[Guide] How to Create a Custom Mastery

[Poinas]

This is a step-by-step- guide for creating your very own mastery. It tells you how to create custom mastery, skills, icons, images, sounds, effects...have fun!

Any corrections, suggestions, questions will be appreciated. I want you all to be a part of making this guide even better.

Special thanks to Munderbunny and Yinmaren.

EDIT: Post #2 is a cut-down version of the guide. It may be better to follow it first to get things working. It contain only the essential info to get you started. No hassling with icons, tags etc.
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First of all you're going to be needing a lot of time, no way around it. I hope you're are somewhat proficient in working with computers, and have become familiar with the ArtManager editing tool.

Anyway, first you need to set everything up before you even begin to create the mastery. You need to have the correct tools.

TexViewer.

Used to view the textures in the database files.

Arc explorer This is used to extract existing database / resource files.

TQ Vault can be gotten from the same link. It's used to extract all database.arz files.

ArtManager is the program in your Immortal Throne folder, that most of the editing is done with.

PSEditor is also in Immortal Throne folder, it's used to edit effects.

Viewer is used to view animations, can be found in IT folder.

Latest Titan Quest fan patch. It's version 1.16 as of now. Install it.

You might also want to have an image editing software. Gimp is what I use. You can do without editing images, but your custom mastery won't be fully custom. It's similar to photoshop, but free.

At this point you should have a basic idea what your mastery is. It's a good idea to sketch your mastery on paper, and plan the skills. Write down what they do. You can use www.titancalc.com to see examples of masteries. Basic masteries contain a 6x6 grid. The mastery can hold 6 skill icons in a column, and 6 icons in a row. With a custom mastery, you can increase the size to 7x6. The maximum skills (total icons) you can have is 24. All masteries in TQ/IT have 20 skills by default

Now launch ArtManager in your Immortal Throne folder (not the on in Titan Quest folder!). Click Tools -> Options. My directories are these:

Working directory : C:\Documents and Settings\*username*\My Documents\My Games\Titan Quest - Immortal Throne\Working\

Build directory : C:\Documents and Settings\*username*\My Documents\My Games\Titan Quest - Immortal Throne\

Tools directory : D:\Games\Titan Quest\Immortal Throne\

Additional : d:\Games\Titan Quest\, c:\Documents and Settings\*username*\My Documents\My Games\Titan Quest - Immortal Throne\Working\custommaps\

The working- and build directories can be wahtever you want, I found those locations to be good.

If you don't have those folders, then create them. Replace the *username* with your own, correct path. Tools directory must be the folder where your ArtManager is. Usually the Immortal Throne folder. Again, don't point to the Art Manager in titan quest folder. The latter additional folder must be the folder where your template folder is.

Once you've set up the folders, click Help -> install templates.

Now you can create a new mod. Click Mod -> new, and give it some name. Then hit Build -> build (F7). Then create another mod, name it any way you like. This mod will be used to store all database files, and will not be edited.

Download templates

My template folder structure is

C:\Documents and Settings\*username*\My Documents\My Games\Titan Quest - Immortal Throne\Working\Database\Templates

in that templates folder there are subfolders, engine, InGameUI etc. and a lot of .tpl files.



Then launch TQ Vault. Locate a button called "extract database.arz". When you click it, a window opens. Set up the extraction folders, use the same file paths. It takes a while. Once it finishes, go to the folder you exctracted the files to. Cut and paste the database folder in C:\Documents and Settings\*username*\My Documents\My Games\Titan Quest - Immortal Throne\Working\CustomMaps\*mod folder*.

That *mod folder* is the name of the mod you created to hold all database files. Mine is called simply "AllDatabseFilesStorage". My path looksl ike this: C:\Documents and Settings\*username*\My Documents\My Games\Titan Quest - Immortal Throne\Working\CustomMaps\AllDatabseFilesStorage\d atabase\records and in the records folder, there's a lot of other folders, like controllers, controls, creature etc.

Now load up Art Manager and load your mod. You can have another instance of Art Manager open. Load the "AllDatabseFilesStorage" mod there. It takes a while to load all those files.

Select the Art Manager instance that your mod is loaded with. You should see three tabs there, Sources, Assets and Database.

The sources tab is used to import custom resources, such as images and sounds. The assets tab will show your custom resources that are at your disposal. The database tab will show all your imported and edited database files.

Now you should select which mastery you want to replace. It can be basically any you like. The masteries are enumerated from 1 to 9. Matery 5 is Rogue (called stealth in some folders too) for example.

NOTE: Don't modify the "AllDatabseFilesStorage" mod, it's there for reference. You can browse things there without impoting them, to look around, to see what you should import to your real mod. If you want to mass import things to your real mod, it's quicker to copy them from

"AllDatabseFilesStorage" mod's subfolder to your real mod's subfolder in Windows Explorer.

We can start importing things now. Click Database -> Import and browse

records\skills\stealth\stealthmastery.dbr and records\skills\stealth\stealthskilltree.dbr

I'm just using rogue (also called stealth on lot of places) as an example. You can edit some other mastery if you like. The skilltree contains a list of the skills in the mastery. The mastery.dbr contains the information about what happens when you increase your mastery level.

Now browse back to the records\skills\stealth folder in the pane that is on the left in ArtManager. Copy and paste both the mastery.dbr and skilltree.dbr you just imported and name them something else. like xxxstealthmastery.dbr and xxxstealthskkilltree.dbr.

Open (double click on it) your xxxstealthmastery.dbr. Browse to UI Information on the left. Some information appears, like skillDisplayName, skillBaseDescription and so on. Check the tagSkillNamexxx (xxx is some number). It tells you where the text for the mastery is. We'll want to customize it of course. Double click on tagSkillNamexxx, and put something else there. I like to use the same format. You can write tagSkillName1001 there for example.

The numbers up to about 240 are already used for the original skills, so use a larger number. Edit also the tagSkillDescription, use the same number as you did for the tagSkillName. These to text entries appear in-game whne you hover your mouse over the "+" button you use to increase the level of your mastery, to unlock skills. Once you've done editing, hit file -> save in the xxxstealthmastery.dbr window. NOTE: Never hit file -> exit in .dbr files, it will exit the whole ArtManager. Use the X in the upper right corner instead.

Now go to the sources tab I talked about earlier. You should see text folder there. Click it.

Now you should see ModStrings.txt on the right. Open it. Put the line from the xxxstealthmastery.dbr skillDisplayName in the text file. For example if you wrote tagSkillName1001 there, put it here too.

Make it like this (where 1001 is the number you've used)

tagSkillName1001=Custom mastery
tagSkillDescription1001=This is an awesome mastery

The text after "=" will appear in the game. Save the modstring file and close it. Right-click the mosdtring file and hit auto-create assert. Then hit build -> build. Now the custom strings will work. You don't have to use the auto-create assert for modstring again, just edit the modstring file. Now you now how to create custom text for you mod.

Go back to the xxxstealthmastery.dbr, and browse to character parameters\character bonus attributes. On the right you can edit the stat boosts you get when leveling up. It should be relatively simple to edit the values if you want to do so. After you've all set, save the dbr file and close it.

You should be at records\skills\stealth folder now. Pick one of your custom skills, and try to think of a skill that works similarly in the original game. It can be any skill, it doesn't have to be from the same mastery. Then click Database -> import record and browse the skill. Note the file path and once you've imported the skill, browse the location in the left pane of ArtManager.

You can also import things like this:



Right click, and browse the "AllDatabaseFilesStorage" folder.

Rename the skill and copy it to your xxx mastery folder, the same where your xxxstealthmastery.dbr is. You can delete the original file you imported.

Open the skill you imported and renamed. Browse to UI information. Edit the skillDisplayName and ModStrings accordingly.

Under skillDisplayName you can see skillUpBitmapName and skillDownBitmapName. They hold the information about the in-game skill icon textures. You can change the .tex file to any other skill icon that already exists in the game, or create you own.

If you want to create your own, here's how to do it. Open up your image editing tool, create the image and save it as .tga or .psd. You can browse the existing in-game images with arc explorer, which you probably now have after reading the guide. The following folders contain all .arc files that the game uses: titan quest\resources, immortal throne\resources, immortal throne\resources\xpack

The icons are in titan quest\resources\InGameUI.arc -> detailmap\icons\skills. Each icon has up and down icons, be sure to edit/create both. you can extract these .tex files with arc explorer.

Select the file you want, and hit extract -> selected file. Once you're all set, open up tex viewer that you should now have. Open your extracted file with it. With view -> properties you can check the image dimensions. Click file -> export. Name the file to somenamehere.tga and choose tga format. Don't use the original file name. If you don't write .tga at the end of the file name, the program will crash.

Then open the exported .tga in your image editor, edit it and save it as .tga or .psd.

Go to ArtManager, sources tab. There should be three folders, maps, quests and tex. Create another one, images or whatever. Right-click on modname\source to do that. Then select the folder you created and inside it, on the right side of the ArtManager window, right click and choose import, select your file. Once the file is imported, right-click on it and select auto-create asset.

Choose bitmap, not texture. You shoul select bitmap for all icons mentioned in this guide. You should now be able to find your file as .tex file in assets tab. Hit buld -> build.

Now browse the skill you were editing, and in UiInformation, double click the .tex file and browse your own.

SkillConnectionOff and skillConnectionOn are important if you're going to have an "upgrade" skill for your skill. In-game you can see skills are connected with [ . These entries maintain those connections. You don't have to have an upgrade skill. If you don't have one, empty the field.

SkillBarBottom off01.tex should always be the first item on the list. It's the lower part of the [. Skill connectionOff01 is just a | . You should always end with skillbartopoff01. This will clarify things a bit:



Try it in-game and you'll get the hang of it.

Edit the skill's damage and other things you like, then save and close the file.

Now here's something that's good to know about templates when creating custom skills. Templates are just ways to format data. Whenever you create a new database entry, you must select a template for it.

If you create a new skill for example, and choose "TemplateMeleeHit" and not "TemplateProjectileHit" (I made up these template names), the things you can define are different.

With "TemplateProjectileHit", there is a data field for modifying projectile speed, but "TemplateMeleeHit", the data field is not there. So it's important to choose the correct template for your skill. In the early stages of your modding career, it's a good idea to think of a skill that already exists in the game. Then import, rename and edit it.

Hit F7 to build the mod. That makes things you've created visible for browsing. Now we open xxxskilltree.dbr again. Go to All groups\skill list. In skillName1, you can see StealthMastery.dbr. Browse your custom xxxmastery.dbr there. Then in skillName2, browse to your custom skill you just created. When adding skills, you must add them all here. Save and close the file.

Now import records\ingameui\player skills\mastery x\ where x is the number of the mastery you're editing. Import all dbr's in that folder. An easier way is to go to My Documents\My Games\Titan Quest - Immortal Throne\Working\CustomMaps\AllDatabaseFilesStorage\ database\records\ingameui\player skills\ in windows explorer. That "all" folder is the one where you extracter all your titan quest database files.

Copy the mastery x folder to My Documents\My Games\Titan Quest - Immortal Throne\Working\CustomMaps\*yourmodname*\database\r ecords\ingameui\player skills\mastery x

Then go to ArtManager and hit build -> build. You may have to exit ArtManager and reload your mod to make custom files visible. Browse to records\ingameui\mastery 5 (or whatever your mastery number is). Open mastery.dbr. Go to Config, skillName. Browse your custom xxxmastery.dbr. Save and exit.

Masterybar.dbr holds the texture for the skillbar than grows when you increase your mastery level. You can edit/create a .tex file if you like, or leave it alone.

masterybitmap.dbr contains the .tex file that is next to your skills, in the upper right corner. It's the small round pic, 175x175 in size. Note that the slot is round, so you may have to play with alpha (transparency) channel. You can easily add an alpha channel to your image with Gimp.

The panectrl.dbr in this folder gets overridden by the one in xpack\ui\skills\mastery x. Import the xpack panectrl. Go to config and edit the tags as you did before. You can edit other things here if you know what you're doing, but leave them alone for now. If you have more skills than 20, then add skill21, skill22 etc. to the list in tabSkillButtons. You can only have 25 items in this list, and masteryskillbar is one of them. That leaves you with 24 additional skills.

Go back to records\ingameui\player skills\mastery x\. Open skill01.dbr. Go to config -> skillName. Browse your custom skill. isCircular tells the game if the icon is circular or not. 0 = square, 1 = circle. bitMapNameUp and bitMapNameDown define the borders of the icon. InGameUI\SkillButtonBorder01.tex -> square, InGameUI\SkillButtonBorderRound01.tex -> circle. Add or remove "round" there depending on your skill. You don't need to browse anything, you can write the path to the field. That works for all entries. If you know the correct folder, it may be easier to edit the existing entry instead of browsing for the file.

bitMapPositionX and bitmapPositinY tell the game the X- and Y coordinates of you icon. It's a 6x6 grid by default, 7x6 if you mod it:


Picture provided by Munderbunny

skillpanebasebitmap.dbr contains the backround pic of your skill tab. It's 919x540 in size if you want to edit it. Use arc explorer to browse titan quest\resources\InGameUI.arc -> detailmap\icons\skills\defenseskillbackground.tex. Export it and extract with tex viewer.

Then import (or copy manually in windows explorer) records\ingameui\player skills\select mastery\masteryxbutton.dbr and records\ingameui\player skills\select masterymasteryxtext.dbr

x is again the number of your mastery. The button file contains the small mastery icon in mastery selection screen. There are four of them, they are 80x80 pixels in size. Buttondisabled is used when you're selecting a mastery and you've already selected certain mastery. Button up is used when the mastery is available for selection. Buttonover is used when you hover your mouse over the button. Button down is used when you click the button. You can export the images of some existing mastery with arcexplorer from titan quest\resources\InGameUI.arc -> detailmap\skills. masteryxText contains the text that is displayed under the icon. Note that is has to be very short, or else it will not fit the slot. About 14 characters max.

Import records\xpack\ui\skills\select mastery\masteryxbutton.dbr and records\xpack\ui\skills\select mastery\masteryxtext.dbr.

Those files contain the .tex files and strings that are used in mastery selection window. Replace them with custom things.

Import records\xpack\ui\skills\select mastery\masterypane.dbr. Create a custom tag for your mastery for masteryMasterySelectedDescriptionTags table. Create custom image for masteryMasterySelectedBitmapNames. That bitmap appears at the center of the screen when you hover your mouse over your mastery button in character selection screen. It's 226x226 in size.

Almost done!

Now import records\xpack\creatures\pc\malepc01.dbr and records\xpack\creatures\pc\femalepc01.dbr.

Open them and edit skill trees. Replace skillTreex with your own, where x is yet again the number of your mastery.

You may already have a name for your class. The class text in character screen, above attributes can be changed too. Here's a list of the original strings:

// <- what's after these are comments to explain the class

tagCClass01=Theurgist //Spirit
tagCClass02=Wanderer // Nature
tagCClass03=Rogue // Rogue
tagCClass04=Hunter // Hunting
tagCClass05=Stormcaller // Storm
tagCClass06=Pyromancer // Earth
tagCClass07=Defender // Defense
tagCClass08=Warrior // Warfare
tagCClass09=Spellbreaker // Warfare + Spirit
tagCClass10=Champion // Warfare + Nature
tagCClass11=Assassin // Warfare + Rogue
tagCClass12=Slayer // Warfare + Hunting
tagCClass13=Thane // Warfare + Storm
tagCClass14=Battlemage // Warfare + Earth
tagCClass15=Conqueror // Warfare + Defense
tagCClass16=Spellbinder // Defense + Spirit
tagCClass17=Guardian // Defense + Nature
tagCClass18=Corsair // Defense + Rogue
tagCClass19=Warden // Defense + Hunting
tagCClass20=Paladin // Defense + Storm
tagCClass21=Juggernaut // Defense + Earth
tagCClass22=Conjurer // Earth + Spirit
tagCClass23=Summoner // Earth + Nature
tagCClass24=Magician // Earth + Rogue
tagCClass25=Avenger // Earth + Hunting
tagCClass26=Elementalist // Earth + Storm
tagCClass27=Oracle // Storm + Spirit
tagCClass28=Druid // Storm + Nature
tagCClass29=Sorcerer // Storm + Rogue
tagCClass30=Sage // Storm + Hunting
tagCClass31=Bone Charmer // Hunting + Spirit
tagCClass32=Ranger // Hunting + Nature
tagCClass33=Brigand // Hunting + Rogue
tagCClass34=Warlock // Rogue + Spirit
tagCClass35=Illusionist // Rogue + Nature
tagCClass36=Soothsayer // Spirit + Nature
xtagCharacterClass01=Seer // Dream
xtagCharacterClass02=Harbinger // Dream + Warfare
xtagCharacterClass03=Templar // Dream + Defense
xtagCharacterClass04=Evoker // Dream + Earth
xtagCharacterClass05=Prophet // Dream + Storm
xtagCharacterClass06=Haruspex // Dream + Hunting
xtagCharacterClass07=Dreamkiller // Dream + Rogue
xtagCharacterClass08=Ritualist // Dream + Nature
xtagCharacterClass09=Diviner // Dream + Spirit

Add the strings you need to modify to your Modstrings.txt. Modify and save, then they work in-game. No need to change dbr files.

Save, close, hit build -> build and you're done. You now have yourself an brand-spanking new custom mastery! You may want to add more skills though.

Launch Immortal Throne, your mod will be in custom game menu. Have fun!! You can start editing your mastery now. Make changes build the mod (F7) and launch the game to check the changes.

But were not completely done yet, there's more!

You may want to use custom sounds. They have to be 44100 Hz, mono and 16 bit in order to work correctly. .wav and .mp3 files are both supported. Larger sound files should be .mp3, because .wav requires more HD space.

Go to ArtManager, load your mod. Go to sources tab. Create a new folder, like "sounds", and import your custom sound there. Click auto-create asset, build, and your is ready to be used. Go to database tab. Create a new folder (right click on some folder), under records. Go to the folder you created. On the right pane, right-click and select new -> record. Double-click on the new record. You must now browse for a template. The default template for sounds is in your templates folder and it is called soundpak.tpl. One that is done, open the new record again. Go to sound properties. Double-click "soundName1". Browse for your custom sound. Save and close the file. You may want to rename it at this stage.

No go to some custom skill, open it. Click "skill sound" (NOTE: Some skills may not have that depending on the template). You can assign the .dbr file you just created to "skillSwipeSound" or "skillSound1" etc. That's all there is to it.

I'd like to mention something about custom effects. Explosion, projectiles, auras etc. You can create them/ edit existing ones with PSEditor, which can be found in your Immortal Throne folder.

If you want to edit existing effects, then open arcexplorer. Browse to titan quest\resources\effects.arc. Then click extract -> all files. Extract to any folder you like. Then open immortal throne\resources\effects.arc. Exctract it too. There's only a few files. These are modified files that were added in the expansion. You should put these files in the folder you extracted the first files to, to replace the old ones. Then extract immortal throne\resources\xpack\effects.arc. Extract them to a different folder.

Now you should put the first folder in C:\Documents and Settings\*username*\My Documents\My Games\Titan Quest - Immortal Throne\Working\source\*somefolder*. I used "effects" for *somefolder*. Move the first files you extracted to this folder. Then I created "Xpack" folder in effects, and put the extracted immortal throne effects.arc files there.

Now laucnh PSEditor and you should be able to browse the effects. Open one up. Play around with things. It may look confusing at first, but it's not too bad. I may write more about editing effects later.

Once your done, save the effect. Go to ArtManager, load your mod. Go to sources tab. Create a new folder, like "effects", and import your custom effect there. Click auto-create asset, build, and your effect is ready to be used.

[Poinas]

Anyway, first you need to set everything up before you even begin to create the mastery. You need to have the correct tools.

TexViewer.

Used to view the textures in the database files.

Arc explorer This is used to extract existing database / resource files.

TQ Vault can be gotten from the same link. It's used to extract all database.arz files.

ArtManager is the program in your Immortal Throne folder, that most of the editing is done with.

Latest Titan Quest fan patch. It's version 1.16 as of now. Install it.

You might also want to have an image editing software. Gimp is what I use. You can do without editing images, but your custom mastery won't be fully custom. It's similar to photoshop, but free.

Now launch ArtManager in your Immortal Throne folder (not the on in Titan Quest folder!). Click Tools -> Options. My directories are these:

Working directory : C:\Documents and Settings\*username*\My Documents\My Games\Titan Quest - Immortal Throne\Working\

Build directory : C:\Documents and Settings\*username*\My Documents\My Games\Titan Quest - Immortal Throne\

Tools directory : D:\Games\Titan Quest\Immortal Throne\

Additional : d:\Games\Titan Quest\, c:\Documents and Settings\*username*\My Documents\My Games\Titan Quest - Immortal Throne\Working\custommaps\

The working- and build directories can be wahtever you want, I found those locations to be good.

If you don't have those folders, then create them. Replace the *username* with your own, correct path. Tools directory must be the folder where your ArtManager is. Usually the Immortal Throne folder. Again, don't point to the Art Manager in titan quest folder. The latter additional folder must be the folder where your template folder is.

Once you've set up the folders, click Help -> install templates.

Now you can create a new mod. Click Mod -> new, and give it some name. Then hit Build -> build (F7). Then create another mod, name it any way you like. This mod will be used to store all database files, and will not be edited.

Download templates

My template folder structure is

C:\Documents and Settings\*username*\My Documents\My Games\Titan Quest - Immortal Throne\Working\Database\Templates

in that templates folder there are subfolders, engine, InGameUI etc. and a lot of .tpl files.

Then launch TQ Vault. Locate a button called "extract database.arz". When you click it, a window opens. Set up the extraction folders, use the same file paths. It takes a while. Once it finishes, go to the folder you exctracted the files to. Cut and paste the database folder in C:\Documents and Settings\*username*\My Documents\My Games\Titan Quest - Immortal Throne\Working\CustomMaps\*mod folder*.

That *mod folder* is the name of the mod you created to hold all database files. Mine is called simply "AllDatabseFilesStorage". My path looksl ike this: C:\Documents and Settings\*username*\My Documents\My Games\Titan Quest - Immortal Throne\Working\CustomMaps\AllDatabseFilesStorage\d atabase\records and in the records folder, there's a lot of other folders, like controllers, controls, creature etc.

Now load up Art Manager and load your mod. You should see three tabs there, Sources, Assets and Database.

The sources tab is used to import custom resources, such as images and sounds. The assets tab will show your custom resources that are at your disposal. The database tab will show all your imported and edited database files.

Now you should select which mastery you want to replace. It can be basically any you like. The masteries are enumerated from 1 to 9. Matery 5 is Rogue (called stealth in some folders too) for example.

NOTE: If you want to mass import things to your real mod, it's quicker to copy them from "AllDatabaseFilesStorage" mod's subfolder to your real mod's subfolder in Windows Explorer.

We can start importing things now. Click Database -> Import and browse

records\skills\stealth\stealthmastery.dbr and records\skills\stealth\stealthskilltree.dbr

I'm just using rogue (also called stealth on lot of places) as an example. You can edit some other mastery if you like. The skilltree contains a list of the skills in the mastery. The mastery.dbr contains the information about what happens when you increase your mastery level.

Now browse back to the records\skills\stealth folder in the pane that is on the left in ArtManager. Copy and paste both the stealthmastery.dbr and stealthskilltree.dbr you just imported and name them something else. like xstealthmastery.dbr and xstealthskilltree.dbr. They should be in that stealth folder.

You should be at records\skills\stealth folder now. Pick one of your custom skills, and try to think of a skill that works similarly in the original game. It can be any skill, it doesn't have to be from the same mastery. Then click Database -> import record and browse the skill. Note the file path and once you've imported the skill, browse the location in the left pane of ArtManager.

Rename the skill and copy it to stealth mastery folder, the same where your xstealthmastery.dbr is. You can delete the original skill file you imported.

Hit F7 to build the mod. That makes things you've created visible for browsing. Now we open xstealthskilltree.dbr again. Go to All groups\skill list. In skillName1, you can see StealthMastery.dbr. Browse your custom xstealthmastery.dbr there. Then in skillName2, browse to your custom skill you just created. When adding skills, you must add them all here. Save and close the file.

Now import records\ingameui\player skills\mastery 5\. Import all dbr's in that folder. An easier way is to go to My Documents\My Games\Titan Quest - Immortal Throne\Working\CustomMaps\AllDatabaseFilesStorage\ database\records\ingameui\player skills\ in windows explorer. That "all" folder is the one where you extracter all your titan quest database files.

Copy the mastery 5 folder to My Documents\My Games\Titan Quest - Immortal Throne\Working\CustomMaps\*yourmodname*\database\r ecords\ingameui\player skills\

Then go to ArtManager and hit build -> build. You may have to exit ArtManager and reload your mod to make custom files visible. Browse to records\ingameui\mastery 5 (or whatever your mastery number is). Open mastery.dbr. Go to Config, skillName. Browse your custom xstealthmastery.dbr. Save and close the file.

Open skill01.dbr. Browse for your custom skills under config\skillName. Save and close the file.

Now import records\xpack\creatures\pc\malepc01.dbr and records\xpack\creatures\pc\femalepc01.dbr.

Open them and edit skill trees. Replace skillTree5 with your own xstealthskilltree.dbr. Browse the file.

Save, close, hit build -> build and you're done. You now have yourself an brand-spanking new custom mastery! You may want to add more skills though.

Launch Immortal Throne, your mod will be in custom game menu. Have fun!! You can start editing your mastery now. Make changes build the mod (F7) and launch the game to check the changes.

[tuftyfella]

oh my. awesomeness @ its most awesomeness.

[codemajor]

EPIC!
this guide is something like a unique book, deep hidden in the libary

[Yinmaren]

I'm glad I could test this out. I can report that I had minimal problems and they were all minor problems (cosmetic). They were all also related to user error.

A great guide and a great job!

[Munderbunny]

Looks good from what I've read so far. Only thing is I think you need to add the template pack _after_ you install the templates with the art manager to make sure the updated templates get updated.

Also, no one should ever bother mucking with changing templates unless they have a looooot of time on their hands. The game looks at skill class, and once it identifies the skill class, it looks for fields associated with that skill class. So, you can add a random field to a skill record, but it doesn't mean the game is going to pay attention to it. There are a few exceptions involving buffs/debuffs that I've discovered, but trivial ones, and not even remotely worth the inordinate amount of time I spent searching for possible combinations, and it's highly unlikely that what you do discover suits your immediate goal, lol. I mean, I've used a couple of custom templates for skills--not because I needed to, but just because I invested so much time in finding the field , I felt compelled to use it.

Also, when I get some time, I'll pack up some stuff I've accumulated that has helped (oh, and get a mass find-and-replace program asap).

[Munderbunny]

Here's my skill window ui grid that I use to layout skills before I put them in the game. I turn the x and y off, arrange the skill icons--make changes and whatnot to make sure there's a good distribution of skills per level, as well as make sure the player has usable skills at lower levels. Then I just turn the numbers back on and go through and set all skills ui position at once.

[Poinas]

I guess you're right, I'll remove that template section. And change the order in which you have to install templates.

BTW, I'm guessing that the "40" in your skillbackground is part of the backround image?

Also, do you mind if I upload your grid to Photobucket and link it, since it's a tad better ( ) than the pic I used?

Also updated info on naming the class/class combinations.

[Yinmaren]

Thanks for that Munderbunny. I had created a grid similarly to that but that's just so much better done than the one I'm using.

[Munderbunny]

Of course; use it. The 40 is part of the background image (I couldn't get a text tag there).

@Yin, for knowing where the icons go, both images are equally as effective, though yours works at a fraction of the cost. The only reason I made the PSD was because I was constantly revising the skill layouts (hUge pain in the *** to add 4 skills and not **** up all the other trees) and I just wanted to see the actual icons on the actual background.

Also, as far as that's concerned, if you're going to add more skills, make it a little easier for yourself by arranging your skills in 7 columns (they'll fit comfortably even with skillbars).