Native GTK4/libadwaita mod manager for Monster Hunter Wilds: checkbox mod list, screenshots, categories, search, conflict detection, load order, profiles, archive import (zip/7z/rar), nxm:// downloads, REFramework setup, and safe recovery when a title update raises the vanilla PAK ceiling.

No pip packages: it needs only system PyGObject (GTK 4, libadwaita ≥ 1.4), plus 7z / unrar for those formats.

Run

./bin/mhwmm

Tests (headless, stdlib unittest):

PYTHONPATH=src python3 -m unittest discover -s tests -t .

A dev venv must use --system-site-packages, otherwise gi disappears.

How it works

Mods are extracted into ~/.local/share/mhwilds-mod-manager/mods/<id>/files; the game folder is only touched by Deploy, which symlinks (or hardlinks/copies) files and records each one in state/deployed.json.
PAK mods get slots above the vanilla ceiling of each chain (re_chunk_000.pak.patch_NNN.pak and the .sub_000 chain). On every start the manager compares against state/pak-baseline.json; if Steam added or changed PAKs it removes its own PAKs, re-derives the ceiling and re-slots.
Safety: only files in the manifest that still match what was recorded are ever deleted; foreign PAKs are never touched; reframework/data/ is never managed; destinations are restricted to natives/, reframework/ and PAK/DLL names at the game root; failed deploys roll back. Undeploy All returns the game folder to its pre-mod state (shadowed files restored, directories the manager created pruned).
REFramework: dinput8.dll, LooseFileLoader_Enabled in re2_fw_config.txt, and the Proton launch option WINEDLLOVERRIDES="dinput8.dll=n,b" %command%. The launch option is verified and shown with a Copy button; writing localconfig.vdf is opt-in, backed up, and refused while Steam runs.

nxm:// links

Preferences → Nexus Mods: paste an API key and press Register (writes a user-level .desktop file and runs xdg-mime default). Links are forwarded to the running instance over D-Bus.

Known limits

PAK↔PAK / PAK↔loose conflict detection parses the KPKA entry table and hashes paths with murmur3; it is best-effort and shows nothing if a PAK cannot be parsed.
A PAK you copy into the game folder by hand above the ceiling is indistinguishable from a game update and will be adopted as vanilla.