UPDATES:
ACCESSORY, FOLLOWER, AND ITEM SET BONUSES ADDED 8/20/19
MOUNTS ADDED 8/11/19
HOW TO WIELD ALL WEAPONS ADDED 8/7/19
WEAPONS ADDED 8/5/19
ARMOUR ADDED: 8/1/19
Hi there. I'm someone of no repute within the modding community and just make custom mods for myself without uploading them to steam to create a more fun, customized gaming experience for myself. With that said, I am here to show you how to make custom ancillaries. Please note that we will be modifying ceo data so this mod will not be compatible with other mods that do the same UNLESS you apply the same update commands, which you would have to get from the author. I will however explain in this guide how to make this compatible with the gift from heaven mod.


Zades, the author of the Dynasty Warriors mod, has already created a guide to create a custom character. That guide can be found here:
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1798650568
This guide will help you create custom armour, weapons, mounts, accessories, and followers for your character.

For now I will show you how to create a custom armour that is bound to your character. Please note, this is a very long modding process so you will need to set aside some time for this. Luckily, weapons and mounts are shorter and easier to make but we'll get to that eventually.
Here is an example of one that I made for my character:


And Another


1 more:

In order to even start this process, you will have needed to create a custom character from Zades guide (at least through Tweaky Dave). Just like Zades's guide, Tweaky Dave and RPFM will be required. It is important to understand the differences here. Tweaky Dave will modify database files, while RPFM will generate those changes. You should have general background knowledge if you completed Zades custom character guide and a lot of this should just be a copy and paste type of scenario. I will probably not spend too much time explaining tables unless I feel that I have to. It should be mostly straight forward.

If you are organized, hopefully you have filtered tables in Dave but here is a list of tables we will be editing in Dave. I put them in the exact order we will be editing them so it should be pretty easy to follow along:

Let's get into it.
Should look familiar from Zades's guide. Defines the ceo. Just copy Zhao Yuns

Defines the group. Copy Zhao Yuns but replace his name with your characters name. If it is two words be sure to separate the name with an underscore _

links the group to the ceo. Under column, select ceo. Copy Zhao Yun's

Spawns the ceo. Copy Zhao yuns

Links the group to the spawner. Copy Zhao Yuns

This is the ceo limiter. It limits the amount of items, traits, titles, etc that can be in the game. Copy Zhao Yuns
NOTE If you want this mod to be compatible with the gifts from heaven mod, this is where you would. What you would do is look up all the unique ancillaries (table isn't that big, just sort by "template manager." All items will be under 3k_main_ceo_template_manager_world_generic. Under max_limit_that_can_exist_at_once, change the value to however many of that item you want to exist at once. I just put 99 for all, but you can make it 11 if you want so that you get 10 through gift of heaven 10x and then the 11th one is given to whoever is supposed to get it in game.
Ok back to the guide.

Defines the thresholds. Copy Zhao Yuns

Defines the effect lists

This is where you will define your item. Title is what it will be called in game. Description is what it will say in game. These will be copied to RPFM under the text database to spawn this text in game.
Icon path is how your item will look in game. Copy Zhao Yuns but replace his name with yours. You will have to create a folder in ui > ancillaries > armour (just like what you had to do for your character art).

Defines the threshold nodes. Copy Zhao Yuns

Defines permission keys for the armour. Copy Zhao Yuns

Links the permissions to the ceo group. Copy Zhao Yuns

Creates a permissions script for your armour. Copy Zhao Yuns

Links the scripted permissions to the permissions. Copy Zhao Yuns

Should look familiar, used in Zades guide. This will create an ancillary set that your character will equip at the start of the game. Copy Zhao Yuns

Links scripted permissions to the initial data.

This will set the ancillaries that you spawn with. These ancillaries will be in your personal character inventory not available to the faction unless unequipped I believe. Just copy Zhao Yuns and put your armour in there. Ignore row 4 and 5 (don't even create them). Those are my custom mount and weapon which you will add later when those are created.

This will define what equipment you will have equipped when your character spawns. Just copy Zhao Yuns. Again, ignore the mount and weapon, BUT do not leave them blank. Make sure they have a mount and weapon to spawn with. Note, whatever you put here must also have in the previous table ceo_initial_data_active_ceos. That one controls inventory, this one controls what you have equipped. You can't equip what you don't have, so make sure it is in both tables.

This should be familiar as it is in Zades guide. If you followed his guide, then right now you have the generic of your element ancillaries in stage 3. Here is where you will change stage 3 to you character's ancillaries.

This is the best part. This defines the stats of your armour. Copy the 3 fields and values in the picture, the rest you can do what you want. Note that active skills will not work in game if added to items

This defines the type of armour and how much armour your armour will have. Copy Zhao Yuns. I think 80 is the maximum armour. This table will be copied into RPFM

This links your unit_armour_types to your ceo. This table will be copied into RPFM
Note: if you are experiencing the glitch where when your hero is the commander of an army and you have floating body parts with no torso, Me and Zades figured it out. You need to variants through male_vmd in the same table. Here is an example:

Defines battle loadouts for whatever difficulty you are in. Just copy Zhao Yuns if you are a general, Zhuge_Liangs if you are a strategist.

This just defines the loadouts for each difficulty. Copy Zhao Yuns and then replace his armour with yours.

Your armour should be done. To verify, make sure it has the following 12 references:

Once you have completed all of these, export your ceo and make sure it exports without errors.

Now that we have created our armour and defined it's values, we have to get it to spawn in game. We just have to add some tables and some text to your already created packfile that you created during Zades's guide. Note I know many may ask this question: how do I add a table to my packfile. It's very simple. You will right click on db, add from packfile, go to your data folder for the game, and select the database file. Add the following tables:
ceos_to_equipment_variants_tables
unit_armour_types_tables
Those tables with all values in the database will be added. Delete everything within those tables and then you will be ready. You can rename the tables to whatever, I just renamed it to my character's name. Add the following rows:

Technically you can just copy and paste the values you created in Dave to the appropriate cells. But just add 1 row (right click, add row) and copy row number 1 with your values. Ignore the rest of the rows as they are for custom weapon and custom mount which will be added later.

Again just copy the values from dave that you had in that table. This table will define the amount of armour your armour has in game. Note: if you don't add this table, your armour will have 0 armour in game.

Now we add text to our item in-game. Note: I think you can add all changes to 1 text file, but I like to be organized so I add a text file for every item I make. To create a text file, go to text > db, right click > create > create loc. Name it whatever you want.
To make it easy for yourself on this table, go to Dave, open up ceo_nodes, search for your armour and just copy the data in your Title/Description to you .loc file.

If you haven't done this already, make sure to add the ceo file to your packfile.

You have now added your armour to the game and bound it to your character.

I am not gonna spend much time here but I'll tell you what I did. All I did was I took the armour art of Zhao Yun's armour and copied it. I'm not good at creating art for this game so I didn't even try. But Zades has an art section in his guide and the same principles apply. Where will it go? In your ceo_nodes, you should have specified a directory under the icon_path section.
If you just copied Zhao Yun's and just replaced his name with yours that is simplest. It should be something like this: armours/3k_main_ancillary_characters_names_armour_unique.png.

How to get Zhao Yun's armour? I suggest this:
Go to your data folder and open up the data packfile with RPFM. Go to ui > ancillaries > armours. Right click and click extract. Extract that file somewhere. Look through it and find Zhao Yun's armour (or whatever armour your want). There should be 2 in the main armour folder. Copy them.

Now go to your data folder > ui > ancillaries > armours
Note, if that path does not exist, create it just like it is in the next picture. Paste the 2 armours there and rename it to whatever you set it to (found above and in Dave ceo_nodes).

You will then go back to the extracted folder and open up the "large" folder. Find the two Zhao Yun armours and copy them, paste them into data > ui > ancillaries > armours > large and rename them to whatever you named them to in the previous step.

Boom you're done with the art, quick and easy. If you want to create your own armour art, I believe it has to be png and you can follow those steps in Zades guide in the art section.

I will briefly show you how to enable your character to wield all weapons. I think this works for all classes except for water. Honestly you could always skip this part and make a spear with sword art or something, no one would know :)
But if you are a die hard Zhao Yun fan like me, and you want your character to be like Zhao Yun, able to wield all weapons, then I will show you how to do that. You can do this step before or after making your weapon, it doesn't matter.
Here are the tables we will edit in Dave:

Add your character's name to the table. Ignore the doubles, I was trying to do something and got too lazy to undo everything. Make a family name and a fore name.

Open up RPFM and just copy the same table from RPFM and add it to DAVE or use Zhao Yun's as a template.

Same step as above. Open up RPFM and copy everything from this table from RPFM or use Zhao Yun's template. Copy everything but the NAME. Use the name id that you created in the names table for step 1. It won't matter since RPFM name data will be what is displayed. RPFM modifies changes in DAVE.

Finally, just copy Zhao Yun's table. This table links your template to the equipment manager. Character_generic allows you to wield all weapons. Save your changes, export the ceo and add the ceo_data file to RPFM and you're good to go.

Let me give you some inspiration before we begin:



Let's get into it. Here are the tables we will be editing in DAVE in this order:

We need to make two ceos. One weapon, and one faction weapon. We will link them later. Use the Green Dragon Crescent Blade as a reference.

Copy whichever weapon you want. I believe this is how your weapon will look in game. Trident is the Sky Piercer btw. I wanted my weapon to look like the sky piercer in game.

Defines the group. Copy Green Dragon's. If your weapon is not a two-handed spear. Pick the appropriate weapon type.

Spawns the ceo. Copy Green Dragon

Links the group to the spawner. Copy Green Dragon's. If your weapon is not a two-handed spear. Pick the appropriate weapon type.

Limits the amount of weapons that can be in game. Set to 1 unless you want more copies.

Defines the thresholds. Copy Green Dragon

Defines the effect lists.

This is where you will define your item. Title is what it will be called in game. Description is what it will say in game. These will be copied to RPFM under the text database to spawn this text in game.
Icon path is how your item will look in game. Same principles as before.

Defines the threshold nodes. Copy Green Dragon.

This will set the ancillaries that you spawn with. These ancillaries will be in your personal character inventory not available to the faction unless unequipped I believe.
Add a row and add the faction weapon of your created weapon.

This will define what equipment you will have equipped when your character spawns. Change your weapon to the faction weapon of your created weapon.

Defines the stats of your weapon. Remember that active skills will not work. Copy row 1 and 6. Set row 3 to whatever type of weapon your weapon is. The rest, define stats as you would like.

This defines your weapon stats in game. If you mess this table up or forget to put it in RPFM, your weapon will not have stats (armour piercing damage, attack rate, melee damage). I would say just copy a table of a unique weapon that is similar to yours. Green Dragon for spears, Mo Ye for swords, etc. I believe that 2700 damage, 3600 ap damage, and 2 melee attack rate are the highest stats for weapons in game in romance mode.

This links your melee_weapons to your ceo. This table will be copied into RPFM

This just defines the loadouts for each difficulty. Replace whatever your weapon is in all 3 loadouts to your created weapon.

Your weapon is created. To verify, make sure your blade has 11 references and your faction blade has 10 references.

Don't forget to export your ceos.

Now that our weapon is created, we need to spawn it in game. We will have to add rows to the ceos_to_equipment_variants_tables and add melee_weapons table. Should just be able to copy and paste the changes from DAVE.

Copy the 4 rows from DAVE here.

This will define the stats for your weapon in game. Just like with the armours table from the armours guide, if you omit this step, your weapon will do 0 damage, 0 armour piercing and have 0 attack rate. Just copy the changes from Dave.

Either create a new .loc file or just add the text to any text file. Like I said, I like to be organized so I made a separate text file. Copy the title and description you have in ceo_nodes in DAVE. Obviously my weapon has been changed from this. This is my original creation before I actually gave it an appropriate name.

Add the ceo_data file to your packfile.

You're done with everything now except for art.

I won't spend too much time here. Same principles as your armour art. If you go to ceo_nodes, the icon path here defines the image path for your weapon. I, as said before, am both lazy and not good at creating custom art so I just used the unique spear Ancestral Pledge as my weapon art. Any how, create a folder in ui > ancillaries > weapons as depicted in the picture and make sure you name the images in there the same as the icon path in ceo_nodes.

There you go! Your weapon is completed!

Let me introduce you to my faithful steeds Wildfire, Sage and Azure:




Let's get into it. Here are the tables you will edit in order:

Use Red Hare as a reference. Copy Red Hare. You will see the ep_dyn version of all ancillaries. Ignore these. These are for the specific dynasty mode in Total War.

Only copy the faction table. The craftsman tables have something to do with being able to obtain the mount through ancillary events or through the mount smith in game.

Just copy Red Hare

Just copy Red Hare

Same concept as the other 2 items. Just copy Red Hare

Copy Red Hare

Copy Red Hare

Same principle as with the other items. Remember the path for the art work. The text will be copied into the packfile. Copy Red Hare

Copy Red Hare

Remember this table defines what items your character will have in your inventory when he spawns. You cannot equip what you don't have in inventory. Add a new row and add your mount.

This table defines what you will have equipped when you spawn. Change the mount to your mount.

Defines the stats for your mount. Copy the ai hints for your mount (rows 2 and 5). The rest do what you want here.

Here, you can define the stats for your horse in game. Just like the unit_armour tables and the melee_weapons table, if you do not put anything here or use a made one, your horse will have 0 mass, speed, etc. I did not make one for myself I just used the Red Hare's. But if you want to, make 1 historical one, 1 romance one like in the picture, and then use Red Hare as a template.
This table will be copied into RPFM.

Defines how your mount will look in battle I think. Copy Red Hare. Under battle entity, if you made your own, select that entity. I chose Red Hare because I was too lazy to make my own. This table will also be copied into RPFM.

Links your ceo to your mount. Copy Red Hare

Replace whatever mount you had here in all 3 loadouts.

Alright your mount is done in DAVE. On to RPFM

We will add the following tables into your packfile:
Let me emphasize here Make sure to change the name of the table from data__ to anything. We have confirmed that if you do not change the name, and you delete all the rows, then your game will just crash on startup because instead of using the existing data__ file, it will just use this one with only 2 rows. Your welcome in advance.

Keep in mind 2 things here. If you are copy and pasting, MAKE SURE that your RPFM columns are in the same order. They usually are not and you'll have to move the columns to match DAVE and then just copy all and paste. Also if you just used Red Hare cuz you were lazy like me, still copy Red Hare's tables here like shown in the picture.

This should already be in your packfile. Just add 2 rows and copy in your mount.

Either create a new .loc file or just copy in your main text file. Just copy and paste from your ceo_nodes.

And voila, you're done!

I'm just gonna fly by this one. Just do what you've been doing. Here are the 2 pictures of the path. Remember the path is specified in your ceo_nodes table in DAVE under icon path.

Enjoy your mount! :)

Let's get into it: Here is the list of tables we will edit in order. We will create an accessory, follower and item set bonus all at once.

Use Hua Tuo's set as a reference. Copy Hua Tuo for both your accessory and your follower.

Copy all of Hua Tuos. Ignore the follower masamune. I named it incorrectly and have since fixed it.

Copy Hua Tuos

Again, Copy Hua Tuos

Limit the ceo as you wish

Copy Hua Tuos. I feel like if you have made all the previous items, this is pretty simple, familiar and straight forward.

Copy Hua Tuos

Copy Hua Tuo's. Icon path defines how it will look. You will copy the text into RPFM

Copy Hua Tuos

This will define your item set bonus name in game. You will copy this text into RPFM.

This will link your equipped set bonus to your ceos

Didn't we already do this table? SHHHH, let me learn to you senpai. Make an effect list for your item set.

This defines how many items you need in your set to activate your set bonus. Obviously put however many items you linked to your set bonus in ceo_equipped_set_bonus_ceos.

Define the stats of your accessory, follower, and item set. I suppose you don't have to copy the ai general or ai minister unless this character will be controlled by the ai.

Remember, this table sets what your character will have in his/her personal inventory when he spawns. Just add 2 rows for your accessory and follower.

This table defines what your character will have equipped when he spawns. Add 2 rows.

You'll love this one. How many tables do I have to add? What extra work do I have to do? NONE! Ok I lied a little bit. You simply have to add your text. Again, I add loc files to keep organized, but you can just throw it all into one file.

There, now your character is fully unique, with all unique items :)

Same concept as before. Just make sure your directory is correct.
Accessory:

Follower: