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Whew, time really flies! From January to March, I was making steady progress on the mod, packing in a decent amount of content in just a few months. Now, here we are, almost July, and I’m finally getting back into the groove of working on it.
So, what happened? Well, between Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom and Pikmin 4 dropping, I had some highly anticipated gaming to do. Plus, I spent a lot of time hanging out with family and friends.
That said, I’ve still made enough progress to warrant a blog post! Thanks for your patience—anyone looking forward to this deserves an update. So, let’s dive in.
Current Overall State of the Mod
Here’s a rough breakdown of where things stand, along with some insight into the progress so far.
Custom Models – 25% Done
Many of Vinny’s custom player models are at least designed, and most of those have been implemented. However, plenty still need to be started. The good news? Many of the remaining models will be easier to create since they’ll reuse parts of the original models they replace.
All models still need some refinements, which means I’ll need to go back and apply updates retroactively. While time-consuming, it’s nowhere near as tough as the initial design and conversion process.
Scoot now has a Morgana-inspired player model, designed with the help of CheesyDraws. His old ACNH model is now an alternate costume, but I haven’t made any other alts for him yet. Got any cool ideas? Let me know! Otherwise, I’ll probably base them on Morgana’s DLC outfits.
Oh, and I still need to finish implementing Vinesene—Vinny’s starter Persona, also designed by CheesyDraws. (Yes, it’s a green Arsene with a mushroom on his head. Surprisingly effective.) No other custom Personas are in the works yet, but I’m open to ideas!
Custom Textures – 25-50% Done
CheesyDraws has wrapped up all of Vinny’s 2D assets, covering everything from the pause menu to dialog portraits and HUD elements. This makes it feel like we’re halfway done, but there’s a catch—Scoot’s assets are still pending. Since Morgana has way more visual assets than Joker, this estimate might be closer to 25%. A lot of work remains, especially for cut-ins and bust-ups.
BGM – 90% Done
All background music tracks have been replaced with carefully chosen Red Vox equivalents. However, I still need to implement the DLC song packs that change with costumes. Since the final costume slots aren’t set in stone, I’ve held off on this for now.
Once that’s done, at some point I want to put together a video showcasing the new BGM lineup!
Voices – 75% Done
Vinny’s battle, field, and system voices are in, but they need a little volume tweaking. Scoot is in the same boat. However, Morgana’s dungeon-crawling dialogue still needs to be replaced, and I only have so many Scoot sounds to work with. I haven’t decided whether to make them play less often or chop them up to create more variety.
Oh, and I also need to swap out voices for the Thieves Den card game.
Text Edits – 1% Done
I’ve barely started on this, aside from a few tests. Thankfully, batch processing should make it easier. Simple swaps like “Joker” → “Vine” and “Morgana” → “Scoot” will be straightforward. Adjusting all the little contextual details—like Morgana being a duck instead of a cat—will probably happen as I playtest before release.
Custom Features – 35% Done
I’ve already shared some details about the unique features I’m adding to enhance replayability, but I’m keeping a few surprises under wraps. That way, if something doesn’t pan out, no one will be disappointed. For now, let’s talk about some of the big things I can confirm…
The Website
The official mod webpage is live and roughly designed! I’m really happy with how it’s shaping up. As I get closer to release, I’ll populate it with screenshots and videos.
Twenty Minute Mode
Since this is a Vinesauce-themed mod, I had to include some nods to the streams. One of the most frequent Twitch chat memes is “P5 is only twenty minutes long, you should play it!”—so I turned it into an actual game mode.
This new mode, selectable from the title screen, skips all introductory sequences. No casino, no interrogation, no wandering around Shibuya before stumbling into a castle. You jump straight to 4/20, ready to tackle dungeons at your own pace.
Once the mode is fully implemented, you’ll be able to visit dungeons in any order, with very few story events interrupting your gameplay. That makes it perfect for streamers who just want to explore the changes without committing to the full RPG experience.
After 20 minutes, you’ll land in a special area where you can access all weapons, armor, and Personas. From there, you can add another 20 minutes or just chill until you exit the game.
I wanted this feature for a couple of reasons. First, I personally love P5 but don’t always want to commit to a 100-hour replay. Second, while I never truly anticipated Vinny playing this mod, it turns out it’s a real contender for a Sunday stream! So, I’m tailoring the experience to be as fun and accessible as possible for him (as well as others who prefer a more streamlined experience).
For those who do want the full game experience, this mode will be optional. Eventually, I also plan to release the event-skip functionality as a standalone mod for anyone playing vanilla P5R.
Development Tools
In a previous post, I mentioned I’ve been making tools to streamline development. They might not be widely useful, but they’re open-source on my GitHub.
EPLGen
As mentioned earlier, EPL files control special effects like particles and animated sprites. I created a glitch effect by chaining them together, but fine-tuning them required tedious hex editing. To make things easier, I built a GUI for tweaking sprite textures, density, and scale. It’s still a bit buggy, but I hope to expand it in the future.
P5 Flag Comparer
P5 uses “flags” (individual bits) to track story progression. I modified the Mod Menu to display active flag IDs, then built a tool that compares flag dumps over time. This helps me identify which flags control tutorials and story events—crucial for building Twenty Minute Mode. I also added a JSON export feature so other modders can use it for their own projects.
Until Next Time
Huge thanks to both the Persona modding and Vinesauce communities for making this project possible. I may struggle with consistency sometimes, but I know it’ll be incredibly rewarding to finish this mod and share it with all of you when it’s time.
Read on in P5R Vinesauce Mod – Devlog #4, where I explain the latest developments of the P5R Vinesauce mod, our decision to cut back on story and focus on dungeon crawling, and more.
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