Community Update 5: native saves, official mods and multi-quest support

Evidence collected 2026-10-27 from the installed Steam game, version 1.5.0.31459, Steam build 26092436, UE 5.4.4 changelist 1050002. Developer patch notes.

Mapping and save evidence

assets/Mappings.usmap was dumped from the running updated game using the existing UE4SS installation. Its source filename is AbioticFactor-5.4.4-1050002+++DF+ABF-01e0a584.usmap (1,792,668 bytes).

The game was launched with an isolated -UserDir under ignored artifacts. A new EditorUpdateTest world supplied the three fixtures in tests/fixtures/Update1_5. No existing player world was used for fixture writes. The player header still carries ABF_SAVE_VERSION 1; world and metadata headers now carry 4. Top-level SaveVersion 4 and native /Script/AbioticFactor struct types identify the native layout.

Native fields no longer have Blueprint hash suffixes. Some also changed names: SurvivalStats, RecipesUnlocked, CurrentXP, XPMultiplier, bCompletedIntro and bDead. Emails, journal entries, fish and compendium sections moved inside Compendium. Typed item, recipe, PhD and quest handles carry RowName without a DataTable member. Global recipe collections are sets. Empty native inventory handles use None.

The reader registers the owner of each native property list without changing the raw tree. Writers use that ownership to preserve legacy naming and create native fields when needed. Tests cover unchanged byte-exact player/world/metadata round trips, native inventory and appearance handles, nested codex edits, PhD, traits, money, recipe sets, tracking and a first carried pet with no dynamic-property template. These are serializer checks, not proof of every possible edited save reloading in-game. Placed native pet transfers and Game Pass saves from this update still need dedicated game-written fixtures.

Recipes and catalogs

Native fields and enums are read alongside legacy Blueprint fields. Equipment-slot names map back to the editor's established slot IDs; numeric native enum ordinals are not interchangeable with those IDs. Native liquid names also map to the established liquid choices. Skill perks now come from DT_SkillPerks.

NPC spawn points now select NPCSpawnTags from DT_NPCSpawns. The extractor resolves the current exact-tag entries to their first listed creature, preserving the existing representative thumbnail behavior. All ten bundles include 81 spawn mappings.

The base-game dump contains 1,624 items, 584 recipes, 585 appearance variants, 28 pet definitions, 137 distillations and 10 weapon coatings. The new item rows are Fog Peccary and Tie Bandana; ten Tie Bandana appearance rows are also present. All ten bundled registries are generated with mods disabled. Recipe ingredients use AnyItemRowHandle; skill grants use native skill identities. The current progression component's Server_CheckForFoundRecipeItems calls GetAllRecipeRowHandles and GetRecipeRow, checks NotUnlockableByPickup and RecipeItems, and uses the native main recipe table. Missing historical RecipeTable configuration is therefore not a reason to drop the pickup discovery routes. Workbench grants moved from RecipesToUnlockOnAccess name arrays to RecipeRowsToUnlockOnAccess typed handles. Reading that field restores the 11 otherwise missing bench-granted learning routes. Each of the 584 recipes again has at least one recorded learning route, including 186 explicit grants and two starting recipes. Full-color icons now retain their artwork instead of being treated as inverted masks; 147 bundled PNGs changed, including the two new items. This does not establish completeness of every alternate unlock method or item location.

Narrative NPC extraction filters export metadata before loading actors. Its names and placements are compared with a full-export baseline. Data tables are cached for the lifetime of a mounted provider, avoiding repeated table decoding for each pet option.

Official mod support

The editor discovers completed installations in mod.io game 13105's local cache, including configured storage roots and the Windows public cache. It reads the SDK's metadata/state.json, accepts installed State 1, and verifies paths remain within that game's storage directory. Partial downloads, another game's profiles and reparse paths are excluded. An IoStore archive needs its matching ucas file.

Installed does not mean enabled in every world. A mod.io mod the player has not chosen for in the editor follows the game's own EnabledMods list (AbioticGameUserSettings in Saved/Config/Windows|WinGDK/GameUserSettings.ini). An explicit editor choice wins (mods-official-enabled.txt / mods-disabled.txt). Selection uses stable mod.io IDs and affects editor catalogs only. It does not subscribe, install, update, enable or reorder mods in the game, or enforce multiplayer version agreement.

SDK states: 1 (installed) and 2 (update pending, old version still on disk) load. 0, 3 and 4 (pending, downloading, extracting) plus subscribed ids from the per-user user.jsonsubscriptions list are reported as still downloading; 5 (uninstall pending) is ignored. Without a state.json, numeric 13105/mods/<id> folders are used. Names fall back to the archive's .uplugin FriendlyName. Login tokens in user.json are never read.

Each world records its mods: AbioticWorldMetadataSave.LastUsedModIds (Int64 array in WorldSave_MetaData.sav, game load order). WorldSaveData.LastUsedModIds reads it and WorldModUsage compares it with installed/loaded mods. The desktop editor shows this per world and can switch on exactly that set.

Packaging (all mods checked): a mod.io Windows zip extracts to 13105/mods/<id>/ as <Plugin>.uplugin (Category UGC, CanContainContent) plus Content/Paks/Windows/<Plugin>AbioticFactor-Windows.pak/.utoc/.ucas. Content mounts at AbioticFactor/ModPlugins/<Plugin>/Content/ but refers to itself as /<Plugin>/.... The archives carry no .uplugin, so CUE4Parse cannot map that root. GameAssetProvider now registers every mounted ModPlugins/* and Plugins/** content root as a virtual path. Without it, mod item icons failed to extract and mod blueprint classes did not resolve.

The reader recognizes AbioticModDataTable and official AbioticModConfig assets. Native ModRowAsset rows use ModPrefix plus RowName for additions and the unchanged RowName when bOverrideExistingRow is true. The generated DataTables/<target>/ layout identifies the table; matching native row structs are required before applying rows. Item rows also populate the global item table. LoadAfter mod.io IDs order the overlays; cycles and their dependents are skipped rather than applied in arbitrary order. Generic DataOverrideMapping object replacements are not interpreted as row additions.

A public Windows archive for mod.io #6482657, New syringes, was inspected in ignored artifacts without installing it. Its NR69O prefix resolved 81 additional item rows and 81 recipe rows through the official row-asset path. This proves catalog extraction for that archive, not arbitrary Blueprint execution or all future mod packaging styles. Eight public Windows archives were then extracted into a scratch cache laid out like the SDK's (not the game's real cache), and mounted on Steam build 1.5.0.31459:

mod.io id	Mod	What the editor reads
6368513	Linked Deployables	12 bOverrideExistingRow item rows that swap DeployedItemClass to /LinkedBenchPowermFqPC/Deployables/*_Linked subclasses
6486047	Jotun LMG	new weapon item (NU8NS_jotun_lmg), salvage, FP/weapon animation rows
6485777	Paul's Goat Hoof	trinket item, recipe, buff
6334435	Robocart	craftable item, recipe, vehicle blueprint
6485758	Interdimensional Chemist	PhD trait, gloves item, buffs, job banner
6486490	Adnormal Traits	five traits plus buffs
6484772	Craftable PETN	one recipe
6379837	Additional cosmetic items	21 Customization*ModRowAsset rows (bLocalOnly)

Results: 4 new items, 3 recipes and 5 traits/PhDs merge; every mod item icon extracts. Linked Deployables' classes resolve with parents Deployed_CraftingBench_Default_C / Deployed_Freezer_C, inheriting RequiresPower, SupportsUpgrades, the storage tag query and PaintedDeployableRow. Its override rows carry 11 of the base row's 43 fields. The editor applies a full row replacement (DataTable row semantics), which only changes the catalog's EquipSlot for those benches. A mod class that extends a paintable base class and keeps a paint row now offers the paint picker. Base-game paintability is unchanged. The ABIOTIC_MODIO_ROOT-gated test Real_mod_io_mods_supply_items_pictures_and_placed_object_classes repeats these checks. No mod was installed into the game and no subscription changed. No world played with Linked Deployables was available, so its saved placement shape (any extra plug component in DeployedObjectMap) remains an open check.

SDK cache conventions were checked against the mod.io SDK source and Unreal plugin documentation.

Traders, companions, jobs and traits (2026-10-31)

Fifteen more public Windows archives were added to the same scratch cache (game build 1.5.0):

mod.io id	Mod	What it does to game data
6421993	Kizz Trader	new trader MGXP4_KizzMachine (shown name "IS-0053"), new stock row, 6 food items, 1 buff, conversation and class-manager rows
6472275	Dr Kemp Companion	new trader/companion NK932_DrKemp ("Dr Kemp"), stock, pager item and recipe, an EntityDirector class-manager row, its own Container_DrKemp backpack and follow AI
6488601	Gloop Trader	new trader NW61I_glooptrader ("PV2 Gloop"), radio item and recipe
6484711	Loaded Grayson	one bOverrideExistingRow row: replaces trader_grayson in DT_NPC_TraderItems
6483078	PhD/Job Overhaul	overrides 7 base DT_PhDs rows and their buffs (renames Trans-Kinematic Researcher to "Fluid Dynamics Specialist", reprices two), adds 17 items and a trait, replaces 2 base game files
6487749 / 6487498	Gatekeeper Starting Classes / Order Starting Ranks	5 / 10 new DT_PhDs rows (jobs) with buffs and job banners
6485981 / 6485758	Metallurgy Inspector / Interdimensional Chemist	one new job each, plus gloves
6485865, 6485893, 6486614, 6486490, 6490728, 6485724	trait mods	new DT_Traits rows with buffs

Findings:

• Trader rows carry NPCClass, NPCConversation (its NPCName is the shown name), stock row, flags and portrait. Mod traders are spawned at run time by their EntityDirector, so no level names them; the class is the only link from a saved actor back to the trader row.
• CDT_AllTraits is a cooked composite with its parents' rows baked in. Mod rows target the parents (DT_PhDs, DT_Traits), so overrides never reached the composite and the editor showed the base job name. The provider now applies a composite's parents' mod rows to it.
• Jobs were told from traits by an id prefix (Trait_); a mod prefix (NU0RB_Trait_IBS) broke that. Membership of DT_PhDs (mod rows included) now decides.
• Many mods keep the mod editor's placeholder plugin name (MyProject, MyProject_Test; two unrelated mods here share one). Without the SDK index's profile name the editor shows mod.io #<id> instead. UUGC_Metadata holds no name.
• Some archives carry other mods' AbioticModConfig assets and copies of base macro libraries; harmless for data, but counted as replaced game files.
• No world played with Dr Kemp was available, so the saved shape of a spawned mod companion (its NarrativeNPCMap key and the backpack container) is still to confirm.

Multi-quest GATEPal

DT_Quests and DT_QuestLines provide the objective graph, descriptions, world flags, priorities, subquests and parent quest lines. The new lines include Grayson, Kylie and Stewart's Lab. Multiple objectives can be active at once; completion wins over a start flag. Missing world evidence remains unknown. Tutorial objectives have no world flags and must not all be inferred active; their personal ServerQuest and CompletedIntro provide the limited character-side evidence.

The file editor's GATEPal includes a quest view with explicit completed/upcoming filters. Tracking stages a change to Compendium.TrackedQuestLine, a QuestLineRowHandle, and writes through the existing Save and backup workflow. It does not change ServerQuest or world story flags. Legacy saves can view progress but cannot write native tracking. This change does not add quest tracking to the live-editing protocol.

Live editing review (2026-10-28)

The live agent was checked against the 1.5 class layouts (LiveClassPropsProbe). Player progression (recipes, emails, journal, fish, compendium sections), vitals and the world-wide unlock lists still exist under the same names, so those live tabs are unchanged. The one confirmed break was the story indicator: the game state no longer has CurrentQuest or OnRep_CurrentQuest. It now has CurrentQuestline (a quest-line handle) and OnRep_CurrentQuestline; the game mode has ActiveQuestLine and GetStoryProgressionRow; each player controller has TrackedQuestLine and Request_ChangeTrackedQuestLine; the player state has ServerQuestLine. story.get now also reports the quest line, and the desktop app works the chapter out from the world flags. Chapter moves still go through world flags. Live quest-line tracking and a live objectives list were added afterwards (quests.get / quests.track, see the protocol reference). Both are covered by stub-harness and unit tests only: the tracking call takes a struct handle and its calling convention, and FindAllActiveQuests, have not been confirmed in a running game.

Pets

DT_Pets now has explicit PetNPC and PetItem handles. The new DT_PetMutations describes mutation sources, targets and food. Fog Peccary is present; its listed foods are raw Fog Fish filet, Phasing Tincture and Fog Slice Nigiri.

BuffActor_Tamed.Server_FedSuccessfully compares saved PetMutation minus one with the global mutation-row index and writes that index plus one. Fog Peccary is row index 16, so its native saved target is 17. Assign indices before filtering by source pet. Older saves retain their legacy family-list numbering and use a separate picker map. Native DynamicProperty arrays can be created with complete native types even when a fresh character has never carried a pet or coating before.

The patch's pet teleporting, hunger display, laser targeting and furniture fixes are game behavior changes. No extra save fields were invented to represent those fixes.

Reproduction

CommunityUpdateFiveProbe is opt-in via ABIOTIC_UPDATE_PROBE_DIR, with optional ABIOTIC_UPDATE_PROBE_SAVES, ABIOTIC_UPDATE_PROBE_MODS and ABIOTIC_UPDATE_PROBE_ASSETS. It writes read-only extraction evidence under the requested ignored artifact folder. Raw config extracts can contain the game's public integration key and must not be committed. Normal tests never run these research dumps.

Regenerate bundles with dump-registry --all-cultures --game-version 1.5.0.31459. Use -p:CUE4PARSE_SKIP_NATIVE=true for builds where the optional native decoder is absent.