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Perseus

Nov 28, 2021 @ 5:04am

Some questions about modding

After a few more runs of Cogmind, i want to come back to HK and try out the item/room randomizer, as well as continue my technically blindfolded run.
However, i do not know anything about modding HK.

(Answered by kanna, Coco and myself) What are the things i need to install/setup? (I don't know if that's relevant, but that's probably the only mod i'll ever want to install for this game.)

-Answer : Scarab for linux(https://github.com/fifty-six/Scarab/releases/download/v1.5.0.0/linux.zip), launched with these commands after extracting it from zip :
cd path/to/file/directory # cd into the directory where the scarab executable is
chmod +x Scarab # makes it possible to execute the file from cli
./Scarab # runs the file
To use on Hollow Knight 1.5.X.X.

(Answered by rezno[R] (for windows)(post marked as topic answer)(IGNORE THE THING ABOUT CHANGING VERSIONS, the randomizer turned out to be available on 1.5))Also, would there be a way to set things up so that i could switch from modded to unmodded and vice-versa by just renaming/moving a few files?

Thanks, everyone!

Last edited by Perseus; Dec 23, 2021 @ 9:21am

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Originally posted by 🉑 rezno[R].technology:

Originally posted by Perseus:
Also, would there be a way to set things up so that i could switch from modded to unmodded and vice-versa by just renaming/moving a few files?

I think I could answer this for Windows! (If you are on Linux, the process is similar probably)

Sure you can. As many installs as you want, in fact.

To be clear, some mods are already available on the 1.5 patch (check the pinned comments in the #modding-help channel on the official HK Discord on how to install, if you want)

What I do personally is to be sure to separate the save files of both HK instances. This is very important, as mods contaminate save files and may cause weird problems.

To easily do this, I create a new local Windows user account. And on that account I play the modded version. This way modded HK has separate save files and configuration. And there are no conflicts between the modded and unmodded version.

Hollow Knight -> Properties -> Betas -> 1.4.3.2 (32-bit)
When the 1.4.3.2 version is downloaded, I copy the whole Hollow Knight folder somewhere outside the Steam folder.
Then Hollow Knight -> Properties -> Betas -> None. This will return the original game to 1.5
Then I put a simple steam_appid.txt file in the copied 1.4.3.2 main folder (where hollow_knight.exe is) with the number 367520 (it can be any number, but just to be sure) - this will allow to launch the modded game without launching Steam and logging into it.
Then I log into the new local Windows account and install ModInstaller to the 1.4.3.2 HK. Everything related to modded HK I do on that account. The original 1.5 Steam version is kept intact. I launch the modded HK from hollow_knight.exe in the main folder.

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Showing 16-29 of 29 comments

Perseus

Dec 18, 2021 @ 1:17am

Originally posted by Co‏‏‏‏‏co:
No problem. :D

Okay, so i can't seem to find a readme anywhere, also isn't Scarab supposed to work on 1.5.x.x and not 1.4.3.2, or did i misunderstand something?

#16

Noborus

Dec 18, 2021 @ 9:09am

Originally posted by Perseus:
Originally posted by Co‏‏‏‏‏co:
No problem. :D
Okay, so i can't seem to find a readme anywhere, also isn't Scarab supposed to work on 1.5.x.x and not 1.4.3.2, or did i misunderstand something?

Yeah, it works on the latest version (1.5___), i'm not sure whether it works on 1.4.3.2 though.
I don't think there's a readme, i just installed the https://github.com/fifty-six/Scarab/releases/download/v1.5.0.0/linux.zip file, extracted it, and ran the executable in the extracted "linux" folder, it worked fine.

#17

Perseus

Dec 18, 2021 @ 9:32am

Originally posted by Co‏‏‏‏‏co:
Originally posted by Perseus:
Okay, so i can't seem to find a readme anywhere, also isn't Scarab supposed to work on 1.5.x.x and not 1.4.3.2, or did i misunderstand something?
Yeah, it works on the latest version (1.5___), i'm not sure whether it works on 1.4.3.2 though.

I thought that Randomizer 3 was only in 1.4.3.2?

Originally posted by Co‏‏‏‏‏co:
I don't think there's a readme, i just installed the https://github.com/fifty-six/Scarab/releases/download/v1.5.0.0/linux.zip file, extracted it, and ran the executable in the extracted "linux" folder, it worked fine.

Oh, that's how it works, thanks.
However, since i copied a 1.4.3.2 version of HK to be able to easily switch between modded and unmodded, i'm not sure if it will actually work and target the right one?

#18

Noborus

Dec 18, 2021 @ 9:57am

Originally posted by Perseus:
Originally posted by Co‏‏‏‏‏co:
Yeah, it works on the latest version (1.5___), i'm not sure whether it works on 1.4.3.2 though.
I thought that Randomizer 3 was only in 1.4.3.2?

Not sure about the Rando, i haven't played it in a while.

Originally posted by Perseus:
Originally posted by Co‏‏‏‏‏co:
I don't think there's a readme, i just installed the https://github.com/fifty-six/Scarab/releases/download/v1.5.0.0/linux.zip file, extracted it, and ran the executable in the extracted "linux" folder, it worked fine.
Oh, that's how it works, thanks.
However, since i copied a 1.4.3.2 version of HK to be able to easily switch between modded and unmodded, i'm not sure if it will actually work and target the right one?

It'll make a new Mods folder in the Hollow Knight game files directory, updating the game shouldn't delete that folder.

#19

Perseus

Dec 18, 2021 @ 10:49am

Originally posted by Co‏‏‏‏‏co:
Originally posted by Perseus:
I thought that Randomizer 3 was only in 1.4.3.2?
Not sure about the Rando, i haven't played it in a while.

How did you play it originally? Through Scarab or something else?

Originally posted by Co‏‏‏‏‏co:
Originally posted by Perseus:
Oh, that's how it works, thanks.
However, since i copied a 1.4.3.2 version of HK to be able to easily switch between modded and unmodded, i'm not sure if it will actually work and target the right one?
It'll make a new Mods folder in the Hollow Knight game files directory, updating the game shouldn't delete that folder.

So i guess i would have to move that mods folder to the other HK instance? (although alternatively i could also rename the folders so the Scarab executable targets the 1.4.3.2 version)

#20

Noborus

Dec 18, 2021 @ 10:51am

Originally posted by Perseus:
Originally posted by Co‏‏‏‏‏co:
Not sure about the Rando, i haven't played it in a while.
How did you play it originally? Through Scarab or something else?

A while before 1.5 was released, and i was on win10 at the time, so i used "Modinstaller"

Originally posted by Perseus:
Originally posted by Co‏‏‏‏‏co:

It'll make a new Mods folder in the Hollow Knight game files directory, updating the game shouldn't delete that folder.
So i guess i would have to move that mods folder to the other HK instance? (although alternatively i could also rename the folders so the Scarab executable targets the 1.4.3.2 version)

You have 2 HK folders with the game files in them? I'm guessing one for 1.4.3.2 and another for the latest version, you can just install all the mods you want in one instance, then copy the mods folder to the other.

#21

Perseus

Dec 20, 2021 @ 9:39am

Originally posted by Co‏‏‏‏‏co:
I don't think there's a readme, i just installed the https://github.com/fifty-six/Scarab/releases/download/v1.5.0.0/linux.zip file, extracted it, and ran the executable in the extracted "linux" folder, it worked fine.

So i tried doing just that, but "There is no application installed for 'shared library' files".
I'm assuming the thing i need to run is the one named "scarab"? (i also tried the others, same problem.)

Last edited by Perseus; Dec 20, 2021 @ 9:40am

#22

Noborus

Dec 20, 2021 @ 10:38am

Originally posted by Perseus:
So i tried doing just that, but "There is no application installed for 'shared library' files".
I'm assuming the thing i need to run is the one named "scarab"? (i also tried the others, same problem.)

Not sure, i haven't had that error message. Try running it from the command-line

cd path/to/file/directory # cd into the directory where the scarab executable is chmod +x Scarab # makes it possible to execute the file from cli ./Scarab # runs the file

#23

Perseus

Dec 21, 2021 @ 9:20am

That worked! Scarab allowed me to download the Randomizer and it's dependencies, but i wasn't able to launch HK afterwards. Trying to do so from a terminal gave me this :

[usercom]:~$ "/home/[user]/Modded Hollow Knight/hollow_knight.x86_64"
Found path: /home/[user]/Modded Hollow Knight/hollow_knight.x86_64
Mono path[0] = '/home/[user]/Modded Hollow Knight/hollow_knight_Data/Managed'
Mono config path = '/home/[user]/Modded Hollow Knight/hollow_knight_Data/Mono/etc'
* Assertion at threads.c:4354, condition `execution_context_field' not met

Receiving unhandled NULL exception
#0 0x007f6d20422740 in funlockfile
#1 0x007f6d20422b80 in raise
#2 0x007f6d20422ca0 in g_free
#3 0x007f6d20422cd0 in g_free
#4 0x007f6d20422db0 in mono_get_special_static_data
#5 0x007f6d20422dd0 in mono_thread_create
#6 0x007f6d20422de0 in mono_thread_create
#7 0x007f6d20422e30 in mono_pthread_key_for_tls
#8 0x007f6d20422e50 in GC_end_blocking
#9 0x007f6d20422f00 in start_thread
#10 0x007f6d20422fc0 in clone
Stacktrace:

Native stacktrace:

/home/[user]/Modded Hollow Knight/hollow_knight_Data/Mono/x86_64/libmono.so(+0x9843a) [0x7f6d20e0643a]
/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libpthread.so.0(+0x153bf) [0x7f6d270a23bf]
/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libc.so.6(gsignal+0xcb) [0x7f6d26b8818b]
/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libc.so.6(abort+0x12a) [0x7f6d26b67858]
/home/[user]/Modded Hollow Knight/hollow_knight.x86_64() [0x9e3cdb]
/home/[user]/Modded Hollow Knight/hollow_knight_Data/Mono/x86_64/libmono.so(+0xd8c70) [0x7f6d20e46c70]
/home/[user]/Modded Hollow Knight/hollow_knight_Data/Mono/x86_64/libmono.so(+0x3713e) [0x7f6d20da513e]
/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libpthread.so.0(+0x153bf) [0x7f6d270a23bf]
/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libpthread.so.0(raise+0xcb) [0x7f6d270a224b]
/home/[user]/Modded Hollow Knight/hollow_knight_Data/Mono/x86_64/libmono.so(+0x1988c5) [0x7f6d20f068c5]
/home/[user]/Modded Hollow Knight/hollow_knight_Data/Mono/x86_64/libmono.so(+0x19894e) [0x7f6d20f0694e]
/home/[user]/Modded Hollow Knight/hollow_knight_Data/Mono/x86_64/libmono.so(+0x1665dd) [0x7f6d20ed45dd]
/home/[user]/Modded Hollow Knight/hollow_knight_Data/Mono/x86_64/libmono.so(+0x1683b3) [0x7f6d20ed63b3]
/home/[user]/Modded Hollow Knight/hollow_knight_Data/Mono/x86_64/libmono.so(+0x16853c) [0x7f6d20ed653c]
/home/[user]/Modded Hollow Knight/hollow_knight_Data/Mono/x86_64/libmono.so(+0x18bb9a) [0x7f6d20ef9b9a]
/home/[user]/Modded Hollow Knight/hollow_knight_Data/Mono/x86_64/libmono.so(+0x1ac04c) [0x7f6d20f1a04c]
/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libpthread.so.0(+0x9608) [0x7f6d27096608]
/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libc.so.6(clone+0x42) [0x7f6d26c64292]

Debug info from gdb:

Preloaded 'ScreenSelector.so'
Preloaded 'libCSteamworks.so'
Preloaded 'libsteam_api.so'
Logging to /home/[user]/.config/unity3d/Team Cherry/Hollow Knight/Player.log
I refuse to debug myself!
No threads.

=================================================================
Got a SIGABRT while executing native code. This usually indicates
a fatal error in the mono runtime or one of the native libraries
used by your application.
=================================================================

I'm guessing from this part : "* Assertion at threads.c:4354, condition `execution_context_field' not met" That there's a problem somewhere with the HK executable, but not much more. Does anyone have any idea what i might need to change?

#24

Noborus

Dec 21, 2021 @ 10:55am

Originally posted by Perseus:
That worked! Scarab allowed me to download the Randomizer and it's dependencies, but i wasn't able to launch HK afterwards.

How did you try to launch it? If you did it through Steam, then maybe try changing to a different version of Proton. Alternatively, you could try to verify the integrity of the game files. Also, what happened when you tried launching the game? Did you receive an error? If your game closed immediately after launching it from Steam, then i'd say switching to a different version of Proton for HK would probably fix it (it has for me in the past with other games).

Originally posted by Perseus:
I'm guessing from this part : "* Assertion at threads.c:4354, condition `execution_context_field' not met" That there's a problem somewhere with the HK executable, but not much more. Does anyone have any idea what i might need to change?

I'm not sure about the logs, those might be because launching it through the command line is not allowed (don't take my word for it, i'm probably wrong).

#25

Perseus

Dec 22, 2021 @ 9:26am

Okay, so i did some testing, and it seems it's only HK 1.4.3.2 that's having problems launching. (unrelated to mods). When launching it, it opens for just an instant before closing immediately.

Originally posted by Co‏‏‏‏‏co:
How did you try to launch it?

Through the executable, the terminal's command line, and Steam.

Originally posted by Co‏‏‏‏‏co:
If your game closed immediately after launching it from Steam, then i'd say switching to a different version of Proton for HK would probably fix it (it has for me in the past with other games).

But i'm not using Proton for HK? Never did, not back when i began playing in 1.4.2.4, not when it updated to 1.4.3.2(the one i'm having trouble launching now) and not in any of the 1.5 versions.
I'll probably try it anyways. Which proton version do you currently use? I'll probably start by trying out that one.

Originally posted by Co‏‏‏‏‏co:
you could try to verify the integrity of the game files.

I'll try after the proton idea.

Thank you again for your help.

#26

Noborus

Dec 22, 2021 @ 10:58am

Originally posted by Perseus:
But i'm not using Proton for HK? Never did, not back when i began playing in 1.4.2.4, not when it updated to 1.4.3.2(the one i'm having trouble launching now) and not in any of the 1.5 versions.
I'll probably try it anyways. Which proton version do you currently use? I'll probably start by trying out that one.

Some people have reported experiencing input lag and other issues on the native version, you can see it in the ProtonDB reviews[www.protondb.com], so i'd usually recommend just playing HK through Proton.
The Proton i use for most games is proton-ge-custom[github.com], you could try using Proton Experimental (which you should already have), if that doesn't work, then maybe try Proton 6.3-8 or Glorious Eggroll (proton-ge-custom).

#27

Perseus

Dec 23, 2021 @ 9:09am

Finally made it work! As it turns out, Scrarab doesn't work with 1.4.3.2. I thought that it did because i could use it to download the randomizer, and i thought the randomizer was only available in 1.4.3.2. However, it is available in 1.5, and that was the version Scrarab was downloading. No wonder 1.4.3.2 modded crashed instantly.
(Post 26 was incorrect about the crash being unrelated to mods, by the way.)

I updated back to 1.5 and it worked with no trouble(no need for proton)!

#28