drmod

drmod is a CLI for Carmageddon / Dethrace mod work.

It extracts and packs 8-bit FLI/FLC animations. It also decodes and encodes encrypted game .TXT files.

Requirements

• Odin compiler (odin on PATH)
• ffmpeg on PATH for FLI/FLC extract
• Aseprite CLI (aseprite on PATH) for pack and repack only

Build

make build

The binary is written to dist/drmod.

make clean

make clean removes dist/ and a stray drmod binary in the project root.

Run the binary without install:

./dist/drmod --help

Settings

Paths are stored in ~/.local/share/dethrace/mod/settings.ini.

If XDG_DATA_HOME is set, the file is $XDG_DATA_HOME/dethrace/mod/settings.ini.

Set the paths once:

drmod settings set game /path/to/CARMA
drmod settings set work /path/to/dethrace-mod
drmod settings show
drmod settings get game
drmod settings get anim
drmod settings get fli_work

settings get game prints the path only and exits with code 0. settings get anim prints <game>/ANIM. settings get fli_work prints the FLI work folder under work.

Override paths for one process with environment variables:

• DRMOD_GAME_DIR
• DRMOD_WORK_DIR

With settings set, short paths work:

drmod extract
drmod repack
drmod decode GENERAL.TXT
drmod encode GENERAL.plain.txt
drmod pack fli_work/STRTSTIL ANIM/STRTSTIL.FLI

Default map:

• extract reads <game>/ANIM and writes <work>/fli_work
• repack reads <work>/fli_work and writes <game>/ANIM
• decode GENERAL.TXT writes <work>/GENERAL.plain.txt
• encode GENERAL.plain.txt writes <game>/GENERAL.TXT

Explicit paths override the defaults.

Game data values (config)

Read or write one value in an encrypted .TXT file without a full decode edit encode cycle:

drmod config get GENERAL.TXT line.1
drmod config get PARTSHOP.TXT line.42
drmod config get PARTSHOP.TXT line.42.field.1
drmod config set RACES.TXT line.5.field.0 newvalue
drmod config keys DATA/GENERAL.TXT

The tool searches under the configured game path: install root, DATA/, and DATA/*/.

Usage

drmod --help

Extract FLI/FLC to PNG frames

Extract every animation in the game ANIM folder:

drmod extract /path/to/game/ANIM ./fli_work

Extract one file:

drmod extract /path/to/game/ANIM ./fli_work --file STRTSTIL.FLI

Each animation becomes a subfolder with frame_0000.png, frame_0001.png, and so on, plus a manifest.json.

Extract overwrites existing frame_*.png files in the target folder.

Pack frames back to FLI

drmod pack ./fli_work/STRTSTIL /path/to/game/ANIM/STRTSTIL.FLI

Repack the full work tree

drmod repack ./fli_work /path/to/game/ANIM

Repack uses the source name from each folder manifest.json when present. If the manifest is missing, it writes over an existing .FLI or .FLC with the same stem, or creates NAME.FLI.

Decode and encode encrypted .TXT files

drmod decode PARTSHOP.TXT
drmod encode PARTSHOP.plain.txt PARTSHOP.TXT

Use --method auto|1|2 to select Carmageddon 1 or C2/Splat encoding. Use --wrap on encode when the ciphertext wraps at 24 columns.

Workflow tips

• Keep frames in indexed (palette) mode when you edit them. FLI color limits stay intact that way.
• Name frame files frame_XXXX.png with four zero-padded digits.
• Extract needs ffmpeg. Pack and repack need Aseprite batch mode (aseprite -b).

Acknowledgements

Thanks to dethrace-labs/dethrace for the reference that made this project possible.