5. Review and apply

Goal: your enabled mods are merged into one Crux image (active.crximg) and installed, together with Crux.

1. Close the game.

2. Choose Review changes. PulseDepot builds the merged image from every enabled mod and shows what Apply will do. It writes nothing yet. The review shows:

   • how many mods it will install, update, downgrade, rebuild or remove;
   • where the merged image goes and which game executable it targets;
   • any memory patches and native code;
   • each mod’s changed files, the conflicts and any Crystarium merge.

   

3. Choose Apply changes. Apply checks again that nothing changed since the review, then installs the set. The status line reports, for example:

   • “NovaFix found.” or “NovaFix not found.”;
   • “Installed Crux as …\Crux.dll (SHA-256 verified).” or “Crux is up to date”;
   • “Applied: N mod(s) installed. Restart the game to load the new set.”

4. Start the game. See Launch the game. Restart the game after every Apply.

What Apply writes

• The merged image active.crximg goes in Crux’s mod folder:

  • modRoot from Crux.ini, if one is set;
  • otherwise addons/mod_data beside the game executable, if that folder exists;
  • otherwise <game folder>/mod_data.

• PulseDepot’s own state goes in <game folder>/ff13_studio/nova/<game>/: the installed mod list (bundle.json), the installed mods and backups of any image PulseDepot did not make.

• Crux is installed as one of:

  • Crux.dll in the NovaFix addons folder. For XIII: white_data\prog\win\bin\addons\; for XIII-2: alba_data\prog\win\bin\addons\.
  • version.dll beside the game executable. For XIII: white_data\prog\win\bin\; for XIII-2: alba_data\prog\win\bin\; for LR: the game folder.

  Installing one build removes the other, so only one Crux runs.

• Saves are never read or written. A mod’s settings live in Crux’s host storage (mod-state.dat in the mod folder), kept per save slot.

When Apply refuses

Apply stops before writing anything in these cases:

Message	What to do
“Crux not installed: … does not match … extract the whole PulseDepot zip again.”	A Crux DLL beside PulseDepot is missing or altered. Extract the package again.
“… version.dll belongs to another program (it is not Crux).”	Another tool, such as an ASI loader, owns version.dll. PulseDepot never replaces it. Remove that file yourself, or choose NovaFix addon (Crux.dll) under Crux host.
“installed mod set changed since review; review again”	The installed set changed since you reviewed. Review again.

Next: 6. Launch the game.