Carmageddon / Dethrace modding tools: extract and repack 8-bit FLI/FLC animations, and decode/encode encrypted game .TXT files.

• Odin — compiler (odin on PATH)
• ffmpeg — FLI/FLC extraction (ffmpeg on PATH)
• Aseprite CLI (aseprite on PATH) — only needed for pack / repack

make build

Output: dist/drmod

make clean   # remove dist/ and stray binary

Run without installing:

./dist/drmod --help

Paths are stored in ~/.local/share/dethrace/mod/settings.ini (or $XDG_DATA_HOME/dethrace/mod/settings.ini). Set them once:

drmod settings set game /path/to/CARMA
drmod settings set work /path/to/dethrace-mod
drmod settings show
drmod settings get game     # prints path only, exit 0
drmod settings get anim     # <game>/ANIM
drmod settings get fli_work

Override for one session with environment variables: DRMOD_GAME_DIR, DRMOD_WORK_DIR.

With settings configured, commands accept short paths:

drmod extract                              # <game>/ANIM -> <work>/fli_work
drmod repack                               # <work>/fli_work -> <game>/ANIM
drmod decode GENERAL.TXT                   # -> <work>/GENERAL.plain.txt
drmod encode GENERAL.plain.txt             # -> <game>/GENERAL.TXT
drmod pack fli_work/STRTSTIL ANIM/STRTSTIL.FLI

Explicit paths still work and override defaults.

Read or write single values from encrypted .TXT files without manual decode/edit/encode:

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

Files are searched under the configured game path (install root, DATA/, and DATA/*/).

drmod --help

Unpack every animation in the game ANIM folder:

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

Extract a single 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 a manifest.json.

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

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

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

Use --method auto|1|2 to force Carmageddon 1 vs C2/Splat encryption. Use --wrap on encode for files that wrap ciphertext at 24 columns.

• Keep frames indexed (palette mode) when editing to preserve FLI color limits.
• Frame files must be named frame_XXXX.png (zero-padded, 4 digits).
• Repacking requires Aseprite batch mode; extraction uses ffmpeg.

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