Ardenfall Wiki - User contributions [en]

Game Debugger

2026-08-17T20:31:30Z

Joshcamas:

The game debugger is a UI available in the game.

== Getting Started ==
To enable debug tools, edit the buildsettings.txt file alongside your installation. Set "enableDebugTools":true.

To open the debugger, load up a game (the debugger is not available in the main menu), and press F1.

== Utilities Window ==
This tab is for lots of miscellaneous debug features.

=== Dead Body Revival ===
If you look at a dead body, a special menu will appear at the top of the utility debugger. This will let you revive

=== Player Editor ===
Enable/Disable God Mode: Make the player unable to die. (You will lose health, but not die)

Heal Player: Fully heal yourself

Enable/Disable Fly: Fly into the heavens. You can also press F to toggle this

Enable/Disable Speed Boost: Move very quickly

Add all Traits to Player: Give yourself all traits. Used to test dialog!

=== Time Editor ===
Morning/Day/Evening/Night: Set the time to a preset

Freeze Time: Makes time stop moving forward
Hour, Minute: Add hours and minutes to the current time.

=== Weather Editor ===
Random (Instant): Will randomly change the weather instantly
Random (Transition): Will randomly change the weather, but will slowly transition. Pressing this while already transitioning can cause bugs
Enable Region Weathers: Select a specific weather to switch to

=== Spawn NPC ===
Spawn a specific npc where the mouse is pointing

=== Spawn Item ===
Spawns a specific item. Pressing Spawn Pickup will spawn the item on the ground, and Add to Inventory will add it to your inventory with a specific count.
'''Tip:''' If you are looking at an NPC, there is an option to add it to their inventory.

=== Player Preset ===
Switch to a handful of player presets. Switch To will only switch the race / gender, and Switch To + Inventory will also give the player the preset inventory and equipment

=== Teleport To Location ===
Teleport to a map location or a certain cell.

=== NPC Cheats ===
Kill X Characters: Kill all of the loaded NPC’s

Destroy X Characters: Destroy (leave no bodies) all of the loaded NPC’s

Destroy X Enemies: Destroy (leave no bodies) all of the loaded Enemy NPC’s

Random Spawning: Will toggle random monster spawning

=== AI Cheats ===
AI: Toggles npc AI

AI Navigation: Toggles npcs being able to move around

Force Stealth UI Display: Toggles making the Stealth UI to always enabled, regardless of sneak

AI Logging: Toggles verbose logging of NPC AI

NPC Viz: Toggles showing NPC info Gizmos at a distance

NPC State Viz: Toggles showing NPC AI state Gizmos

Viz Brightness: Toggles showing the brightness calculation Gizmos for the AI

Viz Random Spawning NPCs: Toggles showing the position Gizmos of all of the random spawners

=== Steam Cheats ===
Add 1 to Stat [test]: tests a specific steam stat

Trigger [ESCAPED_STARTING_DUNGEON] achievement tests a specific steam achievement

Wipe Achievements: Erases the achievements of the player

=== Item Cheats ===
Add a lot of items to your inventory

=== Misc Cheats ===
Refresh Avatars: Forces all avatars to regenerate their meshes

Audio Gizmos: Toggles gizmos for audio sources

Player Collisions: Doesn’t work

Recalculate ALL Character’s Items: Recalculate all spawned characters item stats

Recalculate ALL Character’s Stats: Recalculate all spawned characters stats

Disable Dialog Conditions: Will force dialog topics and multiple choices to always be enabled

Freeze Timescale: Freezes game time. Stops animations, movement, and so on.

Cinematic Mode: Makes shooting arrows and fireballs shoot from the hands, not the camera

Ambient Lighting: Toggles ambient lighting

Player Creation Menu: Toggles the player creation menu from opening

Clear Tutorial Messages: Clear what tutorial messages have been seen by the player

Level Up: Force the player to level up

Log Lookup Table: Only usable in build. Will log the entire lookup table

Mockup Overlays: Lets you mockup HUD elements

World Streaming Toggle world loading. This can be used to stop world loading freezing in editor in particular.

Dialog Debug Text: Don’t know

Test Popup: tests popup UI

= Quest Debugger Window =
Lets you debug quests. There are two sections: Enabled and Disabled quests.

Current State: The current state

Current Phase: The current phase

Phases: The list of phases. You can also see the objectives and their state.

Objects: The list of objects. If it is a character object, you can teleport to that character.

Variables: The list of variables, and their value

Entry Points: A list of entry points. More info here.

= Character Debugger Window =
The Character Debugger lets you debug and modify a certain character.

Dropdown: Select a spawned character by name

Select Targeted: Select the character you are looking at

Select Player: Select the player

Select Nearest: Select the nearest NPC

Enable Gizmos: Will force Gizmos to be enabled even when this window is closed

Heal: Fully heals this character

=== Stats ===
Lists all of the characters stats. Attributes, Skills, and other stats.

=== Stat Editor ===
Modify Level: Lets you set the level of the character

Update Range Stats: Force the ranged stats (health, mana, etc) to be recalculated

Modify Attributes: Set all attributes to a certain value

Modify Skills: Set all skills to a certain value

Full Editor: Here you can edit the attributes and skills. Press “Load From Character” to update the editor with the current character’s stats, then you can edit and then press “Save to Character”

=== Factions ===
Displays the factions the character is in.

=== Inventory ===
Displays all of the items the character has in their inventory

=== Avatar Meshes ===
Displays info on the visible and invisible avatar meshes

=== Hand State Handler ===
Displays state of the current hand state handler

=== Visibility ===
Displays state of what characters are attacking them, and what characters the npc can see

=== Blackboard ===
The list of saved blackboard variables to this character

=== AI ===
Player Visibility (Aware): What visibility the player would be at if the character was aware

Player Visibility: What visibility the player is at right now

Player Light Visibility: The light visibility of the player

Player Sound Strength: The strength of the last sound the player made

Player Last Sound: How long ago the last sound the player made

Blackboard: The AI blackboard values

Targeter: Information related to the AI’s targeting system

Awareness: Values related to detection of player

Current State: The current AI state

Package List: The list of packages for the current state, and which current package.

=== Navigator ===
Show info related to the navigator

=== Test Path to Player ===
Debug whether the character could path to the player

=== Dialog Graphs ===
Displays the list of dialog graphs attached to this character

=== Utilities ===
Add .25 Reputation: Adds a bit of rep towards the player

Remove .25 Reputation: Removes a bit of rep towards the player

Teleport Player to Character: Teleport yourself to the character’s position

Teleport Character to Player: Teleport the character to your own position

Teleport Camera to Character: Teleport the free camera to the character’s position

Teleport Character to Camera: Teleport the character to the free camera’s position

Disable AI: Disable AI for this character

Enable AI: Enable AI for this character

Kill: Kill the character

Clear ‘Has Interacted With’: Clear the value that stops dialog from appearing multiple times

Force NPC to path to Player: Doesn’t work

Fill Health: Heal character

Clear Health: Set health to 1

Select Character: Select character in editor

Select Avatar: Select avatar in editor

== Mod Debugger Window ==
The Mod Debugger allows you to reload mods while playing (very useful), as well as view information about mods.

'''Reload Mods'''

Used to reload all activated mods. You still need to go to the main menu to activate/deactivate mods for now.

'''Graph Viewer'''

Mods that override IGraphView can register their created graphs to be viewable here.

'''Lookup Table'''

Search and find lookup table objects here.

'''Positions'''

Good to debug positions

'''Look Points'''

Same thing but with your current look position

'''Debug Mods'''

Mods that are set up to hook into the debugger appear here. More info [[Mod Scripting#Debugging Mods|here]].

2026-07-21T21:03:19Z

Joshcamas:

Since the game isn't even out, naturally modding is in a VERY early state. Practically everything could change, so please don't get too attached to your mods at this stage.

Modding support will be broken into a few stages. The first stage, Pre-EA, is focused on just getting the bare minimum fully working and with high ease of use ASSUMING you know how to code.

After EA we will continue to flesh out modding features, with a focus on adding visual tools to make creating mods easier and faster, with less digging through code.

Here is a overview of features and their statuses. This is by no means a comprehensive list, and anything 'Under Consideration' is just that: not guaranteed to be added.
{| class="wikitable"
|+
!Feature
!Description
!Status
|-
|Core Mod Loading
|Mod manifest, enabling, disabling
|COMPLETE
|-
|Mod Saving: Custom Data
|Serialized and deserialize strings to a save file
|COMPLETE
|-
|Scriptable Lookup Table Modification
|Add and modify assets in the lookup table
|COMPLETE
|-
|Mod Generator
|Simple tool to get started with a new mod
|COMPLETE
|-
|Core Mod Asset Importer
|Core asset importer feature to be used across many importers
|COMPLETE
|-
|Static Model Importing
|Importing of static GLTF models
|COMPLETE
|-
|Texture, Audio Importing
|Importing of textures and audio files
|COMPLETE
|-
|Misc Item Importing
|Importing of simple misc item
|COMPLETE
|-
|Child Item Importing
|Importing of child items
|COMPLETE
|-
|Melee Item Importing
|Importing of melee items
|COMPLETE
|-
|Code-Based Quest Support
|Very clunky quest creation via code
|COMPLETE, Not documented
|-
|Code-Based Dialog Support for Quests
|Very clunky dialog creation via code.
|COMPLETE, Not documented
|-
|Very basic graph viewer
|A very basic (and ugly) viewer for your dialog / quest graphs. Is not an editor, as it can only view.
|COMPLETE
|-
|Item Importer 2.0
|Currently all items are importing with a very simple importer, with each entry hand picked. This is not ideal. Seems like a much better way to go about it would be to have each item be its own JSON file, and then create a generic scriptable object importer that can overwrite values.
|COMPLETE
|-
|Blender Rig
|Ship the blender rig to make it easy to create new armors and clothing.
|PLANNED
|-
|Armor Item Importing
|Importing of armor. Will require some way to create ClothingAssets as well, potentially another importer? (This would mean we need a multi pass importer system, *shiver*)
|PLANNED
|-
|Simple Modding UI
|Currently the main way for mods to display UI is through dialog or the Alert system. Both are quite limited.
The Moddable UI System would allow for new simple UI’s to be introduced, with the ability to create more complex interfaces, such as buttons, data lists, scrollbars, etc. They could support being opened via keybind, through interacting with an object, or some other way.
|PLANNED
|-
|Lookup Table Tooling
|
# Need a way to invalidate lookup table values, whenever a mod refreshes. This can be done via a cache index.
# Need better tooling to find IDs of assets
|PLANNED
|-
|Warn if mods aren't loaded correctly
|When loading a save, and the save has a mod enabled that is no longer enabled, it should show a warning.
|PLANNED
|-
|Mod Settings: JSON
|Add support for mods to have a json file for settings, to allow the mod users to tweak the mod.
|PLANNED
|-
|Tool: Position Debugger
|Little tool that tells you where a position is in the world. Useful to figure out where you want to spawn items.
|PLANNED
|-
|Remove enum for item slot
|Currently item slots for characters is an enum. This is not mod friendly.
It should be ported to a scriptable object.
|PLANNED
|-
|Mod Dependencies
|Ensure mods can rely on others.
Mod dependencies can declare whether they must be loaded before, or any time.
|PLANNED
|-
|On Quest Start / Stop Hooks
|Obviously any logic in a modded quest doesn’t need to be (and really shouldn’t) be part of the graph, but instead be in your code.
Add hooks to on quest start / stop.
|PLANNED
|-
|Code-Based Dialog Support without Quests
|Support injecting dialog into characters without involving a Quest
|PLANNED
|-
|Prefab Creator
|Make a way to create prefabs from within the game tooling. Could potentially support simple VFX creation? This is a rabbit hole, however.
|UNDER CONSIDERATION
|-
|Asset Bundle Importer
|Add official support to import asset bundles, and to easily be able to reference assets. This is particularly important for VFX + potential complex prefab support.
|UNDER CONSIDERATION
|-
|Unity Tooling
|Right now I've entirely focused on having tooling being within our own pipeline. We could however ship a simple asset bundle exporter, along with some helper scripts.
|UNDER CONSIDERATION
|-
|Tool: Item Editor
|A visual editor to edit / create items.
|UNDER CONSIDERATION
|-
|Tool: Item List Editor
|A visual editor to edit / create item lists.
|UNDER CONSIDERATION
|-
|Tool: Full Node Editor
|A true editor for graphs.
|UNDER CONSIDERATION
|-
|Tool: SpellData / Spell Creation
|Currently spells can be created via code. (Not documented).
This tool would allow for spells to be created visually.
|UNDER CONSIDERATION
|-
|Tool: NPC Editor
|Currently you can edit NPC’s via code.
This tool would allow you to edit/view NPC data visually.
|UNDER CONSIDERATION
|-
|Patch Mods
|Mods are designed to be added “on top” of ardenfall’s codebase. This allows for hot reloading, easy disable/enable, and less issues when updates occur. Patch Mods would be a separate type of mod, that would actually overwrite the actual source code of Ardenfall, similar to Harmony. (In fact, we'd use Harmony to do this). This would take more effort to get working, and could break whenever a game update happens, but would allow for "Skyrim Script Extender" sort of modding platforms that the community could build if they desired.
|UNDER CONSIDERATION
|-
|Simple Dialog API
|Create a way to make a dialog graph SUPER simply, without all the fancy connected stuff.
Example:
<code>CreateTopic(“What’s up?”).AddSpeak(“Nothing Much!”).Run(myMethod).CloseDialog();</code>
|UNDER CONSIDERATION
|-
|Mod Settings: Main Menu UI
|Make mod settings modifiable in the main menu, not just through a json file.
|UNDER CONSIDERATION
|-
|Custom Hair, Beard, Brow support
|Make it easy to set up new hair, beard, brows in the creation menu.
|UNDER CONSIDERATION
|-
|Custom Skills / Attributes / Traits Support
|Make it easy to set up new skills, attributes, and traits in the creation menu.
|UNDER CONSIDERATION
|-
|Custom Race Support
|Make it easy to set up a new character race in the creation menu.
|UNDER CONSIDERATION
|}

MediaWiki:Hidden-category-category

2026-05-22T18:13:14Z

Joshcamas: Created page with "Hidden categories Category:Pages with syntax highlighting errors"

Hidden categories
Category:Pages with syntax highlighting errors

Custom Asset Importing

2026-05-22T18:09:07Z

Joshcamas:

Game Debugger

2026-05-22T04:38:21Z

Joshcamas:

The game debugger is a UI available in the game.

== Getting Started ==
To enable debug tools, edit the buildsettings.txt file alongside your installation. Set "enableDebugTools":true.

To open the debugger, load up a game (the debugger is not available in the main menu), and press F1.

== Utilities Tab ==
This tab is for lots of miscellaneous debug features.

=== Dead Body Revival ===
If you look at a dead body, a special menu will appear at the top of the utility debugger. This will let you revive

=== Player Editor ===
Enable/Disable God Mode: Make the player unable to die. (You will lose health, but not die)

Heal Player: Fully heal yourself

Enable/Disable Fly: Fly into the heavens. You can also press F to toggle this

Enable/Disable Speed Boost: Move very quickly

Add all Traits to Player: Give yourself all traits. Used to test dialog!

=== Time Editor ===
Morning/Day/Evening/Night: Set the time to a preset

Freeze Time: Makes time stop moving forward
Hour, Minute: Add hours and minutes to the current time.

=== Weather Editor ===
Random (Instant): Will randomly change the weather instantly
Random (Transition): Will randomly change the weather, but will slowly transition. Pressing this while already transitioning can cause bugs
Enable Region Weathers: Select a specific weather to switch to

=== Spawn NPC ===
Spawn a specific npc where the mouse is pointing

=== Spawn Item ===
Spawns a specific item. Pressing Spawn Pickup will spawn the item on the ground, and Add to Inventory will add it to your inventory with a specific count.
'''Tip:''' If you are looking at an NPC, there is an option to add it to their inventory.

=== Player Preset ===
Switch to a handful of player presets. Switch To will only switch the race / gender, and Switch To + Inventory will also give the player the preset inventory and equipment

=== Teleport To Location ===
Teleport to a map location or a certain cell.

=== NPC Cheats ===
Kill X Characters: Kill all of the loaded NPC’s

Destroy X Characters: Destroy (leave no bodies) all of the loaded NPC’s

Destroy X Enemies: Destroy (leave no bodies) all of the loaded Enemy NPC’s

Random Spawning: Will toggle random monster spawning

=== AI Cheats ===
AI: Toggles npc AI

AI Navigation: Toggles npcs being able to move around

Force Stealth UI Display: Toggles making the Stealth UI to always enabled, regardless of sneak

AI Logging: Toggles verbose logging of NPC AI

NPC Viz: Toggles showing NPC info Gizmos at a distance

NPC State Viz: Toggles showing NPC AI state Gizmos

Viz Brightness: Toggles showing the brightness calculation Gizmos for the AI

Viz Random Spawning NPCs: Toggles showing the position Gizmos of all of the random spawners

=== Steam Cheats ===
Add 1 to Stat [test]: tests a specific steam stat

Trigger [ESCAPED_STARTING_DUNGEON] achievement tests a specific steam achievement

Wipe Achievements: Erases the achievements of the player

=== Item Cheats ===
Add a lot of items to your inventory

=== Misc Cheats ===
Refresh Avatars: Forces all avatars to regenerate their meshes

Audio Gizmos: Toggles gizmos for audio sources

Player Collisions: Doesn’t work

Recalculate ALL Character’s Items: Recalculate all spawned characters item stats

Recalculate ALL Character’s Stats: Recalculate all spawned characters stats

Disable Dialog Conditions: Will force dialog topics and multiple choices to always be enabled

Freeze Timescale: Freezes game time. Stops animations, movement, and so on.

Cinematic Mode: Makes shooting arrows and fireballs shoot from the hands, not the camera

Ambient Lighting: Toggles ambient lighting

Player Creation Menu: Toggles the player creation menu from opening

Clear Tutorial Messages: Clear what tutorial messages have been seen by the player

Level Up: Force the player to level up

Log Lookup Table: Only usable in build. Will log the entire lookup table

Mockup Overlays: Lets you mockup HUD elements

World Streaming Toggle world loading. This can be used to stop world loading freezing in editor in particular.

Dialog Debug Text: Don’t know

Test Popup: tests popup UI

= Quest Debugger =
Lets you debug quests. There are two sections: Enabled and Disabled quests.

Current State: The current state

Current Phase: The current phase

Phases: The list of phases. You can also see the objectives and their state.

Objects: The list of objects. If it is a character object, you can teleport to that character.

Variables: The list of variables, and their value

Entry Points: A list of entry points. More info here.

= Character Debugger =
The Character Debugger lets you debug and modify a certain character.

Dropdown: Select a spawned character by name

Select Targeted: Select the character you are looking at

Select Player: Select the player

Select Nearest: Select the nearest NPC

Enable Gizmos: Will force Gizmos to be enabled even when this window is closed

Heal: Fully heals this character

=== Stats ===
Lists all of the characters stats. Attributes, Skills, and other stats.

=== Stat Editor ===
Modify Level: Lets you set the level of the character

Update Range Stats: Force the ranged stats (health, mana, etc) to be recalculated

Modify Attributes: Set all attributes to a certain value

Modify Skills: Set all skills to a certain value

Full Editor: Here you can edit the attributes and skills. Press “Load From Character” to update the editor with the current character’s stats, then you can edit and then press “Save to Character”

=== Factions ===
Displays the factions the character is in.

=== Inventory ===
Displays all of the items the character has in their inventory

=== Avatar Meshes ===
Displays info on the visible and invisible avatar meshes

=== Hand State Handler ===
Displays state of the current hand state handler

=== Visibility ===
Displays state of what characters are attacking them, and what characters the npc can see

=== Blackboard ===
The list of saved blackboard variables to this character

=== AI ===
Player Visibility (Aware): What visibility the player would be at if the character was aware

Player Visibility: What visibility the player is at right now

Player Light Visibility: The light visibility of the player

Player Sound Strength: The strength of the last sound the player made

Player Last Sound: How long ago the last sound the player made

Blackboard: The AI blackboard values

Targeter: Information related to the AI’s targeting system

Awareness: Values related to detection of player

Current State: The current AI state

Package List: The list of packages for the current state, and which current package.

=== Navigator ===
Show info related to the navigator

=== Test Path to Player ===
Debug whether the character could path to the player

=== Dialog Graphs ===
Displays the list of dialog graphs attached to this character

=== Utilities ===
Add .25 Reputation: Adds a bit of rep towards the player

Remove .25 Reputation: Removes a bit of rep towards the player

Teleport Player to Character: Teleport yourself to the character’s position

Teleport Character to Player: Teleport the character to your own position

Teleport Camera to Character: Teleport the free camera to the character’s position

Teleport Character to Camera: Teleport the character to the free camera’s position

Disable AI: Disable AI for this character

Enable AI: Enable AI for this character

Kill: Kill the character

Clear ‘Has Interacted With’: Clear the value that stops dialog from appearing multiple times

Force NPC to path to Player: Doesn’t work

Fill Health: Heal character

Clear Health: Set health to 1

Select Character: Select character in editor

Select Avatar: Select avatar in editor

== Mod Debugger ==
The Mod Debugger allows you to reload mods while playing (very useful), as well as view information about mods.

2026-05-22T01:12:26Z

Joshcamas:

Getting Started

2026-05-22T01:10:59Z

Joshcamas:

[IN PROGRESS]

=== Mod Structure ===
Here is the suggested structure for your Mod. Technically the only requirement is the mod_metadata.txt file being in the root directory of your mod.
Ardenfall_Data
StreamingAssets
Mods
YourModDirectory
mod_metadata.txt
mod_manifest.txt
Assets
Textures
yourtexture.png
Scripts
yourscript.cs

=== Mod Metadata ===
The mod metadata file defines some top level values for your mod.

modName: The name displayed to the user

modAuthor: The author displayed to the user. Can be empty or multiple names, whatever.

modId: The ID used by the modding system. Make sure this is unique - if two mods have the same id, they can't both be activated. You can use a GUID like the example below, or just write an id you think no one would use. The Mod Template Builder also auto generates this id.

modDescription: The description displayed to the user. Can be empty.

modVersion: A version string (must be in a format supported by [https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/api/system.version?view=netframework-4.8.1 C#'s Version], such as "1", "1.0", or "3.2.7".<syntaxhighlight lang="json">
{
"modName": "Example Mod",
"modAuthor": "joshcamas",
"modId": "f5c4ccca-87ab-40ed-8731-1e19aa17ab66",
"modDescription": "A simple mod that showcases a very simple scripting setup.",
"modVersion": "0.0.1"
}

</syntaxhighlight>

=== Mod Asset Manifest ===
You can define assets to import via the mod_manifest.txt file within your mod directory.

See [[Custom Asset Importing|Custom Asset Importing.]]

=== Mod Scripts ===
You can define C# scripts to be run within the Scripts directory, within your mod directory.

See [[Mod Scripting|Mod Scripting.]]

=== Mod Template Builder ===
The Mod Template Builder tool allows you to create a mod starting point easily. It also includes the generation of a .csproj file, which will let you create scripts while referencing the actual codebase of ardenfall that mods have access to.

Run the application ModTemplateBuilder.exe within your ardenfall's installation directory, and follow the prompts.

The mod will be created in Ardenfall_Data/StreamingAssets/Mods.

Mod Scripting

2026-05-22T01:08:02Z

Joshcamas:

=== Mod Root ===
Essentially every mod needs a Mod Root class definition. This is your hook into the mod activation and deactivation events, as well as additional hooks.

Your mod root class can be anywhere in the mod's Scripts folder within a .cs file.

There are two main methods you probably want to override:

Initialize(string id): Called when the mod is initialized. This happens on boot (if the mod is active), or whenever the mod is activated.

Uninitialize(string id): Called when the mod is uninitialized. This happens whenever the mod is deactivated.

''Barebones Example:''<syntaxhighlight lang="c#" line="1">
using Ardenfall;
using UnityEngine;
using System;

namespace ExampleMod
{
public class ExampleMod : ModRoot
{
public override void Initialize(string id)
{
base.Initialize(id);
Debug.Log("Loaded Example Mod! WOW!");
}

public override void Uninitialize()
{
base.Uninitialize();
Debug.Log("Unloaded Example Mod! WOW!");
}
}
}
</syntaxhighlight>

=== Mod Saving ===
By default, mods do not save custom data. But you can do it!

Override the following methods:

void CreateState(): Run when a new game is made, or when the mod is loaded for a save for the first time. Use this to initialize a default state.

void LoadState(string state): Load your state from previously saved data.

string SaveState(): Save your state to a string.

If you want to serialize data, you can use JsonUtility, or whatever other serializer you get your hands on, as long as its a string.

Example of a mod that saves state.<syntaxhighlight lang="c#" line="1">using Ardenfall;
using UnityEngine;
using System;

namespace ExampleSaveMod
{
public class ExampleSaveMod : ModRoot
{
private float randomNumber;

public override void Initialize(string id)
{
base.Initialize(id);
Debug.Log("Loaded Example Mod! WOW!");
}

public override void Uninitialize()
{
base.Uninitialize();
Debug.Log("Unloaded Example Mod! WOW!");
}

public override void CreateState()
{
randomNumber = UnityEngine.Random.value;
}

//Save state. You can save it as json or any format, it just needs to be a string.
public override string SaveState()
{
var state = new ExampleModSaveState()
{
randomNumber = randomNumber
};

return JsonUtility.ToJson(state);
}

//Load the state as a string.
public override void LoadState(string jsonState)
{
var state = JsonUtility.FromJson<ExampleModSaveState>(jsonState);
randomNumber = state.randomNumber;
Debug.Log(randomNumber);
}
}

[System.Serializable]
public class ExampleModSaveState
{
public float randomNumber;
}
}</syntaxhighlight>

=== Debugging Mods ===
TODO (IMGUI Debugging)

TODO (Graph Debugging)

=== Lookup Table Registration ===
To register or modify assets, you can hook into the lookup table initialization step.

The Lookup Table is a big list of assets that is commonly used in the engine, tied to an id. Beyond modding, it's used by the save system - any asset that is referenced in the save file (such as an item in the inventory) must be registered to the lookup table. The lookup table does not contain EVERY asset, however.

If you ever run into needing a certain asset in the lookup table, throw me (joshcamas) a message on discord.

Non scripting methods to create/modify assets is planned in the future.

''Example of creating a new asset and registering it to the lookup table''

TODO

Lookup Table Tools

TODO

=== Records Registration ===
You may also want to create Records with your mods. Records are objects in the world that can be accessed / manipulated at any time. The most common Record is the CharacterRecord, but there are others.

TODO

'''NOTE:''' If a mod spawns or modifies a record, and then the user disables the mod, this record will still exist in old save files. No immediate solutions for this, since players should expect odd things to happen when disabling mods and then loading an old save.

=== Mod Version Patching ===
TODO: Add built in Mod Version Patching Support

=== Mod Settings ===
TODO: Add Mod settings support.

=== A note on Hot Reloading / Refreshing ===
Ardenfall's modding systems supports hot reloading. That is to say, reloading the mod without restarting the game.

The mod user can always turn your mod on and off in the main menu, and you should ensure your mods correctly clean up during this state, otherwise it will cause problems for your users. However, users should expect weird things to occur on old save files that used to have the mod, of course.

As a mod developer, you can also turn your mod on and off / refresh it while actually playing the game. You don't officially need support for this (no one will know) but making your mod work in this circumstance as much as possible is great from a developmental standpoint - you can super quickly work on your mods without needing to restart the application, or even maybe not reloading the save file sometimes.

Mod Scripting

2026-05-21T19:52:58Z

Joshcamas:

=== Mod Root ===
Essentially every mod needs a Mod Root class definition. This is your hook into the mod activation and deactivation events, as well as additional hooks.

Your mod root class can be anywhere in the mod folder within a .cs file, but I'd suggest putting it in YourModDirectory/Scripts/mod.cs.

There are two main methods you probably want to override:

Initialize(string id): Called when the mod is initialized. This happens on boot (if the mod is active), or whenever the mod is activated.

Uninitialize(string id): Called when the mod is uninitialized. This happens whenever the mod is deactivated.

''Barebones Example:''<syntaxhighlight lang="c#" line="1">
using Ardenfall;
using UnityEngine;
using System;

namespace ExampleMod
{
public class ExampleMod : ModRoot
{
public override void Initialize(string id)
{
base.Initialize(id);
Debug.Log("Loaded Example Mod! WOW!");
}

public override void Uninitialize()
{
base.Uninitialize();
Debug.Log("Unloaded Example Mod! WOW!");
}
}
}
</syntaxhighlight>

=== Mod Saving ===
By default, mods do not save custom data. But you can do it!

Override the following methods:

void CreateState(): Run when a new game is made, or when the mod is loaded for a save for the first time. Use this to initialize a default state.

void LoadState(string state): Load your state from previously saved data.

string SaveState(): Save your state to a string.

If you want to serialize data, you can use JsonUtility, or whatever other serializer you get your hands on, as long as its a string.

Example of a mod that saves state.<syntaxhighlight lang="c#" line="1">using Ardenfall;
using UnityEngine;
using System;

namespace ExampleSaveMod
{
public class ExampleSaveMod : ModRoot
{
private float randomNumber;

public override void Initialize(string id)
{
base.Initialize(id);
Debug.Log("Loaded Example Mod! WOW!");
}

public override void Uninitialize()
{
base.Uninitialize();
Debug.Log("Unloaded Example Mod! WOW!");
}

public override void CreateState()
{
randomNumber = UnityEngine.Random.value;
}

//Save state. You can save it as json or any format, it just needs to be a string.
public override string SaveState()
{
var state = new ExampleModSaveState()
{
randomNumber = randomNumber
};

return JsonUtility.ToJson(state);
}

//Load the state as a string.
public override void LoadState(string jsonState)
{
var state = JsonUtility.FromJson<ExampleModSaveState>(jsonState);
randomNumber = state.randomNumber;
Debug.Log(randomNumber);
}
}

[System.Serializable]
public class ExampleModSaveState
{
public float randomNumber;
}
}</syntaxhighlight>

=== Debugging Mods ===
TODO (IMGUI Debugging)

TODO (Graph Debugging)

=== Lookup Table Registration ===
To register or modify assets, you can hook into the lookup table initialization step.

The Lookup Table is a big list of assets that is commonly used in the engine, tied to an id. Beyond modding, it's used by the save system - any asset that is referenced in the save file (such as an item in the inventory) must be registered to the lookup table. The lookup table does not contain EVERY asset, however.

If you ever run into needing a certain asset in the lookup table, throw me (joshcamas) a message on discord.

Non scripting methods to create/modify assets is planned in the future.

''Example of creating a new asset and registering it to the lookup table''

TODO

Lookup Table Tools

TODO

=== Records Registration ===
You may also want to create Records with your mods. Records are objects in the world that can be accessed / manipulated at any time. The most common Record is the CharacterRecord, but there are others.

TODO

'''NOTE:''' If a mod spawns or modifies a record, and then the user disables the mod, this record will still exist in old save files. No immediate solutions for this, since players should expect odd things to happen when disabling mods and then loading an old save.

=== Mod Version Patching ===
TODO: Add built in Mod Version Patching Support

=== Mod Settings ===
TODO: Add Mod settings support.

=== A note on Hot Reloading / Refreshing ===
Ardenfall's modding systems supports hot reloading. That is to say, reloading the mod without restarting the game.

The mod user can always turn your mod on and off in the main menu, and you should ensure your mods correctly clean up during this state, otherwise it will cause problems for your users. However, users should expect weird things to occur on old save files that used to have the mod, of course.

As a mod developer, you can also turn your mod on and off / refresh it while actually playing the game. You don't officially need support for this (no one will know) but making your mod work in this circumstance as much as possible is great from a developmental standpoint - you can super quickly work on your mods without needing to restart the application, or even maybe not reloading the save file sometimes.

Main Page

2026-05-20T20:38:15Z

Joshcamas:

Welcome to Ardenfall's '''Modding Wiki.'''

The goal for this wiki is to document modding tools, ardenfall's API, and also data mined components from the game itself.

It is officially maintained by Spellcast Studios, but is also opened to the public for editing, so there is no promise of complete correctness. (Although we'll do our best to ensure high quality pages!)

It ''can'' be treated as a standard game wiki (documenting quests and existing content), but the focus will still primarily centered on modding.

=== Modding ===
[[Getting Started]]

[[Mod Scripting]]

[[Messaging System]]

[[Custom Asset Importing]]

[[Debug Tools]]

Messaging System

2026-05-20T20:37:49Z

Joshcamas: Created page with "One of the most useful ways to hook into the game is by use of the MessagingSystem. Ardenfall has a host of messages that are sent when stuff happens. "CharacterDeathMessage", "CharacterKillMessage", "EffectAddMessage"... there are over 100 messages that you can subscribe (or send). You can also define your own messages, for yourself or other mods. TODO: Examples TODO: Common Messages TODO: Add tool to easily view messages"

Main Page

2026-05-20T20:28:44Z

Joshcamas: