This guide is intended for advanced players of Restoration Mod. If you're unfamiliar with it, it's recommended to check out new player guide first:
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1366254667

Restoration Mod features two versions. gold is the stable version, which releases about every month (or whenever Overkill breaks the mods). It is considered the definitive version and can be downloaded off the Modworkshop.

However, the ResMod team allows us to test the newest changes in almost real time. The dev version exists for this very purpose.

Restoration Mod gets new changes almost daily. How can you update a mod which is almost 2GB in size so often? Do you re-download it after every small tweak? Of course not - we will use Github Desktop, which is a desktop client of the Github web-service.

This guide will show you how to install and update dev branch of ResMod and detail some of its features.

Github Desktop is a desktop client of the Github web-service which is used for collaborative work on projects (such as software, games, mods etc). It is used by the ResMod team.
Download it from Github's official site: https://desktop.github.com/

Github Desktop interface might be overwhelming at first, but thankfully we're only going to need a few functions. On the upper panel click File > Clone repository... (or press Crtl + Shift + O)


Choose the URL menu.
In Repository URL paste the link to Restoration Mod repository (see pic below):
https://github.com/payday-restoration/restoration-mod.git

In Local Path choose an empty folder, to which dev branch will be downloaded. Keep in mind that you will have to move it to your PAYDAY 2 'mods' folder every update, so keep it close to your 'mods' folder (for example, in the picture I have created an empty folder right in my 'mods' directory)



If everything is done correctly, you will see this.

Since Github is intended for code first and foremost, it doesn't work well with huge files (ResMod is almost 2GB), so the download won't be very fast. If you have a weak PC, it is recommended to close every other program, as the download will be reset if it's stuck or interrupted.


Press the Current branch button and choose dev. Then, press Fetch origin and then Pull origin. Dev-version will be updated with all the latest changes (see the next section for more info on that)

This step is recommended for any Payday 2 mod user. In the mods folder create a folder which starts with "_" (so it's higher than everything else). There you will put mods which you currently don't need, but might need later. That way, everything will be neatly organized and you won't lose any of your mods. In this case, you need to put gold version of ResMod in there (restoration-mod-gold). This is needed in case you want to switch back to gold.

After Github Desktop is done, you will see restoration-mod folder in the directory you've chosen on step 2. This folder has the dev version. Move it to your mods folder and you can start playing!

As you know, dev version is needed so you can play with all the latest changes, which are done to ResMod almost daily.

Fortunately, checking and downloading updates is very easy with Github Desktop


Fetch origin button checks if anything has been done to the dev branch. If there's something new, it will show you.


Neat! Looks like there's been one change since we last checked. Press Pull origin and wait for the download to finish.

Now you will have to install the latest dev branch once again. The quickest way is this:
-Delete everything in mods/restoration-mod
-From your dev branch folder copy everything apart from .git folder.
-Paste into mods/restoration-mod

That's it, your dev version has been updated! Don't forget to regularly check for changes using the Fetch origin button.

Keep in mind that dev branch is considered experimental and unstable. You may and will crash. Fortunately, the devs are quick at work to fix any problems that arise. Post your changelog in #troubleshooting channel of Restoration Mod discord and you will be contacted by a dev quickly!
https://discord.gg/YmQkDyY

dev and gold are generally incompatible. However, they use the same matchmaking key, so you will see the lobbies from the other branch of the mod (but you won't be able to join - you will immediately see "Failed joining game"). There's an exception when dev and gold branches are the same or very similar, in a short time window after a new gold release.
In any case, it is not recommended to play on dev with gold players and vice versa: You will crash.

Rich Presence is a feature on Discord on Steam which displays under your name what exactly you do in the game. You may use it to show other ResMod players, which branch you use. For that, download Rich Presence Updated mod, which allows you to change the text of the feature on Steam:
https://modworkshop.net/mod/30885
1. Download and install the mod.
2. Find the RichPresence.lua file and open it (using Notepad++ or other text editor you prefer)
3. Find line 129:
["#raw_status"] = "[RES MOD] {#State_%game:state%}",
4.Change the text in the quotes on the right. For example, on the picture you can see that is was changed to "ResMod dev: {#State_%game:state%}"

That's it, now all your friends see that you play on dev! If you swtich to gold, don't forget to also switch the text accordingly to avoid any confusion.

You can find all the changes in Restoration Mod discord, #dev-branch channel:

If you've installed the dev branch, don't delete the gold one: You might want to return to it, and most players play on gold branch.

Thanks for reading the guide, and if you have any questions, ask in the comments, or in the Restoration Mod discord! See you in the game!

Restoration Mod discord:
https://discord.gg/YmQkDyY