todo: We're planning on implement proper Mod Creation workflow. We should have in-engine options for creating a new mod and packaging it up into a .pak file, but for now this is the process.

What is a Mod?

'Mods' allow you to add or modify Maps, Materials, EntityDefinitions or Assets or Scripting to the base game without having to change the original files. These can then be packaged up and distributed to other people for them to play, with no risk of breaking their existing installation.

You do not need to create a new Mod if you merely want to use the existing game assets in your map, as the .map file can be freely shared and loaded. However if you want to add any new assets, you will need to create a mod in order for them to work.

Creating a Mod directory

Windows

%appdata%\Ironworks Games\The Last Exterminator
or
C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Ironworks Games\The Last Exterminator
And create a folder called Mods.

In the Mods folder, create a new folder titled whatever you would like your mod to be called (With no spaces).

eg: [...]\The Last Exterminator\Mods\MyMod

And that's it! You can now load this folder as a Mod in-game.

Loading a Mod

Simple start the game, open the console with the Tilde (~) key, and type:

loadMod MyMod

and press Enter. (Note that capitalization is important)

Note that you will need to load this mod every time you start the game, otherwise any Asset additions or changes you make will not be added to your Mod.

Filling out your Mod

When you go to the Editor, any additions or changes that you make to any Materials, EntityDefintions or Assets (Hereby just referred to collectively as 'Assets') will be added to your mod folder. Note, however, that existing Assets cannot be deleted, moved or renamed. If you'd like to keep your additions clean and easy to access, it's recommended to make a specific folder for your mod in each of the browsers.

Make sure that any maps are stored in a [...]MyMod/Maps folder.

todo: When the proper mod workflow goes in we're going to add something that allows for the creation of a 'Minimal' mod that doesn't inherit anything from the base game apart from a few key scripts to create a basic Menu and GameState, making the base-game-asset pollution less of a concern to people wanting to make a TC mod.

Distributing your Mod

When you're happy with your Mod and would like to share it with others, you can either share your entire Mod folder with other people, or create a .pak file.

ModDefinition.mdf

A ModDefinition.mdf allows you to specify additional information about your mod, and allows the Mod menu to show that information to the user.

todo: Mod menu still needs to be created.

To create this file, all you need to do is create a text file called ModDefinition.mdf in the root of your Mod folder.

The contents of the file should be as follows:

ModDefinition =
{
	; Properties go here
}

Recommended Reading: MDF File Format

The properties available are:

Name	Description	Default Value
ID	The name that you use in `loadMod` in order to load this mod.	Defaults to the name of the `.pak` file or Mod Folder.
Name	Plaintext name of the mod. Will be displayed on the Mod menu.	Defaults to the ID
Author	Your name, or the name of your group
Version	The current version of this mod as a whole number. Useful for making sure that people have the right version, or for doing checks in scripting.	0
Description	A long-form description of your mod. Will be displayed in the Mod menu once your Mod is selected
Image	The filename of the image to display in the Mod menu, relative to your Mods base folder todo: Add information about preferred image sizes	`Image.png`

All of these properties are optional, and if not supplied, the default value will be used.

Creating a .pak file

Windows

Go into your Mod folder, select everything, right click, and select Send To -> Compressed (zipped) folder. Rename the extension to .pak (You may need to enable 'File name extensions' in Explorer), and you're done!

warning: Currently, the Windows Zip compressor uses a weird format which does not work on Linux. It's recommended to use another program such as 7Zip to create a pak file that can be read on any device.

Install your Mod on other devices

Windows

Go to: %appdata%\Ironworks Games\The Last Exterminator\Mods
or
C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Ironworks Games\The Last Exterminator\Mods
and put your .pak file or mod folder in there, then just start the game and type loadMod MyMod in the console.