Gothic Mod Build Tool

A simple tool designed to help in testing and building Gothic and Gothic 2 Night of the Raven mods.

This project was developed primarily for the purpose of assisting the SoulFire team with the development of The Chronicles of Myrtana.

Tool available in English , Polish and Slovak .

Table of Contents

• How does it work?
  • Idea
  • Modes
  • Speed
• Status
• Download
• Installation & Requirements
• Configuration
  • Example
• Usage
  • Common parameters
  • Common parameters (test & spacer & build & compile & pack)
  • Common parameters (test & spacer & build & compile)
  • Common parameters (test & build)
  • Common parameters (test & spacer)
  • Common parameters (test & compile)
  • Common parameters (build & pack)
  • Verb commands
    • test
    • build
    • compile
    • pack
    • spacer
    • update
  • Examples
• Advanced usage
  • Hooks
  • Predefined options
• Example project
• License
• Built with
• Used software
• Acknowledgments
• Contributing / issues / contact

How does it work?

Idea

Let’s start with some background: the Gothic Mod Build Tool is kind of a breakthrough in Gothic modding, because it is one of the few successful attempts to create a build system which fully automates the process that was previously done manually, every modder had to manually compile assets like textures, meshes and animations and send them to their co-modders. Now, working with version control systems is possible, because each modder has the same version of assets at the same time and at any time can launch the game without need to build a .mod and not run into errors or discrepancies due to a lack of or mismatching assets.

This tool serves two very important purposes, to merge and to compile everything. It uses external tool for updating dialogs subtitles but also launches the Gothic game executable and compiles assets like 3D models and animations ingame with appropriate game settings.

Modes

There are 4 modes of use:

• Compile - merges assets directories, compiles assets and reparses scripts
  • Quick - only reparses scripts and compiles other necessary assets
  • Full - compiles, reparses and converts everything
• Test - merges assets directories, compiles assets and reparses scripts and launches the game
  • Quick - only reparses scripts and compiles other necessary assets. Not everything is compiled, so lag/stuttering can occur because of compiling textures, animations and 3D models “on the fly”, in game.
  • Full - compiles, reparses and converts everything. This takes more time, but you can play without problems like lag and stuttering.
• Build - merges assets directories, compiles assets, reparses scripts and packs a .mod volume.
• Pack - only packs a .mod volume with available assets

Speed

On a mid-range PC with an HDD, a no sounds build of a huge addon The Chronicles of Myrtana with around 300 MB of worlds, 800 MB of textures, 150 MB of animations and 3D models, takes about 9 - 10 minutes. Similar time with a full test (subtract about a half minute of packing the .mod).

Status

The most important features of the tool are finalized. Currently around 30 modders in SoulFire team are using this tool everyday and various problems are being reported and fixed on ongoing basis.

Milestone for 1.0 version is set to January 1, 2020.

Download

Latest stable release	Latest unstable release	Unstable development (dev branch)

Installation & Requirements

• Download latest version of the tool. The installer will install GMBT to %APPDATA%\GMBT and add this path to %PATH% variable.

• .NET Framework 4.7 is required to run the tool.

• A clean installation of vanilla Gothic or Gothic 2 Night of the Raven on your PC. You must have a COMPLETELY clean copy of game, with no mods, textures packs and other such.

• Gothic Patch 1.08k or Gothic II Report-Version 2.6-rev2

• Gothic Player Kit v1.08k or Gothic 2 Player Kit 2.6f.

• Of course, you can also install SystemPack if you have problems with the game.

After installation, you can run the Gothic copy ONLY via GMBT. Of course, you can use eg. Spacer, but you have to complete a full test before (the scripts have to be compiled because Spacer needs eg. GOTHIC.DAT and CAMERA.DAT).

Next you have to do configuration and run the tool with the command you want (usage guide).

Configuration

You have to configure a YAML config:

• projectName - string (required)

  Title of modification using for example as default VDF volume comment.

• gothicRoot - string (required)

  Path to game root directory, eg. relative path (..\..) or absolute (C:\Program Files\JoWood\Gothic 2 Gold Edition)

• minimalVersion - string

  Minimal version of GMBT required to run the project. Eg. v0.14.1

• modFiles - structure
  • assets - strings list (required)

    Paths to assets directories which have to be placed in _work/Data directories. You have to prepare right structure inside these directories (same as in _work/Data: <dir>\Anims, <dir>\Scripts and so on).

  • exclude - strings list

    Exclude files from merging. Only files paths, not directories and wildcarts.

  • defaultWorld - string (required)

    Name (not path) of ZEN, eg. NEWWORLD.ZEN

• modVdf - structure
  • output - string (required)

    Path to save .mod file.

  • comment - string

    VDF volume comment.

    Available special characters:

    • %%N - new line
    • %%D - date and time in UTC

  • include - strings list

    Include some files or directories (wildcarts enabled) to VDF. Path’s root is game root, eg. _work\Data\Scripts\Content\*.d

  • exclude - strings list

    Exclude some files or directories (wildcarts enabled) from VDF. Path’s root is game root, eg. _work\Data\Worlds\Test\*.zen

• gothicIniOverrides - dictionary

  Keys of GOTHIC.INI you want to override when running test or build.

  Syntax: [‘section.key’, ‘value’] or ‘section.key’: ‘target’, eg. ‘GAME.playLogoVideos' : '0'

• install - dictionary

  Optional files and directories you want to install.

  Syntax: [source, target] or source: target

Example

Below is an example files structure and configuration used in The Chronicles of Myrtana project. Also, the same structure you can see in the example project.

Our developers have to clone modification repository to _Work directory, so their local repository is located in _Work/TheChroniclesOfMyrtana. We have a complex structure for our files. There are four directories:

• mdk - there are eg. original scripts, animations (if needed eg. to compile some new animations)
• mdk-overrides - there are overrides of original assets to maintain transparency and organization
• mod - own new assets, scripts, music and so on. There are only completely new files. Overrides of originals are in the mdk-overrides
• thirdparty - some resources from thirdparty libraries and projects on which we have license to use

We have got this config in root of the local repository (_Work/TheChroniclesOfMyrtana/.gmbt.yml).

projectName: The Chronicles of Myrtana

gothicRoot: ..\..

modFiles:
  assets:
    - mdk
    - mdk-overrides
    - thirdparty
    - mod

  defaultWorld: KM_WORLD.ZEN

modVdf:
  output:  ..\..\Data\ModVDF\KM.mod
  comment: Gothic 2 - The Chronicles of Myrtana (%%D)%%N(C) 2018 SoulFire

  exclude:
    - _work\Data\Worlds\KM_SUBZENS\*

gothicIniOverrides:
  - 'GAME.playLogoVideos' : '0'
  - 'SKY_OUTDOOR.zSkyDome' : '1'

As you can see, there are only relative paths because this file is in our remote Git repository and every collaborator does not have to configure everything by themselves. And this is the main idea of this tool, to enable easy collaboration in version control systems and large teams.

Usage

At this moment the only way to use the tool is command line interface. GUI application is planned, but below you can find simple examples of Windows Batch files.

Common parameters

Common parameters (test & spacer & build & compile & pack)

Common parameters (test & spacer & build & compile)

Common parameters (test & build)

Common parameters (test & spacer)

Common parameters (test & compile)

Common parameters (build & pack)

Verb commands

test

Starts test.

build

Starts a .mod build.

compile

Starts compilation.

pack

Packs a .mod volume.

spacer

Starts Spacer.

update

Updates the tool.

Examples

Example Batch scripts are also in example project.

Below are some examples used developing The Chronicles of Myrtana project:

• GMBT_QuickTest.bat

  gmbt test --windowed --noaudio

• GMBT_QuickTest_ScriptsDebug.bat

  You can run something like this if you are debbuging scripts only and you do not want to copy all assets every time. Gothic is running windowed, without audio and without main menu.

  gmbt test --windowed --noaudio --merge=scripts

• GMBT_QuickTest_ScriptsAndWorldsDebug.bat

  Similar to previous with additional merging of worlds.

  gmbt test --windowed --noaudio --merge=scripts,worlds

• GMBT_FullTest.bat

  Full test. Gothic is running windowed.

  gmbt test -F --windowed

• GMBT_BuildVDF.bat

  Builds a .mod.

  gmbt build

Example project

There is an example project which uses this tool. There are some assets from World of Gothic DE Modderdatenbank — just for the test. That repository is very nice sandbox which allows you to get acquainted with the tool. The repository has the same structure of files as in example configuration.

Advanced usage

Hooks

Hooks are actions that can be set in config file to trigger actions at certain points in the tool execution.

Modes

• common - executes in every instance
• test - executes when test (quick or full) is executing.
  • quickTest - executes when quick test is executing
  • fullTest - executes when full test is executing
• build - executes when build is executing
• compile - executes when compilation (quick or full) is executing
  • quickCompile - executes when quick compilation is executing
  • fullCompile - executes when full compilation is executing
• pack - executes when pack mode is executing

Types

• pre - before an event
• post - after an event

Events

• assetsMerge
• subtitlesUpdate

Hooks have to be set in config file. Example:

hooks: 
    common: 
        post:
            assetsMerge: 
                - "tools/script.bat"
                - "tools/script1.bat"
    test: 
        post:
            subtitlesUpdate: 
                - "tools/script2.bat"
    quickTest: 
        pre:
            assetsMerge: 
                - "tools/script3.bat"

To better understand the entire process of tool execution, you should look at the diagram:

Predefined options

Predefined options is something like templates for command line parameters.

You can set predefined options sets in config file:

predefined:
  - "world": "--world=WORLD.ZEN"
  - "anotherworld": "--world=WORLD2.ZEN"

and then, instead of calling gmbt test --world=WORLD2.ZEN, you can type gmbt test anotherworld.

License

MIT License

Copyright (c) 2019 Szymon 'Szmyk' Zak <[email protected]> and contributors

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy
of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal
in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights
to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell
copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is
furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all
copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER
LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM,
OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE
SOFTWARE.

Built with

• YamlDotNet Copyright (c) 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 Antoine Aubry and contributors
• CommandLineParser Copyright (c) 2005 - 2015 Giacomo Stelluti Scala & Contributors
• Newtonsoft.Json Copyright (c) 2007 James Newton-King

Licenses and disclaimers are in the ThirdPartyNotices.md file.

Used software

• GothicVDFS 2.6 Copyright (c) 2001-2003, Nico Bendlin
• Virtual Disk File System (VDFS) Copyright (c) 1994-2002, Peter Sabath / TRIACOM Software GmbH
• NSIS (Nullsoft Scriptable Install System) Copyright (C) 1999-2018 Nullsoft and Contributors

Licenses and disclaimers are in the tools directory.

Acknowledgments

Big thanks to:

• the whole SoulFire team, especially ‘oGon’, ‘Xardas49’, ‘Komuch’ and ‘Revo’ for testing on the very early stage of production
• Nico Bendlin for huge help with understanding ZenGin engine intricacy
• Adam ‘Avallach’ Golebiowski for idea of this tool and help on the very early stage of production
• Mikolaj ‘Miko’ Sitarek for proofreading
• Marek ‘CarnageMarkus’ Karas for translation into Slovak language

Contributing / issues / contact