Dark Crusade Mod Guide

Overview

An overview of many of the mods still available to this game, including download links and installation instructions.

Introduction

IMPORTANT : Some of the links that I have provided have stopped working (the URLs no longer exist). I have my own copies of many of the files which I will upload via Dropbox, but if something doesn’t work, then let me know in the comments.

This guide is designed to showcase many of the mods available for Dark Crusade. The game has enjoyed an active modding community for many years, even if many modders have since moved on to the sequel (Soulstorm) or other games.

Nonetheless, with the upcoming release (at the time of writing) of Dawn of War III, this game is benefiting from renewed interest. To that end, here are some mods to spice up your Dark Crusade experience.

I am not responsible for any of these mods and had no involvement in their creation. However, I enjoy DC greatly and consider it a travesty that there is not a collected resource on Steam for them – something which I intend to rectify with this guide.

Please rate and leave comments!

This is a matter of personal choice. The new races in Soulstorm (Dark Eldar and Sisters of Battle) were not wildly popular to play with or against. The new units likewise were met without enthusiasm. Many feel that Dark Crusade is the apex of the series.

Additionally, certain mods are available for DC that are not available for SS and vice-versa, so that may affect game choices.

I assume, if you’re here, that you’re a DC fan!

This guide is a repository of mods for the game. Many mods have faded into oblivion and all that is left are broken links to mod websites. I have included only those mods that are publicly available and still work (though some are older versions or in beta).

It is not a guide on how to make your own mods, something which I know very little about. However, resources of this kind are available on the internet. At some point, when I have time, I might add some sections at least to describe how to tweak mods.

Everything you download is done so at your own risk. I can speak for the files mentioned in this guide, but only at the time of writing.

However, there are always risks to downloading mods. If you don’t like the look of a site or mod file, then play it safe and don’t bother. As always, you take responsibility for anything you choose to download/install on your PC, regardless of what is said here.

If I ever refer to the game’s directory, I am talking about where the game’s files are stored. For Steam users, on Windows, that will be [drive letter:]Program Files (x86)SteamSteamAppscommonDawn of War Dark Crusade. You can also access this by going to your games library in Steam, right-clicking on Dark Crusade and going to ‘properties’. In ‘properties’, click the tab for ‘local files’ and select the ‘browse local files …’ option.

CSM – Chaos Space Marines

DC – Dark Crusade

DoW – Dawn of War

F-o-K – Firestorm Over Kronus

IG – Imperial Guard

LOS – Line of sight

SM – Space Marines

SS – Soulstorm

TW – Titanium Wars

• 2016/11/08 – First draft finished
• 2017/01/18 – Added two new mods and checked on the links
• 2019/04/25 – Added a new mod and updated an old mod version
• 2020/04/01 – Added my copy of autoexec.lua
• 2020/05/16 – Updated Titanium Wars to 1.00.38
• 2020/06/07 – Made some changes to the Annihilation mod and uploaded the mini version. Added some new map packs.
• 2020/06/13 – Reorganised and reformatted several sections
• 2021/07/16 – Removed a broken link for Firestorm Over Kronus

Finding & Installing Mods

Given how old DC is, and the demise of certain mod hosting websites, it is not always easy to locate quality mod content. I have posted links to all of the mods mentioned in this guide, so you should have no problems there.

If you’re looking for a specific paint scheme, then it’s usually best to search for it by name. Even if the scheme is listed for another DoW game (e.g. Soulstorm), it will probably work (and similar for maps).

I’ve included this section to give some details on how mods actually function so that you can understand what you’re downloading.

There are two different ways that people make and distribute mods for this game.

The simpler, but less useful, method is to simply add to or overwrite existing game files. For example, if I want to install new maps, I can just add the map’s files to the right place and it will be available.

However, DC is set up very well for mod support. Thus, the ‘correct’ way to make and add mods is through the addition of ‘.module’ files. Any of the large mods in this game come with two things:

• A folder full of mod files
• A .module file

The .module file tells the game that a mod exists. This means that when you use a mod manager (or the in-game ‘game manager’), it will look for .module files. And if it finds them, it will then read the information within and look for the associated mod files.

We’ll take a look at an example file here:

Lines beginning with semi-colons are comments and are not read by the game. The really key elements are the ‘ModFolder’ parameter and the ‘DataFolder.1’ parameter, as well as the list of required mods.

The ‘ModFolder’ parameter tells the game where to find this mod’s files. In this case, it will look for another folder in the game’s directory called ‘Titanium_Wars_Mod’. The ‘DataFolder.1’ parameter tells the game which subfolders are important. The game will also check for, and load, the required mods, which will happen recursively.

Essentially all that happens with a mod is that you tell the game where to find the mod files (as we have done in the .module file), and the game will then load these and prioritise them over the base game.

These are essentially the base game, but delivered as mods. W40k is the absolute base and DXP2 is an expansion/patch of it. These are created by the developers. The vanilla, unmodded DC that you get when you install the game is DXP2.

You will see that every .module file lists these as required mods, because they are literally the base game.

A lot of people who make mods wanted to streamline the installation process, so they bundle the mod as an .exe to make sure that things go in the right place. Sometimes these .exe files can be unpacked to give you just the mod files which you can then move yourself.

Also, sometimes the installer adds extra files which personalise the intro page before you reach the main menu . These are not necessary, but not harmful either.

The main disadvantage of the module format is that mods tends to be loaded independently and cannot be easily mixed. Thus, if you included things colour schemes or new maps as standalone mods, then you would either be able to have the gameplay mod or the colour schemes/maps.

As a result, small mods like maps and colour schemes don’t really need to be included in the module fashion. They can just be added to the base game and will generally then be a part of any mod.

Also, you can list mods as requirements to a larger mod, ensuring that they are all loaded, but this then leaves open the possibility of mod conflicts, as well as forcing players to download additional stuff.

In general, then, complex mods tend to be standalone, but smaller mods can be added at will. You’ll see in my section on mixing mods how we can achieve some good results when mixing complex mods, but such a process can be tricky.

I’ve included instructions on how to install each mod when I discuss each one. Basically, you’ll just need to copy and paste some files to the right place or run the installer. Hopefully now, though, you understand a bit about the how/why of the process.

The first thing you’ll want to install is the DoW mod manager. There’s nothing wrong with the game manager within DC, but this is a neater program and seems to prevent some errors. You can find it at: [link]

(Backup: [link]

Extract the two files and paste them both in the DC directory: Program Files (x86)SteamSteamAppscommonDawn of War Dark Crusade

When you launch the mod manager, you will be asked for a directory. Choose the same directory (Program Files (x86)SteamSteamAppscommonDawn of War Dark Crusade). After a few seconds of waiting, you will receive a list of mods and can then select the one you want (see pic).

In general, instead of launching Steam from your game library, launch the mod manager first and then select your required mod.

Troubleshooting

You’ll want to check things in a specific order to eliminate problems:

Make sure that you’re loading up vanilla DC (DXP2 Version 1.0). If you can’t load it, then you’ve got problems with your vanilla files. Right-click on the game in your library, click on ‘properties’ and select the ‘local files’ tab. Then click ‘verify integrity of game cache’. Hopefully some files should be reacquired.

If nothing happens, check the forum for people complaining of similar problems in case it’s on Steam’s end. If there is nothing to report, restart your PC (worth a try). If it still doesn’t work, then try some of your other games. If they work fine and it’s just DC, then you’ll need to uninstall everything and re-install. Make sure that everything in the DC directory is deleted (so that any mods causing problems get removed too).

If this clean re-install doesn’t work, then you’ll need to contact Steam support.

If you’re having trouble with this specific file, I have uploaded my own copy here:

[link]

Please copy this into your main directory, e.g. “G:Program Files (x86)SteamsteamappscommonDawn of War Dark Crusade”

Check the ‘Game Manager’ on the main DC screen. If the mod you’re interested in doesn’t come up, then the game can’t see it (i.e. it’s not in the right place).

Go to your game directory and check that you have some files named according to the mod (e.g. a folder called Titanium Wars). Check, in particular, for .module files. If you can’t see anything that looks like the mod, then you’ve extracted the mod to the wrong place (probably).

If you can see files that look like they match the mod, but the game can’t find them, then re-read the installation instructions. Did you forget to copy an important file somewhere? If all else fails. uninstall the mod and try again. Make sure that you do everything exactly as you have been asked.

Also note that the mod manager lists any other prerequisite mods. If you are missing any of these, then the mod won’t boot.

Now, if the mod has booted, you should see some changes to the UI (at least in many of the larger mods). If you’re installing new races, go to the ‘Army Painter’ and you should see them. If all looks fine, try a quick skirmish with the AI to check that everything is working.

If you run into problems playing against the AI, then there are problems with the mod and you should refer to the section above.

If you are online and host a game, but your friends complain that they can’t see it, then you’re probably not running the same mod. This happens sometimes with Annihilation in particular (for that particular mod, I wrote some specific troubleshooting help in that game’s entry – scroll down to ‘Larger Mods’).

This occurs when playing online and two players have differing game files (i.e. different mods). Note that you are free to have your own paint schemes and that this won’t (shouldn’t) cause problems.

Typically it’s because someone has the wrong mod version or they’re missing an extraneous game file. Firstly, you need to isolate the problem.

Jump back to the main game menu and check the top left of the screen – it should detail the game version and mod version that you have. Compare this with your friend.

Assuming that you are running the same mod and you can both play freely against the AI, we need to go further to isolate the problem. Try first playing a game against each other without any mods.

If that works, then load the mod and go back into online. Choose a vanilla map, with vanilla races and vanilla game rules. Try playing. If all goes well, then you need to start eliminating other causes – check if you run into sync errors when playing with new races etc.. If you can isolate the problem, then you can start comparing files and reinstall mods where necessary.

Also note that sometimes mods add extra game rules that don’t work online. Indeed, certain vanilla rules may not work (Quick-Start usually). The usual caveats with regards to internet security, firewalls and parental controls also apply.

I also strongly advise you to always run your mods through the mod manager that I mentioned.

Bugfix Mods

This section contains mods that fix bugs in the vanilla game. Some of these fixes may have been subsumed into other mods, so you don’t need this if you’re going to install one of the larger gameplay mods.

Description:
A general bugfix mod designed to fix what truly appear to be bugs, mistakes or omissions without trying to modify or add other features.

Changes & Tweaks:

• Fixes a large variety of bugs and oversights with the vanilla game
• Includes Skirmish AI Mod (see relevant section of this guide)

Review:
I can’t speak for absolutely every element of this mod, but there are a couple of noticeable changes. There used to be crashes during the campaign with this mod (that were ostensibly fixed), so if you run into crashes there, then go back to the vanilla version.

If you’re interested in what fixes are included, then download the mod and peruse the readme.

Installation
Link

Backup: [link]

Download the zipped file, extract, then run the .exe.

Camera Mod

With the improvements to technology, playing DC in 1080p on large screens can be unpleasant due to the extreme zoom level. Included here is an incredibly useful little mod which allows you to zoom out further i.e. increase field of view.

This mod is not prohibited (and incidentally will not cause sync errors). However, some players may feel that it qualifies as an unfair advantage, so it is considered courteous to inform your opponent before a battle.

Link[forums.relicnews.com]

Click for the manual install and follow the instructions on the readme.

Backup: [link]

Extra Maps

In this section, we’ll discuss how to add additional maps to the game. These are a way to spice things up without altering the gameplay dramatically.

Map installation process:

• Download and unpack all of the map files somewhere (it doesn’t matter where).
• Navigate to your DC directory.
• In this directory, navigate to DXP2DataScenariosmp
• You should see that you already have some files for a map called Temple of Cyrene. This was a free map included as part of a recent update.
• In this folder, you’ll want to dump everything unless the readme says otherwise.

If you’re having any trouble, there’s a slightly more thorough guide here or consult Youtube: [link]

Maps are the easiest mod type to find and there’s a lot kicking about. Check places like Moddb and Gamefront.

Below are some examples. I have not checked every single map in these packs but they look fine.

Relic community revival map pack:
[link]

RedAlertt602’s map packs from Moddb:
Moddb: [link]
Backup: [link]

Moddb: [link]
Backup: [link]

Moddb: [link]
Backup: [link]

Paint Schemes

Paint Schemes refer to new colour schemes along with badges and banners for the army painter. Whilst the army painter offers lots of customisation for amour colours, it has only a limited selection of badges and banners.

Fortunately, DC allows you to download and install custom schemes that other players have made. You can download banners/badges individually or an entire scheme.

Installation is very simple:

• Download the required army scheme.
• Extract the files.
• Any file labelled banner goes in Program Files (x86)SteamSteamAppscommonDawn of War Dark CrusadeBanners
• Any file labelled badge goes in Program Files (x86)SteamSteamAppscommonDawn of War Dark CrusadeBadges
• Any file labelled teamcolour goes in Program Files (x86)SteamSteamAppscommonDawn of War Dark CrusadeW40kDataArtteam_colours. You will likely not have this folder and will have to create it. Furthermore, within this folder, you should create a folder for each separate race: chaos_marine_race, eldar_race, guard_race, ork_race, tau_race, necron_race or space_marine_race (see picture).
• Place the teamcolour file in the folder for the corresponding race. Strictly, it doesn’t appear that you need these folders since the teamcolour file already contains information about which army it is for i.e. placing a scheme meant for space marines in the necron_race file still keeps the scheme as a space marine one in the game. However, this is the method dictated by most of the readmes, and keeps things a bit neater, so we’ll stick with it.
• If you now boot up DC, you should find these new schemes in the army painter and they should be selectable for battles.

Some of the larger mods add additional schemes of their own. If you intend to try one of the larger mods, then see if it contains extra paint schemes before bothering with this.

Badges and banners are available to all races and are simply added to the multitude available in the army painter.

Note also that paint schemes should not interfere with online play. The game checks for mods to ensure that players playing with/against each other have the same mods running (for fairness). Paint schemes do not confer an advantage and hence do not need to be synced.

W40K Banners & Badges[wh40k.ei8ht.net]
Hive World Terra[skins.hiveworldterra.co.uk]

There are lots of schemes rattling around. If you have a specific scheme in mind, you are usually best off searching for it by name; if it’s a popular scheme, then chances are that you can find a link.

If you’re not satisfied with what you find, then you can always create your own. See this guide on Steam for more information: [link]

AI Mods

This section contains mods that change/improve the game’s AI.

Description:
A mod for the game’s AI that fixes a few of their issues and allows much greater difficulty customisation.

Changes & Tweaks:

• Modifications to AI behaviour including build choices, resource management and tactical deployment.

Review:
This mod actually has two elements. The first promotes general bug fixes to AI behaviour, particularly its tendency to box units in. Secondly, it also comes with a config file that allows the user to customise AI behaviour e.g. whether they focus on tech or rushing, whether they can use relic units etc..

Installation
Link[forums.revora.net]

Backup: [link]

This one comes as a generic .exe that handles the installation. There is a config file that you can find under Start>Programs>THQ>Dawn of Skirmish which you can use to modify AI behaviour (there’s also a readme here). You can also modify AI behaviour from ‘Dawn of War Dark CrusadeDowai_modDataaiAIControlPanel.exe’.

The mod also bundles a heroes mod within it. This allows units to gain experience over the course of battle which leads to buffs. You can select this during the installation.

New Races

If you want to branch out a little further, there are mods to add extra playable races to the game. I have two notes of caution. Firstly, lots of these mods were never really finished, particularly the Tyranids, so there may still be bugs and issues. Secondly, I cannot speak for balance either in PvE or PvP.

All that aside, since we’re playing for fun, here are the various mods:

Demonhunters (original link no longer works)
{LINK REMOVED}Demonhunters

Backup: [link]

Witch Hunters[www.gamewatcher.com]

Backup: [link]

Tyranids

Backup: [link]

Steel Legion[www.gamewatcher.com]

Backup: [link]

Each of these downloads contains an .exe that you should run and the rest is self-explanatory.

When playing an individual mod, you can only play that faction in addition to the seven vanilla races. However, if you would like to play at least two at the same time, then install the following mod:

Race Mixer[www.gamewatcher.com]

Backup: [link]

Note that this is from another steam guide. However the links included there do not work.

You do not need to install all four to play more than one, but you will need the same number installed as your friends.

These are the only (functional) race mods that I am aware of for DC. Even in this case, I am less familiar with these mods, so I cannot speak for balance or performance issues.

I assumed that there would be a Black Templars mod somewhere, but I can only find SS versions.

Gameplay Mods

Description:
A fairly simple mod that adds the commander wargear from the campaign to skirmish/online play. Commander units are therefore beefed up.

Changes & Tweaks:

• Adds new researches for commander wargear.

Review:
In general, I think that the better wargear and increased impact of the commander unit offsets any quibbles about balancing. Certainly, in the grand scheme of battle, it won’t make a huge difference. At the same time, there are some really nice additions to the commanders that give them more clout (many gain the ability to see infiltrators!). It often seemed odd that this wargear was campaign-only.

Installation
Link[www.lonebullet.com]

Backup: [link]

If you plan on using any of the larger mods listed here, then simply download them as they contain a (better) version of this mod. Also, I can only find the 1.0 version of this mod which is a little tacky.

Nevertheless, download the file and extract it to your DC directory.

Description: A significant rebalance of gameplay to take things back to the DoW 1 meta.

Changes & Tweaks:

• Rebalance of gameplay, tech trees and AI
• Feels more like DoW 1
• Unit counters tweaked extensively
• Additional options for game rules

Review:
This is quite an interesting one. In contrast to some of the mods that are centered on more carnage, this mod aims to rework gameplay and tech trees to change playstyles. The meta feels closer to DoW 1 and encourages greater importance on map control whilst teching more slowly. All in all, it’s a slightly different flavour of DoW that might be to your taste.

Special recognition goes to the breadth of introductory materials, bundled mini mods and control over Ai difficulty.

Installation
Link
Additional Patch

Install the main 3.40 then the hotfix patch. I recommend that you read the introductory guide after the install which may be found in Program Files (x86)SteamSteamAppscommonDawn of War Dark CrusadeDoWpro.

Backup: [link]

Description:
A slight tweak of vanilla with some QoL mods and a new campaign

Changes & Tweaks:
Lots of these can be customised somewhat

• Increased cap limit for units and vehicles (both now go to 30)
• New campaign (similar structure, but all new maps)
• Lots of new maps
• Some additional QoL mods included like better AI, auto-reinforcement, heroes etc.
• Tactical changes around unit behaviour, characteristics
• Experience gain for units

Notes:
This a significantly tweaked version of vanilla, with quite a few tactical changes around unit range and the experience system. The QoL stuff is really nice. The campaign itself is similar to the original, just with new maps.

Review:
This adds some freshness to the vanilla, without losing much of its spirit. I think the pack of QoL tweaks in use is quite a nice selection too. Probably the best part is how it is easy to customise a lot of the game characteristics, like unit range.

However, the campaign is less interesting than the original, because the scripted battles like strongholds have been replaced. It also feels somewhat unfinished (though is perfectly playable). If nothing else, you could steal all of the new maps, some of which are very good.

Installation
Just download the .zip and extract – there’s an executable which handles the installation. There’s also a readme to explain additional features.

Download.

Backup: [link]

Gameplay Mods II

Description:
Increased unit caps, changes to certain limits on units/buildings, a few new units and some gameplay tweaks.

Changes & Tweaks:

• Increased cap limit for units and vehicles (both now go to 40)
• A few new units
• Commander wargear mod included
• Weapon effectiveness vs unit types has been tweaked. For example, anti-infantry weapons do far less damage to vehicles/buildings

Notes:
This is actually an older version on the main Annihilation mod included below. Essentially it is much the same, except it doesn’t have (many of) the additional units and the gameplay tweaks are not as significant. Basically this is vanilla with extra unit cap and some nice QoL features.

Review:
Extra unit cap make for more carnage = more fun.

Installation
Link[www.fileplanet.com]

Backup: https://www.dropbox.com/s/5pt5xcbwlt6wpp9/Mini-Annihilation%20Mod.zip?dl=0

Download the file and extract it. Copy the files into your DC directory.

This will conflict with the below mod, so pick one or the other.

Currently experiencing some bugs with this mod. In the campaign, it causes a crash with the Tau stronghold mission. I don’t have a fix.

Description:
Increased unit caps, removal of certain limits on units/buildings, a handful of new units and some gameplay tweaks.

Changes & Tweaks:

• Increased cap limit for units and vehicles (both now go to 40)
• A few new units
• Commander wargear mod included
• Weapon effectiveness vs unit types has been tweaked. For example, anti-infantry weapons do far less damage to vehicles/buildings
• Many uber units dramatically improved with more HP/armour
• Unit cap contribution from certain units tweaked
• AI tactics improved (might be an unexpected artefact rather than intentional)
• Removed the ability to fire through terrain (e.g. when fighting up hills), so terrain is slightly more important
• Additional options for game rules

Notes:
This mod dramatically increases the scope of the carnage in DC. With extra unit cap and some changes to build limits e.g. IG can now have 4 Leman Russ tanks, 5 Basilisks; Tau can now build both Mont’ka and Kauyon buildings etc., there’s plenty more firepower on the field.

Generally, the AI responds well. It appreciates the ability to spam more units and does make use of new units where appropriate. They also seem to change some of their build choices and utilise their units slightly differently. It mostly represents an increased challenge.

The tweaks to damage modifiers on certain guns means that upgrade choices need more thought – it is no longer enough to spam heavy bolters on marines. The fire-through-terrain comment reflects those moments when units firing up (or down) a hill fire through the hill in a straight line to hit an object on top that would otherwise be out of LOS. This no longer happens.

Similarly, many of the uber nasties like the Bloodthirster and Avatar have significantly more HP and armour. They are now capable of leading assaults into even the most heavily fortified areas.

Campaign support is included insofar as you can play the campaign as normal, except with the modifications. It generally seems to represent a more rigorous test, and some of the stronghold battles can be very protracted. Tau stronghold currently seems to cause crashes.

Optimisation seems good. Despite the extra units, performance didn’t suffer too much, though you might want to turn off persistent bodies.

Review:
If you’re looking for more carnage and a slightly sterner test, then this mod may be for you. The balance seems to be pitched about right and the tweaks to battle mechanics and the AI do make it more interesting.

Installation
Note that I repacked the original download because it can cause some bugs with the install. I’ve left the link here, but I recommend that you use my Dropbox link.

Link[www.lonebullet.com]

Backup: https://www.dropbox.com/s/wan481770wgsc6z/Annihilation%20Mod%20Repack.zip?dl=0

Download the file and extract it. Copy the files into your DC directory.

If you run into problems with sync-errors, check some of your dlls and luas and whether they match with your friend. This is a notoriously tricky mod to make work.

Gameplay Mods III

Description:
Think of the Annihilation Mod, but with all the codex units and titans!

Changes & Tweaks:

• Increased cap limit for units and vehicles (both now go to 40)
• Full range of new units, pretty much every codex unit and more besides
• Every colour scheme you can think of
• Commander wargear mod included
• Weapons more in line with the tabletop – their ranges reflect tabletop ranges and power. For example, lascannons are now extremely potent to infantry as well.
• Titans!
• Tweaks to build limits/cap contributions from certain units
• Removed the ability to fire through terrain (e.g. when fighting up hills), so terrain is slightly more important
• Reworked campaign
• Additional options for game rules

Notes:
This mod is quite similar to Annihilation, but goes one step further. It now contains many more units (as well as tweaking the originals). Weapons have also been re-balanced somewhat as well. This sounds unnerving, but actually fits really well.

If your main concern is whether titans are balanced, then you might be surprised. They work extremely well. Armies that canonically wouldn’t necessarily get titans get their own super-uber units to compensate. In fact, the balance all round is absolutely superb and is one of the strengths of the mod.

The campaign has also been revamped with changes to the stronghold missions (see bugfix note below). They have been upgraded for the new units, and it’s a much more interesting fight. Similarly, honor guard units are more powerful.

Optimisation seems good. Despite the extra units, performance didn’t suffer too much, though you might want to turn off persistent bodies.

Review:
If you’re looking for more carnage, more units and a tougher test, then this mod may be for you. The balance seems to be pitched about right and the tweaks to battle mechanics and the AI do make it more interesting. The sheer breadth of units can be a little overwhelming, but certainly freshens the game. The campaign is also a real highlight if you felt that it was too easy the first time around.

Installation
Version 1.00.38 has been uploaded! Download the .rar and extract into your game directory.

Download. You’ll want just the 1.00.38 version.

Backup: [link]

Bugfix note: If you want to play campaign, turn off Steam cloud saves (right click on the game in your library, go to properties -> updates and untick Steam cloud saves. This prevents some issues saving and loading campaign saves.

Description:
The tabletop game ported into digital form!

Changes & Tweaks:

• Force organisation – you are capped on amounts of troops, elites etc.
• Many new units and changes to existing ones
• Battle mechanics overhauled to closely mirror tabletop
• Black Templars added as a playable race

Notes:
The mod is a complete conversion for the game into a mirror of the tabletop hobby upon which DoW is based. The power of weapons, the HP of units and so on are all scaled according to codex values. The attention to detail in some of the unit models is phenomenal.

The downside of this mod is that it’s more or less unfinished and progress has stopped (everyone moved onto Soulstorm). Small things lack polish, but these are are relatively minor quibbles. Oh, and you can only reinforce near structures and transports!

Review:
If you’re looking for something different, or just fancied a digitsed version of the tabletop game, then this mod is for you. It has a very different feel to the original game that takes some getting used to.

Installation
Use the following link. You (might) need, eventually, the password for installation which is “red unz goes fasta!” without the quotation marks.
Download

Backup: [link]

See also the Firestorm Over Kronus Steam community group that will answer your questions and help you to find people to play with.

Description:
A major overhaul of units and combat alongside the addition of Dark Eldar, Sisters of Battle and Tyranids!

Changes & Tweaks:

• Addition of three new races: Dark Eldar, Sisters of Battle and Tyranids, all with their own units and buildings
• Many new units for all races
• Battle mechanics completed overhauled to bring in line with tabletop
• Removal of research

Notes:
Don’t be fooled by the name – this mod is not about graphics. Instead, it’s a complete change to the combat system. Research of any kind is basically gone and units are built in fully researched squads. The combat system is overhauled and death comes much more quickly!

Mechanics carry over into the campaign, though the new races are not supported in any fashion.

There are a few UI bugs, but it seems stable.

Review:
This one is quite a departure from the main game, and the feel is very different. The addition of new units/races freshens things up, but you’re in for a steep learning curve around the combat system.

Installation
Download.

This is a big install file, so I’m not providing a Dropbox link.

Mixing Mods

Inevitably you may enjoy features from several different mods and want to combine them. This is possible in some cases, but not in others.

Maps and paint schemes should be interchangeable with other types of mods with the caveat that maps may not have been designed with new units in mind (e.g. archways may be too small for titans). The camera mod should also be fine with anything.

Some mods make cosmetic changes to loading screens. Generally the last mod that you install is the one that makes the changes since it overwrites whatever was there before.

Some of the gameplay mods contain many smaller mods bundled within. Stuff like bugfix and better AI usually come as standard (or have their own versions). You might be able to mix these between other major mods by just copying files. However, you may encounter crashes, or things might get overwritten by other mods. I’ll show one example here:

DoW Kingdom has some nice mini-mods within it, including:

• Auto-reinforce
• Fallback
• Auto-abilities

I love Titanium Wars as a base, but wanted to include these. It is possible? Yes (with the caveat that there may be some crashes down the line, though it seems stable enough).

So, you’ll probably want to do a fresh install, though this might not be necessary. Regardless, make sure you have installed TW, Dow Kingdom and Skirmish AI.

In your game directory, open up the folder ‘dowkingdom’, then ‘Data’. Copy the ‘scar’ folder. Then, in the game directory, open up ‘Titanium_Wars_Mod’ -> ‘Data’ and paste it.

Now, boot up TW as you would normally. You should now be able to play TW with some extra tweaks – tick ‘Tactics DC’ in the game options for a skirmish to enable these new abilities. There is a slight visual bug on the menu, but it doesn’t seem to impact anything.

You can tweak this further. The files that we brought from DowKingdom have tons of customisation options. If you go into your newly copied Titanium_Wars_ModDatascarwinconditions, you can edit the files in here (e.g with Notepad). Tacs.scar will allow you to tweak some of the new features (which makes quite a few adjustments to various things). Tacs_local.lua has a switch called ‘always_on’ – if you set this to ‘true’ it will force your changes in Tacs.scar to be ported into the campaign.

As an example, Tacs.scar has a line called ‘tac_BuilderBuff’. If you alter the value, you can set builders to construct buildings much more quickly (or slowly). Now when you boot into a skirmish with ‘Tactics DC’ ticked, your changes will manifest.

If you want the DoW Kingdom maps as well, go back into ‘dowkingdom’ -> ‘Data’ -> ‘scenarios’ -> ‘MP’. Copy everything except the top two folders. Then go back to the game directory, open up ‘DXP2’ -> ‘Data’ -> ‘Scenarios’ -> ‘mp’ and paste it all into this folder.

For AI improvements, open ‘dowai’ -> ‘Data’. Copy the ‘ai’ and ‘scar’ folders. Paste these into ‘Titanium_Wars_Mod’ -> ‘Data’. Note that the TW AI is pretty excellent anyway, so I don’t know if this has an impact.

The gameplay mods do not mix with each other, but Annihilation contains commander wargear and Titanium Wars more or less contains Annihilation. F-o-K is a totally different conversion and does not work with any of these.

Additional races also do not work with any of these. In theory, I don’t imagine it would be so difficult to combine additional races into something like Titanium Wars (balance issues notwithstanding), but no such thing exists for the moment.

Which Mod Should I Choose?

This is THE question. Most map and colour scheme mods fit with everything else. Plus, they’re fairly self-explanatory. The only thing to be aware of is that maps may not have been made with certain units in mind (read: titans). Hence, you might run into some trouble in this regard.

Because of the way that most colour schemes work, they just change the handful of colours in the army painter and add new banner icons. This shouldn’t interfere with new units.

If you want more, the commander wargear mod is a nice addition to the base game. It doesn’t change much, but makes things more interesting. There’s no real loss to using it. In a similar vein, the smaller gameplay mods in ‘Gameplay Mods I’ section are quite modest changes.

Beyond that, Annihilation and Titanium Wars both offer greater scope (they include commander wargear and TW includes many paint schemes). They are quite similar, though I think that the breadth of units and campaign tweaks in Titanium Wars put it ahead. On the other hand, you might use Annihilation as a stepping stone, or you may find that certain new units in Titanium Wars are not to your taste.

In many ways, I would consider TW to be the best of the bunch, and if you want just one mod to really enhance your experience, then I think it’s an excellent choice.

F-o-K and DoWPro are completely different beasts. F-o-K is more up the street of tabletop fans, but veteran DoW players should give it a go. It’s not to everyone’s taste, but it’s certainly a very interesting mod. Pro is just a different style that may appeal to veteran RTS players.

Making Your Own Mods

Included here is the set of mod tools for Dark Crusade. I do not make mods, so these are included here for reference. Documentation is limited, but you might be able to find some help on the forums or other communities.

ModDB:
[link]

Backup:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/hs6ec4dumhcf80v/DC%20Mod%20Tools.zip?dl=0

These programs allow you to edit .sga and .rgd files, which you will find useful.

Original: [link]
Backup: [link]

Original: [link]
Backup: [link]

Both have readmes on the setup, but you may encounter trouble with the SGA reader. When you first get it and extract, you’ll see in the readme that you need to register the .ocx files. Windows has a tool to do this called ‘regsvr32’. Now, in theory you should be able to run the .bat file included in the folder and everything works.

But if it doesn’t, then you can do it manually. Just open up Powershell as admin and write:
regsvr <path to file>comdlg.ocx

e.g. regsvr ‘G:Program Files (x86)SteamsteamappscommonDawn of War Dark CrusadeModToolsdowsgareadComdlg.ocx’

And the same for the other .ocx file.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q) Why haven’t you included X mod?

A) Probably because I don’t know of its existence or it no longer exists. If there’s a mod that you feel is valuable, then please respond in the comments with a link to it.

Q) Why can’t I play with my friends?

A) If you’re getting sync errors and so on, this is caused by the game thinking that you don’t have matching files. Refer to my troubleshooting section.

Q) Are these mods safe?

A) I can vouch for the links that I have posted at the time of writing (Novermber 2016). However, your computer security is your responsibility. Maps and colour schemes are pretty safe – it’s the .exe files you should worry about.

If there is any doubt in your mind, then don’t download it.

Concluding Remarks

I hope that those of you looking for a means to spice up DC have found something to your liking. I know that installing them and getting them to work for battles with friends can be a hassle, but it is worth it.

I value feedback on my guides, so please rate and comment as you see fit. I am particularly interested in how you feel some of these mods are balanced, whether they are worthwhile and any troubleshooting tips that you may have as well as suggestions for other mods that I have not included.