This guide on The Great War: Western Front™ aims to assist and streamline the process of using the WorkshopUploader tool to upload files to the Workshop.
The Basics.
This instruction won’t cover modifying files, textures, or what applications are required because it will be assumed that you already have a mod finished and ready for submission. This manual is not intended to be a complete how-to for using the tool and is subject to change as we learn more about how it functions.
Step One: Organize your files.
This tutorial will demonstrate how to use the uploader using a texture mod as an example. Please be aware that depending on the type of mod you’re trying to upload, the game directories may differ for you. First, we’ll make a folder called “Late1916Belgium” for our new mod.
Next, we’re going to take the file “TheGreatWar_Mod.xml” from the folder CampaignMod. This can be found in the files that the developers have provided.
Note: The directory where you files may be found can differ from the image above.
We’re going to take this file you will drag and drop onto your newly created folder, “Late1916Belgium”. Here, we’ll also drop all the files relevant to this mod.
Step Two: Edit the “TheGreatWar_Mod.xml”.
We will now start editing the “TheGreatWar_Mod.xml” file. Use an application like Notepad++ or another one that is comparable for this. We’re going to start filling in the data by using a similar format to what the developers have done. You may need to change the values in the “LocalizedNames” and “LocalizedDescriptions” sections if you intend to publish your mod in a different language.
At the time of writing this guide, it’s unknown what changes could occur if we edit “Version of Mod”, this guide will advise to leave it as is.
Also note, that in the final section, we are given multiple options for the “mod type text”, such as “TEXT_MOD_MANAGER_MOD_TYPE_CAMPAIGN,TEXT_MOD_MANAGER_MOD_TYPE_GENERAL, TEXT_MOD_MANAGER_MOD_TYPE_SKIRMISH, TEXT_MOD_MANAGER_MOD_TYPE_HISTORIC, or use non-localized text”
Use the word that most accurately characterizes your mod, such as “Texture” in the case of this guide. This appears to be the order in which Steam will sort the modules after they are posted to the Workshop.
Step Three: Create your images.
The image you see when you choose the mod from the in-game menu is taken from a file in our folder with the name “TheGreatWar_Mod,” as can be seen in the image above. The resolution of this JPEG file is 600×600. You might be able to utilize different sizes, but in order to reduce the likelihood of something going wrong, we’ll stick with the 600×600 size used in the devs mod picture.
Other image files you’ll want to keep saved somewhere (e.g. your desktop) are the screenshots you will upload with your mod. This guide won’t really discuss this part further as its a function of Steam itself, and not the uploader tool.
The image file you’ll utilize with the uploader is the last thing you’ll need. This file is crucial since Steam will utilize it when displaying your Workshop listing. This guide suggests naming your file “thumbnail” and saving it as a PNG file with a resolution of 600×600. Although the aforementioned is advised, the uploader might accept other file sizes and file names. Nonetheless, the provided data will reduce any uploading difficulties you may get.
Step Four: Using the tool for the first time.
Now that we have our files ready, we’re ready to start using the tool. We will navigate to where we have the game installed and then go to ModTools/WorkshopUploader and then open the file, “uploader”. In the box “Enter item name…”, we’re going to place the name of the mod, “Late1916Belgium”, then click “Create item”. The tool will then generate the following:
As you can see, there are still a few things to fill out, but we’ll get to those in a moment. Close the tool for the time being, and then click “WorkshopContent” in the game directory.
The tool has produced additional products, as can be seen. An empty folder containing “Late1916Belgium.workshop.json” and the name of our mod. This file will eventually be filled with the data we enter in the following stage by the tool. The mod we will submit will be sorted and categorized using this information by Steam itself.
Please take note that it is highly recommended that when the uploading process is over, we delete the files from the “WorkshopContent” folder and save them somewhere. The program will not distinguish between the old mod files and the new mod files and will upload all of the data to Steam if you choose to upload another mod while keeping the files from a prior mod kept in this folder.
Step Five: Using the tool for the second time.
Your files should now be in their proper directories. As mentioned earlier in this guide, depending on what files you are modifying, the directories in your mod folder(s) can vary.
As we can see in the image above, we have our mod files, the json file that the uploader creates and the image file “thumbnail” that we created in an earlier step. Now we are ready to open the uploader for the second, and final time.
We will continue by checking every box the tool now asks us to in the next step. Remember that all the information will be lost if you browse away from the tool and open another window; you will then need to fill it out again. There are a few items that Steam will let you edit if you need to make adjustments after uploading the mod to the Workshop, including the “Title” of your mod and the information included in the “Description” box. Knowing exactly which “Tags” you want to use with your mod is crucial since Steam will classify your mod using these tags. These tags cannot be changed once you upload your mod, so make sure they describe your mod as accurately as possible and without typographical errors. We can see a box titled “Visibility” here, it will let you upload the file to the Public, Friends or Private. This can be changed once the mod is on Steam, so do not worry if you set your mod to Private by accident. The final box has a space for “Enter change note…” at the time of writing this guide, it is unclear what this box does. Perhaps it’s for when uploading future versions of the mod.
Once everything is ready, click on the box “Submit (name of your mod”. The tool will begin to work uploading the mod onto the Workshop.
If successful, you will get the following prompt:
As alluded to earlier, once the mod is on Steam and in the Workshop, you can make certain changes and upload screenshots of your mod. This guide will not cover those steps.
Congratulations, you have now upload your mod onto the Workshop.
Credit to: Mailman653