[Step by step modding-guide]: Jagged Alliance 2 1.13 - Dammit, Elliott!

I'm very glad that there's a bunch of you who share my nostalgia for the classics. As with many games with a still active following, people found ways to express the love for their favorites. The Deus Ex modding efforts (guide) by the community are great, as are System Shock 2's (guide), Baldur's Gate's (guide) are astonishing, but those Jagged Alliance 2 veterans dug deep since the sourcecode was published in 2004.

With the publically available sourcecode, 1.13 arose - since the last official patch was 1.12, the name is more of a statement than just something to call it by. The goal was to build a platform for modders, with externalization of many core features as one of the pillars. I'll spare you the changelogesque historic timeline since it's just too much. Instead, I'll fast forward to 2010 and tell you what 1.13 itself does by now:

• **Multiplayer - Co-Op/TDM ** (That is correct. The community added multiplayer to a single-player game.)

• Higher Resolutions (800x600, 1024x768, or any resolution you want.)

• Externalized hard-coded Data (Weapons, items, locations..you name it)

• Externalized hard-coded Options (Starting cash, V-Sync, visual ranges..you name it)

• AI Upgrades (Enemy snipers make use of spotters, they flank you, take proper cover, climb up/down roofs)

• New Difficulity Level (INSANE)

• Weather Effects (Rain, thunder storms that light up the night)

• Militia/IMP overhaul (lots.)

• Weapons/Armour (They increased the limit to 5000. Several hundred new weapons, incl. the guns from Unfinished Business, several types of armour, incl. Ghillie suits and tons of other equipment)

• New Ammo (AET, Glaser, Tracer, Match, Lock-Buster, Depleted-Uranium, Cold-Loaded)

• (optional) New Inventory System (Manage gear beyond guns and armour)

• Tons of new options (tons.)

• Better Interface, more hotkeys (Stuff like selling all items in a sector's inventory)

• Map Editor (what it says)

• General Gameplay Changes (Multiple interrupts per turn, vehicle inventory, soldier tooltips, new animations)

• Enhanced Description Box (More info about the gear you carry to better streamline your mercenaries)

Some other things are in the pipes but not quite ready for the unwashed masses, like the Big Maps project, which makes it possible for multiple sectors to be combined. And loads of animations by different people.

Now, that's quite a mouthful. So, basically it works like this: Modders collaborate over at the Bear's Pit, someone pitches a feature, it gets coded, and once it's deemed awesome and stable enough, it's implemented in 1.13.

I'm going to elaborate on three ways to get this party started. One for seasoned JA2 veterans (VET), one for bloody newbies (n00b) and one for people who like to be on the bleeding edge of things and welcome a 150% chance that the game will crap out at one point or another (CRAZY). Those three ways only share one thing in common, and that's that you need the game itself, $9.99 (patched up to 1.12, however, most versions already are.)

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Let's start with the (n00bs):

• Install JA2 & patch it to 1.12 if you still need to.
• Grab this and install it into your JA2 folder, replacing what's necessary.
• Open Ja2_Options.INI in your Data-1.13 folder and locate STRATEGIC_EVENT_SEND_TROOPS_TO_DRASSEN. Set to FALSE.
• Don't play in SciFi mode, because the Crepitus would eat you alive. Literally.

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Now to the (VETs):

• Install JA2 & patch it to 1.12 if you still need to.
• Grab this and install it into your JA2 folder, replacing what's necessary. You're not only downloading 1.13 but also the 1.13 compatible version of the WildFire mod, offering you a slightly altered storyline, new maps and replacing a few mercs (who no one liked anyway).
• Familiarize yourself with the INI Editor.exe, there's bound to be some things that you'd like to change.
• Launch the game with JA2_with_HAM_3.6_Alpha.exe.

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And the (Crazies):

Alright, if you're interested in this, you probably already know what a SVN repository is. But I'll pretend that you don't so I have to answer less questions later (I'm still troubleshooting the Baldur's Gate crowd, and that was a week ago):

• Install JA2 & patch it to 1.12 if you still need to.
• Install TortoiseSVN
• Create a blank folder somewhere, right-click on it -> TortoiseSVN -> Repo-browser -> Enter "https://81.169.133.124/source/ja2_v1.13_data/GameDir" (If it asks you for an account, enter TestUser/testreadonly) -> Click OK
• Once all's downloaded, you copy the contents of the freshly filled GameDir into your JA2 directory and overwrite when asked.

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That's basically it. This is just scratching the surface, though. There's many others such as Renegade Republic, Deidranna Lives, Urban Chaos.. But I believe getting a taste of 1.13-JA2 is mandatory first. You can find a list of most other mods in this big ass thread, if you can't get enough.