Sacred 2:Modding software

The most important part of modding is to have the correct software to edit the applicable files.

Graphics

The first piece of software you will need is an archiving program like 7-zip, WinRar or something similar. This is needed to extract the graphical files from the archives in the pak directory.

• Model files – There are converters that can convert the Sacred 2 models from GR2 format to OBJ format so that you may edit in 3D modelling software such as Blender etc, but thus far there doesn't seem to be a way of converting the edited models back to GR2 format unless you own a copy of 3DMax or Granny 3D. There is however a free viewer available that can be used to view the models (Granny Viewer). Then at least you will know which model is which and what map file to look for.

• Map files – The edit the map files you can use converters that are available to convert the DDS format to JPG or PNG so that you may edit them in the software of your choice and can then convert back to DDS format. Or you can use image editing software such as Paintshop or Gimp. For Gimp you will need a plug-in that will allow you to open and save in DDS format. If you don't own a copy of Paintshop Gimp is a good choice as it is free and open.

• Other image files – No special software is needed to edit the TGA files as most image editing software supports this format.

Functional

Because the scripts are in basic text (txt) format these files can edited with any text editor such as Notepad, Wordpad, but this is not recommended as these programs (especially Notepad) are really slow with large files. It is often best to just get a proper text editor such as Notepad++. If you are planning to edit these script in any OS other than Windows the built-in text editors (G-edit, kyle, kate, nano, etc.) should be fine.