Creating Your Folder Structure

After setting up your tools, you'll want to create a folder structure for developing mods. Correct folder structure is not only mandatory -- mods won't function unless their folder structure matches the game's -- but also extremely helpful when navigating the many files you'll encounter while modding.

Folder Structure for the Community Library

We recommend the following folder structure when working with the Community Library.

In the BG main folder, we have a few subfolders: Export Tool, LL BG3 Mod Manager, and src.

Export Tool

This contains the Export Tool. It also contains the latest release of BG3 Modder's Multitool. Any game files you unpak from the Multitool will be listed in the Multitool's UnpackedData folder. Important to note: The Multitool unpaks the game data files into the game's existing folder structure, which you must match exactly for your mod to function correctly.

LL BG3 Mod Manager

This contains BG3 Mod Manager, which is used to install mods. Do not use Vortex from NexusMods, as it often introduces errors and further complications when installing mods. Manual installations are not recommended unless you have no other option (usually Mac users will need to do manual installations).

Src

This contains subfolders for any mods actively being worked on. You'll want to take the following steps at this point:

1. Open Gitbash (if using Windows) or Terminal (if using Mac/Linux).
2. Navigate to your `src` folder.
3. Input `git clone https://github.com/BG3-Community-Library-Team/BG3-Community-Library.git`.

This will give you the latest version of the Repo!

BG3-Community-Library

This folder contains all the necessary Community Library folders for working on your mod.

You may be wondering why the Release folder isn't present in your folder structure. This folder is set to not be tracked by git, using the .gitignore file. NellsRelo/khuckins or the Release Manager (if such a role is created) will handle the creation of Releases. Just for reference, though, this is what it looks like:

Folder Structure without the Community Library

If you're making a mod without using the Community Library, you can create your folder structure manually. Note that the folder structure of your mods must match the game's folder structure exactly to function. If you're ever unsure about the folder structure, you can find it when looking up files in Multitool.

First, create a main folder somewhere you can easily find. Once again, the Documents folder is a great place for this. Name it whatever you want. Inside the folder, put the Multitool, BG3 Mod Manager, and LSLib folders. We also recommend an additional folder to store any mods you're actively working on.

After creating these folders, inside your mods folder (working mods in this screenshot), you'll create your individual mod folder. Though each mod's folder structure will vary based on which files get used, most mods will use this basic structure:

ModName/
    /Localization/English/ModName.xml
    /Mod/ModName/meta.lsx
    /Public/ModName/...

Once you've set up this basic structure, you can create additional folders/files as needed, either in your file explorer program or in VSCode.

---