Frequently Asked Questions
Anything on this page is subject to change, as decisions are being re-evaluated with the community.
What is Raidcore Nexus?
Nexus is a next-gen Addon Manager & Loader for Guild Wars 2. It provides an API and Framework, which keeps your plugins always up-to-date.
No fidgeting with DLL files, crashing games after updates or inconsistent behaviour across addons.
A single installation to manage all your extensions. This is as close to an official Addon API as it gets.
You can download the installer here.
More advanced users can download the .DLL directly here.
Features:
- Loading & unloading addons at runtime, without restarting.
- Automatic updates.
- Automatically disable volatile addons on game update.
- Addon Library for quick discovery & installation of new addons.
- Globally handled keybinds. No inconsistent behaviour from addon to addon.
- Multiboxing compatible.
If you want to customise Nexus or develop an addon, read more in the wiki / documentation.
Installation & Chainloading
Installation
- Download the d3d11.dll from the link above.
- Place it next to Gw2-64.exe.
- (Optional) Unblock the file, by right-clicking -> Properties. Near the bottom there should be a Checkbox you will have to tick.
When starting the game you should have either the menu pop up, or you should be able to see a new icon in the top left, where the shortcuts are. The default keybind to open the menu is CTRL+O.
Compatibility
ArcDPS, AddonLoader or any other D3D11 Wrapper
You can either chainload Nexus, or Nexus can chainload another wrapper. By default the D3DCreate call will be forwarded to d3d11_chainload.dll in the same directory, if it exists.
Reshade
If you want to run Reshade, rename it to dxgi.dll and place accordingly, since Guild Wars 2 switched to CEF, it could be any of the three:
<Guild Wars 2>/dxgi.dll<Guild Wars 2>/bin64/dxgi.dll<Guild Wars 2>/bin64/cef/dxgi.dll
Transitioning from an ArcDPS installation
- Move
<Guild Wars 2>/d3d11.dll into <Guild Wars 2>/addons.
- Move all ArcDPS plugins into
<Guild Wars 2>/addons as well. They might be in the main directory or in bin64.
- Install Nexus as your new
<Guild Wars 2>/d3d11.dll.
Transitioning from an Addon Loader installation
- Rename Addon Loader's
d3d11.dll to d3d11_chainload.dll
- Install Nexus as your new
<Guild Wars 2>/d3d11.dll.
- (Optional) Move ArcDPS and all its plugins into
<Guild Wars 2>/addons.
I don't know what my ArcDPS plugins are!
To find out which plugins are loaded into ArcDPS open the ArcDPS menu in-game and go to the "About" tab.
There all addons and their paths will be listed.
How do I install new addons?
Addons
Addons are loaded from <Guild Wars 2>/addons and are expected to just have GetAddonDef() exported, more in the API Docs.
Hot-Loading
Just drop your addon.dll into <Guild Wars 2>/addons and they should show up in the addons window of Nexus.
If they don't show up you might have to click the refresh button.
What does this mean for addon developers?
Every time you wanna develop an addon you have to get the basics out of the way: handling keybinds, settings, updates, etc.
Nexus takes all that work from you, ensuring consistent behaviour among addons, while also making it easier for you to develop actual features.
Here's an overview what's included:
- Hot-Loading
- Automatic updates.
- Event Publishing / Subscribing
- Keybinds handled by Nexus. Unless you really want your own WndProc...
- Resource Registry. Making it easy to share data & functions between addons.
- Texture Loader. lifting all the heavy work for you. Load from URL, disk, resource or even the .DAT!
- Easily access Mumble, combat log, world & map completion progress & character stats.
- Shared GW2 Web API & cache.
Obviously there is more to come. You can direct suggestions on discord or the api-cdi repository.
Why should I port to Nexus over AddonLoader or ArcDPS?
Why not an ArcDPS extension?
If I want a simple compass addon, why do I have to install a DPS meter? Keeping it as user-friendly as possible is the primary goal.
Why not AddonLoader?
Addon Loader has some nice ideas, but ultimately it doesn't do much.
It loads addons (it's kind of in the name), but it doesn't provide anything that makes it easier to make new stuff or takes work off the developer.
It also is extremely difficult to set up causing constant problems.
It requires 3 DLLs just to function baseline, but then it also forces dependencies on addons that are self-contained to begin with.
Of course Addon Manager exists, but that is yet another program just to set it up correctly.
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A lot of the heavy lifting is taken from you and put into the loader.
This ensures consistent behaviour from addon to addon, but also makes it much faster to develop actual features, instead of having to write the same boilerplate each time.
These features include Keybinds, Event PubSub, AutoUpdates, Logging, Sharing Functions, Loading Textures, Getting the Mumble Context or using the GW2 API.
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Faster iteration due to hot-loading.
Being able to just recompile after making a tiny change, without having to constantly restart the game makes it much faster to develop actual features.
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One installation, not more.
All you have to do is place the d3d11.dll, once it's running. That's it.
You shouldn't have to fiddle with DLLs all the time.