Preface

Mono.Cecil is one of the key tools when it comes to patching .NET assemblies. However, to build a standalone patcher means to write the basic initialisation code that is usually found in any patcher – the so called “boilerplate code”.

Writing it is usually no big deal, but if one developers maintains a multitude of standalone patchers, that code becomes a nuisance. Moreover, applying said patchers one-by-one is quite a derring-do. So not only is it hard for the developer, but so it is for the userbase. Thus one could ask: isn’t there a general-purpose patching tool that would make both users and developers happy?

ReiPatcher

ReiPatcher is a generic patching utility for both the developers and the users to make patching easier. Namely, it has two key functions

• For developers ReiPatcher gives a simple and a robust API to modify the contents of .NET assemblies using Mono.Cecil. The tool does all the routine work, like locating and loading assemblies into Mono.Cecil – no more, no less. Thus the developer needs only focus on writing the patch itself.
• For users ReiPatcher provides a command-line interface to manage and apply said patchers. ReiPatcher can be configured for any Unity Engine game and other programs utilising .NET.

About this tutorial

In this tutorial we shall take a look at ReiPatcher. To be specific, we shall discuss the following topics:

• How to install and configure the tool
• ReiPatcher’s API and general guidelines
• How make pathers using the patcher-hook-plugin mod layout