Asset Manager, getting initial content, building your mod

Grim Dawn Modding - Tutorials and Help
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Open AssetManager.exe
Work Offline
Tools -> Options
Working Directory: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Grim Dawn
Build Directory: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Grim Dawn
Tools Directory: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Grim Dawn
Click OK
File -> Set Working Folder C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Grim Dawn
Mod -> New (I named mine Testing, but I call it YOURMODNAME)
Build -> Build

Open Steam -> Launch Grim Dawn
Custom Game -> YOURMODNAME, world001
Create Character -> Start
(Note that there are no changes to the game at this point.)

Tools -> Extract Game Data
Pointing your various tools at either the base game directory (as above) or your mod directory changes whether you are looking at all of the game data, or if you’re modifying something.
To reduce build time and to make smaller mods I recommend copying only the content you need into your mod directory. Because many of the file browse operations start off at “my computer” I highly recommend making C:\GDMod as a working folder.

Working Directory C:\GDMod
Build Directory C:\GDMod
Tools Directory C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Grim Dawn\

Mod -> New (FirstRealMod)
(bug workaround) Close AssetManager, move the contents of C:\GDModmods\ to C:\GDMod\mods\ and reopen AssetManager.
Sources tab, on the right window right click and Import -> Conversation, browse to the Modding Tutorial, NPC_QuestGiver_01.cnv
Assets tab, right click the blue folder FirstRealMod/assets, Create new folder, “myart”. Left click “myart”, right click the right window, New. Texture or Mesh, you can use PSD files (and a lot more) for textures or triangle based 3DStudio Max .MAX files for Mesh. (I don’t have the .max file working yet.)

Instead of the “import” or “new” process, you can simply drag the files into the appropriate filesystem folder and the AssetManager will include them automatically, but they must already be the appropriate file type.

In order to get the templates working with DBR Editor I went into the GD\database\ folder and copied out database emplates into GDMod\mods\master_read\database emplates

Build -> Build
Load the game, this is not the “main campaign” but the name of your mod. Select your mod and start.

Attachment: Error.jpg

1 Like
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From http://www.grimdawn.com/forums/showthread.php?t=37791 for getting the original map loaded.

1 Like
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Strange, i have tried to do this rorschachrev, and every single time Asset manager crashes with database.r* errors usually Oxfffff only time it will work is if i use the D:\program files(x86)\steam\steamapps\common\Grim Dawn\mods folder

4

I’d rather recommend to split working and build directory. It can get confusing later and it’s sort of a mess.

5

Yeah problem is, when i do split the directories up, the database file just gives the asset manager nightmares and it cant see to re-read and write /create folders. :rolleyes:

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Some nightmares are worth living with when it comes to production, because you don’t want to ship a mod that is the entire game, all libraries included. I spent 20 min on a build when I only changed one file, I decided to split the content :confused: I wish the settings for the mod tools were stored in local ini files or something, so I could have a copy of the tools for each folder structure. You don’t need one for each mod. Since I’m still screwing around with folder structures I’m not sure what I want long term but the ability to “read dbr” separate from the build process seems really important.

Splitting the folders works for me, I have a “master_read” mod with the whole database and all resources, but I’ll try to avoid hitting “build” or writing any changes to it. If things aren’t working for you then I suggest a folder is missing. In order to get the templates working with DBR Editor I went into the GD\database\ folder and copied out database emplates into GDMod\mods\master_read\database emplates

7

I dont get how i can load my own world.
I build a Small World with some Monsters links Spawn and npc. If im right i have to load all of this in the asset Manager in a New mod. But i dont get how. I read all of ur. Tutorials but my english isnt the best and im New to this Kind of tool. But i realy want to get in to it.

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Note that if you have a “.” in the path (such as for some configurations of the GOG installer, where the path will have GOG.com), it will crash. You have to install to a path without the “.”.

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I struggled a liitle as well.
in the World Editor you should:

• Rebuild Pathing
• Rebuild Maps
• Save All

then in the Asset Manager you should:

• right-click the .wrl file and auto-create asset.
• Build F7

I found if you don’t auto-create the .wrl file it will not load.

10

Huhu,

Im in the Asset manager.
Should i build while i have my mod selected? (choose from the list None and "my mod)

Or while “None” is selected.
While “none” is selected i find the wrl. file under Source. If i selcted “my mod” there is nothing. If i build with my Mod selceted nothing seems to happen if i do it with “None” selected the manager deletes nearly 3gb of the game…

CONFUUUSEED <3

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You need to select a mod.

Also I ended up developing Stasher inside my GD\mods\ folder and then doing a production build inside C:\GDmod\mods\

Build in base Grim Dawn folder = 500mb
Build in production GDMod foler = 1.5mb

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In the Asset Manager tool, Archive -> Build is the compilation of the tpl files (ALL of them) and linking of resources. It doesn’t just build your mod, it builds them all in the subdirectories of the working directory, including the default game files. It can’t actually build some of the default game files, so it breaks. ArchiveManager.exe is recursively running ArchiveTool.exe against the various resource packs and merging them in. I ended up with 3 mod folders because of this. When I first built Stasher it was over 500MB due to this behavior. Making a dedicated folder with less stuff and building there? 1.6MB or so uncompressed.

That is not your question.

Build -> Build only compiles the assets and dbr files inside your mod if the Archive has been created. If it is blank, it builds something or nothing, your mileage will vary based on ??? and ??? with a little *** included. If your Archive -> Build is out of date, it may attempt to update it. If it is current, it will only build the files that have changed. Probably. I would press build and nothing would compile. I became extremely paranoid and did a right click on each dbr that changed and did a “build” on it.

Now depending on which folder on the left is highlighted will change the behavior of that Build -> Build option, but I haven’t ironed them all out since I don’t have version numbers, revision control, or database.arz dumps. It seems… sporadic. Eventually I got it to build my non buildable resources by ignoring them and sort of building, with errors, sometimes. I moved the files, relinked everything, rebuilt the Archive->Build and then … the errors on non buildable resources showed up sometimes.

I spent a few a few hours on this, eventually here’s the path I took.
Archive -> Build
archivetool.exe -list database.arz
if error, delete the database.arz file and try again.
if success, continue
Right click a dbr file, build. Look for errors.
Build -> Build with project highlighted. (top folder, database tab is what I did)
archivetool.exe -list database.arz
if error, delete the database.arz file and try again.
if success, load the mod

Eventually I had bugs left often…

13

When I build a little 128x128 tile and go to build and select Rebuild Pathing, it always brings up an error after processing stating one or more regions could not be saved.

Why is it doing this?

I should add all I have done is create a region and stuck a spawn point in it just so I could test that the world would load in game, which is does.

14

nothing to worry about:
http://www.grimdawn.com/forums/showthread.php?t=37777

15

Thank you kindly sir :slight_smile:

16

So am I correct in thinking your directory is;

Working = C:/GCMod/mods/
Building = C:/GCMod/mods/
Tools = C:/Program files (86)/ pathway to Grim Dawn folder.

And inside your created c:drive mod folder you have copied both the database, resource and templates from the default Grim Dawn folder after extracting them?

so you have something like:
C:/GCMod/mods/master_read/resources/
C:/GCMod/mods/master_read/database/

17

Can someone please show me where to get AssetManager and DBREditor?

Thanks!

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They’re in your gd installation folder.

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I wanted to change a skill from a mastery that came with the DAIL mod. When I try to extract DAIL.arz, archivetool crashes. How do I fix this? Thanks.