It is Important to Back-up Files Before Modding Fable

The first thing to do when beginning to mod Fable is back-up the files you intend to make changes to. This how-to guide is based on how I prefer do it. Others may have a different, and maybe even better way, but this has worked well for me.

You will need to download and install Fable Explorer, Albion Explorer, Chocolate Box(May not need FreeRoam if you use this), and either the Free Roam App or the Free Roam fmp.

You would do well to get them and a lot of useful info here:

http://forums.projectego.net/new-modding-fable-3352/

Once these things are done the files that you need to back-up will be in place.

BACK-UP OF ORIGINAL GAME FILES:

First, the locations of the bigs and bins,:

game.bin: C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\Fable - The Lost Chapters\data\CompiledDefs

script.bin: C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\Fable - The Lost Chapters\data\CompiledDefs

names.bin: C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\Fable - The Lost Chapters\data\CompiledDefs

graphics.big: C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\Fable - The Lost Chapters\data\graphics

textures.big: C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\Fable - The Lost Chapters\data\graphics\pc

text.big: C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\Fable - The Lost Chapters\data\lang\English

effects.big: C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\Fable - The Lost Chapters\data\Misc\pc

FinalAlbion.wad: If you renamed it, it’s backed-up.

To find these folders(WindowsXP at least):

Click MyComputer, click Local Disk (C:), click the folder 'Program Files', click the folder 'Microsoft Games', click the folder 'Fable – The Lost Chapters', click the folder 'data', the files are in sub-folders of 'data'.

Second, the location of the tng files that will be changed when you make changes to the world of Albion:

Final Albion: C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\Fable - The Lost Chapters\data\Levels

I recommend copying the entire folder.

With any file you want to back-up, copy it and save it to a secure location, somewhere that you will not accidentally delete or otherwise molest them.

Here is where my personal system comes in:

Highlight the file, by moving the mouse over it if you use single-click to access files; or single clicking it if you use double-click to access files.

Next go to the top left of the page, click ‘Edit’, in the block that opens click ‘Copy To Folder'. A window opens that offers locations to save the file.

For the bigs and bins I recommend:

C:\Documents and Settings\Owner\My Documents\My Games\Fable\MOD TOOLS\BACKUPS\ORIG BIGS+BINS

For the tngs and levs I recommend:

C:\Documents and Settings\Owner\My Documents\My Games\Fable\MOD TOOLS\BACKUPS\FINAL ALBION ORIG

Now, any time you make any changes to these files, if Fable crashes, you can copy the files that you changes back to their original locations.

BACK-UP OF MODDED GAME FILES:

Another thing I find helpful is to back-up the modded files that work. If you make changes to the files again you will have a copy of your latest modded files if Fable crashes after new changes.

For modded bigs and bins I recommend:

C:\Documents and Settings\Owner\My Documents\My Games\Fable\MOD TOOLS\BACKUPS\ALTERED BIGS+BINS

For modded tngs I recommend:

C:\Documents and Settings\Owner\My Documents\My Games\Fable\mod tools\BACKUPS\FINAL ALBION MODDED

You can get some original files from the Fable disks.

Go to My Computer, right click the drive that the disk is in,

click Explore, right click the zip file(Disk1C~1)[or 2,3,4].

You should be given the option to 'Extract to, now you need

to set it to extract to a folder in MyDocuments or somewhere.

Once this is done you can open the folder and find the file you

need. Highlight that file and copy it to the original location.

Which files are on which disk is here:

Disk 1

game.bin

names.bin

script.bin

text.big

Disk 2

finalalbion.wad

Disk 3

effects.big

graphics.big

Disk 4

textures.big