I am considering learning to mod Grim Dawn.
As a starter project I’m considering preventing the rise of respec costs.
(I see no point in it what so ever, doubly so given the total lack of player economy.)
Is this even possible? Would I be better off doing something simpler? Has this already been done?
Thanks for your time 
It should be a single dbr mod (maybe, really not sure at all in fact), quite easy to make and a pretty good first project. Go for it!
Thank you So to your knowledge, no one has done this? I searched, but my search fu may be weak. Not 100% on what my terms should be.
Records/Creatures/PC
Then open malepc01.dbr and femalepc01.dbr
Then go to the “skill manager” tab, and you’ll find the change there. Good luck man.
Quick first thoughts from a just starting out perspective:
It was pretty annoying that I could find no links to the tools. Best I could find was a link to the guide, and even the guide assumed I already had the tools.
Of course I did, in C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Grim Dawn\AssetManager.exe But I didn’t know that until it occurred to me to check there ironically because of previous knowledge.
But really that sucked and sucks. This is the bane of ALL code instruction, assumed knowledge.
Every official post and guide aimed at beginners should inform them of what is being discussed and where to find it.
Still, now I can begin. Thanks Heathen.
Modding may seem like you either get it, or you don’t. But the real truth is, you get better and better the longer you beat your head against the tools. They can be crazy unintuitive, use ridiculous phrasing, and seem hopeless at times.
But truly, it’s a skill that will just take time and effort to develop, like any other talent.
Oh I know. I’m not new to modding, applying or writing, just new to modding Grim Dawn specifically
Looking at the guide and search the forum a bit I found this post:
http://www.grimdawn.com/forums/showthread.php?t=37873
At the “Tools -> Extract Game Data” step I get…
“Archivetool.exe has stopped working”
Googling this problem links to a forum thread that no longer exists:
http://www.grimdawn.com/forums/showthread.php?p=425639
I’m not even sure this is the right approach, there seems to be some debate in the first thread I linked.
I had a feeling this “simple” edit wasn’t going to be simple at all. X)
Sidenote: Even someone in this thread asks where to get asset manager. I’m adding this as backup for my previous comment
On the Asset Manager, click tools, extract game files, and click the whole folder from your harddrive’s equivilent of C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common.
In common, you will see your steam games. Just highlight GD folder, let the tools extract. That will load the files so you can mod them. I would recommend duplicating your base game, and just writing over the files of your duplicated GD folder.
Once the changes you want have been made, you will go to “Build”. Click that function. Then you would go to Archive tab (to the left of tools tab) and build that as well.
Then your mod should be stored in your duplicate folder, and will be ready to use.
Ok it’s working. Thanks
You’ve lost me.
Are you telling me something I should do outside of asset manager?
Like clone my GD folder like make a:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Grim Dawn Clone\ ?
I promise I won’t won’t need such basic help once I get going X) Thanks for yours
An alternative view would be this:
Extract game files to your working folder. There you will now have database and resources folders.
make your mod in AM so the folder skeleton is made.
create in windows the folder structure you need to copy just the records you want to mod into an identical path as you find it in the database folder from 1. (identical from database/records/ to the dbr file).
back in AM you can now select your mod and edit these items. and then use AM to build your mod. (this will be much faster with just a few dbrs vs all of them)
Also, if you start AM and do not select a mod, you can browse and check out all the records of vanilla game, just select the Database tab and start browsing.
Since you are going after male and female records, you might also be interested to know that you can select 2 records with the same template and then use right-click edit to edit both (or more) records at the same time, side by side in the same instance of DBReditor.
I tried extracting to c:\GDMod as suggested in the thread I linked but I got the error I mentioned.
In AM, you set the working folder in the Tools->options. This is the destination. On my machine I use:
Working: C:\Users\jiaco\Documents\My Games\Grim Dawn\Working
Build: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Grim Dawn
Tools: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Grim Dawn
Additional Browse Directories: C:\Users\jiaco\Documents\My Games\Grim Dawn\Working\
That last setting probably lets me view the vanilla records when I have no mod selected.
But when you go to extract, AM (for some unknown reason) wants you to choose the game folder (where AM lives…hehe, go figure). For me I browse to:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Grim Dawn and then let her rip.
What I did, was before I modded any files, I right clicked my whole GD folder in Common (same folder you use to extract), and I copy/ pasted a backup to have just in case. Then I modded over the base game, since I had a backup folder in case I screwed something up.
This way, once the tools are extracted, ALL you need to do is change what you wanted to change, click Build (will take time the first time around), and do NOT click yes on the “would you like to delete blah blah” window that will pop up after. Then once that is finished, click archive, and build that too. Will take as much time as the first build took. And once you load your GD, your changes will be inside. No need to use Custom Maps.
I get the same error:
Error 0xff executing command: ‘archivetool.exe “C:\Users\Innomen\Documents\My Games\GDMod\database\database.arz” -database “C:\Users\Innomen\Documents\My Games\GDMod\database”’
Failed to open archive file C:\Users\Innomen\Documents\My Games\GDMod\database emplates.arc.
Error 0xffffffff executing command: ‘archivetool.exe “C:\Users\Innomen\Documents\My Games\GDMod\database emplates.arc” -extract “C:\Users\Innomen\Documents\My Games\GDMod\database”’
The only time extract worked is when I used the game’s root directory as suggested by Heathen. I’m not even sure what this is supposed to be doing. Extracting what to where and why?
I’m guessing I’m extracting a copy of compressed game files so the mod tool can read them, and presumable allow me to save modified versions later. That’s how it worked in other games I modded.
Sidenote: IMO mod>new should open a wizard asking you some basic intent type questions about your mod and then make suggestions about procedure form there.
“Is your mod intended to be a total conversion or a minor edit?”
“Do you intend to distribute your mod?”
“Will your mod be using external resources such as sounds and texture?”
“Is your mod a content addition or a rule change?”
Etc etc.
My goal here ultimately is essentially to end up with a firefox plugin type of mod for players sick of the punishing and pointless respec cost.
(Why modular mods and or plugins in games aren’t a bigger thing has always baffled me.)
Oh ok, so basically you’re using the mod tool as a game editor.
That’s cool, and probably what I’ll end up doing, but still as per my previous post I would like to share my work. (In school I was the kid that was happy to let other kids copy off me.) X)
Oh I know. I use this method, and I have a pretty large mod on here, of which I have no trouble uploading/ sharing.
I still think you are not pointing AM at the game install folder when you try to extract the game files. You have to do this first. Then you get the game templates and can later, if you choose, try to extract some other arz file. But first you need text copies of all the binary compressed data inside the vanilla game database.arz. Just point AM to the Grim Dawn folder as I showed and it will extract it all.
I say this with all sincere respect; this is really confusing, even to me.
That’s kinda sad that we’re gonna have to make huge mods which ultimately make changes that would fit in a tweet.
Oh well, this game is 99% single player anyway. Should worry about my own amusement before worrying about sharing with others I guess. Thanks for your help.
Once I have the files extracted via the tool into the root steam common GD directory (backup being made as we speak) can you walk me through the edit you mentioned in more detail?
Also, will this be retroactive or do I need to make a new character?
Ugh, ok, I let someone else take a stab at it, but the error suggests that he is not actually providing AM with the path to where GD is installed in order to extract the vanilla game files.