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Mauve edited this page Apr 10, 2023 · 42 revisions

Disclaimer

⚠️ Spelunky 2 doesn't officially support modding. Do not report modding related bugs to Blitworks.

You are strongly discouraged from using any modding tools in your actual online Steam installation as to prevent unlocking achievements, corrupting your savefile and cheating in the leaderboards. You should make a copy of your game somewhere else and install Mr. Goldbergs Steam Emulator in the game directory. (TL;DR: Copy the steam_api64.dll from the zip to the offline game directory and create steam_appid.txt with the text 418530 in it.) Also block the modded installation in your firewall. If you break anything using this tool you get to keep both pieces. Do not report modding related bugs to Blitworks.

Now that that's out of the way, you can probably use texture mods online in Steam just fine.

Quick Start

  1. Download modlunky2.exe
  2. Start modlunky2.exe
  3. If Spelunky 2 isn't in the default Steam folder, use the "Settings" tab to tell Modlunky 2 where it's installed
  4. Consider installing some mods, and enabling them (check the checkbox)
  5. Click the "Play!" button to start the game * If you have no mods enabled, the game will look totally normal * Enable/disable a mod via the checkbox next to its name

Note: Only the Steam version is supported. If you installed it via X-Box Game Pass or Microsoft Store, it won't work

Installing mods

Via Spelunky.fyi

This takes some setup, but is very convenient after that.

  1. Go to your Settings page. If you don't already have an account, you'll need to make one
  2. "Click to reveal" your API token. Copy it
  3. Open the "Settings" tab in Modlunky 2
  4. Click "Update Token". Paste the API in the dialog, click OK

If you're signed in while browsing mods, on each mod's page, there will be an "Install Latest" button. With Modlunky 2 running, you can just click that.

Via Install Mods tab

With the "Install Mods" tab, you can either:

  • Enter an install code from spelunky.fyi, and click "Install"
    • This will automatically download the mod
  • Install a file you downloaded using the "Local Installation" buttons

Manual Installation

  • Place the mod files to Spelunky 2/Mods/Packs/Mod name here. If the mod is in a zip file, extract it first. There should only be .png / .lvl / .txt / .hlsl / .bank files in the directory. Subdirectories don't matter.

Notes

  • It is a good idea to copy a backup of your savefile.sav from the game directory somewhere safe before using mods
  • If you want to get rid of the mods, click Restore EXE or verify game files in Steam if you have somehow messed up the local backup
  • If there hasn't been an update and you're sure you have already extracted this version, you can obviously skip some steps, but it doesn't hurt to do it all if you're not sure
  • If the quick start wasn't clear enough for you, continue reading!

How to use Modlunky 2

Creating a backup of the Spel2.exe and savegame.sav

  • Head to your Spelunky 2 game folder, for me that's in C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\Spelunky 2

Note: You can also find your Spelunky 2 folder by right clicking on Spelunky 2 in the Steam client and then heading to Manage > Browse Local Files

  • Now copy the file Spel2.exe and savegame.sav and paste it in a new folder or somewhere safe on your desktop

How to verify the game files

This is just so if anything goes wrong have a copy of the clean .exe file. You can also restore the original .exe by using the steps below

  • Right Click on Spelunky 2 in the Steam client
  • Click on Properties
  • Click on the Local Files
  • Click onVerify Integrity of Game Files

Downloading Modlunky 2

Note: It may pop with a warning that the file can harm your computer. The file is fine to use and you can just select keep if using Google Chrome

  • Copy the modlunky2.exe you just downloaded to the Spelunky 2 folder

Extracting with Modlunky 2

Note: This should be done each time Spelunky 2 is updated to make sure you have the newest assets.

  • Head to your Spelunky 2 folder where you have just copied modlunky2.exe
  • Double click on modlunky2.exe and wait for the window to pop up
  • Select the Extract Assets tab and click on Spel2.exe
  • Make sure the Generate Entity Sheets and Generate String Hashes boxes are ticked on the right
  • Hit the Extract button at the bottom of the window
  • The other window Modlunky2 Console will display the message "Extraction complete!" when done

Note: Do not edit these files directly. Always copy them elsewhere BEFORE editing them.

File location info

  • Images are in Mods/Extracted/Data/Textures/
  • Entity Images are in Mods/Extracted/Data/Textures/Entities, always use those if possible
  • Level files are in Mods/Extracted/Data/Levels
  • String files are in Mods/Extracted

Editing files for Playlunky

  • Make a custom folder inside Mods/Packs and copy the file you want to edit to that custom folder

Note: Do not edit files in the Extracted folder directly. Always copy them elsewhere BEFORE edit them.

  • There are many free image editing programs you can use such as: GIMP, Paint.net, Pixlr or for a paid option you can use Adobe Photoshop
  • For text editing there are also many free programs to use such as: Notepad (comes with Windows anyway), Notepad++, Atom
  • Save the edited file in the custom folder you created earlier

Editing sounds

  • You can extract the ogg and wav files from the soundbank while extracting with Modlunky2
  • You can load loose audio files with Playlunky (usable via Modlunky2 via the Playlunky tab)