Current & Simple Guide to Neptools (October 2023 version)

Noticed some mods use Neptools, but for some reason, they still link to the github link which is archived

Current and Updated links for Neptools

First things first

Here is the current home of the Neptools utility, so wherever you need to update it, you know where to find it

https://gitgud.io/neptards/neptools

https://git.neptards.moe/neptards/neptools

Instructions for using Neptools (taken directly from the repository)

Usage

• There are two ways to use it. The first one mirrors the original KitServer:
  extract launcher.exe and neptools-server.dll into the game directory. In
  this case you'll have to use launcher.exe to launch the game, if you simply
  launch NeptuniaReBirth[123].exe / NeptuniaVII.exe, Neptools won't be loaded,
  and you'll run an unmodded game.
  
  
• The second way is to extract only neptools-server.dll and rename it to
  dinput8.dll. In this case there's no launcher, simply start the original
  executable. In case of RB3, it may not work this way. The problem is that the
  directory name steam chooses (Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth3) confuses the
  Windows DLL loader, and will treat ; as a path separator. If you do not want
  to rename the directory (which would upset steam), you'll have to place
  dinput8.dll into a subdirectory named Birth3 (so it should end up in
  steamapps\common\Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth3\Birth3\dinput8.dll).
  (If you're an Arfoire/Magiquone supporter and installed RB1/2 into somethin like
  whatever\Neptunia Re;Birth2, you'll have to put it into Birth2. Basically
  create a directory named whatever after the semicolon is.)
  
  
• Note for Linux/Wine users: wine by default gives priority to it's builtin
  version of dinput8.dll, ignoring this custom version. To fix it run winecfg,
  select Libraries tab, write dinput8 under New override for library, click Add,
  make sure it says (native, builtin). Also you'll probably need MSVC2013
  runtimes, if you didn't already install it for the game (winetricks vcrun2013).
  
  
• To temporarily disable modding in this case, you'll either have to temporarly
  delete/rename dinput8.dll or start NeptuniaReBirth?.exe with the --disable
  parameter (this is not exactly same as removing the dll as Neptools will be
  still loaded, but it will try to minimize changes made to the game...)
  
  
• In either case, you'll have to create a directory named neptools, and place
  files to be replaced inside it. If you want to replace (for example)
  database/stitem.gbin inside data/SYSTEM00000, place it into
  neptools/data/SYSTEM/database/stitem.gbin (that five zeros you normally get is
  actually an artifact of the current .cpk / .pac extractor doesn't handle the
  format correctly, I will rant more about it someday...)
  
  
• It also has some command line flags, use launcher.exe --help or
  NeptuniaReBirth?.exe --help to get a list. If you have a debug build, you can
  use --console -lcpk=2 (or --log-to-file=filename -lcpk=2 to save it to a
  file) to list all files opened by the game (it'll cause significant slowdown
  though, especially with the console method).

Recommendations

Idk if its only me, but if you get the files, I recommend going for the Neptools-windows-nolua-0.4.0.zip download instead of the Neptools-windows-0.4.0.zip option as I was unable to even launch Neptunia 1, 2 & 3 with the last option

and it seems the dev recommends using the nolua for the re;translations mods as well, and as far as I have tried, this seems to work with the rest of the mods as well

One of these mods being the following which I would recommend using for a better experience, or just to make everything consistent between all 3 games in the Re;Birth remakes to the most recent titles of the series


https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=542831125

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1640733552

Other Guides

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3071134803
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3071145926