Armored Core 6 Modding with DSMapStudio

Armored Core VI is the newest game DSMapStudio touches, and its support is honestly labeled experimental: you get the Param Editor and Text Editor, but not the 3D Map Editor. For AC6 that barely bites — the scene is built almost entirely on param edits, since tuning mech parts, weapons, and AC stats is where the balance lives. What you can't do is edit AC6's maps visually. Everything else is the modern Elden-Ring-style flow: unpack with UXM, edit params, load through ModEngine2.

Experimental means: params and text, not maps

DSMapStudio added AC6 in v1.09 (October 2023) and it's still experimental. Two of the three editors work fully — the Param Editor (parts, weapons, AC stats, missions) and the Text Editor — while the Map Editor doesn't support AC6 at all. Because AC6 modding is overwhelmingly param-driven, most projects never need the Map Editor, so the experimental label rarely blocks real work. Just go in knowing maps aren't on the table.

Setup, in order

1. Install DSMapStudio — release build, VC++ x64 + .NET 7, outside Program Files (installation guide).
2. Unpack with UXM — for param/text work a minimal unpack is enough (msg plus the root regulation.bin); no reason to extract map data you can't edit.
3. New Project → Game Type: Armored Core 6, Game Directory on the unpacked files (first project setup).
4. Verify — part and weapon rows load.

Armored Core 6 at a glance

What you can edit

AC6 is a mech game, so its params look different from a Souls title, but they live in regulation.bin and edit identically. Through the Param Editor: AC parts (frames, boosters, generators), weapons (damage, heat, ammo, recoil), overall AC performance stats, and mission/enemy parameters. The Text Editor covers part names and descriptions. Rebalancing every weapon goes through CSV export/import exactly as on the other games.

Keeping a mod alive across patches

AC6 gets regular balance patches, and each ships a new regulation.bin your mod wasn't built on. Don't lose your edits — re-base them: export your modified rows to CSV, create a fresh project on the patched regulation.bin, import them back. Full process in update params after a patch. It's the same re-base workflow as Elden Ring, and AC6's patch cadence makes it a routine part of maintaining a mod.

Merging and troubleshooting

Two AC6 mods both editing regulation.bin merge via the row-level CSV method in the merge regulation.bin guide. For tool-side problems — empty Param Editor (wrong Game Type or packed files) or the program not opening — see the troubleshooting hub.

Support is experimental, but since AC6 modding is param-based, the Param Editor and CSV workflow cover almost everything. Start with the installation guide and first project setup, and keep the update-params guide handy.