Bundle Patcher Architecture

Table of Contents

settings.ini
packages/dml
packages/boot
packages/mods

This is a (likely incomplete) documentation of how dtmm's process to deploy mods and patch game bundles works and what data it writes.

settings.ini

The game's application_settings/settings-common.ini is changed with

-boot_script = "scripts/main"
+boot_script = "scripts/mod_main"

This allows us to run our own entry point before the game's code, without touching the actual scripts/main file.

packages/dml

An independent mod that's handled specially. Its purpose is to handle the initial mod loading, what used to be ModManager in VT2. scripts/mod_main expects this mod to return an API based on this template:

local obj = {}

-- @param boot_gui Gui A special Gui object created by the game that can be used to display status on
-- @param mod_data table The contents of `scripts/mods/mod_data.lua` as described below.
-- @param libs table A key-value map of certain Lua libraries/globals that the game strips, but that might be useful during the loading process
function obj:init(boot_gui, mod_data, libs)
end

-- @param dt number The delta time since the last call
function obj:update(dt)
	return is_done
end

return obj

packages/boot

Several files are added to packages/boot:

scripts/mod_main.lua: The very first file of code that the game will run at startup. This calls Fatshark's actual scripts/main entry point and injects packages/dml into the boot process.
scripts/mods/mod_data.lua: This file mod metadata and the load order, all of which the mod manager will use to load the installed mods.
packages/mods.package: The .package file that points to the separate mod collection bundle
packages/dml.package: See above

Example for scripts/mods/mod_data_lua:

return {
  {
    name = "Darktide Mod Framework",
    id = "dmf",
    run = function()
      return dofile("scripts/mods/dmf/dmf_loader")
    end,
  },
  {
    name = "Test Mod",
    id = "test-mod",
    run = function()
      return new_mod("test-mod", {
        script = "scripts/mods/test-mod/init",
        data = "scripts/mods/test-mod/data",
        localization = "scripts/mods/test-mod/localization",
      })
    end,
  },
}

packages/mods

This bundle serves as the root package from which all mod packages can be reached. Collecting them here avoids bloating packages/boot too much.

Wiki

Building the source code
Obtaining the Oodle library

DTMM

Installing mods
Register DTMM as handler for Nexus downloads

DTMT

CLI Reference
Building your first mod
Migrating from loose files
dtmt.cfg Reference
Murmur hashes and dictionaries

Reverse Engineering

Getting Started
Sound
Textures

File Types

Status
Bundle
Bundle Database
Texture
Material
Strings
Package
Wwise Event
Wwise Stream
Wwise Bank