Help with mods in DS2

[Newstage]

Hi I am quite new to DS2 (Vanilla), played it a lot already and I can say I am with inspiration to create mods for the game, but mods that adds maps, non canonical stories and (mobs, npc and etc). I can say I have a quite knowledge in 3D modelling and texturization so I wanted to try to make a mod for the game.

 

I would apreciate any help, guide on how I could start on it, since it would be the first time I'm doing this.

 

Thanks.

[WastelandAssassin]

well , I don't think I've ever seen any mod that adds new content , aside from mods that add enemy placements to the game

I've never seen anything regarding new maps , NPCs or quest lines , and I'm not so sure how doable these are , so these may require far more research on your part (I've never even heard of an attempt like this for DS2 , the closest thing I've seen is the estus quest mod for DS1 , I'll have to find a link to it , but I think it required hacking the code of the game to make)

 

most mods I've seen are retexture mods , which only really require replacing the textures with new files (you can find plenty of them on the DS2 site , and see which file types you need and how to make them)

as for enemy placements and such , you could use https://www.nexusmods.com/darksouls2/mods/755

new lands or even items would require unpacking different files , and I don't think there is currently an unpacker for these archives right now

 

sorry I don't have much help to offer , but Dark Souls modding isn't something most people do , and most mods I've seen are for DS1 , especially since this is the oldest and most played of the games , and there have been no official tools for any of these games (which does make sense , but still a shame)

[Newstage]

I understand. Don't worry, what you already said helped a lot. I think I'll start with something simple for sure. I'll use the links you gave me for reteture and enemies placements and in the right time I'll see how to mod more depper the game.

 

It's interesting what you said about the Estus quest mod on DS1, is something like that what I'm looking for, here the links:

 

Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/darksouls/comments/6913er/easier_dark_souls_modding_estus_quest_mod_event/

 

youtube:

(I think it's from the same guy, it's a very interesting tutorial)

 

This doesn't have much to do with dark souls but it's interesting as well:

 

Also I realized (I think) that the folder to make the mods in DS1 (the DATA folder) doesn't exist in DS2 or 3. It appears that the files of the game are in the steam directory with the ds2.exe.

 

So I found this: https://github.com/Atvaark/DarkSoulsII.FileFormats

 

It explains some of the file formats in there as well if they are packed.

 

And I found this too: https://github.com/Atvaark/BinderTool (it's some sort of unpacker of some types of the ds2 file formats)

 

Another thread about bindertool: http://zenhax.com/viewtopic.php?t=1933

 

It seems to work, but at the time I don't understand well, as I didn't found any tutorial about it. But I tried unpacking the GameDataEbl on the ds2 folder and the BinderTool automatically unpacks and create the folder insider the steam directory with thousands of files.

 

Well, I'll try to figure out how to make texture mods, weapons and etc, easier things first, because I really like the game.

 

And everything I discover I'll tell here.

 

Thanks again.