Environment Setup

Set up your development environment and run your first mod locally.

System requirements

Quick start

1. Install Python 2.7 64-bit
2. Install Python 3.8+
3. Install VS Code with the Python extension
4. Create mod_hello.py, compile it to .pyc with Python 2.7, and drop it in res_mods/<version>/scripts/client/gui/mods/
5. Launch the game and check python.log for output

Install Python 2.7

Download Python 2.7.18 64-bit (the last release of Python 2.7) and install it. Make note of the install path — you will need it when configuring dev tools.

Default path: C:\Python27\

Verify the install by running it with its full path:

"C:\Python27\python.exe" --version
# Python 2.7.18

The install path may vary depending on how you installed it (direct installer, scoop, etc.). Make note of the actual path — you will need it to compile mods and configure dev tools.

Set up your editor

VS Code is recommended. Install the Python extension and point it to your Python 2.7 interpreter.

In your workspace settings (.vscode/settings.json):

{
  "python.defaultInterpreterPath": "C:\\Python27\\python.exe"
}

PyCharm works well too and has better refactoring support, but VS Code is lighter and sufficient for most mods.

Install dev tools

uncompyle6

Used to decompile .pyc files from the game into readable Python source. Useful when you need to inspect a specific file that is not covered by the decompiled source reference.

# Create a Python 3.8 virtual environment first
py -3.8 -m venv venv-uncompyle
venv-uncompyle\Scripts\activate
pip install uncompyle6

# Decompile a single file
uncompyle6 somefile.pyc > somefile.py

For most cases the decompiled source in wot-src is sufficient and you will not need to run uncompyle6 yourself.

setuptools-wotmod

Used to package your mod into a .wotmod archive for distribution.

pip install setuptools
git clone https://github.com/jhakonen/setuptools-wotmod
cd setuptools-wotmod
python setup.py install

Then add a setup.py to your mod project:

from setuptools import setup

setup(
    name='mod_hello',
    version='1.0.0',
    packages=[''],
    package_dir={'': 'src'},
)

Build the .wotmod:

python setup.py bdist_wotmod
# Output: dist/mod_hello-1.0.0.wotmod

Client Unpacker (optional)

Used to extract and decompile the full game source automatically. Requires Python 3 and 7-Zip.

git clone https://github.com/Mikeyzy/WoT_ModDevTools
cd WoT_ModDevTools
python clientUnpacker.py -r   # generates config file

Edit the generated clientUnpacker.cfg:

python27     = C:\Python27\python.exe
sevenZipPath = C:\Program Files\7-Zip\7z.exe
wotPath      = C:\Games\World_of_Tanks_EU

Then run it to extract and decompile the game scripts into a local folder you can browse and search.

ScriptLoader PRO

The game natively loads mod_*.pyc files from res_mods/<version>/scripts/client/gui/mods/. You do not need anything else to get started.

ScriptLoader PRO is an optional community mod that replaces the native loader with a more robust one. It is included in most modpacks like Aslain's, so if you already use a modpack you likely have it. If you see [SL_PRO] lines in python.log when the game starts, it is active:

[SL_PRO] starting loading script: "mod_hello.pyc" from res_mods folder
[SL_PRO] executed script in res_mods folder: mod_hello.pyc

The mod_ filename prefix is required either way. Files that do not start with mod_ are ignored.

Create your first mod

Create mod_hello.py in your working directory:

import BigWorld

def init():
    BigWorld.callback(5.0, _hello)

def _hello():
    print('[mod_hello] Hello, World of Tanks!')

The game calls init() on every file whose name starts with mod_ in the mods folder. Files are loaded in alphabetical order.

Then compile it to .pyc with Python 2.7:

"C:\Python27\python.exe" -m py_compile mod_hello.py
# Creates mod_hello.pyc in the same folder

Copy the compiled file to:

res_mods/
└── <version>/
    └── scripts/
        └── client/
            └── gui/
                └── mods/
                    └── mod_hello.pyc

Test your mod

1. Drop mod_hello.pyc in res_mods/<version>/scripts/client/gui/mods/
2. Launch World of Tanks
3. Wait a few seconds in the garage
4. Open python.log at the root of your game installation

[mod_hello] Hello, World of Tanks!

There is no hot-reload. Every change requires recompiling and restarting the game client.