[MOD] disc modding toolkit & general discussion

[ejh1990]

Let's talk modding. It's tricky but 100% doable. This toolkit can extract the disc files and -- more importantly -- repack/rebuild a working disc file. I've also put together a basic set of working *.bat files to take the guesswork out of modding. (While they are functioning, they aren't anything fancy... If anyone is up to the task of making a nicer wrapper/front-end, it'd be highly welcome).

As always with modding, backup your game's installation and saves before playing with mods.

Modding Discord

https://discord.gg/eV3mYDDCz3

If you want to keep up to date with general Story of Seasons modding in real time, that's the place to be. And if you have any skills or knowledge, or are interested in making mods for the games, I would also love to see you there.

>> TOOLKIT DOWNLOAD <<

The toolkit can be found here:-

https://www.dropbox.com/s/hoptrjt3fk4m92k/sos-fomt_disc-toolkit_1-1-1.zip?dl=0

and for peace of mind, the virustotal scan (which -- being up-front -- does contain two false positives):-

https://www.virustotal.com/gui/file/cfaaf27c88216f92214eb09570e4ee3f615a05a15c97203dac42cac893dd39d3

If you are still uncomfortable downloading this, the list of tools included are listed in the next section (should you wish to manually get up and running).

I will also provide the bms scripts here:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/u4i8oy0m1y6y0o3/sos-fomt_bms-scripts.txt?dl=0

and the contents of the small bat scripts here:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/kj514fl57cuvw54/sos-fomt_bat-file-scripts.txt?dl=0

Software Licenses & purposes

All of the software distributed in the toolkit are permitted to be redistributed under the following licences:-

• QuickBMS (Luigi Auriemma) -- GPL2
• 7z (Igor Pavlov) -- LGPL (and partial BSD3)
• Info-ZIP (assorted) -- Info-ZIP licence

The purposes are as follows:-

• 7z --for initial disc extraction
• Info-ZIP (unzip) -- for subsequent disc extraction
• Info-ZIP (zip) -- for repacking the disc file in a compatible manner
• QuickBMS -- for unpacking/repacking the lzs files within the disc file

I need the original disc again!

For legal reasons, I can't provide a backup disc file (as it contains the majority of the game's files). But if you mess up / want the original disc back you can also always get the original file back via the following steps:

1. Library
2. Right click game.
3. (in menu) Properties
4. (in window) Local Files
5. "Verify integrity of game files"

And the evidence of this working?

Right here:-

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2638522254

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2638523971

What is moddable? (Observations)

Currently, only textures & sounds are easily moddable (though you will need software that can read/write to DDS, such as PaintNET).

Text is also moddable but (currently) with some difficulty as text strings are stored in a binary format, and string lengths/positions are explicitly stated in the file header. At the moment, you will need a hex editor like HxD to work with text. Anybody looking to make a fan translation needs to know the following:-

• String offsets are declared from offset 0x0 (the very start of each file).
• Each string position is stored as 4 bytes are and little endian.
• Each character in a string is stored as two bytes (zero padded, little endian).

Some basic difficulty mods may also be possible. For example, shop costs are likely stored in BRShopParam (though again, this will require a hex editor).

Other resources for modders

There is a detailed tree of all assets here:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/eo9wr6kyyjqvas5/sos-fomt_asset-tree.txt?dl=0

or as a list here:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/oh8jj1ulk7d7o4q/sos-fomt_asset-list.txt?dl=0

post edits

edit 1: added some info for people looking to make fan translations

[Tsukiya]

nice job ! finally there is a tool

[Miya]

a tool but no mods for this game ;[