How to increase the Field of View and other graphical improvements

This mod will increase the in-game camera's Field of View (commonly refered to as FoV), as well as some graphic effects. It provides ready-to-use files, as well as a short guide on how to do this yourself. This guide does NOT unlock the game's 30 FPS cap.

Intro & download link

A note from the author:

I was dissapointed when I bought this game. Seeking to fix the problems that this port had, I attempted to mod the game. Working in the game industry myself, I know how game engines are usually designed. After some research, I was able to decrypt some files that change the graphics of the game.

These files allow some, but not all access to the game engine. Sadly, the 30 FPS cap can not be removed with this method. It is hard-coded into the engine.

Anyway, this is what the mod does:

Without mod (right), with mod (left)

What the mod does:

FoV (Field of View) is increased from 60 to 80 degrees. Certain image filters have been replaced, increasing its size from 512x512 pixels to 2048x2048 pixels. Loading screens have been upscaled and sharpened to look better on 1080p (loading screen originally was 720p).

Download and installation

Viking Graphic mod download[www.dropbox.com]

Download the .zip file provided, and extract them into the viking: Battle for Asgard installation "data" folder. Most likely you'll find this in your Steam installation folder/SteamApps/common/Viking Battle for Asgard/Data. If done correctly, you'll be asked to overwrite some files. Check in-game if the camera appears to be zoomed out. If this is the case, you've installed the mod succesfully.

How it was done (and how to mod yourself)

Editing the encrypted game files

At first, I tried and failed to improve the game by messing with the option files (they can be found in My Documents/My games/Viking/Config, if you're interested). They are encrypted, and I have not found a way to decrypt them. I now assume they contain the key bindings, the selected graphic presets and nothing else.

I looked on, and eventually found a program that was able to decrypt the game's .bin files. Its name is "VBABinTool". I will not provide it's download link here, but at the time of writing I had no problem finding a downloadable copy using google.

The program is a simple tool that operates in the command line. In other words, you copy the file to the viking/data folder, open the command prompt, go to the aforementioned folder, a type "VBABinTool file1 file2" (without the quatation marks), where file1 is the .bin file you want to decrypt, and file2 is the file you want it to output (preferably a .txt file, so you can edit it in notepad).

FoV settings are kept in the cam_presets.bin file. As far I know, it's locked between 30 and 80 degrees and defaults at 60 degrees.

You'll find you can edit a couple hunderd files, most of which are stats and behaviour settings for the different enemies and allies the game has. You can also experiment with amount of particle effects, draw distance and camera FoV, among things.

Replacing or upscaling image filters

Some of the image filters found in the game folder are very simple images that can be generated on que by programs such as Photoshop or GIMP. I completely replaced these effects.

For the upscaling: I opened the images, set the resolution to the desired size (1080p in this case) and hit "apply", upscaling the resolution. I then used a quick sharpen filter, but was still unsatisfied with the result. I then copied the image layer and used a "high pass" filter. I put the blend mode on "overlay" and decreased the filter layer's opacity until I was happy with result.

Quick tip: One of the image files is a .dds file. There are multiple ways to convert it to a "workable" format, but the simpelest way is to use Nvidea's Photoshop tools. As the name indicates, you can get this from Nvidea's website. If you have to convert it to another format, prefer uncompressed .tga (Targa) over formats such as .jpeg and .png

[De Yuang]

The .bin files in My Documents are encrypted differently to those in the main game folder. VBAbin only works on the .bin files in the installation folder. Thatbeing said, though, just because I couldn't open the config file doesn't mean you shouldn't try. Happy hunting!

[AngryPixel]

config.bin (***:\Users\***\Documents\My Games\Viking\Config) just need to open through VBABinTool and it will make a txt file, I understood correctly?

[De Yuang]

@Nice My thoughts exactly. I haven't been VAC-banned, and I haven't heard from anyone else that got banned over this either.

[Mr.Caelum]

@LKDL: A VAC ban on a game that doesn't have multiplayer and thus doesn't even use VAC? Um....ok.

[LKDL]

get ready for soft vac ban...

[De Yuang]

Lovemetal, I've re-written the installation part of the guide for added clarity. Please do let me know if you understand the guide better now.

[Beavis's Daddy]

what folder are we suppose to put the files into? and what files exactly, the link brings us to so many files, theres 1 in one folder, 2 in another folder, 2 files in the data folder, and then the zip file of VBABinTool....

can you please make detailed instructions for the files, im very thankful you created this, and i understand you work in the industry and understand this to great degree,

but not all of us have the same knowledge.

[Doomacles]

Great guide. For the life of me, I cannot find VBABinTool anywhere. Can you give me some direction with it?

[BlackJack ♠]

ty!

[Member?]

Awesome