Installing Gameplay Mods via GameplayLoader

Properties2

Type	Practice
Note created	Mar 18, 2026

How to install a PES 2021 / FL26 gameplay mod (such as 30 YEARS Simulation Version) into GameplayLoader so it can be loaded at runtime via Sider’s livecpk system.

Overview

GameplayLoader (by Baris, v2.6) intercepts 9 specific constant_*.bin files that the game requests from common/match/constant/ inside its CPK archives. A gameplay mod provides alternative versions of these files, and GameplayLoader redirects the game to load them instead of the originals.

Most gameplay mods (including Holland’s 30 YEARS Simulation Version) are distributed as dt18 CPK files containing modified constant files. To use them through GameplayLoader, the constant files must be extracted from the CPK and placed in the correct folder structure.

Required tools

CriPakTools by esperknight — GitHub. A Windows command-line tool for extracting CRIWARE CPK archives. The pre-built binary is at Build/CriPakTools.exe in the repo. Download directly: https://github.com/esperknight/CriPakTools/raw/master/Build/CriPakTools.exe

The 9 gameplay constant files

File	Purpose
`constant_match.bin`	Match-level gameplay parameters
`constant_player.bin`	Player behaviour and physics
`constant_positionCK.bin`	Corner kick positioning
`constant_positionPK.bin`	Penalty kick positioning
`constant_shootAging.bin`	Shot ageing/degradation
`constant_stadium.bin`	Stadium-related gameplay parameters
`constant_team.bin`	Team-level gameplay parameters
`constant_tutorial.bin`	Tutorial parameters
`constant_tutorialConsole.bin`	Console tutorial parameters

Step-by-step process

1. Extract constant files from the gameplay mod’s dt18 CPK

CriPakTools.exe "path\to\modded_dt18_all.cpk" ALL

This extracts all files from the CPK into the current directory. You should see the 9 constant_*.bin files listed above.

2. Create the correct folder structure

Inside SiderAddons/content/gameplay-loader/, create a folder for the mod with the standard CPK path structure:

content/gameplay-loader/
└── YourModName/
    └── common/
        └── match/
            └── constant/
                ├── constant_match.bin
                ├── constant_player.bin
                ├── constant_positionCK.bin
                ├── constant_positionPK.bin
                ├── constant_shootAging.bin
                ├── constant_stadium.bin
                ├── constant_team.bin
                ├── constant_tutorial.bin
                └── constant_tutorialConsole.bin

The folder name (YourModName) is what appears in the GameplayLoader overlay and in gameplay-mods.csv.

3. Register the mod in gameplay-mods.csv

Add the mod folder name to content/gameplay-loader/gameplay-mods.csv:

# you can comment out gameplay mods using '#' at the beginning of a line
Simulation_Version
Allstar Mix v1.1

4. Enable GameplayLoader in sider.ini

Ensure this line is uncommented:

lua.module = "GameplayLoader.lua"

5. Set as favourite (optional)

Either edit content/gameplay-loader/config.ini:

favorite_gameplay_mod = Simulation_Version

Or press key 7 in the GameplayLoader overlay during gameplay.

6. Restore the original dt18 (if it was replaced)

If the gameplay mod was previously installed by replacing dt18_all.cpk directly, restore the original:

copy "C:\Users\dvicente\Documents\Originals\dt18_all.cpk" "D:\SP Football Life 2026\Data\dt18_all.cpk"

Also comment out any .ini code injection lines in sider.ini:

;start.ini = "Football Life 26://30 YEARS [Simulation Version]"
;ini.name = "\30 YEARS [Simulation Version].ini"

Why this approach is better than dt18 replacement

	dt18 replacement	GameplayLoader
Switchable	No — hardcoded	Yes — overlay hotkeys (PageUp/PageDown)
Survives updates	No — FL26 updates overwrite dt18	Yes — mod files are separate
Multiple mods	No — one at a time	Yes — unlimited, switch on the fly
Reversible	Requires backup	Set to “No Mod”

Common issues

Favourite not loading on boot

GameplayLoader has two bugs that prevent the favourite from loading if the mod name contains underscores or the CSV has Windows line endings. See PES 21 Gameplay Modules > Custom modifications for the fixes applied.

Mod has a .BIN file instead of constant files

Some gameplay mod distributions include a single .BIN gameplay script (e.g. Simulation_Version.BIN) instead of the 9 constant_*.bin files. This does not work with GameplayLoader — the .BIN is loaded by the game through a different mechanism that livecpk cannot intercept. You must extract the constant_*.bin files from the mod’s dt18 CPK using CriPakTools.

Mod has .o animation files at the folder root

Animation override files like grounderpass.o placed at the mod folder root are not loaded by GameplayLoader. GameplayLoader only intercepts files at common/anime/ paths, and the .o files would need to be at YourModName/common/anime/filename.o to work. Root-level .o files are likely leftovers from the dt18 extraction and can be safely ignored.

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