Error while attempting to create a new project

[MightyMonte88]

Hey guys im new to modding but not programming, i'm hoping to jump into modding for cryofall. I'm following a guide on steam, and a guide here on the forums to get VS2019, Cryofall modding SDK, and the creation kit setup. I've prepaired a working director and extracted core.cpk using the CMD script.

When trying to Create a new project from VS2019 main menu, after selecting Cryofall Mod project.mpk, when i name the project and hit create it returns this error.

"The value ""CroFall SDK cannot be located. Please ensure the mod csproj is located at Cryofall/Data/Mods"Sdk.props" of the "Project" attribute in element <import> is invalid. Illegal characters in path. C:Users/adank/source/repos/TestAlpha/TestAlpha/TestAlpha.csproj"

Would somebody mind helping me figure out what i did wrong?

[ai_enabled]

Hello!
As described in the Workshop guide's "Create new CryoFall Mod Project" section, you need to create a new VS project inside the folder <game installation folder>/Data/Mods
Currently you're doing this inside a wrong folder so the created projected cannot locate the SDK files.
Also, don't forget to uncheck the "Create directory for solution" checkbox.

Regards!

[MightyMonte88]

The only guide i can find is this one, https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1707742469, i tried locating the one you specified but it's not listed for some reason.

I think im missing something crucial, i don't have a Data or Mods folder in either my game directory, the editor, or the directory i prepared according to the guide i referenced, i'm alittle confused now.

[ai_enabled]

Indeed! You need to create a "Data/Mods" folder inside the installation folder (so you have a Data folder near the Core and Binaries folders).
Why you don't have it? It's created by the game itself only when you're running a non-Steam version of the game client or Editor (Steam version is using the data folder in your "Documents/AtomicTorchStudio/..." folder however the mods for development must be located inside the game installation folder/Data/Mods subfolder).

I think this should be mentioned in the guide. We need to reach its author (a community member) to update it.

Regards!

[MightyMonte88]

Sadly it's still returning the exact same error even after creating a Data Folder, with a Mods folder inside of it, and attempting to create the new VS project from the new directory. Is it possible that because my game was purchased through steam that i will need to obtain game files not from steam, in order to be able to create mods?

[ai_enabled]

Ok, I've just tried and it works in VS2019. The only missed in the guide thing is a checkbox "Place solution and project in the same directory" (must be checked!).
See the screenshot of the new project settings that I've used:


After the project is created you need to switch the platform from "Debug_LibsAsProjects" to simple "Debug".

Regards!

[MightyMonte88]

Ah, that fixed it. Thank you, the guide on steam actually says to do the exact opposite lol

"Uncheck "Create directory for solution" checkbox.
Otherwise some bad things could happend "

Thank you for helping me figure this out.

[ai_enabled]

Well, the guide in Steam was actually correctΓÇöin VS2017!
Then Microsoft changed the checkbox to make it work in the reverse way in VS2019.

Enjoy!

[MightyMonte88]

Hey sorry to bug you again, how do i go about switching the platform from "Debug_LibsAsProjects" to "Debug" ?

[ai_enabled]

It's here, a dropdown

[MightyMonte88]

Hey just a heads up, as it turns out i cannot have more than one directory of each ( game and editor) because of steam. After getting my "working directory" setup, and attempting to launch the game from it, it comes to a screen that requires me to login through my Atomic Torch account, and the signup page for which says that i cannot link my steam and atomic torch accounts. My only solution was to try and transfer the "steam" file from the steam installation directory, to my working directory. The problem then becomes that no matter what i do, i cannot launch the editor, it defaults to launching the actual game, and from the steam directory.

Also, i have been trying all day and have not been able to get even a simple mod i have made to work. The only error in the logs is that " mod cannot be found" I have tried to setup my header file exactly as other header files i have used as examples from a few working mods. The only conclusion i can come too, is that i either need VS2017 instead of 2019, or i am packaging the mod wrong. I am including the version in the title in modconfig, it's just not working. I am trying to package them as described in the guides, im assuming that choosing "store" means no compression with 7zip, i can't find anything that references that so im going off of a guess. I could really use some help, this is very frustrating. I'm not new to programming, i think something is just wrong with my setup or VS2019, or steam is just going to make it impossible for me to do this without purchasing another copy of the game, seperate from steam.

Update, i used the farming plus mod as a test, im able to run it with no problem. So i extracted the archive, and re-archived it, the mod no longer works. So i'm doing something wrong when building the .mpk file. I tried choosing "update and add files" from a dropdown on the right to see if it would help, and the game recognized the mod but still gave an error while attempting to load the mod.

"3.12.20 16:04:25.331 [WRN] Error loading mod from C:\Users\adank\OneDrive\Documents\AtomicTorchStudio\CryoFall Editor\Mods\Tech_Expansion.mpk: Could not find Zip file Directory at the end of the file.  File may be corrupted."

Sorry for the accidental quote below.

[MightyMonte88]

Hey just a heads up, as it turns out i cannot have more than one directory of each ( game and editor) because of steam. After getting my "working directory" setup, and attempting to launch the game from it, it comes to a screen that requires me to login through my Atomic Torch account, and the signup page for which says that i cannot link my steam and atomic torch accounts. My only solution was to try and transfer the "steam" file from the steam installation directory, to my working directory. The problem then becomes that no matter what i do, i cannot launch the editor, it defaults to launching the actual game, and from the steam directory.

Also, i have been trying all day and have not been able to get even a simple mod i have made to work. The only error in the logs is that " mod cannot be found" I have tried to setup my header file exactly as other header files i have used as examples from a few working mods. The only conclusion i can come too, is that i either need VS2017 instead of 2019, or i am packaging the mod wrong. I am including the version in the title in modconfig, it's just not working. I am trying to package them as described in the guides, im assuming that choosing "store" means no compression with 7zip, i can't find anything that references that so im going off of a guess. I could really use some help, this is very frustrating. I'm not new to programming, i think something is just wrong with my setup or VS2019, or steam is just going to make it impossible for me to do this without purchasing another copy of the game, seperate from steam.

Update, i used the farming plus mod as a test, im able to run it with no problem. So i extracted the archive, and re-archived it, the mod no longer works. So i'm doing something wrong when building the .mkp file.

[ai_enabled]

When you run the game from Steam, there is an option in the bottom right corner to create an account on AtomicTorch.com right from the game. If you do it this way, then you can run the game as a standalone version (by either downloading it from AtomicTorch.com or simply running from the same folder as the Steam version ΓÇö just ensure you've removed or renamed "steam" file in the root of the game installation folder in Steam. "steam" file is a flag determining whether the game should use Steam Client for account authentication, achievements, etc).


Regarding the mod packingΓÇöyou actually don't need to pack your mod if you want to just test it locally (the game client and editor are able to run unpacked core and mod). If you want to distribute your mod, it need to be packed. Sounds like you're doing it right but maybe missing something, so just check how the proper settings look on this screenshot:


The extension must be .mpk.
Another important detail is that you should compress not the mod folder itself but its contents. So when you open the result archive, in its root you should see the Header.xml file.

Regards!

[MightyMonte88]

Hey thank you so much for the info, i'm at least able to get to a solid testing state now. I was able to run my first mod successfully by running it unpacked from the editor as a standalone version. As for packing the mod, i think i may have been selecting 7zip instead of zip as the file type by accident.