There isn’t much of a modding scene around this game, even though the tools actually allow you to even create your own campaigns. There’s probably a handful of reasons for this, such as this simply being an indie game.
There’s also not much in the way of guides. Let’s rectify that. The purpose of this modding starting guide is just to edit the basic game files. Future guides might cover other possibilities.
The game comes with a scenario editor, but this doesn’t allow building cmapaigns nor editing unit stats. So we must first make our way to the game files.
Finding the Correct Files
It’s not usually advisable to edit base game files directly, but Unity of Command 2 doesn’t really give you an alternative. That is, if you want to edit the campaigns directly. The steps are pretty straightforward:
- Go to Steam, right-click Unity of Command II, select “Manage”, and click “Browse local files”.
- This opens up the file explorer at the game directory. Now open “_packages” folder.
- The different folders here are for the different campaigns.
- We are going to pick the one called “dlc1” which is the initial Blitzkrieg campaign. Feel free to pick any other that you wish to edit.
In the DLC directory you will find two directories: “assets” and “data”. In the “Base” directory found under “_packages” you will find other foldiers and files, but we are not touching those for now.
The assets folder isn’t of interest to us, as it’s basiclaly just models, graphics and music. We are not editing these today. So let’s head over to the Data folder.
Inside the data folder you will find “campaigns”, and in some cases “scenarios” folders. We will choose campaigns. Under this folder you will find the campaigns associated with this DLC, in this case blitzkrieg.usc. And once we enter this folder, we are looking at the actual campaign data files.
So let’s get started with the editing.
Couple Tips for Difficulty
If you’re concerned with the difficulty of the cmapaing you might want to start by looking at the “restart_scenario” file. It really only affects normal and easy levels. You should find text along these lines:
# Default for normal
- level: normal
trucks: 1
flying_artillery: 1
# Default for easy level
- level: easy
air_attack: 1
flying_artillery: 1
trucks: 2
engineer_specs: 1
infantry_steps: 3Simplest way to edit this is to increase the numbers. You can also move around the different definitions.
# Default for normal
- level: normal
air_attack: 5
flying_artillery: 5
trucks: 5
# Default for easy level
- level: easy
air_attack: 1
flying_artillery: 1
trucks: 2
engineer_specs: 1
infantry_steps: 3The above for example will give you 5 trucks, 5 flying artillery, and 5 air attacks whenever you restart a scenario on normal difficulty level.
The second file you want to edit is “main.yml”. Here scroll down all the way to the bottom until you find the line “prestige: 200”. Yep, this controls how much prestige you start the game with. Use any figure you deem appropriate. Easy way to make sure you can buy and upgrade anything and everything you want.
What Are Confrences?
Before we start looking at the individual scenarios, it’s best understand how reinforcements work. As you know, each cmapaign is divided into confrences. Basically you play a couple of scenarios, and then get a chance to change your cards, upgrade HQs and so forth. This also determines how many replacements you can get your hands on.
These are NOT found under the “confrences” folder. Instead you must click on “Fronts”.
Under “Fronts” you will find one or more folders, which represent the different areas that the scenarios take place in. Under these you will find tow folders “conferences” and “segments”. We obviously choose Confrences.
The different files are sorted by date. Each of these determines the replacements available. So for example choose “Eur” and “Confrences” and the file c_39_09.yml, we will be represented with all the replacements available for the player during scenarios taking part in the time frame of this confrence.
To edit these simply change the numbers around. For example:
- nationality: german
price: 20
quantity: 3
spec: ger_recon_39…is pretty self-explanatory. The two things that you can change here are price and quantity. If you want 20 german recon attachements, each costing one prestige, simple change as follows:
- nationality: german
price: 1
quantity: 20
spec: ger_recon_39
It's advised to do this if you are going to play a more arcade style game. Pump up the numbers and you need not worry about taking casualties. But remember to do it for every confrence!Moving onto Scenarios
The individual scenarios are found under _packages/DLC/data/campaigns/CAMPAIGN.USC/scenarios
Each scenario has a folder of their own, with several files that affects the gameplay of that scenario. You can edit various things here, but make note that some of them require editing everything through the whole DLC. For example adding new units is really advanced level modding, and not something that you get started with as a beginner.
Let’s go through the easy to edit stuff. Starting with “main.yml”.
This file determines the basic information about the scenario, such as the number of turns the scenario lasts, and what sort of support the player and the AI has available, as well as supply levels.
The particulars you’re after are:
base_num_turns:
//the number of turns
supply:
- supply_value: 20
trucks: [1]
- supply_value: 100
trucks: []
//The first one is the player supply and trucks, the second one for AI
theater_assets:
- - asset: air_supply
uses_total: 1
uses_turn: 1
- asset: long_range_recon
uses_total: 1
uses_turn: 1
- asset: air_attack
uses_total: null
uses_turn: 1
- - asset: air_attack
uses_total: null
uses_turn: 2
//these are the different support options available. First "- - asset" is for the player, and the second "- - asset:" for the AI.You can also edit the “units.yml”, but be careful with this. Adding too much strenght to units can and will cause the game to crash. It’s generally advisable to only edit the units in the very first scenario at the start of the campaign.
