How to even start modding?

[necramonium]

Mods are popping up left and right for this game, but i can't find a single tutorial on how to start modding on this game. There was one i remember about two weeks ago posted on nexusmods and it's gone now. How do i even start?

[Fruchu2k]

I would like to know it too. I know how to unpacking pak files and changing values in cfg files, but this is just the basics of basic stuff you could do.

[Hairymouse]

Before you can even start, you gonna need all the requisite software/programs... a good editor, conversion or packing/unpacking tool for .pak files and for .utoc/.uasset files, a compare/merge tool, tools to get your structure mapping and AES key, an archive explorer tool for viewing, selecting, and extracting the files/assets you want to modify, and installed any dependencies those tools require to run.

Things to look at are Notepad ++, FModel, RePak Tool, UnrealPakTool, UE4SS, AES Dumpster, S2HOCMM, and UnrealReZen. Also, make sure you have and are up to date with dependencies like WinMerge and .NET.

It's not really hard to do, the trouble comes in knowing what the devs intended for ambiguously and similarly, and obscurely names values to do, as well as which values are deprecated and no longer apply due to being superseded by another file, as well as whether raising or lowering a value gives the desired or undesired effect. This is where the trouble comes in. You can look up any old guide, and not JUST for S2. There are a lot of resources out there for UE5, but what you can't find is clarification on what exactly the devs meant with their name of a certain modifier.

[overjoony]

This is the first game i released a mod for just for fun, but now it's more work to keep up with constant updates 

i only needed a tool to make and unpack the mod files and any editor will do but i agree a better editor makes life much easier, i recommend notepad++

Modding is Mostly Logic, simple common sense, curiosity and patience.

Once you figured it out, it's just routine work 

Stalker is very modding friendly if you want to change parameters like weapons, Ballistics, items like scanners, weather, graphics, AI (A-Live) and so on.

Visual mods like weapon skins require more knowledge with graphic tools an or 3d modelling not sure absolutely not my department lol 

I started by downloading a mod and tried to look into it. Turns out it's just a simple configuration file in which parameters a defined

the parameters are self-explanatory, like "aiminigfovmodifier" or "AimingTime"

example: 

Quote

//Durability
   WeaponDurabilityCurve = CurveFloat'/Game/GameLite/Resources/ShootingPatterns/WeaponDurabilityCurve.WeaponDurabilityCurve'
//Aiming
   AimingTime = 0.0
   LeanAimingTime = 0.3 // aim time when auto avoid cover
   AimingFOVModifier = 0.8
   AimingMovementSpeedModifier = 1.0
   AimVFXSocketMinAlpha = 0.5

I looked further, how to unpack and repack the file . I use https://www.nexusmods.com/stalker2heartofchornobyl/mods/374 stalker PAK tool to pack and unpack .pak files

 

Edited June 28 by overjoony