Recently, we've had a bunch of people who want to make more than one level per .goomod, so I've decided to make a step-by-step guide to help you guys out.
Step 1: Rename the .goomod( s )
First, you need to get your .goomods unzipped. Remember that as per goomod specification (here), a .goomod is just a renamed .zip file. For Linux/Unix users, this isn't much of a problem, but as Windows hides file extensions by default, you'll need to do an extra step.
There are two possible methods (Thanks, thB):
Method 1:
- Open Control Panel (usually from the Start Menu)
- Search for "Folder"
- Click on "Folder Options"
Method 2
- Open Windows Explorer (Win+E on your keyboard, or just Start Menu->Documents)
- Click "Organize" in that toolbar at the top (left).
- Click on "Folder and search options" in the menu
After you do either of these, a new window will appear. Click the "View" tab up top, and scroll down in the "Advanced Settings" box until you see a checkbox with the name "Hide extensions for known file types." Uncheck it. You should now see your levels have an extension of .goomod, and you ought to be able to rename them .zip easily (Ignore the warning message that Windows gives you when you try to do so).
As an alternative for method 2, if you have the toolbar enabled in Windows Explorer (You can show it even if you don't by pressing the Alt key), you can click the "Tools" menu, and reach "Folder Options" from there.
These directions are for Windows Vista and 7. Other flavors of Windows will be slightly different, but essentially the same.
Step 2: Unzip
After you've gotten them to be two (or more) .zip files, you can simply right click on them and select "Extract All...". Windows will guide you through the extration process with a nice little wizard.
Step 3: Stick the files together
Once you have two unzipped .goomods (preferably in two different folders), you'll see a couple folders (called "compile" and "override", and maybe one called "merge") and a couple XML files (called "addin.xml" and "text.xml"). If you're missing any of these, don't worry; not all goomods have to have them (Actually, all level goomods HAVE to have at least an "addin.xml" and a "compile" folder, but the rest of these are optional). Now, you'll want to copy these together. The easiest way to do this is to go to one of them, select the FOLDERS (not the "addin.xml" and "text.xml" files, but the "compile", "override", and "merge" folders themselves), press Control+C to copy them, browse back to the other extracted .goomod, and press Control+V to paste. Windows will prompt you, asking if you want to merge these folders together. Tell it yes. If any files conflict, skip those files. You won't need duplicates.
Step 4: Manually put the "addin.xml"s together
This is the hard part. Follow these steps EXACTLY or something may go terribly wrong:
Go back to the first goomod (The one you copied the folders out of before). Select "addin.xml" and "text.xml" and press Control+C to copy these. Go back to your second one and paste. Because these are named the same thing, Windows will prompt you. Choose to "Copy, but keep both files". This will cause the two .xml files from the first .goomod to get copied, but renamed to "addin (2).xml" and "text (2).xml" or similar.
Now right-click on "addin (2).xml" and choose "Edit" (If this isn't there, choose "Open with..."->"Notepad"). Notepad will open and you'll see a whole bunch of gobbledygook (Unless you've had previous XML experience before, in which case you'll probably drool over how nice and clean the code is). It ought to look something like this:
<!-- Created by WooGLE v0.77 Final --> <addin spec-version="1.1"> <id>com.goofans.MOM4Evr.RabidManiac</id> <name>RabidManiac</name> <type>level</type> <version>0.1</version> <description>What kind of raving lunatic would do such a thing? Certainly not me... ?!</description> <author>MOM4Evr</author> <levels> <level> <dir>RabidManiac</dir> <name text="Rabid Maniac" /> <subtitle text="He looks less evil than he is" /> <ocd>time,20</ocd> </level> </levels> </addin>
Now do the same thing to open "addin.xml" with Notepad. You'll see something similar to above.
The key now is to get the right stuff from "addin (2).xml" and stick it into "addin.xml". What is the right stuff? I'll tell you:
Select the stuff between the <levels>
and </levels>
tags, not including the tags themselves. In the case of the file above, this will be:
<level> <dir>RabidManiac</dir> <name text="Rabid Maniac" /> <subtitle text="He looks less evil than he is" /> <ocd>time,20</ocd> </level>
Of course, your addin will have your own level's name and all that, but it'll always be the stuff between <levels>
and </levels>
. Now, double-check that you've selected everything in there (Don't miss one little bracket) and press Control+C to copy it to the clipboard. Go back to "addin.xml". Now, you'll want this in the same spot it was in the previous file, only this time there's some stuff already there. To work this out, place your text cursor (not the mouse cursor) right past the </level>
tag that's already there. That's the </level>
tag, not the </levels>
tag. Press Control+V to paste the text there. You should end up with something like the following:
<!-- Created by WooGLE v0.77 Final --> <addin spec-version="1.1"> <id>com.goofans.MOM4Evr.RabidManiac</id> <name>RabidManiac</name> <type>level</type> <version>0.1</version> <description>What kind of raving lunatic would do such a thing? Certainly not me... ?!</description> <author>MOM4Evr</author> <levels> <level> <dir>RabidManiac</dir> <name text="Rabid Maniac" /> <subtitle text="He looks less evil than he is" /> <ocd>time,20</ocd> </level> <level> <dir>FarLands__L02</dir> <name text="Far Lands - level 2"/> <subtitle text="Far Lands"/> <ocd>balls,16</ocd> </level> </levels> </addin>
Thanks, Hany.
Now what? Well, it'll work now, so take a deep breath and press Control+S to save the file. But this file still has all the same stuff as the original (second) goomod had, like the same description and stuff. You'll want to change this all to reflect this brand new .goomod (No, you're not done yet, but I know you'd like to be).
So, update the appropriate fields. This will be the stuff between the <id></id>
tags, the stuff between the <name></name>
tags, the stuff between the <version></version>
tags, and the stuff between the <description></description>
tags (And in my case, the stuff between the <author></author>
tags, but if you want to merge in someone else's level, you'll have to ask them first of course!). So the changes you make might look like the following when you're done:
<!-- Created by WooGLE v0.77 Final --> <addin spec-version="1.1"> <id>com.goofans.MOM4Evr_Hany.ManiacalLevel2</id> <name>Rabid Maniac with a piece of Level 2</name> <type>level</type> <version>1.0</version> <description>What kind of raving lunatic would do such a thing? Certainly not me... ?! And why is there a "Level 2" in here now?</description> <author>MOM4Evr and Hany</author> <levels> <level> <dir>RabidManiac</dir> <name text="Rabid Maniac" /> <subtitle text="He looks less evil than he is" /> <ocd>time,20</ocd> </level> <level> <dir>FarLands__L02</dir> <name text="Far Lands - level 2"/> <subtitle text="Far Lands"/> <ocd>balls,16</ocd> </level> </levels> </addin>
Of course, if you're feeling particularly confident, you can change anything else you want, too, just don't mess with anything that's between a less-than and a greater-than symbol.
Now that that's all over, save the file and close both Notepad windows. You're done! With this part, anyway...
Step 5: Manually put the "text.xml"s together
If you put signposts in your levels, good news! You still have more work to do with XML. Of course, if you don't have signposts, skip this step altogether, and if you have signposts in one level, you should be set. Just make sure there's one file by the name of "text.xml" and you're done. But if you put signposts in both levels, read on.
First, you'll want to open both the "text.xml" and the "text (2).xml" files in Notepad, like I told you how to do with the "addin.xml" pair. These will look slightly less complicated (hopefully!) unless you have a bunch of signposts in each level. They'll look more like the following:
<!-- Created by WooGLE v0.78 RC3 --> <strings> <string id="SIGNPOST_BROKENBONES2_2" text="Huh...|You can say that you are back!|Back to the factory,|Back to the robot room!|Only...|Some things are changed...|The robots are simply destroyed...|Even more too bad...|They are broken...|But anyway try to use your previous skill how to explode the head...|-the Sign Painter" /> <string id="SIGNPOST_BROKENBONES2_1" text="Ones apone the time...|There were lots of robots...|After they have been destroyed...|The bones only left!|-the scary Sign Painter" /> <string id="SIGNPOST_BROKENBONES2_3" text="May be you don't see...|But next to me behing this big cog hiding one little gear|May be if it is ball buster then may be it can help you with the ugly|- the Sign Painter" /> </strings>
(Thanks, Wikigoo-4evr)
Note that there may be more than one <string>
, and there may not. This is perfectly ok; it'll just depend on how many signposts you have in each level. Make sure you're in "text (2).xml" and select everything between the <strings>
and </strings>
tags. For this file, that would be the following:
<string id="SIGNPOST_BROKENBONES2_2" text="Huh...|You can say that you are back!|Back to the factory,|Back to the robot room!|Only...|Some things are changed...|The robots are simply destroyed...|Even more too bad...|They are broken...|But anyway try to use your previous skill how to explode the head...|-the Sign Painter" /> <string id="SIGNPOST_BROKENBONES2_1" text="Ones apone the time...|There were lots of robots...|After they have been destroyed...|The bones only left!|-the scary Sign Painter" /> <string id="SIGNPOST_BROKENBONES2_3" text="May be you don't see...|But next to me behing this big cog hiding one little gear|May be if it is ball buster then may be it can help you with the ugly|- the Sign Painter" />
Then press Control+C to copy the data, go to "text.xml", and position your text cursor right BEFORE the </strings>
part. Press Control+V to paste. You should end up with something along these lines:
<!-- Created by WooGLE v0.78 RC3 --> <strings> <string id="TEXT_SHIFTINGMACHINE_STR1" text="Welcome back to the factory!|Here is one more thing that haven't been done!|These goo balls need your help!|Ouch!|These spikes realy hurt everyone!|But not the goo balls|I mean they KILL the goo balls!|So be careful!|-the Sign Painter" /> <string id="SIGNPOST_BROKENBONES2_2" text="Huh...|You can say that you are back!|Back to the factory,|Back to the robot room!|Only...|Some things are changed...|The robots are simply destroyed...|Even more too bad...|They are broken...|But anyway try to use your previous skill how to explode the head...|-the Sign Painter" /> <string id="SIGNPOST_BROKENBONES2_1" text="Ones apone the time...|There were lots of robots...|After they have been destroyed...|The bones only left!|-the scary Sign Painter" /> <string id="SIGNPOST_BROKENBONES2_3" text="May be you don't see...|But next to me behing this big cog hiding one little gear|May be if it is ball buster then may be it can help you with the ugly|- the Sign Painter" /></strings>
The cool thing about XML is that indentation and spacing and such don't matter. So even though this example here looks odd because of the gap in the middle and the </strings>
tag being butted right against the pasted data, it'll still work fine.
Now that that's done, save the "text.xml" file and close Notepad. Yay! You're done! Well... almost. Read on.
Step 6: Zip it all together
Now that all the above is done, the rest should be fairly easy. What you'll want to do is get the right stuff back into a .goomod and put it on goofans! What is the right stuff? Well, it's easy. Select the folders you have in the second goomod (In case you haven't guessed, this is the one you're going to upload), which will be the "compile" and "override" folders (and maybe "merge", if it's there). Also select the "addin.xml" and "text.xml" files. Ignore the other xml files here; you're done with them. Now, with these four items (And these four items ONLY) selected, right-click and choose "Send To"->"Compressed (zipped) Folder". A new file will appear called "[something].zip", where [something] may be your level name, or it could be something else. Rename this to [your addin ID].goomod . Remember that in "addin.xml" there's this part that is between the <id>
and </id>
tags? Well, this is your addin ID that you specified in WooGLE. In the case of my addin above, mine was "com.goofans.MOM4Evr_Hany.ManiacalLevel2". So I'll name this addin "com.goofans.MOM4Evr_Hany.ManiacalLevel2.goomod". You can name it anything you want, but it's a good idea to give it the same name as your addin ID.
Now are we done? Yes, we are! But before you upload it to goofans, INSTALL IT IN GOOTOOL AND MAKE SURE BOTH LEVELS WORK. If either of them don't work, go through all the steps above and make sure you followed them exactly. If you can't find the problem, ask in the forum or in the comment section below.
I hope this helps! Of course, you can make more than just 2-level addins following these steps. Just use your brain and make sure all the XML comes out looking like above, and you should be fine. If you're merging more than 2 addins together, though, I'd recommend merging two together, testing it, merging a third one into the result, testing that, and so forth, so it's easier to figure out if/when you've made a mistake.
Have fun!
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Fri, 06/17/2011 - 11:28
Mac instructions?
Another Planet finally has an official release! Download chapters 1 through 3 here! Thank you for waiting so long while I kept starting over.
Fri, 06/17/2011 - 12:08
Ah, good idea. Can you write those up and I'll add them? I don't have a Mac handy (and I haven't used Mac much myself).
IRC | Chapter Tutorial | Reference Guide
Fri, 06/17/2011 - 13:22
I'm not an expert, so I'm sure there are better ways to do this, but these are the parts that are different:
To zip, choose a folder and click "Send to Archive"
To change extension, right-click and "Get Info", "Name and Extension"
Another Planet finally has an official release! Download chapters 1 through 3 here! Thank you for waiting so long while I kept starting over.
Fri, 06/17/2011 - 15:32
So Mac will automatically hide the filename extension also?
IRC | Chapter Tutorial | Reference Guide
Fri, 06/17/2011 - 17:04
No, but it won't let you change it.
Another Planet finally has an official release! Download chapters 1 through 3 here! Thank you for waiting so long while I kept starting over.
Tue, 11/22/2011 - 14:26
- Open Control Panel (usually from the Start Menu)
- Search for 'Folder'
- Click on 'Folder Options'
musn't it be 'search for The folder'
or even if I'm wrong there is no such thing as 'folder' (exept 'folders').
Then I go on 'folder options'
what's next?
Please call me "multi"
youtube: http://www.youtube.com/user/multidan250gaming?feature=mhee
Wed, 11/23/2011 - 08:21
"search for 'Folder'" means to type "Folder" in the big, friendly search box up top.
Also,
After you do either of these, a new window will appear. Click the "View" tab up top, and scroll down in the "Advanced Settings" box until you see a checkbox with the name "Hide extensions for known file types." Uncheck it. You should now see your levels have an extension of .goomod, and you ought to be able to rename them .zip easily (Ignore the warning message that Windows gives you when you try to do so).
That's what you do next. Just keep following the directions after you get the Folder Options window.
Also, I, not Daft, wrote this.
IRC | Chapter Tutorial | Reference Guide
Wed, 11/23/2011 - 10:19
If you're in Windows 7 or Vista, there should be a button called "Folder Layout and Search Options" in the top-left of Windows Explorer. That will get you to the same place.
EDIT: Oh, that's Method 2...
I tweet like a bird
I have a lame website
Fri, 12/02/2011 - 11:22
Basically I got this by my self but how to merge TWO OR MORE levels together? I want to know because it doesn't says about this but I need to merge 4 levels together so I could make BETA 1 version of goo giant plant - It's coming really soon the start of the World of goo diamond catchers will be out on any minute!!! Only you must tell me how far should be what when I open notepad what were, OK? Is it something like this (At the BEGINNING of the notepad (I got the latest version of the WOG level editor (I think so))) e.g.
com.goofans.Wikigoo4evr.FlyUp com.goofans.Wikigoo4evr.Cemycircle
Fly up Cemy circle
Or may be like this e.g.
com.goofans.Wikigoo4evr.FlyUp_com.goofans.Wikigoo4evr.CemyCircle
Fly up_Cemy circle
Or may be e.g.
com.goofans.Wikigoo4evr.FlyUpcom.goofans.Wikigoo4evr.CemyCircle
Fly upCemy circle
Whoops... fail - you cannot see it... Ehh... I'll try to sort it out by myself.
I think I got it right but I am not sure of that and anyway I would need to do this: ZIP back but how? What I need to select or however to say it? Cause I'm trying but it don't work...
Wait I got it! Only it says: Compress to[something] and e-mail! What should I do?
Fri, 12/02/2011 - 17:27
Call it com.goofans.Wikigoo-4evr.FlyUpSemiCircle.goomod or something along those lines.
Right-click. Create new compressed/zipped folder. Drag and drop.
Another Planet finally has an official release! Download chapters 1 through 3 here! Thank you for waiting so long while I kept starting over.
Mon, 01/09/2012 - 12:12
What do I do if the gootool says that its openning a zip file? I just finished and checked the 1st beta version of the goo giant plant chapter of the World of goo dyamond catcher's map.
Mon, 01/09/2012 - 12:44
Hmm, I don't know. What is the exact error message that GooTool says?
IRC | Chapter Tutorial | Reference Guide
Mon, 01/09/2012 - 14:47
Basically it says that the addin is opening a zip file or something like that.
Mon, 01/09/2012 - 15:09
Yes, but what is the exact wording?
IRC | Chapter Tutorial | Reference Guide
Mon, 01/09/2012 - 15:40
OMG is it so hard to understand?! The gootool said: Error opening: [Levels name] error opening zip file
Does that makes sence once and for all?
Mon, 01/09/2012 - 16:06
Generally, it's good practice to always post the exact wording of an error message, so confusion is evaded. Knowing the exact wording enables someone to help you rather than wonder what in the world you're talking about.
Anyway...
The error sounds like it's a malformed .zip file. Try compressing again.
IRC | Chapter Tutorial | Reference Guide
Mon, 01/09/2012 - 16:24
This implies some corruption in the zip file itself. You may find more information in GooTool's log file.
Mon, 01/09/2012 - 16:35
No MOM I've tried it couple of times it don't work. OPnce you told me how to zip it properly but then I had all wrong done so you better tell me how to zip back up the goomod or I'll try to find where you told me about it, okay? Just tell me how to zip back up the goomod, okay?
Oh no I mean how to unzip it and make it into a goomod thats what I need to find out so PLZ tell me, okay?
Mon, 01/09/2012 - 18:00
Wiki, what MOM means is that whatever program you used to make the goomod messed up slightly. Try opening it with 7Zip and see what it says.
Another Planet finally has an official release! Download chapters 1 through 3 here! Thank you for waiting so long while I kept starting over.
Tue, 01/10/2012 - 02:44
I cannot explain you but the thing is at the end how to put all things up together - but I found it by reading whats written on this page so I got it. The goo giant plant beta 1 version is out and when it's gona be published you will be able to enjoy the first four levels I made. It's first the merging file so MOM PLZ publish my level cause it took me hard work to finish it. Now I know in MY HEAD how to merge addins and how to edit them so I can make different things.
Tue, 01/10/2012 - 08:36
I'll look at it later today.
Another Planet finally has an official release! Download chapters 1 through 3 here! Thank you for waiting so long while I kept starting over.
Tue, 01/10/2012 - 16:24
Thanks, AP. As the MOM were my addin published I hope you'll be mine now PLZ - first look at the goo giant plant bata 1 version cause it's the most important addin for me...
dan250's addin publisher is Puggsoy
Wed, 12/03/2014 - 22:04
How do you merge two or more ball-changing goomods?
Be happy and live life at your own pace
Thu, 12/04/2014 - 09:10
So long as both don't change the same Goo Ball, it should be the same procedure. The addin.xml won't require level elements in it, however, so the only thing you'll have to change there should just be the addin name and id and such.
IRC | Chapter Tutorial | Reference Guide
Thu, 07/13/2017 - 07:44
Can someone make an "auto-merger" programm? Someone maybe say about THAT type of merging sooo hard.
Hello! I'm Fishgoggles.