Helldivers gunpack — actual hotfix file study

Direct file inspection, 2026-10-18. Reference: zeta1918's October 5 emergency hotfix, file 9069318. The file list separately flags the October 3 build as faulty; this study uses the later listed hotfix. No game execution, native compatibility or performance pass is claimed.

Archive SHA256: 43c0884bf721f8d746b1b8d5d4e8153153ca386cdac3878db3a182e044e7af93 · 61,488,777 bytes · 2,155 ZIP entries.

Coverage and identity

The archive census resolves 57 gun-display records, 56 gun-index records and 90 Lua files. These are stored resource counts, not proof of 57 distinct playable weapons. A test-railgun display exists without a matching test-named gun-index record in this scan. The archive also contains older/newer script variants; the filename with the highest suffix is not automatically the active implementation.

For example, the actual railgun data file selects railgun_mk2_logic, while Quasar and PLAS-101 select their mk3 logic. Our research follows those declarations. Native dynamic overrides or other packs still require separate inspection.

Useful lessons for AoA upgrades

Attachment variants need real animation coverage

The BR-14 animation file has 54 clips, including magazine-specific reload/continuation/follow-up sequences, inspections, empty/out-of-mag states, fire-mode changes and offset variants. This is a concrete example of why one generic reload cannot stand in for every installed attachment.

For our modular armory, define the supported configuration matrix first. Test each visible magazine/hand path and interrupted continuation. A bigger attachment must have a corresponding safe animation path; hiding it for the entire reload or shrinking the grip is not an acceptable collision fix.

Charge changes both function and presentation

The selected PLAS-101 script uses cached charge state to modify weapon properties. One stock attachment changes the charged explosion behavior and burst count. The associated animation file includes charge-start/spin/shoot and expansion/ending clips.

For Soul Storm's beam, disc-stack and branching conversions, a visual upgrade must be paired with declared behavior and resource costs. Charge, visible emitter count and actual discharge must agree. Partial-charge release, interrupted charge, swapping the attachment and returning to the weapon are required test cases. This archive demonstrates a technique; it does not prove our conversions work.

Preserve typed state rather than assuming every ammo field means ammunition

Quasar's selected script uses a processed timestamp stored through magazine-ammo API calls to recover cooling progress on initialization. It attempts a real-system timestamp API and falls back to the current timestamp API. Its shot path does not consume ammo, and its reload callback returns false.

This is a significant integration warning: a field named ammo can be used as persistent state by a gun's script. A generic “refill ammo,” “transfer magazine,” or “copy all gun data” operation could corrupt such a design. Our salvage, upgrade and compatibility layers need weapon-aware state ownership, explicit schema/version handling and a conservative policy for unknown fields.

Do not copy this storage approach into every AoA weapon. Define whether cooling should advance while paused, offline or unequipped; clamp invalid/backward clock deltas and test reconnect/reload behavior. Preserve the original weapon contract where required.

LOD is real, but savings vary substantially

All 49 declared LOD model/texture pairs resolve inside this archive. The eight displays without a LOD declaration are a separate category, not missing references.

Display	Main bones / cuboids	LOD bones / cuboids
BR-14	50 / 608	7 / 12
PLAS-101	63 / 720	8 / 10
Quasar	50 / 748	29 / 718
Railgun	117 / 647	93 / 209

These are stored geometry counts, including variants and helpers. Quasar's LOD retains most cuboids, whereas some others are much smaller. A present LOD file alone does not establish a measured frame-time improvement. Compare visible silhouette, active bones, effects, shader passes and native timings under the same scene.

Originality and readability still matter

Use the references to understand animation ownership, state handling and presentation craft. AoA weapons must retain their own sprites' identity, realm themes and original behavior. A large number of cuboids, effects or clips is not automatically better art or more fun.

Tests to add to our acceptance matrix

• Resolve the active data/script/state-machine chain, including external references and overridden resources.
• Exercise charge interruption, partial release, overcharge, item switching and server reconciliation.
• Test every supported attachment's reload/inspection and no-mag states with actual hands.
• Verify upgrade/salvage preserves supported typed state without treating timestamps as ammo.
• Test paused/offline cooling policy and invalid clock deltas explicitly.
• Compare actual main/LOD visual parity and equivalent-work native performance.

Complete path/count/hash audit · Reproducible audit tools · Weapon reference library

Attribution and reuse boundaries

Reference pack: zeta1918, with script attribution comments also naming foxatl in selected files. The project listing labels its license Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International. Underlying game assets and third-party contributions require their own provenance review. This study publishes our factual observations and audit tools, not the reference ZIP, models, sounds, textures or Lua source. It is not a blanket permission to transplant Helldivers assets into AoA.