INIfier Software

INIfier allows you to replace Unity TextAsset content without updating/replacing the resource files themselves. This is mostly useful for developers who need to replace TextAssets as part of their modifications, and is not intended for end users. However, it can still be useful to users, for example, if TextAsset stores text that they would like to translate into another language.

This usually requires updating the .assets files in the game and distributing updated files or a patch that may require redevelopment and distribution with each new update of the game. With INIfier, until the resource name changes, you can continue to use the same replacement file in any version of the game. And until the file is overwritten or deleted, you don’t need to recreate it every time you start or update the game.

Installation (for end users)

Install Unity Mod Manager for the target game. Add a .zip file from this mod to Unity Mod Manager. The mod will be on by default, but it can be turned on or off using the UMM menu in the game (default is Ctrl+F10 to open/close). If the modification is enabled, it will replace the text/bytes each time they are read from TextAsset, if disabled, then the original content will be returned when reading the text/bytes. If the text from TextAsset is stored in a different variable or cached rather than reread from the resource each time, INIfier will only handle the first read.

Usage (for authors of modifications)

Reference the .dll in your project to use the INIfier methods. A .xml file is also included to provide smart input for available methods.

There are 2 ways to replace a file

• Provide the .ini file to replace with the mod so that the user can place it in the INIfier/Assets directory
• Register the file to be replaced programmatically

You can also use INIfier to check for a found/superseded file and get its contents. Carefully used, this allows multiple mods to update the same TextAsset, changing only the affected part of the file, rather than overwriting previous changes to each mod.

The replaced string or byte array is stored in the .ini file in the Assets folder inside the INIfier mod directory created by Unity Mod Manager. If you use INIfier methods to work with replacement files, you don't have to worry about the actual location of the Assets folder.

The file will be used instead of the text or bytes properties in the TextAsset instance. Each TextAsset has a name that must match the replacement file name. If the file to replace does not exist, INIfier will create a .found file (but will not overwrite the existing .found file) with the same name as TextAsset and place the content in it. Depending on whether the "text" or "bytes" property is called, the .found file will be written as a string or as an array of bytes. All files using the "text" property will be read/written in UTF8 format.

You can add a requirement for INIfier to the json file with the modification information. You must use a INIfier, not a name. The identifier must have 3 spaces before it (since modifications are loaded in alphabetical order, this helps INIfier fix the appropriate methods before anything else can use TextAsset), so use the string "INIfier-1.0.0"