NTERO

NTERO extracts EverQuest textures and sounds into editable files, rebuilds the game archives, and launches the game with the edited archives through a local overlay. It does not modify the archives in your EverQuest installation.

NTERO supports:

• DDS, BMP, and TGA textures from S3D archives, edited as PNG files
• WAV sounds from PFS archives, edited as lossless FLAC files
• Windows overlays and launching eqgame.exe patchme

Install

The easiest option is the standalone Windows executable. Download ntero.exe from the latest release and open it directly to use the graphical interface. Running it without arguments in a terminal uses SWINGSet's terminal interface. Supplying arguments keeps the command-line interface:

.\ntero.exe --help

To run NTERO from source, install Python 3.14 or newer and uv, then run these commands from the repository:

uv run ntero --help

The examples below use ntero. Replace it with .\ntero.exe for the standalone executable or uv run ntero when running from source.

Quick Start

Choose three locations:

• --game-dir: your EverQuest installation containing eqgame.exe
• --library-root: a separate folder where NTERO stores editable and packed files
• --texture-pack-name: a short name for this set of texture edits

The game installation and library must be on the same Windows drive if you want to use play.

1. Extract

ntero extract `
    --game-dir "C:\Games\EverQuest" `
    --library-root c:\NteroLibrary `
    --texture-pack-name my-textures

Editable textures are created under:

D:\NteroLibrary\textures\my-textures\<archive>\textures\

2. Edit

Edit or replace the PNG files inside each textures folder. Keep their names, paths, and transparency behavior unchanged. Do not edit files in special.

NTERO does not resize or enhance images. Use the image editor or resizing tool of your choice before packing.

3. Pack

ntero pack `
    --library-root D:\NteroLibrary `
    --texture-pack-name my-textures

Packed archives are written under:

D:\NteroLibrary\textures\my-textures\packed\

By default, textures use BC3/DXT5 compression. For larger, uncompressed BGRA textures, add --lossless:

ntero pack `
    --library-root D:\NteroLibrary `
    --texture-pack-name my-textures `
    --lossless

Running pack again skips archives that have not changed.

4. Play

ntero play `
    --game-dir "C:\Games\EverQuest" `
    --library-root D:\NteroLibrary `
    --texture-pack-name my-textures

NTERO creates D:\NteroLibrary\overlay, links in the selected packed archives, and launches EverQuest in patchme mode. Add --no-launch to create the overlay without starting the game.

The game directory, library, and overlay must be on the same drive because the overlay uses Windows hardlinks. Files linked from the game installation are the same on-disk files, so do not edit ordinary game files through the overlay.

Update a Pack

After EverQuest has been patched, update an existing pack before editing newly added files:

ntero update `
    --game-dir "C:\Games\EverQuest" `
    --library-root D:\NteroLibrary `
    --texture-pack-name my-textures

update adds new textures without overwriting your existing PNG edits. It also refreshes the saved source archives used by the next pack. The pack must already exist; use extract to create a new one.

Sound Packs

Sounds use the same workflow with --sound-pack-name:

ntero extract `
    --game-dir "C:\Games\EverQuest" `
    --library-root D:\NteroLibrary `
    --sound-pack-name my-sounds

ntero pack `
    --library-root D:\NteroLibrary `
    --sound-pack-name my-sounds

ntero play `
    --game-dir "C:\Games\EverQuest" `
    --library-root D:\NteroLibrary `
    --sound-pack-name my-sounds

Edit FLAC files under D:\NteroLibrary\sounds\my-sounds\<archive>\sounds\. NTERO converts each FLAC back to a PCM WAV with the original sample rate, channel count, and bit depth when rebuilding its PFS archive. Keep the sample rate and channel count unchanged; packing rejects files whose profile no longer matches.

You can pass both --texture-pack-name and --sound-pack-name to extract, update, pack, or play to process and use both packs together.

Options and Troubleshooting

Run ntero <command> --help for all options. Useful options include:

• --workers N changes how many archives extract, update, or pack processes at once. Use --workers 1 when troubleshooting.
• --lossless makes texture packing use uncompressed BGRA instead of BC3/DXT5.
• --no-launch makes play build the overlay without launching EverQuest.

If pack reports an alpha or transparency error, check that the edited PNG still has the same kind of transparency as the extracted image. If play reports a hardlink error, confirm that --game-dir and --library-root are on the same drive.

NTERO currently supports PFS version 2 S3D archives. sky.s3d is intentionally left unchanged.

License

Copyright (C) 2026 Richard Broderick.

NTERO, including its Python and Rust source code, is free software licensed under the GNU General Public License version 3 only (GPL-3.0-only). You may use, modify, and redistribute it under the terms in LICENSE. Third-party components retain their own licenses, which are included under ThirdPartyLicenses.