Pack, install and run
Three steps take a project into the game: Pack builds the mod, Install puts it in the game folder, and Run Game starts the game. The rocket button in the Project view, Pack and Install, does the first two in one go.
Pack
REDcode: Pack, the package button in the Project view’s title bar, builds your project’s packed folder: the finished mod, laid out like the game folder. Ctrl+Shift+B runs it too, as VS Code’s build task redcode: pack.
Pack does what WolvenKit’s pack does, so the result installs the same way. On the developer’s test project, REDcode’s archive matched WolvenKit’s file for file.
| From your project | Goes to |
|---|---|
Everything in source/archive |
One archive, packed/archive/pc/mod/<mod name>.archive, written by WolvenKit’s packer |
ArchiveXL files (.xl) under source/resources |
Beside the archive |
Other files under source/resources |
The same path under packed, so resources/r6/tweaks/my.yaml becomes packed/r6/tweaks/my.yaml |
A few files are left out, as in WolvenKit: .script and .ws files, info.json, and .tweak files outside r6/tweaks. One difference on purpose: REDcode packs .tweak files in r6/tweaks, which WolvenKit drops.
packedis emptied first, so a file you removed from the project doesn’t linger in the mod. The setting isredcode.pack.clean.- A project with nothing in
source/archiveis fine: the mod may be tweaks or scripts only. - Paths with capital letters or spaces are listed in REDcode’s log, as WolvenKit warns about them.
Packing as a REDmod
Turn on redcode.pack.redmod to pack the project as a REDmod instead, as WolvenKit’s REDmod option does. The archive and ArchiveXL files go under packed/mods/<mod name>/archives, scripts under packed/mods/<mod name>/scripts, with an info.json written from the project. Most mods ship as plain archives, so it’s off by default.
Install
Install is in the Project view’s ... menu; Pack and Install (the rocket) packs first. What Install does depends on whether you have EDGEdeck.
| With | Install does |
|---|---|
| EDGEdeck 0.21.0 or later | Hands the project to EDGEdeck. The first time, it becomes a mod named after the project, version dev. After that, the same mod gets the new files and keeps its place in your list. EDGEdeck deploys it, with its record of every file, its conflict check and its undo |
| No EDGEdeck | Copies packed into the game folder and records every file in the project’s .redcode/installed.json |
With EDGEdeck, if other mods also have changes waiting to deploy, REDcode asks before the deploy takes them along.
Without EDGEdeck, if a file is already in the game, REDcode asks, then backs it up before replacing it. Installing again first removes the previous set of files, so a file you dropped from the project doesn’t stay behind. This path has only been tested against a stand-in game folder, not a real install.
Use EDGEdeck if you use any mod manager. A tool that copies files into the game behind a mod manager’s back confuses it. Through EDGEdeck, your own mod sits in the same list as everything else, and conflicts with other mods show up. See EDGEdeck and REDcode.
If the project hasn’t been packed yet, Install says so and offers Pack and Install.
Uninstall
Uninstall, in the same ... menu, takes your mod out of the game again:
- with EDGEdeck, it turns the mod off in EDGEdeck and deploys;
- without EDGEdeck, it removes exactly the files listed in
.redcode/installed.json, and puts back anything it backed up.
Install to the Hot Folder
Red Hot Tools is a mod for modders that reloads archives while the game is running. When the game has it, a flame button appears in the Project view: Install to the Hot Folder (Red Hot Tools). It copies your packed archive into the game’s archive/pc/hot folder, where Red Hot Tools picks it up.
Untested: the developer doesn’t have Red Hot Tools installed, so this hasn’t been tried against it. Please report how it goes on Discord or in an issue.
Run Game
Run Game, the play button, starts Cyberpunk 2077.
- For a Steam install it starts the game through Steam, so the overlay and achievements work. Otherwise it starts
bin\x64\Cyberpunk2077.exe. redcode.launchchooses:auto(the default, as above),steamorexe.- If the project packs as a REDmod, REDcode adds
-modded, the game’s launch option for REDmods.
The everyday loop
- Change something: a value in the CR2W editor, a texture, a tweak.
- Press Pack and Install.
- Press Run Game and look.
- Close the game, and go back to 1.
When you’re done for the day, nothing needs undoing. When you want the game clean, Uninstall.