Most tank guides sooner or later wonder how to install mods on World of Tanks. Someone lacks the capabilities of a "vanilla" version of the game, someone wants to simplify their life, well, and someone is trying to bring tank battles closer to reality. Whatever the player’s motives, knowing how to install mods on World of Tanks will not be superfluous. Therefore, today we will completely plunge into this issue.
Folder for modifications
So, the first thing to always remember is that all modifications to the World of Tanks game are installed strictly in a folder called res_mods. It can be found directly in the root directory of the installed client. In this folder you can find others whose names correspond to the version of the game. That is, the way to install mods will look like this: World_of_Tanks \ res_mods \ x.x.x. Where xx.xx means the client version number.
So how to install mods on World of Tanks? Just unzip the contents of the archive to the above folder? In fact, it’s better not to do that. Even if the instructions for the modification indicate that you must completely copy the x.x.x folder and replace it with the one that is on your computer, you do not need to do this. You can copy the files themselves, but not the directories, as sometimes you can accidentally delete the files of another mod.
This is computer magic.
Now let's look at the process of how to install mods on World of Tanks, in more detail. After installing the game in its root directory is the res_mods folder, in which another folder is nested - 0.9.1, it is completely empty. We pass into it. Here we create the gui directory with the flash folder enclosed in it.
Unpack the contents of the modification archive to a place convenient for you. We are looking for files with .swf permission and moving to the just created folder for flash. The remaining files are moved to the directories specified in the instructions for the mod. Often, the archive already contains the necessary folders, and the instruction is not needed here. In this case, you just need to copy everything into the game version directory.
How to install skins mod?
To do this, unpack the files directly into the game directory. Consider an example of camouflage for the notorious Maus tank :
- go to the mods folder, and then to the directory of the current version of the game;
- create the vehicles folder necessary for the combat vehicle files;
- then the german catalog, which will house German tanks;
- inside we create a folder called G42_Maus, it will contain a “skin” of camouflage; every time you want to change the appearance of the "Mouse", replace the files in this directory;
- from the archive with the mod we move to the directory all files with the extension .dds;
- Now you can enjoy a new kind of Wehrmacht fighting vehicle.
As you probably already understood, installing World of Tanks mods is quite simple. For German tanks , the german folder is created, in which the catalog of a specific model is placed. For American cars, the folder will be called American, Chinese - china, French - french, Brian - British, Russian - Russian.
How to install old skins on new versions of the game
“Tank guides” know that after the game version 0.9.0 the old “skins” with highlighting the affected areas, and even simple camouflage ceased to function properly. The reason for the failure of the game to accept old files was the transition to HD-models. During this transition, "skins" began to be called differently. For example, before the camouflage for the tank was called T-44.dds, now the letters AM are added to all files. And in order for camouflage to work, it should be renamed to T-44_AM.dds. After that, everything will work properly. Unfortunately, this method will not work for all models, so some will have to be abandoned.
Set sights
After camouflage for World of Tanks, fashion sights take an honorable second place. They allow you to significantly diversify the gameplay, adding more practicality or realism to the interface.
To install such modifications, you need to go to the res_mods mods directory, in which the scaleform subfolder is created (or flash, the specific path depends on the features of the modification itself). Now from the archive you just need to copy all the flash files. After starting the game, new sights will become available in it.
Last parting word
Do not forget about compatibility issues. So, it often happens that after the release of the next patch, some modes begin to "fall off" or adversely affect the performance of the game. Sometimes it’s enough to wait a couple of days until the creators of the modification update the version of their brainchild, sometimes it’s enough to just change something in the modification (move the files to another directory, rename them).
The same applies to downloading modifications, then always check the versions of your client and the downloaded mod. This will protect you from problems during the game (jumps in motion, failing in textures and others).
Those who don’t want to bother too much with creating folders and moving files correctly can recommend various managers created specifically for unpacking modifications for World of Tanks. They significantly speed up the whole process and allow you to install the mod in almost one click.