Difference between revisions of "Radish Trial 1 Installation Step By Step Guide"

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== Folder Structure ==
 
== Folder Structure ==
  
Downloading and installing all the tools, as well as its requirements, can create a mess, if you just throw everything in one or two folders.<br/> Therefor I would strongly recommend drawing up a well structured folder-hierarchie.
+
Downloading and installing all the tools&nbsp;as well as their dependencies can create a mess&nbsp;if&nbsp;they're left lying around haphazardly,&nbsp;therefore&nbsp;it's&nbsp;strongly recommend to draw&nbsp;up a well-structured folder hierarchy beforehand.
 +
 
 +
<span style="color:#c0392b"><u>Tip:</u> Place your root folder for modding as close to the base directory of your disk as possible (''C:\,&nbsp;H:\,&nbsp;G:\''&nbsp;etc.)&nbsp;and avoid any special characters. Both special characters&nbsp;and directory names above 256 chars&nbsp;can and will cause serious errors&nbsp;when trying to run the tools.</span>
 +
 
 +
<u>Advice</u>: Rid of space in the path. So instead of "Witcher 3", use "Witcher_3" to avoid later issues.
  
<span style="color:#c0392b;">Tip: Place your root-folder for modding as close to the base (C:/, H:/, G:/, etc..) of your disk as possible and avoid any special characters.<br/> Both can cause serious errors, when trying to run the tools correctly.</span>
+
<span style="color:#c0392b">​​</span><span style="color: rgb(192, 57, 43);"><u>Warning:</u> A part of the installation has to be on an NTFS file system. It is therefore recommended to store the whole folder structure on a drive formatted with NTFS (most drives run with NTFS nowadays). Here is how to check, if you're unsure</span><span style="color: rgb(231, 76, 60);">:</span> [https://www.howtogeek.com/681125/how-to-see-a-drives-file-system-on-windows-10/ https://www.howtogeek.com/681125/how-to-see-a-drives-file-system-on-windows-10/]
  
In the following paragraphs I will use the following basic structure ('''You need to change the paths to your folder structure accordingly'''):
+
In the&nbsp;tutorial, the following basic structure will be referred to (the paths '''need to be adjusted''' to your specific folder structure accordingly):
  
{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" style="width: 600px;"
+
{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" style="width: 600px"
 
|-
 
|-
 
| ''Root''
 
| ''Root''
 
| ''H:\Witcher 3''
 
| ''H:\Witcher 3''
| &nbsp;
+
| ''root of the folder structure''
 
|-
 
|-
| ''Game Installation''
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| ''Game installation''
 
| ''H:\Witcher 3\_game&nbsp;''
 
| ''H:\Witcher 3\_game&nbsp;''
| ''shared for all your mod-projects''
+
| ''game files''
 
|-
 
|-
| ''External Tools&nbsp; &nbsp;''
+
| ''External tools&nbsp; &nbsp;''
 
| ''H:\Witcher 3\_modTools''
 
| ''H:\Witcher 3\_modTools''
| ''shared for all your mod-projects''
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| ''tools used to mod''
 
|-
 
|-
| ''Mod-Projects''
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| ''Mod projects''
 
| ''H:\Witcher 3\_projects''
 
| ''H:\Witcher 3\_projects''
| &nbsp;
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| ''modding projects''
 
|-
 
|-
 
| ''Download''
 
| ''Download''
 
| ''H:\Witcher 3\downloads''
 
| ''H:\Witcher 3\downloads''
| ''just for convenience''
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| ''for convenience's sake''
 
|}
 
|}
  
[[File:Folders1.PNG]]
+
[[File:Folders1.PNG|RTENOTITLE]]
 +
 
 +
Note that&nbsp;(sub)folders may need to be added to this structure later on in this guide. This is simply&nbsp;the basic structure.
  
Please note that a lot of (sub-)folders may be added to this structure later on in this guide. This is just the basic structure!
+
== Installing the Game ==
  
== About the Game ==
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<span style="color:#c0392b;"><u><span data-darkreader-inline-color="" style="--darkreader-inline-color:#d45e51;">Tips:</span></u></span>
  
<span style="color:#c0392b;">Tip: Always use a '''completely fresh game-installation''' for modding! For this guide We are going to install it completely from ground up.</span>
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*<span style="color:#c0392b;"><span data-darkreader-inline-color="" style="--darkreader-inline-color:#d45e51;">Always use a '''completely fresh&nbsp;install'''&nbsp;for modding.&nbsp;For this guide, we'll be&nbsp;starting from scratch and start with installing the game.</span></span>
 +
*<span style="color:#c0392b;"><span data-darkreader-inline-color="" style="--darkreader-inline-color:#d45e51;">An '''english game installation''' is required.&nbsp;The Radish suite does&nbsp;'''not '''natively'''&nbsp;'''support other languages. Attempting it&nbsp;will lead to broken quest names/descriptions etc.</span></span>
 +
*<span style="color:#c0392b;"><span data-darkreader-inline-color="" style="--darkreader-inline-color:#d45e51;">If you want to play the game while modding it concurrently, using '''two&nbsp;separate builds''' is advisable. As the game is DRM-free, one can simply copy everything to a different directory.</span></span>  
  
 
Install the game into your chosen directory.
 
Install the game into your chosen directory.
  
<span style="color:#c0392b;">Tip: If you want to play the game normally while modding at the same time, I would recommend to have to separate game-installations.<br/> To create a new game-installation (in GOG) just rename the current on (e.g. put a _ in front of the name) and restart GOG completely.<br/> Now GOG should offer you to install the game to your desired directory. After the installation, just configurate the path back to the original installation folder.</span>
+
GOG will install your game to <samp>_game\The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt GOTY</samp> by default.&nbsp;This subdivision&nbsp;is not to my liking, so I am going to move the files&nbsp;one directory up, to my game installation&nbsp;folder. This step is optional, but keep it&nbsp;in mind for the future paths,&nbsp;should you not follow.
  
My installation window:
+
My <samp>_game</samp> folder looks like this right now. If you use Steam, you will have a different layout.
  
[[File:Installation1.PNG|430x500px|Installation1.PNG]]
+
[[File:Installation2.PNG|RTENOTITLE]]
  
<span style="color:#c0392b;">Tip: Always use an English game installation! Radish Modding Tools do '''not&nbsp;'''support other languages natively. This will lead to funny quest names and descriptions&nbsp;:-)</span>
+
For many&nbsp;of the tools used, it's necessary to enable debugging scripts for&nbsp;in-game data to be dumped for further use.<br/> To achieve this,&nbsp;the&nbsp;<samp>-debugscripts</samp>&nbsp;launch argument needs to be added to the shortcut.
  
GOG will install your game to [''Game Installation'']\The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt GOTY.&nbsp; That unnecessary folder is not to my taste, so I am going to move the game-files directly to my [''Game Installation'']&nbsp;Folder instead. You don't have to follow this step, but please keep in mind for the future paths, should you not follow.
+
Right click on the shortcut, select Properties,&nbsp;and add the command as shown below:
 +
 
 +
[[File:Shortcut.1.PNG|RTENOTITLE]]
  
My _game folder looks like this right now:
 
  
[[File:Installation2.PNG|RTENOTITLE]]
 
  
  
Line 62: Line 74:
 
== Uncooking ==
 
== Uncooking ==
  
Now that we have a clean install of The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt we can proceed to a step called uncooking the game.<br/> This uncooking decodes the game files and makes them editable/usable for our own mods. There are 2 ways of uncooking the games files, a short one and a longer one.
+
Now that we have a clean install of The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt,&nbsp;we can proceed to what's called&nbsp;"uncooking" the game files. This decodes the game files and makes them usable for modding purposes. There are 2 ways of uncooking the games files, a short one and a longer one.
 +
 
 +
<span style="color:#c0392b"><u>Tip:</u> Doing both is advised. People have been known to have problems because neither method is exclusively reliable. Save yourself&nbsp;some troubleshooting later on and use&nbsp;both methods from the get-go.</span>
  
<span style="color:#c0392b;">Tip: Do both! For some people one way work, for some the other one. Some people even had to do both.<br/> Save yourself some pain and troubleshooting&nbsp;and go both ways in the first place.</span>
+
For some mods (usually relatively bigger ones), it can be necessary to uncook some additional files (e.g. shadow meshes).&nbsp;It will be covered in this guide for completion purposes, but is fully optional for basic quests.
  
For some (mostly bigger) mods it can be necessary to uncook some additional files (e.g. shadow meshes).&nbsp;<br/> It will be covered in this guide, but is fully optional for basic quests.
+
&nbsp;
  
  
 +
=== The modus operandi ===
  
 +
Several tools are needed to uncook the game files, including&nbsp;WCC_lite, QuickBMS and Radish.&nbsp;
  
=== Tools needed ===
+
==== WCC_lite ====
  
Too uncook the games files You'll need several tools, including&nbsp;wcc_lite, radish tools and Quick_BMS.&nbsp;
+
The official Witcher 3 ModKit can be found here:&nbsp;[https://www.nexusmods.com/witcher3/mods/3173?tab=files&file_id=21542 https://www.nexusmods.com/witcher3/mods/3173?tab=files&file_id=21542]
 +
 
 +
After downloading, extract&nbsp;<samp>setup.exe</samp> and execute it. It will automatically install into&nbsp;<samp>C:\Program Files (x86)\Witcher 3 Mod Tools</samp>. That's not necessarily the directory we want it in. To have all the tools together, move the folder&nbsp;<samp>Witcher 3 Mod Tools</samp> into your <samp>_modTools</samp>&nbsp;folder (see table above for my absolute path).
 +
 
 +
My <samp>_modTools\Witcher 3 Mod Tools</samp>&nbsp;folder:
 +
 
 +
[[File:ModTools.3.PNG|RTENOTITLE]]
 +
 
 +
Now that the modkit is installed, it needs to be patched. By default&nbsp;the application is absurdly slow, but this can thankfully be worked around.
 +
 
 +
The patch can be found here:&nbsp;[https://forums.cdprojektred.com/index.php?threads/patched-wcc_lite-for-faster-startup.6883680/ https://forums.cdprojektred.com/index.php?threads/patched-wcc_lite-for-faster-startup.6883680/].
 +
 
 +
Download the file and overwrite <samp>wcc_lite.exe</samp>, which&nbsp;is located in&nbsp;<samp><External tools>\Witcher 3 Mod Tools\bin\x64\</samp>.
 +
 
 +
Next,&nbsp;download the WCC_lite GUI for easier use, as the CLI of WCC_lite can be daunting, to say the least.
 +
 
 +
The GUI can be found here:&nbsp;[https://www.nexusmods.com/witcher3/mods/3332?tab=files&file_id=22973 https://www.nexusmods.com/witcher3/mods/3332?tab=files&file_id=22973].
 +
 
 +
Download it and place&nbsp;it in your&nbsp;<samp>_modTools\Witcher 3 Mod Tools</samp> folder.
 +
 
 +
Upon the first start-up, you will be prompted to locate your installation of&nbsp;<samp>wcc_lite.exe</samp>. Just follow the above-mentioned path and select it.
 +
 
 +
==== QuickBMS ====
 +
 
 +
The second way of uncooking your game requires QuickBMS together with a preset from the Radish tools Nexus page.
 +
 
 +
The program can be acquired from here:&nbsp;[https://aluigi.altervista.org/quickbms.htm https://aluigi.altervista.org/quickbms.htm].
 +
 
 +
Create a new folder named <samp>QuickBMS</samp>&nbsp;in&nbsp;your <samp>_modTools</samp>&nbsp;path and&nbsp;extract all the files from the downloaded archive here.
 +
 
 +
The Radish QuickBMS uncook script can be found here:&nbsp;[https://www.nexusmods.com/witcher3/mods/3620?tab=files&file_id=25205 https://www.nexusmods.com/witcher3/mods/3620?tab=files&file_id=25205].
 +
 
 +
Extract all the files to your <samp>QuickBMS</samp> folder, as well.
 +
 
 +
To&nbsp;set up QuickBMS, open up the&nbsp;<samp>.bat</samp> file called <samp>radish.uncook</samp> and adjust the two paths in accordance with&nbsp;your specific directories. The first path&nbsp;<samp>SET W3_DIR = D:\The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt</samp>''&nbsp;''becomes&nbsp;<samp>SET W3_DIR = H:\Witcher 3\_game</samp>.
 +
 
 +
The uncooked files will be copied to the second path. This is just a temporary directory, so it's not important&nbsp;what it's set to. If&nbsp;you intend to keep the uncooked data,&nbsp;a new folder path must be created:
 +
 
 +
{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" style="width: 600px"
 +
|-
 +
| ''H:\Witcher 3\_uncooked''
 +
| ''Uncooked Game Files''
 +
|}
 +
 
 +
This folder will contain all uncooked game files from all sources.
 +
 
 +
<span style="color:#c0392b"><u>Tip:</u> The complete uncooked game data can take up to >100 GB of disk space, so if&nbsp;storage is an issue, keeping the uncooked game data permanently isn't necessary.</span>
 +
 
 +
The second path&nbsp;<samp>SET OUTPUT_DIR = D:\tmp\qbms.all</samp> thus becomes&nbsp;<samp>SET OUTPUT_DIR=H:\Witcher 3\_uncooked\QuickBMS</samp>.
 +
 
 +
==== The Radish Tools ====
 +
 
 +
The&nbsp;next step is to download the external (non-ingame) part of the Radish suite, including all the encoders.
 +
 
 +
Download:&nbsp;[https://www.nexusmods.com/witcher3/mods/3620?tab=files&file_id=33023 https://www.nexusmods.com/witcher3/mods/3620?tab=files&file_id=33023]
 +
 
 +
Extract the <samp>radish-tools</samp>''&nbsp;''folder into your <samp>_modTools\Witcher 3 Mod Tools</samp>. This path more for personal taste than for functionality.
 +
 
 +
My&nbsp;<samp>_modTools\Witcher 3 Mod Tools</samp> folder now:
 +
 
 +
[[File:ModTools.4.PNG|RTENOTITLE]]
  
 
&nbsp;
 
&nbsp;
  
==== The Witcher 3 Modkit (wcc_lite) ====
+
=== The uncooking process itself ===
 +
 
 +
<span style="color:#e74c3c"><u>Warning:</u> As mentioned above, uncooking all the files requires a minimum disk space of 100 GB. Ensure there is enough.</span>
 +
 
 +
==== WCC_lite ====
 +
 
 +
To uncook the game files via WCC_lite (the long way), open up the GUI. On the left hand side is&nbsp;found&nbsp;a command called <samp>uncook</samp>. After ticking it,&nbsp;the following image should be seen:
 +
 
 +
[[File:WccLite.1.PNG|RTENOTITLE]]
 +
 
 +
A lot of parameters can be found on the right, only&nbsp;<samp>indir</samp> and <samp>outdir</samp>&nbsp;matter here. These must be filled in&nbsp;as below:
  
First tool We are going to have a closer look at is the official witcher modkit.
+
{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" style="width: 800px"
 +
|-
 +
| ''indir''
 +
| ''<Game installation>\content''
 +
| ''H:\Witcher 3\_game\content''
 +
|-
 +
| ''outdir''
 +
| ''<Uncooked game files>\Wcc''
 +
| ''H:\Witcher 3\_uncooked\Wcc''
 +
|}
  
You can find it here:&nbsp;[https://www.nexusmods.com/witcher3/mods/3173?tab=files&file_id=21542 https://www.nexusmods.com/witcher3/mods/3173?tab=files&file_id=21542]
+
After filling in the params, hit <samp>Run Command</samp>''&nbsp;''in the upper left corner.
  
After downloading unzip the setup.exe into any folder of choice and execute it.<br/> It will automatically install into&nbsp;''C:\Program Files (x86)\Witcher 3 Mod Tools''. That is not necessarily the path, where We want it.<br/> To have all Our tools together, move the folder&nbsp;''Witcher 3 Mod Tools'' into&nbsp;Your [''External Tools''] (see table above for my absolute path) folder.
+
<span style="color:#e74c3c"><u>Warning:</u> This process is slow,&nbsp;it takes a few&nbsp;hours even on modern NVMe&nbsp;SSDs, so be prepared to leave it running.</span>
  
My ''_modTools\Witcher 3 Mod Tools''&nbsp;folder:
+
The WCC GUI should now look like this:
  
[[File:ModTools.3.PNG|RTENOTITLE]]
+
[[File:WccLite.2.PNG|RTENOTITLE]]
 +
 
 +
Your&nbsp;<samp>_uncooked\Wcc</samp>&nbsp;folder&nbsp;should now look like this:
 +
 
 +
[[File:Radish.Uncook.2.PNG|RTENOTITLE]]
 +
 
 +
As you might have noticed, the folder structure of this path looks similar to&nbsp;<samp>_modTools\Witcher 3 Mod Tools\r4data</samp>.<br/> When the uncooking is finished, we want to copy all the files from our <samp>_uncooked\Wcc</samp>&nbsp;folder into this one.
 +
 
 +
<span style="color:#e74c3c"><u>Warning:</u> '''Do not override '''any files in&nbsp;<samp>modTools\Witcher 3 Mod Tools\r4data</samp>, when asked to,&nbsp;as they contain '''additional necessary data'''. This process can also take some time, especially on HDDs.</span>
 +
 
 +
==== QuickBMS ====
 +
 
 +
Uncooking via QuickBMS is&nbsp;more straightforward, as the paths have already been&nbsp;set up in advance. To uncook the files, simply&nbsp;run the edited <samp>radish.uncook.bat</samp>.
 +
 
 +
Executing this tool won't take nearly as much time as WCC, but will still take a few minutes. When the&nbsp;tool is finished, the CMD window should look like this:
 +
 
 +
[[File:QuickBMS.1.PNG|RTENOTITLE]]
 +
 
 +
Upon completion, locate your&nbsp;<samp>_uncooked\QuickBMS</samp>''&nbsp;''folder and copy all the data to your&nbsp;<samp>_modTools\Witcher 3 Mod Tools\r4data</samp> directory&nbsp;as well.
 +
 
 +
<span style="color:#e74c3c"><u>Warning:</u> Again, '''do not override''' any files in&nbsp;<samp>_modTools\Witcher 3 Mod Tools\r4data</samp>&nbsp;when prompted, as&nbsp;they contain '''additional necessary data'''.</span>
 +
 
 +
 
 +
==== Some additional files ====
 +
 
 +
Besides the uncooked game&nbsp;files, the Radish suite&nbsp;uses&nbsp;some other files&nbsp;as well.
 +
 
 +
These can be found here:&nbsp;[https://www.nexusmods.com/witcher3/mods/3620?tab=files&file_id=33018 https://www.nexusmods.com/witcher3/mods/3620?tab=files&file_id=33018]
 +
 
 +
After downloading, extract the <samp>scripts</samp> folder to your <samp>r4data</samp> folder, this time overwrite existing files.
 +
 
 +
&nbsp;
 +
 
 +
=== To summarize ===
 +
 
 +
The game files have been uncooked via WCC_lite '''and&nbsp;'''QuickBMS, copied into&nbsp;<samp>_modTools\Witcher 3 Mod Tools\r4data</samp> and the additional&nbsp;<samp>scripts</samp> folder provided by the Radish Nexus page&nbsp;has been added.
 +
 
 +
&nbsp;
 +
 
 +
=== Uncooking additional meshes (optional) ===
 +
 
 +
For bigger projects with a lot of custom meshes (e.g&nbsp;a new hub), it may&nbsp;be necessary to extract further files;&nbsp;for example, uncooking shadwomeshes for shadows in custom environments to be displayed correctly.
 +
 
 +
Navigate to&nbsp;<samp>_modTools\Witcher 3 Mod Tools\radish-tools\repo.shadowmeshes</samp>. If the tools are installed correctly, there should exist an <samp>uncook.meshes.bat</samp> file. Open it up in&nbsp;a text editor and&nbsp;set the appropriate paths to our game directory, the modkit and the Radish suite.&nbsp;<samp>DIR_MODKIT</samp>&nbsp;is the main directory of the Official TW3 ModKit and&nbsp;<samp>DIR_ENCODER</samp>&nbsp;is the directory&nbsp;where all Radish encoders can be found.
 +
 
 +
<span style="color:#c0392b"><u>Tip:</u> If a path with parentheses&nbsp;in it is used, you have to escape them with a ^ (see comment in file).</span>
 +
 
 +
My&nbsp;<samp>uncook.meshes.bat</samp> file:
 +
 
 +
[[File:Radish.Uncook.3.PNG|RTENOTITLE]]
 +
 
 +
When running the file, the following error may occur:
 +
 
 +
[[File:Radish.Uncook.4.PNG|RTENOTITLE]]
 +
 
 +
If that happens, at least one shadowmesh hasn't been patched successfully. This can lead to errors in your mod, but there's currently no&nbsp;easy workaround.
 +
 
 +
== Installing the Radish Tools ==
 +
 
 +
=== Requirements ===
 +
 
 +
After all the necessary game files are uncooked, we can start to install all the latest in-game mods, as well as their requirements.
 +
 
 +
The first mod we are going to install is the&nbsp;''Community Patch - Base''&nbsp;mod.
 +
 
 +
You can find it here:&nbsp;[https://www.nexusmods.com/witcher3/mods/3652?tab=files&file_id=24139 https://www.nexusmods.com/witcher3/mods/3652?tab=files&file_id=24139].
 +
 
 +
After downloading the archive, extract the <samp>mods</samp>''and <samp>content</samp> folders into your <samp>_game</samp>&nbsp;directory and overwrite if prompted.
 +
 
 +
Next mod we are going to need is&nbsp;''Community Patch - Bootstrap and Utilities''. The installation here is a bit more complicated.
 +
 
 +
First we are going to choose a base version of the mod. There are 2 different files to choose from:
 +
 
 +
1) You have no custom map changing mods installed (recommended for modding the game):&nbsp;[https://www.nexusmods.com/witcher3/mods/2109?tab=files&file_id=23947 https://www.nexusmods.com/witcher3/mods/2109?tab=files&file_id=23947]<br/> 2) You have a custom map mod (e.g.&nbsp;''All Quest Objectives On Map'' or ''Colored Map Markers''):&nbsp;[https://www.nexusmods.com/witcher3/mods/2109?tab=files&file_id=24145 https://www.nexusmods.com/witcher3/mods/2109?tab=files&file_id=24145]
 +
 
 +
After downloading '''either '''the first '''or '''the second archive, extract the <samp>dlc</samp> and <samp>mods</samp> folder into your <samp>_game</samp>&nbsp;directory.
 +
 
 +
<span style="color:#e74c3c"><u>Warning:</u> Make sure you only install one of the two versions!</span>
 +
 
 +
Next step is to download the bootstrap registry.
 +
 
 +
It can be found here:&nbsp;[https://www.nexusmods.com/witcher3/mods/2109?tab=files&file_id=23946 https://www.nexusmods.com/witcher3/mods/2109?tab=files&file_id=23946].
  
Now that we have the Modkit installed, we are going to patch it. This step is not necessary, but highly recommended to enhance performance!
+
In this archive you will only find a mods folder,&nbsp;copy it into your <samp>_game</samp>&nbsp;directory.
  
The Patch can be found here:&nbsp;[https://forums.cdprojektred.com/index.php?threads/patched-wcc_lite-for-faster-startup.6883680/ https://forums.cdprojektred.com/index.php?threads/patched-wcc_lite-for-faster-startup.6883680/]
+
To make this mod usable, we will also need to add the content of <samp>_game\mods\modBootstrap\modBootstrap.input.settings</samp> to our Witcher 3 input settings.<br/> We achive that by locating our W3 inputs file (commonly:&nbsp;<samp>C:\Users\[Your User]\Documents\The Witcher 3\'''input.settings'''</samp>) and pasting the content to the bottom of the file.
  
Download the file and overwrite the wcc_lite.exe, which&nbsp;is located in&nbsp;[''External Tools'']\Witcher 3 Mod Tools\bin\x64\wcc_lite.exe.<br/> Now Your wcc_lite is succesfully patched!
+
After pasting the content, my <samp>input.settings</samp>'''&nbsp;'''looks like this:
  
Next step is to download the wcc_lite UI for easier use, because wcc_lite is basically just a command line programm.
+
[[File:Input.Settings.1.PNG|RTENOTITLE]]
  
The UI can be found here:&nbsp;[https://www.nexusmods.com/witcher3/mods/3332?tab=files&file_id=22973 https://www.nexusmods.com/witcher3/mods/3332?tab=files&file_id=22973]
+
Now the&nbsp;''Community Patch - Bootstrap and Utilities''&nbsp;mod should finally be installed correctly.
  
Download it and paste it in your&nbsp;[''External Tools'']\Witcher 3 Mod Tools folder.
+
Next we need&nbsp;''Community Patch - Shared Imports''.
  
After starting it up the first time, You will be asked to locate Your wcc_lite.<br/> Just follow the above mentioned path and select it.
+
Just download the archive here:&nbsp;[https://www.nexusmods.com/witcher3/mods/2110?tab=files&file_id=27873 https://www.nexusmods.com/witcher3/mods/2110?tab=files&file_id=27873].
  
Now Your wcc_lite should be fully functional and usable!
+
Again, extract the <samp>mods</samp> folder to your <samp>_game</samp>&nbsp;directory.
  
 
&nbsp;
 
&nbsp;
  
==== Quick_BMS ====
 
  
The second way of uncooking your game requires Quick_BMS together with a preset from the Radish Tools Nexus page.
 
  
Quick_BMS can be downloaded here:&nbsp;[https://aluigi.altervista.org/quickbms.htm https://aluigi.altervista.org/quickbms.htm]
+
=== The Radish Bundle ===
 +
 
 +
Our next step is to download the Radish Ingame Bundle.&nbsp;
 +
 
 +
You can get it here:&nbsp;[https://www.nexusmods.com/witcher3/mods/3620?tab=files&file_id=33019 https://www.nexusmods.com/witcher3/mods/3620?tab=files&file_id=33019].
 +
 
 +
Extract both the <samp>dlc</samp> and&nbsp;<samp>mods</samp> folders into your <samp>_game</samp>&nbsp;directory and overwrite any files&nbsp;when prompted.
 +
 
 +
Next you need to paste the content of '''all '''the *.<samp>input.settings</samp> files from the archive into your&nbsp;W3 inputs (see above).
 +
 
 +
[[File:Input.Settings.2.PNG|RTENOTITLE]]
 +
 
 +
Next we are going to register our mods, so that we can load them in-game. Therefor, we need to locate our <samp>mods_registry.ws</samp> file. It is located at <samp>_game\mods\modBootstrap-registry\content\scripts\local</samp>. Edit it with any text editor of your choice in order to add the following lines somewhere in the function <samp>createMods()</samp>:
 +
<div style="background:#eeeeee;  border:1px solid #cccccc;  padding:5px 10px"><span style="color:#000000">add(modCreate_EnvUiMod());<br/> add(modCreate_RadishUi());</span></div>
 +
My <samp>mods_registry.ws</samp>''&nbsp;''looks like this:
 +
 
 +
[[File:Mods.Registry.1.PNG|RTENOTITLE]]
 +
 
 +
&nbsp;
 +
 
 +
== The template project ==
  
Create a new Folder into your [''External Tools''] path. I will for instance call it Quick BMS.<br/> Extract all the files from the downloaded zip into this newly created folder.
+
Now&nbsp;that all the necessary tools are installed (including their requirements), we're going to have a closer look at the testHub project to check that we did everything right.
  
Next step is to download the Radish Quick_BMS Uncook Script.
+
You can download it here:&nbsp;[https://www.nexusmods.com/witcher3/mods/3620?tab=files&file_id=31076 https://www.nexusmods.com/witcher3/mods/3620?tab=files&file_id=31076].
  
It can be found here:&nbsp;[https://www.nexusmods.com/witcher3/mods/3620?tab=files&file_id=25205 https://www.nexusmods.com/witcher3/mods/3620?tab=files&file_id=25205]
+
Extract it and copy it into your <samp>_projects</samp>&nbsp;folder.
  
Extract all the files to your Quick_BMS folder, as well.
+
The most important file for now is the <samp>_settings_.bat</samp> located in <samp>_projects\modHubTest</samp>. Edit it with a text editor of choice&nbsp;to change paths again.<br/> The paths are exactly the same, as when uncooking the shadow meshes:
  
Too set up Quick_BMS, open the copied .bat file called radish.uncook and adjust the two paths according to your installation/preference.<br/> The first path&nbsp;''SET W3_DIR=d:\The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt&nbsp;''becomes&nbsp;''SET W3_DIR=H:\Witcher 3\_game''.
+
1) Game Installation<br/> 2) The official Modkit<br/> 3) Path where the Radish Encoders are located
  
The second path the uncooked files will be copied to. Because this is just a temporary path, you can choose it, how you want.<br/> In my case (I want to keep the uncooked data) I'm going to create a new folder path:
+
My <samp>_settings_.bat</samp> file:
  
{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" style="width: 600px;"
+
[[File:Settings.1.PNG|RTENOTITLE]]
|-
 
| ''Uncooked Game Files''
 
| ''H:\Witcher 3\_uncooked''
 
|}
 
  
This folder will contain all uncooked game files from all sources.
+
After adjusting the paths correctly, we further have to remove&nbsp;<samp>SET RELEASE_VERSION=YES</samp> on line by making it a comment.&nbsp;In fact, his setting will hinder any source information of this mod to be seen in-game, and that's not what we want.
  
<span style="color:#c0392b;">Tip: All the uncooked game data can take up to > 100 GB of disk space, so if you're low on available space, you don't need to keep your uncooked game data permanentely.</span>
+
[[File:Settings.2.PNG|RTENOTITLE]]
  
The second path&nbsp;''SET OUTPUT_DIR=d:\tmp\qbms.all'' thus becomes&nbsp;''SET OUTPUT_DIR=H:\Witcher 3\_uncooked\Quick BMS''.
+
After editing the ''_settings_.bat'' file, we need to create junction links. We just need to start the <samp>_createLinks_.bat</samp> once and confirm by typing <samp>y</samp>''&nbsp;''(for ''yes'' in english, <samp>j</samp> for ''ja'' in german, etc.).
  
My radish.uncook.bat:
+
[[File:CreateLinks.1.PNG|RTENOTITLE]]
  
[[File:Radish.Uncook.1.PNG|RTENOTITLE]]
+
<span style="color:#c0392b"><u>Tip:</u> Both errors at the top can be ignored.</span>
  
Now your Quick_BMS should also be good to go!
+
Now the testHub should be launchable. You can build it by starting <samp>full.rebuild.bat</samp>&nbsp;in <samp>_projects\modHubTest</samp>.
  
[[Category:Radish modding tools]]
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[[Category:The Witcher 3]] [[Category:Mod Creation]] [[Category:Radish modding tools]]

Latest revision as of 13:25, 28 November 2022

 




Folder Structure

Downloading and installing all the tools as well as their dependencies can create a mess if they're left lying around haphazardly, therefore it's strongly recommend to draw up a well-structured folder hierarchy beforehand.

Tip: Place your root folder for modding as close to the base directory of your disk as possible (C:\, H:\, G:\ etc.) and avoid any special characters. Both special characters and directory names above 256 chars can and will cause serious errors when trying to run the tools.

Advice: Rid of space in the path. So instead of "Witcher 3", use "Witcher_3" to avoid later issues.

​​Warning: A part of the installation has to be on an NTFS file system. It is therefore recommended to store the whole folder structure on a drive formatted with NTFS (most drives run with NTFS nowadays). Here is how to check, if you're unsure: https://www.howtogeek.com/681125/how-to-see-a-drives-file-system-on-windows-10/

In the tutorial, the following basic structure will be referred to (the paths need to be adjusted to your specific folder structure accordingly):

Root H:\Witcher 3 root of the folder structure
Game installation H:\Witcher 3\_game  game files
External tools    H:\Witcher 3\_modTools tools used to mod
Mod projects H:\Witcher 3\_projects modding projects
Download H:\Witcher 3\downloads for convenience's sake

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Note that (sub)folders may need to be added to this structure later on in this guide. This is simply the basic structure.

Installing the Game

Tips:

  • Always use a completely fresh install for modding. For this guide, we'll be starting from scratch and start with installing the game.
  • An english game installation is required. The Radish suite does not natively support other languages. Attempting it will lead to broken quest names/descriptions etc.
  • If you want to play the game while modding it concurrently, using two separate builds is advisable. As the game is DRM-free, one can simply copy everything to a different directory.

Install the game into your chosen directory.

GOG will install your game to _game\The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt GOTY by default. This subdivision is not to my liking, so I am going to move the files one directory up, to my game installation folder. This step is optional, but keep it in mind for the future paths, should you not follow.

My _game folder looks like this right now. If you use Steam, you will have a different layout.

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For many of the tools used, it's necessary to enable debugging scripts for in-game data to be dumped for further use.
To achieve this, the -debugscripts launch argument needs to be added to the shortcut.

Right click on the shortcut, select Properties, and add the command as shown below:

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Uncooking

Now that we have a clean install of The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt, we can proceed to what's called "uncooking" the game files. This decodes the game files and makes them usable for modding purposes. There are 2 ways of uncooking the games files, a short one and a longer one.

Tip: Doing both is advised. People have been known to have problems because neither method is exclusively reliable. Save yourself some troubleshooting later on and use both methods from the get-go.

For some mods (usually relatively bigger ones), it can be necessary to uncook some additional files (e.g. shadow meshes). It will be covered in this guide for completion purposes, but is fully optional for basic quests.

 


The modus operandi

Several tools are needed to uncook the game files, including WCC_lite, QuickBMS and Radish. 

WCC_lite

The official Witcher 3 ModKit can be found here: https://www.nexusmods.com/witcher3/mods/3173?tab=files&file_id=21542

After downloading, extract setup.exe and execute it. It will automatically install into C:\Program Files (x86)\Witcher 3 Mod Tools. That's not necessarily the directory we want it in. To have all the tools together, move the folder Witcher 3 Mod Tools into your _modTools folder (see table above for my absolute path).

My _modTools\Witcher 3 Mod Tools folder:

RTENOTITLE

Now that the modkit is installed, it needs to be patched. By default the application is absurdly slow, but this can thankfully be worked around.

The patch can be found here: https://forums.cdprojektred.com/index.php?threads/patched-wcc_lite-for-faster-startup.6883680/.

Download the file and overwrite wcc_lite.exe, which is located in <External tools>\Witcher 3 Mod Tools\bin\x64\.

Next, download the WCC_lite GUI for easier use, as the CLI of WCC_lite can be daunting, to say the least.

The GUI can be found here: https://www.nexusmods.com/witcher3/mods/3332?tab=files&file_id=22973.

Download it and place it in your _modTools\Witcher 3 Mod Tools folder.

Upon the first start-up, you will be prompted to locate your installation of wcc_lite.exe. Just follow the above-mentioned path and select it.

QuickBMS

The second way of uncooking your game requires QuickBMS together with a preset from the Radish tools Nexus page.

The program can be acquired from here: https://aluigi.altervista.org/quickbms.htm.

Create a new folder named QuickBMS in your _modTools path and extract all the files from the downloaded archive here.

The Radish QuickBMS uncook script can be found here: https://www.nexusmods.com/witcher3/mods/3620?tab=files&file_id=25205.

Extract all the files to your QuickBMS folder, as well.

To set up QuickBMS, open up the .bat file called radish.uncook and adjust the two paths in accordance with your specific directories. The first path SET W3_DIR = D:\The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt becomes SET W3_DIR = H:\Witcher 3\_game.

The uncooked files will be copied to the second path. This is just a temporary directory, so it's not important what it's set to. If you intend to keep the uncooked data, a new folder path must be created:

H:\Witcher 3\_uncooked Uncooked Game Files

This folder will contain all uncooked game files from all sources.

Tip: The complete uncooked game data can take up to >100 GB of disk space, so if storage is an issue, keeping the uncooked game data permanently isn't necessary.

The second path SET OUTPUT_DIR = D:\tmp\qbms.all thus becomes SET OUTPUT_DIR=H:\Witcher 3\_uncooked\QuickBMS.

The Radish Tools

The next step is to download the external (non-ingame) part of the Radish suite, including all the encoders.

Download: https://www.nexusmods.com/witcher3/mods/3620?tab=files&file_id=33023

Extract the radish-tools folder into your _modTools\Witcher 3 Mod Tools. This path more for personal taste than for functionality.

My _modTools\Witcher 3 Mod Tools folder now:

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The uncooking process itself

Warning: As mentioned above, uncooking all the files requires a minimum disk space of 100 GB. Ensure there is enough.

WCC_lite

To uncook the game files via WCC_lite (the long way), open up the GUI. On the left hand side is found a command called uncook. After ticking it, the following image should be seen:

RTENOTITLE

A lot of parameters can be found on the right, only indir and outdir matter here. These must be filled in as below:

indir <Game installation>\content H:\Witcher 3\_game\content
outdir <Uncooked game files>\Wcc H:\Witcher 3\_uncooked\Wcc

After filling in the params, hit Run Command in the upper left corner.

Warning: This process is slow, it takes a few hours even on modern NVMe SSDs, so be prepared to leave it running.

The WCC GUI should now look like this:

RTENOTITLE

Your _uncooked\Wcc folder should now look like this:

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As you might have noticed, the folder structure of this path looks similar to _modTools\Witcher 3 Mod Tools\r4data.
When the uncooking is finished, we want to copy all the files from our _uncooked\Wcc folder into this one.

Warning: Do not override any files in modTools\Witcher 3 Mod Tools\r4data, when asked to, as they contain additional necessary data. This process can also take some time, especially on HDDs.

QuickBMS

Uncooking via QuickBMS is more straightforward, as the paths have already been set up in advance. To uncook the files, simply run the edited radish.uncook.bat.

Executing this tool won't take nearly as much time as WCC, but will still take a few minutes. When the tool is finished, the CMD window should look like this:

RTENOTITLE

Upon completion, locate your _uncooked\QuickBMS folder and copy all the data to your _modTools\Witcher 3 Mod Tools\r4data directory as well.

Warning: Again, do not override any files in _modTools\Witcher 3 Mod Tools\r4data when prompted, as they contain additional necessary data.


Some additional files

Besides the uncooked game files, the Radish suite uses some other files as well.

These can be found here: https://www.nexusmods.com/witcher3/mods/3620?tab=files&file_id=33018

After downloading, extract the scripts folder to your r4data folder, this time overwrite existing files.

 

To summarize

The game files have been uncooked via WCC_lite and QuickBMS, copied into _modTools\Witcher 3 Mod Tools\r4data and the additional scripts folder provided by the Radish Nexus page has been added.

 

Uncooking additional meshes (optional)

For bigger projects with a lot of custom meshes (e.g a new hub), it may be necessary to extract further files; for example, uncooking shadwomeshes for shadows in custom environments to be displayed correctly.

Navigate to _modTools\Witcher 3 Mod Tools\radish-tools\repo.shadowmeshes. If the tools are installed correctly, there should exist an uncook.meshes.bat file. Open it up in a text editor and set the appropriate paths to our game directory, the modkit and the Radish suite. DIR_MODKIT is the main directory of the Official TW3 ModKit and DIR_ENCODER is the directory where all Radish encoders can be found.

Tip: If a path with parentheses in it is used, you have to escape them with a ^ (see comment in file).

My uncook.meshes.bat file:

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When running the file, the following error may occur:

RTENOTITLE

If that happens, at least one shadowmesh hasn't been patched successfully. This can lead to errors in your mod, but there's currently no easy workaround.

Installing the Radish Tools

Requirements

After all the necessary game files are uncooked, we can start to install all the latest in-game mods, as well as their requirements.

The first mod we are going to install is the Community Patch - Base mod.

You can find it here: https://www.nexusmods.com/witcher3/mods/3652?tab=files&file_id=24139.

After downloading the archive, extract the modsand content folders into your _game directory and overwrite if prompted.

Next mod we are going to need is Community Patch - Bootstrap and Utilities. The installation here is a bit more complicated.

First we are going to choose a base version of the mod. There are 2 different files to choose from:

1) You have no custom map changing mods installed (recommended for modding the game): https://www.nexusmods.com/witcher3/mods/2109?tab=files&file_id=23947
2) You have a custom map mod (e.g. All Quest Objectives On Map or Colored Map Markers): https://www.nexusmods.com/witcher3/mods/2109?tab=files&file_id=24145

After downloading either the first or the second archive, extract the dlc and mods folder into your _game directory.

Warning: Make sure you only install one of the two versions!

Next step is to download the bootstrap registry.

It can be found here: https://www.nexusmods.com/witcher3/mods/2109?tab=files&file_id=23946.

In this archive you will only find a mods folder, copy it into your _game directory.

To make this mod usable, we will also need to add the content of _game\mods\modBootstrap\modBootstrap.input.settings to our Witcher 3 input settings.
We achive that by locating our W3 inputs file (commonly: C:\Users\[Your User]\Documents\The Witcher 3\input.settings) and pasting the content to the bottom of the file.

After pasting the content, my input.settings looks like this:

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Now the Community Patch - Bootstrap and Utilities mod should finally be installed correctly.

Next we need Community Patch - Shared Imports.

Just download the archive here: https://www.nexusmods.com/witcher3/mods/2110?tab=files&file_id=27873.

Again, extract the mods folder to your _game directory.

 


The Radish Bundle

Our next step is to download the Radish Ingame Bundle. 

You can get it here: https://www.nexusmods.com/witcher3/mods/3620?tab=files&file_id=33019.

Extract both the dlc and mods folders into your _game directory and overwrite any files when prompted.

Next you need to paste the content of all the *.input.settings files from the archive into your W3 inputs (see above).

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Next we are going to register our mods, so that we can load them in-game. Therefor, we need to locate our mods_registry.ws file. It is located at _game\mods\modBootstrap-registry\content\scripts\local. Edit it with any text editor of your choice in order to add the following lines somewhere in the function createMods():

add(modCreate_EnvUiMod());
add(modCreate_RadishUi());

My mods_registry.ws looks like this:

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The template project

Now that all the necessary tools are installed (including their requirements), we're going to have a closer look at the testHub project to check that we did everything right.

You can download it here: https://www.nexusmods.com/witcher3/mods/3620?tab=files&file_id=31076.

Extract it and copy it into your _projects folder.

The most important file for now is the _settings_.bat located in _projects\modHubTest. Edit it with a text editor of choice to change paths again.
The paths are exactly the same, as when uncooking the shadow meshes:

1) Game Installation
2) The official Modkit
3) Path where the Radish Encoders are located

My _settings_.bat file:

RTENOTITLE

After adjusting the paths correctly, we further have to remove SET RELEASE_VERSION=YES on line by making it a comment. In fact, his setting will hinder any source information of this mod to be seen in-game, and that's not what we want.

RTENOTITLE

After editing the _settings_.bat file, we need to create junction links. We just need to start the _createLinks_.bat once and confirm by typing y (for yes in english, j for ja in german, etc.).

RTENOTITLE

Tip: Both errors at the top can be ignored.

Now the testHub should be launchable. You can build it by starting full.rebuild.bat in _projects\modHubTest.