Download

Download Zone Mod Studio

A free beta for Windows 10 and 11. No installer: unzip the archive and run the program.

File
ZoneModStudio-0.2.3-beta-win64.zip
Version
0.2.3 beta
Date
Size
1.0 MB (1,097,329 bytes)
SHA-256
38bb9fb77feebbcb24dd637c1466d53e2d22b1ded0ec9c26537aa560ac752d1e

Download0.2.3 beta · ZIP · 1.0 MB · Windows 10/11

This is a beta: no Studio change is confirmed in the game yet. Make a separate save before your first check in the game. What is tested and what is not: see Status.

Verify the zip

Optional, but useful. Open PowerShell in the folder with the downloaded file and run:

Get-FileHash .\ZoneModStudio-0.2.3-beta-win64.zip -Algorithm SHA256

The result must match the SHA-256 above. The same hash is in the ZoneModStudio-0.2.3-beta-win64.zip.sha256 file.

Install and make your first mod

  1. Unzip the archive into any folder and run ZoneModStudio.exe. If Windows shows SmartScreen, click “More info” → “Run anyway”.
  2. Pick a language and a theme, then the game. Studio reads its data once; it takes a few seconds.
  3. Find a record in the search on the left (English or Ukrainian name), change a number and press Enter or ✓. The first real change asks for a mod name.
  4. Click “Install to game”. The game must be closed; if it runs, Studio waits until you close it.
  5. Start the game, or restart it if it was open: mods are loaded only when the game starts. Make a separate save before you check.
  6. Check the change: the “Check in game” button tells you where to look. You can remove the mod in My mods.

What you need

System
Windows 10 (1903 or later) or Windows 11, 64-bit. .NET Framework 4.8 is already part of Windows.
Game
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl installed. The Steam version is tested; Studio can also find GOG, Epic and Game Pass installs, but they are not tested yet.
Oodle
An Oodle decompressor (oo2core*.dll) somewhere on the PC. Studio finds it itself: Epic’s Unreal Engine and Zone Kit include one, and so do some games. If there is none, Studio explains what to do. More about Oodle
Disk
About 75 MB for the game data cache; the program itself is about 2.5 MB.

The program is not signed, so Windows may show SmartScreen. Click “More info” → “Run anyway”.

Removing mods and the program

“Remove from game” in My mods removes a mod (the game must be closed). To uninstall Studio, first remove your mods, then delete the program folder, %LOCALAPPDATA%\ZoneModStudio and, if you like, Documents\Zone Mod Studio.

A permanent link to the newest version: https://zonemodstudio.com/latest.zip. Earlier betas are not offered: each new one fixes the bugs of the old ones.

What changed in this version: see the changelog.