[PC Texture Modding Guide] (LONG)

[Drogean]

Incase this gets deleted, mirror is here : https://www.reddit.com/r/yakuzagames/comments/94ch81/pc_mod_modding_guide/


Discovered some tools that you can use to replace files in this game so it can be used for things like texture mods (and anything else really) without needing any third party programs (namely Kaldien's mod that lets you modify/inject textures into most games that isnt compatible YET.

**Example/Proof of Concept:**

https://i.imgur.com/nmVr2B0.jpg
The downside to this method is that we will have to either distribute 50MB+ files or have enough hope the user can DIY and learn to inject, and repack their own .PAR files using the tool below.



**FINDING AND UNPACKING .PAR Files**

Everything is located in .PAR files but there are so many, you will need to find what gets loaded and when.

The easiest way to do this is to run a program called PROCESS MONITOR that will let you see all the files opened and accessed by any application.

Download and run it, then go to filters, and then do a filter for "PATH", with "STARTS WITH", then "C:\Steam\steamapps\common\Yakuza 0\media\data\"(or whatever your location is), and choose "INCLUDE".

https://i.imgur.com/49rOO2g.png

This will only show you a list of all the .PAR files it loads when you start the game, when you load a save, or when a new area loads. So this should show all level, character, and UI texture packs loading among everything else.

So for example, the textures for the chapter one city of Kamuro are all located in the .PAR file somewhere in :
C:\Steam\steamapps\common\Yakuza 0\media\data\stage\w64\st_kamuro\prep\

Depending on if its day or night, you will need to modify the texture .PAR file located either
C:\Steam\steamapps\common\Yakuza 0\media\data\stage\w64\st_kamuro\prep\ngt or
C:\Steam\steamapps\common\Yakuza 0\media\data\stage\w64\st_kamuro\prep\day



**MODIFYING THE TEXTURES**

Once you find the file you will need to extract the .DDS texture files and edit them.

Tool Needed:
https://github.com/gibbed/Gibbed.Yakuza0/releases
To use:

- Extract to a folder somewhere and COPY the .PAR you want to extract to the same one.
- Run a command prompt window and do "Gibbed.Yakuza0.Unpack.exe <parfilename.PAR>".
OR
- Drag the .PAR file over the Gibbed.Yakuza0.FileFormats.exe file and it will extract it
- It will then create a folder with all the extracted files in that same location

Textures are stored as your typical .DDS files and can be opened with and saved with Photoshop or similar with a DDS PLUGIN. There are other plugins for things like GIMP that let you save your DDS texture files or other editing apps, and stand alone converters.

Quick rundown for saving DDS files after editing.
For textures without alpha/transparencies, use:

Texture Type: Color
Compression: BC1 Linear
MipMaps: AutoGenerate

For Textures with transparencies, use:

Texture Type: Color + Alpha
Compression: BCH6 Linear Fast DX11+
MipMaps: AutoGenerate



**INJECTING YOUR .DDS TEXTURES INTO THE GAME**

Now that you have your .PAK file you want to modify, we now need to import your new .DDS texture file you created.

Tool Needed:
https://github.com/SlowpokeVG/PARC-Archive-Importer/releases
To Use (copy/pasted from the site)

- First you need to use quickbms tool with BMS script to unpack your archive;
- Then edit your files and run this program
- Press "Open Archive" and select your .Par file
- You have to convert this archive to be able to replace files in it, so press "Widen" and wait until it's complete;
- This will ensure that all files are separated in the archive and each takes 2048x bytes of space
- After it's done you can save this archive, so you won't have to "Widen" it again.
- Add files you want to replace via "Open Files" button
- Press "Inject"
- This will change the header of your archive in the memory, so if you change your mind or want to inject some other files - restart the program;
- Save your new .PAR file into the original location in C:\Steam\steamapps\common\Yakuza 0\media\data\ or wherever MAKING SURE YOUR BACK UP YOUR ORIGINAL FIRST

So at this point you can go into the game and if you did everything right, the game should start using your new .PAR file.

As far as making a "community" out of this, I think the best is to distribute .DDS files and the location names and letting people who want to use them use the INJECT tool above.

Hopefully this helps somebody

[Monterossa]

Which file contains the Xbox and PS buttons? I want to make a PS buttons mod.

[dannyj147]

But but but Denuvo prevents modding. ;)

[Aemony]

Thanks for taking the time to discover and write this out. Hopefully we'll see some form of texture mods spring up around the game :)

[Gorre]

Originally posted by dannyj54147:

But but but Denuvo prevents modding. ;)

Another lowlfie troll detected

[The_Blog]

That is awesome! I love modding in games, it's one if not the biggest advantage of PC gaming and usually helps many games stay relevant for longer. Not to mention allow everyone to augment their gaming experience to their wishes. Glad to see mods already being possible so close after release! :3

[dannyj147]

Originally posted by 󠀡󠀡󠀡󠀡󠀡󠀡󠀡󠀡󠀡󠀡󠀡󠀡Gorre ☠:

Originally posted by dannyj54147:

But but but Denuvo prevents modding. ;)

Another lowlfie troll detected

Nah, just making it known Denuvo doesn't prevent modding.

[Kippu-Kun]

This would be great to provide higher res textures to various NPCs and locales. However it seems like most of it will need to be injected, and you can't be trusted with people to make texture packs that aren't ridiculously out of place, such as a Crazy Frog poster in what's supposed to be 1988 Japan.

The game also employs a seriously aggressive LOD model where characters will become lowpoly if you walk a few steps away from them, such as the case with the 'Punchout Artist' after you're done talking to him. Also, I was curious about the higher quality models used in specific cutscenes. Since they run at the game refresh rate, they must be rendered in real time, so are these ultra high quality assets used only for cutscenes? Any luck with tinkering with model quality? This game has plenty of potential to look great, it's just tucked away in the name of performance.

[Seamus]

Originally posted by Kippu-Kun:

This would be great to provide higher res textures to various NPCs and locales. However it seems like most of it will need to be injected, and you can't be trusted with people to make texture packs that aren't ridiculously out of place, such as a Crazy Frog poster in what's supposed to be 1988 Japan.

The game also employs a seriously aggressive LOD model where characters will become lowpoly if you walk a few steps away from them, such as the case with the 'Punchout Artist' after you're done talking to him. Also, I was curious about the higher quality models used in specific cutscenes. Since they run at the game refresh rate, they must be rendered in real time, so are these ultra high quality assets used only for cutscenes? Any luck with tinkering with model quality? This game has plenty of potential to look great, it's just tucked away in the name of performance.

It seems to be an LoD issue, as you can see the high quality models by using the first person view button. It's just being overly aggressive on the LoD scaling.

[KatKat]

Light worries :

Mod : https://image.noelshack.com/fichiers/2018/31/6/1533341514-yakuza0-2018-08-04-02-00-18-297.png
Vanilla : https://image.noelshack.com/fichiers/2018/31/6/1533341514-yakuza0-2018-08-04-02-02-29-080.png

[BerzerkSlayer]

Can this even be done with Denuvo and whatever other DRM is packed in with this game? Or does Denuvo not care about mods? Because I'm kind of 50/50 on the Denuvo controversy and haven't really kept up with every single development outside of that one hacker getting arrested a week ago.

[Aemony]

Originally posted by Jokopuffs:

Can this even be done with Denuvo and whatever other DRM is packed in with this game? Or does Denuvo not care about mods? Because I'm kind of 50/50 on the Denuvo controversy and haven't really kept up with every single development outside of that one hacker getting arrested a week ago.

Denuvo have very little impact on modding. Sonic Mania have a thriving modding community, for example. NieR:Automata, Final Fantasy XV, Yakuza 0, as well as a bunch of other games also have mods despite their use of Denuvo (this texture modding guide for example, the Special K mini-plugin is another, a 21:9 edited executable is a third, all examples of existing mods for Yakuza 0).

The mods that Denuvo actually makes harder to do is large-scale hex editing of the executable, which also happens to be the least used form of modding. Even then alternatives usually exists to achieve the same result that doesn’t run into Denuvo.

[Monterossa]

Denuvo can't stop you from modding if Denuvo itself was modded out.

[Beepin]

I downloaded Process Monitor, set the filter to "Process Name", "Begins With", <directory>, and "Include", but nothing shows up in the list when I apply.

[Drogean]

Originally posted by Beepin:

I downloaded Process Monitor, set the filter to "Process Name", "Begins With", <directory>, and "Include", but nothing shows up in the list when I apply.

oops you are right. use PATH instead

https://i.imgur.com/49rOO2g.png

[Kaldaien]

Just FYI:

Misc Notes

Texture mods with Special K are currently unsupported due to some truly bizarre memory management problems in this game's graphics engine.

Update: 8/5/18

A test version that enables texture mods is here[github.com].

I have a test version that's compatible with this game now. It may be more convenient. I know I never find it convenient to poke around in random files when I just want a very specific texture :)