Tutorial How to successfully pack and unpack .pak files

Thank you very much! Thanks to you I fixed the "missing thrust_spear.wav" bug, and can play the game again.

 

That wasn't my question. Assuming I didn't want to edit the mod in any way, can I just put a downloaded .pak file in the mods folder like I would any other mod and have it work automatically? I'd test myself but I don't have access to my Starbound stuff right now :/

 

*sigh* Thanks, but no dice. I even deleted the assets folder (after backing it up to the desktop) and had it replaced via Steam, then tried unpacking into another folder on the desktop, but it's still throwing out errors. So frustrating....

 

You need to unpack it to a directory that *does not exist*.

I have been told that is the case.

 

@AmazonValkyrie You might have made a mistake typing it out. I did so myself, replacing steamapps with steamapes, so it may help to go over your command with a fine-toothed comb.

 

Like I said, the game doesn't scan the mods folder for .pak files yet so it wouldn't work. you'd have to unpack it and make it into a mod

not to be a dick, but did you type it right, and its pointing to a directory that doesn't exist and is it running as an administrator? those are the only reasons it throws those errors

 

Stickied this thread, at least until the asset_unpacker.exe is fixed or whatever.

Thanks SexualRhinoceros.

 

thank you!
Off topic: The feeling of having a stickied thread =

 

Dawwwww, problem solved. Simple typo, as it usually is, right? Thanks so much for the help and for this tutorial! I'll be sure to pass it on if I come across more confoozled people.

 

glad I could help!

 

It should be noted that the .modinfo file needs to be outside of the .pak and needs to reference the .pak via its path:

Code:

{
  "name" : "CreativeMode",
  "version" : "Beta v. Furious Koala",
  "path" : "./CreativeMode.pak",
  "dependencies" : []
}

This way a mod can be two files. The .modinfo and the .pak containing everything else.

It's no problem to pack a different .modinfo file within the .pak that has a path : "."
That file is not read from the pack.

 

...Really? I don't understand what the point of these paks are, then. What's the difference between distributing as a pak vs. as a zip file if the user still has unzip everything and put the stuff together manually?

 

According to the patch-notes the difference is faster startup times. Additionally on the server side you don't need assets like animation files - which the asset_packer is able to filter out, so no need to write an ellaborate build script for that.

 

Can anyone put here a .bat file for Windows? Really can't unpack >.<

Thx!

(I use more the Linux Terminal that MSDOS... n.n")

 

Key word in his response was YET. It was unintentional that it is being ignored.

 

Can someone make a video for how to do this on windows or place a link to one? Thanks
I really just cannot figure this out I assume that has to do with not being an experienced user of command prompt.

 

Does that mean there's a hotfix coming soon for this? It seems like a poorly-planned update if they release a feature that's not even ready for testing yet (especially since it seems like all paks are at the moment are glorified zip files that, by the looks of the responses to this thread and other places, are causing a lot of confusion). I guess I'll see what the deal is once I start experimenting on my own when I get home again tomorrow.

 

The unpacked takes about 1000seconds to finish. Hope they'll fix it. (I've a fukin' i7. )

Well... time to remod.

 

There were plenty of issues. One of the biggest for me being the storage table not saving/loading in lua. So yeah.

 

Do I move them to the assets folder?