So, I've messed with the SDK a bunch and am wondering what i am allowed to modify for online play and what i am not.
First i tried changing the 2dtexture and materialinstance for the medic weapons to make them glow red instead of blue. I figured out this wasn't actually altering the game files, but creating copies in the documents/mygames/killingfloor2/KFgame/unpublished directory. Overwriting the .upk's in my steam folder with those worked for single player, but i had issues connecting to servers.
Next i modified the material for the medic gun optical sights, replacing the dot reticule with the EOTech style ring+dot, and making the reticule spin. Again, overwriting steam files works in single player but i cannot join any servers.
About now i noticed the "cook" button in the SDK. This exports all the upk's ive modified into a /published folder in the same directory as the /unpublished one from earlier.
Everything in this /published directory shows up in-game when i do single player, even though the actual game files in the steam directory are totally stock (both KF2SDK and KF2 successfully validate).
So long as ONLY the medic-gun reskins are in my /published folder, i can join servers, but the mods do not always show.
If i add the modified reticule material to my /published folder, i cannot join servers. I either get a "connection lost" window, or go to the loading movie (DNA strands in liquid) for a few seconds, hear the KF "a window opened" noise and the mane menu music restart, but remain stuck in the loading movie forever.
Again, everything works fine in single player or when i play from within the sdk. I occasionally get a "Downloading _____" window when i try to join a server. Insert the name of any of the packages I've modified in the ___. All packages in /published and their contents have the same filenames as the source files in the steam folder / SDK.
So, wtf is going on here? It seems the game loads packages from the /published directory as well? Can i not join servers because something is broken with my custom material file or because the servers are enforcing consistency? Do we have any idea what we are and aren't allowed to change client-side?
First i tried changing the 2dtexture and materialinstance for the medic weapons to make them glow red instead of blue. I figured out this wasn't actually altering the game files, but creating copies in the documents/mygames/killingfloor2/KFgame/unpublished directory. Overwriting the .upk's in my steam folder with those worked for single player, but i had issues connecting to servers.
Next i modified the material for the medic gun optical sights, replacing the dot reticule with the EOTech style ring+dot, and making the reticule spin. Again, overwriting steam files works in single player but i cannot join any servers.
About now i noticed the "cook" button in the SDK. This exports all the upk's ive modified into a /published folder in the same directory as the /unpublished one from earlier.
Everything in this /published directory shows up in-game when i do single player, even though the actual game files in the steam directory are totally stock (both KF2SDK and KF2 successfully validate).
So long as ONLY the medic-gun reskins are in my /published folder, i can join servers, but the mods do not always show.
If i add the modified reticule material to my /published folder, i cannot join servers. I either get a "connection lost" window, or go to the loading movie (DNA strands in liquid) for a few seconds, hear the KF "a window opened" noise and the mane menu music restart, but remain stuck in the loading movie forever.
Again, everything works fine in single player or when i play from within the sdk. I occasionally get a "Downloading _____" window when i try to join a server. Insert the name of any of the packages I've modified in the ___. All packages in /published and their contents have the same filenames as the source files in the steam folder / SDK.
So, wtf is going on here? It seems the game loads packages from the /published directory as well? Can i not join servers because something is broken with my custom material file or because the servers are enforcing consistency? Do we have any idea what we are and aren't allowed to change client-side?
