and where to find them.

209
load_resource = resource_name Tells the engine that this resource (.BRF) exists in either
the */CommonRes/ or */(module-name)/Resources/ folders. It doesn’t seem to add to
a much longer load times, but it is more inefficent than telling the engine where to look.

load_resource_nofast = resource_name same as load_resource, no difference.

load_mod_resource Explicitly tells the engine that this resource (.BRF) exists inside */(module-
name)/Resources/ folder. It should result in faster load times.

load_module_resource Alternate syntax for load_mod_resource.

scan_module_sounds = 0 boolean, determines if the engine will scan the module’s */Sounds/
folder.

scan_module_textures = 0 boolean, determines if the engine will scan the module’s */Textu-
res/ folder.

use_case_insensitive_mesh_searches = 0 boolean, determines if your module allows case in-

sensitive references to mesh names i.e. sword_a and Sword_a being treated as the same
reference.

6.1.3 Enabling Content

has_custom_battle = 0 boolean, determines if Custom Battle appears on the main menu.

has_multiplayer = 0 boolean, determines if Multiplayer appears on the main menu.

has_single_player = 1 boolean, determines if New Game and Load Game appear on main menu.

has_tutorial = 0 boolean, determines if Tutorial appears on the main menu.

enable_quick_battles = 1 boolean, determines if Quick Battles appears on the main menu.

Quick Battles is the old 1.011 version of Custom Battles, so this flag works only at Vanilla
M&B.

6.2 World Map Parameters

6.2.1 Map Constants

map_max_distance = 175.0 float, maximum amount of zoom out on the world map, maximum
seems to be 251.

210
map_min_x = -180 int, determines the eastern bounds of the world map. The map can continue
past this, but parties will not be able to travel past this boundary.

map_max_x = 180 int, determines the western bounds of the world map. The map can continue
past this, but parties will not be able to travel past this boundary.

map_min_y = -145 int, determines the northern bounds of the world map. The map can continue
past this, but parties will not be able to travel past this boundary.

map_max_y = 145 int, determines the southern bounds of the world map. The map can continue
past this, but parties will not be able to travel past this boundary.

map_min_elevation = 0.2 float, sets the minimum distance the camera can be from the terrain
in the world map. Controlls the angle too.

map_max_elevation = 1.0 float, sets the maximum distance the camera can be from the terrain
in the world map.

map_river_direction = 140 int, angle used to determine the flow direction of the river shader
for the world map.

map_river_speed_x = 0.01 float, used to determine the flow speed on the x-axis of the river
shader for the world map.

map_river_speed_y = -0.01 float, used to determine the flow speed on the y-axis of the river
shader for the world map.

map_sea_direction = -40 int, angle, sea wave foam direction.

map_sea_wave_rotation = 300 angle, module.ini comment says "This is where the tear arte-
fact is visible on the sea."

map_sea_speed_x = 0.02 float, used to determine the flow speed on the x-axis of the ocean
shader for the world map.

map_sea_speed_y = -0.02 float, used to determine the flow speed on the y-axis of the ocean
shader for the world map.

Just like at the world map terrain the map_trees material of map tree models is hard-coded, no
matter what you set in the respective brf file.

211
map_tree_types = 17 int, is the number of tree types that appear on the normal terrain, using
the meshes map_tree_a through map_tree_r on for map trees. Equals the amount of forest
tree models the map will randomly cycle through.

map_desert_tree_types = 4 int, is the number of tree types that appear on the desert terrain,
equals the amount of desert tree models the map will randomly cycle through.

map_snow_tree_types = 3 int, is the number of tree types that appear on the snow terrain,
equals the amount of snow tree models the map will randomly cycle through.

map_steppe_tree_types = 5 int, should be the number of tree types that appear on the steppe
terrain, equals the amount of steppe tree models the map will randomly cycle through.

6.2.2 Time and Date Parameters

starting_day Deprecated, int, use game_get_date_text instead.

starting_month Deprecated, int, use game_get_date_text.

starting_year Deprecated, int, use game_get_date_text.

time_multiplier = 0.25 float, speed with which time passes on the map screen. With 0.25 as
default value 1 GAME hour is 4 seconds of REAL time, so in-game time passes 4 times slower
than in real life (each hour in-game is equal to 1 second real life divided by the value of the
time_multiplier). A value of 2.4 thus means that 1 in-game day takes 10 seconds IRL (or 1
second via CTRL+SPACE).

6.2.3 Leveling-related Parameters

player_xp_multiplier = 2.0 float, sets the xp multiplier the player gains by killing an enemy
(max 10, perhaps 15).

hero_xp_multiplier = 2.0 float, sets the xp multiplier heroes gain by killing an enemy (max 10,
perhaps 15).

regulars_xp_multiplier = 3.0 float, sets the xp multiplier regular troops gain by killing an
enemy (max 10, perhaps 15).

level_boundary_multiplier = 2.0 VC, float, sets the multiplier for EXP needed for troop to
upgrade.

212
attribute_points_per_level = 0.195 VC, float, sets how many attribute points are gained per
level, 0.125 in Native(?).

attribute_required_per_skill_level = 2 VC, int, sets how many attribute points are required
per skill level, 3 in Native. According to Vjeffae the in-game maximum skill level is equal to
the current base attribute level divided by this value (rounded down).

skill_points_per_level = 2 VC, int, sets how many skill points are gained per level.

weapon_points_per_level = 5 VC, int, sets how many weapon proficiency points are gained
per level, 10 in Native.

can_run_faster_with_skills = 0 boolean, determines how agility and athletics affect running

speed. Upfollowing engine formula is given for it:
1 i f ( r g l C o n f i g : : B a t t l e : : bCanRunFasterWithSkills )
2 troopFactor = (( a g i l i t y + a t h l e t i c s ∗ 6.0 f + 25.0 f ) ∗ 30.0 f / ( weightFactor +
30.0 f ) + 90.0 f ) / 100.0 f ;
3 else
4 troopFactor = (( a g i l i t y ∗ 0.7 f + a t h l e t i c s ∗ 3.0 f + 25.0 f ) ∗ 70.0 f / (
weightFactor + 70.0 f ) + 90.0 f ) / 100.0 f ;

Written down for better readability:

5 i f can_run_faster_with_skills = 1
6 t r o o p F a c t o r = ( ( a g i l i t y + a t h l e t i c s ∗ 6 + 2 5 ) ∗ 30 / ( w e i g h t F a c t o r + 3 0 ) +
90) / 100;
7 else
8 t r o o p F a c t o r = ( ( a g i l i t y ∗ 0 . 7 + a t h l e t i c s ∗ 3 + 2 5 ) ∗ 70 / ( w e i g h t F a c t o r +
70) + 90) / 100;

player_wounded_treshold = 5 int, determines the minimum number of hitpoints a player must

have to appear in battles and contribute to party skills.

hero_wounded_treshold = 15 int, determines the minimum hitpoints needed for heroes to ap-
pear in battles and contribute to party skills.

base_companion_limit = 20 int, maximum amount of companions in the player party without

leadership skill.

skill_leadership_bonus = 3 int, sets how many additional troops per leadership skill point the
player can have in his party.

213
skill_prisoner_management_bonus = 5 int, sets how many additional prisoners per prisoner
management skill point the player can have in his party.

track_spotting_multiplier = 0.8 float, multiplier of the tracking skill. If set to 0 no tracking

marks will appear at the world map no matter the skill.

6.2.4 Item Parameters

display_wp_archery = 0 boolean, determines whether or not items with the itp_type_bow

flag will appear in the module.

display_wp_crossbows = 0 boolean, determines whether or not items with the itp_type_-

crossbow flag will appear in the module.

display_wp_firearms = 0 boolean, determines the visibility of the weapon proficiency Firearms

inside the character menu, but the weapons and the ability to use them still exists in the game.
You can actually level them up, even if it is marked 0.

display_wp_one_handed = 0 boolean, determines the visibility of the weapon proficiency One

Handed inside the character menu, but the weapons and the ability to use them still exists in
the game. You can actually level them up, even if it is marked 0.548

display_wp_polearms = 0 boolean, determines the visibility of the weapon proficiency Pole-

arms inside the character menu, but the weapons and the ability to use them still exists in the
game. You can actually level them up, even if it is marked 0.

display_wp_throwing = 0 boolean, determines the visibility of the weapon proficiency Thro-

wing inside the character menu, but the weapons and the ability to use them still exists in the
game. You can actually level them up, even if it is marked 0.

display_wp_two_handed = 0 boolean, determines the visibility of the weapon proficiency Two

Handed inside the character menu, but the weapons and the ability to use them still exists in
the game. You can actually level them up, even if it iss marked 0.

timid_modifier_speed_bonus = 0 float, the speed modifier for the horses that have the timid-
modifier.

meek_modifier_speed_bonus = 0 float, the speed modifier for the horses that have the meek-
modifier
548
All display_wp_* settings tested by dstn.

214
use_crossbow_as_firearm = 0 boolean, mostly depreciated, used for a workaround in WFaS
or older mods where itp_crossbow was used instead of itp_musket and itp_pistol.549
Determines whether crossbows will fire with smoke and a sound of explosion or with normal
crossbow sound.550

6.2.5 Party Parameters

auto_compute_party_radius = 1 VC, boolean, uses the party icon model to determine party
radius. Especially important for modules with large town icons as it allows parties to interact
with them in expected locations, as opposed to the center of the icon. Without it icons will
disappear when their centre is off screen even though they should still be visible. For extremely
large icons it fails to avoid 100 % of visual problems as the camera changes perspective. You
need to test large icons in-game to ensure they are not too large.

seeing_range = 6.5 float, determines the default seeing range of a party on the world map, the
visibility radius.

show_party_ids_instead_of_names = 0 boolean, determines if a party’s id value is show

above them instead of their name. Change to 1 for ease in module development.

use_strict_pathfinding_for_ships = 1 VC, boolean, keeps ships at sea for sea-to-sea routes.

6.2.6 Game Menus Parameters

show_troop_upgrades_button = 0 VC, boolean, determines if the mod shows the troop up-
grade button.

6.2.7 Others

show_faction_color = 1 boolean, determines if party names on the world map will show their
faction color (1) or not (0). In latter case the names appear in a sort of brownish-white colour.

show_quest_notes = 1 boolean, determine if notes appear on the quest screen.

has_accessories_for_female = 0 boolean, allows the mod to use the beard slot in character
creation for accessories on female troops such as jewelry.551 No examples are found in Native.
549
Alternatively one can also add a new firearm category by replacing all crossbow related sounds, animations and
proficienies as needed. Some notes are given here by HokieBT.
550
Baskakov_Dima, Modding Q&A.
551
_Sebastian_, has_accessories_for_female?.

215
disable_disband_on_terrain_type = 0 VC, boolean, used to insure parties cannot disband
on certain tiles (Like passable water).

disable_force_leaving_conversations = 1 VC, boolean, disables the TAB end in conversati-

ons.

can_adjust_camera_distance = 1 boolean, determines if the player can use numpad + and

numpad - to adjust the default camera position.

limit_hair_colors = 1 boolean, set to 1 if you don’t have extra hair textures. Each human skin
definition in Native uses hair_blonde along with vertex coloring. If you set the value to 0 the
game expects to find for example a material and texture named hair_red, beard_black, etc.

auto_create_note_indices = 0 boolean, determines whether or not automatically search through

all troops/factions/towns to check if they have note text.

6.3 Battle Scene Parameters

6.3.1 Combat Parameters

According to module.ini comments all missiles with damage > shield_penetration_offset + shield_-
penetration_factor * shield will penetrate.

shield_penetration_offset = 30.0 float, missiles with (damage > shield_penetration_offset +

shield_penetration_factor * shield) will penetrate a shield and cause damage to the wielder.

shield_penetration_factor = 3.0 float, used in conjunction with shield_penetration_offset to

determine if a missile can penetrate a shield.

crush_through_treshold = 2.4 float, determines how much damage is required to crush through
overhead blocks on weapons with the appropriate flag itp_crush_through.

According to module.ini comments you can modify the damage system by editing the following values:
The first three values (i.e. soak) determine the amount which will be directly subtracted from damage
due to armor. The next three values (i.e. reduction) determine the percentage reduction from the
damage. The same goes for extra_penetration factor. This counts only for weapons that have the
flag itp_extra_penetration. Also, the soak can be negative, meaning that it will actually ADD
to the damage, Not sure about the reduction, though in theory it should work the same way, but less
violently.

216
armor_soak_factor_against_cut = 0.8 float, determines the amount which will be directly
subtracted from cut damage due to armor.

armor_soak_factor_against_pierce = 0.65 float, determines the amount which will be di-

rectly subtracted from pierce damage due to armor.

armor_soak_factor_against_blunt = 0.5 float, determines the amount which will be directly

subtracted from blunt damage due to armor.

armor_reduction_factor_against_cut = 1.0 float, determines the percentage reduction from

the cut damage.

armor_reduction_factor_against_pierce = 0.5 float, determines the percentage reduction

from the pierce damage.

armor_reduction_factor_against_blunt = 0.75 float, determines the percentage reduction

from the blunt damage.

extra_penetration_factor_reduction = 1.0 float, used in conjunction with itp_extra_pene-

tration to determine at what level extra penetration is reduced by armor. In Native no extra
penetration flags are set, so set to ’1.0’ to keep them ineffective.

extra_penetration_factor_soak = 1.0 float, used in conjunction with itp_extra_penetra-

tion to determine at what level extra penetration is soaked by armor. In Native no extra
penetration flags are set, so set to ’1.0’ to keep them ineffective.

According to module.ini comments damage below this threshold levels will not interrupt melee at-
tacks.

damage_interrupt_attack_threshold = 3.0 float, damage below this will not interrupt melee
attacks.

damage_interrupt_attack_threshold_mp = 1.0 float, damage below this will not interrupt

melee attacks in multiplayer.

ai_decide_direction_according_to_damage = 1 boolean, when set to 1, the AI will take

into consideration what each directional attack’s damage will be when deciding what attack to
use.

apply_all_ammo_damage_modifiers = 1 VC, boolean, allows all ammo to apply Blunt/S-

harp/Cutting modifier damage.

217
brace_rotation_limit = 0.012 float, affects items with the flag itp_is_pike and is used for rota-
tion speed limiting while bracing spears (e.g. in NW). If the absolute turn amount is less than
0.01 or the set value (whichever is higher) the game engine plays the pike crouch animation
(anim_crouch_pike) and otherwise the crouch staff animation (anim_crouch_staff). You can
obviously not give a value below the default one of 0.01 and if you provide a big value (it seems
like 0.5 is enough) you can completely override the canceling effect.

couched_lance_damage_multiplier = 0.65 float, determines how much additional damage a

couched lance will do. (Native 0.65).

disable_attack_while_jumping = 0 boolean, determines if an agent can attack while jumping

and if attacks should be interrupted when the agent starts jumping.

disable_zoom = 0 boolean, determines whether or not the player can use ’shift’ to narrow the
camera’s field of vision.

fall_damage_multiplier = 1.0 float, used to determine how much damage is applied from falling.
Airtime is otherwise probably the deciding factor for the falling damage.552

horse_charge_damage_multiplier = 1.0 float, used to scale the charge damage inflicted by

horses when ramming into human agents.

lance_pike_effect_speed = 3.0 float, determines the necessary speed of the horse at which the
pike causes the anim_horse_rear animation.

melee_damage_speed_power = 2.0 float, setting speed_power to 2.0 makes damage scale

with the square of weapon’s speed. You can set it to 1.0 to make it scale linearly.

missile_damage_speed_power = 1.9 float, setting speed_power to 2.0 makes damage scale

with the square of missile’s speed. You can set it to 1.0 to make it scale linearly.

no_friendly_fire_for_bots = 0 boolean, determines if AI agents in Mutiplayer can cause fri-

endly fire.

6.3.2 Battle Parameters

battle_size_min = 150 VC, int, minimum battle size for module.

battle_size_max = 750 VC, int, maximum battle size for module.

552
Somebody, Modding Q&A.

218
far_plane_distance = 5000 float, the amount of units (in centimeters) that the render plane
extends out from the camera inside of scenes, default is 1250. It’s the maximum distance (in
meters) in which an object will render for an user. Enlarge this value if you want to use
bigger/better/longer border terrains and have the player be able to view them.

6.3.3 Physics Parameters

air_friction_arrow = 0.002 float, allows us to set the drag coefficient. 0.002 is Native.

air_friction_bullet = 0.002 float, allows us to set the drag coefficient, but specifically on missiles
shot by firearms. 0.002 is Native.

6.3.4 Others

consider_weapon_length_for_weapon_quality = 1 VC, boolean, makes agents take into

account a weapon’s length when choosing a weapon at their inventar.

disable_moveable_flag_optimization = 0 boolean, assign ’1’ for moveable physics on all scene

props; no sokf_moveable flag will be needed.553

mission_object_prune_time = 180 int, seconds required before an scene_prop like a fired

arrow or a dropped item is removed from the scene. Setting it to 0 will prevent the items from
despawning during a mission which is however not recommend for performance reasons. Note
that this wont apply to items which are spawned via code.554

6.4 Other Parameters and Details

6.4.1 Enabling Features

can_crouch = 0 boolean, determines if human agents can crouch. You will need to add the string
ui_crouch|Crouch: at your ui.csv to make it displayed correctly at the Gamekey config me-
nu.555

can_objects_make_sound = 0 boolean, determines if scene_props can emit sounds inside a

scene.
553
Setting that flag to 1 prevented an usual 1.143 game version crash. For more details read up at Siege Camp Icon.
554
_Sebastian_, Modding Q&A.
555
dunde, Modding Q&A.

219
can_reload_while_moving = 0 boolean, determines if agent can reload crossbows while run-
ning or walking. Does not affect horseback. Needs use_crossbows_as_firearms to be enabled
as well.556

can_use_scene_props_in_single_player = 0 boolean, determines if singleplayer agents can

interact with scene_props like in multiplayer (using doors and drawbridges).

disable_food_slot = 1 boolean, mostly depreciated, can be changed to 0 if you want to keep the
food slot in inventory window. Used in very old versions of M&B (still working in Warband
though!) to choose what food item the party can eat. Putting a horse into it lets the horse be
slaughtered.

has_forced_particles = 0 boolean, allows the mod to ’force’ particles. Probably used in instances
where turning off particle effects would give undue benefit to a player, such as thick musket
smoke.

horses_rear_with_attack = 1 boolean, determines if horses rear upon being struck with enough
damage.

horses_try_running_away = 0 boolean, determines if riderless horse agents will try to get away
from aggressive agents.

multiplayer_walk_enabled = 0 boolean, determines if the players on a multiplayer server can

use ’shift’ to walk instead of run. Important for NW style line battles. disable_zoom needs
to be set to 1, otherwise zoom takes precedence at ’shift’ (a zooming player always walks, you
just see it with zoom disabled).

num_hints = 12 int, total number of hints visible on the secondary loading screen.

shorter_pistol_aiming = 1 VC, boolean, adds pistols to the exception just like in crossbow and
muskets.

use_advanced_formation = 0 boolean, determines if the module uses Native’s advanced for-

mations.557 Those add extensions to the order menus related to formations and weapon usage.
Players can then let the troops line up from one row to five rows and order their archers to fire
at their command. Some lines need to be added to ui.csv for this.558 For the menu order these
are:559
556
DarthMongol, Mount & Blade Modding Discord.
557
A 2 is perhaps possible too, up4research; Baskakov_Dima (credit), Module.ini stuff and Landowning?.
558
dunde, Modding Q&A.
559
Taken from reddit.

220
 • ui_order_form_1_row|Form one row

• ui_order_form_2_row|Form two rows

• ui_order_form_3_row|Form three rows

• ui_order_form_4_row|Form four rows

• ui_order_form_5_row|Form five rows

• ui_order_button_fire_at_my_command|Fire at my command

• ui_order_button_all_fire_now|All, Fire now

• ui_order_button_left_fire_now|Left, Fire now

• ui_order_button_middle_fire_now|Middle, Fire now

• ui_order_button_right_fire_now|Right, Fire now

• ui_order_button_weapon_usage_orders|Equipment orders

• ui_order_button_use_melee_weapons|Use melee weapons

• ui_order_button_use_ranged_weapons|Use ranged weapons

and for the shouting order display:

• ui_form_1_row_e_|%s, Form one row

• ui_form_2_row_e_|%s, Form two rows

• ui_form_3_row_e_|%s, Form three rows

• ui_form_4_row_e_|%s, Form four rows

• ui_form_5_row_e_|%s, Form five rows

• ui_fire_at_my_command_e_|%s, Fire at my command

• ui_all_fire_now_e_|%s, fire now

• ui_left_fire_now_e_|%s, left side fire

• ui_middle_fire_now_e_|%s, middle fire

• ui_right_fire_now_e_|%s, right side fire

• ui_use_melee_weapons_e_|%s, use melee weapons

• ui_use_ranged_weapons_e_|%s, use ranged weapons

use_phased_reload = 0 boolean, determines if reloading for muskets and pistols can be done in
steps. That means if your reload has been interrupted, you’ll start from the begining of the
phase at which the reload was stopped. Phased reload works if you use itcf_reload_musket or
itcf_reload_pistol for the ranged weapon.

221
6.4.2 Graphical Parameters

add_set_neighbors_to_tangent_flag_to_shader = 1 boolean, Shader Parameter. Appears

to pass along information about neighboring faces tangents. No examples are found in Native.

blood_multiplier = 6.0 VC, float, determines the amount (and size?) of blood particle effects.

disable_high_hdr = 0 boolean, if set to ’1’ disables high HDR effects in the module.

fix_gamma_on_dx7_operation_colors = 1 boolean, Shader Parameter, used for set_startup

_ambient_light and set_startup_ground_ambient_light operations. Below decompiled code:
1 i f ( ! rgl_HLSL_mode && dword_AA35C4C )
2 {
3 ∗ ( f l o a t ∗ ) v2430 = a2 ;
4 v1304 = s q r t f ( ∗ ( f l o a t ∗ ) v2430 ) ;
5 v1305 = cur_game ;
6 ∗ ( f l o a t ∗ ) ( v2460 + 4 0 8 ) = v1304 ;
7 ∗ ( ( f l o a t ∗ ) v1305 + 1 0 3 ) = s q r t f ( ∗ ( ( f l o a t ∗ ) v1305 + 1 0 3 ) ) ;
8 v1306 = cur_game ;
9 a2 = s q r t f ( ∗ ( ( f l o a t ∗ ) cur_game + 1 0 4 ) ) ;
10 v1298 = cu r _ mi s s i on ;
11 LODWORD( v2460 ) = cur_game ;
12 ∗ ( ( f l o a t ∗ ) v1306 + 1 0 4 ) = a2 ;
13 }

use_bordered_shadow_sampler = 1 boolean, Shader Parameter. Unused by engine.

screenshot_format = 1 boolean, allows modders to set the screenshot file format when pressing
Ctrl + Insert which are getting saved in .../ Mount&Blade Warband/Screenshots/<Name of Module>.
Set 0 for jpg (default), 1 for png and 2 for bmp.560

6.4.3 Multiplayer Parameters

restrict_attacks_more_in_multiplayer = 0 boolean, if an agent is stabbing or doing an over-

head attack then the limit of the rotational speed will either be set to 11 (if set to 1) or 16 (if
set to 0, default). This forces a more restricting attacking method in multiplayer and should
be able to keep spamming and feinting to a minimum.

show_multiplayer_gold = 0 boolean, determines if the player’s gold is shown in multiplayer.

Only the gold amount won’t get displayed, the gold icon itself will still be present.
560
The screenshot function seems to be broken when playing with Linux; Noxbru, Mount & Blade Modding Discord.

222
sync_block_directions = 0 boolean, determines if block directions are synced between client
and server.

sync_ragdoll_effects = 0 boolean, determines if ragdolls are synced between client and server.

6.4.4 Performance and Logs

dont_supress_initial_warnings = 1 boolean, should be set to 1 for debugging purposes and 0

for public releases. It should be used to hide loading warning for modules in the rgl_log.txt
like the following one:
1 r g l _ p o s t _ w a r n i n g _ l i n e : WARNING: Unable t o f i n d m a t e r i a l f o r mesh
prt_mod_weapon_aim

give_performance_warnings = 1 boolean, gives warnings of potentially performance intensive

scenes. Edit Mode should be enabled for this (Earendil). Warns with a message that perfor-
mances may be degraded because of settings (Vjeffae). Up for research.

maximum_number_of_notification_messages = 4 VC, int, number of messages in battle,

common are 10.

reduce_texture_loader_memory_usage = 0 boolean, should improve loading time by ma-

king it multithread.

supports_directx_7 = 1 boolean, determines if your module supports directx7 mode. Necessary

for very old PCs.

use_scene_unloading = 1 VC, boolean, once you leave the scene, it’s unloaded from your com-
puter RAM. If you want to go back to this scene quickly, you will have to load it again. Loading
of frequently visited scenes will be slower but it will save some of your RAM.

use_texture_degration_cache = 0 boolean, should improve loading times but generates cache

files. When you tab out for too long, the game de-loads most of the textures and replaces them
with those microtextures. This was the case in earlier versions too but the game didn’t save
them to the disk.561

6.4.5 Savegames

dont_load_regular_troop_inventories = 1 boolean, determines if the game saves inventories

for regular troops (i.e. not heroes) too. Also, savegames will be a bit bigger and may thus crash.
561
jacobhinds, Modding Q&A.

223
7 Game Engine Settings, Formulas and Info Tidbits

7.1 Remarks regarding txt Files

7.1.1 games_variables.txt

Cannot add variables in game_variables.txt562

There are also a couple of game options which didn’t make it into 1.168(Steam version) by default.
Compare also with WFaS and VC and create new file563

7.1.2 variables.txt

Global variable names are not getting used by the game engine, variables.txt is not even getting
loaded by the engine and its only purpose is savegame compatibility. If you check the compiling
system of the Module System you will notice that it preserves the order in variables.txt, to make
sure that variable x stays in position y even if the declaration order is changed or variables have been
added or removed, to keep savegame compatibility.564
It can happen that you compile and keep getting the messages “variables.txt not found. Creating
new variables.txt file“ and “variable_uses.txt not found. Creating new variable_uses.txt file“ even
though these txt files exist in your compile export folder. This is only a problem if you care about
save game compatibility. Copy in that case working copies from your module folder to your source
folder (same as the . py files). Otherwise the globals won’t keep the same ID and mess with old
saves.565

7.1.3 variable_uses.txt

variable_uses.txt is a file which doesn’t matter a lot. It is there to keep savegame compatibility
and is auto-generated by the Module System, used during the compilation phase and then no more.
Warband doesn’t know about it. Editing it by hand is wrong and does nothing at all.566
Integrate comment here567
568

562
cmpxchg8b, Modding Q&A.
563
_Sebastian_, Warband Modder’s Download Repository.
564
cmpxchg8b, Modding Q&A.
565
kalarhan, Modding Q&A.
566
cmpxchg8b, Modding Q&A, Modding Q&A and Modding Q&A.
567
kalarhan, Modding Q&A.
568
cmpxchg8b, Modding Q&A.

224
7.1.4 rlg_log.txt

semi-crash log569 , need to explain it a bit more detailed.

rgl_log is in your installation directory (one level above your Modules folder, for instance). (C:\
Program Files\Mount&Blade Warband\ or something like it)570

7.1.5 rlg_config.txt

rgl_config is in your savegame/settings directory. (C:\Users\Username\Documents\Mount&Blade Warband\

or something like it)571

7.2 Damage System

7.2.1 Hit Detection

The game engine checks the collision between one of target’s hitboxes with the attacker’s right item
bone. For latter it uses a capsule attached to the right item bone.572

7.2.2 Damage Formula573

1 i f hold_time >= 1 . 1
2 hold_bonus = 1 . 2
3 e l i f hold_time >= 0 . 6 :
4 hold_bonus = ( 1 . 1 − hold_time ) ∗ 0 . 6 + 1 . 2
5 e l i f hold_time >= 0 . 5 :
6 hold_bonus = 1 . 5
7 else :
8 hold_bonus = hold_time + 1 . 0
9
10 raw_damage = weapon_damage ∗ ( clamp ( hold_bonus , 1 . 0 , 2 . 0 ) ∗ 0 . 5 + 0 . 5 )
11
12 i f weapon_type == ’ one_handed ’ o r weapon_type == ’ two_handed ’ o r weapon_type == ’
polearm ’ :
13 raw_damage ∗= math . pow ( melee_damage_speed_power , speed_bonus )
14 e l i f weapon_type == ’ crossbow ’ o r weapon_type == ’ bow ’ o r weapon_type == ’ throwing
’:
15 raw_damage ∗= math . pow ( missile_damage_speed_power , speed_bonus )

569
Ikaguia, Modding Q&A.
570
Caba‘drin, Runtime Error! Help, please!.
571
Caba‘drin, Runtime Error! Help, please!.
572
cmpxchg8b, [WB] Warband Script Enhancer v3.2.0.
573
Formulas given by cmpxchg8b, Damage Formula and Damage Formula.

225
16
17 i f weapon_type == ’ crossbow ’ :
18 i f raining :
19 raw_damage ∗= 0 . 7 5
20 else :
21 raw_damage ∗= p r o f i c i e n c y ∗ 0 . 0 1 ∗ 0 . 1 5 + 0 . 8 5
22
23 i f weapon_type == ’ bow ’ :
24 raw_damage ∗= min ( power_draw , d i f f i c u l t y + 4 ) ∗ 0 . 1 4 + 1
25
26 i f mounted :
27 raw_damage ∗= h o r s e _ a r c h e r y ∗ 0 . 0 1 9 + 0 . 8
28
29 i f raining :
30 raw_damage ∗= 0 . 9
31 e l i f weapon_type == ’ throwing ’ :
32 raw_damage ∗= power_throw ∗ 0 . 1 + 1 . 0
33
34 i f mounted :
35 raw_damage ∗= h o r s e _ a r c h e r y ∗ 0 . 0 1 9 + 0 . 8
36 e l i f weapon_type == ’ one_handed ’ o r weapon_type == ’ two_handed ’ o r weapon_type ==
’ polearm ’ :
37 raw_damage ∗= p o w e r _ s t r i k e ∗ 0 . 0 8 + 1 . 0
38
39 raw_damage += s t r e n g t h / 5 . 0
40
41 i f ( weapon_type == ’ two_handed ’ o r weapon_type == ’ polearm ’ ) and (
h a s _ s h i e l d o r mounted ) :
42 raw_damage ∗= 0 . 8 5
43
44 i f weapon_type == ’ polearm ’ :
45 raw_damage ∗= 0 . 8 5
46
47 i f weapon_flags & itp_two_handed :
48 raw_damage ∗= 0 . 9
49
50 raw_damage = clamp ( raw_damage , 0 , 5 0 0 )

1 armor = a p p r o p r i a t e _ a r m o r _ v a l u e _ f o r _ h i t _ l o c a t i o n
2
3 i f hit_shield_on_back :
4 armor += s h i e l d _ r e s i s t a n c e + 10

226
5
6 s o a k _ f a c t o r = armor ∗ module . ini_soak_factor_for_damage_type
7 r e d u c t i o n _ f a c t o r = armor ∗ module . ini_reduction_factor_for_damage_type
8
9 i f item_flags & itp_extra_penetration :
10 s o a k _ f a c t o r ∗= module . i n i _ e x t r a _ p e n e t r a t i o n _ s o a k _ f a c t o r
11 r e d u c t i o n _ f a c t o r ∗= module . i n i _ e x t r a _ p e n e t r a t i o n _ r e d u c t i o n _ f a c t o r
12
13 randomized_soak = ( random . random ( ) ∗ 0 . 5 5 + 0 . 4 5 ) ∗ s o a k _ f a c t o r
14 randomized_damage = ( random . random ( ) ∗ 0 . 1 + 0 . 9 ) ∗ raw_damage
15 soaked_damage = randomized_damage − randomized_soak
16
17 i f ( soaked_damage < 0 . 0 ) :
18 soaked_damage = 0 . 0
19
20 randomized_reduction = math . exp ( ( random . random ( ) ∗ 0 . 5 5 + 0 . 4 5 ) ∗ r e d u c t i o n _ f a c t o r
∗ 0.014)
21 reduced_damage = ( 1 . 0 − 1 . 0 / randomized_reduction ) ∗ soaked_damage
22
23 i f ( reduction_factor < 0.00001) :
24 reduced_damage = 0 . 0
25
26 d a m a g e _ d i f f e r e n c e = round ( reduced_damage + randomized_soak )
27 e f f e c t i v e _ d a m a g e = randomized_damage − d a m a g e _ d i f f e r e n c e
28
29 i f hit_bone == head :
30 e f f e c t i v e _ d a m a g e ∗= 1 . 2
31
32 i f item_is_ranged :
33 e f f e c t i v e _ d a m a g e ∗= 1 . 7 5
34 e l i f hit_bone == c a l f o r hit_bone == t h i g h :
35 e f f e c t i v e _ d a m a g e ∗= 0 . 9
36
37 e f f e c t i v e _ d a m a g e = clamp ( e f f e c t i v e _ d a m a g e , 0 . 0 , 5 0 0 . 0 )

7.2.3 Weapon Speed Formula574

1 f l o a t mbAgent : : g e t A c t i o n S p e e d ( i n t hand , b o o l r e l o a d i n g )
2 {
3 mbItem item ;

574
Formula given by K700, Formula for the final weapon speed.

227
4 item . m_itemKindNo = −1;
5
6 i f ( reloading )
7 {
8 c o n s t mbItem ∗temp = g e t I t e m ( hand ) ;
9 i f ( temp )
10 item = ∗temp ;
11 }
12 else
13 {
14 item = getWieldedItem ( hand ) ;
15 }
16
17 i f ( ! item . i s V a l i d ( ) )
18 return 1.0 f ;
19
20 mbItemKind ∗ itemKind = item . getItemKind ( ) ;
21 i n t type = itemKind−>getType ( ) ;
22 mbItem s e c o n d a r y I t e m = getWieldedItem ( ah_secondary ) ;
23 f l o a t s p e e d = itemKind−>g e t S p e e d R a t i n g ( ) ∗ 0 . 0 1 f ;
24
25 i f ( itemKind−>isWeapon ( ) )
26 {
27 f l o a t weaponFactor = type == itp_type_bow ? 0 . 1 1 f : 0 . 0 7 f ;
28
29 s p e e d ∗= 0 . 0 1 f ∗ ( i n t ) getTroop ( )−>g e t P r o f i c i e n c y ( itemKind−>g e t P r o f i c i e n c y (
s e c o n d a r y I t e m . i s V a l i d ( ) ) ) ∗ weaponFactor + 1 . 0 f − weaponFactor ;
30 }
31
32 i f ( type == itp_type_two_handed | | type == itp_type_polearm )
33 {
34 i f ( s e c o n d a r y I t e m . i s V a l i d ( ) | | hasMount ( ) )
35 {
36 s p e e d −= 0 . 1 5 f ;
37
38 i f ( itemKind−>m_properties & itp_two_handed )
39 s p e e d −= 0 . 0 5 f ;
40 }
41 }
42 e l s e i f ( type == i t p _ t y p e _ s h i e l d )
43 {

228
44 s p e e d ∗= g_game−>g e t T r o o p S k i l l ( m_troopNo , s k l _ s h i e l d , t r u e ) ∗ 0 . 0 3 f + 1 . 0 f
;
45 }
46
47 i f ( g_basicGame . i s M u l t i p l a y e r ( ) )
48 s p e e d ∗= 0 . 0 3 f ∗ g_networkManager . m_combatSpeed + 0 . 9 4 f ;
49 e l s e i f ( itemKind−>isMeleeWeapon ( ) && (m_no != g_mission−>m_playerAgentNo | |
r g l C o n f i g : : B a t t l e : : iCombatSpeed > 2 ) )
50 s p e e d ∗= 0 . 0 3 f ∗ r g l C o n f i g : : B a t t l e : : iCombatSpeed + 0 . 9 4 f ;
51
52 return speed ;
53 }

7.2.4 Shot Speed/Missile Starting Velocity Formula

The formula is as follows:575

1 ingame_velocity_in_m_per_s = item_kinds_shoot_speed ∗ s q r t ( (PD ∗ 0 . 1 2 ) + 1 . 0 ) ∗
1.2
2 {PD capped a t bow d i f f +4}

All missile speeds are (for unknown reasons) getting multipiled by 1.2, it does not matter which
weapon type, except for missiles which are shot with the operation add_missile. Bow- and throwing
shot speeds are also modified by power draw or power throw.576
The engine applies quadratic drag to missiles and the drag factors are defined in module.ini577 :
1 air_friction_arrow = 0.002
2 air_friction_bullet = 0.002

7.2.5 Missile Speed Formula

The formula is as follows:578

1 f l o a t mbAgent : : g e t M i s s i l e S p e e d ( )
2 {
3 f l o a t missileSpeed = 10.0 f ;
4 f l o a t speedFactor = 1.0 f ;
5 mbItem item = getWieldedItem ( ah_primary ) ;
6

575
Formula posted by _Sebastian_, Modding Q&A, found at the Crpg forum.
576
_Sebastian_, Modding Q&A.
577
_Sebastian_, Modding Q&A.
578
Formula posted by K700, Warband Script Enhancer 2 (v1.0.4.3).

229
7 i f ( item . i s V a l i d ( ) )
8 {
9 mbItemKind ∗ itemKind = item . getItemKind ( ) ;
10
11 m i s s i l e S p e e d = ( f l o a t ) itemKind−>g e t M i s s i l e S p e e d ( ) ;
12
13 i f ( itemKind−>getType ( ) == itp_type_bow )
14 {
15 s p e e d F a c t o r = rglMin ( g_game−>g e t T r o o p S k i l l ( m_troopNo , skl_power_draw ,
t r u e ) , item . g e t D i f f i c u l t y ( ) + 4 ) ∗ 0 . 1 2 f + 1 . 0 f ;
16
17 i f ( m_horseAgentNo != −1)
18 s p e e d F a c t o r ∗= g_game−>g e t T r o o p S k i l l ( m_troopNo , s k l _ h o r s e _ a rc h e r y ,
true ) ∗ 0.019 f + 0.8 f ;
19
20 i f ( g_mission−>m_weather . m_precipitationType == wpr_rain )
21 s p e e d F a c t o r ∗= 0 . 9 f ;
22 }
23 e l s e i f ( itemKind−>getType ( ) == itp_type_crossbow )
24 {
25 i f ( g_mission−>m_weather . m_precipitationType == wpr_rain )
26 s p e e d F a c t o r ∗= 0 . 7 5 f ;
27 }
28 e l s e i f ( itemKind−>getType ( ) == itp_type_thrown )
29 {
30 s p e e d F a c t o r = g_game−>g e t T r o o p S k i l l ( m_troopNo , skl_power_throw , t r u e )
∗ 0.1 f + 1.0 f ;
31
32 i f ( m_horseAgentNo != −1)
33 s p e e d F a c t o r ∗= g_game−>g e t T r o o p S k i l l ( m_troopNo , s k l _ h o r s e _ a rc h e r y ,
true ) ∗ 0.019 f + 0.8 f ;
34 }
35 }
36
37 return r g l S q r t ( speedFactor ) ∗ missileSpeed ∗ 1.2 f ;
38 }

7.2.6 Maximum Speed and Acceleration Formulas579

579
cmpxchg8b, Modding Q&A.

230
1 maxSpeed ∗=1 ( ( a g i l i t y ∗ 0 . 7 f + a t h l e t i c s ∗ 3 . 0 f + 2 5 . 0 f ) ∗ 7 0 . 0 f / (
equippedItemsWeight + wieldedItemWeight ∗ w i e l d e d I t e m L e n g t h ∗ 2 . 5 + 7 0 . 0 f ) +
90.0 f ) / 100.0 f
2 maxAcceleration = ( ( a t h l e t i c s / 6.0 f + ( a g i l i t y + 2.0 f ) / 15.0 f ) ∗ 40.0 f / (
equippedItemsWeight + 4 0 . 0 f ) + 1 . 0 f ) ∗ 7 0 . 0 f / ( equippedItemsWeight + 7 0 . 0 f ) ∗
5.0 f

7.3 Other Remarks

Perhaps better split up latter

7.3.1 World Map Speed Formula

The game engine calculates the party speed with the following formula580 :
1 f l o a t mbParty : : getMovementSpeed ( )
2 {
3 i f ( isShip () )
4 {
5 return m_speedMultiplier ∗ 15.0 f ;
6 }
7 else
8 {
9 f l o a t s p e e d = m_speed ∗ m _ s p e e d M u l t i p l i e r ;
10
11 i f ( mbRegionTypeIsForest ( m_regionType ) )
12 s p e e d ∗= 0 . 7 f ;
13
14 i f ( g_game−>i s N i g h t ( ) )
15 s p e e d ∗= 0 . 6 f ;
16
17 return speed ;
18 }
19 }
20
21 f l o a t mbParty : : c a l c u l a t e S p e e d ( )
22 {
23 f l o a t totalSpeed = 0.0 f ;
24 f l o a t slowestTroopSpeed = 100000.0 f ;
25 f l o a t t o t a l W e i g h t = ( ( m_flags & pf_carry_goods_mask ) >> p f _ c a r r y _ g o o d s _ s h i f t )
∗ 50.0 f ;
580
Formula given by K700.

231
26 int pathfinding = g e t S k i l l ( skl_pathfinding ) ;
27 i n t numTroops = 0 ;
28 i n t numRegulars = 0 ;
29 i n t numPrisoners = 0 ;
30 i n t numHorses = 0 ;
31 mbParty tempParty ;
32
33 g_game−>c o l l e c t P a r t y A t t a c h m e n t s T o P a r t y (m_no, tempParty ) ;
34
35 f o r ( i n t i = 0 ; i < tempParty . m_numStacks ; ++i )
36 {
37 mbPartyStack ∗ s t a c k = tempParty . g e t S t a c k ( i ) ;
38 mbTroop ∗ t r o o p = g_game−>getTroop ( s t a c k −>m_troopNo ) ;
39 f l o a t t r o o p S p e e d = troop −>getMapSpeed ( ) ;
40
41 i f ( s t a c k −>i s P r i s o n e r ( ) )
42 numPrisoners += s t a c k −>m_numTroops ;
43 else
44 numRegulars += s t a c k −>m_numTroops ;
45
46 t o t a l S p e e d += s t a c k −>m_numTroops ∗ t r o o p S p e e d ;
47 s l o w e s t T r o o p S p e e d = rglMin ( slowestTroopSpeed , t r o o p S p e e d ) ;
48 numTroops += s t a c k −>m_numTroops ;
49
50 i f ( troop −>i s H e r o ( ) )
51 {
52 i n t n u m I n v e n t o r y S l o t s = troop −>g e t N u m I n v e n t o r y S l o t s ( ) ;
53
54 f o r ( i n t j = 0 ; j < n u m I n v e n t o r y S l o t s ; ++j )
55 {
56 i f ( troop −>m_inventory [ j ] . i s V a l i d ( ) )
57 {
58 mbItemKind ∗ itemKind = troop −>m_inventory [ j ] . getItemKind ( ) ;
59
60 i f ( itemKind−>getType ( ) == itp_type_goods )
61 t o t a l W e i g h t += itemKind−>m_weight ;
62 e l s e i f ( itemKind−>getType ( ) == itp_type_horse )
63 numHorses++;
64 }
65 }
66 }

232
67 }
68
69 f l o a t m o r a l e F a c t o r = ( m_morale − 0 . 5 f ) ∗ 0 . 0 5 f + 1 . 0 f ;
70
71 i f ( slowestTroopSpeed > 10000.0 f )
72 slowestTroopSpeed = 0.0 f ;
73
74 i f ( t o t a l S p e e d == 0 . 0 f )
75 return 0.0 f ;
76
77 f l o a t p a r t y F a c t o r = 1 . 0 f / ( t o t a l W e i g h t / ( numTroops + 4 ∗ numHorses + 3 ) ∗
0.007 f + 1.0 f ) ∗ ( pathfinding ∗ 0.03 f + 1.0 f ) ∗ 2.6 f ∗ moraleFactor ;
78
79 r e t u r n ( p a r t y F a c t o r ∗ ( ( t o t a l S p e e d / numTroops ) ∗ 0 . 8 f + s l o w e s t T r o o p S p e e d ∗
0 . 2 f ) ) / l o g ( ( f l o a t ) ( numPrisoners / 2 + numRegulars + numHorses / 2 + 1 6 ) ) ;
80 }
81
82 v o i d mbParty : : u p d a t e S p e e d M u l t i p l i e r ( )
83 {
84 g_basicGame . m _ t r i g g e r R e s u l t = 1 0 0 ;
85 g_game−>e x e c u t e M a p p e d S c r i p t ( game_get_party_speed_multiplier , m_no, 0 ) ;
86 m _ s p e e d M u l t i p l i e r = g_basicGame . m _ t r i g g e r R e s u l t / 1 0 0 . 0 f ;
87 }

Working in here notes, also game script reference

world map travel speed581

7.3.2 Gain Experience Formula

When you gain experience the message “You got X experience.“ pops up. The formula is hard-coded
and can thus not be edited by you, you can also not lose experience back.
1 ( l v l +10) ∗ ( l v l +10)/5−1

You could however write a mission trigger firing when you kill an enemy to disable the original
message, adding more experience on top of that, and finally reporting the total experience gained in
a new custom message when it is enabled. This could look like as follows:582
1 ( ti_on_agent_killed_or_wounded , 0 , 0 , [
2 ( store_trigger_param_1 , " : v i c t i m " ) ,
3 ( store_trigger_param_2 , " : k i l l e r " ) ,

581
Dusk Voyager, Modding Q&A.
582
Dusk Voyager, Modding Q&A.

233
4 ( store_trigger_param_3 , " : is_wounded " ) ,
5 ( agent_get_troop_id , " : v i c t i m _ t r o o p " , " : v i c t i m " ) ,
6 ( agent_get_troop_id , " : k i l l e r _ t r o o p " , " : k i l l e r " ) ,
7 ( try_begin ) ,
8 ( eq , " : k i l l e r _ t r o o p " , " t r p _ p l a y e r " ) ,
9 ( set_show_messages , 0 ) ,
10 ( store_character_level , " : victim_lvl " , " : victim_troop ") ,
11 ( store_add , " : old_xp " , " : v i c t i m _ l v l " , 1 0 ) ,
12 ( val_mul , " : old_xp " , " : old_xp " ) ,
13 ( val_div , " : old_xp " , 5 ) ,
14 ( val_sub , " : old_xp " , 1 ) ,
15 ( a s s i g n , " : new_xp " , " : old_xp " ) ,
16 #[ then i n c r e a s e new_xp any way you want a s l o n g a s you a r e u s i n g val_xxx
ops i n s t e a d o f store_xxx ]
17 ( a s s i g n , reg3 , " : old_xp " ) ,
18 ( a s s i g n , reg2 , " : new_xp " ) ,
19 ( str_clear , s0 ) ,
20 ( str_clear , s1 ) ,
21 ( str_clear , s2 ) ,
22 ( str_store_troop_name , s0 , " : v i c t i m _ t r o o p " ) ,
23 ( str_store_troop_name , s1 , " : k i l l e r _ t r o o p " ) ,
24 ( try_begin ) ,
25 ( eq , " : is_wounded " , 0 ) ,
26 ( s t r _ s t o r e _ s t r i n g , s2 , " @ k i l l e d " ) ,
27 ( else_try ) ,
28 ( eq , " : is_wounded " , 1 ) ,
29 ( s t r _ s t o r e _ s t r i n g , s2 , " @knocked u n c o n s c i o u s " ) ,
30 ( try_end ) ,
31 ( store_sub , " : d i f f " , reg2 , r e g 3 ) ,
32 ( add_xp_to_troop , " : d i f f " , " t r p _ p l a y e r " ) ,
33 ( a s s i g n , " $player_has_recently_made_a_kill " , 1 ) ,
34 ( try_end ) ,
35 ],
36 [] ,
37 ),

1 (0 , 0 , 0 , [ ] ,
2 [ ( eq , " $player_has_recently_made_a_kill " , 1 ) ,
3 ( set_show_messages , 1 ) ,
4 ( a s s i g n , " $player_has_recently_made_a_kill " , 0 ) ,
5 ( display_message , "@{ s 0 } { s 2 } by { s 1 } " , 0 x008080 ) , # a b i t d a r k e r than t h e normal
l o v e l y t e a l t e x t , but s t i l l

234
6 ( display_message , "@You g o t { r e g 2 } e x p e r i e n c e " ) ,
7 ]) ,

7.3.3 Experience Formula for Leveling Up

The game uses a fixed experience-required-to-level table, the required upgrade experience depends
on the troop you upgrade from, not to. It has been generated with the following formula:583
3 i n t needed_upgrade_xp = 2 ∗ ( 3 0 + 0 . 0 0 6 f ∗ l e v e l _ b o u n d a r i e s [ t r o o p s [ troop_id ] . l e v e l
+ 3]) ;

However, the formula itself is not used by the game.584

1 1) 0 1 4 ) 28832 2 7 ) 226879 4 0 ) 1721626 5 3 ) 21968215
2 2 ) 600 1 5 ) 34362 2 8 ) 262533 4 1 ) 2070551 5 4 ) 27466219
3 3 ) 1360 1 6 ) 40682 2 9 ) 303381 4 2 ) 2489361 5 5 ) 34338823
4 4 ) 2296 1 7 ) 47892 3 0 ) 350164 4 3 ) 2992033 5 6 ) 42929679
5 5 ) 3426 1 8 ) 56103 3 1 ) 412091 4 4 ) 3595340 5 7 ) 53668349
6 6 ) 4768 1 9 ) 65441 3 2 ) 484440 4 5 ) 4319408 5 8 ) 67091786
7 7 ) 6345 2 0 ) 77233 3 3 ) 568947 4 6 ) 5188389 5 9 ) 83871183
8 8 ) 8179 2 1 ) 90809 3 4 ) 667638 4 7 ) 6231267 6 0 ) 160204600
9 9 ) 10297 2 2 ) 106425 3 5 ) 782877 4 8 ) 7482821 6 1 ) 320304600
10 1 0 ) 13010 2 3 ) 124371 3 6 ) 917424 4 9 ) 8984785 6 2 ) 644046000
11 1 1 ) 16161 2 4 ) 144981 3 7 ) 1074494 5 0 ) 11236531 6 3 ) 2050460000
12 1 2 ) 19806 2 5 ) 168636 3 8 ) 1257843 5 1 ) 14051314
13 1 3 ) 24007 2 6 ) 195769 3 9 ) 1471851 5 2 ) 17569892

See the Leveling-related Parameters (Subchapter 6.2.3) entry fields at module.ini for the general
settings which can be edited. For the implementation of extra rules (like if you want cavalry to require
more XP, or bandits less, etc.) you need to edit the script game_get_upgrade_xp.585

7.3.4 Colour Codes

The format of colour codes in MABL follows the system 0xAARRGGBB. The first values stand for
the alpha (transparency) component and the ones afterwards for the red, green and blue components,
the classic RGB colour system converted to the HEX system. So to make RED you would use the
code 0xFFFF0000 which would set red to 256, blue to 0 and green to 0. Knowing how to blend
colours will help if you work with colours other than the standard ones.586 Basic colour codes are as
follows:
583
Somebody, Modding Q&A.
584
Answer given by cmpxchg8b, quoting a post of Lav, Modding Q&A
585
kalarhan, Modding Q&A.
586
jik, Updated Module System Tutorial, pages 18-19.

235
 blue 0xFFAAAAFF light blue 0xFFAAD8FF red 0xFFFFAAAA
yellow 0xFFFFFFAA pink 0xFFFFAAFF purple 0xFF6AAA89
black 0xFFAAAAAA white 0xFFFFFFFF green 0xFFAAFFAA
brown 0xFF7A4800

The alpha takes as well values within the range of 0 and 255 in hex system, where 0 (0x00) is full
transparent (invisible) and 255 (0xFF) is not transparent at all.587
Calculating colour codes via code588

7.3.5 Usage of Unicode Characters

Work in the notes here.589

ASCII characters into Warband MP590
Scandinavian characters591
extra letters (unicode ASCI characters)592

7.3.6 Weapon Switch System

You might want to change the way a character switches from a weapon to another, for example such
way that the first equipped weapon should be put away automatically with an animation and the
character draws afterwards the other weapon. The behaviour in Warband is however hard-coded. The
only way might be to put something together by playing animations in the ti_on_item_wielded and
ti_on_item_unwielded triggers.593

7.3.7 Calculation for Reticle Size at Aiming with Ranged Weapons

The reticle size is getting determined by the accuracy and the damage value of the ranged weapon.
You can reduce the reticle size by raising the accuracy and by lowering the damage and vice versa.594

7.3.8 Kicking

A kick is an area-of-effect (AOE) attack for which the game engine checks for the agent in front of
the kicker.595 You cannot change the range of a kick, it is hard-coded into the game.596
587
Dalion, Mount & Blade Modding Discord.
588
Somebody, Modding Q&A, and dunde, Python Script/Scheme Exchange.
589
Swyter, Modding Q&A.
590
Hm, Modding Q&A.
591
SupaNinjaMan and MadocComadrin, Modding Q&A.
592
kalarhan, Modding Q&A.
593
cmpxchg8b, Modding Q&A.
594
_Sebastian_, Modding Q&A.
595
cmpxchg8b, [WB] Warband Script Enhancer v3.2.0.
596
The_dragon, Modding Q&A.

236
7.3.9 Chance for horses being crippled or killed

When horses “die“ while being ridden by the player in battle there is a random chance for it to be
crippled or killed after the battle. You cannot increase or decrease the chance for that, it is hard-
coded into the game engine. You can still write another script that does a similar thing by checking
and replacing the horse’s item modifiers after a mission and create thus a workaround for it.597

7.3.10 Crosshair

The crosshair can be found at the ui_gadgets.dd texture, the part of the texture which contains
the Native crosshairs is in the upper left section. If you are only getting a color change it might be
because you have not edited the alpha map - this is the part of the texture which will define the
ßhapeöf your crosshair - alpha textures define what is visible and what is not.598

7.3.11 Ammo Drop and Pick Up

When you drop a bow, crossbow or firearm, you also drop the ammunition. This is a hard-coded
behaviour of the game engine. However, you can give the agent a new bag of ammunition when the
item is dropped via the usage of triggers. An appearing problem might then be that the player can
just pick up the old ammo again unless you give it a flag.599
It is also a hard-coded behaviour of the game engine that a picked up arrow (or other ammo) will
first fill up the ammunition (of the same kind) a player is already carrying around. A picked up fire
arrow might thus become a simply arrow unless the ammunition is filled up to its capacity and the
fire arrow is getting assigned to another weapon slot (if a slot is free that is).

7.3.12 Melee Weapon Bounce

When striking an enemy the player might experience that the melee weapon bounces and the thrust
gets repulsed. There are multiple factors which can influence this, so the following might be an
incomplete list:600

1. The “business end“ of a weapon is either a line or a long capsule running down the weapon’s
length, which deals damage if it collides with an agent hitbox.

2. Weapons bounce if:

597
Somebody, Modding Q&A.
598
La Grandmaster, Modding Q&A.
599
Somebody, Modding Q&A.
600
jacobhinds, Modding Q&A.

237
 (a) the velocity of collision is too low

(b) the weapon’s “business end“ hits the hitbox at an odd angle relative to the attacker, like
spinstabbing

(c) the weapon doesn’t do enough damage

(d) the “shaft“ hits the hitbox (how the game determines shafts is unknown)

3. Weapons also bounce depending on weapon type and length. There seems to be a lot more
lenience to short weapons regarding the “shaft“ but at the same time polearms seem to get less
lenience than weapons of the same length defined as swords. This is just an observance though,
it is untested.

4. All this is based on the animations. This allows custom attack animations to affect the combat
model.

7.3.13 Biggest Value that a Variable can hold

Work in comment here601

7.3.14 Semi-randomness

Some stuff about semi-randomnes602

7.3.15 Save Game Compability

What are changes which will break the save game compabilities?

1. New Global Variables, or changes in global variables order. How to deal with it: Before
modifying the Module System, compile it once again. Copy variables.txt from the Module folder
to the Module System’s folder. Any new introduced global variables must be included into the
variables.txt file by overwritting reversed_## global variables.

2. New Simple Triggers. How to deal with it: Don’t create any new simple triggers. If you
badly need new simple triggers, just modify
1 (24 ,
2 []) ,

on the last parts of module_simple_triggers.py

601
dunde, Modding Q&A.
602
MadocComadrin and Caba‘drin, Modding Q&A.

238
 3. Inserted new items, new factions, new troops, etc. especially changing constants
like mercenaries_end, books_begin, etc. How to deal with it: Don’t do it.

Work in the notes of the threads here603

7.3.16 Quoted and Unquoted Variables

Work in those notes here604

7.3.17 Uninitiated Variables

Variables in the Module System don’t need to be created with the assign operation. They share
however their memory address and can show a weired behaviour in some cases (like fast loops) or
OS (like Linux and Mac).605
The game engine will overflow uninitiated variables at the operation systems Linux and Macs. If
you ever saw a budget report with trillions of coins of deficit, that is why. In most cases the variables
get thus assigned the values -1 or 0 in the Module System, even if something else is going to be stored
in them a few lines later. Global variables are different from local variables, as they are stored on
the savegame (as slots) and thus always have a defined value (including a default initial value).
The engine does also not handle loops well. So it is not uncommon to see cases of ghost values
causing unpredictable bugs. So for those cases your best bet is to make sure to not depend on defaults.
That is mostly for local variables (which use the same register in memory).

7.3.18 Mount&Blade Engine and Multithreading

interesting discussion about multithreading606

7.3.19 List of Native Key Kombinations

pausing a scene (listing available button combos)607 Rear horse, ctrl + j

7.3.20 In-game Cursor Info

The cursor is a part of the window itself, and so you cannot use shaders to alter it.608

603
NPC99, Modding Q&A, kalarhan, Modding Q&A, Modding Q&A and Modding Q&A.
604
Caba‘drin, Modding Q&A, and Vornne, Modding Q&A.
605
kalarhan, Modding Q&A, Modding Q&A and Modding Q&A.
606
_Sebastian_, Modding Q&A.
607
Docm30, Modding Q&A.
608
dstn, Mount & Blade Modding Discord.

239
8 Most Common Errors at Modding
Chapter here about how to read the error and warning messages at compiling, somewhere is also a
link around of kalarhan’s note in VC Q&A609

8.1 Most Common Errors at Compiling610

If not everything did go well, check carefully for spelling and syntax. Make very sure that all commas
and brackets are in the right place. Bad syntax is the most common source of compiler errors in the
official module system. After compiling, errors are usually pointed out at specific lines. Using a code
editor like NOTEPAD++ makes it easier as lines are numbered, and it highlights (when you mouse
over one) both the beginning and ending brackets.
Since I figured it would be useful, I’ve gone ahead and compiled a little database containing the
most common errors you’re likely to encounter when building the Python code into a working mod,
and their meanings.

1 SyntaxError : i n v a l i d s y n t a x

Meaning: Missing a bracket, comma or quotation mark – [], (), , or – OR you have too many of them.

2 TypeError : ’ t u p l e ’ o b j e c t i s not c a l l a b l e

Meaning: Missing a comma just before an open bracket (

3 TypeError : l i s t i n d i c e s must be i n t e g e r s

Meaning: Missing a comma/too many brackets.

4 ERROR: INPUT TOKEN NOT FOUND: <name>

5 NameError : g l o b a l name ’ c a u s e _ e r r o r ’ i s not d e f i n e d

Meaning: You have a starting dialog-state – example, [trp_guard,"guard_introduce_1", – that isn’t

being led to by an ending dialog-state – example, "close_window",[]],

609
kalarhan, Modding Q&A.
610
Taken from the Modding Q&A [F or Quick Questions and Answers] by Winter with additions from Updated
Module System Tutorial by jik and from Common Errors and How to Fix Them by Yoshiboy.

240
 6 ERROR: INPUT TOKEN NOT FOUND: <empty>
7 NameError : g l o b a l name ’ c a u s e _ e r r o r ’ i s not d e f i n e d

Meaning: You have an empty starting dialog-state – example, [trp_guard,"guard_introduce_1",

8 NameError : name ’< something >’ i s not d e f i n e d

Meaning: Missing a prefix such as trp_, itm_ or mnu_ OR missing a name OR misspelled a name.

9 I n d e x E r r o r : t u p l e i n d e x out o f r a n g e

Meaning: Nebulous. If you’re modding module_mission_templates.py, look for undefined alter flags
and undefined AI flags, these are the most common source.

10 TypeError : i n t argument r e q u i r e d

Meaning: Missing an integer such as a mission-template flag. You can find out which calls are inte-
gers by looking at Armagan’s documentation at the beginning of each module file, (int) calls being
integers.

11 I n d e x E r r o r : l i s t i n d e x out o f r a n g e

Meaning: There’s an error in one of your list calls – a list is anything between brackets.

12 E r r o r : Unable t o f i n d o b j e c t :<name>
13 ERROR: I l l e g a l I d e n t i f i e r :<name>

Meaning: The object you’re trying to call does not yet exist OR there is a misspelling in the name.
It could also be that you forgot to put a $ or : on the variable.

14 WARNING: L o c a l v a r i a b l e n e v e r used :<name>

Meaning: It means exactly what it says: A local variable is never used. Say you have a local variable
named ":cur_day". If you declare ":cur_day" but you never ever use it in the script, it will be then a
local variable which is not used.

15 SCRIPT WARNING ON OPCODE −<n e g a t i v e value >:

241
Meaning: A negative OPCODE means that you are using a combo like this_or_next|SOMETHING
or neg|check_quest_active, etc., so find that line of code and see what you did wrong. The error
tells you the trigger number, line of code, and what is wrong (invalid parameter)611
Not sure if this string compiler error is still present, would need to test for it.
multiple level ups at game start612 leveling at game start problem613

Referencing .py files

Make sure that the files at which you use implemented constants are referencing to the respective
module_*.py or headers_*.py file at which they have been declared. Alternatively you need to use
directly the number of the constant, reading them out of the .py file in which they are declared.
You reference .py files to each other via a line like for example from module_constants import ∗ at the
top of the file. Check at the top of each module_*.py file which other ones are getting referenced
already. Keep in mind that you mostly need to reference the header files since the usage of the Module
System Prefixes mentioned in Subsubchapter 4.1.2 do the work for you at the other module_*.py
files already.
If you want to raise the attribute of a specific troop for example and do it in module_scripts.py.
Intuitively you would try to use this line:
1 ( t r o o p _ r a i s e _ a t t r i b u t e , " t r p _ p l a y e r " , ca_strength , −2) ,

Compiling with it would however result in some error message since the compiler does not know
what ca_strength stands for. Those are constants declared in header_troops.py. The situation is
thus similar to the one at which you make use of a constant or variable which has not been declared
yet. So you either need to use directly the number of the respective attribute (where 1=STR, 2=AGI,
3=INT and 4=CHA) as follows:
1 ( t r o o p _ r a i s e _ a t t r i b u t e , " t r p _ p l a y e r " ,1 , −2) ,

or you need to add a reference line at the top of module_scripts.py as follows:

1 from h e a d e r _ t r o o p s import ∗

8.2 Most Common other Errors

1 map_scene−>man if ol d −>f a c e s [ t a r g e t _ m a n i f o l d _ i n d e x ] . t a g != rt_water ( o r rt_mountain )

611
kalarhan, Modding Q&A.
612
Lumos, Modding Q&A and Modding Q&A.
613
Lumos, Modding Q&A.

242
Meaning: You have a party on the world map that is trying to spawn on water or mountain terrain.
Check all your spawn points and spawn radius’.

2 Get Object f a i l e d f o r ∗

Meaning: Any get object failed error is where in one of your BRFs or items/scenes/scene props
in-game you are referencing a texture, material or mesh that does not exist. Check the spelling and
that everything is referenced properly, remember that capital letters count! Check if your BRFs are
loading in the right order.

3 B u f f e r . has_more_tokens ( )

Meaning: The message means there is a mismatch between the expected and actual size of a data
structure. This could be caused by a malformed BRF, a corrupted .txt file, or a savegame incompa-
tibility. It might also be caused by reading past the end of a data structure, e.g. you only have 25
strings and you ask for string #57. It can also be when you use a space instead of a _ in identifier
names. It is a complicated error which can be caused by a variety of things.

4 rgl_between ( s k i l l _ l e v e l , 0 , ( s k i l l s [ s k i l l _ n o ] . max . l e v e l +1) )

Meaning: This assert is checked when the game reads your skills. It verifies that the number read was
not more than the possible maximum, no matter the dependent attribute (Int, Str, Dex, Cha). Typi-
cally, it means that you are either reading a skill from a nonexistent troop or reading a nonexistent
skill, or both. This error can sneak up on you when you are making troops using predefined skill sets
like knows_common and add additionally more skill points which let a skill exceed the maximum value.

5 rgl_between ( c u r r e n t _ s e n t e n c e , 0 , num_sentences )

Meaning: Caused when talking to someone who has nothing to say.

Non ASCII charaters, reproduce error message.614

error on last line615

8.3 World Map Issues

Create an own world map chapter
614
Antonis, Mount & Blade Modding Discord.
615
jacobhinds, Modding Q&A.

243
 World map can behave strange if separated by rivers and fords into non-connected parts.616 And
again.617
Not really fitting here but collecting world map info snippets here until new subchapter is opened
for it.
One can’t define new ground textures, but one should be able to modify flags, meshes, colors etc
of existing ones.618 , replace the existing ones619
Training fields620
Deep sea effect (find out more about it)621
largest possible world map622
campaign map speed623
World map stuff624
Limit of vertices per mesh625
Some strings getting used all the time?626
hard-coded map materials627
Mixture for creating a campaign map628
Hard-coded material for trees629
worldmap questions630
Deep ocean material? Also swamp discussion, check upfollowing page too631
ford texture material632
world map inland sea maelstroem633
Deep ocean634
ocean world map shader635
616
GetAssista, Modding Q&A.
617
Lumos, Modding Q&A.
618
Somebody, Modding Q&A.
619
Dargor, Modding Q&A.
620
Ritter Dummbatz, Modding Q&A.
621
Cozur, Modding Q&A.
622
Discussion.
623
MadVader, Modding Q&A.
624
Lav, Modding Q&A.
625
cmpxchg8b, Global Map Visualiser.
626
Somebody, Modding Q&A.
627
Swyter, Modding Q&A and Modding Q&A.
628
jacobhinds, Modding Q&A.
629
jacobhinds, Modding Q&A.
630
jacobhinds, Modding Q&A.
631
jacobhinds, Lav, La Grandmaster, Seek n Destroy and Dusk Voyager,Modding Q&A.
632
Michadr and produno (credit), Modding Q&A.
633
Discussions, Modding Q&A and Modding Q&A.
634
jacobhinds, Modding Q&A.
635
La Grandmaster, Modding Q&A.

244
 worldmap forest performance636
Thorgrim map editor issue637
hard-coded world map terrain638
random terrain forest problem639
transfer changes from map editor to ms640
If own chapter, world map speed (also with K700 formula)641
campaign map crashes642
unanswered mountain shifts camera up643
s1 worldmap string644
world map textures645
world map icons limit (crossreference to map icons)646
World map with seasons647
some sailing stuff648
ground specs649
shore effect650
Shiny water at world map and flatter terrain651
world map landmasses652

8.4 Errors appearing in-game

Insane level up at game start653
CTD with error message : Hash Vector failed at index -100000.654
hard-coded stuff not getting referenced in official MS655

636
cmpxchg8b, Modding Q&A.
637
MadVader, Modding Q&A.
638
The Bowman (credit), Modding Q&A.
639
The Bowman, Modding Q&A.
640
NPC99, Modding Q&A.
641
kalarhan, Modding Q&A.
642
NPC99, Modding Q&A.
643
NPC, Modding Q&A.
644
kalarhan, Modding Q&A.
645
NPC99, Modding Q&A.
646
NPC99, Modding Q&A.
647
Docm30, Modding Q&A.
648
NPC99, Modding Q&A.
649
NPC99, Modding Q&A.
650
NPC99, Modding Q&A.
651
Leprechaun (credit) and Hellequin, Useful Techniques
652
cmpxchg8b, [WB] Warband Script Enhancer v3.2.0.
653
Lumos, Modding Q&A.
654
cmpxchg8b, Modding Q&A.
655
The_dragon, Modding Q&A.

245
9 Good Practice
Link Constantly back up your files!
Secondary compilation for backup656
Press Ctrl+M for reloading all txt files anew.657 Perhaps not working anymore, I think it does on
Wine?658 Remark of myself for windowed mode reload659

useful tips at modding660

Modding tip661
Recommendations662
engine limits and potential for optimisation663
ideal order for total conversion mods, also next page664
better more little scripts? Read rest of discussion too665
read compiler messages666
how to use rgl log to debug the game667
656
MadocComadrin, Modding Q&A.
657
GetAssista, Modding Q&A.
658
Caba‘drin, Modding Q&A, and Highlander, Modding Q&A.
659
Earendil, Modding Q&A.
660
grailknighthero (credit), Modding Q&A, and The_dragon, Modding Q&A.
661
Lav, Modding Q&A.
662
Lumos, Modding Q&A.
663
Lumos, Modding Q&A.
664
Multiple participants, Modding Q&A.
665
kalarhan, Modding Q&A.
666
kalarhan, Modding Q&A.
667
kalarhan, Modding VC: basic tutorials and Q&A thread.

246
 system impact of triggers, scripts, etc668
unassigned variables break mac/linux? Also battle size and other stuff669
coding tip670
Modding philosophy671
modding practise, mark own changes672
673
Modding philosophy (kalarhan quoting himself)
compiles fine does not mean there are no bugs674
https://9gag.com/gag/aB2KB9N and https://9gag.com/gag/ad8NEqZ, image research and com-
ments.
game stuttering, optimization675
differentiating things, modding approach676
Some other compiling faults677
features can collide with each other678
Reading compiler errors679
Es handelt sich hierbei um ein fehlendes Komma oder eine fehlende Klammer. Beachte - Wie
immer ist der Fehler über der vom Compiler angegeben Linie zu suchen.
built-in script debugger680

9.1 Multiplayer and hard-coded presentations related notes

Always test multiplayer mods with a dedicated server.681
Maximum server events682
Setup a mp server683
Multiplayer gold presentation (perhaps integrate later at chapter Hard-coded presentations)684
668
jacobhinds and kalarhan, Modding Q&A.
669
kalarhan, Modding Q&A.
670
jacobhinds and kalarhan, Modding Q&A.
671
kalarhan, Modding Q&A and Modding Q&A.
672
EmielRegis (credit), Modding Q&A.
673
kalarhan, Modding Q&A.
674
kalarhan, Modding Q&A.
675
_Sebastian_, Modding Q&A.
676
kalarhan, Modding Q&A.
677
Earendil and kalarhan, Modding Q&A.
678
kalarhan, Modding Q&A.
679
Dalion, Modding Q&A.
680
cmpxchg8b, [WB] Warband Script Enhancer v3.2.0.
681
Vornne, Modding Q&A
682
cmpxchg8b, Modding Q&A.
683
Vornne, Modding Q&A.
684
Caba‘drin, Modding Q&A, and Caba‘drin,Modding Q&A, and Caba‘drin, Modding Q&A.

247
 Client-side trigger intervals are timed separate for each client?685
ti_on_agent_hit is not client side?686
Subevents explained a bit687
server side vs client side688
Adding an mp event689
Spectator code is entirely hard coded.690
Team score display691
prevent host MP function692
Some useful info snippets693
Gun sound (Yoshiboy mp tutorial not any longer useful for sounds but otherwise good)694 Sound
file format seems to be important (jump a bit messages after this one)695
Horses are in team 7 at MP696
Change cloth in MP character window697
Maximum of 250 Players at server (200 hard-coded?)698
Non-server players can be any number between 1 and max players699
MP spawn as different race (and issues)700
MP weather701
Icon above head hard-coded?702 custom presentation703
Some hard-coded presentation MP stuff704
Accessible MP stuff (hard-coded presentations)705
agent_set/get_group for multiplayer706
685
Theoris, Modding Q&A.
686
cmpxchg8b, Modding Q&A.
687
rabican, Modding Q&A.
688
Vornne, Modding Q&A.
689
Vornne, Modding Q&A.
690
Vornne, Modding Q&A.
691
Caba‘drin, Modding Q&A.
692
dunde, Modding Q&A.
693
Vornne, Modding Q&A.
694
Specialist, Modding Q&A.
695
Specialist, Modding Q&A.
696
Mammoet, Modding Q&A.
697
There is also something about tableau to do, Modding Q&A.
698
cmpxchg8b, Modding Q&A.
699
MadocComadrin, Modding Q&A.
700
Meneldur, Modding Q&A, Meneldur, Modding Q&A, and Meneldur, Modding Q&A.
701
Caba‘drin, Modding Q&A.
702
captain lust, Modding Q&A and Modding Q&A.
703
Somebody, Modding Q&A.
704
Caba‘drin, Modding Q&A.
705
Caba‘drin, Modding Q&A.
706
SonKidd, Modding Q&A.

248
 loading bar and loading screen text.707
Main menu presentation.708
Hard-coded cinematic intro.709
maximum mp troops 200 (down from 250)710
Player banner711
customize the kill image for specific weapons712
server and client events713
never test scripts with ’host a game’ in mp714
Module version display715
mp spectator camera hard-coded716
launcher picture717
3D character conversation window718
mp give player certain facecode719
commanding flag hard-coded720
teleport player mp synchro721
some start menu stuff, covered buttons can still get pressed722
hard-coded presentation for start menu723
Hard-coded mp UI strings724
time of day string725
random main menu726
daytime mp727
707
Caba‘drin, Modding Q&A.
708
Caba‘drin and Somebody, Modding Q&A.
709
Specialist, Modding Q&A.
710
Modding Q&A.
711
Ikaguia (credits?), Modding Q&A.
712
cmpxchg8b, Modding Q&A.
713
shokkueibu, Modding Q&A.
714
Vornne, Modding Q&A and Modding Q&A.
715
cmpxchg8b, Modding Q&A.
716
Vornne, Modding Q&A.
717
Modding Q&A.
718
MadVader, Modding Q&A.
719
Modding Q&A.
720
Somebody, Modding Q&A.
721
The_dragon, Modding Q&A and Modding Q&A.
722
Lumos, Modding Q&A.
723
MadVader, Modding Q&A.
724
Somebody, Modding Q&A.
725
The_dragon, Modding Q&A.
726
dunde, Modding Q&A.
727
The_dragon, Modding Q&A.

249
 opening video728
loading screen stretch729
text highlight colours menu (check linked content if present already)730
multiplayer menu731
hard-coded conversation window732
Main menu presentation733
Disable hard-coded order panel734
clicking on map buttons735
battle log in mp736
bot formations mp737
hard-coded player face code and f1 flag738
hard-coded dialog window stuff739
random music at main menu (at bottom of post)740
start menu741
hard-coded order menu742
background campaign map buttons743
character screen744
ui buttons hook745
hard-coded presentations buttons named wrongly746
Bots in multiplayer no variety747
play sound stuff mp748
728
Lumos, Modding Q&A.
729
Modding Q&A.
730
Swyter, Modding Q&A.
731
Seek n Destroy, Modding Q&A.
732
Swyter, Modding Q&A.
733
cmpxchg8b, Modding Q&A.
734
Swyter, Modding Q&A, and Somebody, Modding Q&A.
735
Somebody, Modding Q&A.
736
Lav, Modding Q&A.
737
Lav, Modding Q&A.
738
jacobhinds, Modding Q&A.
739
Lumos, Modding Q&A.
740
kalarhan, Modding Q&A.
741
kalarhan, Modding Q&A.
742
_Sebastian_, Modding Q&A.
743
litdum (credit), Modding Q&A.
744
kalarhan, Modding Q&A.
745
kalarhan, Modding Q&A.
746
TortenSkjold, Mount & Blade Modding Discord.
747
Somebody, Modding Q&A.
748
Vornne, Modding Q&A.

250
 mp sound749 20m radius for that operation750
mp maximum player 200751 Hack server to increase limit752
item categories mp753
lock an agents rotation MP754
Slot maximum mp and server events limit755
mp find spawn point756
custom kill info757
controll agent mp problem758
get rid of unwanted agent in mp759
spawning mp760
spawning player at specific entrypoint in mp761
some mp notes762
mp spectator and unassigned763
Difference SP and MP team764
Player slots are used in MP, but they are effectively the same things as Agent slots.
mp player equipment765
mp phyics766
mp differentiate between oldies and newcomers at map change767
MP troop limit (still active? I think yes, recheck)768
hard-coded order menu, PBOD workaround769
mp additional teams for bots770
749
_Sebastian_, Modding Q&A.
750
The_dragon, _Sebastian_ and cmpxchg8b, Modding Q&A and Modding Q&A.
751
Lumos, Modding Q&A.
752
cmpxchg8b, Modding Q&A.
753
Somebody, Modding Q&A.
754
Somebody, Modding Q&A.
755
Vornne, Modding Q&A.
756
Dusk Voyager, Modding Q&A.
757
Somebody, Modding Q&A.
758
WookieWarlord (credit), Modding Q&A and Modding Q&A.
759
WookieWarlord, Modding Q&A.
760
The_dragon, Modding Q&A.
761
The_dragon, Modding Q&A.
762
The_dragon, Modding Q&A, and Arch3r, Modding Q&A.
763
Namakan (credit), Modding Q&A.
764
Vornne, Modding Q&A, and InVain, Mount & Blade Modding Discord.
765
Vornne, Modding Q&A.
766
NPC99 redirects, Modding Q&A.
767
_Sebastian_, Modding Q&A.
768
Somebody, Modding Q&A.
769
Efe Karacar (credit), Modding Q&A.
770
Vornne, Modding Q&A.

251
 771
A bit at multiplayer send int to server
game receive url response772
reset map/round773
killed a teammate message774
hard-coded mp chat775
mp equipment multiple rows776
override items mp777
spawn a player in mp778
edit hard-coded menu text colour779
conversation window780
781
MP weapon icon also influenced by damage type
Remove/replace round icons above head782
Warband dedicated server three threads783
inventory stat important for mp troops?784
triggers and simple triggers no effect in mp785

10 In-game Editor
The in-game editor allows decoration of scenes with items and new buildings (commonly called scene
props), editing of scene settings and informations, generation of terrain for use in scenes, editing of
NPC faces.
Some remarks to add if not done at other places already.786
771
Vornne, Modding Q&A.
772
Swyter, Modding Q&A.
773
Pitch, Modding Q&A.
774
kalarhan, Modding Q&A.
775
Pitch, Namakan and Maroon, Modding Q&A.
776
Somebody, Modding Q&A.
777
Somebody, Modding Q&A.
778
AlbertFaubrein, How to spawn the player character in multiplayer?.
779
Earendil, Modding Q&A.
780
Multiple participants, Editing conversation window.
781
Seek & Destroy, Mount & Blade Modding Discord.
782
Somebody, Warband Script Enhancer v3.2.0.
783
cmpxchg8b, Warband Script Enhancer v3.2.0.
784
Somebody, Modding Q&A.
785
The_dragon, Modding Q&A.
786
_Sebastian_ and Caba‘drin, Modding Q&A.

252
10.1 Using the Edit Mode for Scening

10.1.1 How to get to Edit Mode

Need to update this subsection a bit. Taken for now from Ursca.
First, start M&B, and go to ’configure’ at the beginning. In the last tab (Advanced), click the
tick-box for ’edit mode’. To set up a blank slate for your scene, go to your M&B folder > Modules.
Copy the native folder, paste it and rename it ’Mod scenes’ or similar. Start M&B again, choose the
’Mod scenes’ module from the menu and play. Make a quick character and go to Zendar. Now press
Alt+Enter to go into windowed mode. Press Ctrl+E to open the Edit Mode window.

10.1.2 Controls

• Click and drag - look around

• Right click - Select object

• W - forward

• A - left

• S - back

• D - right

• F - Up

• C - down

• Ctrl + any movement key - go fast!

• Delete - Delete object

Start off by clearing the Zendar objects out of the scene by right clicking them and pressing delete.
Do this to everything apart from the the yellow arrows.

10.1.3 Adding an Object

In the edit mode window (Windowed - Alt+Enter) go to ’Edit Objects’, in the bottom window (Add
object) scroll through the list to find an object you would like to place in the scene. Click the name
and click add object.

253
 To move the object, hold ’G’ and move to mouse to move it on a horizontal plane. Hold ’T’
and move to move it vertically. Holding Z,X or Y and dragging will rotate the object around the
respective axis.
To deselect the object, right click off it. If you want to select an object to move, right click it.

10.1.4 Painting the Ground Texture

Click ’ground paint’. choose a ground texture from the drop-down menu. Radius changes the size of
the ’brush’. Weight changes the opacity of the brush. Hardness changes the softness of the edges of
the brush.

10.1.5 Spawnpoints in Native

Old (outdated) list with spawnpoints in Native by Amman d Stazia

entry point reference for siege scenes (SP)787
custom battle scenes spawn points788
entry points random terrain789
entry points regular battles790

10.1.6 Other notes

AI mesh game crashing791

Upper limit of scene props at scene.792
hard-coded terrain vertex colours793
blue underwater fog (?)794
random entry points if not placed795
underground building in scene, shooting not possible underground796
797
ai meshes siege tower
terrain mountains798
787
MadVader, Modding Q&A.
788
Docm30, Modding Q&A.
789
Lumos, Modding Q&A.
790
cwr, Modding Q&A.
791
Gergin Adam (Credit), Modding Q&A.
792
Docm30, Modding Q&A.
793
Somebody, Modding Q&A.
794
Dusk Voyager, Modding Q&A.
795
Somebody, Modding Q&A and Modding Q&A.
796
jacobhinds, Modding Q&A, and MadocComadrin, Modding Q&A.
797
Husselism, Modding Q&A.
798
jacobhinds, Modding Q&A.

254
 worldmap forest performance799
wheat and general scene prop count800
ai intermediate points801
vertices limit at scene802
Raining outside but not in interior803
Ai decission making at choosing a way804
Ai limiter805
blue plane edit mode806
reset terrain at scene editing807
first generate terrain, then edit scene808
water_river809
mirror scene props810
vertex colour on scenes811
Pathfinding AI mesh812

10.2 Ingame Troop Viewer

There is an ingame troop viewer. To use it Check Edit Mode, start a game and go to the character
screen - there are new arrow buttons there that let you view all the troops.813

799
jacobhinds and cmpxchg8b, Modding Q&A.
800
jacobhinds, Modding Q&A.
801
cwr, Modding Q&A.
802
jacobhinds, Modding Q&A.
803
Vornne, Nordous’ Sceners Guild.
804
Ruthven, Modding Q&A.
805
EmielRegis (credit), Modding Q&A.
806
Ruthven, Modding Q&A.
807
InVain, Modding Q&A and Modding Q&A.
808
kalarhan, Modding Q&A.
809
Kekse (credit), Modding *Sammelthread*.
810
Kekse (credit), Modding *Sammelthread*.
811
Various, [WB] Warband Script Enhancer v3.2.0 and [WB] Warband Script Enhancer v3.2.0.
812
MadocComadrin, Modding Q&A.
813
MadVader, Modding Q&A.

255
11 Frequently Asked Questions
Placeholder section for stuff for which I have no idea yet where to integrate it otherwise

11.1 What is a tuple?

A tuple is a set of data fields surrounded by normal brackets. Every operation or structure definition
in Module System is a tuple. Take module_scripts.py for example:
14 scripts = [
15 ( " script_name " ,
16 [
17 ( o p e r a t i o n , " : param1 " , " : param2 " ) ,
18 ( a n o t h e r _ o p e r a t i o n , " : param1 " , " : param2 " , " : param3 " ) ,
19 ]
20 ),
21 ( " another_script_name " ,
22 [
23 ( o p e r a t i o n , " : param1 " , " : param2 " ) ,
24 ( a n o t h e r _ o p e r a t i o n , " : param1 " , " : param2 " , " : param3 " ) ,
25 ]
26 ),
27 ]

What we have here is the array (square brackets, " scripts =[]") which contains two tuples (surrounded
by normal brackets). Each of those tuples is a script definition. Each script in turn contains one
string value (name of the script) and an array of operations. Each operation is once again a tuple,
with first data value being the operation name, and the rest are operation parameters. So we have
tuples inside array inside tuple inside another array. Simple eh? Especially when compared to more
complex files like module_presentations.py.814

11.2 What is the difference between neg and neq?

neg is for the opposite/inverse of the operation whie neq stands for "´not equal“.

11.3 What are Fixed Point Values/Numbers?

Short explanation here.
814
Lav, Modding Q&A.

256
11.4 Why can’t I see the changes I made to my mod?
Many things are stored in the save files, and so changes made to your mod may only be visible when
you start a new game. Not everything requires you to start a new game however.815 Need to expand
explanation here.

11.5 How to read OPCode errors?

Work in that part here.816

11.6 Is there an upper limit to the number of troop types or cities/villa-

ges/castles available?
The only limit is your imagination (and RAM).817

11.7 How to create a Native Compatible Multiplayer Mod?

Work in notes here.
limitations server side native mod818
server side mod819
item selection client side820
server side throwing weapon821
changing order causes problems822

11.8 Why is the initial loading time of a new game getting longer?
Work in note here.823

11.9 How does the Auto-Calc Battle work?

auto-calc battle824 Rabbit hole threads825
815
Thorgrim, Modding Q&A.
816
Caba‘drin, Modding Q&A.
817
Somebody, Modding Q&A.
818
The_dragon, Modding Q&A.
819
The_dragon, Modding Q&A.
820
The_dragon, Modding Q&A.
821
The_dragon, Modding Q&A.
822
The_dragon, Modding Q&A.
823
Waldzios, Modding Q&A.
824
jacobhinds and kalarhan, Modding Q&A.
825
Earendil redirect, Autocalc and Unit Levels. Get the normal links in the Forge Scrap Yard for better integration.

257
11.10 Default warnings of Native in rgl-log
Four default warnings in Native in rgl-log826 , could perhaps correct the warnings in a new MS version.

11.11 Banners
Perhaps some own subchapter at another place. setting banner and flag827
synchronized changes for banners828
banner offset829

11.12 Startup of Game

startup of game830

11.13 How can I skip the Character Creation for Quick Testing?
Work in the informations of the thread here831

11.14 How can I change the Battle Size?

Work in the informations of the threads of kalarhan832 See also the issue note at the header operations
GitLab for the explanations of Vetrogor.

11.15 Is the Game actually doing something with the Names of Scripts,
Presentations, etc.?
Scripts names, presentations names and so on are only used for debugging and for mapping to
hard-coded items, in example things starting with game_ or wse_.833

11.16 The Usage and Usefulness of Decompilers

There was a big discussion about decompiler in the forum once and multiple little ones. Since the
discussions about this topic are getting pretty fast pretty emotional - the topic was and still is coming
826
Caba‘drin, Modding Q&A.
827
dunde, Modding Q&A.
828
Lav, Modding Q&A.
829
Lav, Modding Q&A.
830
Lav, Modding Q&A.
831
Somebody and kalarhan, Skipping character creation for mod testing.
832
Modding Q&A and Modding Q&A.
833
cmpxchg8b, Modding Q&A.

258
up every few months - it was decided not to discuss it at all at the forum and later at the discord.834
There are two more known decompilers and they can be seen as helpful and essential tools until
they are not anymore, meaning that they might be used with dubious intentions. As such a decision
has been taken to not promote them. The ones who are in the community since a longer time and
know how to script themselves will find them anyway and have to decide at their own if they want
to use them or not. For experienced scripters they can be useful to study other modules, although
at some point you know by yourself how to do most stuff and features are often very mod-setting
specific. Newbies however should not be lead towards them because the cannot handle stuff anyway
and it causes more mess than it helps them.
Decompilers do not generate py files as they have been before, you have no variable names inside
the scripts except the one of the global variables. Additionally critical files like module_constants.py
are missing, so you can’t simply compile a decompiled file again. While you won’t be able to compile
it again you can however read the scripts and adapt them accordingly into your own mod. That
mostly lures newbies deeper into getting lost if they are not used to work with the Module System.
It is nearly impossible to hide your own work if decompilers are available. That’s the reason why
some mods which are only server side don’t publish their files at all since only the server needs it,
otherwise they could give an advantage to players, especially at the competitive scene.
There are (to my knowledge) three obfuscators which are working against decompilers and which
are the reason why the known decompilers don’t work at them. Someone with enough passion and
time could however still create a custom decompiler for any mod which used an obfuscator. The
obfuscators are by Caesim, Swyter and The_dragon.

834
One of the biggest discussions has been initiated by xenoargh, Bytecode MS Decompiler.

259
12 BRF Resource Management

12.1 What is OpenBRF and what are BRF Files?

BRF files are a file format used by the Mount&Blade game series to hold most game graphical
content: meshes, materials, textures, collision boxes, shaders, animations and skeletons for animati-
ons. OpenBRF is a tool to edit and preview the content of those BRF files. You can preview them,
import/export them in an array of formats (so that you can edit them in external applications),
as well as edit them. This would be useful to build your own game module aka mod.835 OpenBRF
was originally developed for Mount&Blade version 1.011 (also called Vanilla M&B) but is backward
compatible with Mount&Blade .808 BRF files (load only) and “forward“ compatible with Warband
BRF files (save/load).836
For the basic usage: To access most functions you must select the object you want to act on (e.g.
a mesh), clicking it on the list at the left, and then: either right click on it or use the [Selected] menu
option, and then select the command from the menu. You can also select multiple objects, by Shift-
/ Ctrl-clicking on them. That way you can perform an action on all of them at once (via the context
menu, as normal). Many things are also explained in the context menus.837

12.1.1 BRF File Format

If you save the brf file as Warband Resource you have to make sure everything has the ’standard’
30000 (or 30001 as used by buildings, it seems) flags, but if you save as M&B Resource it can work
with 0 flags. Many folk have had problems with the Warband Resource .brf type and many people
have had problems of the game simply not starting if you have meshes with 0 flags.838 If all meshes
have 30000 or 30001 flags then the Warband resource works as well.839
rsf files840

12.1.2 Loading Order

Load order skeletons and animations841

835
mtarini, FAQ and Troubleshooting.
836
mtarini, Download link and main info.
837
mtarini, FAQ and Troubleshooting.
838
FrisianDude, Modding Q&A.
839
FrisianDude, Modding Q&A.
840
armagan, Mesh .rsf formats? What are the character maps for?.
841
dstn, Mount & Blade Modding Discord.

260
12.2 Meshes
Limit of vertices per mesh842
hard limit vertices per mesh843
get size of shields844
Highelf old tutorial for triangle count reference845

12.2.1 Multi-meshing

When looking through the brf files of various mods you might have discovered the possibility to let
a mesh consist out of multiple meshes. One of these might look like as in the screenshot below or the
following:
1 mesh_name
2 mesh_name . 1
3 mesh_name . 2

This is the so called multi-meshing. Multi-meshes work because the game engine thinks of a list
of meshes with a .# suffix as a single unit and will combine those meshes on its own. You might
be asking yourself why you shouldn’t simply combine those meshes into one. That is because every
mesh is limited to one material (and thus one texture set).846 At some weapons or especially scene
props it can however be sometimes necessary to use different materials on multiple parts of the same
mesh, resulting in multi-meshing it.
With the latest version of Warband you can pretty much multi-mesh everything, from items to
scene props.847 At versions earlier than 1.134, so Vanilla M&B of course as well, multi-meshing is only
possible for scene props and flora, not for items. Latter one will display only the first mesh from the
list.848 You will still face this old restriction in a similar way at another related field: multi-meshed
items will be automatically combined when displayed as weapon icons, using the first mesh’s material
definition849 and the inventory view only displays the primary mesh.850 It is therefore still worth to
think about combining item meshes by creating texture atlases, re-uvmapping the mesh so that all
parts are using the same material.
842
cmpxchg8b, Global Map Visualiser.
843
cmpxchg8b, Modding Q&A.
844
Somebody, Modding Q&A.
845
Highelf, All about 3d-modeling, Chapter 1 : basic modeling.
846
Swyter, Download link and main info!.
847
Swyter, Download link and main info!.
848
GetAssista, Modding Q&A.
849
Somebody, Combining meshes/models in OpenBRF question.
850
Somebody, Modding Q&A.

261
 Another drawback is that every multi-mesh will need to load and apply multiple materials, textu-
res and/or shaders which will affect the performance.851 It is assumed that the engine has to render
every texture even if they are hidden behind something. This gets worse the closer the player gets,
meaning more pixels in the screen-space have to render the expensive shaders that come with armour
for example. You might have experienced this when looking at large amounts of guys melee that the
fps changes a lot depening on if you watch them in melee or are looking away of them. Reducing the
number of multi-meshed items has been found to be good for performance, any more than three or
four meshes on an item can start to kill fps due to draw calls.852

Take note that multi-meshing is not possible for map icons. You need to work around this by using
two map icons.853 However, multi-meshing is possible for LODs, given you apply a name convention
851
Somebody, Modding Q&A.
852
jacobhinds, FormationsAI Performance Improvements/Stutter reduction?.
853
Specialist and Somebody, Modding Q&A.

262
as follows:854
1 mesh_name
2 mesh_name . 1
3 mesh_name . 2
4 mesh_name . l o d 1
5 mesh_name . l o d 1 . 1
6 mesh_name . l o d 1 . 2
7 ...

12.2.2 LODs, the Level of Details

Lods and optimization855

lods for buildings856
lods for submeshes857
lods distance triggers (move up to game engine chapter perhaps)858
Lods optimal amount859
What are lods860
set range of lod effect861

12.2.3 Rigging

Gloves are not rigged but vertex-animated. They don’t have enough bones to relate to to make
rigging useful.862
gloves and rigging863
old gauntlet frames864
gauntlet stuff865
gloves have sometimes this special stuff with not only _R (needed for unrigged gloves) but also
expansions with _Rx866
854
Docm30 (credit list?), Modding Q&A.
855
GetAssista, Modding Q&A.
856
MadVader, Modding Q&A.
857
Gambino (credits), Modding Q&A.
858
cmpxchg8b, Modding Q&A.
859
jacobhinds, Modding Q&A.
860
troycall, Modding Q&A.
861
ealabor, How to set the range at which lods trigger.
862
GetAssista, Modding Q&A.
863
Mammoet, Modding Q&A.
864
Somebody, Modding Q&A.
865
rgcotl (credit), Modding Q&A.
866
dstn, Mount & Blade Modding Discord.

263
 rigging head/neck867
gloves rx lx868

12.2.4 Vertex Animations869

A vertex animation is just a sequence of meshes, one mesh per frame. Each frame is also associated
to a timing. But here is the catch, each frame only redefines positions and normals.870 All frames
share the same: triangles (which triangle connects which vertices), texture coords (coordinates),871
rigging (in case the mesh is also rigged), and so on. This also means that the frames are bound to
have the same number of vertices and faces.
Note that the frames must be considered just keyframes. The game is “free“ to interpolate between
two frames of the vertex animation to get smoother animations. It will exploit that, for example when
it animates bows.
Vertex animations are used for many things:

• Animated map icons on the world map, in which case the first frame872 is unused, the second
is the stance pose, the rest is the walking sequence.

• Weapons animations, like the bow and crossbow strings.

• Armours, at which the first frame is unused, the second frame is the male and the third the
female version. Take note of the time of frame 2, the female one. The necessary time here gets
determined by the morph key of the skin entry. Look up chapter 5.3.2.2 for more informations
about skin flags and morph keys.

• Quivers and the like, at which each frame represents a different number of arrows, bolts, etc.
which are still left.

• Shields, at which a frame is for when they are fastened around the body and the other one for
when the belt is loose and the shield gets carried at the arm.

• Scabbards, at which the first frame is with sheathed weapon and the second frame without it.

• Hands or gloves, at which the first frame is an open glove, the second half-closed and the third
closed in a fist or grab.
867
Ivkolya (credit), Modding Q&A, Modding Q&A and Modding Q&A.
868
Somebody, [WB] Warband Script Enhancer v3.2.0.
869
Most informations taken from mtarini, Download link and main info!.
870
Normals as in the perpendicular vector of each vertex, used to calculate lighting. When vertex animation happens,
vertices have to move and thus recalculate their normals; jacobhinds, Mount & Blade Modding Discord.
871
Meaning that it’s not possible to have different frames with different UVs; jacobhinds, Mount & Blade Modding
Discord.
872
The numbering at frames starts with 0, so the first frame is frame 0.

264
 • Customizable heads, at which frame 0 is the base head. Each frame is the effect of a “slider“,
like “eye-to-eye distance“.

• Scene props, see chapter 5.4.1.5 for more details.

... and maybe other things too.

You have two options for making your own vertex animations in OpenBrf. Since version 0.38
of the tool, you can import and export vertex animations as MD3 files, the format introduced by
Quake3. Alternatively you stack them frame by frame. So, typically, you export a frame, edit it,
reimport it and attach it to your animation.
You can do this in the cut-and-paste way: with ctrl-alt-x, ctrl-alt-c, ctrl-alt-v (as you can see in
the edit menu) you perform cut and paste operations that refer to individual frames (and apply to
the currently selected frame). So you can import a mesh and stack it to your animaton by cut and
paste. You can also redefine the frame order, duplicate frames, etc.
Otherwise you can do it via direct frame import and attach: when your frame is in an external
file, as a shortcut, you can also import a static mesh directly as an additional frame of the currently
selected mesh (menu ïmport").
At all methods, remember to edit at the end of the process manually the times (in the "data"box)
of each frame.
What makes the process messy (if you tried in other occasions, like in OpenBRF you know) is that
when you assemble frames you are assuming that not only the vertex number, but even their internal
order has been kept the same by all import and export operations. Otherwise, say vertex N.412 is
on the head in frame 1, but on the foot in frame 2: then it kills everything! Textures, triangles,
interpolations... result is a mess. That is because, as you might remember, triangles, texture coords,
etc. are shared by all frames. So, if you have a triangle connecting vertex N.412, N.51 and N413
together, that applies to all frames.
In OpenBRF you have two options to merge a frames into an animation. You select which one of
them below is your favourite option, 1 or 2, in the option menu (“Option“ => “On assemble vertex
animation“).

Option 1: you pray that the vertex order is kept unmodified by your mesh import/exports (OpenBrf
will comply, but who knows what, say, Blender or Wings3D will do). This is the “old way“ and
it works, sometimes.

Option 2: you resort to use texture coords as unique identifiers of vertices. You just assign to each
vertex of your mesh an unique UV-point in texture space.873 Once your texture coords identify
873
Note that sometimes you want different points to share the same texture coords: for example, if you have a quiver,

265
 the vertices in frame 1, don’t touch them anymore. Feel free to edit the mesh 3D shape for all
other frames!

Note that the system is somewhat robust: if option 1 fails (e.g. different number of vertices) it will
fallback to option 2 automatically. If option 2 fails (e.g. same texture coords for different points), it
will fallback to option 1 (for that vertex only).
Work in remaining notes if not already mentioned anyway:
vertex animate items874
vertex animating sword scabbard875
vertex animation876
sword scabbards877
merge mesh vertex animation878
moving rotating scabbard mesh879
firearms no vertex animations880
sword scabbards881

12.2.5 Vertex Colouring

Color uniform option at OpenBRF.882

get vertex colours into openbrf883

12.2.6 Others

hard-coded default bullet flying mesh.884

Reskeletonize meshes. Add reference to ßkin Flag and Morph Key"chapter.
each arrow is a copy of each other arrow, including the UV-coords, and if you have a symmetric something, the left
half will use the same texture coords as the right half. In these cases, just displace the texture of each vertex by a
little tiny bit in your mesh editor. Half a fraction of a texel (a texture pixel); it won’t make any practical difference,
but it will be enough for OpenBRF to tell vertices apart.
874
Lumos, Modding Q&A.
875
SupaNinjaMan, Modding Q&A.
876
mtarinie (find original post), Modding Q&A.
877
quote, should already be present above somewhere, Modding Q&A.
878
without real solution but I have had that case, dig out at Modding Discord, Modding Q&A.
879
Ivkolya, Modding Q&A.
880
Mike12096, Modding Q&A.
881
Swyter, Download link and main info!.
882
Somebody, Modding Q&A.
883
Vornne, Modding Q&A.
884
ithilienranger and SonKidd, Modding Q&A.

266
12.3 Materials
prevent sun from going through flora885
don’t block light at materials? Sun shining through sceneprop (interesting side bug with golden
shining river)886
semi-transparent meshes (brf bug?)887
render order888

12.4 Textures
Average texture limit889
Specular map890
square texture size891
Mipmaps892
.lod textures893
alpha performance894
low-res option uses mip-maps895
alpha stuff at texture896
Older version gave error message at wrong size of texture897
Interesting, texture size etc898
textures not found (white-blue checkerboard patter)899
The colour 8080FF is the base colour for normal maps and makes them flat.900

12.5 Collision Meshes

Multi-meshing is not possible for collision-meshes.901
885
_Sebastian_, Modding Q&A.
886
Ruthven and jacobhinds, Modding Q&A.
887
_Sebastian_, Modding Q&A.
888
Lumos, Modding Q&A.
889
xenoargh, Modding Q&A.
890
jacobhinds, Modding Q&A.
891
jacobhinds, Modding Q&A.
892
_Sebastian_, Modding Q&A.
893
jacobhinds, Modding Q&A.
894
Somebody, Modding Q&A.
895
FantasyWarrior (credit), Modding Q&A.
896
SupaNinjaMan, Modding Q&A.
897
Chilly5, BaldwinIV and fisheye (credit), dds error: size=not a power of 2.
898
mtarini, Shader and Graphical effects Discussion.
899
mtarini, FAQ: textures not found (white-blue checkerboard patter): how to fix?.
900
jacobhinds, Mount & Blade Modding Discord.
901
GetAssista, Modding Q&A.

267
 BRF Format and collision meshes902

12.6 Skeletons
hitboxes for skeletons903

12.7 Animations
T frame at new animation904

12.8 Performance Optimization

Perhaps integration at other subchapters, will see how it goes.
Optimize performance of a mod905
performance question here is a loading time question906
907
Mod optimization
Loading stuff908
Loading overhead 10 items vs one new texture909
rearranging brf files for optimization910
resource management911
brf organisation912
philosophy and optimisation913
optimisation914
common errors at brf resource management915
Texture atlas of 4k recommended and some more optimisation stuff916
902
fisheye, BRF Format and collision meshes: brief documentation (Pt 1).
903
La Grandmaster, Modding Q&A.
904
NPC99, Modding Q&A.
905
Abhuva, Modding Q&A.
906
Somebody and cmpxchg8b, Modding Q&A.
907
Caba‘drin, Modding Q&A.
908
Caba‘drin, Modding Q&A.
909
Somebody, Modding Q&A.
910
kraggrim, Modding Q&A.
911
kraggrim, Modding Q&A.
912
_Sebastian_, Modding Q&A.
913
kalarhan, Modding Q&A.
914
_Sebastian_, Modding Q&A.
915
Ramaraunt (credit), Modding Q&A.
916
Marko, Leonion and NPC99, Modding Q&A, Modding Q&A and Modding Q&A.

268
12.9 Remaining notes
Some map icon/heraldic informative stuff917
some useful brf info (normal map -> tangent blubb), also follow up posts918
realistic shadow on plants919
morph not working for boots920
import static meshes921
openbrf copy complete (mesh+material+textures)922
Don’t forget Maroon’s Tutorial and OpenBRF reading marks.
tangent directions923

12.10 Shaders
Shaders924
Some shaders don’t support vertex animation for quivers925
Adding shaders, perhaps outdated926
Some shader notes927
Interesting stuff with animated textures, perhaps dstn will test it928
water reflections929
Skinned shaders930
billboard shaders (need to ask dstn about optimality)931
shaders stuff932
engine picks random texture for shader if not provided933
green and pink spots at terrain (some problem dstn tried to figure out, shader related?)934
917
dunde, Modding Q&A.
918
NPC99, Modding Q&A and Modding Q&A.
919
Ruthven, Modding Q&A.
920
cmpxchg8b, Modding Q&A.
921
Swyter, Modding Q&A.
922
Swyter, Modding Q&A.
923
mtarini, Recompute Tangent Dirs.
924
mtarini, Shader and Graphical effects Discussion.
925
GetAssista, Modding Q&A.
926
Abhuva and Vornne, Modding Q&A.
927
SonKidd, Modding Q&A, and mtarini, Green Normalmaps.. Question??.
928
Thorgrim, New version texture errors.
929
Vornne, Modding Q&A.
930
jacobhinds, Modding Q&A.
931
jacobhinds and MadocComadrin, Modding Q&A and Modding Q&A.
932
jacobhinds, Modding Q&A.
933
_Sebastian_, Modding Q&A.
934
Swyter, old forum link, Shader Stuff- HLSL instruction limits.

269
 beard problem with shader (not happening with Native ones)935
Seems like using non-Native shaders inside of a skin’s .LOD material causes crashes when the
LOD material is used.936
shader stuff937

Tutorials
Page 4 of Jiks documentation with personalizing your mod. Maybe making an easy walk through
with jiks example? Starting with the hard-coded menu tutorial for first success. Afterwards easy first
steps with adding new stuff at each py file. Reread jiks integrated tutorials for that to integrate them
properly.
Before we begin, we will take the first step in personalizing your mod. Let’s change the mod
selection picture. This can be done with MS Paint, or anything that will edit BMP files. The file
main.bmp is located in your Mount&Blade modules folder - for example in C:\Program Files\Mount&
Blade\Modules\MyMod. Editing this will change the picture shown when you select your mod. This is
often a good idea if you jump between working on a mod and playing others.
If you have the ability to edit DDS image files, you can make copies of the various DDS back-
ground pictures to your mod’s texture folder - for example from C:\Program Files\Mount&Blade\Textures
to C:\Program Files\Mount&Blade\Modules\MyMod\Textures. If you change them in your mod’s texture
folder, they will be changed in the game when you play your mod. The file bg2.dds is the standard
background for most menu pictures, and pic_mercenary.dds is the picture for the main menu.
Don’t spend too much time with this now, but know that you can make your mod look a lot slicker
when it’s done.
game hints938

Remaining notes for sorting

Create variables that point to registers.939
language files messages (Lav extra py file)940 ui cvs stuff (Lave WRECKER has module file
935
Garedyr (credit), Modding Q&A.
936
dstn, Mount & Blade Modding Discord.
937
Swyter, [WB] Warband Script Enhancer v3.2.0.
938
Caba‘drin, Modding Q&A, and Somebody, Modding Q&A.
939
MadocComadrin, Modding Q&A.
940
Seek n Destroy, Modding Q&A.

270
for them)941 change loading text942 hard-coded ui text943 change names of attributes944 language
folders945
Disable Steam achievements946
debug mode at game and other useful informations afterwards947
Empty folder to clear Warband memory, need to find more info here948
compiling at Linux949
A part of history, gk_parry_then_attack950
Slot agent is blocked951
Change Combat Feed Font Size952
Ghost range of shields953
Swyter doing some calculations954
ai targeting hard-coded? and turn of archer ai (next page too)955
ignore specific key to be pressed and zoom (requires module.ini setting)956
optimization at code957
Legendary cow bug958
Disallow horses (and no cavalry bots) (tf mounted mentioned for mp)959
load game faster with fps setting960
Target a group for priority fire (game engine)961
stationary troops at moving ships problem962
horse archer ai (MS Overhaul?)963
941
Somebody, Modding Q&A.
942
Seek n Destroy, Modding Q&A.
943
kalarhan, Modding Q&A.
944
Leonion, Modding Q&A.
945
kalarhan, Modding Q&A and Modding Q&A.
946
Somebody, Modding Q&A.
947
Swyter, Modding Q&A.
948
Chatter, Modding Q&A.
949
kalarhan, Modding Q&A.
950
Ruthven, Modding Q&A.
951
kalarhan, Modding Q&A.
952
DeathByRabbit (credit), How to change the Combat feed/Font size.
953
SupaNinjaMan, Shield Hitbox Issue.
954
Swyter, Modding Q&A.
955
Multiple people at discussion, Modding Q&A.
956
_Sebastian_, Modding Q&A.
957
gsanders 8credit, Modding Q&A, and Leonion, Modding Q&A
958
Dalion, Modding Q&A.
959
Ivkolya, Modding Q&A, Modding Q&A and Modding Q&A.
960
Pitch, Modding Q&A.
961
kalarhan, Modding Q&A.
962
dommipoppe, Modding Q&A.
963
Diverse, Modding Q&A and Modding Q&A.

271
 very basic permadeath964
key commands for main menu965
interesting attach sceneprop fail966
agent getting ridden by another agent967
Random number engine generates even numbers?968
crouch crossbow reloading, open question969
Storing and retrieving binary flags as integers970
Optimizations971
integer size, not sure how to implement the best972
warband multicore973
WSE a bit explained974
How to add new operation (game engine)975
128 pos (regs etc too?)976
interesting info bit977
item drop at death978

964
Ruthven and kalarhan, Modding Q&A.
965
Winter, Pleasant surprise for modders.
966
Dawiduh, Modding Q&A and Modding Q&A.
967
Lumos, Modding Q&A, and Veni Vidi Vici, Mount & Blade Modding Discord.
968
Veledentella, python code doesn’t work.
969
Derek_Custer, Modding Q&A.
970
fujiwara, Storing and retrieving binary flags as integers.
971
Multiple participants covering multiple areas, Optimizations.
972
cmpxchg8b, Modding Q&A, and Vornne, Modding Q&A.
973
K700, Warband Script Enhancer 2 (v1.0.4.6).
974
Ra’Jiska (credit), [WB] Warband Script Enhancer v4.8.0 for 1.174.
975
kalarhan, Modding Q&A.
976
cmpxchg8b, [WB] Warband Script Enhancer v3.2.0.
977
cmpxchg8b, [WB] Warband Script Enhancer v3.2.0.
978
cmpxchg8b, [WB] Warband Script Enhancer v3.2.0.

272