Looking for Chassisdef JSON files

[CenturionMBT24]

So guys my BattleTech doesn't seem broken but I cant find the new chassisdef mods. All the old mechs are there, but I cant find the JSON files for the cyclops, crab or hatchet man and I've looked everywhere. I just want to modify their initial tonnage. If someone knows where they are located I would appreciate it.

 

[Eximar]

There are no mechdef files (they are bundled in assets), but you can use

• mechdef_hatchetman_HCT-3F
• mechdef_crab_CRB-27
• mechdef_cyclops_CP-10-Q (or -10-Z)

if you want to use the new mechs in your starting lance.

 

[CenturionMBT24]

So under D:\Steam\steamapps\common\BATTLETECH\BattleTech_Data\StreamingAssets\data\chassis ; there are no files for those 3 new mechs is that right? All the other chassis for the mechs that came with the original launch have their files there.

 

[Eximar]

Correct, no mechdef or chassisdef files for them. I'm assuming that makes it much harder to get them if you didn't buy the DLC.

 

[CenturionMBT24]

So then there's no way to change the initial tonnage values on them, since that is under chassisdef. Making it so they way so 0 tons when you get them by making the value negative based on their tonnage if they're an assault, medium etc. class mech.

 

[Eximar]

Not possible without the chassisdef.

 

[Requiemm]

Has anyone gotten these to work yet? I successfully modded my starting lance in career mode to all SLDF Highlanders (mechdef_highlander_HGN-732b) and launched the career with no issues, but when I try any of these mechdefs I get the endless spinning:

• mechdef_hatchetman_HCT-3F
• mechdef_crab_CRB-27
• mechdef_cyclops_CP-10-Q
• mechdef_cyclops_CP-10-Z

 

[CenturionMBT24]

Not possible without the chassisdef.

Well I hope HBS adds these chassidef files in, although I suppose I can see why they didn't to keep people from pirating. So because of those people for now I cant have nice things...

 

[Eximar]

Has anyone gotten these to work yet? I successfully modded my starting lance in career mode to all SLDF Highlanders (mechdef_highlander_HGN-732b) and launched the career with no issues, but when I try any of these mechdefs I get the endless spinning:

• mechdef_hatchetman_HCT-3F
• mechdef_crab_CRB-27
• mechdef_cyclops_CP-10-Q
• mechdef_cyclops_CP-10-Z

Yes, all of them work fine. Do you have Flashpoint installed?

 

[ronhatch]

Correct, no mechdef or chassisdef files for them. I'm assuming that makes it much harder to get them if you didn't buy the DLC.

Well... it makes it slightly harder. I've heard that they are in the asset bundles, and that's a known format.

I'd venture a guess that someone will make instructions for extracting them within a few weeks.

Edit: And really, if someone were to pirate the mechs, the critical part is the 3D models... the mech definition is trivial to make based on the known record sheets. So thinking about it more, I strongly suspect that putting the mech definition in the same file as the 3D models makes them easier to pirate.

 

[CenturionMBT24]

Well... it makes it slightly harder. I've heard that they are in the asset bundles, and that's a known format.

I'd venture a guess that someone will make instructions for extracting them within a few weeks.

Edit: And really, if someone were to pirate the mechs, the critical part is the 3D models... the mech definition is trivial to make based on the known record sheets. So thinking about it more, I strongly suspect that putting the mech definition in the same file as the 3D models makes them easier to pirate.

Well I hope it’s easy to find how to extract these files when someone figures it out. I just need the chassisdef files not the MechDef files. Thanks for all the info guys.

 

[Lynx7725]

Edit: And really, if someone were to pirate the mechs, the critical part is the 3D models... the mech definition is trivial to make based on the known record sheets. So thinking about it more, I strongly suspect that putting the mech definition in the same file as the 3D models makes them easier to pirate.

Don't even need that. With Hardpointdef in clear, you pretty much know most of the asset names, and it's only really the main body that's missing -- and that usually is standardized naming. Chassisdef and Mechdef is pretty easy to bash together, it's usually the hardpointdef that's the most technical.

I'm not doing that because well... working up a mod to let people circumvent paying for product is likely to make HBI/ Paradox less than happy.

 

[CenturionMBT24]

Don't even need that. With Hardpointdef in clear, you pretty much know most of the asset names, and it's only really the main body that's missing -- and that usually is standardized naming. Chassisdef and Mechdef is pretty easy to bash together, it's usually the hardpointdef that's the most technical.

I'm not doing that because well... working up a mod to let people circumvent paying for product is likely to make HBI/ Paradox less than happy.

So are you saying there's a way to make my own chassisdef file for these 4 mechs, just by using the chassis def template file in the game files and inputting the correct values and required file paths for them? How difficult would that be to do?

 

[Lynx7725]

So are you saying there's a way to make my own chassisdef file for these 4 mechs, just by using the chassis def template file in the game files and inputting the correct values and required file paths for them? How difficult would that be to do?

To the first question, yes:

Thrown together from various scrap files I have on hand. It's basically cramming a Vindicator into a Hatchetman shell. Yeah there are some odd artifacts but that's more because I didn't clean it up/ use the correct weapons config.

To the second: Not too difficult, because Chassisdef and Mechdef are all standardized formats, and Btech game parameters are strongly mathematical. The derivative results might not match what HBS has, but it'd be close enough. However, getting it into Skirmish (as above) is easy. A bit harder to get into game proper.

 

[CenturionMBT24]

To the first question, yes:

Thrown together from various scrap files I have on hand. It's basically cramming a Vindicator into a Hatchetman shell. Yeah there are some odd artifacts but that's more because I didn't clean it up/ use the correct weapons config.

To the second: Not too difficult, because Chassisdef and Mechdef are all standardized formats, and Btech game parameters are strongly mathematical. The derivative results might not match what HBS has, but it'd be close enough. However, getting it into Skirmish (as above) is easy. A bit harder to get into game proper.

Yeah I would like to get them into the campaign/career mode with the modified chassis stats. And where are these asset bundles that keep being mentioned??

 

[ronhatch]

Yeah I would like to get them into the campaign/career mode with the modified chassis stats. And where are these asset bundles that keep being mentioned??

Same place that you find the JSONs, but in the assetbundles subdirectory. It's a binary format unique to the Unity engine.

A quick check of my system shows one named "flashpoint"... and it's there even on the 1.3 install (I used an overlay file system to isolate the expansion files). I suspect that means that when they get multiplayer working properly, owners of Flashpoint will be able to use the new mechs even in matches against players that don't have it. (The known issues upon release mentioned that currently Flashpoint must be owned by both players or neither one for multiplayer matches to work correctly.)

 

[CenturionMBT24]

Same place that you find the JSONs, but in the assetbundles subdirectory. It's a binary format unique to the Unity engine.

A quick check of my system shows one named "flashpoint"... and it's there even on the 1.3 install (I used an overlay file system to isolate the expansion files). I suspect that means that when they get multiplayer working properly, owners of Flashpoint will be able to use the new mechs even in matches against players that don't have it. (The known issues upon release mentioned that currently Flashpoint must be owned by both players or neither one for multiplayer matches to work correctly.)

Thanks, using notepad++ with the find tool made it easy enough, just put in "chassisdef" and boom all the chassis def lines are there, now all that needs to be done is a simple copy and paste (maybe) of the lines to a new file and add braces to the beginning and the end like an equation. Then save it as a JSON with the mech's name in the chassis directory. Or it might not work at all...

Edit after I thought about it some I don't think that idea will work because the game won't know to read it when accessing the files for those mechs

 

[ronhatch]

Thanks, using notepad++ with the find tool made it easy enough, just put in "chassisdef" and boom all the chassis def lines are there, now all that needs to be done is a simple copy and paste (maybe) of the lines to a new file and add braces to the beginning and the end like an equation. Then save it as a JSON with the mech's name in the chassis directory. Or it might not work at all...

Edit after I thought about it some I don't think that idea will work because the game won't know to read it when accessing the files for those mechs

You're totally on the right track, though. The only thing you'd need to do to make the game read it is modify the VersionManifest.csv file to point to your edited version instead of the asset bundle.

Although a mod manager (once up and running with 1.3) would presumably do that part for you.

 

[CenturionMBT24]

I tried changing the version manifest and it didn't go well. When I put in the lines of code I would get infinite loading. Here's the code form flashpoint asset bundle:

chassisdef_crab_CRB-27,ChassisDef,Assets/ContentPackSource/Flashpoint/data/chassis/Assets/ContentPackSource/Flashpoint/data/chassis/chassisdef_crab_CRB-27.json,1,2018-11-21T08:32:15.0677389Z,2018-11-21T08:32:15.0677389Z,,flashpoint,False,0,False,False
chassisdef_cyclops_CP-10-Q,ChassisDef,Assets/ContentPackSource/Flashpoint/data/chassis/Assets/ContentPackSource/Flashpoint/data/chassis/chassisdef_cyclops_CP-10-Q.json,1,2018-11-21T08:32:15.0677389Z,2018-11-21T08:32:15.0677389Z,,flashpoint,False,0,False,False
chassisdef_cyclops_CP-10-Z,ChassisDef,Assets/ContentPackSource/Flashpoint/data/chassis/Assets/ContentPackSource/Flashpoint/data/chassis/chassisdef_cyclops_CP-10-Z.json,1,2018-11-21T08:32:15.0677389Z,2018-11-21T08:32:15.0677389Z,,flashpoint,False,0,False,False
chassisdef_hatchetman_HCT-3F,ChassisDef,Assets/ContentPackSource/Flashpoint/data/chassis/Assets/ContentPackSource/Flashpoint/data/chassis/chassisdef_hatchetman_HCT-3F.json,1,2018-11-21T08:32:15.0677389Z,2018-11-21T08:32:15.0677389Z,,flashpoint,False,0,False,False

And here's how I modified to go into the Version manifest:

chassisdef_crab_CRB-27,ChassisDef,data/chassis/chassisdef_crab_CRB-27.json,1,2018-11-21T08:32:15.0677389Z,2018-11-21T08:32:15.0677389Z,,flashpoint,False,0,False,False
chassisdef_cyclops_CP-10-Q,ChassisDef,data/chassis/chassisdef_cyclops_CP-10-Q.json,1,2018-11-21T08:32:15.0677389Z,2018-11-21T08:32:15.0677389Z,,flashpoint,False,0,False,False
chassisdef_cyclops_CP-10-Z,ChassisDef,data/chassis/chassisdef_cyclops_CP-10-Z.json,1,2018-11-21T08:32:15.0677389Z,2018-11-21T08:32:15.0677389Z,,flashpoint,False,0,False,False
chassisdef_hatchetman_HCT-3F,ChassisDef,data/chassis/chassisdef_hatchetman_HCT-3F.json,1,2018-11-21T08:32:15.0677389Z,2018-11-21T08:32:15.0677389Z,,flashpoint,False,0,False,False

Putting those lines in the versionmanifest.csv file underneath the other chassisdef listings gave me infinite loading when I tried to load into the skirmish mechbay.​

 

[ronhatch]

I tried changing the version manifest and it didn't go well. When I put in the lines of code I would get infinite loading. Here's the code form flashpoint asset bundle:

chassisdef_crab_CRB-27,ChassisDef,Assets/ContentPackSource/Flashpoint/data/chassis/Assets/ContentPackSource/Flashpoint/data/chassis/chassisdef_crab_CRB-27.json,1,2018-11-21T08:32:15.0677389Z,2018-11-21T08:32:15.0677389Z,,flashpoint,False,0,False,False
chassisdef_cyclops_CP-10-Q,ChassisDef,Assets/ContentPackSource/Flashpoint/data/chassis/Assets/ContentPackSource/Flashpoint/data/chassis/chassisdef_cyclops_CP-10-Q.json,1,2018-11-21T08:32:15.0677389Z,2018-11-21T08:32:15.0677389Z,,flashpoint,False,0,False,False
chassisdef_cyclops_CP-10-Z,ChassisDef,Assets/ContentPackSource/Flashpoint/data/chassis/Assets/ContentPackSource/Flashpoint/data/chassis/chassisdef_cyclops_CP-10-Z.json,1,2018-11-21T08:32:15.0677389Z,2018-11-21T08:32:15.0677389Z,,flashpoint,False,0,False,False
chassisdef_hatchetman_HCT-3F,ChassisDef,Assets/ContentPackSource/Flashpoint/data/chassis/Assets/ContentPackSource/Flashpoint/data/chassis/chassisdef_hatchetman_HCT-3F.json,1,2018-11-21T08:32:15.0677389Z,2018-11-21T08:32:15.0677389Z,,flashpoint,False,0,False,False

And here's how I modified to go into the Version manifest:

chassisdef_crab_CRB-27,ChassisDef,data/chassis/chassisdef_crab_CRB-27.json,1,2018-11-21T08:32:15.0677389Z,2018-11-21T08:32:15.0677389Z,,flashpoint,False,0,False,False
chassisdef_cyclops_CP-10-Q,ChassisDef,data/chassis/chassisdef_cyclops_CP-10-Q.json,1,2018-11-21T08:32:15.0677389Z,2018-11-21T08:32:15.0677389Z,,flashpoint,False,0,False,False
chassisdef_cyclops_CP-10-Z,ChassisDef,data/chassis/chassisdef_cyclops_CP-10-Z.json,1,2018-11-21T08:32:15.0677389Z,2018-11-21T08:32:15.0677389Z,,flashpoint,False,0,False,False
chassisdef_hatchetman_HCT-3F,ChassisDef,data/chassis/chassisdef_hatchetman_HCT-3F.json,1,2018-11-21T08:32:15.0677389Z,2018-11-21T08:32:15.0677389Z,,flashpoint,False,0,False,False

Putting those lines in the versionmanifest.csv file underneath the other chassisdef listings gave me infinite loading when I tried to load into the skirmish mechbay.​

Since it follows standard csv format rules, the first line of the file tells you what each field is... one of the fields is called 'assetBundleName' and tells it the name of the asset bundle to look for the data in. Data in normal files leaves that blank.

So I think you're mostly there and that you just need to delete the word 'flashpoint' from each of those lines. So you'd have nothing but three commas between the Z and the first False.