Formcomp.dat

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Editing Unit Types with FORMCOMP.DAT

  1. FORMCOMP.DAT is a text file that allows you to adjust which units appear in the game (helicopters, aircraft, vehicles).
  2. To change the default unit set for the whole game, modify \common\data\formcomp.dat.
  3. To change the unit set for a whole map, add or copy a new formcomp.dat to the (root of the) desired map directory (e.g. \common\maps\mapXX\formcomp.dat).
  4. To change the unit set for a specific campaign or skirmish, add or copy a new formcomp.dat to the desired campaign or skirmish subdirectory within the map directory (e.g. \common\maps\mapXX\camp01\formcomp.dat).
  5. Ignore formcomp.dat in the \common\maps\mapXX\campaign\ directory, changing it does nothing!


Tips:

  • Remember, forward slashes ( // this is a comment ) are comments only and have no impact in the game.
  • Use your text editor's find-and-replace feature to replace the name of one vehicle with another.
  • Don't be confused by the fact that formcomp.dat files are sometimes in all caps vs. lowercase; it doesn't make any difference.


Example: Replacing Comanches with AH-64D's

Looking in a default \Razorworks\common\data\FORMCOMP.DAT we see the following as we scroll down through the "helicopter groups" section:

FORMATION_COMPONENT
TYPE HELICOPTER_LIGHT_RECON_ATTACK_GROUP
TYPE ROW_LEFT
COUNT 2
GROUP_RECON_ATTACK_HELICOPTER
AIRCRAFT_RAH66_COMANCHE
AIRCRAFT_KA52_HOKUM_B
AIRCRAFT_RAH66_COMANCHE
AIRCRAFT_KA52_HOKUM_B
END

Elswhere in FORMCOMP.DAT we see that the AH-64D Apache is referred to as AIRCRAFT_AH64D_APACHE_LONGBOW.

In the above section, we perform a simple find and replace of AIRCRAFT_RAH66_COMANCHE with AIRCRAFT_AH64D_APACHE_LONGBOW resulting in:

FORMATION_COMPONENT
TYPE HELICOPTER_LIGHT_RECON_ATTACK_GROUP
TYPE ROW_LEFT
COUNT 2
GROUP_RECON_ATTACK_HELICOPTER
AIRCRAFT_AH64D_APACHE_LONGBOW
AIRCRAFT_KA52_HOKUM_B
AIRCRAFT_AH64D_APACHE_LONGBOW
AIRCRAFT_KA52_HOKUM_B
END

Save over your old FORMCOMP.DAT and the next time you start EECH, Comanches will no longer be available and you will have AH-64D Longbows in their place. (And because we just modified the FORMCOMP.DAT in \Razorworks\common\data\, this change will affect all maps/campaigns/skirmishes which do not have their own specific FORMCOMP.DAT).