Request: allow .hlslc files for Retold mod uploads

Age of Mythology: Retold AoM - Modding
1

Hello,

I’ve built a shader mod that draws terrain like it used to, but I am unable to upload it. I am hoping to have the .hlslc file extension added to the supported extension list for mods. The .hlslc files would also need to be approved for unranked multiplayer, otherwise there’s not much point.

The bezier curve of retold simply ruins the look of many scenario maps, making elevated walkable walls look unfavorable. I posted about this shortly after release back in 2024 as well, hoping that an official graphics setting would be added to the game.

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The mod replaces 32 of the game’s compiled shaders. They live in game/render/shader_cache_meta/ and they all use the .hlslc extension, which doesn’t look like it’s on the allowed list. I don’t think it’s a packaging problem: the folder structure mirrors the game’s, and I tried a build with a .txt file included as well, which still got rejected. So it seems to fail on the files it doesn’t recognize rather than needing one it does.

The mod works as intended when installed in the local mods folder, but online play is not possible with it being a local data mod.

I’m assuming the concern with a file type is security, so to get ahead of
that:

  • The shaders aren’t written from scratch. Each one starts as the game’s own shader out of ShaderCacheDX12.bar, disassembled with Microsoft’s dxc, edited, and reassembled with dxa.
  • The edit is small and specific. In the heightfield reconstruction, the Catmull-Rom weights are changed so the surface interpolates linearly, and the shading normal is clamped to the slope of the cell it sits on. Resources, bindings, entry points and signatures are all untouched.
  • Every container is validated and signed by Microsoft’s dxil.dll - dxv.exe reports “Validation succeeded” on all 32. D3D12 wouldn’t load them otherwise.
  • Before patching anything I checked the round trip on an unmodified shader: stripping its signature and re-signing reproduced the shipped bytes exactly, so the process isn’t doing anything to the containers beyond the edit.
  • It’s been tested on both Windows and Linux/Proton.

I’m happy to send the files over for audit.

I saw that .xaml was added to the allowed list this way a while back, so I’m hoping this is a similar sort of request:

Thanks for taking a look.