Larian Studios Forums Divinity: Original Sin 2 - The Modding Dungeon Divinity - Original Sin 2 - Modding General PSA/IMPORTANT: PAK Extraction

If you've extracted any *.pak files and are building any mods using files from those archives:

Please ensure you also extract Patch.pak, Patch2.pak, and Patch3.pak into the same folder - in that order!

Overwrite existing files when prompted for each patch.

There's a chance there are released mods distributing old data, especially mods that override stats, that regress fixes made by Larian in these patches, and some of these regressions might be producing false bug reports.

False bug reports waste Larian's time, so let's try to help them avoid that problem.

Note: If you are using only the editor, this does not apply to you.

Nice catch there and makes sense

This should be a sticky!

Also worth mentioning that if you're making a "loose" version of your mod, you'll need to update the files you're overwriting after each update as well.

My Toggle Sprint mod has to overwrite StatusData.txt, and in the last update, they changed a value for a status, so that required manually updating.

Why overwite the entire file? You only need to include the entries that you actually want to change/add in the mod.

Certain files require you to merge into the base file if you want to enable a mod with achievements. StatusData.txt is one of those files.

I made a thread on this here: [Guide] Making Your Mod Achievement-Friendly.

I don't think you do though. Just give the file a different name (eg. StatusData_ToggleSprint.txt), include only your actual changes/additions and dump it loose in the apporpriate spot. Way more compatible with both updates and other mods (loose or otherwise), and it should still be achievement compatible (the game throws the corruption warning but not the 'mods disable acheivements' warning).

EDIT: Tested it and successfully earned an achievement with my own StatusData changes (and only my changes) in their own file (StatusData_PD.txt) in the shared folder and functioning in game.

Good to know! I could've sworn we had to replace StatusData back before release, but I may be mistaken. Either way, that'll save me a step.

I assume Data.txt still needs to be merged?

No, I tested that first. Works the same.

Great. Thanks.

Should I extract the .pak files to a separate folder, or can I extract them directly into the same path/Data folder?

The https://docs.larian.game/Pak_Extractor_Guide guide says to extract them to a separate folder, but it's a bit of a pain having to navigate to that directory every time to find stuff. Or do I extract them all to a separate place and then merge it back into path/Data after extracting?

Separate folder; otherwise, the game will load all those "loose" files.

Loose file loading is less performant than loading those files via the .pak archives.

Ah ok, I get you. What are the most beneficial things to get out of the .pak archives? I extracted them to look at the script files, but I noticed a lot of other stuff came out, and was wondering if there are any extra assets or anything like that?

Which assets are useful depends on what you're doing. It's a personal decision.

Well...yeah...

I just meant are there extra models and stuff in the extracted pak file that I didn't have access to before extracting them? Like what assets comes out of the pak files besides scripts that I wouldn't have had access to before?

I hate to say it again, but it depends on the .pak. Normally, you extract Shared.pak for the scripts, but if you want anything else, you're going to have to look for it. If your interest is in art assets, I don't do anything with art, so you're better off asking someone who does. That said, you might also be better off just solving problems as they come up, rather than trying to deduce what you could possibly might need in the future from the .pak files. They're always going to be there.

I cannot extract Patch4_1.pak. I get
"System.IO.InvalidDataException: No valid signature found in package file."
Same for Shared_1.pak, but all other work fine. I am using ExportTool-v1.8.4. Not sure if there is anything useful in there. What is Shared_1 anyway?

You don't have to extract the numbered packages with underscores before the number, as they're parts of other packages.
Patch4_1.pak is the second part of Patch4.pak, so if you extract Patch4.pak it'll automatically extract Patch4_1.pak as well.

I have translate part of English.xtml file in my language, but if i repak in .pak and changed language.lsx with the name of my language. Game start in English, if i put directly the folder in data/localization/mylanguage the game work fine? Any Idea for this? If i delete all language file .pak the game start in English :O
I use Steam version of game.

I want to use the templates from gm Mode in the editor. I tried unpacking the Gamemastermode.pak. The result was me looking blankly at a list of files and folders under each templates folder, what do I do next.