Unity modding basics

[Ross_Я]

For once I did something with a... relatively modern game, so I guess this thing might be of interest to the general public. Showcases some very interesting tools, including very powerful and relatively released ones, that - in theory, at least - should give you the power of bending any Unity game to your will, including the most recent ones. Obviously, each game has its own code and quirks, so some coding knowledge is still most welcome, but, let's be real: modding has never been as easy as this.


View: https://youtu.be/VBTxB1eTEeQ

Gotta say, I feel a bit bad for spending a thread on YouTube link, but this thing is definitely way more comfortable this way rather than in a written format.

 

[Ross_Я]

So, eh, it's been a while since I've been doing it, but it is still worth mentioning...
After this video I've tried to get into the script editing, and thing is, the AssetBundleExtractor I showcased in this video is kind of awkward to use. I managed to use it somehow with several previous games I've delved into, but after the recent experience I wonder, if it was AssetBundleExtractor's fault that I didn't quite manage to do what I wanted to do... In fact, all these new tools really make me want revisit several old games, even though I really wonder if I should spend time on'em... But I digress.
Anyway, after checking the internet, I found a newer version of AssetBundleExtractor - a fork named Avalonia: https://github.com/nesrak1/UABEA/releases/tag/v6
Some things in it are a bit less comfortable than in the original UABE (like, scrolling, for example), but when it comes to the gist of it, Avalonia works much better. Scripts in particular were extracted perfectly even when I loaded just one asset file - all the other needed ones were hooked automatically. The only problem I found is that while extracting scripts as json in Avalonia works fine, importing them back from json files is hit or miss for whatever reason: sometimes scripts are imported as an empty files. Sometimes it doesn't happen and scripts are imported just fine though... Anyway, it is better to export and import scripts in txt format.
The result is much better than what we had in previous UABE verisons, where script import and export was some kind of shamanic experience and you never could tell whether it will work and how it will work. Here the scripts are exported and imported with 100% precision and functionality (aside from that weird json glitch mentioned above).
In two words: the latest in Unity editing is UABEAvalonia, and when it comes to scripts - it is better for your nerves and time to import and export those as txt files.
That is all.