Noob Modding (Just a look at what files are where)

[saice]

Me?
Random guy that has not done much with the files yet but figured a basic dive would be helpful to others. Please note I might have some wrong info here. If you know better please tell me and I will edit this with updated info.

What do you need?
Text editor like Notepad or Notepad++

Where do you find the files to edit?
BATTLETECH\BattleTech_Data\StreamingAssets\

BACK EVERYTHING UP! Before you touch any file make a back up.

Folders and what you find in them.

\Audio\GeneratedSoundBanks\Windows

The sounds of the game. You will find some .txt that show you the event tigger and what sound they use. For the most part unless you know what your doing here this is not useful to minor edits.

\data

This here is the gold mine. Where you will find all the stuff you most likely want to mess with.

\data\abilities

What is says on the tin. Here you find the json files that cover pilot ablities. These are the passive and actives you get form skills and show up as icons on the pilots action bar while in combat.

\data\abilities\Traits

This is skill traits the ablities you get form raw skill points in a skill line.

\data\ammunition

Basic Ammo info. Does not seem to do much. looks like ammo might at one time had planed to have modifers.

\data\ammunitionBox

This is the actuall files the effect ammo as a mech part.

\data\assetbundles

No json files here. So not something we can easly modify.

\data\audioevents

Just what it says. auido event scripts.

\data\backgrounds

Backgrounds these effect what your character creation options give you. This is where you could change starting skills.

\Data\behaviorVariables

AI logic weighting. If you want to try and tweek how the AI makes choices this is it. Gobal.json seems to be the base file with the rest doing selective alterations to gobal.

\Data\buildings

Do you want to make builders harder or easyer to kill? This is where their files live.

\Data\cast

Seems to contorl NPC portraits and scripting how they are displyed in game. Note 100% sure how these one work.

\Data\chassis

Another gold mine. This is all the mechs in game. There stats and loadouts. Rarity effects where you and when you can run into them. Purchasable effects if you can ever buy them from stores. Of note it looks like they have planed ahead as there are flags for a lot of the base stats like sensor range and the such. There is also an omni tag for slot locations (which is set to false on everyone) that might be used later.

\Data\constants

Of intrest here are two files CombatGameConstants.json and MechStatisticsConstants.json both seem to hold default values for the game. But I've not messed with these yet so again not 100% sure.

\Data\contracts

Many subfodlers in here. But these are the mission files. These seem to contorl how every mission is setup from rewards to what map and what sort of enemies you will deal with.

\Data\contractsDeprecated

Same as above but not used by the game.

\Data\conversationBuckets
\Data\conversations

These two seem to contorl the in mission popups. When you spot the emeny or target flees ect.

\Data\debug

Debug tools but no idea how these would be used.

\Data\descriptions

Contorls the text bubles of info you get form menu over icons or clicking the highlighted words in dialogs.

\Data\designMasks

Seems to contorl map effects. Like heat or cover.

\Data\dropship

Not sure how these work. But they are files for the two ships you get in game.

\Data\events

These are all those random events that tiger.

\Data\factions

Seems to mostly effect the dialog for mission completion and how rep is handled.

\Data\genderedoptions

Some NPC stuff it seems.

\Data\hardpoints

No idea how these work. They appear to contorl what hard points rendor on the mech model.

\Data\heatsinks

Files contorling how heat sinks work.

\Data\heraldry

Color schemes for enemy mechs.

\Data\jumpjets

Files that contorl how jump jets work.

\Data\lance

Stock lances used by the game both "arena" staic lances and "dynamic" random lances. Not really sure how these could be edited.

\Data\lifepathNode

No idea. Lots of "designer notes" labeled in a lot of the tags here not sure if these is even implented in game. But looks like a sort of system for rolling characters maybe? NPCs?

\Data\loggerProfile

most likely for debug tools

\Data\maps

Game maps not something we can easily edit.

\Data\mech

Seems to be the mission load outs for the mechs. There are mutliple files for the same chassis verion but with diffrent loadouts. If you edit \Data\chassis above you might also need to edit the matching files in here.

\Data\mechlabincludes

Apears to be what contorls lance loadouts for skimrish mode.

\Data\milestones

Seems to contorl the story game flow and some popups.

\Data\movement

Contorls movement of units. This seems to be mostly the in game animations. This might be where you can speed up movements in game but I've not tried.

\Data\nameLists

Just what you think. Lists of names used for random creation.

\Data\pathing

Files for how the units pick where they are allowed to move.

\Data\pilot

All the premade pilots. From backers to characters in the main story. If it is not a random pilot its in here.

\Data\portraits

Pictures for the above pilots. Fun fact these are json files that do some sort of ingame render based off the same head modling you do for you character.

\Data\shipUpgrades

Files for all the Argo upgrades. Want to make something cheaper or more costly here they are.

\Data\shops

Files for how shops work. But in an odd way. It looks like they use planet tags to select bundles form these files. So here you can alter where some stuff is found. Your not editing what a planet has but more what planet tags allow you to have a chance to load one of these lists.

\Data\simGameConstants

All the defaults for the game. These ties into a lot of the other files. If `you want to make gobal changes here is a good starting point. Fun thing to note is it looks like they had planed for diffuctly options at one point as they files are still here for hard and medium setting.

\Data\simGameConversations

All the game converations but not in a format we can edit. Though you can view them in notepad++ they are not plain text.

\Data\simGameStatDesc

Seems to contorl how descriptions of events for gaining and losing things are display. I'd not mess with these.

\Data\starsystem

Contorls how the star map is rendered. Every system has its own file. Funny thing it looks like it was setup for a 3d map at one time as it has X,Y,Z cords but then they set everything into the same Z 0 plain.

\Data\turretChassis

The files contorling turrets much like the MechCassis files above.

\Data\turrets

The loadouts using the chassis above. Like mechs you might need to edit both.

\Data\ui

Contols the UI colors.

\Data\upgrades

Files for the non weapon mech mods like cockpits and gyros.

\Data\vehicleChassis

You guessed it. Chassis files for the vhicles in game.

\Data\vehicle

The load outs for the chassis above. You can now strip the LRM carrier down to just one MG if you want.

\Data\weapon

All the weapon stats. Here you can change how they work, how rare, and if you can buy them.


Stuff outside of the \Data\ folder

\editors

Has the event editor. No docs or help files so good luck.


\emblems

dds art files for the emblems in game.

\GameTips

Text files with game tips.

\MDD

No idea.

\sprites

dds art files for icons in game

\tools

Unity tool looks like its just the display detector

\Video

All the cutscenes in MP4 format.