PSA:
Please do not republish combined/modified mods without asking permission of the
author(s).
I think that would be quite inconsiderate at best.
Hope this guide can help a bit its not super complete and I might have made some
mistakes.
But it should at least make it a lot easier to figure out.
If you have sugestions or questions let me know, maybe I will respond :3k
Goodluck, Zoe/Jermed.
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A.1) Setup Folders Asset manager:
Comprehensive guide by Elfe on setting up the asset manager:
https://forums.crateentertainment.com/t/script-basics-modding-beginners-guide-i/
37525/2
A.2 adding custom templates. (optional mod dependent)
Some mods such as Dawn of Masteries need custom templates to be rebuild.
You can find those files on the DoM nexus page under templates.
(https://www.nexusmods.com/grimdawn/mods/82?tab=files)
Place them in the sub folder templates of folder containing the gamefiles you
extracted whilest following Elfe's guide in step A.1.
If you called your working directory working that would be: Grim Dawn\working\
database\templates
A.3
Setup folders and move commandline archive tool for uncompiling mods.
Explanation by Cftx on how to use the archive tool to uncompile mods:
https://forums.crateentertainment.com/t/tutorial-use-the-archive-tool-to-uncompile-
arz-and-arc/32787
You can try to run the cmd/command prompt as admin if it doesnt work with just user
privileges.
You should probably copy the archivetool.exe and zlibwapi.dll found in the install
directory to an other directory.
So its posible to see what you are doing, like Cftx.
Tips:
-you can type cmd into the folder path at the top of the window to open a command
prompt within the folder.
-you can open archivetool.exe in cmd without other parameters to get a list of
commands you can use.
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B) Mod Extraction:
You should have a folder with the archivetool.exe and zlibwapi.dll in it, I will
refer to that as "Folderwitharchivetool"
B.1
Explanation modded database extraction:
Put the modded_database.arz in Folderwitharchivetool
Then open cmd in that folder and use the command:
You can choose were to extract the mod files to i used C:\out\modname here.
Archivetool.exe modname.arz -database C:\out\modname
The tool will then extract the database files to the specified location.
Explanation arc extraction:
You do not need to extract most .arc archives only if you need to merge them.
This works the same as extracting databases but uses -extract.
like this:
Archivetool.exe modname.arc -extract C:\out\modname
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C) Merging:
C.1
Extracted Database:
Look if there are duplicate dbr files.
If there are you will need to look how they differ (recommend notepad++ compair or
winmerge for this)
Decide what file to keep or combine them a bit.
C.2
.Arc archives:
look what arc files are in both mods, extract those to see what files are in them.
Often you can merge them without problems.
For duplicates (likely main.lua in scrips for example, combine their contents
sensibly)
for each duplicate .arc
inject the non-duplicates files from mod's A .arc into mod's B .arc.
for duplicate files merge them manually then update mod's A .arc with the newly
merged files.
On injecting arc files:
Put to be injected files in a directory in the same directory as your archivetool
(named mine syringe)
So: Folderwitharchivetool/syringe
-run add command (or update) if changing things (I think add also updates not 100%
sure)example:
ArchiveTool.exe New_fx.arc -add . syringe 6
Explanation:
- New_fx.arc is the arc file your injecting in too
- The . means the file you want to update is in the same folder as the archivetool
- syringe is the folder path relative to the archivetool where the files you want
to inject are.
- 6 is the compression factor and 6 seems to work good everyone seems to use it so
i do too.
Tip: you can see what files are in a .arc file with the file.arc -list command.
D) Rebuilding A mod
D.1
Rebuilding a database:
When your done you have to rebuild the mod.
Use Asset maneger to build the database.
Make sure you have custom templates if required (for example DoM uses custom
templates) see A.3
D.2
Recources Folder
Place all .arc files in the correct places. mods\modname\rescources (keep the
folder structure from the original mods)
E) Notes
database name (the .arz file) should have the same as the folder you put it in name
like this:
Grim dawn\mods\Edited_modname\database\Edited_modname.arz
