Trying to understand the \mods\ folder

[Saint Chewy]

Greetings,

I just recently discovered through many hours of modding that you can or should use the \mods\ folder with CCT to install mods rather than overwriting them in the /pac/ folder. I have gone through and done a clean install to hopefully clear up some issues and start from scratch. What I am wanting to do is download the Raw and Smackdown Thunderdome arenas and install them. What sounds logical to me is to install them like this: \mods\Raw 2020 Thunderdome\pac\ and \mods\Smackdown 2020 Thunderdome\pac\. Or since they both use the same files should I install it like this: \mods\2020 Arenas\pac\? My question is does the game know how and which way to load the files in the /mods/ folder? Kind of like Skyrim or Fallout where the last mod wins. Which way would work best especially if you have mods that use the same files? Hopefully this makes sense and thank you for help in advance. 

 

Edit: I also noticed that sometimes 2K19 will just "forget" some mods in the \mods\ folder. For example, I have Karrion Kross installed and I edited the string_win.pac for his name in \mods\SuperString\pac\string\win. Everything is fine except for out of the blue, it will go back to 504B - EMPTY STRING TO BE FILLED. I will regen the chunk0.def and no change. I have gone into the string_win.pac to see if it did revert back and nope it has all the right information in there. What I have done to fix this is make a backup of the string_win.pac and delete the entire \SuperString\pac\string\win path. Close and reopen CCT and reinstall the string_win.pac. Copy over the back up file and replace and everything goes back to normal. Does anyone know why this happens and how I can prevent this from happening?

Edited October 6, 2020 by Saint Chewy

[Raven Screech]

The Mods folder sucks. You're better off not working out of that. Your issue with the string reverting is because the game is alternating which string file it is reading - the one in the Mods folder versus the one in the WWE 2K19 main directory. If the string in the Mods folder is the one with 26,000+ entries, cut and paste that into WWE 2K19/pac/string. Only edit that string. Make sure you  never have the other string in the Mods folder. 

Same can be said for installing arenas. Work out of the main directory, copy/pasting. Additionally, majority of arena mods do not interact well with arena mods from other creators as they both require edits of the Misc file. Just a heads up. Also, always make sure you regen.

[El Guapo]

4 hours ago, Raven Screech said:

The Mods folder sucks.

Yep, I assume it's something to do with how the chunk file is rebuilt, but sometimes my game will find stuff in the mods folder, sometimes from the 'regular' games folders. I had a tonne of issues with old renders insisting on showing up for certain wrestlers/attires.

Generally I recommend that you only have one copy of each file - whether that is in the mods folder or elsewhere.

If you want to be extra-careful like me, have a set of vanilla files saved somewhere completely different on your PC so that you can roll back any changes if required

[Cave Waverider]

On 10/7/2020 at 9:34 AM, El Guapo said:

Yep, I assume it's something to do with how the chunk file is rebuilt, but sometimes my game will find stuff in the mods folder, sometimes from the 'regular' games folders. I had a tonne of issues with old renders insisting on showing up for certain wrestlers/attires.

If you use CCT to regenerate the Chunk0.def file, the original game files can remain in place and it will only use things from the \mods\ folder and it's sub-folders.

The problem with Renders seems to be a bug/oversight in the way the current version of CCT handles removing the original renders (which is required if you replace renders). From what I gather, it removes the original renders from the original WWE 2k19\pac\menu\win\Assets\wwe19_singleread\texture\ssface\ltag_*.pac files instead of using a copy of the ltag_*.pac file in the \WWE 2K19\mods\CCT\renders\pac\menu\win\Assets\wwe19_singleread\texture\ssface\_ltag\ folder and removing the original renders from there instead.

To work around it, every time after injecting renders (it's really only necessary if you replace renders, though) I run my little batch file I created called FixRenders.cmd located in the \WWE 2k19\mods\CCT\ folder. It contains the following:

mkdir renders\pac\menu\win\Assets\wwe19_singleread\texture\ssface\_ltag
copy /Y ..\..\pac\menu\win\Assets\wwe19_singleread\texture\ssface\ltag_type*.pac renders\pac\menu\win\Assets\wwe19_singleread\texture\ssface\_ltag\

Executing this batch file inside the \mods\CCT\ folder (you might have to do so as Administrator, depending on your Windows User privileges) will create the \mods\CCT\renders\pac\menu\win\Assets\wwe19_singleread\texture\ssface\_ltag\ directory (if it doesn't exist yet) and then copy the original render files that CCT modifies after injection to the \mods\CCT\renders\pac\menu\win\Assets\wwe19_singleread\texture\ssface\_ltag\ folder. After you have used this FixRenders.cmd file for the first time, you should use CCT to regenerate the Chunk0.def afterwards (again, only the regenerator that comes with CCT will work properly here).

Of course, you can just manually copy the ltag_type*.pac files from their original location to the one inside the mods\CCT folder as well, but the batch file is more convenient.
 

On 10/7/2020 at 12:50 AM, Saint Chewy said:

Greetings,

I just recently discovered through many hours of modding that you can or should use the \mods\ folder with CCT to install mods rather than overwriting them in the /pac/ folder. I have gone through and done a clean install to hopefully clear up some issues and start from scratch. What I am wanting to do is download the Raw and Smackdown Thunderdome arenas and install them. What sounds logical to me is to install them like this: \mods\Raw 2020 Thunderdome\pac\ and \mods\Smackdown 2020 Thunderdome\pac\. Or since they both use the same files should I install it like this: \mods\2020 Arenas\pac\? My question is does the game know how and which way to load the files in the /mods/ folder? Kind of like Skyrim or Fallout where the last mod wins. Which way would work best especially if you have mods that use the same files? Hopefully this makes sense and thank you for help in advance. 

 

Edit: I also noticed that sometimes 2K19 will just "forget" some mods in the \mods\ folder. For example, I have Karrion Kross installed and I edited the string_win.pac for his name in \mods\SuperString\pac\string\win. Everything is fine except for out of the blue, it will go back to 504B - EMPTY STRING TO BE FILLED. I will regen the chunk0.def and no change. I have gone into the string_win.pac to see if it did revert back and nope it has all the right information in there. What I have done to fix this is make a backup of the string_win.pac and delete the entire \SuperString\pac\string\win path. Close and reopen CCT and reinstall the string_win.pac. Copy over the back up file and replace and everything goes back to normal. Does anyone know why this happens and how I can prevent this from happening?

What tells the game which .pac files to load is the Chunk0.def file. If copies of files are listed there multiple times, the game will load them in random order, thus sometimes if you have multiple copies of a file somewhere it will load one or the other. All Chunk0.def rebuilders except CCT's will add all files into the Chunk0.def and not account for duplicates and thus you will see this behavior. CCT's Chunk0.def Regenerator, however will prioritize files that are found inside the \mods\ folder and it's sub-folders. For example, if say a string_win.pac file anywhere inside the \mods\ folder or it's sub-folders (for example \WWE 2K19\mods\SuperString\pac\string\win\string_win.pac) , if you Regenerate the Chunk0.def via CCT, it will only add the one inside the \mods\ folder to the Chunk0.def and not the original one in the WWE 2k19\pac\... folder (note that including the original \pac\string\win sub-path in the \mods\ folder is important, too, as CCT will check for that, as there are also files with the same names in different \pac\ sub folders, for example for various secondary tron types). Thus the modded file will always be read by the game and the original, unmodified file won't so you can always go back to the original by simply removing the one in the \mods\ folder and regenerating the Chunk0.def among other things.
Now, if you have multiple copies of the same .pac file inside somewhere inside the \mods\ and it's sub-folders, even CCT won't know which one is the one you want to use and will put all of them into the Chunk0.def. Thus you always need a single copy of each file. If multiple mods have modified the same file, you'll have to merge the file from different mods into one and remove any excess copies.
The same problem can also happen, if you have backups of .pac files anywhere in the \WWE 2k19\ folder or it's sub-folders, so never keep any backup copies anywhere inside the game folder or the mods folder, just the original .pac files where they always are plus modded files inside the \WWE 2k19\mods\ folder or any of it's sub-folders.
 

On 10/7/2020 at 4:39 AM, Raven Screech said:

The Mods folder sucks.

No, it does not. As long as you only have only one copy of a .pac file in the mods folder with the same sub-folder structure as the original (i.e. WWE 2k19\mods\<optionalModFolder>\pac\... (if you have multiple mods that require said file, you'll have to merge it) and you use CCT to rebuild the Chunk0.def file in Full Mode (not any other rebuilders, as they are flawed and mods sometimes working and sometimes not will happen with those) , it will work perfectly fine for any .pac mod.

[mattfick]

the only problem i get from the mods folder is sometimes superstars original renders will show up (i have custom renders for kane98 taker91 sting austin and a few others), not sure how or why but sometimes it switches

[Cave Waverider]

3 minutes ago, mattfick said:

the only problem i get from the mods folder is sometimes superstars original renders will show up (i have custom renders for kane98 taker91 sting austin and a few others), not sure how or why but sometimes it switches

Yes, please see my previous reply to @El Guapo to why this happens and how to work around it.

[mattfick]

thank you

[Raven Screech]

2 hours ago, Cave Waverider said:

Of course, you can just manually copy the ltag_type*.pac files from their original location to the one inside the mods\CCT folder as well, but the batch file is more convenient.

Or you can just delete the ssface/Type A/Type B (I can't recall at the moment) files from the Mods folder so that only the files that are created when you inject renders via CCT are there (numbernumber.pac)(doing so eliminates the conflict that arises that causes renders to revert), again, demonstrating that Mods folder seems to be pointless unless you're running a bunch of different sets of mods or overhauls that you want to swap in and out. A lot of people don't. They set their rosters, import their arenas, set up their game and leave it like that.

Edited October 7, 2020 by Raven Screech

[Cave Waverider]

5 hours ago, Raven Screech said:

Or you can just delete the ssface/Type A/Type B (I can't recall at the moment) files from the Mods folder so that only the files that are created when you inject renders via CCT are there (numbernumber.pac)(doing so eliminates the conflict that arises that causes renders to revert), again, demonstrating that Mods folder seems to be pointless unless you're running a bunch of different sets of mods or overhauls that you want to swap in and out. A lot of people don't. They set their rosters, import their arenas, set up their game and leave it like that.

Of course you can. But it's far from pointless to use the \mods\ folder and considered best practice for a reason. Whenever there is an update, you have to reinstall the game, Steam decides to revalidate the files (which also happens if you ever decide to reinstall Steam after a SSD/HDD swap, etc.., although Steam sometimes decides to do so by itself seemingly out of the blue as well) replaced/modified files in the original game location will be overwritten with the original files. If you keep the files inside the mods folder, they won't. Also, you'll have all your mods in the same place and if you order them in sub-folders inside \mods\ so you know which mod is which. Also, if you ever decide to copy your mods to a new computer, back them up, etc.. having them in the \mods\ folder will make things much easier. Or if you have multiple computers (desktop(s) aor home use and a laptop on the go, for example) you want to copy/update mods to.
You can also troubleshoot a lot easier, when all the mods are in the \mods\ folder and it makes it a lot easier for people to help people that are new to modding and mess things up troubleshoot if they don't replace files all over the place (I don't even imagine how much time I've wasted trying to help such people over the years, when it would have been a lot easier/quicker to get to the bottom of things if they had kept their mods tidy in their \mods\ folder as recommended).

An analogy would be coding conventions. If you're a programmer, you can do without following them, but it's highly recommended to do so for good reasons.

[Raven Screech]

Different strokes for different folks, I guess. 

[rynebrandon]

On 10/7/2020 at 2:54 AM, Cave Waverider said:

To work around it, every time after injecting renders (it's really only necessary if you replace renders, though) I run my little batch file I created called FixRenders.cmd located in the \WWE 2k19\mods\CCT\ folder. It contains the following:

mkdir renders\pac\menu\win\Assets\wwe19_singleread\texture\ssface\_ltag
copy /Y ..\..\pac\menu\win\Assets\wwe19_singleread\texture\ssface\ltag_type*.pac renders\pac\menu\win\Assets\wwe19_singleread\texture\ssface\_ltag\

Executing this batch file inside the \mods\CCT\ folder (you might have to do so as Administrator, depending on your Windows User privileges) will create the \mods\CCT\renders\pac\menu\win\Assets\wwe19_singleread\texture\ssface\_ltag\ directory (if it doesn't exist yet) and then copy the original render files that CCT modifies after injection to the \mods\CCT\renders\pac\menu\win\Assets\wwe19_singleread\texture\ssface\_ltag\ folder. After you have used this FixRenders.cmd file for the first time, you should use CCT to regenerate the Chunk0.def afterwards (again, only the regenerator that comes with CCT will work properly here).

So, I have attempted to implement this workaround and I've run into a new problem. The newly created _ltag file is not in my D:\Steam\steamapps\common\WWE 2K19\mods\CCT\renders\pac\menu\win\Assets\wwe19_singleread\texture\ssface\ folder.

Since I've made this change, every time I try to inject a render, I get a "Couldn't inject dds file. Please make sure that you run this application as Administrator!"

I'm sure this has to do with the new paths I've created but I went through and changed the security permissions on all the files in the D:\Steam\steamapps\common\WWE 2K19\mods\CCT\renders files. They should be editable by anyone and yet the error message won't go away.

I've also tried restarting the computer and clearing/re-building chunk.def. No luck. I always run CCT in administrator mode.

Any ideas? Thank you in advance.

Edited March 13, 2021 by rynebrandon

[CuddlyCorey]

Okay, I'm having a similar issue regarding renders reverting back from "real life" renders to generic renders for characters in-game like AJ Styles. 

I noticed that I have a folder located here: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\WWE 2K19\mods\CCT\renders\pac\menu\win\Assets\wwe19_singleread\texture\ssface\custom_typea 
(also tree, but for custom_typeb) 

The files are all .pac files. AJ Styles for example is 061000.pac 
I opened said file in pac editor, extracted the 0001.oodl file and can see that my render that I injected via CCT is in fact the the real life render of him. 

Now, I also have a folder located here: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\WWE 2K19\pac\menu\win\Assets\wwe19_singleread\texture\ssface\custom_typea

(also same tree, but for custom_typeb...which as totally different letters/numbers after superstar name) 

In this folder there are again .pac files, but named as follows: AJ Styles (F7C12A587EA97920).pac 
I opened this file with pac editor, extracted the 0001.oodl and sure enough, there is the "original" generic render of AJ. 

So, my question is this: Is the game reading these files from the directory itself, or from my mods folder? Or, is it jumping around and just being random? 

To fix this, can't I just inject the "real life" render into the AJ Styles (F7C12A587EA97920).pac and everything would work? 

I don't want to mess with that FixRenders.cmd because quite frankly, I'm not sure how to implement it. I just want the game to read the correct folder. 

Can someone help, please?  

Also, as a side note: All of my renders for modded superstars that are not in the original game, their renders are perfectly fine. Never had an issue with them appearing. Only the ones that are in game stars. 

[OrtiBroski]

Can anyone help me

 

My adam cole attires aren't updating and says 

error 

Couldn't copy character pac files. Check if you have the rights to access the mods directory! 

 

What should i do next? Thanks guys 

[BlindedByTheGrace]

 

3 hours ago, OrtiBroski said:

Can anyone help me

 

My adam cole attires aren't updating and says 

error 

Couldn't copy character pac files. Check if you have the rights to access the mods directory! 

 

What should i do next? Thanks guys 

Hi, if you are injecting through Custom Character Tools, ensure you do not place the CCT folder in Downloads or Desktop. Place the folder in a different location , like DOCUMENTS.

The issue can also be caused if you have not extracted all the files in CCT correctly when installed.

 

 

Edited October 25, 2021 by BlindedByTheGrace

[OrtiBroski]

On 10/25/2021 at 6:56 PM, BlindedByTheGrace said:

 

Hi, if you are injecting through Custom Character Tools, ensure you do not place the CCT folder in Downloads or Desktop. Place the folder in a different location , like DOCUMENTS.

The issue can also be caused if you have not extracted all the files in CCT correctly when installed.

 

 

I tried the documents folder but no change

 

What do you mean extracted all files in CCT correctly? Game works great just can't play with adam cole 

 

BTW really appreciate the help mate