It took less than 24 hours afterStalker 2: Heart of Chornobylcame outfor the community to start modding it, which is awesome. Since modders are fiddling about without the modding tools so far, getting multiple mods to behave at once is a process. Amergingprocess.
The challenge of merging mods in Stalker 2
Really, the catch right now lies inthe way Unreal Engine 5 manages its mods. Instead of directly replacing or modifying existing baseline configuration files (which is what the majority ofSTALKER 2‘s mods currently tackle), they are updated during the loading process based on the .pak files you choose to set up.
AllStalker 2mods go into the ***\Steam\steamapps\common\S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 Heart of Chornobyl\Stalker2\Content\Paks~mods folder, and there’s a fair bit of weirdness present here still. One of the smaller issues, for example, is that all the modded .pak filesneedto have the ‘_P’ addendum at the end of their file names for them to load.
Unreal Engine 5 override stuffdoing its thing, really.
The more problematic part of the equation is that multiple popular mods have to modify the same core game files for them to load correctly, and there’s no way to enforce that without the mod kit. Hence, mod merging.
Merging mods in Stalker 2: Shadow of Chornobyl
I’m not going to lie: having to merge mods is a royal pain. It’s not that the process is difficult once you figure it out, but you will inevitably have to keep doing it as the game and the mods get updates. Presumably (and hopefully!) this will change as GSC Game World rolls out proper mod support, though the team hasfar more pressing issues to deal withbefore that.
Now, the meat of the matter: merging mods forSTALKER 2is a three-part process. It consists of mod unpacking, merging, and re-packing. For the purposes of this guide, I’m relying on Stalker_Boss’s appropriately Slav-coded guide video, as featured above. For your reading pleasure, though, I’ve also summarized the important bits below.
How to merge mods for STALKER 2?
The first order of business is getting all the tools you need to make this process a breeze. You should download:
Note that you’ll need to keep track of the mods’ respective Nexus pages. Most mod creators specify which of the game’s files they edit, so be on the lookout for that piece of information.
Whatever the case may be, the important bit is that both of the clashing mods edit the same file, which is commonly ObjPrototypes.cfg. What this means is that one mod will constantly be attempting to override the other whenever the game loads. This results not in crashes, necessarily, but in one of the mods straight-up not working. Not ideal, obviously.
So, here’s the process that worked for me:
If you’ve done everything on this list correctly, RePak is going to quickly churn out a merged addon for you to plop back into your ***\Steam\steamapps\common\S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 Heart of Chornobyl\Stalker2\Content\Paks~mods folder. Ideally, it might even work! Donotforget to add ‘_P’ to the end of your .pak mod’s file name, either.
I highly recommend watching Stalker_Boss’s video as well as reading these instructions, mind. Just seeing the process as it unfolds on the video will give you all the context you need to push through the merge, and once you’ve successfully completed one yourself, it won’t be a big deal to do a repeat whenever necessary.
Still a pain, to be sure, but that’s the price you pay if you want to mod a game early! Let’s hope the mod development toolkit is already on the horizon, so merging won’t be necessary in the future.
