FOA in the AssetManager

[Drachasor]

Hmm, I’m having trouble getting FOA to work. I am not seeing the Barbarian class show up when I got to import record and I don’t think the enemies are showing up either. I had some weird issues with the others two, seemed like I had to run it two and reload multiple times before they showed up. Trying extracting everything again right now, but has anyone else encountered this issue?

I am using these for the additional browse and source directories:
M:\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\Grim Dawn\gdx3;M:\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\Grim Dawn\gdx2;M:\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\Grim Dawn\gdx1;

M:\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\Grim Dawn\Working\mods\gdx3;M:\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\Grim Dawn\Working\mods\gdx2;M:\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\Grim Dawn\Working\mods\gdx1;

That’s where I have the game installed, not the C. It should be gdx3 for FOA, right?

[Tabriel]

Kind of having the same issue, along with this fellow here (where I replied a few moments ago): [v1.3.0.0] [FoA] AssetManager not extracting gdx3 - #2 by Tabriel

I’m not sure if @Zantai or any Crate employee will provide a full guide (but here’s hoping?), I was following the one from Elfie and where they mentioned adding FG in (which worked back then!), adding the gdx3 line before gdx2 and gdx1 didn’t seem to work for me either.

I hope we can get an answer about it so we can get to trying out modding in FoA!

[ASYLUM101]

It doesn’t work yet, Crate is probably aware as it’s been reported many times even during playtest, some of us modders who are also testers mentioned it. In the meantime you can use the superior method of extraction utilizing CMD or .bat file. I prefer a batch file since I can just reuse it without having to type it all out again and again.

“Path/To/ArchiveTool.exe” “Path/To/Desired/Input/FileName.arz” -database “Path/To/Output/”

If you need to open up the resource files too then use this:

“Path/To/ArchiveTool.exe” “Path/To/Desired/Input/FileName.arc” -extract “Path/To/Output/”

This is the structure, just throw that into a text file and rename it to .bat. If it works you should see scrolling text of all the assets being pulled from the archive files.

[Tabriel]

Thanks so much @ASYLUM101!

I’m terrible with actual tech-stuff (go figure), so I asked Google how to make a bat file for it, which for the most part I KNOW not to do because it makes crap up 90% of the time… but the bat file IS running, and seems to be extracting everything, so… fingers crossed?

This is what it told me to put (changing out the top to file locations to the ones on your hard drive). Can you see any glaring errors with that?

@echo off
:: ====================================================================
:: CONFIGURATION: Change these paths if your game is installed elsewhere
:: ====================================================================

set “GD_PATH=C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Grim Dawn”
set “OUT_PATH=C:\GrimDawn_Complete_Extract”

:: ====================================================================
echo ====================================================================
echo EXTRACTING ALL GRIM DAWN DATABASES AND ASSETS (EVERYTHING)
echo ====================================================================

:: 1. EXTRACT ALL BLUEPRINTS & GAMEPLAY DATA (.arz files)
echo [1/5] Extracting Databases (Skills, Items, Loot Tables)…
“%GD_PATH%\ArchiveTool.exe” “%GD_PATH%\database\database.arz” -database “%OUT_PATH%\Database\Vanilla\”
“%GD_PATH%\ArchiveTool.exe” “%GD_PATH%\gdx1\database\GDX1.arz” -database “%OUT_PATH%\Database\AshesOfMalmouth\”
“%GD_PATH%\ArchiveTool.exe” “%GD_PATH%\gdx2\database\GDX2.arz” -database “%OUT_PATH%\Database\ForgottenGods\”
“%GD_PATH%\ArchiveTool.exe” “%GD_PATH%\gdx3\database\GDX3.arz” -database “%OUT_PATH%\Database\FangsOfAsterkarn\”

:: 2. EXTRACT VANILLA GRAPHICS, MAP CHUNKS, TEXT, & AUDIO
echo [2/5] Extracting Vanilla Resources (Models, Textures, Sound)…
for %%F in (“%GD_PATH%\resources*.arc”) do (
echo Unpacking %%~nxF…
“%GD_PATH%\ArchiveTool.exe” “%%F” -extract “%OUT_PATH%\Resources\Vanilla%%~nF\”
)

:: 3. EXTRACT ASHES OF MALMOUTH GRAPHICS, MAP CHUNKS, TEXT, & AUDIO
echo [3/5] Extracting Ashes of Malmouth Resources…
for %%F in (“%GD_PATH%\gdx1\resources*.arc”) do (
echo Unpacking %%~nxF…
“%GD_PATH%\ArchiveTool.exe” “%%F” -extract “%OUT_PATH%\Resources\AshesOfMalmouth%%~nF\”
)

:: 4. EXTRACT FORGOTTEN GODS GRAPHICS, MAP CHUNKS, TEXT, & AUDIO
echo [4/5] Extracting Forgotten Gods Resources…
for %%F in (“%GD_PATH%\gdx2\resources*.arc”) do (
echo Unpacking %%~nxF…
“%GD_PATH%\ArchiveTool.exe” “%%F” -extract “%OUT_PATH%\Resources\ForgottenGods%%~nF\”
)

:: 5. EXTRACT FANGS OF ASTERKARN GRAPHICS, MAP CHUNKS, TEXT, & AUDIO
echo [5/5] Extracting Fangs of Asterkarn Resources…
for %%F in (“%GD_PATH%\gdx3\resources*.arc”) do (
echo Unpacking %%~nxF…
“%GD_PATH%\ArchiveTool.exe” “%%F” -extract “%OUT_PATH%\Resources\FangsOfAsterkarn%%~nF\”
)

echo ====================================================================
echo SUCCESS! Everything has been dumped to %OUT_PATH%
echo ====================================================================
pause

[ASYLUM101]

You don’t need any of that, that is over complicating it imo. I mean if it works, great, it looks like it could, it’s just over-engineered to me. Just swap the examples with the actual file paths. I don’t really find this to be very “tech stuff”, it’s just file paths.

Create a new text file

Use this as your starting point:

“Path/To/ArchiveTool.exe” “Path/To/Desired/Input/FileName.arz” -database “Path/To/Output/”

Update the paths to your actual paths, so if your Grim Dawn is installed in C:/Games/Grim Dawn/, you’d write something like

“C:/Games/Grim Dawn/ArchiveTool.exe” “C:/Games/Grim Dawn/Database/database.arz” -database “C:/Games/Grim Dawn/Extracted”

The “Extracted” folder can be anything, it’s not important. The other stuff is important, it just needs to link to the archivetool and the database.arz.

It’s also important to note that is only the database for vanilla GD. You’ll have to copy it and update it for each other expac so…

“C:/Games/Grim Dawn/ArchiveTool.exe” “C:/Games/Grim Dawn/Database/database.arz” -database “C:/Games/Grim Dawn/Extracted”
“C:/Games/Grim Dawn/ArchiveTool.exe” “C:/Games/Grim Dawn/gdx1/Database/gdx1.arz” -database “C:/Games/Grim Dawn/Extracted”
“C:/Games/Grim Dawn/ArchiveTool.exe” “C:/Games/Grim Dawn/gdx2/Database/gdx2.arz” -database “C:/Games/Grim Dawn/Extracted”
“C:/Games/Grim Dawn/ArchiveTool.exe” “C:/Games/Grim Dawn/gdx3/Database/gdx3.arz” -database “C:/Games/Grim Dawn/Extracted”

put all these lines in that text file, and save it with a .bat extension. Just write that in the file name when you save it. If it worked, the end result should have a different icon, instead of the usual text document icon.

Anyway, if you got it working this is irrelevant, you should be fine I guess.

[Tabriel]

Thanks again, I appreciate the time you’ve taken to explain it all!

I think I’ve over-complicated it a lot in my head, both because of how old the “Guides” are on the forum, how little is in the official modding guide, and then the difference between extracting via the Asset Manager or .Bat methods.

The .Bat method seems to have worked, and I’ve made a map with the correct default terrain working this time, and I can load into it via the game itself on steam.

Sorry @ASYLUM101 for asking so much, but I think it’s all set up correctly now. Do you happen to have any specific guides on it that aren’t years old? (or is it just case of using whatever you can and fiddling with it?)

Edit: And I think I’ve fudged it all up, overcomplicated it in my head, and I’ll start again. Deleting all the stuff I did, and re-starting an extract using your smaller batch file method. 3rd time’s the charm, right?

[ASYLUM101]

For guides, no there’s not really new ones. All the old ones are mostly still fine, even if you find some guides for TQ1 they should be somewhat helpful. (I’ve been modding this engine since TQ so I can say that it’s quite similar). Part of elfe’s guides (i think some of it got lost from a forum reset), ceno’s mastery guide video is fine, and if you dig around you might find some of my posts, I’m helpful on rare occasions.

I don’t know what you’re trying to do, so not sure what you need help with. Be very specific, what’s the issue? If you’re trying to mod the map, that’s a different ball game and starts to really get difficult and technical vs just extracting database files

[Tabriel]

Thanks again for answering, when searching for info on this I did see you answering people on things over 5 years ago (so long-term assistance!).

Specifically, I’m not 100% sure - I was mainly wanting to make sure I “Had Everything” available so I could try just a bit of everything. Trying my hand at making little dungeons to start (so have all the assets available from all expansion), maybe some simple quests, or even try my hand at a new Mastery Tree. Just to dabble and get my feet wet and see how I got on from there.

That’s why I was following Elfe’s old setup guide, as the tool doesn’t really seem to have changed much in the last 8+ years or so, but even then that only assumes you’re going off of that guide, and not the .bat extraction method, and what to do if things go wrong.

For example, I got done with the extraction the previous attempt, tried to edit a database to check it (as google recommended)… and it was only showing Vanilla databases. Google suggested to me a way to fix it that the community "was said " to recommend, and that just didn’t work.

So I was mainly just looking for a step-by-step on how to set it all up, especially if there was an “updated for 2026” guide somewhere.

For example, after running the Bat file 4x times (Vanilla through Fangs), I have my Asset Manager set up like this:
- Working Directory: D:\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\Grim Dawn\ (I haven’t used the added “Working” folder that Elfe recommended, it just seemed redundant for now?)
- Build Directory: D:\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\Grim Dawn
- Tools Directory: D:\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\Grim Dawn
- Additional Source Directories: D:\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\Grim Dawn\gdx3;D:\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\Grim Dawn\gdx2;D:\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\Grim Dawn\gdx1\ (This updated my Editor to have the Expansion Assets from base Vanilla))
- Additional Source Directories: EMPTY

I assume Additional Sources is meant to point to the Extracted files somehow, because while I can use assets like Malmouth’s Swamp Golem or Fangs’ Beavers in the EDITOR and place it as an entity (because the Source Directories tells it too), I can’t see any database records for the expansion creatures when looking in the Asset Manager’s “Database > Import Record” - which I assume is what you’re meant to be able to do, or I’m wildly wrong about things.

I tried putting "D:\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\Grim Dawn\extracted" in there, but that didn’t seem to work either, as when extracting all the .bats in your format, it saved them all in one “extracted > records” structure, and not per-expansion.

And that’s where I’m at as of writing this.

[ASYLUM101]

Separate working mods directory helps you separate “source” mod stuff with compiled mod stuff that you can send and upload. (Arc files). It also functions as a back up, I use a working directory too.

Browse/Source Directories should be all the game folders you need, and if you have a mod, that too. I work on grimarillion, so I have those folders there as well.

C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Grim Dawn\mods\grimarillion;C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Grim Dawn\gdx3;C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Grim Dawn\gdx2;C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Grim Dawn\gdx1;C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Grim Dawn\

You don’t need these folders to have extracted files.

Using the database > import record is kind of a shitty way to do it, just right click the empty space on the right side while using the database tab and click import there, it will open a windows explorer window instead so you can browse around anywhere.

Not much reason to separate the database files from the DLCs and vanilla, it has no effect on how the tools read the files. That is how it is intended to be structured anyway. (Import vanilla first, overwrite with newer content from dlc)

[Tabriel]

Alrighty, I see what you mean about keeping stuff separate, Ill update it so that I have a Working directory and make sure my mods are in there.

And then on the Asset manager side, to be clear, I want to be putting THE SAME thing in both the Additional Browse & Source options? And that thing would be (for me at least right now):

D:\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\Grim Dawn\gdx3;D:\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\Grim Dawn\gdx2;D:\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\Grim Dawn\gdx1;D:\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\Grim Dawn\

Or have I, very likely, missed something extremely fundamental? Because I’m beginning to feel like the village idiot’s idiot brother at this point.

[ASYLUM101]

Yep, both fields. I couldn’t tell you the difference at the moment, what does what, but that’s just how I’ve always had it and it works.

[Tabriel]

Just tried that, and the Editor seems to work just fine, which is great, but when I try to import a creature file (to test edit one) I get an error about the template not being found, and that error when trying to directly open it in the DBREditor tool too.

I may just go to bed and try again tomorrow, haha.

Edit: I think I’ve cracked it. The “replace database” trick seems to have worked for AoM Database files. I’ll try with the other two expansions and report my success or failure.

---

Edit 2: Well, it looked like that’s possibly solved the whole thing.

I re-tried Extract Game Files in the Asset Manager, but using the replace trick. To do this, you just have to rename your database.arz in the database folder to “back it up” (so for example, database_backup.arz", then copy/pasting the “gdx1.arz” into there and renaming THAT to “database.arz”, then extracting, closing the manager, then deleting that file and renaming your original back to database.arz.

I did that for all three expansions in order (I didn’t want to risk just doing the third on its own), and now it all seemingly… works. I can use all expansion assets in the Editor, and it lets me import their files into the asset manager seemingly correctly.

Thanks again to you @ASYLUM101 - walking me through the above things was a big help in getting my head around things. Now to see if I can actually MAKE anything.

[Gnomish_Inquisition]

no clue why making a bat file didn’t work/do anything, but on appearance looks like putting in the lines in cmd atleast worked/finally resulted in some files appearing in my gdx3 folder. Much appreciated Asylum
now if only Crate would make asset manager actually work on its own