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PAK Manager

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PAK Manager Tool

This tool will not only allow you to open any .pak file from the original Crysis 2 game, but also to create new .pak files for your modification or customize the level.pak file of your newly created Singleplayer and Multiplayer. It means that you can include custom content right inside your level and release it to the public, so a whole modification for just one single level is not needed anymore unless you do some heavy modifications to specific assets.



Terminology

In this section we will explain the functionalities of the tool and the risks that come with it. We recommend using this tool only by experienced users who know how to work with custom content.


UI Explanation
To open the PAK Manager launch the editor, then click on File > PAK Manager
The default PAK Manager window will show up with the following functionalities:
  • Open PAK – opens an existing pak from your Crysis 2 installation
  • Create PAK – creates a new PAK archive (see below for further instructions)
  • Add files – adds new files to an opened / just created PAK archive
  • Extract – extract the selected folders and files from the list to a user specified folder on your hard drive
  • Delete entries – deletes the selected folders/files from the PAK archive
  • Close – closes the PAK Manager
Multiple selection is enabled in the list. Navigation in the folder tree resembles TotalCommander or WinRAR, WinZIP Keys:
  • Arrows up/down – move selection cursor up/down
  • Backspace – move one level up
  • Enter – when folder is selected it will enter that folder
  • Delete – deletes the selected item folder or fill
At the bottom there is a status text and a progress bar used for showing long operations progress (like the adding of many files or folders).
Important Things To Know
Do NOT modify original .pak files placed in _Crysis2\GameCrysis2_ by adding or removing files from them.

This will most likely break your Crysis 2 installation and you will not be able to play without any issues anymore (e.g. you will get kicked from MP if you have modified the original .pak files.

For Mod Release we recommend creating new .pak files for all custom content respective to their file type. (e.g. all new custom objects should get placed with their respective path in a new objects.pak which needs to get stored in the GameCrysis2 folder of your mod.

For Mod Release we recommend to delete all loose files from GameCrysis2 (e.g. GameCrysis2\Objects\MyObject.cgf) as soon as you have created the respective .pak file for each of the file types. This, however, is NOT necessary for Levels.



How-To Instructions

This section will explain step-by-step how to work properly with the PAK Manager tool. Please be careful especially when opening the original Crysis 2 .pak files (stored in _Crysis2\GameCrysis2_) as that can damage your installation.

Extracting From Existing PAK Files
Instructions
  1. Launch the Editor
  2. Open the PAK Manager via File > PAK Manager...
  3. Click on "Open PAK"
  4. If you want to extract from the original Crysis 2 .pak files please navigate into the GameCrysis2 directory
  5. Select the .pak file of your choice and click "Open"
  6. The PAK Manager now lists all files included in this PAK
  7. To Extract files or folder select them and click on "Extract"
  8. Choose a location or new folder where to extract the selected entries from the list


Custom Content For SP & MP Levels
Instructions
  1. Launch the Editor
  2. Open the PAK Manager via File > PAK Manager...
  3. Click on "Open PAK"
  4. Navigate to the level folder wherer you want to include custom assets in the level.pak (e.g. Crysis2\GameCrysis2\Levels\MySPLevel)
  5. Select the level.pak file and click "Open"
  6. The PAK Manager now lists all files included in this PAK
  7. Now you can add files/folders by clicking "Add files" or "Add folder" or close the manager
Important Information

Opening a level.pak and/or adding custom assets is only possible when this level is not opened in the editor.

For Level Release: In order to get the custom assets inside the level.pak working they still need to be present as loose files when doing a final export to engine of the level. Afterwards the loose files can get deleted as they are part of the level.pak and thus will work ingame.

Custom assets you want to include in a level.pak can only be placed inside the .pak file. No other .pak files (e.g. Objects.pak) are supported from within the Levels folders.

For information about which custom assets work inside level folder please check Custom Map File Structure document


Custom Content For Modifications
Creating new mod specific .pak files
  1. Launch the Editor
  2. Open the PAK Manager via File > PAK Manager...
  3. Press the "Create PAK" button and navigate to the GameCrysis2 folder of your mod (e.g. Crysis2\Mods\MyMod\GameCrysis2)
  4. All custom .pak files need to be stored in the respective GameCrysis2 folder, otherwise they will not work
  5. Now you can add files/folders by clicking "Add files" or "Add folder" or close the manager
The supported mod specific .pak files are:
  • \MyMod\GameCrysis2\Animations.pak
  • \MyMod\GameCrysis2\GameData.pak
  • \MyMod\GameCrysis2\Music.pak
  • \MyMod\GameCrysis2\Objects.pak
  • \MyMod\GameCrysis2\Scripts.pak
  • \MyMod\GameCrysis2\Sounds.pak
  • \MyMod\GameCrysis2\Textures.pak
  • \MyMod\GameCrysis2\Videos.pak

The Level folder including all created levels for your mod remains as it is, as the engine does not support reading from a levels.pak
Adding files to mod specific .pak files
  1. Launch the Editor
  2. Open the PAK Manager via File > PAK Manager...
  3. Click on "Open PAK"
  4. Navigate to the GameCrysis2 folder of your mod (e.g. Crysis2\Mods\MyMod\GameCrysis2)
  5. Select the .pak file you want to add files/folders to and click "Open"
  6. The PAK Manager now lists all files included in this PAK
  7. Now you can add files/folders by clicking "Add files" or "Add folder" or close the manager

Please ensure that the files you want to add to a .pak files are located in the respective sub folder of your mod (e.g. Crysis2\Mods\MyMod\GameCrysis2\Objects\MyObject.cgf). Only then they can be added with ther direct path to the .pak file and only then they will get loaded ingame from the .pak file correctly.

If you add assets from outside the respective sub folder of your mod, the custom assets do have an incorrect path in the .pak file and thus will not work ingame when you have the loose files deleted.
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