Witcher 2 - Using CEO with Armour Texture Mods

Complete Equipment Overhaul (CEO for short) is a mod by Kindo that has balancing tweaks to every piece of equipment in The Witcher 2. It's a very popular mod, with good reason, but as it touches so many files, there can be compatibility issues if you also want to use other mods at the same time.

So this is how to use CEO at the same time as armour texture mods. I'm using my Hoodless Armours as the example, but the same technique should be possible with other mods.

For a simple texture mod, it'll take less than 5 minutes to make the change, not counting download time.

At the end of it, you'll have a combined mod. This is expected to be for your personal use and should not be published at mod sites without permission both from Kindo and from whoever made the second mod.

Step 1 - Work out what you need to change

The changes for my Hoodless Armours are listed below, but if you're using this with other mods, you'll need to find out what the modder changed in the xml file. This might be listed in the mod description at The Nexus, or in the readme, or you can ask the modder, or you can use software like ExamDiff to compare the two files.

Step 2 - Install the mods

If you already have the mods installed, and are using the unpacked version of CEO, you can skip this part, but it's important that CEO is installed after you install the texture mod. If you're not sure, reinstall CEO to be certain.

1. Install the texture mod. 
2. Install CEO - unpacked, which is listed under the MISCELLANEOUS section of the files list. CEO is available at http://witcher.nexusmods.com/mods/89

Step 3 - Make the Change

1. Go to CookedPC/items and find the file def_item_armor.xml 
2. Make a backup copy in case you make a mistake later
3. Open def_item_armor.xml by right-clicking on the file and selecting Edit. If Windows doesn't know what software to use to edit xml files, tell it to use Notepad or Notepad+.
4. Use the search function (Ctrl-F) to find the line that needs to be changed. For my Hoodless Armours, this will be:
• Hoodless Elven Jacket - search for Elven Armor 
• Hoodless Kayran Carapace - search for Tentadrake Armor 
• Hoodless Kinslayer - search for DarkDifficultyArmorA3 
• Hoodless Blue Stripes - search for Roche Commando Jacket 
5. In the line that you find when searching, there'll be something that says equip_template="Name of the template". Change the bit inside the quotation marks to whatever is needed for the texture mod.
• Hoodless Elven Jacket - change it to equip_template="08_kaedwenian_jacket"
• Hoodless Kayran Carapace - change it to equip_template="18_quilted_leather"
• Hoodless Kinslayer (Thyssen Version) - change it to equip_template="19_thyssen_leather"
• Hoodless Kinslayer (Tir Na Lia Version) - change it to equip_template="26_tir_armor"
• Hoodless Blue Stripes - change it to equip_template="23_kaedwenian_armor" 
6. Save the file.

That's all you need to do. If for some reason it doesn't work, just revert back to the copy and try again.