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GothicVDFS

GothicVDFS is the most popular tool for working with VDFS volumes (.vdf and .mod archives). Created by NicoDE, it allows for viewing, extracting, and building these archives.

Working Areas​

The tool is divided into two main working areas: the Viewer and the Builder.

Viewer​

The Viewer allows you to inspect and extract existing VDF archives.

  • Filename: Select the path to the .vdf or .mod file you want to open.
  • Root Path: Select the directory where files will be extracted.
  • Content Information: Displays the file's comment and timestamp.
    • Note: The timestamp determines the load order of volumes in the game (files with newer timestamps override older ones).

Extraction Options:

  1. Extract Volume: Extracts the entire archive content to the Root Path.
  2. Extract Directory: Extracts only the currently selected folder.
  3. Extract Selected: Extracts only the currently selected files.

Builder​

The Builder is used to create new VDF archives.

  • Filename: Specify the path and name for the new .vdf or .mod file.
  • Root Path: The base directory for the files you want to pack (usually your Gothic directory).
  • File Lists:
    • Search for: File masks to include (e.g., _WORK/Data/Anims/_compiled/*).
    • Exclude: File masks to exclude from the archive.
    • Include: Explicit list of files to include.

At the bottom, you can Build Volume directly or Save Script (.vm) for future use or batch processing.

CLI Interface​

GothicVDFS includes a command-line interface useful for automation and scripting.

Build VDF from Script​

GothicVDFS.exe /B script.vm

Extract VDF to Directory​

GothicVDFS.exe /X MySuperMod.mod ./extract_here

Script Reference​

VDFS configuration scripts (.vm) are simple text files used to define usage rules for the builder.

Structure​

A script is divided into sections marked by headers in square brackets. It must contain at least [BEGINVDF] and [ENDVDF].

[BEGINVDF]​

Marks the start of the script and contains properties:

  • Comment: Text comment for the volume.
  • BaseDir: Root path of local files (relative to the working directory).
  • VDFName: Name of the output VDF file.

[FILES]​

List of file masks to include in the archive (relative to BaseDir).

[EXCLUDE]​

List of file masks to exclude from the archive.

[INCLUDE]​

List of specific files to always include.

[ENDVDF]​

Marks the end of the script.

Example Script​

[BEGINVDF]
Comment=My Custom Mod Archive
BaseDir=.
VDFName=MySuperMod.mod
[FILES]
_work/Data/Anims/_compiled/*
_work/Data/Meshes/_compiled/*
_work/Data/Scripts/_compiled/*
[EXCLUDE]
*.wav
[INCLUDE]
this_is_fine.wav
[ENDVDF]