Getting Started
See the Requirements section for available options and download links.
Use the prepackaged installers for Windows and macOS, or the Flatpak image for Linux to install Near Infinity on your system. The Windows and Linux versions will create shortcuts in the start menu and/or the desktop and associate the chitin.key file of the games with Near Infinity. The macOS version is installed in the Applications folder of the system, but doesn't set up any file associations. There is no further software needed to start Near Infinity.
Alternatively, use the platform-independent Java JAR file for Near Infinity, which doesn't have to be installed. You can simply put the file NearInfinity.jar into a folder of your choice. For ease of use you can put it directly into the root folder of your game installation. That way you don't have to manually select which game to open as described in the chapter First steps. A Java Runtime Environment (JRE) is needed to run it, however. It is highly recommended to install a 64-bit JRE if you're running a 64-bit operating system.
It is also possible to build Near Infinity from source. That way you can use the latest features without having to wait for the next official release.
The following tools are required for the build process:
- Either Oracle's Java SE Development Kit or OpenJDK - Near infinity requires version 8 or later. Make sure that the
binfolder is in your path. - Apache Ant
See the Project section of the Download and Links chapter to find out where you can download the latest Near Infinity sources.
Open a text console, change to the root directory of the (unpacked) Near Infinity sources (where you can find the build.xml) and execute ant:
cd NearInfinity
antThat's it. After a successful build process you should find the resulting NearInfinity.jar in the same folder.
The installed version of Near Infinity can be started from the Start Menu or Desktop shortcut, or the Launchpad on macOS. Alternatively, navigate to the game folder in the file manager and double click on the chitin.key file to open the game with Near Infinity. The latter method doesn't work on macOS, though.
For the platform-independent Java JAR file of Near Infinity simply double click on NearInfinity.jar in your file manager or select "Open" from the context menu for that file.
Alternatively you can start Near Infinity directly with the following command from a console or terminal:
java -jar NearInfinity.jarNear Infinity does also support optional arguments to specify the game path or to enforce detection of a specific game type. For more details call Near Infinity from the command line with the argument -help:
java -jar NearInfinity.jar -helpIf you placed NearInfinity.jar somewhere outside of your game's root folder or used the installer, then Near Infinity will open a file dialog where you have to navigate to and select the file chitin.key in the game's root folder if you start it for the first time. This step is automatically taken care for you if you started NearInfinity.jar from the game's root folder or started Near Infinity by opening the associated chitin.key file of the game.
When you have successfully selected a game then Near Infinity will prompt you to inspect and adapt the application settings. More details can be found in the Preferences section.
After changing the settings to your need, or skipping the prompt, you should see the main window of the application with a navigation bar on the left side containing a number of folders called ARE, BAM, BCS, and so on. You should also see the game name in Near Infinity's window title and (depending on you settings) some technical information on the main panel.
The most direct way to select a game resource is by using the navigation bar on the left side. Internal resources are filtered by type while resources added by mods can usually be found in a folder called Override or spread out over the various resource type folders. You can change how overridden files are filtered in the Preferences dialog (GUI and Text > Show Override Files).
On top of the navigation bar you can find a quick search button (
). Clicking on it opens a popup panel where you can enter the desired resource name. A dynamic list will show you all files matching the currently entered text. Simply select the entry in the list and press enter to open the resource. Alternatively you can click either of the three buttons next to the search field to open the selected resource in the main window, a separate window or cancel the whole search operation.
Often you don't know the actual name of the resource. In these cases you can try your luck with one of the many search options found in the Search Menu.
For CRE, ITM, SPL or STO files you can open Search Menu > CRE/ITM/SPL/STO... and enter the full or partial name in the search field. Select the resource type and click on the Search button or press Enter to execute the search.
To search for keywords or passages in text files you can select Search Menu > Text Search followed by the resource type to search.
To search for certain string references used in dialogs or descriptions you can select Search Menu > StringRef....
The Search Menu > Advanced Search > Advanced search... is a powerful search feature that allows you to filter resources by a variable number of criteria, but is not as easy to use as the former search options.
There are several ways to edit game resources depending on the resource type. For structured resources (such as ARE, CRE, EFF, GAM, ITM, SPL, STO, or WED) Near Infinity provides an Edit tab where you can edit resources on a higher abstraction level, as well as a Raw tab where you can edit resources on binary level without restrictions. Text-based resources (such as 2DA, BCS or IDS) can usually be edited in a text editor or a specialized version of it.
Sometimes editing capabilities are not very obvious, as it is the case for graphical resources (BAM, BMP, MOS or TIS). In these cases Near Infinity provides one or more export options which allow you to save the resource in a resource format that is editable by third-party applications such as graphics editors. To convert them back into the original graphics format you can use one of the options provided by Tools menu > Convert. BAM resource can also be edited directly in the integrated BAM Converter.
Near Infinity is also able to view and edit files of unknown or unsupported format. In this case you can edit them on binary level in the Raw tab or edit them as text in the Edit tab. Be careful when using the text editor though. Binary files will most likely be corrupted if you attempt to edit them in that way. For that reason you have to activate the Edit tab manually if you want to use it.
Near Infinity provides many options to search for resources. Some of them are described in more detail in the Search Menu Documentation while others are accessible from the opened resource files themselves. This chapter deals with searching for resource references.
Many game resources are referenced by other resources in various ways. For example, CRE, ITM or SPL resources are commonly referenced in script files, either directly or indirectly. ARE resources can refer to related BCS, WED and even CRE or ITM resources, while ARE resources themselves can be referenced in script files again.
For that reason you can find a Find... > references to this file or Find references... button at the bottom of View or Edit tabs for almost every resource type. This option enables you to check whether the current resource is referenced by any other resources of the game. A selection dialog allows you restrict the search to specific resource types. By default the most relevant types are already preselected. However, you can freely enable or disable resource types on the list, either manually or by using the buttons at the bottom.
Depending on the size of the game installation it will take a while for the search to complete. If the search was successful you will be presented with a list of hits. By selecting an entry and clicking on Open or Open in new window you can directly jump to the resource and, in many cases, even to the relevant position within the resource. A Save... button allows you to save the results into a text file.