Just Cause 3 modding - Getting started

Channel:

Luke JC

Subscribers:

3,360

Published on October 11, 2020 10:46:21 AM ● Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MI2BNcZ-vmo

Game:

Just Cause 3 (2015)

Duration: 3:44

5,196 views

85

Small disclaimer:
The "jc3 files" folder at 0:50 is empty at this point

Programs needed:
- paint.net: https://www.getpaint.net/download.html#download
- notepad++: https://notepad-plus-plus.org/downloads/
- HXD: https://mh-nexus.de/en/downloads.php?product=HxD20

Tools needed:
- naem's updated tools: https://videogamemods.com/justcause3/mods/modified-gibbeds-tools/
- unknown's enhanced tools from the Unlimited discord:
https://discord.com/channels/449584016648044555/969925924516679720/969938436314267669

Links:
- Just Cause 3 Multiplayer: https://store.steampowered.com/app/619910/Just_Cause_3_Multiplayer_Mod/
- QTTabbar: http://qttabbar.wikidot.com/
- Disable windows file path length limit: https://www.howtogeek.com/266621/how-to-make-windows-10-accept-file-paths-over-260-characters/

Launch options:
- Singleplayer: --vfs-fs dropzone --vfs-archive patch_win64 --vfs-archive archives_win64 --vfs-fs .
- Multiplayer: --vfs-fs dropzonemp --vfs-archive patch_win64 --vfs-archive archives_win64 --vfs-fs .

Music used:

- Press Start - By Arcade Blaster
- Persona 5 Beneath the Mask [Lofi / Chill Remix] - By Qumu

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Luke_jc3mp
Discord: https://Discordapp.com/invite/efherxs
Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/user/Luke-JC

Filetypes:

- .ee, .bl, .fl, .nl: These are archives and contain all kinds of files, like models, low res textures, stat files and more. These are unpacked with Smallunpack.exe for JC3 and StreamedArchive.exe for JC4. You repack them with Smallpack.exe for JC3 and StreamedArchive .exe for JC4. To repack, drag the folder on the tool of the game you’re modding. ee is used for vehicles, weapons and other stuff in the editor folder. bl, fl and nl is used for locations, where nl stands for near locations and fl for far location
- .epe, .blo: These are the “brain” of an archive and puzzle together the contents of the archive they belong to. epes are used by stuff in editor, blos for lcoations. You unpack and repack them with ConvertProperty.exe for JC3 and PropertyContainer.exe for JC4. These files do a lot more than just puzzle together things, they can also be used for weaponizing and component swapping
-ddsc: These are mostly low res textures and can be unpacked with ConvertTexture.exe for JC3 and JC4. On unpack you will get a dds, that can be opened by Paint.net as well as an xml, once you’re done editing, drag the xml onto ConvertTexture and it will repack into a ddsc
-hmddsc/atx1: These are high res textures, where hmddsc is used in JC3 an ATX1 in JC4. These are…special, as they need to be unpacked over their low res counterpart. To unpack an hmddc, find it’s ddsc counterpart and put them in the same folder. Now drag the ddsc onto ConvertTexture, this will also give you a dds file and an xml, however the dds will now have the high res texture. After editing, drag the xml onto ConvertTexture again, and the tool will repack that into both hmddsc and ddsc. JC4 requires the use of the Apex toolset for most high res textures. I will go into more detail on texture modding in a future tutorial
-vmodc/wtunec: These are stat files, containing stuff like fire rate, magazine size, nitro duration, etc. These are unpacked and repacked with Batch.exe for JC3 and AvalancheData.exe for JC4. For JC3 modding, these are the only files that need to be un- and repacked with naem’s tools, as unknown’s set every value to zero on repack due to a bug in those tools
-toc: These won’t be used by the majority of people that just seek to modify weapons. They are exclusive to JC3 and link to patch files outside of the ee/bl/nl/fl files and are needed if you want to add files to an archive. They do not contain any files, only a filelist

Unpack folders:

- __UNKNOWN contains files, that the unpacker was not able to identify and dehash. Dehashing is important to us since it will make editing things a lot easier. Dehashing a file-name can lead us from 4F69B9FF to v0200_car_capstone_apc_rebel_01, which is a lot easier to work with
-Climate controls various climate zone assets, like far away textures of nature elements, close by models and their textures
-Editor houses game objects, rico, npcs, weapons and vehicles
-Environment has has data about different weathers, like rain, thunderstorm, etc
-Global has all kinds of stuff, the important factor with this folder is, these files are loaded at all times and do never refresh, so modifying them requires a game restart
-Graphs has paths about how certain events, like parts of mission play out
-Locations contains all files for cities, villages, some files or rico and even mission files
-Models contains every model, as well as high res textures
-Missions has a list of all missions
-Online has files of online activities like feat scores
-Profile has files for the menu layout
-Settings files also do not refresh and consist of mostly lists, like an list of all weapons, vehicles, NPCs, objects etc. If something is not listed in here, the game will not spawn it whatsoever

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