libxiv/README.md

libxiv

A modding framework for FFXIV written in C++. This is intended for use Novus, my custom modding tool - but it's eventually going to be integrated into Astra as well.

Note: This is still an experimental and in-development library. Thus, I have not tagged any stable releases. It's recommended just to checkout from main.

Goals

• Easily integratable into other FFXIV launchers so they can have update/install support without having to write it themselves.
• Can export Penumbra/Lumina format mods, I have no interest in exporting in TexTools's format.
• Can export/edit some formats such as models, and metadata/exl files.
• Can be used on Windows/Linux/macOS and doesn't pull in a huge runtime (C#) or run in Wine.

Features

• Easily extract game files and view excel sheets by name. See gamedata.h for usage.
• Install patches (right now it's limited to boot patches). See patch.h for usage.
• Install FFXIV by emulating the official installer, bypassing Wine and InstallShield. You can see how to use this in installextract.h.
• Parse some game data:
  • EXD
  • EXH
  • EXL
  • FIIN
  • INDEX/INDEX2

Dependencies

Note: Some of these dependencies will automatically be downloaded from the Internet if not found on your system.

• fmt for formatting strings and logs.
• zlib for extracting data.
• unshield for extracting cab files from the FFXIV installer. This dependency is automatically skipped on Windows builds because unshield lacks a port for it.