GrimMod: Mod Loader for Grim Fandango Remastered

Download at https://hexagon.codes/grimhd

Features

• Mods
  • Allows for the creation of asset mods that can swap out any file usually loaded from the game's .LAB datapacks.
• High-Quality Assets
  • Upgrades the renderer to support high-quality assets with any resolution and 32-bit color. Without this, assets are max 640x480 with dithered 24-bit color.
• Forced VSync
  • Previously, the remaster didn't use vsync while in-game and produced frames as fast as it could (sometimes causing coil whine).
• High-DPI Fix
  • On high-dpi systems with UI scaling above 100%, the remaster renders at a lower resolution and lets the system scale it up. This isn't that noticeable with 640x480 backgrounds but it stops high-quality assets from displaying at their full resolution. GrimMod forces the game to always render at the window's actual resolution.
• Quick Renderer Toggle
  • In the remaster, toggling the renderer between Original/Remastered is a smooth transition which makes changes less noticeable. GrimMod makes the toggle instant, highlighting the differences between the renderers.

Installation

1. Place glu32.dll in the root of the Grim Fandango Remastered directory where GrimFandango.exe is located.
2. (Optional) Put any mods in a Mods folder in the root directory.
3. Enjoy the ride!

Note: For GOG, when launching with the "Launch Grim Fandango Remastered" shortcut (like GOG Galaxy does), it's necessary to locate the shortcut in the game folder and set "Properties -> Compatibility -> Run this program as an administrator".

Note: For the Steam Deck, first set the game to run the Windows version by using Proton in the compatibility options.

Changelog

1.1.0

• Added GOG support (see installation note).
• Added Steam Deck support (see installation note).
• Improved initialization stability with better logging for errors.

1.0.0

• Initial release.

Limitations

• Doesn't allow for upscaling videos, yet. This includes full cutscenes and scenes that use video as part of the background/foreground (however most animations are simply a series of images, which can be upscaled).
• Doesn't attempt to make the game 16:9. Any non-4:3 assets will still look stretched.
• A full playthrough with grimmod has been completed but as new software, bugs and crashes are to be expected. Save regularly (but autosave is a potential future feature!).

Config

By creating a grimmod.toml file beside glu32.dll, some options can be tweaked:

Setting	Default	Effect
mods = true/false	true	Enable/disable the loading of mods
renderer.hq_assets = true/false	true	Enable/disable hooking the renderer to load modern image formats (PNG/VP9 MKV) from mods
renderer.quick_toggle = true/false	true	Enable for instant toggling between the Original/Remastered renderers, disable to restore the smooth transition
renderer.video_cutouts = true/false	true	Some scenes use videos, which are not yet upscalable with GrimMod, as the entire background image. This option allows GrimMod to manually carve out static chunks of the video, exposing the background underneath. As a somewhat hacky solution it has been given its own toggle if issues pop up.
display.vsync = true/false	true	Enable/disable forced VSync
display.hdpi_fix = true/false	true	GrimMod rewrites some of the window handling to always render at native resolution. Since the game's UI natively scales, this should only be a positive but it can be disabled if it causes issues.
logging.enabled = true/false	true	Enable/disable creation of and writing to grimmod.log with simple logging info, mostly for the purposes of a health check.
logging.debug = true/false	false	Enable/disable debug logging. This outputs a lot of information per frame, useless outside of debugging/development.

Building

The project is currently built with Rust 1.77 Nightly on Windows.

The project needs libvpx to available in order to build. Better documentation for this is todo.