Editor: Overriding Resources

This is a quick overview of the Resource Manager and its panels, and how to change an existing resource by overriding it.

Resource Manager

The Resource Manager is where you can see all the resources available in the game. Resources are things like textures, models, and materials. The Resource Manager lets you search, filter, edit, create, override, and delete resources.

Opening the Resource Manager.

Open the Resource Manager via the icon that looks like a box of crayons on the main toolbar. Your view might initially show only a thin, tall bar, but you can adjust the size manually by dragging the borders.

Hello, Resource Manager.

To get the view in the screenshot shown above, right-click on the window title and select Dock as Tabbed Document.

Docking the Resource Manager as a tab in the Editor.

Now you will be able to see the entirety of the Resource Manager. It can be divided into five main sections:

1. Package List
2. Filters
3. Resource List
4. Previewer
5. Properties

The five sections of the Resource Manager.

Let's go through these sections in more detail.

Package List

The Package List shows all of the packages in the game, including the mod you currently have open.

A breakdown of the Package List.

Package Filter

The first packages in the list, All and Recents, work as filters for the entire collection of packages.

• All: Shows or hides resources from all projects.
• Recents: Shows or hides resources that were opened/edited recently.

Current Module Package

This is the loaded module – the one you selected in the Project Browser window. Its name appears in blue font.

You will be able to create new resources in this package and edit them.

The Current Module Package folder contains all the resources that belong to the opened module. Inside the main folder, you will see at least one package (red outline below):

A package within the Current Module Package folder.

Resources always belong to a package. You can add new resources to the package already created for your project, or, for better organisation, create additional packages to hold them.

Other Loaded Modules

The loaded module might be dependent on other modules, like development modules that contain all the resources from the game.

Navigating through these modules' resources, you will be able to find animations, items, equipment, and a variety of other things used in Baldur’s Gate 3, which you can then override in your module, or use as a reference for your own mod.

Filters

To filter by the file name, start typing in the Filters box. Your results will depend on what folder or package you have selected.

For example, with the All folder selected, searching for druid returns a long list of different resource types that all contain “druid” in their name.

Filtering for the term "druid".

To filter for only one type of resource, right-click on its icon. These icons all have tooltips on hover that tell you what they are. For example, right-clicking on the Effect button will now show only EffectResources with “druid” in their name. (You can right-click on the same icon to remove the filter.)

Filtering for EffectResources with "druid" in their name.

You can filter out results you don't want by adding an exclamation mark in front of search terms. For example, adding !script and !cinematic to the search query will additionally filter out those two terms.

Filtering out "script" and "cinematic" from the query.

Resource List, Previewer, and Properties

The Resource List shows the collection of resources in the selected package or folder based on what you have visible via filters. Clicking on an individual resource will show more information in the Properties and Previewer sections.

HUM_F_ARM_Druid_B_Body selected in the Resource List (middle). It's visualised in the Previewer (top right), and its details are shown in the Properties panel (bottom right).

The Properties panel will show information about the selected resource. There are some fields that can be found in all resources:

The fields common across all resources.

• File Name: Full path of the resource file.
• GUID: Identifier of the resource.
• Name: Resource name.
• Package Name: The package to which the resource belongs. It can be read as {project}/../../../{package name}.
• Source File: Some resources have a source file, which is a file that contains more data. For example, a texture resource’s source file is the image file. Or, in the example of the armour in the screenshot, it is a .gr2 file.

Overriding Resources

You modify existing resources by overriding them. Overriding resources is the process by which an exact copy of the resource you want to override is made, including the direct files necessary to have a standalone resource.

You can override a resource in two different ways:

1. Right-click on the resource in the Resource Manager, and select Override In the Active Mod...

Overriding by right-clicking the resource in the Resource List.

2. Click on the resource to view its properties, then click on the Override selected objects button.

Overriding via the button in the Properties panel.

Whichever method you choose, you will be asked to confirm that you want to override the resource.

The confirmation pop-up.

On confirming the action, you will be asked if you want to maintain the same structure of filters and packages as the resource that is being overridden (Yes), or if you want to add it to a package of your choice (No).

The package structure pop-up.

Option 1: Keep the package structure (Yes).

The entire structure of the original resource will be replicated in your module.

Maintaining the package structure.

Option 2: Select a package of your choice (No).

If you choose this option, you will be asked to choose a target package to add the new resource to, and to provide a name for this resource.

Manually selecting a package.

Completing either of these two options results in a successfully overridden resource.