First Run and Game Setup

Goal: open your game in CrystalWorkshop and find your way around.

Prerequisites

• CrystalWorkshop installed (Installing).
• A Steam install of FINAL FANTASY XIII, XIII-2 or LIGHTNING RETURNS.

Steps

1. Start CrystalWorkshop. The Welcome page lists the game folder it found. It searches Steam libraries as follows:

   • Windows: the registry and every Steam library.
   • Linux: ~/.steam/steam, ~/.steam/root, ~/.local/share/Steam and Flatpak Steam, plus every library in their libraryfolders.vdf.

   FF13_GAME_DIR, FF13_2_GAME_DIR and LR_GAME_DIR override the search.

2. If nothing was found, choose Browse… and pick the game folder:

   • XIII: the folder with white_data;
   • XIII-2: the folder with alba_data;
   • LR: the folder with weiss_data.

   Auto-detect searches again. Probed Steam roots shows where it looked.

3. Switch games with the game picker in the top bar (the controller icon). It lists every install it knows, or “title (not found)”, and has Detect installs and Browse….

4. Choose the archive variant and display locale next to the picker:

   • variant U or C for XIII and XIII-2 (US/EU or Asian archives), A or V for LR (English or Japanese voice);
   • the locale, for example us, sets the language that names are shown in.

5. Look around:

   • Navigator (left):

     • Sheets, Text, Models, Motions, VFX, Sound, Scenes, Actions, Events;
     • Crystarium and Battle (XIII only);
     • Changes.

     Modified only filters each tree to files you changed.

   • Search / commands (Ctrl+K) opens any page or file by name.

   • Query opens the SQL panel (Simple DB Edit).

   • Export (N) shows how many files you changed (Simple Mod Export).

   • The gear button opens Settings. It reads AI while the MCP server runs (Enabling MCP).

Result

The status bar shows the archive (archive US/EU), the locale and 0 pending changes. The window title reads, for example, CrystalWorkshop 0.1.0-alpha — FINAL FANTASY XIII.

Undo / revert

Nothing is changed by opening a game. CrystalWorkshop reads the archives and keeps its own work (indexes, renders, audit log) under <game folder>/ff13_studio/. Delete that folder to forget it.

Related

Installing · Simple DB Edit · FAQ and Troubleshooting