Modding tools are fairly scarce in the more modern Total War games because the devs decided to standardize and control how mods are created. This is both useful but also highly lame, as I feel it makes it far less viable for creativity... voices and sound being towards the top of the list of things that are barely modifiable as a result. Nevertheless, in order to do modding for most of the modern Total War games, you will need a couple of things. For this guide, you'll probably only need two of them:


by The Creative Assembly

1. Navigate to your games Library
2. At the top of your games list, click the dropdown arrow - it might say something like "Games" next to it if you haven't done this before:
3. Check "Tools" in the dropdown list
4. Scroll down in your library to find the Total War™: Warhammer II - Assembly Kit BETA
5. Install it

by Frodo45127

1. Navigate to the GitHub for the app: https://github.com/Frodo45127/rpfm/releases
2. Find the most recent version (probably whatever is at the top of the list)
3. Click on the version number
4. Download the .7z file
5. Extract where ever is suitable for you - I don't think it matters
6. Run "rpfm_ui.exe" to use the program

That's about it! Everything else you'll need for this can be found in the Assembly Kit you (hopefully) downloaded above...

Before we get started, there are a couple of things to keep in mind when trying to change the voices. In essence there are three main aspects that can be changed on the campaign/battle maps that directly affect the voice set your lord will have. Having an idea of what they are should help you understand what changes you want to make - they are fairly simple to follow. Roughly, they are as follows:


This is the voice you hear when selecting the lord, the affirmations they give when you move them, order them to attack, etc... overall, this is the main affective portion of the lord's voice. This guide will pay special attention to this part because there is a very major caveat that could be a dealbreaker down the road in terms of compatibility with other mods.. more on that later.

The primary tables that will be edited for this is/are:

• Agent_Subtypes
  
  
• Start_Pos_Characters

If you're still not sure what I'm referring to - this video's probably the best example (it's what he says when clicked):



This is the one you hear when you have the lord deployed on the battlefield, where you select them, order them around to move, attack, etc... usually you'd like this to be consistent with the campaign map voice, or otherwise it might sound a little silly (but it depends on your taste, and the voice(s) in question!)

The primary table(s) that will be edited for this is/are:

• Main_units

If your lord is a faction leader, they will have diplomacy strings which are used when interacting with other factions on the diplomacy screen. Depending on the voice, this will also replace the dialogue that is being said on the diplomacy screen, to correlate alongside your character's new voice set. While it is not necessary to change this, it might be more immersive in the long run. Do note that, not all voices will correlate, as some Legendary Lords, for example, were not meant to have diplomacy strings (Helman Ghorst, I believe, is one example... but I could be wrong).

The primary table(s) that will be edited for this is/are:

• Diplomacy_Negotiation_String_Options

Here is an example of what I mean when I say diplomacy strings (the interactions found in this video):



All three of these components can be edited to fully change a lord's voice set. As far as I know, all lords should be capable of doing this, however I do recall running into issues with certain Warhammer 2 lords, as well as Louen Leoncoeur 's voice sets - so your mileage may still vary in terms of whom this will work for and for whom it won't. This may be due to differences in code structure for lords in Warhammer I, as opposed to Warhammer II.

If you have an idea on who you want to sound like what, then feel free to move on! Otherwise, it might be a good idea to decide first, so you know what to look for when you start making the changes.

As stated in the overview, this section will cover arguably the most important part of the voice pack changing process - this is the case for two reasons:

1. It is the one you'll probably be hearing the most
2. It can potentially make your entire mod pack incompatible with MANY good mods (ex: Mixu's Lords). If the lord in question you are editing for is generic (think Empire Generals that you can recruit, or Marauder Chieftains, or... any sort of general that is not a Legendary Lord/unique that is recruitable will fit this bill), then maybe this will not be as much of a problem. You will find out why in a moment.

Let's start by opening up the Assembly Kit:

1. Go to your Steam Library
2. If need be, make sure Tools are checked to show in the list of games
3. Scroll down to find the Assembly Kit for Warhammer II
4. Launch it
5. For this initial portion, select Database Editor: Dave

The Database Editor allows you to view the different assortment of tables that are used by the game to describe what is in it, and what it does. This ranges from units to settlements on the map - all the minute details can be found in these tables - it's just a matter of finding what they are and how to tweak them :-)

For what we're trying to do, we will only need two tables - Agent_Subtypes and Start_Pos_Characters.


1. Click "View" at the top of the editor
2. Select "Table Launcher"
3. A list should popup. At the top of it, search for "agent_subtypes" (CASE SENSITIVE)
4. Double click on the only result to open it
5. Scroll through and find the lord or unit that you'd like to make changes to (or you can also filter for it - however CA got creative with some of their naming conventions so your mileage will vary).
6. Once you have found the correct record for your desired lord, find the column called "audio_voiceover_actor_group"
7. For your corresponding lord's record, change this column's value to whatever you want the new lord to sound like. Usually there is a dropdown that can list all the potential choices that can be used - they are fairly intuitive, but again, some may be somewhat vague - play around and see!

Example:

I have edited the Marauder Chieftain's voiceover actor group to the legacy voicegroup that existed before the Norsca update. So I scrolled down to find Nor_Marauder_Chieftain (should be Record #91) and I changed its "audio_voiceover_actor_group" column to wh_main_vo_actor_Chaos_MarauderChieftain to accommodate that change. That's it!

8. Once you have changed your desired lord's voicegroup, you will notice that it is now highlighted a yellow/orange colour. This implies that the record has been changed from its original value, and is now considered "modified". This distinction will be important to note shortly.

Examples of non-modified (top) vs modified records (bottom):


9. Click Apply and Close at the top right corner of the table -- you are done with this table!

This is the Agent_Subtypes list. It mostly has characteristics that apply to the campaign map's characters dubbed "agents" - for example, it controls how Dark Elves, Vampire Coast and Skaven have their generic lords have "loyalty" and food mechanics, respectively, among many other things that are seemingly just visual and do not necessarily correspond to particular game mechanics.


Here is where you're going to want to make a choice - that choice depends entirely on your circumstance. Let me give you two scenarios:

Scenario #1: Say you want to change the voice for a Faction Leader, let's pick Karl Franz as an example. You want Karl Franz to sound like Vlad von Carstein, instead.

Since Karl Franz is a Faction Leader that spawns on the map upon new game start, in order for him to sound like Vlad von Carstein for the rest of the game, he will need startpos.esf. In order to create startpos.esf for your mod, you will need Start_Pos_Characters.

The problem with startpos.esf is that it can only be used by ONE mod in your ENTIRE mod list. If two individual mods have their own respective startpos.esf files, the load order will select the prioritizing mod's startpos.esf over the other mod's. As you may imagine, this can lead to colossal incompatibility ranging from things not working as intended, to simply the game not starting up at ALL until either of them is de-selected.

Scenario #2: On the other hand, if you have a generic Empire General that you recruited from Altdorf on turn 1 after starting your campaign as Karl Franz, and you are looking for the Empire General to have Vlad von Carstein's voice, then you do NOT need startpos.esf - you can safely ignore this portion of this guide. Any SPAWNED character that gets created AFTER a campaign starts will have the correct voice set applied to them without any startpos.esf modification required. This is more ideal, but again, it becomes problematic for lords like Karl Franz, whose voice will not be affected for the rest of the game. Lame ass CA development, tbh.

If you are not sure of either scenario above; feel free to follow along on the steps below to create a new startpos.esf - and see the difference for yourself how that might work for you. Trial and error are an important part of discovery and learning; no one is exempt from it.

1. Start up DaVE in the Warhammer II Assembly Kit (Database Editor: Dave)
2. Click "View" at the top of the editor
3. Select "Table Launcher"
4. A list should popup. At the top of it, search for "start_pos_characters" (CASE SENSITIVE)
5. Double click on the only result to open it
6. Select any record of your choosing (literally any of them will work - it does not matter)
7. Find the column called "Turns_died_before_start"
8. By default that column should be blank - put in a random value in there; it can be a number, a letter, or a symbol - again, doesn't matter!
9. Delete whatever value you just stuck in there, allowing it to again become blank
10. The column edited should now be coloured to indicate it is modified:

11. Click Apply and Close in the top right corner - you are done with this table!


This is Start_Pos_Characters - it controls minute details that correspond to a given character's... characteristics. You'll see stuff like "age" is in there; age isn't relevant for the Warhammer games, but it is found in Rome 2 - you can also seemingly change the name of the lord in question, as well as make custom overrides to the model the unit will use on the campaign map as display (perhaps affecting the battle map, too - not entirely certain as I've never played with these). You will only want one section, ideally, but it can be any that you choose. Above I've demonstrated what I used as an example for what section I typically edit - but again, it's your choice!


Congratulations! You've finished this portion of your mod. You have changed the voiceactor group for your particular lord or unit, and made it so that it will now speak similarly to whatever unit you preferred it sounded like, on the campaign map. Hopefully it wasn't too painful.

Now, we will move on to the next section in modifying the battle map's variant of the unit, so that whatever voice we're changing will replicate on there, as well...

I'll make this shorter since it is pretty much identical to the steps above, except for variations. We will only need to edit one table: main_units table.


1. Click "View" at the top of the editor
2. Select "Table Launcher"
3. A list should popup. At the top of it, search for "main_units" (CASE SENSITIVE)
4. Double click on the only result to open it
5. Find the corresponding record for the lord/unit you're trying to edit. NOTE: There may be multiple records for the same unit! Some units, like Marauder Chieftain, have variations of the same unit; presumably because of mounts.
6. Find the column "audio_voiceover_actor_group"
7. Change the value to whatever you prefer the lord/unit sounded like on the battle map
8. Click Apply and Close in the top right corner - you are done with this table!

Example:

I changed the Norsca Marauder Chieftain's voice to be like how it was in the past, before the Norsca update in Warhammer I. So I found the records "wh_main_nor_cha_marauder_chieftan_0" 0 through 3, and changed all their audio_voiceover_actor_group values to wh_main_vo_actor_Chaos_MarauderChieftain. That's it!


The Main_Units table is kind of important; not only does it dictate what voice on the battle map the unit will use, but it also dictates variations of the same unit. Using Marauder chieftains as an example, we have one which walks on foot (0 - this is the default, standard recruited chieftain via a settlement), one on horse (1), one on a chariot (2), and one on a war mammoth (3). If you'd like to further edit individual stats, you can refer to land_units table for each record.


Congrats! You just made your lord/unit sound similarly to how he does on the campaign map using the changes you've made in the previous section. One more left to go if we want to complete the circle...

As written before in the previous sections, the diplomacy strings is somewhat of an optional change; I consider it to be a significant part when it comes to the immersive aspect of a lord; if I want Karl Franz to sound like Archaon on the campaign map and on the battle map, I would also like to hear him verbally lash other factions in diplomacy, as well.

However, as noted before - not all changes are possible to correlate together; some units just won't have their corresponding voice sets in diplomacy. Nevertheless, if you're looking to change your Faction Leader's diplomacy strings, follow the steps below. Note that you will only be changing one table: Diplomacy_Negotiation_String_Options.

Diplomacy_Negotiation_String_Options table

1. Start up DaVE in the Warhammer II Assembly Kit (Database Editor: Dave)
2. Click "View" at the top of the editor
3. Select "Table Launcher"
4. A list should popup. At the top of it, search for "diplomacy_negotiation_string_options" (CASE SENSITIVE)
5. Double click on the only result to open it

You will be presented with a couple of columns. I will describe them as best as I am able:

• Key -- this denotes when the string is played. Accept, for example, is what is displayed when a faction accepts an agreement of some sort. Receive is the string indicated for when a faction begins diplomacy when another faction approaches them. Reject, conversely, displays strings for when an agreement is shot down. You get the idea...
  
• String -- this denotes what type of reaction is produced for the aforementioned key - as in, what variation of positive, negative, neutral, reception, etc. text is used to display in a particular instance. This is paired along with the "key" column, explained above.
  
• Group -- this denotes the Faction that is meant to be using the set String, for a particular Key. This probably does not need to be changed, as all individual factions already have all of their respective groups in the list; no need to add, subtract, or change anything. It is better to change the String column, instead, just to make life easier.
  
• Option -- this simply provides the game with an "option" to pick from randomly for which string it wants to use in a given interaction... probably should be left as is, as there is no real benefit from changing it.

6. Edit the String column and replace the value with whatever you wish, taking into account the corresponding Key and Group columns.

For example:

I want to make the Norscan Chieftains sound like not whiny ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ during diplomacy. I want them to be more like they used to be way back when they were an unplayable faction in Warhammer I.

I would first find the Group that has anything to do with Norsca (NOT Wulfrik or Throgg) - such as "diplomacy_Subcult_Norsca", "diplomacy_Subcult_Norsca_&_Positive", "diplomacy_Subcult_Norsca_&_Negative", etc etc. - there are MANY of them as they all have one for each faction/culture. For your faction, this may be shorter or longer - it depends on how the devs decided to do it!

Anyroad, the Groups you have found should all have a corresponding Key attached to each of them. By default, they also have their own Strings already. In order to make the changes I desire, I would change the String for one of the diplomacy_Subcult_Norsca_&_Positive Groups, for example, from, say, "Nor_MrdrChief1_Dip_Greet_Neu_01" to "Chaos_MrdrChief_Dip_Greet_Neu_01". It is a good idea to do "like-to-like" exchange when swapping these out, you can namely use the "01, 02, 03" as references... otherwise, it doesn't really matter - do it how you wish!

Now you will have to do this individually for each and every Group corresponding to your faction... again, try to keep it "like-to-like", and not just randomly slapping anything across, as that might make it sound really dumb... For example - if the Group is something like "diplomacy_Subcult_Norsca_&_OtherFactionGreenskin", then try to keep the Strings relevant to something with "Greenskin" in the name! Play around with this and be creative!

7. Once you have finished editing all your needed Groups for the Strings you want, you are all done! Click Apply and Close for this table in the top right corner.


You did it! You've completed every possible change that you could have made, and are now ready to turn all this work you just did into an actual mod! Not long now...

Now that you have made all the changes in the Database Editor (DaVE), you are now ready to export this data and turn it into a mod.

NOTICE - BEFORE MOVING FURTHER

Before you proceed with the steps below, consider turning off ALL mods that are currently enabled in your Warhammer 2 launcher (whether Vanilla or an external mod manager) to avoid any issues with generating the startpos.esf file needed for your mod to work.

When you're ready, continue on. It's a fairly straight forward process:

1. Launch the Assembly Kit BETA, and this time, select Exporter: BOB
2. Wait about 30 years for it to launch
3. On the left hand side, click the little plus that is near the folder Database:


4. Once expanded, find the tables that we've edited and select them by clicking on the little box next to them (they will show up as check marks in the box if selected):

• Agent_Subtypes
  
• Main_Units
  
• Start_Pos_Characters (if applicable)
  
• Diplomacy_Negotiation_String_Options (if applicable)

5. You will now notice a small dark pip near the 'db' folder under Working Data section:


6. Expand that section, and find and select the following tables by clicking "All" when prompted. They will probably have their own pips to make them easier to spot as you scroll down. when they are selected, they will have a checkmark instead of a dot:

• agent_subtypes_tables
  
• main_units_tables
  
• diplomacy_negotiation_string_options (if applicable)

7. Additionally, if you selected start_pos_characters, be sure to select two additional folders under "Campaigns" folder, and select startpos.esf under them (click "Campaign / Process Start" to checkmark them):

• main_warhammer
  
• wh2_main_great_vortex

8. Once everything is ready to go, click the Start button in the bottom left!
9. If you had startpos.esf selected, your game will launch two times and close on its own - it does this in order to generate the new startpos.esf using the parameters you provided. In this case, it won't really change anything except let the game know that it was modified, which is what causes the intended effect for the voice to stick as intended for Faction Leaders.

10. Let the process finish - should not take longer than 5 minutes at most, but it can depend on your hardware - be patient!
11. Once the mod has been generated, you may find it under the following path:

.*\Steam\steamapps\common\Total War WARHAMMER II\assembly_kit\retail\data


You made a mod! Now, it will need to be cleaned up before it can be put to use, so as to prevent any potential overlap or otherwise with other mods, or even just the vanilla game.

Now that we have our mod, we just need to make sure we can make it as clean as possible to prevent overlapping or confusion for yourself should you ever decide to look at it (and edit it by hand).

Generally, here are the things you're probably going to want to do:

1. Open up Rusted Pack File Manager (download link in the Overview: The Tools segment)
2. Click PackFile - > Open PackFile in the top right corner of the manager
3. Browse to the location of your mod (NOTE: You may want to make a backup of the retail mod you made previously before performing the next steps)
4. Once you have it opened. make sure the Game Selected button is set to Warhammer II
5. Under "Special Stuff" - > "Warhammer II", select "Optimize PackFile"
6. Under each of the folders and subfolders in your mod, you will find individual "Data__" files
7. Right-click and rename all of these Data__ files to something unique (Ex: Data___VoiceChangePack, Data___MainUnitsVoiceChangeData, ChangeKarlFranzVoice___data, etc etc.). This is so you can prevent incompatibility with other mods that might be changing the same tables.
8. The tables you have changed should also now display only the changes you made in them, which also helps with compatibility. If this didn't happen - delete ANY records that you DID NOT edit, and only keep the ones that you DID for each Data__ file.
9. That's pretty much it!

Now, let's give it a test run.

1. Rename your mod.pack to something you like
2. Place it//copy it over to your Warhammer 2\Data\ folder
3. (Optionally) Find a .png image to pair with your mod, and name it EXACTLY the same as the pack that you renamed two steps ago - stick this in the same folder as in Step 2.
4. Launch Warhammer 2, find your mod in the list, and play it!


If you did everything right, you should now see changes in your campaign upon start - if you find that you did not like the changes you made - guess what, you're going to have to start from scratch! But at least now, you know generally how the changes you made have affected the game, and with that, hopefully, you can be more creative as you move forward :-). Good luck!

Description: This will change what the Lord/Unit will sound like on the Campaign map when selected. This will require startpos.esf, if this is a Faction Leader (Ex: Karl Franz, Malekith, Vlad von Carstein, etc.) that spawns on the map at the start of the game.

EDIT:

Agent_Subtypes table

1. Click "View" at the top of the editor
2. Select "Table Launcher"
3. A list should popup. At the top of it, search for "agent_subtypes" (CASE SENSITIVE)
4. Double click on the only result to open it
5. Scroll through and find the lord or unit that you'd like to make changes to (or you can also filter for it - however CA got creative with some of their naming conventions so your mileage will vary).
6. Once you have found the correct record for your desired lord, find the column called "audio_voiceover_actor_group"
7. For your corresponding lord's record, change this column's value to whatever you want the new lord to sound like. Usually there is a dropdown that can list all the potential choices that can be used - they are fairly intuitive, but again, some may be somewhat vague - play around and see!
8. Once you have changed your desired lord's voicegroup, you will notice that it is now highlighted a yellow/orange colour. This implies that the record has been changed from its original value, and is now considered "modified". This distinction will be important to note shortly.
9. Click Apply and Close at the top right corner of the table -- you are done with this table!

EDIT:

Start_Pos_Characters table

(Optional)

1. Start up DaVE in the Warhammer II Assembly Kit (Database Editor: Dave)
2. Click "View" at the top of the editor
3. Select "Table Launcher"
4. A list should popup. At the top of it, search for "start_pos_characters" (CASE SENSITIVE)
5. Double click on the only result to open it
6. Select any record of your choosing (literally any of them will work - it does not matter)
7. Find the column called "Turns_died_before_start"
8. By default that column should be blank - put in a random value in there; it can be a number, a letter, or a symbol - again, doesn't matter!
9. Delete whatever value you just stuck in there, allowing it to again become blank
10. The column edited should now be coloured to indicate it is modified:

11. Click Apply and Close in the top right corner - you are done with this table!

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Description: This will change the Unit/Lord's voice set on the Battle Map when selected, ordered, etc.

EDIT:

Main_Units table

1. Click "View" at the top of the editor
2. Select "Table Launcher"
3. A list should popup. At the top of it, search for "main_units" (CASE SENSITIVE)
4. Double click on the only result to open it
5. Find the corresponding record for the lord/unit you're trying to edit. NOTE: There may be multiple records for the same unit! Some units, like Marauder Chieftain, have variations of the same unit; presumably because of mounts.
6. Find the column "audio_voiceover_actor_group"
7. Change the value to whatever you prefer the lord/unit sounded like on the battle map
8. Click Apply and Close in the top right corner - you are done with this table!

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Description: This will change how your Faction Leader/another Faction's Leader will interact on the diplomacy screen - it affects spoken and written dialogues.

EDIT:

Diplomacy_Negotiation_String_Options

(Optional)

1. Start up DaVE in the Warhammer II Assembly Kit (Database Editor: Dave)
2. Click "View" at the top of the editor
3. Select "Table Launcher"
4. A list should popup. At the top of it, search for "diplomacy_negotiation_string_options" (CASE SENSITIVE)
5. Double click on the only result to open it
6. Edit the String column and replace the value with whatever you wish, taking into account the corresponding Key and Group columns.
7. Once you have finished editing all your needed Groups for the Strings you want, you are all done! Click Apply and Close for this table in the top right corner.

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Description: Explains how to use finished changes above to turn them into a mod pack.

1. Launch the Assembly Kit BETA, and this time, select Exporter: BOB
2. Wait about 30 years for it to launch
3. On the left hand side, click the little plus that is near the folder Database:


4. Once expanded, find the tables that we've edited and select them by clicking on the little box next to them (they will show up as check marks in the box if selected):

• Agent_Subtypes
  
• Main_Units
  
• Start_Pos_Characters (if applicable)
  
• Diplomacy_Negotiation_String_Options (if applicable)

5. You will now notice a small dark pip near the 'db' folder under Working Data section:


6. Expand that section, and find and select the following tables by clicking "All" when prompted. They will probably have their own pips to make them easier to spot as you scroll down. when they are selected, they will have a checkmark instead of a dot:

• agent_subtypes_tables
  
• main_units_tables
  
• diplomacy_negotiation_string_options (if applicable)

7. Additionally, if you selected start_pos_characters, be sure to select two additional folders under "Campaigns" folder, and select startpos.esf under them (click "Campaign / Process Start" to checkmark them):

• main_warhammer
  
• wh2_main_great_vortex

8. Once everything is ready to go, click the Start button in the bottom left!
9. Once the mod has been generated, you may find it under the following path:

.*\Steam\steamapps\common\Total War WARHAMMER II\assembly_kit\retail\data

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You'll have to read the section before this one to find out - ran out of character space :-)