# How to add new text messages thread to Cyberpunk 2077 ## Summary Created: Apr 17 2025 by Bill Last documented update: Apr 17 2025 by Bill This page will teach you how to create custom message threads for Cyberpunk 2077. ### General mod structure To keep the project modular, it is good to use the following structure that basically mimics game structure: * **mod** – root directory for mods * **MOD\_NAME** – folder in root directory that will store everything for the mod; * **images** – folder that will store assets related to the images; * **journal** – folder that will only store journal file; * **onscreens** - folder that will store text files; * **quest** - folder that will store anything related to quest progression (phases, scenes etc).

When it comes to the structure of the **quest** folder, I prefer to split it based on the rank of the quests, threads will be attached to: * **main** – in that folder questphases for the threads related to the main quests; * **minor** – in that folder questphases for the threads related to the minor quests (mostly fixer jobs, gigs or hidden mission like JinGuji); * **side** – in that folder questphases for the threads related to the side quests (for example Peralez’ questline, Judy questline, Panam questline etc); * **romance** – in that folder questphases for the threads related to the romance line with chosen character; * **phantom\_liberty** – in that folder questphases for the threads related to Phantom Liberty expansion;\ In the **quest** folder, there are already two questphases: * **addingnewmessages\_tutorial\_rootphase.questphase** – the main questphase of the mod that will be linked to the game via ArchiveXL. As can be seen, every subfolder already has one questphase that is root for new questphases related to chosen quests. ### Structure of the addingnewmessages\_tutorial\_rootphase.questphase

General structure of the **addingnewmessages_tutorial_rootphase.questphase**

#### Mod initialization and reset loop phase

It mainly consists of three nodes: 1. **\[1270] Pause condition** - waits for the player to be inside H10 apartment; 2. **\[1271] Pause condition** - waits for the player to be outside H10 apartment; 3. **\[1147] Pause condition** – waits for the certain custom Fact (it must be unique for every created mod) to be equal to 0; it will only launch if it was never installed before or if you reset the mod via CET; it prevents the game starting the mod every time you are in initialization area; 4. **\[2] Pause condition** – waits for the mod activation trigger which can be pretty much everything, i.e.: activation in certain area, activation by interaction with object – here it waits until V interacts with TV in H10 apartment; 5. **\[1137] Pause condition** – time based condition used only as security measure to avoid pausing the game mid character animation. #### Phantom Liberty section

Phantom Liberty section of the **addingnewmessages_tutorial_rootphase.questphase**

**\[1268] Condition** node - checks if Phantom Liberty is active for the player * **if yes** – it goes straight to the main phantom liberty messages phase (**\[995] Phase** node) * **if no** – it waits until expansion is installed (**\[1269] Pause condition** node) before accessing the main Phantom Liberty messages phase (**\[995] Phase** node) #### Activation confirmation section

Activation confirmation section of the **addingnewmessages_tutorial_rootphase.questphase**

Here user gets: * pop-up screen with the confirmation that the mod has been installed properly (**\[1152] UIManager** node); after accepting the popup **\[1148] FactsDBManager** node sets the fact responsible for blocking the mod from unwanted mod activation once again while watching TV, after that signal is sent back to **\[1271] Pause condition** node

In-game screenshot of the confirmation popup

* text messages with the confirmation that the mod has been installed properly (**\[9] Journal** and **\[10] Journal** nodes in Activation confirmation section of the a**ddingnewmessages\_tutorial\_rootphase.questphase**):

#### Main phases of the mod After some short delay (**\[1141] PauseCondtition** node) after receiving last message new main phases (marked on Figure \ref{phasestructure}) can be attached. ### Example phase with message thread (test.questphase)

* It is important that underlined socket names of the **\[1] Input** and **\[2] Output** nodes ***MUST BE*** the same as the phase in the main graph (see Main body section on the image above). * Nodes can be added in the graph view (right click on the free space and select from available selection) but must be edited in **questQuestPhaseResource** tab. * Connections between nodes can be removed by alt+left click on the socket (it will remove all of the connections) #### Example of condition section in questphase with messages thread

Example of condition section in questphase with messages thread

In this case game checks if "Life During Wartime" from (Ghost Town mission chain) have been completed: * If yes it waits 1 in-game hour (**\[7] PauseCondition** node) before next step; * If no it waits until player completes the mission (**\[5] PauseCondition** node), then waits 1 in-game hour (**\[6] PauseCondition** node) before next step; When it comes to activation triggers (**\[4] Condition** and **\[5] PauseCondition** nodes), they’re in most cases quest completion triggers and can be found in the main phase of given quest. #### Example of single clickable choice message

Example of single clickable choice messages

* **\[3] Journal** - points to the path in journal where the single message from NPC is stored; * **\[9] Journal** - points to the path in journal where the Choice group is stored - they can store multiple entries of choices; * **\[15] PauseCondtion** - waits until the message choice is made by player; #### Example of multiple clickable choices messages

* **\[16] Journal** - points to the path in journal where the single message from NPC is stored; * **\[10] Journal** - points to the path in journal where the Choice group is stored; * **\[11] PauseCondtion** - waits until the message choice is made by player; * **\[12] PauseCondtion** - waits until the message choice is made by player; * **\[13] Journal** - points to the path in journal where answer from NPC to **\[11] PauseCondtion** is stored; * **\[14] Journal** - points to the path in journal where answer from NPC to **\[12] PauseCondtion** is stored; ### Connection between questphase path and journal structure Real path – it is the path to the entry in **journal** file, i.e.:

Connection between questphase path and journal structure

* **secondaryKey** – links the entry from the onscreens to journal entry; it is the same for every language; * **realPath** – links the entry from the journal to quest node * **femaleVariant –** is default text variant for all subtitles, onscreen texts

Connection between journal structure and onscreens entry

### ArchiveXL file Structure of the ArchiveXL file: * **quest** - attatches main questphase of the mod to the base game: `base\quest\cyberpunk2077.quest` or standalone Phantom Liberty: `ep1\quest\cyberpunk2077_ep1_standalone.quest`; * **journal** - attatches custom journal to the game; * **localization** - attatches custom onscreen texts to the game; ***en-us*** - default languge - if it is the only one set the game will use this text file for every language version. ```yaml quest: phases: - path: mod\addingnewmessages_tutorial\quest\addingnewmessages_tutorial_rootphase.questphase parent: base\quest\cyberpunk2077.quest - path: mod\addingnewmessages_tutorial\quest\addingnewmessages_tutorial_rootphase.questphase parent: ep1\quest\ep1_standalone.quest journal: - mod\addingnewmessages_tutorial\journal\addingnewmessages_tutorial_journal.journal localization: onscreens: en-us: mod\addingnewmessages_tutorial\onscreens\en-us\addingnewmessages_tutorial_onscreens.json fr-fr: mod\addingnewmessages_tutorial\onscreens\fr-fr\addingnewmessages_tutorial_onscreens.json ``` ## Bonus: Linking custom image with messages Images are linked with messages via imageId as shown in the picture:

Bonus: Linking custom image with messages

TweakDB entry: ```yaml UIJournalIcons.addingnewmessages_tutorial_example_photo: $type: gamedataJournalIcon_Record atlasResourcePath: mod\addingnewmessages_tutorial\images\example_photo.inkatlas atlasPartName: example_photo_full ``` --- # Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question. Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter: ``` GET https://wiki.redmodding.org/cyberpunk-2077-modding/modding-guides/quest/how-to-add-new-text-messages-thread-to-cyberpunk-2077.md?ask= ``` The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language. The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation. Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.