FableForge 0.18.1-rc.2: definition and text authoring

This prerelease adds compiled-definition and dialogue-text authoring while preserving native references, untouched records and recovery information. Stable 0.18.0 and the Aeon/controller rc.1 preview remain available.

• Browse definitions by type and group, follow confirmed model/texture links, and edit scalar, boolean, vector, colour and bounded string fields.
• Choose existing names-pool references without losing duplicate or unused names and their byte offsets.
• Clone an exact donor with forge-tools defs clone <bank.bin> <donor-name-or-index> <new-name> --out <output-bank.bin>, with paired bank/name publication, rollback and Restore.
• Edit dialogue strings, speakers, metadata and tags; author into save folders or packs; review open drafts before closing or changing installs.
• Carry forward asset/parser preservation, exact identity lookup, mod composition and damaged/missing-file recovery improvements.

Validation

The isolated Release build passes all 54 local CTest targets and the local no-install GUI check. Windows CI passes for the final source head, merged main and RC2 tag, including the tag's packaging step. The exact attached application archive passes 111 file identities, 131 documentation links and all 57 selected extracted workflows. The runner reports 66 workflows not run and two optional corpus skips for Aeon/controller and F2 fixtures absent from the isolated checkout.

Exercised checks include eight retail map exports, GUI/text/definition authoring, Unicode paths/images, bank publication, asset import and Restore, locked/partial recovery, ambiguous records, active/orphaned stages, missing banks/levels/WAD, failed redeploy refresh and texture destinations/export failure.

An independent copied-retail check using the extracted executables preserves every one of the 14,764 original records and identity rows, appends the exact donor and keyed name, verifies its class ordinal and removes both created outputs with Restore. Native compiled-bank hashes remain unchanged. Screenshots were inspected, including compact controls and no-install/Restore states.

Application archive SHA256:
d488737601d00b054bd27d5d0052d1c9994ba248a6136a35e3d5c69afd0c5e91

The application was built from source milestone 0f21c47; packaging checkout was 6716808 with the generated CLI title updated to rc.2. Later source changes record validation and add a repeatable independent check. The attached archive was retained unchanged after validation. Its bundled candidate notes predate final validation; these notes record the completed results. The tag points to the reviewed merge f96692dbb6d69b1f3daef6014a092bbcd72a190a.

Remaining work

Live gameplay for these changes, a clean-machine/VM walkthrough, broader GUI font coverage and final in-game probes remain unverified. GUI donor cloning is part of the subsequent development continuation and is not included in this RC2 download. This is a prerelease, not the latest stable release. No game or third-party mod data is bundled.

Candidate notes · User guide · Reviewed source

FableForge 0.18.1-rc.1: Aeon and Controller Support installer preview

FableForge 0.18.1-rc.1

Prerelease for installing Aeon Edition 5.03 and Controller Support version 1 through Forge.

Downloads

• FableForge-0.18.1-rc.1-win64.zip: extract it and run FableForge.exe. Open AEON_CONTROLLER.html beside the executable.
• FableForge-Aeon-Controller-Guide.zip: the illustrated guide alone, for sharing separately.

Download Aeon Edition, Controller Support and EgoCore from their authors. No third-party mod data or game files are bundled.

Changes

• Add the complete extracted Aeon Edition folder (or its Data folder), ControllerSupport.fmp, and the original folder containing FableControllerSupport.dll, in that order. Forge installs the overhaul and controller game data, then stages only the controller runtime DLL. Keep the source folders outside the game installation.
• Recognize a complete Data installation and preserve its compiled definitions and asset files. Repack packed level changes into FinalAlbion.wad when required. Refuse incomplete or unsupported bank and FMP changes before deployment.
• Update the illustrated walkthrough with actual Windows picker screenshots for each source and screenshots from the validated three-source GUI workflow. It distinguishes selecting the game folder from selecting each mod source.
• Refuse unreadable same-size source assets during file comparison instead of treating them as unchanged.

Validation and limits

The Windows GUI workflow passed Add, Check, Deploy, Check while deployed, redeploy and Undeploy on a scratch game copy using the original three mod sources. The deployed compiled banks, WAD, runtime DLL and Mods.ini matched an independent CLI build, and the original bank/WAD hashes returned after Undeploy. The compact GUI check, deploy and restore path also passed. All 38 core tests and the focused complete-Data, bank and FMP checks passed. The extracted candidate passed all 46 package workflows with zero skips, including the original Aeon and Controller Support corpus. The seven illustrated guide images were added after that package run and checked separately for archive integrity and linked paths.

Live gameplay on Windows and Retroid Pocket 5 is untested. EgoCore remains the runtime DLL loader. A direct forge-tools mods merge with a late source-read failure can leave prepared files in its requested output; managed GUI Deploy prepares in scratch first. This is a prerelease, not the latest stable release.

Visual steps

Choose the game folder containing Fable.exe in Setup. In Mods, use Browse and Add to the order for each source below. The P:, Q: and R: paths in these screenshots are short aliases on the test PC; use your own extracted locations.

1. Select the Aeon folder that contains Data

2. Select ControllerSupport.fmp

3. Select the folder containing FableControllerSupport.dll

4. Confirm the load order

FableForge 0.18.0: Dialogue lip-sync editor, Browse controls, terrain-following props

FableForge 0.18.0

The stable editor and world-view update, including the fixes tested through the
0.18.0 release candidates and the final Dialogue, terrain and Effects pass.

Downloads

• FableForge-0.18.0-win64.zip: extract the complete ZIP and run
  FableForge.exe. The illustrated Aeon/controller walkthrough is
  AEON_CONTROLLER.html, beside the executable.
• FableForge-Aeon-Controller-Guide.zip: the walkthrough and its four images,
  under Discord's 20 MB limit. Extract it and open AEON_CONTROLLER.html.
  Download the application and third-party mods separately.

Changes

• Dialogue uses expandable speaker groups with individual subtitle lines and
  search across every dialogue bank. Eighteen retail character previews are
  available. The inline lip-sync editor keeps the face visible, supports direct
  frame entry, mouth-shape influence, frame insertion/deletion and per-line
  Undo/Redo. Slider drags undo as one edit; changes survive line/bank switches.
  Create and save a Forge pack directly in the editor, or export a new archive.
• File and folder fields have native Browse controls. Export paths use Save As;
  cancelling preserves the current path. Compact panels wrap controls and use
  full-name menus when tabs cannot fit.
• The map and world-flight compass retains its heading through camera pitch,
  movement, turns and zoom. Grounded props follow terrain height and slope in
  the same undo step; creatures and buildings remain upright. Terrain and
  placed-object changes still require their respective game writes.
• Effects use a centred, bounded 4:3 preview with transport and timeline controls.
  Finite supported effects fit their playback length automatically, replay
  starts cleanly, scrubbing responds during a drag, and mesh framing uses actual
  transformed geometry. Preview backgrounds, grid and frame controls remain
  available; empty/completed messages are centred.
• Object selection, ownership, duplication/deletion, creature links, keyboard
  transforms, radius markers and floating tool panels have clearer workflows.
  World flight includes improvements to terrain, objects, foliage, transitions,
  memory use and cutout quality.
• Mod conflict choices refresh immediately, and invalid inputs are rejected
  before replacing an existing deployment. Model/theme imports preserve the
  previous files on reported commit failures. Terrain jobs preserve later edits;
  new-level creation preserves work made while the job runs. Setup Restore
  refreshes maps and Dialogue while retaining separately staged line edits.
• The Aeon/controller guide explains the asset FMP, runtime DLL, Forge load order
  and EgoCore loading. The tested composition needs no separate FreeRoam step.

Validation

The full release suite (tools/check_all.py: CTest plus retail GUI, CLI and
scratch-install workflows, including the third-party mod corpora) ran on the
release build. Two checks failed only under the full run and passed when rerun
alone: the Dialogue workspace playback assertion (two solo passes) and the World
tab move wait (the move took 38 s under load, 30 s alone). Every other check passed.

The unattended in-game probes ran on the retail game from a fresh New Game. The
retextured barrel appears red. A placed barrel, particle emitter and fishing spot
were found at their exact placed positions. A whole session ran on a compacted bank,
with 121 of 121 heights matching. A new level with its own region was reached
through the retail transition. Restore returned the install to its backup state.
The placed preset was not clearly identifiable in the probe screenshot. Map-screen
travel into the new region remains a manual check and was not performed.

The extracted Windows package passed the local package check: 69 documentation
links, definitions, retail exports, GUI pixels and mod paths from an unrelated
working directory. The separate-machine walkthrough has not been performed.

Limits

Effect previews approximate the particle behaviours supported by the editor;
not every effect reproduces its in-game appearance. Navigation paint patches the
existing retail tree; it does not regenerate a whole map's navigation. World view
shows authored gaps between maps without filling them with new terrain.

The Aeon/controller composition is checked against the supplied mod archives.
Retroid Pocket 5 runtime operation remains untested. The separate-PC walkthrough
has not been completed. Later deployment-build failures can still leave the
previous deployment restored to its baseline; replacement is not fully
transactional. Read the included guide and engine rules before preparing a game.

Acknowledgments

Thanks to AeoN / AlbionSecrets for EgoCore and the controller setup advice, and
to the Fable modding and decompilation communities. The included third-party
notices and EgoCore license identify reused research and code. Aeon Edition and
Controller Support remain their authors' separate downloads.

FableForge 0.18.0-rc.3: Dialogue, Browse and Aeon setup guide

FableForge 0.18.0-rc.3

This preview adds a redesigned Dialogue workspace, native Browse controls and an
illustrated Aeon Edition + Controller Support guide. It includes the editor,
world-view and asset-browser work from rc.2. Version 0.17.1 remains the latest
final release.

Downloads

• FableForge-0.18.0-rc.3-win64.zip: extract it and run FableForge.exe.
  Open AEON_CONTROLLER.html beside the executable for the illustrated guide.
• FableForge-Aeon-Controller-Guide.zip: the same guide and four screenshots,
  packaged separately for sharing. Extract it and open AEON_CONTROLLER.html.
  This small ZIP does not contain the application or third-party mods.

Changes since rc.2

• Dialogue has a visible line dropdown, immediate browsing and search across all
  dialogue banks by words, speaker, entry name or Sound ID. Character selection
  offers 18 retail previews, including additional villagers and the Oracle.
  Playback sits beside the preview; an optional timeline and separate edit/save
  window keep the main workflow clear. Compact layouts, staged edits, archive
  export and pack recipes have focused checks.
• Mod, model, texture, theme and dialogue-export path fields now include native
  Browse controls. Mod sources offer both file and folder selection; exports use
  Save As. Cancel preserves the previous path.
• The Aeon/controller walkthrough explains the FMP and DLL roles, Forge's file
  composition, EgoCore's runtime loading, and why this route needs no separate
  FreeRoam step. No game files or third-party mods are bundled.
• Mods now update the displayed winner immediately when a saved conflict choice
  is cleared. Invalid order, choices, missing sources, malformed pack manifests
  and missing recipe assets are rejected before replacing an existing deployment.
  Recipe failures return an error and refuse to stage an incomplete build.
• Additional scratch checks cover mod paths containing spaces and shell-special
  characters, dependency labels, recoverable imports, world-pack composition,
  terrain worker snapshots and new-level creation while edits are pending.

Validation and remaining limits

Validation covers 35 core test suites, targeted retail GUI and scratch-install
workflows, Dialogue search/head-pose AddressSanitizer checks, and the extracted
Windows package. The full retail GUI suite was not rerun as one aggregate gate
for this candidate; focused checks and retained evidence are recorded in
docs/HANDOFF_WORLD_UI.md and docs/FEATURE_DEPTH_AUDIT.md.

Fresh-game release probes and the separate-machine walkthrough remain pending.
The Aeon/controller composition was checked against the supplied mod files, but
runtime operation on a Retroid Pocket 5 has not been tested. Later build failures
can still leave a previously deployed install at its restored baseline; deployment
replacement is not yet fully transactional. Read the included guide before using
the Aeon/controller recipe on a clean Steam Fable: The Lost Chapters installation.

Acknowledgments

Thanks to AeoN / AlbionSecrets for EgoCore and the controller setup advice, and to
the Fable modding and decompilation communities. The included third-party notices
and EgoCore license describe the reused research and code. Aeon Edition and
Controller Support remain their authors' separate downloads.

FableForge 0.18.0-rc.2

FableForge 0.18.0-rc.2

This is a prerelease of the editor and world-view update. Version 0.17.1 remains
the latest final release.

Editor workflow

• Placed things have clearer selection and ownership controls. Ground placement,
  drag carry, keyboard nudges and rotations, multi-selection, owner-aware moves,
  safe duplication and deletion, creature links, and region entrance links have
  focused undo and retail-map checks. Meshless markers use distinct shapes,
  letters, hover labels and a viewport legend.
• Sculpting and direct height edits carry grounded placed things in the same undo
  step. Baked foliage follows the edited ground in the preview. Terrain and
  object positions still have separate game writes; the Terrain panel names both.
• Generate terrain and Fit to Neighbours describe their height range and report
  Fit's pending vertex count and largest height change. Fit preview, Apply, Undo
  and Redo were checked on Greatwood_Filler_04.
• Setup restores the backed-up bytes, reloads an open map, and keeps its actions
  reachable with a long backup list. Switching installs protects unsaved edits
  and clears the old map. The map browser, viewport and tool panel fit compact
  windows with full-label menus for controls that cannot fit inline.

Assets, mods and world view

• Assets now includes model and effect browsers and a dialogue preview with
  retail lip-sync data, head poses, eye graphics and scratch export tools. The
  effect preview has background colours, a ground grid, transport controls,
  mesh/light inspection and selected-frame playback. Unsupported engine particle
  behaviours are still approximated by the editor.
• Mod packs now report missing asset references relative to retail data. Corpus
  checks cover representative Aeon Edition, Controller Support, Freeroam and
  content-pack paths where their local archives are available. These checks do
  not promise every install order is compatible.
• World flight continues to improve terrain, object and foliage loading,
  selection, memory use, transitions and cutout quality. The world view still
  reflects authored gaps between maps; it does not create terrain there.
• The README now leads with the 3D World view and links to a
  feature gallery covering the 2D layout, terrain,
  assets, mods and setup.

Validation and remaining limits

The 2026-09-30 release build passed all 70 tools/check_all.py --no-build
checks: CTest, eight retail map smokes, GUI workflows, scratch-install writes,
World flight, and the available mod corpus paths. The three README overview
screenshots, feature-gallery captures, model browser and light-background FX
preview were inspected from this build. Scratch-install checks do not write to
the user's game. Fresh-game probes and the separate-machine walkthrough remain
required before a final 0.18.0 release. Exact dialogue-eye attachment and some
world geometry, lighting and particle behaviours still need retail comparison.

The 28.4 MB Windows zip was extracted and smoke-tested: forge list found the
retail map list, forge info Greatwood_1 read its terrain, forge-tools wad list read FinalAlbion.wad, and the packaged GUI loaded Greatwood_1 through
automation. The README and feature-gallery local links resolve inside the zip.

Acknowledgments

Thanks to AeoN (AlbionSecrets) for
EgoCore
(Nexus page).
Its open source asset research and workflows strongly informed this editor pass.
Particle field layouts and selected preview behavior were adapted or checked
against EgoCore under MIT; the included vendor/EgoCore-LICENSE.txt and
vendor/VENDORED.md identify the applicable scope. Thanks also to the
FableTLC decompilation and Fable modding communities.

Fable: Aeon Edition
is Alexander The Alright's separate overhaul. Its local archive informed
compatibility checks; Forge does not redistribute its assets.

SHA-256: 1c1285b5ab5a3c0c36254d80512d17f8feaca71523e6c913d978c5a6435bde09

FableForge 0.18.0-rc.1: world view and editor update

FableForge 0.18.0-rc.1

Release candidate for the world-view and editor update. This is a preview release;
0.17.1 remains the latest final release.

World view

• Browse the world as terrain tiles in 2D or fly across it in 3D, with nearby maps
  loading detailed terrain, objects and plants in the background.
• Water stays visible independently of detailed map loading. Ground now blends
  height and texture during overview/detail transitions instead of replacing its
  texture in one frame. Missing ground-texture coverage gets a theme fallback.
• Frustum culling, indexed geometry, bounded workers, paced GPU uploads, and an
  inactive-map cache reduce repeated work. CPU results are consumed promptly
  rather than waiting for the periodic demand timer.
• Adaptive detail responds to sustained frame pressure. DXGI memory telemetry
  trims inactive cached maps under pressure and restores the allowance gradually;
  active terrain and overview water remain resident.
• World-sized clipping and fog no longer depend on a stale orbit-focus distance
  while flying. Camera turns alone no longer relocate the detailed-map working set.

Editor and tools

• Menu bar, collapsible panels, floating terrain tool windows, and revised spacing,
  contrast, tool hints and controls.
• Ground themes and placed definitions grouped like the original editor; theme
  replacement, path drawing, Fit to Neighbours, height pens and brush libraries.
• Placement options, owner and day/night controls, script-named/nearest object
  filtering, map budget inspection, alternate world files, and camera-track preview.
• Navigation diagnostics distinguish world-region seeds from saved action points.
  Definition scale applies to placed objects and automatically created children.
• Fixed a Windows integer overflow that could collapse regenerated DXT1 distant
  terrain textures to one palette colour.
• Optional local Tracy CPU/GPU profiling and hidden flight/transition diagnostics
  are available to developers. The distributed build does not enable profiling.

Validation and limitations

The 33-check local suite was exercised, including all four CTest suites, eight-map
retail export, the engine's LZO decoder, editor UI, stock/extracted installs, world
and terrain writes, model import, and mod-pack build/deploy/rollback. Three initial
harness/fixture failures were corrected and passed on targeted reruns; the
strengthened new-level UI check also passed. No corpus skips were reported.
README screenshots were refreshed from this candidate.

Targeted checks cover world flight at varying heights, water, cache reuse and
eviction, culling, and material transitions. Fixed-camera Guild/Oakvale checks
reduced the initial mean colour discontinuity by 84%/62%, with pixel-identical
fully loaded endpoints. These are diagnostic measurements, not FPS guarantees.

Some geometry, lighting and object transitions remain visible. The world contains
authored empty spaces; viewing all maps together does not generate filler terrain.
The memory policy controls inactive cached maps, not the entire GPU working set.
Shared-mesh instancing, intermediate object LODs, a full particle authoring system,
and expanded asset-browser workflows remain future work.

Fresh-game release probes, human visual judgments of in-game placement/tint, and
the separate-machine walkthrough have not been completed for this candidate.
The final 0.18.0 release remains gated on those checks. Existing engine/save rules
still apply; forge restore restores backed-up game files.

Download verification

The Windows ZIP was tested from a separate extracted folder: CLI map info, GLB export with objects/plants, definition listing, and world-view water/detail toggles all passed. Profiling is disabled in this build. A SHA-256 checksum file is attached.

Windows tag CI | Source commit

Both the tagged-release and main-branch Windows CI runs passed, including all CTest suites and the software-rendered no-install GUI check. Tagged packaging also passed.

FableForge 0.17.1

FableForge 0.17.1: a bug-fix release for modded installs.

Fixed

Installs with extracted levels now work. If your levels are loose files in Data\Levels\FinalAlbion and FinalAlbion.wad is renamed out of the way (e.g. _FinalAlbion.wad, the usual modding setup), FableForge used to say the levels and CompiledDefs were not found. Now:

• the install is accepted, and the map list comes from the loose .lev files;
• every level write (objects, terrain, new levels, world moves) goes to the loose files, and FableForge never recreates FinalAlbion.wad there (it would override every loose level);
• stock installs with FinalAlbion.wad work exactly as before.

Clearer setup check. When something is missing, the Setup panel lists each missing file with its full path. Picking the Data folder by mistake steps up to the install folder on its own.

A failed terrain write changes nothing. If re-baking a map's terrain chunk fails, the .lev is put back (loose file and WAD entry), so the level never disagrees with its terrain chunk.

Known issue

Very tall terrain edits on some maps can fail with "vertices do not fit the donor CRange span" (an existing limit of the chunk encoder, not new in this release). The write is refused and nothing on disk changes.

Point FableForge at the folder that holds Fable.exe. forge restore still puts the retail files back.

FableForge 0.17.0: mod packs, custom models, UI polish

FableForge 0.17.0: a level/world editor and mod composer for Fable: The Lost Chapters (Steam, PC).

New

Mod packs. One load order for every kind of Fable mod, in the new Mods tab:

• .fmp packs, game-root folders, bsdiff .patch files, .qst edits, EgoCore Mods/<Name>/ folders (DLL, text .def, .resource bank overrides, partial TNGs) and whole-file packs such as Project Seasons.
• Mods merge record by record (a game.bin field, a thing by UID, a .qst statement, a text.big key, an FSE/quests.lua entry); later mods win.
• Check conflicts shows every contested record in one report, and you pick the winner.
• Build and deploy rebuilds the whole order onto the retail files; Undeploy puts them back.
• Things a mod placed are badged in the editor, with a Placed by filter and Back to retail.
• One backup manager covers every backup suffix (.forge-orig, the older .atlas-*, stage and overlay backups).

Custom models. Import model (Edit > Objects) or forge mesh-import turns a .glb, .gltf or .obj into a placeable OBJECT_, with its texture and a collision hull the hero can't walk through. Checked in-game: it renders and is solid. Static meshes only; no skinning or animation yet.

UI polish. Buttons and inputs stand out from the cards they sit on, and destructive actions are red. The mod load order uses arrow buttons. The viewport's name, stats and controls hint stay readable over bright terrain.

Notes

• Close Fable before writing anything to the install; every writer refuses while the game is running.
• Moved maps, new regions and new things need a fresh New Game, because saves cache them.
• forge restore puts back every file FableForge changed; forge backups lists them.
• Mod-pack deploys have been checked on scratch installs and the Nexus corpus, but not yet played in-game. Please report anything odd.

Windows 10/11, no install: unzip and run FableForge.exe.