README

X4 helper: Batch file generator to extract X4 game files with the XRCatTool.

Analyzes a local X4 installation to detect all .cat files for the base game and installed DLCs, and generates batch files to extract them to the configured output folder.

Requirements

• PHP 8.2 or higher.
• Composer.
• X Catalog Tool (requires a forum account).

Extracting Game Files

1. Clone this repository.
2. Copy dev-config.php.dist to dev-config.php.
3. Edit dev-config.php to set the required paths.
4. Run composer install to install the dependencies.
5. Run composer build to generate the batch files.
6. Open the batches folder in the repository root.
7. Run any of the generated batch files to extract the game files.

Use the unpack-all.bat file to extract all files at once.

Delete Output folder first

To ensure a clean extraction, delete the output folder first. You can use this command in PowerShell:

Remove-Item -Recurse -Force output

NOTE: This will run for a while without any progress indication.

Accessing Extracted Files

Structure

To be able to recognize whether files belong to the base game or a DLC, a folder is created for the base game and each DLC separately. This is important for modding, as changing files belonging to a DLC requires using a matching folder structure in those mods.

Programmatic Access

When used as a library (installed via Composer), the X4GameInfo class can be used to easily access information on the game and the available extensions.

use \Mistralys\X4\ExtractedData\X4GameInfo;

$gameInfo = X4GameInfo::create();

// The game version, e.g. `8.0.0.0`
$version = $gameInfo->getGameVersion();

$dataFolders = $gameInfo->getFolderCollection();

// Show a list of all data folders
foreach($dataFolders->getAll() as $folder)
{
    echo $folder->getLabel().PHP_EOL;
}

Locally Extracted Folders

When working with a local copy of extracted folders (with this tool), set the path to the folder to access the full data folder paths to get at the files contained within.

use \Mistralys\X4\ExtractedData\X4GameInfo;

$folders = X4GameInfo::create()
    ->setExtractedDataFolder('/path/to/output/folder')
    ->getFolderCollection();

foreach($folders->getAll() as $folder) {
    $path = $folder->getPath();
}

Manual Access

An info.json file is generated in each folder, which provides some basic information on the source of the files. This is the JSON generated for the Boron DLC, for example:

{
  "id": "ego_dlc_boron",
  "label": "Kingdom End",
  "isExtension": true
}