The Creative Assembly has updated Total War: Shogun 2 to work with Steam Workshop, allowing for easier access to mods. Going a step further, however, the studio has also put out the Assembly Kit, a free software framework which will allow users to edit database values, make custom units, and more.
Basically, modders are going to able to create some even more ridiculous stuff. And even if you aren’t interested in making or playing such content, there’s a nice “Total War Weekend” promotion happening on Steam. With it, you’ll find discounts on all the Total War titles you can handle.
“Total War has a dedicated mod scene with some truly heroic modders wrestling with a gigantic game and turning out some incredible work,” states brand director Rob Bartholomew. “Until now though there’s never been a useful set of tools that really opened up the possibilities in the game the way we knew they wanted. However, while we gear up for Rome II‘s release next year, I’m happy to say that the team were able pull out all the stops and put together a kit we hope will really inspire them.”
Just like TEd, the Assembly Kit is completely free and available to download now from the Tools section of the Steam client. It comprises a range of powerful utilities:
TWeak is a software framework that contains two key plugins for Total War modding:
- DaVE, The Database Visual Editor tool, enables modders to edit any database values in the game, including those which dictate campaign map start positions, game logic, unit values and much more.
- The Unit Editor tool enables modders to alter the look and feel of existing units and create new ones, with custom skins, armour, helmets etc.
BOB is a data-processing tool, which enables modders to process models, animations, textures and many other assets into a game-usable form.
The Mod Manager enables modders to upload their mods to Steam Workshop.
