Mod Format CFG

The following information is for mod developers who want to package their mod to be compatible with the Jackal Mod Manager.

This format is for versions prior to 0.3.0 only, the XML format should be used with more recent mod manager versions.

Format

Directory Structure

Mods should be structured as followed inside a ZIP archive:

ZIP file
   |
   ---- data/
   |      |
   |      ---- (Plugin .dll files)
   |      |
   |      ---- (Resource directories)
   |
   ---- install.cfg
   |
   ---- icon.png

Additional files such as a readme file, install scripts for non-mod manager users, or anything else can be added and should not cause issues with the operation of the mod manager.

icon.png

The icon is an optional image to be displayed in the mod manager. It should be 80x80 pixels in size and in the PNG (Portable Network Graphics) format with alpha transparency supported, smaller sized images may be used but keep in mind they will not be scaled and so will have extra blank space around them.

install.cfg

The install.cfg file defines all data associated with the mod to the mod manager. An example file is shown below with each value explained:

[General]
name=MOD_NAME
prettyName=MOD_PRETTY_NAME
author=MOD_AUTHOR
version=MOD_VERSION
gameVersion=TDL_VERSION
description=DESCRIPTION
refreshScriptCache=false
refreshWorld=false
refreshInventory=false

[Plugins]
plugin=PLUGIN_DLL

[Resources]
resource=RESOURCE_DIRECTORY

• MOD_NAME is the name for the mod used as the name of the directory it is installed to inside the mods directory and what it is internally referred to by the mod manager. This mod name should not contain spaces or characters that are not legal in directory names and should be unique to avoid conflicts since installing a mod that uses the same name will overwrite yours.
• MOD_PRETTY_NAME is the name for the mod displayed to the user. It may contain spaces.
• MOD_AUTHOR is the name of the author(s) of the mod.
• MOD_VERSION is a string for the mod version. Since it is a string the version may be defined in any format desired.
• TDL_VERSION is the version number of The Dead Linger for which the mod was made and is known to be compatible. This is primarily included to let users know the age of the mod as game updates may cause mods to no longer function properly. The current TDL version can be found in the tdlversion.txt file in TDL's AppData directory and is also displayed by the mod manager, the number that appears when TDL starts is NOT the correct version number but rather is the next version that the updater is searching for. Note that is value is not the current build of TDL but rather is the value used by the TDL updater.
• DESCRIPTION is an optional block of formatted text displayed to the user. The text is displayed as Qt Rich Text which allows the use of HTML style tags for formatting and allows extras such as click-able URLs to be used. Note that the description must be only on one line in the install.cfg file, but line breaks can easily be added using HTML tags.
• refreshScriptCache=true should be added only if the mod requires the TDL script cache to be deleted and recreated.
• refreshWorld=true should be added only if the mod requires a new world to be created. Note that the user will have the option to decline deleting their existing world.
• refreshInventory=true should be added only if the mod requires a fresh inventory. Note that the user will have the option to decline deleting their existing inventory.
• PLUGIN_DLL is the name of a plugin .dll file used by the mod, the .dll extension should not be included or it will fail to load correctly. One entry should be added for each plugin included in the mod, using the names of any of the vanilla .dll files is not allowed.
• RESOURCE_DIRECTORY is a directory for resource files inside the mod's data directory. Any directory containing non-plugin mod files must have an entry in the install.cfg file or they will not be loaded by the game.