KATA 8 OF 8 · ALL LAYERS

From Modlets to a Full Overhaul

You now know all four layers: XML (Katas 1-4), assets (5), XUi (6), and code (7). An overhaul like Darkness Falls is not a different kind of mod - it is all four at once, scaled up. This capstone is the architecture that holds them together, and the costs that come with combining them.

The anatomy of an overhaul

Open any large overhaul and you see every layer you have learned, in one folder:

DarknessFalls-style overhaul/
  ModInfo.xml
  TheOverhaul.dll          <- Kata 7: new mechanics in C#
  Config/                  <- Katas 1-4: items, blocks, recipes, entities, progression
    items.xml  blocks.xml  recipes.xml  entityclasses.xml  entitygroups.xml
    Localization.txt        (Localization.csv on V3.0)
    XUi/  XUi_Common/       <- Kata 6: reworked HUD and windows (XUi_InGame on V3.0)
  Resources/               <- Kata 5: custom models, textures, icons, sounds
    *.unity3d  UIAtlases/

There is nothing here you have not built a small version of. The difference is scale (hundreds of XML edits, dozens of assets) and the fact that the layers interact - a C# system reads a custom item that has a custom icon and shows it in a custom UI window.

Load order & dependencies

7 Days to Die loads mods from the Mods/ folder and applies their XPath patches in sequence, so when two mods touch the same node, the one that loads later wins. There is no rich dependency resolver, so overhauls handle prerequisites by convention:

• Frameworks load as their own mods. A code framework like a Harmony helper, or the Quartz XUi framework from Kata 6, ships as a separate mod that must be present and load before the overhaul that needs it. Authors document required prerequisites; players install them alongside.
• Keep your own conflicts internal. Within one overhaul you control order; the trouble is stacking other modlets on top of an overhaul, which is why overhauls usually say "run me alone."

The overhaul tax

Combining the layers inherits the cost of the highest one. Because a full overhaul includes code (Kata 7) and assets (Kata 5):

• EAC off, PC only. The code layer forces EAC off, which means no console crossplay and every player on PC.
• Every player installs it. Assets and UI do not push from the server - the whole group runs the identical mod version.
• Fresh world required. Total conversions change blocks, items, and progression, so they will not load into a vanilla save - you start new. (This is also why moving to a new game version is one-way; saves do not load backward.)

Distribution

Overhauls reach players three ways: the 7D2D Mod Launcher (which installs the pack and pins the matching game branch automatically - the smoothest path for big mods on older branches), Nexus Mods, and the author's own GitHub or Discord. Whatever the channel, the rule from Kata 5 holds: the server and every client run the same files.

Why a version jump takes months

This is the payoff of the whole series. When the game makes a major jump - V3.0 "Dead Hot Summer" is the live example - an overhaul has to re-clear every layer at once:

• XML: rename Localization.txt to .csv, move entitygroups.xml to proper XML (Katas 3-4).
• Code: recompile against the single publicized Assembly-CSharp.dll, fix override visibility (Kata 7).
• XUi: port to templates.xml / XUi_InGame and the new binding model, swap force_hide for visible (Kata 6) - usually the longest pole.
• Assets: rebuild AssetBundles if the engine version moved (Kata 5).

A one-file XML modlet clears all that in an afternoon; a four-layer overhaul takes months, which is exactly the pattern on the 2026 Mod Status Tracker - and why the "which mods run on V3.0 already" list is short and full of small XML modlets, not overhauls.

You finished the ladder

Eight katas, four layers, from one <set> to a full overhaul. You will not have memorised every property name - nobody has - but you now know where everything lives, which layer a given change belongs to, and how to verify it against the game's own files. That is the actual skill: not knowing the answers, but knowing exactly where to look. Go build something, and when V3.0 stable lands, you will understand precisely what your mods need to re-clear.