It is a misconception that mods can damage the game and/or the computer they're installed on. OOS errors are not serious at all, they simply mean that the game has detected a variation in the client's version. To fix OOS errors simply remove the modded material and restore the game files to their original content. That usually means re-naming a file or moving a few files around. Client mismatch errors are the same and require the same remedial action. The only other error which may surface is an initialization error when the game is launched, which will prevent the game from loading. Assuming the mod's author has tested the mod before distributing it, a player will never see this error. If you get this error, however, the mod has problems and it is best to un-install and discard it until the author releases a revised version.

Furthermore, there is nothing in game mods that can harm your computer. You'd have to alter and/or delete a lot of read-only files within your system folders to crash a computer. In all the years I've been playing and making mods I've never encountered any system related issues. Stick to the instructions provided in the mod's install notes and you can't go wrong. If you encounter any problems related to a mod, simply un-install the mod as restoring the files to the original content will fix them. If you really mess up - and it's incredibly hard to do - you can always re-install your game. Again, in the years I've been modding - and don't forget I do a lot of experimenting and messing around with game files - I've never had to re-install a game to fix mod-related problems.

A Typical Installation and How to Do It

Okay, so we're comfortable with mods and understand what problems can arise, so we can now look at a typical installation and see how it's done. In this simple example we've downloaded an AOE 3 scenario that has a couple of custom units. You'll notice almost all AOE 3 maps, scenarios or campaigns come in a zip file which requires Winzip to uncompress them. If you don't have Winzip just search for it on the web as it is easy to find, and best of all it's free. Once you've unzipped the files it's best to have a look at the install notes as they give a step-by-step guide of how to install the mod.

In our example, along with the .aoe3scn file the author has included a new proto.xml for us to install. The install notes will give us these instructions with respect to the proto.xml:

• install the proto.xml in your c/Program Files/Microsoft Game/AOE3/data folder

If you open a window and navigate to that folder you'll notice there is already a proto.xml file there. Note there is also a file called proto.xml.XMB. This is not the file we want to replace so don't get the two mixed up! AOE 3 can only function properly with one proto.xml file so if we want to install the modded one we have to either move the one that's in there, or rename it which will allow us to leave it in place. Either way, if you left-click on the original proto.xml and try to rename or move it, you'll get an error prompt that says something to the effect, "This is a read-only file". (continued on next page)

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