XIPivot - ROM Mods Without Overwriting Originals

Language: JP EN DE FR
New Items
2023-11-19
users online
Forum » Windower » General » XIPivot - ROM mods without overwriting originals
XIPivot - ROM mods without overwriting originals
 Asura.Sitara
Offline
Server: Asura
Game: FFXI
user: Heals
Posts: 2
By Asura.Sitara 2019-04-16 08:33:32
Link | Quote | Reply
 
Hi,
I wrote an addon/plugin called xipivot for both Ashita v3 and Windower 4;
It allows anyone to load DAT mods in controlled way from a separate folder structure without having to overwrite or modify any of the original game files.

Features:
  • all mods are structured into subdirectories

  • mods can be enabled / disabled at will

  • there's a load order that manages which mods take precedence

  • no meddling with the game's actual files

  • supports replacing DAT files as well as music and sound files



Installation:

Manual and Windower Install:

  • Head over to the Releases page and pick the ZIP that matches your launcher

  • Follow the README.md inside the archive for setup and configuration instructions




Ashita v3 Install

The latest version of XIPivot can always be installed from the plugins list in Ashita and will be updated automatically.

Configuration - Ashita v3

  1. Create a subdirectory inside the DATs/ folder for each overlay you want to use

  2. Add /load xipivot as the first line to your setup script (before any /wait or other lines)

  3. Start FFXI and once logged in type the command /pivot to open the in-game configuration UI

  4. Click the plus-button next to each addon you want to enable, in the order you want them to be loaded

  5. Once done, close the UI and restart FFXI



Example - XI-View, XI-Vision:

Directory structure:
Code
<Ashita Install>
   +-- config/
   |    +-- XIPivot.xml
   |
   +-- plugins/
        +-- XIPivot.dll
        +-- DATs/
             +-- README.txt
             +-- XI-View/
             |    +-- ROM/
             |
             +-- XI-Vision/
                  +-- ROM/
                  +-- ROM2/
                  +-- ROM3/
                  +-- ROM4/
                  +-- ROM4/


generated XIPivot.xml:
Code
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<settings>
    <setting name="overlays">XI-Vision,XI-View</setting>
</settings>


XIPivot defaults to look for your overlays inside the DATs/ directory next to the XIPivot.dll.
If you prefer a different path you can add the key 'root_path' to XIPivot.xml like so:
Code
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<settings>
    <setting name="root_path">C:/my/awesome/addons</setting>
    <setting name="overlays">XI-Vision,XI-View,FFXI-HD</setting>
</settings>


This instructs to XIPivot to search for overlays inside "C:\my\awesome\addons" instead.
(If you're unsure don't set this parameter and things should just work).

-------------------------------------------------------------

Configuration - Windower
  1. Copy the XIPivot folder into your Windower addons folder.

  2. Create a subdirectory inside the `data/DATs` folder for each overlay you want to use

  3. Edit `data/settings.xml` (see `settings.sample.xml`)

    • add the directory names from 2) for each overlay that should be enabled, separated by ','
    • order matters - overlays will be used in order, with the
    first hit for a file being used



Example - For XI-View and XI-Vision:

Directory structure:
Code
<Windower Install>
   +-- addons/
        +-- XIPivot/
             +-- XIPivot.lua
             +-- README.md
             +-- libs/
             |    +-- _XIPivot.dll
             |
             +-- data/
                  +-- DATs/
                  |   +-- README.txt
                  |   +-- XI-View/
                  |   |    +-- ROM/
                  |   |
                  |   +-- XI-Vision/
                  |   |    +-- ROM/
                  |   |    +-- ROM2/
                  |   |    +-- ROM3/
                  |   |    +-- ROM4/
                  |   |    +-- ROM4/
                  +-- settings.xml 


settings.xml:
Code
<?xml version="1.1" ?>
<settings>
    <global>
	<overlays>XI-View,XI-Vision</overlays>
    </global>
</settings>


Windower Limitations

As a result of how Windower loads this addon some DAT files will already be loaded before any redirects can happen.
Currently this affects Mods that try to replace the initial menu textures or fonts. (Ashita v3 does not have this limitation to that extend; Ashita v4 won't have it at all)

updated July/2020 to be up to date with the last releases
[+]
 Asura.Kurairyu
Offline
Server: Asura
Game: FFXI
Posts: 19
By Asura.Kurairyu 2019-04-22 22:00:48
Link | Quote | Reply
 
Hi sir. I would like to learn how to use your program a bit better. All I’m trying to do atm is Switch all the Great Katana to Tenzen’s Phoenix Katana. I was wondering if you could either walk me through how to use it correctly or make a little video on how to use it.
[+]
 
Offline
Posts:
By 2019-04-27 08:23:01
 Undelete | Edit  | Link | Quote | Reply
 
Post deleted by User.
VIP
Offline
Posts: 664
By Lili 2019-04-27 09:23:39
Link | Quote | Reply
 
kireek said: »
What are the chances of this being added to the windower launcher itself?

Not subbed right now, so I can't test it. Does it work well, no slowdown or other issues, is it simple to use for people who aren't familiar with modding?

They were looking into it;
yes;
it depends on what mods you swap in, I'm using it for no-glow homepoints/confluxes and tamed geomancy bubbles, and my fps is up. HD textures will probably cause tons of slowdown. The addon itself seems to have close to no overhead on my 2012 laptop;
yes, just read the readme and experiment a bit.
[+]
Offline
Posts: 6
By Heals 2019-04-27 13:30:44
Link | Quote | Reply
 
Sorry for the late reply.. it was a rough week.
I think the README should explain the basic setup pretty well, but I'm happy to recap too.

What it is:
a way to load ready made mods without performance loss and so far no known issues
If you use HQ textures you will, ofc. suffer from loading delays, but that's down to the textures, not the plugin.

What it isn't:
a magic "I have this file I want to mod XY" solution.

As an example let's take a ready-made Mod like the ones I listed in my original post - (XI-View, HQ Mods etc).
For those you usually get a set of directories labelled "ROM", "ROM1" up to "ROM9" and you're supposed to copy those into your FFXI installation and replace the original files there.

Mods like these require almost no work with XIPivot:
  • open the directory you installed the XIPivot plugin into

  • find the DATs subdirectory

  • create a subdirectory for the mod - for example "XI-View"

  • put the Mod's ROM directories into the directory you created

  • add "XI-View" to XIPivot's config file (see the README)



On the other hand - the question Kuraiyu asked goes outside of "ready made Mods".

You first need to know which files to replace - if you get Tenzen's Phoenix Katana from FFXIDats it comes as a single file with a .DAT extension (Tenzen's Phoenix - fixe.DAT).

You will have to use a program like AltanaView (can be found on FFXIAH) and in that check all the Katana's and which DAT file they are in.
This can be done in AltanaView by selecting a weapon and then looking into the status-line where it'll read something like ]"FINAL FANTASY XI\ROM\98\47.DAT".

See this screenshot for an example in AltanaView

With that knowledge you would:
  • open the directory you installed XIPivot into

  • find the DATs subdirectory

  • create a subdirectory for the mod - let's call it "Tenzen-Katana"

  • create subdirectories to match what AltanaView shows - e.g. "ROM\98\"

  • copy Tenzen's Phoenix - fixed.DAT into the "ROM\98\" directory and name it like what AltanaView showed - e.g. "47.DAT"

  • repeat the last two steps for all the other Katana models you want replace

  • add "Tenzen-Katana" to XIPivot's config file (see the README)

[+]
necroskull Necro Bump Detected! [57 days between previous and next post]
 Odin.Foxmulder
Offline
Server: Odin
Game: FFXI
user: Chakan
Posts: 326
By Odin.Foxmulder 2019-06-23 02:17:26
Link | Quote | Reply
 
Really appreciate this addon. Is there a way to have certain overlays depending on the character? I tried to create character-specific lists and the addon seemed to just overwrite them away.
Offline
Posts: 6
By Heals 2019-07-02 03:21:02
Link | Quote | Reply
 
For Windower that's supported in theory but the issue is that a lot of the games DAT files are already loaded way before your character is logged in so it's mostly too late to change them at that point.
 
Offline
Posts:
By 2019-07-08 06:36:22
 Undelete | Edit  | Link | Quote | Reply
 
Post deleted by User.
necroskull Necro Bump Detected! [120 days between previous and next post]
 Valefor.Gorns
Offline
Server: Valefor
Game: FFXI
user: Gorns
Posts: 159
By Valefor.Gorns 2019-11-05 06:50:28
Link | Quote | Reply
 
I should have actually posted here my problem:

Recently add your plugin and it's no problem to load it from the game.

I've created the folders for each mod, XI-View and FFXI-HD in the DATs subdirectory.

But in game, when I enter :
/console pivot add FFXI-HD

I have the message 'Failed to load FFXI-HD'

what did I miss ?
necroskull Necro Bump Detected! [80 days between previous and next post]
 Phoenix.Logical
Offline
Server: Phoenix
Game: FFXI
Posts: 510
By Phoenix.Logical 2020-01-23 23:27:10
Link | Quote | Reply
 
I'm trying to use XI Pivot to load XI View textures and for the most part it works. For instance all the status icons are correct, however, it ignores certain textures such as the master stars and just leaves them as the default. For now my fix is to simply manually install ROM/119/51.dat which is where the master icons are located but this behavior is concerning to me as if it's missing this texture what other textures do I have installed using XIPivot that it's not displaying correctly? Has anyone else noticed this when using XI Pivot with XI View?
 
Offline
Posts:
By 2020-01-24 04:05:46
 Undelete | Edit  | Link | Quote | Reply
 
Post deleted by User.
 Phoenix.Logical
Offline
Server: Phoenix
Game: FFXI
Posts: 510
By Phoenix.Logical 2020-01-24 06:45:27
Link | Quote | Reply
 
kireek said: »
Quote:
Known Limitations
Currently there is a known limitation if used with Windower 4 that is a result of the timing for when Windower loads addons and basically prevents any ROM data which is loaded before the "Accept Terms" screen to be changed. This is a Windower-only limitation. Anything that is loaded after or loaded dynamically will work just fine.

Oh thanks Kreek! I didn't comprehend that this note was referring to my issue. Ok so if it's an issue of it being loaded before the Accept Terms screen, what are the methods I can use other then putting it into the settings.xml file as I have been doing? Ie... Is this a matter of me simply adding a "pivot a XI-View" entry to the bottom of my init.txt?
 Phoenix.Logical
Offline
Server: Phoenix
Game: FFXI
Posts: 510
By Phoenix.Logical 2020-01-24 08:35:19
Link | Quote | Reply
 
kireek said: »
Quote:
Known Limitations
Currently there is a known limitation if used with Windower 4 that is a result of the timing for when Windower loads addons and basically prevents any ROM data which is loaded before the "Accept Terms" screen to be changed. This is a Windower-only limitation. Anything that is loaded after or loaded dynamically will work just fine.

OK so I've gone and tested this and this actually does not appear to be my issue. I can load the game with no textures being listed in the settings.xml Pivot file. Then once logged in I run the //pivot a XI-View command to load the textures. I then zone and can see that it has loaded the XI-View files as now my status icons have changed to reflect the ones in the XI-View folder, HOWEVER the Stars for my Master status are still showing as 2D instead of the 3D ones included in the XI-View install. The only way I can get those to appear is by manually copying 51.dat out of the 199 directory inside of XI-View and manually pasting it into the Final Fantasy XI/ROM/119 folder. Any other idea's on why this isn't working? I have seen in many locations that people state they have XI-View working with XI-Pivot without issue so I can't believe that this is an issue for everyone but it's clearly not loading all of my textures in my simple test. Any other idea's?

Further information: It looks like the fonts are also located in 51.dat as I've noticed the fonts from XI-View are also not loading unless I manually overwrite the file instead of using XI-Pivot. Is it possible that some of these things such as Fonts and the Master Star textures are loaded earlier in the process and therefore not picked up by XI-Pivot if it's being loaded manually after you accept the license agreement?
 Fenrir.Niflheim
VIP
Offline
Server: Fenrir
Game: FFXI
user: Tesahade
Posts: 435
By Fenrir.Niflheim 2020-01-25 14:25:51
Link | Quote | Reply
 
XI-Pivot can't replace menu textures or fonts in windower 4.

Moving where you have pivot in your init.txt wont change it, it is a hard limitation. It is not possible to load the addon before the game has loaded dat files you would need to change.

Anything that appears not to work but works once you zone, is like dynamically loaded, meaning the game loads the dat file again under some condition like zoning.
[+]
 Phoenix.Logical
Offline
Server: Phoenix
Game: FFXI
Posts: 510
By Phoenix.Logical 2020-01-25 15:10:59
Link | Quote | Reply
 
Fenrir.Niflheim said: »
XI-Pivot can't replace menu textures or fonts in windower 4.

Moving where you have pivot in your init.txt wont change it, it is a hard limitation. It is not possible to load the addon before the game has loaded dat files you would need to change.

Anything that appears not to work but works once you zone, is like dynamically loaded, meaning the game loads the dat file again under some condition like zoning.

Thanks for confirming my suspicions! Glad I just went ahead and told people to manually replace the fonts in my Tutorial video I made as it sounds like that was the only way to do it. Thank you!

If anyone if having problems getting XIPivot setup, my new video should explain how to get it to work along with a number of other current FFXI Tools. Hope some find it helpful.

YouTube Video Placeholder
[+]
 Asura.Overloading
Offline
Server: Asura
Game: FFXI
Posts: 5
By Asura.Overloading 2020-01-27 02:41:24
Link | Quote | Reply
 
Odin.Foxmulder said: »
Really appreciate this addon. Is there a way to have certain overlays depending on the character? I tried to create character-specific lists and the addon seemed to just overwrite them away.

I am also doing this and having the same issue.
Would like to load only XI-View on many toons for the status icons, and the HD pack only on my main.

Edit: i'll just swap the dats for my alts like i have been doing, nbd.
unless someone knows how to fix this?
necroskull Necro Bump Detected! [299 days between previous and next post]
Offline
Posts: 3877
By RadialArcana 2020-11-21 12:17:09
Link | Quote | Reply
 
I noticed in a video the latest version added a GUI, any chance of this coming to the windower version?
necroskull Necro Bump Detected! [43 days between previous and next post]
 Asura.Zuja
Offline
Server: Asura
Game: FFXI
user: Zuja
Posts: 1
By Asura.Zuja 2021-01-03 13:59:27
Link | Quote | Reply
 
Is there a way to change the Root_path so it will load Roms from an external? For Windower 4
 Asura.Lioncourt
Offline
Server: Asura
Game: FFXI
user: Lioncourt
Posts: 11
By Asura.Lioncourt 2021-01-12 05:33:38
Link | Quote | Reply
 
I just installed this on a new computer, for some reason I keep getting a lua runtime error followed by "Unable to find module" where it says it can't find the _XIPivot.dll, even though it is there. Anyone have an idea as to why?
necroskull Necro Bump Detected! [572 days between previous and next post]
 Cerberus.Oakdale
Offline
Server: Cerberus
Game: FFXI
user: Oakie
Posts: 19
By Cerberus.Oakdale 2022-08-07 18:04:48
Link | Quote | Reply
 
How do I get this to auto-load instead of having to do it manually every time I start the game?
 Asura.Daleterrence
Offline
Server: Asura
Game: FFXI
user: Dalight
Posts: 5163
By Asura.Daleterrence 2022-08-07 18:09:25
Link | Quote | Reply
 
Cerberus.Oakdale said: »
How do I get this to auto-load instead of having to do it manually every time I start the game?

Add
Code
lua load XIPivot
to your init.txt file found in the scripts folder of your Windower install
 Quetzalcoatl.Peabody
Offline
Server: Quetzalcoatl
Game: FFXI
Posts: 9
By Quetzalcoatl.Peabody 2022-08-20 10:28:03
Link | Quote | Reply
 
I installed XIPivot yesterday on Ashita. When I load in, I am unable to open certain menus or change my job/check my delivery box. Any ideas how to resolve this?
Offline
Posts: 3877
By RadialArcana 2022-08-20 12:57:44
Link | Quote | Reply
 
You downloaded a mod pack with a UI mod in it, that single specific mod is out of date. You need to install the newer one to fix that.

https://github.com/Caradog/XI-View/releases

This is the thread where updates to it are posted, it doesn't need to be updated that often

https://www.ffxiah.com/forum/topic/44787/jeanpauls-dat-mod-workshop
necroskull Necro Bump Detected! [118 days between previous and next post]
Offline
Posts: 3877
By RadialArcana 2022-12-16 11:55:12
Link | Quote | Reply
 
Questions from newer versions

What is memorycache, does it just stop mods loading above 100m?
What is vtable/ftable support?

Is there any chance of any addition features being added?

Something I would suggest, a way to specifically distinguish your characters model head dat file from all others. So everyone else would load the head dat file from the pivot folder as normal, but if it's on your character it loads an alternate one from a specific folder.

One of the points of custom head dats is to look unique, it loading on everyone else with that head model kills that uniqueness.
Log in to post.