TABCrypt - modding tool

Description

This is a little helper tool I vibecoded to help with the testing of balance changes. Having to re-encrypt the .dat files every time I want to test a little change is very frustrating, so I had Claude write me an app to do this with a single drag & drop.

Installation and Setup

There are 2 Versions available:

Version 1 (executable)

A single executable that only needs 7-Zip to be installed on your device. Made for Windows 10/11. No installation needed if you already have 7-Zip.

1. Download and install 7-Zip from the official website if you don't already have it installed.

2. Download the executable from here or GitHub.

3. Run the executable. Windows Defender will most likely protest, because this is an unsigned executable from a different device.

4. Decide if you want to trust a random stranger on the internet

5. The app will try to locate 7-Zip (7z.exe) by checking the default installation paths. If it cannot find the .exe there, you should be prompted to add the path manually. I did not check if this part works, because I have 7-Zip installed in the default location.

6. If you have TAB on Steam version 1. 0. 14 you can skip this step: Go to Settings -> Passwords and change the default passwords to the correct ones for the game version you are using. Every game version has it's own passwords for the files. Here is a guide on how to find the passwords made by quasart-zz.

You should now be ready to go. Just drag&drop any of the ZXxyz.dat files onto the marked area and the app will work it's magic (more info below)

Version 2 (python project)

This is the .py file the executable was build from. Requires python 3 and the tkinterdnd2 pakage to be installed on your device as well as 7-Zip.

1. Download and install 7-Zip from the official website if you don't already have it installed.

2. Download and install Python (I used version 3. 13) from the official website or the windows store if not already installed on your device.

3. Install tkinterdnd2 (python extension that allows for drag&drop). You can do so by opening cmd and running the following command:

pip install tkinterdnd24. Download the .py file from here or GitHub.

5. You should now be able to run the app by double clicking the .py file.

6. The app will try to locate 7-Zip (7z.exe) by checking the default installation paths. If it cannot find the .exe there, you should be prompted to add the path manually. I did not check if this part works, because I have 7-Zip installed in the default location.

7. If you have TAB on Steam version 1. 0. 14 you can skip this step: Go to Settings -> Passwords and change the default passwords to the correct ones for the game version you are using. Every game version has it's own passwords for the files. Here is a guide on how to find the passwords made by quasart-zz.

You should now be ready to go. Just drag&drop any of the ZXxyz.dat files onto the marked area and the app will work it's magic (more info below)

Main features

The App does 2 things:

Unpacking/Decrypting

When you drop an encrypted ZX.dat file from the game on it, the app will recognize it as encrypted and try to determin the password it needs to use via the filename. The file will then be decrypted if a correct password is set in the settings and you will recieve an unlocked file. If the checkbox below the drag&drop field is checked (on by default), the original encrypted archive will be deleted as well (as it's usually not needed anymore). The app will try to avoid naming conflicts to not overwrite existing files if the checkbox is unchecked.

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