Modding Palworld - Ideas and Proposal (Direction Decided, still taking suggestions/feedback)

[Spirit_Shard]

Project was decided and now has its own thread! A Sex/Stat Framework, Project Sour Cake! - https://www.loverslab.com/topic/225549-project-sour-cake-sex-and-stat-framework-gameplay-mod/

ORIGINAL POST :

When I saw Palworld initially announced over 2 years ago I 110% thought it would never truly be interesting, but I was proven 210% wrong. Although it's janky and a bit of a mess in places with a developer on shaky ground, the game is fun! But more importantly, since the developers have effectively opened their game systems and framework via UE4/5 blueprints (with mod tools supposedly in the works and releasing sooner rather than later) the mod potential is INSANE. Think Creation Kit levels of modding, with UE4/5 script support it means we can effectively do whatever we want once we get a handle on the internal structures of the game. This has me really curious and interested in seeing how all this plays out, and given Starfield was a bit of a dud (was suppose to be my next big game to start modding >.<) I thought I'd give Palworld a whirl. Not only is the game different, but it offers new design challenges and has some intriguing potential.

 

So, I'm here to gauge interest, see what people may want to see from a modder like myself, investigate potential, speak clearly and openly about any plans/ideas/goal/suggests/ect, and overall provide a more 'safe' modding option compared to the other drama that's already cropped up surrounding Palworld in terms of both the game and modding.

 

To be clear, this is NOT a thread to rally support, I am not asking for donations or financial support, I am NOT promising any work will be done, and I am not trying to trick people into joining a community. The goal here is to explore ideas and see the potential while brainstorming ideas with the community to see if I can/should mod Palworld to help fill some desires.

 

-- -- --

Who am I?

 

First, let's start with who I am. My name is Michael and I'm not a particularly well known creative, but I'm passionate non-the-less. I work in various fields to help test my skills and always up for learning new things, in terms of modding I've done various mods for games such as Skyrim, Game Maker / wolf engine, assisted in translation projects, game hacks such as frame rate unlocks and the like, cheats for various games using CE/assembly/lua or even Hex edits, and many more while also having game dev experience in UE4/5 (my time working in UE5 was extremely limited however, so my knowledge would need some updates). Consider me a wonderer I suppose, though anyone in the community here that knows me probably knows me because of Succubus Heart, a gameplay and progression focused Succubus mod for Skyrim. If you're curious how I approach mod development and feedback I'd check out that mod and recent developments over the last year, I've grown a lot over time and have a lot of experience with responding and taking bug reports/feedback/ect.

 

And why is this relevant? With the other groups I saw in here, they really didn't feel all that genuine and I get a strange distaste when reading both their statements and observing their work, so I'm trying to approach this in a more open and honest way. I am not trying to trick anyone and I'm just a modder that jumps around and currently looking for another big mod project to get into. I'm not a perfect human being and certainly won't pretend to be a genius or anything, but I hope people are willing to stick it through and at least humor my inclusion.

 

-- -- --

 

Morals? Got none, but here's what I would prioritize.

Since this is a thread about interest on an adult-content oriented site, I thought it would be important to list my feelings on certain types of content that may be seen by some as questionable or unappealing in-case I did start an adult-only project. I don't try and shut down people for their fetishes or personal preferences, this is just a way to show what I would prioritize over others, and I would try and make my methods compatible with those desires if possible, but priority on some content I personally don't find appealing or may question will be lower.

Just so I don't repeat myself with nearly every entry, my general stance is "as long as it stays fantasy and no actual person or being is being hurt, then I don't care what people do. Let people live."

 

Furry / Anthro : Perfectly fine with it, even if it can be a bit weird at times.

Feral Nudity : Ferals alone don't really appeal to me, but proper anatomy would be important to preserving the pals in adult contexts and allowing for other types of content.

Bestiality : I've openly supported bestiality in mods such as with Succubus Heart, so this is no problem for me.

Non-consensual Interactions : This one is tricky, I prefer to subvert the scenario a bit and don't like the "violent" takes on non-consensual stuff, but the concept itself, as long as it's fantasy, isn't a problem for me. (For an example of subversion, in Succubus Heart the combat submission part of the mod is called "Combat Seduction" and implies a willingness through seduction rather than being violently non-consensual. I would approach this in Palworld by maybe implementing a "Pal Heat" system or something, just to make it 'feel' more willing even if context is questionable.)
Slavery / Imprisonment : A minor extension of the last point, I also like to subvert the feeling on this one in a similar way. (See "Soul Pets" in Succubus Heart)
Vore / Guro / Death / Necro : Don't like it, honestly, haven't even unlocked the butcher knife in-game. I'm just not a fan of that style of content so it would be difficult for me to personally work on the Guro / Death / Necro specifically and would most likely avoid it if possible (though would still try and keep compatibility if another modder wanted to create this content). Vore could be subverted a bit and would be easier to support on a basic level for me, but it's not something I would actively seek to work on for sure. I just don't like the idea of death and violence in a lot of situations, as hypocritical as that may sound.
Cum-flation / Bulging : I'm indifferent mostly, can help with immersion in some situations but not really into the extremes like a character producing 300 gallons of semen, just feels a bit immersion breaking.

'Diverse' body types : Look, some of the pals look a bit.. uh... small. I personally won't shy away from working on this style of content but I won't say it's something I'm actively seeking either. I think some optional changes may need to be made to ensure everyone is comfortable in adult situation should I work on that style of mod. However, it's important to note I would make these changes optional and not forced.

Additional Notes :

Multiplayer : I'll focus Single Player first with multiplayer in mind regarding design, then consider multiplayer when single player content works. This isn't a moral or preference kind of stance, it will just be easier to develop this way.

Discord Requirement : Fuck that, seriously. A Discord can explode at any second and only having something available through a single source is a BAD idea. Currently I use a 3-source approach for full releases were there are 3 sources for the content I produce, currently I do use Discord for announcements and updates but you can find my work in multiple places. For Palworld I currently have 2 places lined up, my personal hosting via GDrive and here, still need to find a third source if I do produce adult mods (non-adult would just go on Nexus as a third source).

 

I'll touch on dev-plan and potential financial support later.

 

-- -- --

 

My Proposal.

Ok, that's a lot of pre-amble, let's get into suggestions and what's currently being worked on as well as what needs to be worked on. As I mentioned earlier, it seems like there's already a lot of drama, so I am interested in effectively acting as an 'escape route' for those that aren't going to deal with that. This means I would (almost unfortunately) like to approach a future project in building a baseline to help adult modding get off the ground in both an open and ethical manner. I'm not setting up a team with hype and crazy goals, and I'm not promising anything, but this is my current consideration.

 

Nudity / Erotic Outfits : There's a couple of people working on this aspect already, but it is the first step. What I haven't seen much of yet is giving the pals any equipment, so this would probably be the first step to making this all work in a usable manner. Of course the human characters will need equipment as well, I know there's female nude mods already with people dedicated on those, but I may try and make an equips system for sperm shooters that could also be used for male humans temporarily, until proper male nude mods come along with support for max blood flow.

 

Sex Framework : This is a big one, and something I am considering entering into the field with. It's a large ask and a massive task, but if I worked on this it would be the sole focus of my modding efforts for Palworld. It's important to note that I am not the type to 'just' work on getting some functional sexy going, instead I would also look to integrate it into the base game in a way that makes sense and create systems that would further extend gameplay in meaningful ways. So this would most likely extend beyond just a framework and also stretch into progression and gameplay aspects while allowing others to add and modify the system as they please. Some simple ideas right off the bat, integrating the sex framework into both its own XP progression system as well as the main game's XP system, create unique perks for pals that could have 'sexy' implications, additional modes or features that allow sexual interactions outside the normal breeding barn, and so on. This does cause some minor issues however, as there are other groups working on this currently and it risks throwing me into this rather stupid drama, but at least I wouldn't have to engage with it.

Progression/System/Gameplay Mods : This is where a large bulk of my experience would come into play. I have a long history of analyzing and attempting to improve gameplay flow through various mods, cheats, and modes. Even if I didn't make a framework, as long as the other groups get their act together I could still work on integrating what I'm fairly certain they wouldn't. This could be fairly basic, like combat submission, feral/anthro support, sex progression, AI knowledge and usage, ect ect. Since a framework doesn't exist this would currently be impossible, hence my efforts to look into a framework, but it is something to consider.

 

Environment/Graphical mods : Now I could just work on non-adult related mods, or maybe work on 'adultify-ing' the environment and visuals. This personally isn't as exciting as the other proposed options, but it is something I don't currently see being worked on much. It's an open well of possibilities, though without an adult framework in-place this stuff could be difficult if that was the direction I chose.

 

Just give up and go home : This is also an option, even if it is the most boring one. I know groups only doing this for money would prefer less 'competition' but it's not exactly the option I'm most keen on personally.

 

Any thoughts on this, or maybe other suggestions? Please let me know! Remember, this thread is about gauging interest and trying to find a direction should I choose to 'enter the race' so any comment is helpful!

 

-- -- --

 

Teamwork and "what is there to gain?"

 

Other groups looking to make complex mods quickly gave into hype and built teams of people without much of a plan and this is the sort of thing that inevitably leads to drama. Hence why I'm taking this approach, to build a plan, figure out what would be needed to execute said plan, then try my best to fulfil the plan. Me entering here alone doesn't mean I'm against working with others, in-fact I'd love for people to join whatever project we get going, but I want to make sure that I am the main developer or guiding factor to ensure things stay on track with a set goal in mind. Consider me the Lead, so to speak, not in a controlling way but to ensure that things don't derail and dissolve into drama. If you find my proposal interesting and would like to contact me about it, I'm always open and will link discord at the end of this write-up where I'm the easiest to reach.

 

For what I gain out of this? At the moment, nothing. In-fact I'm risking being pulled into nonsense while doing this, but long term I think having experience in modding Palworld would be helpful and it could help garner more support for my various projects. My hope is that I could create an interesting starting point for modding palworld and make a positive impact overall, while also preventing the entire NSFW modding community from devolving into paywalls and scams like it currently is headed toward. There's also the financial aspect, I won't lie and say I don't hope to get donations should I start working on something big that people want, but it's also not the core motivation here, just a necessity for a large project to get the time it deserves from a solo developer. My mods all operate at a loss which is fully expected, and I have no different expectations for Palworld modding.

 

Ultimately though, my main hope to gain is to help build a kind and friendly environment and community similar to my efforts with Succubus Heart. While a couple bad eggs show up from time to time, the experience working on that mod has been rather great as we have people constantly making great suggestions, people are not afraid to make bug reports and contact me directly with issues, and I've always been open to feedback and criticism which means interactions have been very positive (and when it's not, I usually get an apology by the end of it, which is always nice).

 

-- --- --

 

So cheer! This is my proposal.

 

It's a long drawn out write-up with no affirmative action, but at least it shows I've actually put thought into what paths there are to take. Now I'd really like to hear people's thoughts and ideas, what would you like to see modders working on, what gaps are you afraid won't get filled, what direction do you think Palworld mods should go? I'm open to all feedback and hope we can have a fun and civil discussion here without any of the drama the other groups have created. Let's try and make Palworld something we all enjoy, and something we will enjoy for years to come!

 

-- -- --

 

Now that the walls of text have been placed, if you've read up through all this then I'll leave my links here. Our Discord is public and open, you do not need an account to view the server but you will need to be verified for a short period before you can enter anything into chat (through discord verification process, just need to validate e-mail by following a link they send you).

 

Our Discord community and where I post regular updates. If you plan to speak to me directly or have something urgent this is the best way to contact me either publicly or privately. I still check forums regularly but sometimes things get busy and I won't always see stuff quickly unless it's through direct communication like Discord.
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Edited February 5, 2024 by Spirit_Shard
Updated Title

[abuka]

For me, I really just want to see an animation and interaction based mod. The pals by default are attractive enough and making unique models for them seems like a waste of time if there's no actual sexual interactions to be had. So far my hopes are for something as simple as semi modular sex interactions very similar to how the "pet" action works in game.

[Thermite Dragon]

I can offer (im)moral support.

 

I would love to see a sex framework akin to Sexlab created for Palworld. There's so much potential here for freaks of all walks of life. >.>

[sasquach18]

Agree that animation and framework should probably be the priority (after the basic nude mods anyway). Start basic and expand once interest in lewd palworld mods is more established. There are plenty of pals that are bangable by default and those would make a nice jumping off point for any animation based mods.

[Obligitury]

a question for the non-consensual part of the topic, what will you do with loveander? since its dex states looking for love with pals and recently humans, it has a raid event where it invades a players base and attacks everything. how do you convert something like that into a consensual encounter? or are you willing to give them a non-con encounter since they are violent?

[storky17]

Ive been wanting to get into modding for a while but i always end up not doing so due to lack of knowledge on all required fields, however pal world is likely to break that first time for me. its got the feeling older games do, like fun for funs sake and not a SYNERGISTIC CLINET ORANTATED INITAITIVES feel to it. If a big man can learn to run and get better and a team of 10 devs throw together a game like this, then i have no reason to not give it a shot.


i am not promising anything but i have always enjoyed outfit design and will be likely my first jumping point.

Catch you on the Flip side my guy.

[storky17]

23 minutes ago, Obligitury said:

a question for the non-consensual part of the topic, what will you do with loveander? since its dex states looking for love with pals and recently humans, it has a raid event where it invades a players base and attacks everything. how do you convert something like that into a consensual encounter? or are you willing to give them a non-con encounter since they are violent?

potions of love or more likely a heated state, give them a small debuff and an option to get rid of it or just run away.... i would assume at least.

 

[Fuggamann]

Seems pretty well thought out unlike most of the other Palworld mods currently in dev. Adding my +1 for interest, especially if you intend to try and remain on-model. 

[cptkorea]

I'd like to see a (hopefully) simple start, replacing most of the human enemies with female models and assigning them as female to allow them to be added to the breeding farm with a male pal.  Don't need animations right away, but would of course welcome them if they come later.

[Spirit_Shard]

Both before and after I made this post I've been reading through tons of different threads about modding Palworld, both here and elsewhere, and it seems like the general consensus is that we need a framework to start with that other mods can build upon, so currently this is where I'm leaning. I'm not sure if other groups have already started this work or intend to actually follow through, but I'll do some investigating this week and try to get a general idea and feel for things. It's clear Palworld is going to need some modders that have their head on straight, so I'm committing to at least trying something. Whether we get the 'main' framework or just end up being the guinea pigs can't be predicted, but if nothing else I'll try and regularly post my findings when available/applicable. I'll most likely include small tidbits in my weekly update posts as that would be the easiest place for me, but will try and consolidate useful information either in this thread or whatever thread I make for whatever the project ends up being called when it 'officially' starts.

 

8 hours ago, abuka said:

...I really just want to see an animation and interaction based mod. The pals by default are attractive enough...

5 hours ago, Thermite Dragon said:

...would love to see a sex framework akin to Sexlab created for Palworld...

3 hours ago, sasquach18 said:

Agree that animation and framework should probably be the priority ... There are plenty of pals that are bangable by default and those would make a nice jumping off point for any animation based mods.

As a Skyrim modder, I would most certainly take some inspiration from mods like SexLab. For testing purposes, what Pal would be best to start with? Lovander is the obviously easy choice given they are anthro with a humanoid form (plus a fan favorite it seems), making the animations and concepts easier, but I'm curious on people's thoughts. I was just going to try an easy to find pal near the starting location for ease of access but if I need to make custom 'equipment' having a recommendation would be nice.

 

1 hour ago, Obligitury said:

a question for the non-consensual part of the topic, what will you do with loveander? since its dex states looking for love with pals and recently humans, it has a raid event where it invades a players base and attacks everything. how do you convert something like that into a consensual encounter? or are you willing to give them a non-con encounter since they are violent?

I probably need to clarify a bit more, I'm not against non-consensual stuff, I just prefer to try and make it less, uh, obvious? And when I say I don't like the violence, I mean like physical assault, blood, that sort of thing. On-topic though, for this it would probably just stay as is, assuming some sort of love event would happen maybe it would cause a mist or something that causes 'Heat', in whatever form that comes in, to sky-rocket. Could also transform it into a love event rather than a full on raid, where instead of attacking they just literally lust on everything. Either way though, these types of plans are a bit far out compared to where we currently are, so I can only speculate on what we 'would' do, those are just some quick ideas. I think another appealing concept would be for someone (or maybe the framework itself) to create a mod for combat submission similar to Skyrim's many defeat mods, which could also flesh out this event.

 

1 hour ago, storky17 said:

potions of love or more likely a heated state, give them a small debuff and an option to get rid of it or just run away.... i would assume at least.

Valid suggestions, similar to my heat mist idea. If/when we get that far we'll probably have a ton of different ideas on how to handle it with some just being non-subverted in any way. lol
 

1 hour ago, storky17 said:

Ive been wanting to get into modding for a while but i always end up not doing so due to lack of knowledge on all required fields, however pal world is likely to break that first time for me...

Would be awesome to see you join the world of modding, best of luck with whatever projects you start! =^-^=

 

1 hour ago, Fuggamann said:

Seems pretty well thought out unlike most of the other Palworld mods currently in dev. Adding my +1 for interest, especially if you intend to try and remain on-model. 

Thank you for the interest and, I guess compliment? ^-^ I had to put a lot of thought into this from the get-go just to figure out if I even would care enough to try and mod it myself. I mention Starfield in my post and that's a great example, instead of just jumping on it immediately I stepped back, thought about "how would, or even could I, add something meaningful, would the project I start be fulfilling and have purpose?" Ultimately, no, it didn't, but Palworld is different in that regard, and hopefully it all works out! ^-^
 

6 minutes ago, cptkorea said:

I'd like to see a (hopefully) simple start, replacing most of the human enemies with female models and assigning them as female to allow them to be added to the breeding farm with a male pal...

Interesting idea to start, wonder if you could achieve this through simple spawn and stat alterations like others have done with Pals. There doesn't seem to be many female human characters set up as enemies at the moment and I wonder if that will change as the Devs update the game. I'll make sure to have this one written down as I investigate the available scripts and character stats, if nothing else it could be a useful practice to test various things.

 

-- -- --

 

Thank you all for the feedback and interest, still taking ideas and such and will try and share any insight I have. =^-^=

[Thermite Dragon]

2 minutes ago, Spirit_Shard said:

It's clear Palworld is going to need some modders that have their head on straight,

 

Dude, we're talking porn mods for a pokemon knock off... I think that ship has sailed... and sunk.

 

.. but more seriously, sounds like you have a pretty solid plan.  

[cptkorea]

15 minutes ago, Spirit_Shard said:

Interesting idea to start, wonder if you could achieve this through simple spawn and stat alterations like others have done with Pals. There doesn't seem to be many female human characters set up as enemies at the moment and I wonder if that will change as the Devs update the game. I'll make sure to have this one written down as I investigate the available scripts and character stats, if nothing else it could be a useful practice to test various things.

If you do work on human female enemies, I think it would be nice if they could use the player female model and thusly be affected by whatever future body mods become available.  And possibly randomize between the feminine head/hair parts for each spawn, or at least a different selection for each unique human enemy type.

 

And then perhaps a companion ability that we can use to toggle between clothing on/off states for captured human NPCs.

 

Assuming that's all possible, of course.

Edited January 30, 2024 by cptkorea

[Mhiggins]

15 minutes ago, Spirit_Shard said:

but I'm curious on people's thoughts

 

Nice to see a LL modder with some proven experience under their belt stepping up. For your first pals for testing, Lovelander is a good pick for anthro and I'd recommend a quadruped as well so you've got full coverage, probs Foxsparks since it would be the easiest in the starting area to model. That way you've got both basic body types to experiment with. 

 

Quote

I probably need to clarify a bit more, I'm not against non-consensual stuff, I just prefer to try and make it less, uh, obvious? 

 

I wouldn't worry about implementing non-con at the start anyway. If you make a framework, with the ability to use modified models and custom animations (perhaps with a tag system like Skyrim), then some sort of Defeat/'Lovelander drops a drug you coat a crossbow bolt with' mod will quickly follow. Once you're able to get the basics going, and as long as the mod stays on LL, you'll get plenty of people on the forum poking their heads up to chip in. Keep your scope simple and sighted in, and avoid the temptation to meet all of the suggestions people put in right out the gate. 

 

 

[jamnkick]

Tentatively following this thread, but don't want to get burned so not getting my hopes up. I'm highly likely going to be in the minority for the mods and want to ask a question relating to that, if you don't mind. Been asking the same in the other mod PW threads; would your mod concentrate on modding only female Pals/PCs, or would male Pals/PCs be included as well? I personally would prefer males to also be included in the framework, so I want to make sure what the scope is.

[RagingGInger]

Honestly, just go for the animations first. I wouldn't get bogged down with trying to make new models for every pal and there is already a team doing something like that. If you tackle the animations, just like 1 per pal or pal body type, you will go a long way in getting things done as other teams will take that work and run with it in terms of model adjustments. Don't be too ambitious, just do things that seem simple and if some of the pals don't make sense as to how it could work, skip them. Revisit all other aspects once this 1st pass would go through.

[HellCharmer]

(Going off the title)

 

1. Custom skeleton for nude models and sex animations (most likely for humans only)

 

2. Pregnancy (with scalable duration and body morphing)

 

3. A relationship system that can start platonic and evolve into love, possibly marriage (sex acts gradually unlocked upon progression)

 

4. No slavery mod is needed, all things considered, so an expansion onto what you can do upon capturing them. (house maid outfits?)

 

5. Count the bosses as separate models/entities from their pals upon capture (Zoe beware, hahaha)

 

6. There's a mind control serum in the game, so you can expand upon that. (I found one at the Desert Settlement shopkeeper)

 

7. Since you can sell people, maybe a sex trade? (Depends on your ethics on that)

 

8. Cum overlays (cum, squirting, cherry popping, etc.)

 

9. Nude models

 

10. Change the Pals in cages to people you can free them to gain them?

 

11. Raiseable children (Pregnancy mod expansion) 

 

12. Female gang members

 

13. Lactation mod for female pals and humans to gain milk

 

14. Bondage?

 

15. Sex toys

 

16. Combat sex 

 

17. Compatibility with other mods

 

(Edit: I found this on Rule34. It looks like someone is doing a nude mod already.)

 

 

 

 

It doesn't give a name though.

Edited January 31, 2024 by HellCharmer

[izyaboi-skinnypeen]

If you managed to get the framework up and working, it would make way for so many more modders. I vote sex framework.

[westarcher]

It's a pipedream right now but a framework with all the tagging and what not so people can just make whatever animations they want and tag them. 

Then this dumb fight about feral vs anthro, non-con vs con can all go away and people can just drop in the content/animations that they want. 

Skyrim was a bit unique in that sense but it was a good system that allowed people to add and enable/disable what they wanted. 

[Spirit_Shard]

Just wanted to come in here with a minor announcement and update, I 'think' I've decided on what direction I'm going and have started work on it already. After looking at all the comments in various places (including this thread of course) it really does seem like working on a Sex and Stats Framework is the right project to work on, so that's what I'll be doing! Currently calling it "Project Sour Cake" with the goal of building a modular sex and stats management framework as well as a gameplay module that uses the framework to function. If everything planned proves possible, then the framework itself will be a manager for modules to then add onto it, so think something like SexLab where it will manage animations, tags, AI, ect but doesn't trigger anything alone, this should mean anyone could add in their own content into the framework should they choose to do so. The gameplay module will act as one of these additional mods, adding in basic functionality and requested features should there be time to do so (One such example would be a simple "interact for sex" style mod, or a combat submit mod, just with basic functionality to ensure there's 'something' to use with the framework and we cover some desires by default. Also will give me something more gameplay oriented to work on to prevent burn-out).

I'm currently working on sorting out requirements and research to create a dedicated thread to the project, though I am not exactly sure how long it will take since I keep seeing and thinking of new requirements or clarifications. I did, however, want to leave some information here that could be helpful/interesting to people.

Also, before we get too deep into this post, just wanted to say Thank You for the support people have shown for the project! Hopefully we can make something great! (It's going to be tough though >.<)

 

-- -- --

Information / Research :
 

Note : All this information is changing by the day, some of this could be out of date or inaccurate by the time you're reading it. Consider this just a quick snap-shot of the current state of things at the time it's been posted.

 

Information Sources :

Currently information is scattered between a large number of places, and even worse it's often buried deep in random Discords and threads. We're starting to see 'some' collection of information in gathering places like the Palworld modding discord, but given their restrictions there's still a lot of info that's hard to find or discuss. I did want to post some direct sources however, for those that may want to start modding and where I am getting some of my information.

 

Palworld Modding Kit - https://github.com/localcc/PalworldModdingKit

This is a modding kit made/distributed by localcc (not associated with PocketPair) that acts as a preset and grabs all the system functions from the game for use in blueprint/lua mods. This simplifies the workflow a LOT but it's still a bit complicated to set up. (Set-up guide was listed in the modding kit readme at first, but was moved to the wiki site here - https://pwmodding.wiki/docs/category/palworld-modding-kit )

 

Palworld Modding Wiki / Docs - https://pwmodding.wiki/docs/intro
I believe this is set up by the modding Discord and is not associated by PocketPair. Currently it's a bit bare but will hopefully fill up with useful information as time goes on. There is currently a few useful guides and links to useful tools/resources for modding ( https://pwmodding.wiki/docs/useful-tools/Home ).

FModel (UE4/5 reverse engineering and asset extraction/injection tool) - https://github.com/4sval/FModel

This is also linked in the useful tools section of the wiki mentioned (as well as a necessary mapping file https://github.com/PalworldModding/UsefulFiles/releases/tag/FModel-Mappings ) but to give a bit more context... This tool allows you to look into UE4/5 pak files and see exactly what's inside as well as extract or inject various assets. If you want to extract actual assets to modify, this is the tool you need and is effectively a requirement at the moment (which will hopefully change if/when official mod tools are out). We most likely won't need injection at all since we can create pak files as mods and overwrite assets, but preferably we'd avoid this with scripts/function files so things don't break between updates.

UE4SS (Script/Mod Loader) - https://github.com/UE4SS/RE-UE4SS

This is currently required to loading script and blueprint mods, though I don't know a whole lot about it currently. Certain versions may be required and will hopefully be linked in mod downloads but compatibility may change as Palworld gets updates. Hopefully this requirement won't be required if/when official mod tools are made available. (Current working version according to users on the modding discord - https://github.com/UE4SS-RE/RE-UE4SS/releases/download/experimental/zDEV-UE4SS_v2.5.2-590-g013ff54.zip )

 

 

What's already being worked on :
I saw some requests that already have projects, and saw some other things people were working on and thought I'd leave some notes here (though I'm too busy at the moment to get links directly, sorry! >.<)

 

Note : There is most likely a lot of non-public mods and systems being worked on in the background that we haven't seen yet and it's very likely we will have overlapping mods frequently until some standards start to form. Also, many mods currently available are being put behind paywalls, so as a friendly reminder, wait patiently for the modding scene to start solidifying before dedicating a large amount of funds toward any creator (myself included!). We don't know what will or won't be around even 3 days from now, and there are plenty of scams/grifters right now, so be careful!

 

Nude Mods / Outfits : There's another thread here on Lover's Lab that covers the topic of Nude Mods and there's been some pretty good progress elsewhere as well. For human characters, the Palworld modding discord is going nuts with this right now and has some very promising progress. Unfortunately the modding discord is very much against lewding the Pals in any way, and they seem to get over arguments over it frequently so that may hamper some progress on Pals for a bit. There are other projects going on to get lewd mods for pals going at the moment, which is good, but I'm concerned that pal lewd mods are going to very quickly become segmented and confusing...

Animation / Animation Frameworks : I've seen 2 people claiming to be working on an animation framework, both showing different progress. I don't think either of these projects are focused on a 'sex' framework, but I guess we'll see. I am hoping if their work is successful we can either A) Collaborate and use that framework with the sex framework, or B) Use their frameworks as examples to make a compatible version of our own. Neither seems to have anything released yet and it's not clear what they mean by framework, one sounded like a workflow and the other sounds like a framework for adding additional animations.

 

Sex Framework : Obviously I'm taking up this mantel, but there are 2 projects here on Lover's Lab that claim to be working on a framework on some level but one seems like a complete wash and is shady as all hell, and the other is begging for money and plays the white knight card whenever they can sooo.... yeah. I don't think either have the intention of making an 'open' framework to play nice, that's where I come in. As stated before, I don't know if the animation framework peoples have the intention of supporting sex or not either, only time will tell I suppose.

 

Gameplay Mods : Most gameplay mods seem to be just editing parameters and that's really about it. There's a lot we don't understand about the game's systems and we may have to wait till official mod tools to really see this aspect take off. If you're interested in cheats or minor QoL then there's a lot of choices though!

 

Lewd Graphics (environment) : Haven't seen any, seems everyone is trying to make their own nude mods first. If you're a creator and want something unique this could be a good starting point.

 

Unfortunately mods are scattered everywhere, here (lover's lab) in threads, nexus mods, random discord channels, reddit posts, behind patreon paywalls, other forums and mod hosts, ect. I think for now it's best not to try and hunt down every single mod, just stick to the sources you like and wait for things to settle down and eventually the public mods will be easily accessible.

 

Systems Research :

This could get long and in-depth rather quickly, so just going to do a bullet-point style list for this one.

Model / Texture Swapping - Relatively easy but requires Blender knowledge. Will most likely make up the vast majority of mods.

Model / Skeleton Replacements - Possible with some work. Currently extra bones and weights don't play well with default animations. Needs more research.

Model Addons / Node Attachment - Possible but complicated, needs a lot more research.

Unique Model / Texture Swapping mid-game - Seen no research on this but should be possible. I will be personally researching this after I get some basics down.

Editing Animations - Extracting existing animations is technically possible but without source knowledge putting them back together isn't well understood- needs more research.

Adding/Replacing Animations - Possible but limited, needs AI mods to truly be usable. Will be researching this.

Adding/Modifying Sound - Possible, seen mods with replaced sounds but didn't see any research on adding new sounds. Will need to investigate this more.

Modifying Stats/Items - Possible but not every variable has been found yet. I will be researching this.

Adding/Replacing Stats/Traits/Items - Seen no research on this yet, currently traits don't seem to be understood and no one seems to know how they are applied yet. I will be researching this as it will most likely be critical to a fully featured sex framework.

Adding Unique / Non-Existing Items / Pals : Possible by the dev's own admission, but I've seen no mods or research on this yet. Most likely will be easiest if/when official mod tools become available.

AI Modification : Possible? We've seen some people try and modify the AI but I don't know 'how' they did it and could have just been playing with variables. I'll try and research this but may need to wait for official tools. (I currently plan to hijack existing AI for features early on, like the pet functionality)

Reference Objects/Actors : Possible but complicated, needs optimization research.

Save Modification : Possible and quite easy, both externally and internally via scripts.

Adding To Save Data (custom persistent variables) : Surprisingly, I didn't see any research on this. I assume it's possible but with a somewhat large caveat, and that is compatibility in multiplayer. For single player I assume we can just extend the save file and the additional variables can be loaded, but the server code seems to hard-code a lot of data from my short time browsing which could cause some issues in the future. Lacks proper research.

 

In short, there are 3 major hurdles for a Sex Framework, AI Modification, Adding Unique Stat/Traits, and Adding additional unique animations. Without these 3 things going a proper Sex Framework won't be possible, so this is where my research will probably start (I'll have more information in the project thread when the write-up is ready). I currently believe that Palworld is more than flexible enough for a proper sex framework but the method itself may be complicated and some custom systems will most likely need to be built. Thankfully, since we have access to blueprints, we can do a LOT so we can build those systems should the need arise, but it will be a challenge to integrate with the rest of the game in an open and compatible manner. That's where the challenge comes into play.

 

Additionally it will take a lot of asset creation from various modders to get nudity/lewdity and animations functioning properly with enough variety to truly make Palworld completely sex framework compatible. This is where some of my concerns lie. Currently the community is split into several camps that all want Pals to become different things and want to prioritize different aspects. This isn't a problem on the surface, but I fear some groups may start to become hostile toward other projects, especially since a lot of the larger projects are taking in money and seem to see other modders as competition instead of collaborators. This will no doubt become it's own hurdle, so I want to make a quick statement before continuing on with the project about where I currently am focused. I will first focus on providing compatibility with whatever derives closest to the game's default state, all other compatibility will become low-priority until that default state works properly. Additionally I will only work on compatibility with freely available mods and versions, paywalled content will not be supported officially. This is the only way to work around these issues while providing enough focus to make reasonable progress.

 

Anyways, that was a lot to write up (even more than I expected, sorry >.<) so I'll leave it there for now. Hopefully this information provides some insight into what is currently happening, where my theories/plans are coming from, and what steps need to be taken for the project to succeed.

If you have any additional questions, feel free to respond here (or in the project thread when it's up) or over on our Discord - The Broken Chatbox - https://discord.com/invite/h3vB7S4FEw . I'm relatively easy to contact, so don't be a stranger! Additionally would love to hear from you if you're working on a nude/lewd model mod and/or animations and would like to help out or provide information/resources! =^-^=

-- -- --

 

Replies ^-^

 

On 1/29/2024 at 10:57 PM, Thermite Dragon said:

Dude, we're talking porn mods for a pokemon knock off... I think that ship has sailed... and sunk...

Yeah, fair. lol

 

On 1/29/2024 at 11:09 PM, cptkorea said:

If you do work on human female enemies, I think it would be nice if they could use the player female model and thusly be affected by whatever future body mods...

...perhaps a companion ability that we can use to toggle between clothing on/off states for captured human NPCs...

I think this requires more research into mid-game model swapping. I know you can currently model swap the NPCs, so you could just swap them for a player model, but I don't know if you can load slider presets as they are fixed models similar to Pals. If I or someone else can figure out that model swap functionality however, this would very much be possible and could even be implemented as part of my planned gender/alternates model feature (which I really REALLY hope is possible >.<).

 

On 1/29/2024 at 11:25 PM, Mhiggins said:

Nice to see a LL modder with some proven experience under their belt stepping up. For your first pals for testing, Lovelander is a good pick for anthro and I'd recommend a quadruped as well so you've got full coverage, probs Foxsparks since it would be the easiest in the starting area to model...

...I wouldn't worry about implementing non-con at the start anyway... ...as long as the mod stays on LL, you'll get plenty of people on the forum poking their heads up to chip in. Keep your scope simple and sighted in, and avoid the temptation to meet all of the suggestions people put in right out the gate.

Always a compliment to be told I have proven experience, sometimes when I struggle with stuff I still feel like a small script kiddie (which I'm sure is common among programmers lol). Thank you for the compliment, even if it wasn't meant as one! ^-^
I think your recommendation is spot on, Foxsparks and lovander are on my list but I'm also adding cattiva to the list as a 'small anthro' pal to test. Of course whatever I 'actually' test with will most likely be whatever animations get made first if someone else beats me to it or agrees to help. Otherwise I'll make my own custom animation for these 3 and use that as a base. When investigating I found many animations could be shared between pals of the same shape but will require some modifications depending on size or structure, this means we could find 'categories' for pals and create a workflow to follow. (would make filling out all animations a lot easier)

Heard, it's easy to get carried way with ideas (have you seen the TODO for Succubus Heart by chance? >.<) but I also have been learning how to prioritize and organize projects better over the years. It's unfortunate that I won't be able to fill 'every' suggestion, but hopefully other modders take a gander at suggestions and help fill the gaps! And yes, I would hope to keep this mod available on Lover's Lab, this community is generally really awesome and I'd love to provide more here, but the mod will also be available elsewhere as part of my 3-sources model.
 

On 1/30/2024 at 12:20 AM, jamnkick said:

Tentatively following this thread, but don't want to get burned so not getting my hopes up... ...would your mod concentrate on modding only female Pals/PCs, or would male Pals/PCs be included as well? I personally would prefer males to also be included in the framework, so I want to make sure what the scope is.

Actually appreciate the skepticism and lower hopes, none of us know what is going to happen even a day from now and I'd hate to see people get overly hyped for something that could end up impossible. (I'm going to try my freakin' best however, hoping it all works out ^-^)
Yes, as I've now honed in on working on a Sex Framework I will be trying my best to support any gender the player wished to fulfil (or be filled with ^.-). There will most likely be a bias toward a female player character / protag for development reasons which I'll outline in the project thread, but I do not plan on limiting support. It's clear some of the other projects had a clear vision of only one gender from the start, and I feel taking that approach would negatively impact the project.

 

On 1/30/2024 at 11:21 AM, RagingGInger said:

Honestly, just go for the animations first... ...other teams will take that work and run with it in terms of model adjustments. Don't be too ambitious, just do things that seem simple and if some of the pals don't make sense as to how it could work, skip them...

Heard ^-^ This is what I'm hoping as well, that others fill in the gaps I can't do to either time or experience. I know others are working on getting animations working in general, so I'll be focused on the 'sex' part of the equation and hope their work also helps our goal.

 

On 1/30/2024 at 5:24 PM, HellCharmer said:

...
1. Custom skeleton for nude models and sex animations (most likely for humans only)

2. Pregnancy (with scalable duration and body morphing)

3. A relationship system that can start platonic and evolve into love, possibly marriage (sex acts gradually unlocked upon progression)

6. There's a mind control serum in the game, so you can expand upon that. (I found one at the Desert Settlement shopkeeper)

7. Since you can sell people, maybe a sex trade? (Depends on your ethics on that)

8. Cum overlays (cum, squirting, cherry popping, etc.)

11. Raiseable children (Pregnancy mod expansion) 

13. Lactation mod for female pals and humans to gain milk

15. Sex toys

16. Combat sex 

17. Compatibility with other mods

 

...looks like someone is doing a nude mod already...

Quick note, if you hadn't noticed there is already a thread for Nude Mods and there are several links to working nude mods there, go check it out! - https://www.loverslab.com/topic/224843-pal-world-nude-mods/

 

For the sake of brevity, I'll only respond to what applies to my current plans (many of these are already being worked on ^-^)

1: Will be required for proper Sex Framework support, still needs research
2: Not sure if this is possible till we learn more about traits and custom stats, but pregnancy is planned as part of the Sex Framework's Gameplay Module for after we get the base working. Morphing may need to be a module.

3: Possible but would require custom Trait/Stat research or its own custom system. No immediate plans to add this to the Sex Framework, but noted as a possible future feature.
6: Didn't know this, I've noted it for research (no idea what it does or how it works). Thank you for the heads up! ^-^

7: I think the game would kinda already do this with Pal Traders and Black Markets, maybe someone could mod in wording or make another module/mod for a more immersive experience.

8: Cum overlays are planned as part of the framework but would require mid-game swapping research. Not actually sure if this is currently possible yet as I don't know if the game has a dynamic decal system that applies to pals/humans/npcs.

11: Probably a plan for an additional module.

13: Noted, but not currently part of the plan for the Sex Framework. (could be a module in the future?)

15: Hmm... solo animations was somehow something I didn't think about until now, and that makes me feel SUPER silly. X.x (probably possible, would require node model placement research)

16: Planned as a potential feature for the Gameplay Module.

17: Planned as long as the mod is freely available, stated above. ^-^

 

On 1/30/2024 at 10:02 PM, cfool100 said:

If you managed to get the framework up and working, it would make way for so many more modders. I vote sex framework.

Your vote was toward the winning majority! Congrads! =^-^=

 

On 1/30/2024 at 10:26 PM, westarcher said:

It's a pipedream right now but a framework with all the tagging and what not so people can just make whatever animations they want and tag them. 

Then this dumb fight about feral vs anthro, non-con vs con can all go away and people can just drop in the content/animations that they want...

This is currently the plan, though I do have concerns about how people will treat this openness. Hopefully people are open to support a framework that allows something they don't like...

Ok, that was a lot of typing, I'm going to take a break and then get back to research!

EDIT : Forgot to add UE4SS link and note about Sound research.

Edited February 1, 2024 by Spirit_Shard

[Mhiggins]

1 hour ago, Spirit_Shard said:

I think your recommendation is spot on, Foxsparks and lovander are on my list but I'm also adding cattiva to the list as a 'small anthro' pal to test.

 

Yeah splitting them into 'body types' to start off is a good move, the other likely popular one will be the 'floating' pal  that you see in Daedream, Dazzi, etc. Also don't know if you managed to catch this comment where a user was showing off a modified movement animation for Cativa: 

 

They might be a useful source of information for your research. 

[BunnyLove05]

Considering the Action menu and Mounting system is already in place, I'm sure it would easier to work those in.

[Nyankomaru]

On 1/31/2024 at 10:59 PM, Spirit_Shard said:

Snip

Just a note on that list you responded to: #6 isn't a mind control drug, it's a mind WIPE drug. So it's a 'knock you out and make you forget' thing. It's used to reset your stats if you want to respec. Comes from Lovander, 'cause roofie.

[cptkorea]

1 hour ago, Nyankomaru said:

Just a note on that list you responded to: #6 isn't a mind control drug, it's a mind WIPE drug. So it's a 'knock you out and make you forget' thing. It's used to reset your stats if you want to respec. Comes from Lovander, 'cause roofie.

No, there is a separate mind control drug that is different than the memory wipe medicine.  It's called "Mind Control Meds" and is used for rebellious pals that don't want to work anymore.

[cptkorea]

[Spirit_Shard]

About to post a proper thread for the selected direction, Project Sour Cake! 

Project Thread Link - https://www.loverslab.com/topic/225549-project-sour-cake-sex-and-stat-framework-gameplay-mod/

 

On 2/1/2024 at 12:14 AM, Mhiggins said:

 

Yeah splitting them into 'body types' to start off is a good move, the other likely popular one will be the 'floating' pal  that you see in Daedream, Dazzi, etc...
...
They might be a useful source of information for your research. 

Noted! I'll probably do Daedream as Dazzi has been a bit controversial in some other threads and I'd rather steer clear of that for now... There's a surprising number of forms available and it looks like a full list of animations is going to be rather difficult. Hope we can get some animators working on that stuff sooner rather than later.

I did reach out and speak with them! (well, more accurately I tried to reach out to them but was somehow missed, then they reached out to me! lol) They were able to give me some small bits of info and help answer a couple questions that helped speed up further research. They are currently working on their own animation framework but don't seem to be interested in collaborating, but I'm not sure. (we'll see how it goes)
 

16 hours ago, BunnyLove05 said:

Considering the Action menu and Mounting system is already in place, I'm sure it would easier to work those in.

We can actually create our own interactive hud elements, I've already run some prototype tests for it! ^-^ (integrating it into those menus is actually more difficult than just making our own, which is kind of silly. Adding to base game assets at the moment isn't well understood, and persistence is currently a bit issue)

 

2 hours ago, cptkorea said:

Thank you for pointing it out, I still haven't researched it yet but I know it plays into the game's 'actions' system, which acts as a state manager for Pals/NPCs. If we can figure out how to reverse engineer scripts it would be interesting to see what these items are actually doing on the back-end.

Edited February 3, 2024 by Spirit_Shard