Mod installer and public mods

meshelb
Icon made by IceIris

InterAction Mod Installer (aka IAMI) can install mod files made by our Discord modding team for almost any game made by InterAction studios known at the moment. It was tested with most game versions and is pretty stable but installation process is slow so I’ll be re-writing it from scratch later to improve performance. For now just keep in mind you can start installation and go drink some tea :tea: (average speed: 10 files per minute).

SHA-256 of IAMI executables

1.3.8.0 (29.12.23) cde38c640bb5d20f8f7eb164d4acb731b51c2e098cb338e844cdeab9aef6d57d
1.3.8.0 (22.12.23) ca5c95efe9878d6f1f0c97f69d7e834606605d8cc484e0525b497e017d832484
1.3.7.0 c2d67aae61c1e664b59d9fed89e1b9ba3e0cfdd6d86ac6cfffa341a1e727a0c6
1.3.6.3 dfc65ca7ce9148704248900a65734f6e1d5c757fe75d4ef90fe7a0abce9ac454

SHA-256 of IAMT executables

3.6.5 8b5017a48192ed36512f2c7c498ab8e1b9efb9a9b8d7f4df8cd7a3b2160c5e54
3.6.5a ff4e92800b0886b03bf6fc8e221672075a61b77eefbc2a05e09e0b6563bf3689
3.6.4 376d123c5aa22cd9c31d55c9c5569602fa88ba01fff638207b0a6cea90e37374
3.6.4a b1ab1e441e2009eaaab7be0c5035e86bfa11df46efbefefd79c0ea8c2945fed0

How to use

  1. Download IAMI and the latest CIU.iami file from here and extract them anywhere you want to (it’s better not to use system folders like Program Files as they require Administrator permissions).
  2. Download mods you want. You can install several mods one above another, the last mod installed will only change files it needs to. NOTE: backup is created based on the files before modding, so if you install several mods, backup will contain previous mods installed.
  3. Open IAMI (or double click the mod, open with IAMI) and follow instructions (select a mod file, select a WAD file in the game folder, confirm installation). Please, read carefully. If something goes wrong, it usually writes what exactly went wrong and sometimes suggests solutions.
  4. Wait until it’s done summoning the great evil. DON’T open the game while installing mods. Both the game and IAMI won’t like it. You can leave it on the background and do something else.
  5. When installation is finished, you’ll hear a signal so you won’t miss it. Just close IAMI after it, either by pressing Enter or closing the window.

There is a known issue with printing errors where there is an extra space in the path it says it can’t find ("sfx/something.ogg "). In fact, there is no space, and would never be, as when the mod is created those are automatically truncated.

How to use but in a video, for those who still have troubles

(didn’t try modding on Android myself)


How to uninstall the mod

The tool modifies the CIU.dat.222x game file and creates a backup of it before doing anything every time you install a mod. To uninstall the last mod, remove/rename current CIU.dat.222x and replace it with CIU.dat.222x.backup (do not forget to remove the .backup part of the name). It works as long as you don't disable full backup option in configurations file. Another way is to uninstall all mods at once: use the installer of the same version to "update" the game or verify local files if you are using Steam.

Troubleshooting

Windows Defender recognizes IAMI (IAMT) stuff as a virus.

His bad :confused:. Windows Defender recognises any C++ console application as a virus unless it’s signed or has some kind of a proper GUI. I couldn’t find a way to solve this and I’m not sure if it’s even necessary at this point. If your antivirus quarantined the executable, check it on a website like virustotal to be sure. You can compare the checksum of a file.

Please note that there are only two places where you can download IAMI “officially”, if you can say it like that: my own Google drive, the link to which has been provided in the Usage section, and IAMT Discord server, where I sometimes throw some versions for testing back and forth. Any other place is sus, use it at your own risk.
There is only one place where you can download IAMT: IAMT Discord server. The non-restricted version has never been distributed publicly, we only provide it through private messages after some discussion.


Can’t install CIU mods: no file path found.

Please note that CIU only accepts CIU mods for several reasons I can’t avoid. CIU.iami file must be in IAMI folder in order to be found and work properly, and must be updated either by downloading a new copy or by using IAMT when you want to work with a newer version that made changes to the files structure. The same applies to IAMT’s CIU.iamt_table.

Or the mod is simply outdated.


Can’t open/write X

Run as administrator. Yes, IAMI asks to do that by itself, too, but as far as I can tell people don’t really like reading, though love asking. Any folder under C:\Program files (x86)\* requires administrator privileges to write to. Either run IAMI as administrator or install CIU to a less restrictive place.


The file path contains a space in the end, like this: "sfx/sword.ogg "

In fact it doesn’t. It’s an std::cout bug that simply appeared out of nowhere at some point and only happens in the release build of IAMI and IAMT. When you give IAMT a file path, it automatically tries to fix common mistakes (misplaced quotation marks, spaces at the end and in the beginning of the path, \ and / inconsistency etc), so the chances for a space to sneak in are quite low. So, “acknowledged, won’t fix” it is.


If you encounter a bug or have mod suggestion, write it in this topic or IAMI/T Discord server so people responsible for mods can see it. If suggestion worths it, someone will make a mod file for you.

Join IAMI/IAMT Discord server

Some updates and info and stuff idk (last update: 18th of February, 2023)

UPD: @ScarletCuboids Made an IAMI Discord server where you can also discuss, get or request some mods. They often appear there faster than here so join if you’re interested.


UPD2: As this topic got closed and I don’t see any serious reason to unlock it, use the Discord server from above to request mods.


UPD3: My school project is near to completion and now I’ve started working on complete rewriting of IAMT and IAMI from scratch to make them faster and maybe more cool-looking (no GUI tho, still learning this part). Also I’ll make an attempt on replacing functions which trigger false antivirus warnings (yes, I’m fighting with antivirus too). The only thing I can recommend for now is to make manual scan of .exe and with high possibility antivirus will say it’s safe. This update will be useful not only for those who use mods but for those who create them too: rewritten tool will allow to put some functionality I couldn’t add before for code crowdness reasons and speed of repacking files in IAMT will be even higher than IAMI (currently IAMI is twice as fast as IAMT, so now you know why we don’t share it to public: it’s annoying and not clear to use. People who ask for it just won’t be able to do anything with it).


UPD4: I heavily underestimated the “rewrite from scratch part” and I barely have time and wish to work on it currently. There is no deadline and I’m not really sure when it will be finished, but I will definitely do this, sooner or later, at least because I hate to use IAMT 3 that much. If you want to help the development, drop your ideas to my spreadsheet so I know what there is to plan out. Huge shout-outs to every single person who modded the game so far, or made any kind of help material, like usage tutorials or help with troubleshooting. I can’t believe that the thing that started as a quick replacement for a limited file replacing script is being used by so many people nowadays for absolutely different kinds of resource editing, from simple music replacement to absolutely enormous mods, forging their own story to tell, or even making some concepts for ideas. This is a very valuable experience for me, from several different points of view.
Thank you.



How to make your own mod



Mods:
All of the following links are Wiki posts, feel free to edit them to correct some information. The history of this post is available to everyone if you need to check something.

Public mods, page 1
Public mods, page 2

81 Likes

Here’s my Chicken Invaders Universe mod: Franci's Chicken Invaders Universe Mods - Google Drive
The “Other Mods” folder will have some minor mods inside it, made by me.

24 Likes

can i use audio in my mod? (like changing music in ciu)

Yes. You can ask for a mod which replaces any sound with anything, even music.

1 Like

ok, i want the mod

How to open .dat file?

With the installer

Invite me and Mishelb to a PM and send us the new sounds/music

The Touhou-rized CIU mod is done. Does not include weapon skins (blame Recruit #75)
Download it here:

please read the readme

3 Likes

the readme is supposed to be read so k

3 Likes

This works with the older games too, right?

Very simple mod idea - a port for the low-alpha version of Positron from CIU into CI4/5. Simple enough to do where this tool isn’t really necessary, but it’s a small QoL thing that I’m sure non-modders would appreciate.

It even works for piggly and CI1 which was not intended.

4 Likes

A Utensil Sprite Swap for the Ion Blaster in CI1 could be fun, lol

(To be super clear, these are all just idle suggestions tho - I’m not “requesting” mods like I’m sure people will start doing soon, aha)

A question, Is there any risk when using this mod?

Well, mod file can be corrupted sometimes if we put wrong files in mod and this can break the game, but you can always restore backup of your hq2x as IAMI saves it near original by default. You can turn backups off in config.

3 Likes

Question - If I have a manually modded version of a CI game, should I revert it to vanilla before booting IAMI the first time?

3 Likes

how to use multiple mods? why i cant select like 3 mods at the same time

It’s better to do so if you used QuickBMS with files HIGHER than original ones, but if you didn’t, it should work just fine.

@peterexited You can. Just install one above another.

1 Like

If you don’t like frankensteining multiple mods, yeah

My “Francis x One-Winged” mod :v

4 Likes

is frankensteining mods really a good idea? lmao

3 Likes