HPL2/TDD/Change Custom Story into Full Conversion Mod
Since version 1.5 of Amnesia The Dark Descent (release in July 2023), a new field has been added to the custom_story_settings.cfg file. This field allows you to specify a main_init.cfg file, which is the main file that full conversion mods use to launch. This means you can now create full conversion mods from a custom story, and they will still show up in the main game menu. This unlocks all the power of full conversion mods, while maintaining most of the simplicity of a custom story.
If you have a custom story that you want to transform into a full conversion mod, start by adding the new field to your custom_story_settings.cfg:
<Main
Name = "My story"
Author = "Me"
...
InitCfgFile = "config/main_init.cfg"
/>
Specifying this field will disable MapsFolder
, StartMap
and StartPos
, as these fields will instead be read from the main_init.cfg file. It will also disable ExtraLangFilePrefix
and DefaultExtraLangFile
, as the game will instead use the primary lang files specified in main_init.cfg.
From this point on, you can follow tutorials for full conversion mods. Your mod folder will remain custom_stories/<your story>
. For example, if your story folder is named "Ascent", your main init file should exist at custom_stories/Ascent/config/main_init.cfg
(reflecting what you put in the InitCfgFile
above). Create the "config" folder and the "main_init.cfg" file. The contents of your main_init.cfg file can start as such (Remember to change the references to "Ascent" to reflect your own mod, such as MainSaveFolder and GameName):
<ConfigFiles
Resources = "resources.cfg"
Materials = "materials.cfg"
Game = "config/game.cfg"
Menu = "config/menu.cfg"
PreMenu = "config/pre_menu.cfg"
Demo = "config/demo.cfg"
DefaultMainSettings = "config/default_main_settings.cfg"
DefaultMainSettingsSDL2 = "config/default_main_settings_sdl2.cfg"
DefaultMainSettingsLow = "launcher/default_main_settings_low.cfg"
DefaultMainSettingsMedium = "launcher/default_main_settings_medium.cfg"
DefaultMainSettingsHigh = "launcher/default_main_settings_high.cfg"
DefaultUserSettings = "config/default_user_settings.cfg"
DefaultUserKeys = "config/default_user_keys.cfg"
DefaultUserKeysSDL2 = "config/default_user_keys_sdl2.cfg"
DefaultBaseLanguage = "base_english.lang"
DefaultGameLanguage = "english.lang"
/>
<Directories
MainSaveFolder = "Ascent"
BaseLanguageFolder = "config/"
GameLanguageFolder = "config/lang_main/"
CustomStoryPath = "custom_stories"
/>
<Variables
GameName = "Ascent, an Amnesia mod"
/>
<StartMap
File = "level_01.map"
Folder = "maps/"
Pos = "PlayerStartArea_1"
/>
Note: Paths specified in this file are relative paths starting from the custom story's main folder, eg: "custom_stories/Ascent". Leaving Resources as "resources.cfg" means it should exist at "custom_stories/Ascent/resources.cfg". If a file is not found here, it will fall back to using the game root folder as the starting point (needs confirmation).