Every Tool in the DSMapStudio Ecosystem

DSMapStudio doesn't work alone — it sits at the center of a toolchain that prepares your game files, loads your finished mod, and handles the file types it doesn't. Some tools power it (its libraries and data), some complement it (animations, events), some automate it (command-line merging), and one forked it to carry development forward. This is the detailed reference behind the visual ecosystem map.

How the pieces fit

A typical mod passes through several tools. You unpack the game (UXM or UDSFM) so DSMapStudio can read it; you edit params, maps, and text in DSMapStudio; the libraries underneath (SoulsFormats, Paramdex) make that editing possible; you may automate merges with DSMSPortable; and finally ModEngine2 loads the result into the game at runtime. Companion editors handle what DSMapStudio doesn't — animations and event scripts. That pipeline tells you where each tool fits.

The active fork — Smithbox

Smithbox (vawser) is the most important tool here after DSMapStudio itself: a direct fork that picked up active development, supporting current Elden Ring patches (post-SotE), Armored Core 6, and newer titles, with community Linux builds. It shares DSMapStudio's editors and concepts, so everything you learn here transfers. On a current Elden Ring patch v1.11.1 can't read, Smithbox is the answer — full comparison in DSMapStudio vs Smithbox.

Merging & automation

• DSMSPortable (mountlover) — a command-line utility on DSMapStudio's core libraries that applies CSVs to regulation.bin from a script, turning a repeated merge into one command (DSMSPortable CLI guide).
• AutoModMerger (CornflakeWoof) — a GUI/batch generator on top of DSMSPortable for scripted merges without writing commands by hand.

The libraries underneath

Not tools you run directly — what makes the editors work:

• SoulsFormats (and the maintained SoulsFormatsNEXT) — the .NET library for reading/writing FromSoftware's file formats. DSMapStudio is built on it, as are most other tools in the scene.
• Paramdex — the database of param definitions, row names, and type data for 13 FromSoftware games. It turns raw param IDs into readable rows; updating it is how the tools keep up with new patches (row names and Paramdex).

Loaders & unpackers

• ModEngine2 (soulsmods) — the runtime mod loader. DSMapStudio edits the files; ModEngine2 injects them at launch without modifying the base install.
• UXM Selective Unpack — unpacks the Steam FromSoftware games (Elden Ring, DS3, DS2, Sekiro, AC6, DS Remastered) into the loose files DSMapStudio reads.
• UDSFM — the unpacker specifically for Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition, which predates UXM.
• WitchyBND (ividyon) and the older Yabber — unpack/repack individual game archives (BND/DCX containers), for file-level work the editors don't cover.

Companion editors

DSMapStudio handles maps, params, and text; these handle the rest:

• DSAnimStudio — the animation (TAE) editor, used alongside DSMapStudio when work involves character animations, like putting a moveset on a new weapon or building an enemy.
• DarkScript3 (AinTunez) — the editor for EMEVD event scripts, the logic layer driving triggers, boss fights, and progression. Map placements made in DSMapStudio are referenced by entity IDs here (entity IDs).

Every tool at a glance

Tools like the Elden Ring randomizer Erringulator (JKAnderson) and many Nexus mods build on this stack too — when a mod credits its tools, DSMapStudio's libraries are usually somewhere in the chain.

That's the toolchain DSMapStudio anchors. For the at-a-glance map of how they relate, the ecosystem page; for how this grew from one tool, the history; to start using DSMapStudio at the center of it, the download page.