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Mods

Free Riders Recompiled loads file-replacement mods in HedgeModManager's format, the same format Unleashed and Marathon Recompiled use. A mod replaces the game's files with its own. Code mods (DLLs, patches to the original executable) do not apply: the game is recompiled.

Making a mod

A mod is a folder with a mod.ini:

[Desc]
Title="My mod"
Author="Me"
Version="1.0"
Description="What it changes"

[Main]
IncludeDirCount=1
IncludeDir0="."
  • Replacing files: files under an include folder replace the game's files at the same path, relative to the game's root (the folder that holds sound, movie, advE, …):
    • <mod>/sound/SRN_BGM.csb replaces sound/SRN_BGM.csb;
    • letter case does not matter.
  • Adding files: a mod can also add files the game does not have.
  • Load order: when two mods replace the same file, the one higher in the list wins.

Mods made for the original game

Sound, texture and text mods for Sonic Free Riders on Xenia or the Xbox 360 usually say to copy their files over the game's (for example into sound). They work here unchanged, without touching the installed game: make a folder in mods, put the mod.ini above in it, and copy the mod's files under it at the same paths, so that sound/... sits next to mod.ini.

  • Voices: with Voice language in the launcher set to English or Japanese, the game opens that language's voice files (SRN_Eact_*, SRN_Jact_*, SRN_stream_voice_e/j). A voice mod replaces the files of the language it was made for, so it applies when that language is the one heard.
  • Text: the text files are per language (advE, advJ, …); a text mod applies when the game's language matches the files it replaces. The Traditional Chinese mod replaces the Japanese files, so it needs the game language set to Japanese.
  • Larger voice files (Issue #385): the game loads every racer's voice bank into one sound heap of a fixed size, 18,979,226 bytes set in the executable (src/sound_heap.h), and Super Sonic's SRN_Eact_SP.csb as well when Sonic rides the Chaos Emeralds. A voice pack with larger files, such as GameBanana's Zero Gravity Voice Pack (7.9 MB of voices in a Chaos Emeralds race against the original 5.8 MB), then no longer fits: the last bank's allocation fails and the race waits for it on the "Now Loading" screen forever. The heap has the same size on the console, so the same files should not fit there either (not tried on a console or Xenia). Here the heap is made in a 32 MiB block instead (game.log: GAME_PATCH sound_heap ... moved=1), so such packs load.
  • Not applicable: patches to the original executable (default.xex), such as the No Kinect Patch, and Xenia-specific patches.

Managing mods

In the launcher: the Mods tab.

  • Put each mod in its own folder inside mods beside the launcher (on Android: the app's files folder).
  • Switch mods on and off and move them up or down.
  • The launcher writes mods/ModsDB.ini and cpkredir.ini; the game reads them when it starts.

With HedgeModManager or another tool: if cpkredir.ini beside the launcher belongs to another tool, the game uses that tool's list, and the launcher shows it as managed elsewhere and does not change it. That is the case when cpkredir.ini points to a ModsDB.ini other than the launcher's, or has a [HedgeModManager] section (HedgeModManager names mods by ID, not by folder, even in the launcher's own mods folder). A relative ModsDbIni, as HedgeModManager writes it (mods\ModsDB.ini), is relative to the folder of cpkredir.ini. To manage mods in the launcher again, delete cpkredir.ini.

On Windows the launcher records where it is installed each time it starts, in HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\FreeRidersRecompiled (ExecutableFilePath, RootDirectoryPath): the same values HedgeModManager reads to find Unleashed Recompiled. HedgeModManager itself does not list Free Riders yet; adding the game there is a separate change, made to HedgeModManager.

Checking that a mod applies

game.log lists:

  • the active mods and how many files each replaces: MODS mod=<folder> files=N;
  • every replaced file the first time the game opens it: MODS_FILE game=<path> from=<file>.

SFR_MODS_INI names another cpkredir.ini, for testing. Mod files are read when the game opens them (src/mod_loader.cpp, used by the asset file layer on every platform).