Project

The "Project" window is the first window to work with when starting up. In this window, the currently active mod is controlled, as well as the list of static reference data.

The static reference data can be seen as the backdrop to the currently active mod. This may typically be the vanilla resources of the original game, which contain all the textures, texts, and other media. This data can not be modified if loaded as static data. It is also possible to add other (resource) mods to this list, to see the combined effect of the various mods and the active mod.

The currently active mod is the one which allows modification, including addition and deletion.

Files allowlist

The editor only loads/saves files with their original names, as expected by the engine. The editor does not support free-form filenames. This is done to prevent side-effects of resources overriding each other if in different files (or backups).

Editing scenarios

Mods (Fan Missions, Resource Changes, New Game+, ...)

A typical editing scenario is as follows:

• The active mod contains the data of the modification you want to work on, and
• the static data list contains the original game data.

It is possible to load the "original" data (of older engines) as the active mod. This is even necessary to allow for running the mod in classic engines.

You start with an empty directory to store the "new" files of the mod. This will typically be the archive.dat file, and any text/audio resources of logs. You select this folder when saving for the first time.

To load a mod, use the folder that was used the first time.

See also Recommended Project Layout

Savegame editing

Since v1.5.0, the editor also allows to modify a savegame. In this case, one of the savgamXX.dat files needs to be loaded directly as a mod.

Although the editor wants to load a directory for a mod, by using "Drag-and-Drop" while the "load" dialog is open allows to use a single savegame file.

Loading original resources

There are different distribution packages, and depending on which you have, you need to load different files or folders.

• "System Shock Enhanced Edition Source Port" - the newest release by NightDive Studios: In the installation directory, look for a sshock.kpf file (about 235MiB) - use this one. (This file is actually a .zip file and can be extracted locally to open the resources quicker.)
• "System Shock Enhanced Edition" - the one before the source port. This one has a data folder in its installation directory. In case of Steam: ...\Steam\steamapps\common\SS1EE\res\data
• "System Shock" (original DOS version): resources may be split up between a cdrom and a hd folder. Add both, with the cdrom folder added first to the static list.

The editor can work with only one folder for the active mod. If you want to modify the original resources of the DOS version, copy all the resource files into one directory (which you'll load), and then separate them again when distributing.

Save state

The title bar of the window shows when changes are pending to be saved.

When a mod-location has been determined (either by loading a mod, or manually saving the first time of a new mod), the editor auto-saves 5 seconds after the last change. This timer is reset for any change done during this time.

You can see a timer going down for the last three seconds in the title bar.

You can collapse the window by double-clicking with the primary mouse cursor on the title bar, to show only the title bar with this save state. Double-click again to restore the window.

Restore editor on load

The editor saves the current settings upon exit, and restores then upon startup. The files are stored under the user's settings directory (For MS Windows, that's %APPDATA%) in a folder named InkyBlackness/HackEd.

If the current project is stored as a dedicated .hacked-project file (a text file in JSON format), then the central settings store only a reference to this file. As long as the project has not been saved as a dedicated file, the settings are held as a "temporary" project in the central file.

Should anything go wrong with the settings, close the editor, delete all the files in the central directory, and restart the editor. This restores it to an initial state.