BI modfolder: how does XGM do it?

[Spartos]

I have a quick question about how XGM uses the BI.exe to run the mod. From what I have read, one must copy the entire BI folder if they wish to have a mod folder running from BI.exe. Correct me if I am wrong, but it would seem that XGM doesn't do this (since the XGM folder is only 0.4GB and BI folder is 0.7GB)

So how does this work? What are the minimum requirements for a mod folder that uses BI.exe? When I make a mod, I would rather not have to copy the BI folder. Thanks for the help.

[DimeBagHo]

You only need to copy the contents of the BI folder if you want to use those contents in your mod (i.e. you want to use the same map, factions, units, etc, as a base for your mod). If you just want to use the exe to run an RTW based mod, or even the original game content, you don't need anything from the bi folder.

[Spartos]

Well actually you must need something, because custom battles and campaign will not work if you just have nothing in the mod folder or you set it up like a vanilla RTW mod folder. Sorry if this is the wrong place for this (it probably is ). Someone from the workshop suggested I look at XGM to solve the issue, so that's why I posted.

[DimeBagHo]

If you want custom battles to work (and a few other details) then you do need to change a few things, but you still don't need any content from the bi folder. You only need content from the BI folder if you want to use certain BI specific features like city lighting for night battles.

You can see how XGM handles this if you look at the installer script which you can see here. The base files for XGM are set up for an RTW exe install. The user can choose which exe they want to use when they run the installer, and the installer makes all the minor changes needed for the exe selected.

[Spartos]

Ah, thank you. I will piece through that and figure it out.