This page lists tools created by Arx Fatalis community to help explore and mod the game.

If you are looking to create new tools you might be interested in documentation of custom file formats used in Arx.

Unpackers

Main article: PAK file format.

These tools let you explore and/or unpack the .pak files containing the Arx Fatalis game data. Resource listings for all known editions of the game are available in the ArxFatalisManifests repository.

arxunpak

Arx Libertatis comes with the arxunpak command-line tool to unpack Arx Fatalis .pak archives.

You can run arxunpak without arguments (for example by double-clicking the executable) to unpack all resources to the unpacked subdirectory of the Arx Libertatis user directory, for example %USERPROFILE%\Saved Games\Arx Libertatis\unpacked on Windows or ~/.local/share/arx/unpacked on Linux. If you installed the Arx Fatalis data at a non-default location you might need the --data-dir option to point to the directory containing your .pak files.

arxunpak will only extract those resources seen by the game - for example the old scripts in data.ṗak are hidden by the patched scripts in data2.pak. To access the unpatched resources specify the archive to extract as an argument to arxunpak:

arxunpak data.pak

More information is available using the --help option and in the man page.

ArxPak

ArxPak is a GUI tool to view and extract the contents for Arx Fatalis .pak archives.

Note: When you specify a directory to extract data, the program will actually place all files in one directory above (on the same level as the specified directory).

ArxPak Viewer for Arx Fatalis 0.5.0.6 ArxPakFull.zip 635 KiB

MD5: 359c12387245b6996b997afd0b90554d

ArxPak Viewer for Arx Fatalis 0.5.0.8 ArxPack.5.0.8.zip 749 KiB

MD5: 2b5c20a54d6c361ac53650568d1defbf

Dimoks' DANAE build comes with the afunpak command-line tool to extract Arx Fatalis .pak archives:

DAmnable but Necessary Arx Editor Danae.rar 1.5 MiB

MD5: c1e9fcaa4057a6e0c1894ae779a82d14

arx-unpacker is a small stand-alone tool to extract Arx Fatalis .pak archives.

Editors

Main article: Blender.

Arx Libertatis 1.2 and newer comes with plugin for Blender to import and export the model, animation and scene formats used by Arx Fatalis. Make sure to use the latest development snapshots.

Main article: Running the original editor.

The Arx Fatalis 1.21 Source Code released by Arkane comes with the original level editor used to create the game. This editor is not available in Arx Libertatis but you can build the original source code yourself to access the editor.

A build of DANAE is also provided by Dimoks as well as some instructions (in Russian):

DAmnable but Necessary Arx Editor Danae.rar 1.5 MiB

MD5: c1e9fcaa4057a6e0c1894ae779a82d14

User Defined Language for the Arx Fatalis script syntax. Not optimal, but adequate.

Notepad++ User Defined Language for Arx Script arx-scripting-language.xml 19.1 KiB

MD5: 657374fcee91d7a6965408ddb810130a

Debugging

Main article: Script console.

Arx Libertatis 1.2 and newer comes with a script console that can execute any command supported by the Arx scripting language. Make sure to use the latest development snapshots.

In debug builds and development snapshots the console can be opened using a configurable hotkey (` by default).

In release builds the following cheat spell opens the console:

Aam Mega Stregum Comunicatum Spacium (create increase magic control field)

You do not need to have the runes to cast this spell. Casting the spell once unlocks the console, after which it can be opened using the normal hotkey.

Main article: Debugging.

Arx Libertatis 1.2 and newer comes with several debug information displays and views that can be cycled through with the F11 and Scroll Lock keys. Make sure to use the latest development snapshots.

arxsavetool

Arx Libertatis comes with the arxsavetool command-line utility to view, extract and modify Arx Fatalis and Arx Libertatis .sav archives. The following actions are supported:

Extract all save data to the current directory. This will create one file for each entity named after the entity ID, one lvl* file for each level (that you have visited), one player file, one pld file and one globals file. See the wiki page describing the save file format for what these binary files do.

arxsavetool extract <savefile>

Add one or more files to a .sav archive. If the file already exists in the archive it is overwritten.

arxsavetool add <savefile> <files>...

Fix save file errors (fixes problems caused by bugs in old Arx Libertatis versions - back up your saves before!):

arxsavetool fix <savefile>

Change the in-game name of a save file:

arxsavetool rename <savefile> <newname>

View save state:

arxsavetool view <savefile> arxsavetool view <savefile> <ident>

where <ident> is pld, globals, player, lvl followed by a 3-digit level number, or an entity ID.

For all commands, <savefile> is the path to a .sav file or a directory containing a gsave.sav file.

If you installed the Arx Fatalis data at a non-default location you might need the --data-dir option to point to the directory containing your .pak files. More information is available using the --help option and in the man page.