KitsuneLoads

Rotating custom loading-screen backgrounds for 7 Days to Die v2.6 (PC). Drop any PNGs into Resources/ and they get picked up at startup ~ a random one shows every time the loading screen appears.

Part of the Kitsune modpack.

Themes

• KitsuneLoads ~ default zombies & wasteland set (13 images)
• KitsuneLoadsCats ~ "Cats of 7 Days" alternate pack (13 cat images)
• KitsuneSquared ~ best-of-both remix blending zombies + cats (14 images)

Install one or the other ~ they all patch the same Harmony method, so they conflict if more than one is present. Pick a vibe.

Install

Copy the KitsuneLoads folder into your 7DTD Mods directory:

<7DTD>\Mods\KitsuneLoads\

EasyAntiCheat must be OFF — Harmony DLLs are not EAC-compatible.

What's in the mod folder

KitsuneLoads/
├── ModInfo.xml              # v1.0+ manifest
├── KitsuneLoads.dll         # Harmony patch (swaps loading screen backgrounds)
├── Config/
│   └── XUi_Menu/
│       └── windows.xml      # XML patch: disables aspect-lock on loading_image
└── Resources/
    └── *.png                # any PNGs ~ scanned at startup (1920x1080 recommended)

How it works

• At init, the DLL scans <modfolder>/Resources/*.png and caches every image it finds. Want to add your own? Drop a PNG in, restart, done.
• The DLL patches XUiC_LoadingScreen.GetBindingValueInternal to intercept the {background_texture} binding and return a random @modfolder(<modname>):Resources/<file>.png. The modfolder name comes from _modInstance.Name so the same DLL works in any mod folder (e.g. KitsuneLoads/ or KitsuneLoadsCats/).
• The XML patch flips original_aspect_ratio="true" to false on the loading_image texture so 1920×1080 source images fill the full loading-screen rect (~2.33:1) without pillar-bars.

Build from source

Source lives in build/ at the repo root (not shipped with the mod):

cd build
dotnet build -c Release

The DLL is emitted directly into ../KitsuneLoads/ (overwriting). If your 7DTD install isn't at the default path in the csproj, pass it explicitly:

dotnet build -c Release /p:SdtdPath="D:\Games\7 Days To Die"

Harmony is pulled from NuGet at compile time only — the game provides its own HarmonyX at runtime, so no 0Harmony.dll ships with the mod.

Logs

When things go sideways, check <userdatafolder>\output_log.txt for lines tagged [KitsuneLoads]. You should see:

[KitsuneLoads] Init starting
[KitsuneLoads] Cached 13 loading-screen textures
[KitsuneLoads] Harmony patches registered
[KitsuneLoads] OnOpen — rolled '<image-name>'
[KitsuneLoads] Binding intercepted: background_texture -> '@modfolder(KitsuneLoads):Resources/<image-name>.png'