This page reproduces a section of "An Almost Complete Guide to Far Cry 2 Modding" by Boggalog, verbatim, with attribution. See the guide index for the full attribution note.
Modding Tools
Several tools are available for Far Cry 2 modding, I will give links to find them in this section and instructions for their use are found in the ‘File Management’ section.
Packing/unpacking
The only mod unpacking/packing tools that will not cause crashes are available HERE.
These are the basic tools for Far Cry 2 modding and if I refer to ‘modding tools’ this is what I mean.
There are other tool sets out there but don’t bother with them, there are certain files that only the linked tools can handle.
.XML Editing
There are a number of text editors out there that can accomplish this but save yourself some hassle and use Notepad++ to edit your .xml files, it’s free and available HERE.
.XML Decoding
Some .xml files will need decoding to be able to edit their entire contents. I will clearly label edits that require the file’s contents to be decoded first.
I have a .xml decoder available HERE.
Hex editing
It’s rare that you’ll need to use a hex editor but using one can allow you to make edits in files that otherwise can’t be opened.
The best free hex editor is Hxd which is available HERE. I use 010 Editor which is way more powerful but costs money. It’s possible to use regedit to delete it's registry keys for an infinite free trial but you won’t find instructions for that here.
Texture conversion
Far Cry 2 uses the .xbt format for textures and you can’t edit these directly, to do so you’ll need to convert them into .dds files.
There are multiple tools out there for this but I use RunGUI which is available HERE.
Texture editing
To edit .dds files I’m sure there are also other ways but I use Photoshop and the Intel Texture Works plugin.
Photoshop obviously costs money unless you set sail on the high seas but the Intel Texture Works plugin is available for free HERE.