Unpacking Files Step-By-Step

[Publius]

Vercingetorex's "xpak" program allows us to change many of the 2D aspects of RTW which we normally could not. While there are instructions included in his readme, I have seen enough people post asking for directions in this process that it warrants a walkthrough. And now, we begin:

1) Download XPAK.

2) Extract these files (Right Click, extract).

3) Open extracted files


4) Create a New Folder here


5) Go to your C:\Program Files\Activision\Rome - Total War\Data\Packs folder. Find the file that is titled "ui_1.pak" and copy it.

6) Paste this file into the New Folder which you created earlier.


7) Copy the two files shown below

and paste them into the New Folder you created before


8) Double click on the icon shown below

When this is complete a folder "DATA" should appear. Copy this and paste it into C:\Program Files\Activision\Rome - Total War. Click "Yes to All" If it asks you to overwrite.

9) Return to the C:\Program Files\Activision\Rome - Total War\Data\Packs folder. Create a new text file (right-click, new, text document) and name it "ui_1.pak" Leave it empty

10) Find the file named ui_1.pak here and delete it (Always remember to back-up files!!!). Now you should be left with just a text file (highlighted) which has the same name as the original .pak file


11) You have successfully unpacked files! Go to C:\Program Files\Activision\Rome - Total War\Data\UI and you will see all of the files now available for you to change. In the folder entitled "Unit_Info" you will find the larger unit information cards for each faction. In the "Units" file you will find the smaller unit cards for each faction.


Enjoy!

[Hader]

Very nice Publius, this will be a big help to me.

[Publius]

Glad I could help

[Lorenzo Maximus]

Awesome tutorial Publius, Thanx a ton!!!

[Armatus]

I don't have a "packs folder"

[Aradan]

Do you have a UI folder? (in other words, are the .pak files extracted)

[Armatus]

I believe so, I have RTW and BI separately not the eras or gold editions, but where to extract them?

[Aradan]

Well, the .pak files are inside the "packs" folder and when you extract them a new folder named "data" will be created inside "packs" and that's where the extracted files will go.

The version of RTW is irrelevant btw, I can't understand how can the packs folder be missing, you wouldn't be able to play RTW if it was and the files had not been extracted...

[SiamWarrior]

How do you put the unpacked file back into the game, I changed a portrait file but how do I make it appear in the game?

I have a load of unpacked files but don't know how to add them back inside the game

I just extracted the data file and changed the pictures inside it, how do you put everything back into the game.

I need to re Pack so I see my groovy pics in the game

[Aradan]

The unpacked files are in data/packs/data/UI/etc/etc folder, right? You need to take the bolded UI folder and put it inside the underlined data folder. Then, you must re-name the .pak file, so that the game doesn't read it. Alternatively, you can re-pack the files, after editing them.

[florin80]

Instead of repacking all the files from the original pak you could just make a new pak named mod_0.pak and only include in it the portrait you`ve edited(inside the corresponding folders-check Aradan`s post). The engine will first read this one and only then the original/vanilla pak so it will load your file instead of the old one.
Check the downloads sections of twc. There is a small tool(fileperser) made for vercongetorix`s unpacker that will make it more user friendly.

[SiamWarrior]

Thanks mate

The unpacked files are in data/packs/data/UI/etc/etc folder, right? You need to take the bolded UI folder and put it inside the underlined data folder. Then, you must re-name the .pak file, so that the game doesn't read it. Alternatively, you can re-pack the files, after editing them.

Re name the pack file that I extracted and leave the portraits i changed into the Ui that's already in the game. Got yah !

Do you change the ui_0 or ui_1 ?

Ehhhr woops, that crashed it.

I think I might give up and stick to maps it's easier

[SiamWarrior]

I tried fileparser, it made a gimp file from the portrait card I edited in the UI folder.

Test.pak thingy, mmm it's all alien to me.

Right it made a gimp file that I can't access, comes up as :

Opening 'C:\Program Files\Activision\Rome - Total War\Data\packs\face.pak' failed: TarGA image plug-In could not open image

What do I do with the file it made, I'm all new to this :_(

I followed the advice from Publius's tutorial to the letter and things are starting to work, I deleted the crown for the Parthians and it now comes up as a black circle thanks to Publius for the tutorial.

Took a while for me to understand that i don't have to repack anything, duh I'm a big dumbo !

Everything seems so easy now :-)

[JorisofHolland]

The link is old or whatever, it doesn't work. Can anyone post a new one?

[jakobh94]

Here is it

[Hakomar]

Never mind.

[Joar]

Very helpful.

[Tiberius Caesar Augustus]

I discovered that you can use to extract with this command
for example mod_1.pak
for pack

echo mod_1.pak >pak_files.txt
dir data /a:-D /s /b >>pak_files.txt
echo packing the mod_1.pak

echo y |xpak.exe -v -pf pak_files.txt

for unpack
xpak.exe -v -mkdir mod_1.pak
xpak.exe mod_1.pak

[Petroniu]

It is very helpful! Big thanks!

[Azriel117]

My pack files are called data_0.pack, and data_1.pack.

This method does not create "DATA" folder when i try to execute the xpac.bat with the data pack in the folder.

I'm very illiterate with modding tools and such. So please, use simple terms.