# Persona 5 Royal (PC) Mod Support

## Background

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The Switch/PC ports of **Persona 5 Royal** have become the most commonly modded version of P5, due to having the latest content, plus the convenience of running natively on PC. You will likely see less support for modding prior versions.
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Persona 5 Royal is a [re-release of Persona 5, originally launched on PS3](https://docs.shrinefox.com/getting-started/persona-5-ps3-mod-support) and [PS4](https://docs.shrinefox.com/getting-started/persona-5-royal-ps4-mod-support) in 2019 (2020 in the west). Just like its predecessor, it's a JRPG with life-sim and dungeon crawling elements that involves summoning and fusing a party of Personas.

It features many quality of life improvements and a longer campaign, and has recently been ported to PC and Switch.

## Dumping Files (Optional)

<figure><img src="https://569785958-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2F-Mgw_0CqGXi8x8O6CN-A%2Fuploads%2F90AkEjd7wXDHEXtCeV2J%2Fimage.png?alt=media&#x26;token=b34db4b4-f6b7-4bc4-b333-88fd0a503c01" alt=""><figcaption><p>In the CPK folder, .CPK files (CRIWare archives) are used to store the game's assets.</p></figcaption></figure>

In order to create your own mods, you'll want a copy of the game's unpacked files to work with. If you'll only be installing mods created by other users, you don't need to worry about this.

1. Find the game's directory. In your Steam library, you can right click P5R and choose `Manage` > `Browse Local Files`. (e.x. `C:\Games\Steam\steamapps\common\P5R`)
2. Download [`CriFsLib.GUI.zip`](https://github.com/Sewer56/CriFsV2Lib/releases) and extract it somewhere on your PC.
   1. The first time you run the program, you may be required to install a .NET framework. Do so as prompted.
3. Open `BASE.CPK` and right click anywhere in the window to Extract All.
   1. If you don't have the space on your PC, you can use "Extract Selected" instead.
   2. In this case, you can narrow down the list by searching for a term at the top of the window.
   3. Hold Ctrl to select multiple files, or hold Shift to select a range of files in a row.
4. Do the same with the `EN.CPK` (or whichever language you use).

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You can think of `BASE.CPK` and `EN.CPK` like zip folders that contain the game's many files. They are very compressed, so once unpacked, the contents become much larger. The unpacked files end up being about 62 GB in total, so make sure you have enough space free on your hard drive.
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## Setting Up Reloaded II Mods

Thanks to Sewer56 and Lipsum (zarroboogs), Persona 5 Royal on PC now has support for loading modded files via Reloaded II mods, bypassing the need to repack `BASE.CPK` and use `EN.CPK` for mods.

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Thanks to Persona Essentials, this also allows you to merge many different formats using various "File Emulation Frameworks," such as [AWB](https://sewer56.dev/FileEmulationFramework/emulators/awb.html), [SPD](https://sewer56.dev/FileEmulationFramework/emulators/spd.html), [PAK](https://sewer56.dev/FileEmulationFramework/emulators/pak.html), and even [BF](https://sewer56.dev/FileEmulationFramework/emulators/bf.html) and [BMD](https://sewer56.dev/FileEmulationFramework/emulators/bmd.html). However, unlike Aemulus Package Manager (used for the old version of P5), this merging isn't handled automatically. Mods must format files in a specific way to be picked up by the file emulator. See [here for usage instructions](https://sewer56.dev/FileEmulationFramework/emulators/pak.html).
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Once you follow these steps, you'll also be able to skip the opening logos and run the game even when the window is unfocused. You can also toggle each of these features in the mod's settings.&#x20;

1. Download [Reloaded-II](https://github.com/Reloaded-Project/Reloaded-II/releases) and extract `Releases.zip`.&#x20;
2. Run `ReloadedII.exe`. You may need to first install a few .NET runtimes as prompted.
3. Once ReloadedII is open, click the (+) button on the left of Reloaded-II. Navigate to where P5R is installed and add P5R.exe.
4. Once P5R is added, go to the mod browser (the first icon in the top left of Reloaded-II) and download any mod. Persona Essentials will install automatically.

## Creating Mods

Please refer to [this series of blog posts](https://shrinefox.com/blog/2025/08/17/p5r-modding-guide-2025-2-creating-new-mods/) for details on making your own P5R mods. The first entry focuses on getting set up in Reloaded-II and testing it with simple file swaps. Other installments of the guide cover the usage of various File Emulation Frameworks, as well as sound conversion, model importing, and more.

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At the time of writing, the tutorial series isn't fully completed. You can check its completion status [here](https://trello.com/c/mBH60At7/118-p5r-modding-tutorial-series).
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## Porting Existing Mods

While a lot of things are the same between the PS4 version of P5R and the new ports, there are some major differences you need to take into account.

* The contents of most `.PAC` files are now loosely distributed.
* File paths are in uppercase now, but the game will still load lowercase files/folders.
* `.GNF` textures (used for Thieves Den images, bustups, and field textures) are now `.DDS`.
  * Texture `.BIN` files no longer use headerless `.DDS`.
* The audio format is still `.ADX`, but `.ACB`/`.AWB`/`.USM` [encryption keys](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1zHiVWwpjYipK-vrvUOAtCa9zplpel8km/view?usp=sharing) have changed.
* There are [additional flowscript functions](https://github.com/tge-was-taken/Atlus-Script-Tools/pull/48).

There are also dozens of other, tinier differences too specific to list here.