README.md

Ported from the BepInEx.Debug.ScriptEngine to provide hot reload feature for Hollow Knight's mod development.

Hot Reload Helper

Loads and reloads hollow knight mods from the Mods\HotReload folder. User can reload all of these mods by pressing Ctrl+F5. Very useful for quickly developing mods as you don't have to keep reopening the game to see your changes.

Remember to clean up after the old mod version in case you need to. Things like hooks or loose GameObjects/MonoBehaviours remain after the mod gets destroyed. Loose gameobjects and monobehaviours in this case are objects that are not attached to the parent scriptengine gameobject. For example:

    // Only mods that inherit from the Mod class and implement the ITogglableMod interface support HotReload
    public class SimpleHooks : Mod, ITogglableMod
    {
        public static SimpleHooks LoadedInstance { get; private set; }
        private GameObject permanentGo;
        public override void Initialize()
        {
            if (SimpleHooks.LoadedInstance != null) return;
            SimpleHooks.LoadedInstance = this;
            permanentGo = new GameObject();
            Object.DontDestroyOnLoad(permanentGo);
            ModHooks.AttackHook += LogAttack;
        }

        // Code that should be run when the mod is unload.
        public void Unload()
        {
            // Unhook the methods previously registered so no exceptions will happen.
            ModHooks.AttackHook -= LogAttack;
            // Destroy the loaded instance of the mod.
            SimpleHooks.LoadedInstance = null;
            // Destroy the permanent objects;
            Object.Destroy(permanentGo);
        }

        private void LogAttack(AttackDirection _)
        {
            Log($"You have hit an enemy {this.HitCount} times!");
        }
    }

How to use

This is a mod. Put the HotReloadHelper.dll file into Mods folder. Put the mods that need to be hot reload into Mods\HotReload folder, each time the your_mod.dll file is updated or Ctrl+F5 is pressed, the mod will be reloaded.

Only tested on the Hollow Knight v1.5 with latest Modding API.

Known Issue

• Hot reload mods are not shown in the mods menu.