Steam Workshop Support [BETA] - GAMECHANGER

Users who are viewing this thread

We are pleased to announce our support of Steam Workshop for your mods! This will make it easier for users to download your creations. There are some kinks to work out but you can try out the workshop right now following the instructions below.

IMPORTANT (GAMECHANGER): There are new changes to the workshop that mean the file size limit had been vastly increased and should no longer pose a problem. You must opt into the beta on Steam, in the "BETAS" tab of Warband Properties. Use the access code "betapassword" and download the update, then follow the instructions below (in the original post).

Once this is released, ALL CURRENT WORKSHOP MODS WILL NO LONGER WORK. So update to the new system in preparation. Ask in the thread if you have any question.


Settings:

In Steam, you must make sure your account is enabled for Steam Cloud usage. Do this by opening Steam>Settings in the Steam client and in the "Cloud" section, make sure "Enable Steam Cloud synchronization for applications which support it" is ticked. This is the upper option, for those using non-English language options in Steam.

Preparing your mod for upload:

Place your module folder (with all the included files), named correctly in your Steam Warband directory (something like: "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\MountBlade Warband\").

Also prepare a preview image for your mod, that will appear in the Steam Workshop. This must be a 512x512 .png format image.

Now you should prep your ".ini" file. The default used is "input.ini" found in the Steam Warband directory.

Open the file and you'll need to look at these lines:

Code:
## The title which is shown in steam workshop interface
module_title = TESTMODFOLDER
## The filename of your module 
file_module_name = TESTMODFOLDER

## The folder name of your module 
tags = Gameplay, Sound	     	
 
## The description of your module
description = describe the mod

## Can be public, private, friends only 
## First publish is always private. On update you can change visibility
visibility = friends only

All of these lines are explained in the comments. Here is a little more detail about what's required for each field:

  • module_title - This is the title of your mod as it will be displayed in the Steam Workshop. This will also be the name of your Module folder (important for compatibility in multiplayer mods). Maximum length of 128 characters.
  • file_module_name - This is the folder name of the module you have prepared. There is no limit to size of the this folder and the files contained. Name can be no longer than 260 characters in UTF8 encoding.
  • tags - The available tags will be displayed in the command window. Enter each tag you want for your mod one at a time, exactly as displayed (case-sensitive) and press the "Enter" key after each tag. Do not enter multiple tags and once.
  • description - The description for your mod. You can use "^" to indicate a new line.
  • visibility - Can be "public", "private" or "friends only". For the initial upload, it will always start as private. You can then update it from the steam interface or by updating with the program, to pubish the mod publicly or to your friends.

Uploading your mod:

Firstly, make sure Steam is open and you are logged in to your account.

Now run command prompt by opening the start menu, typing "cmd" into the search bar and pressing enter.

You then have to navigate to your Warband Steam Directory using the change directory command. It will be something like this:

Code:
cd C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\MountBlade Warband\

Once you're there you should type in the program name "mbw_workshop_uploader.exe" to execute commands.

The program understands the following commands:

  • printPublishedFiles - This command will list all of the mods you currently have on the Steam Workshop, along with their IDs.
  • printTags - This command will list all of the available tags for the Mount&Blade Workshop. Use this to type in the tags exactly when uploading your mod.
  • printExtensions - This command will list all of the accepted filetypes Mount&Blade Workshop mods.
  • publish -mod <input.ini> -icon <preview.png> - You need to specify the ".ini" file you prepared earlier (input.ini by default) and your preview image. Then just hit enter and your mod will begin to load.
  • update -mod <input.ini> -id <published_id> -icon <preview.png> -changes <change notes> - This works much the same as the "publish" command but you need to include the id of your mod (which you can find out using the command above) and you can also include patch notes for the changes.

Use the "publish" command to publish your file with the prepared ".ini" and preview .png all ready and in the correct place. The program will work for a bit and then tell you once the process is complete.

Here is an example, in case that was a little confusing!

Once you have navigated to the Warband Steam directory, the command you'll run will look something like this:

Code:
mbw_workshop_uploader.exe publish -mod input.ini -icon preview.png

Run that and you should be good to go with your first upload.

Managing your Workshop Modules:

Your mod is now uploaded but hidden from view and it lacks some extra screenshots etc.

Go to the Mount&Blade Warband Workshop page here: http://steamcommunity.com/workshop/browse/?appid=48700 log in to your Steam account and on the right, click "Your Workshop Files". This will take you to a page with your current workshop files (surprise!). Click on each mod to view the individual mod page where you can customise all kinds of settings, write a description, add extra screenshots/videos, patch notes and more.

On the right hand side, there is an option called "Change Visibility". Here is where you can change the availability of your Module on the Workshop. Bear in mind, that you are giving out full unencrypted files no matter what, so even just by sharing it with your friends, there is nothing to stop them from taking the files and sharing them further.

Updating your Workshop Module:

Updates are done using the "update" command listed above, which works in much the same way as publishing.

Only the owner of the mod on the Steam Workshop can apply updates.



If you have any questions or suggestions, please post below!



Known Issues

-*FIXED* Module names include the Workshop ID of the Module. This is an intended feature. To prevent Modules clashing with one another, we have decided to guarantee that their folders have unique names. We will apply an update very soon so that the ID is ignored by the game, enabling compatibility with non-Workshop mod users in multiplayer. However, for the time being, compatibility will remain an issue.
-*FIXED* Preview image has not loaded. We are working on this and will fix it in a future update, hopefully before long. For now, you should be able to change the image in the Steam interface anyway.
-*FIXED* Update has not applied. There seems to be witchcraft at work here. We're looking at the issue but it does work... perhaps with time or perhaps by running the update again. Let us know how it's working for you!
-General. This is a beta. There is a good chance that other features will not be fully functional right now. Let us know and we will fix them!
 
Are there any plans to support WSE-based mods? Since they use either the wse launcher or a slightly modified exe of it...
 
That is really nice for steam-workshop guys  :grin: Keep up the good work.
 
Is there a possibility we could get 7z compatibility with zip compatibility? Better compression in 7z files.

Also, is it likely that we can get an extra 100-150mb wiggle room? I've compressed a couple of the popular mods and they are 100mb shy of being able to be uploaded.
 
Two betas for Mac and now workshop, hard at work Taleworlds to bring accessibility to the game. I was not expecting the workshop petition to be viewed on M&B twitter and actually accepted.
It asks for a private beta access code for Mac/Linux and Workshop beta. I am guessing it is a error. Or is there something I missed?
 
Somebody said:
You don't need to enter the code to unlock the beta.
This. Just go straight for the dropdown box!

Hotfix applied. Workshop should now be functioning correctly!

JuniorD said:
Is there a possibility we could get 7z compatibility with zip compatibility? Better compression in 7z files.

Also, is it likely that we can get an extra 100-150mb wiggle room? I've compressed a couple of the popular mods and they are 100mb shy of being able to be uploaded.
We're limited by Steam on that front. We're seeing if we can increase the limit but 7z isn't currently possible.

There are a lot of ways to decrease your mod file size though. Make sure you aren't including any unused resources, ensure your .DDS files are in DXT1 format if they don't use alpha etc.
 
You'll also run into the problem of having to grab all the SceneObjs from Native for most mods to work.
Tags seem a bit limited - I'm sure there will be more user-contributed ones though.

EDIT: While the images are retained on subsequent uploads, descriptions and tags are wiped out and need to be repopulated manually. At least it's sort of working now
 
Back
Top Bottom