Quest Custom Types

custom-types is a library that allows you to create (fake) C# types using macros. These types can extend classes such as MonoBehaviour and much more. custom-types also allows you to create coroutines and delegates.

Custom Types are complex and requires knowledge of basic C#.

Prerequisites

Install custom-types by running qpm dependency add custom-types in your project directory.

Make sure to restore after adding the dependency.

Basics

To create a custom type, create a header file for your type. In this example, we'll make a type called Counter that extends MonoBehavior.

In your header file, include the macros file.

cpp

#pragma once

#include "custom-types/shared/macros.hpp"

Since our Counter Custom Type will be extending MonoBehaviour, we need to include this too.

cpp

#include "UnityEngine/MonoBehaviour.hpp"

Declaring the Type

With those includes, we can now declare our Counter type. Types are declared using macros, similarly to hooking.

cpp

// parameters are (namespace, class name, parent class, contents)
DECLARE_CLASS_CODEGEN(MyNamespace, Counter, UnityEngine::MonoBehaviour,
    // DECLARE_INSTANCE_METHOD creates methods
    DECLARE_INSTANCE_METHOD(void, Update);

    // DECLARE_INSTANCE_FIELD creates fields
    DECLARE_INSTANCE_FIELD(int, counts);
)

In C#, this would translate to the following:

csharp

namespace MyNamespace
{
    public class Counter : MonoBehaviour
    {
        public int counts;

        public void Update()
        {

        }
    }
}

Note that only basic types, such as int, bool, etc, and C# types can be used as instance fields and method parameters declared with these macros. If you need something like a std::vector or a c++ struct in your type, you can declare it after all the C# fields the same way you would in a regular c++ struct or class.

Defining the Type

Create a new source file - name it accordingly - and include your Custom Type header.

To define the type, use the DEFINE_TYPE(Namespace, Class) macro.

For our Counter type, this will look like so:

cpp

#include "Counter.hpp"

DEFINE_TYPE(MyNamespace, Counter);

We can now define the methods that we have declared:

Update - Unity's update method, declared by DECLARE_INSTANCE_METHOD(void, Update);

Our Counter.cpp file now looks like this:

cpp

#include "Counter.hpp"

DEFINE_TYPE(MyNamespace, Counter);

// Unity update method - runs every frame this component is enabled
void MyNamespace::Counter::Update() {
    // Add 5 to the counter field
    counter = counter + 5;
}

Overriding methods

We can also define methods that override those on parent types or interfaces, but we are limited to only overriding methods explicitly defined as virtual or abstract in the C# code. For non interfaces, it's not always clear whether this is the case for any given method if you don't have access to a decompiler and the PC game files, but an example of a virtual method that is commonly overriden is HMUI::ViewController::DidActivate:

cpp

// don't forget to include the types you use!
#include "HMUI/ViewController.hpp"

DECLARE_CLASS_CODEGEN(MyNamespace, CustomMenu, HMUI::ViewController,
    // to override a method, we need the MethodInfo* of the original
    // there are two common ways to get it, but unfortunately both of them make for relatively long lines
    DECLARE_OVERRIDE_METHOD(void, DidActivate,
        il2cpp_utils::il2cpp_type_check::MetadataGetter<&HMUI::ViewController::DidActivate>::get(),
        bool firstActivation, bool addedToHierarchy, bool screenSystemEnabling);
    // OR
    DECLARE_OVERRIDE_METHOD(void, DidActivate,
        il2cpp_utils::FindMethodUnsafe("HMUI", "ViewController", "DidActivate", 3),
        bool firstActivation, bool addedToHierarchy, bool screenSystemEnabling);
    // note that both of these seem to be calling methods at the global level, outside of any functions or hooks,
    // that you normally cannot call until at least after load() --
    // but actually, since these are macros, the code is actually moved inside of internal functions
    // that get called at the correct times for registration
)

Using Interfaces

Sometimes you will want to have your custom type inherit from interfaces. Putting them as the parent type will not work, and instead there is a different macro for it:

cpp

#include "HMUI/TableView_IDataSource.hpp"

// if there is no required parent class, Il2CppObject can be used to equal a plain object with no parent
// also, to inherit from multiple interfaces, they need to be wrapped with std::vector<Il2CppClass*>({ ... })
// to prevent the macro from expanding them incorrectly
DECLARE_CLASS_CODEGEN_INTERFACES(MyNamespace, TableData, Il2CppObject, { classof(HMUI::ISaberMovementData*) },
    // rest of the custom type as normal
)

Constructors

Some simple custom types do not necessarily need constructors, but there are a lot of cases where one does need to be defined. You can create a fully custom one with the DECLARE_CTOR macro:

cpp

DECLARE_CLASS_CODEGEN(MyNamespace, Counter, UnityEngine::MonoBehaviour,
    // other members

    // can have arguments the same as any other method
    // but the return type is always void so it is omitted from the macro
    DECLARE_CTOR(ctor);
)

And then define it just like any other method. However, in that definition, you should make sure to invoke the constructor of the base class with INVOKE_BASE_CTOR:

cpp

void MyNamespace::Counter::ctor() {
    INVOKE_BASE_CTOR(classof(UnityEngine::MonoBehaviour*), ...constructor arguments);
    // initialize other things
}

In the case of MonoBehaviour, this isn't necessary as it doesn't do anything in its constructor. If you inherit other types, though, not invoking their constructors can cause hard to track down bugs.

Another case where the constructor would be used is if you use DECLARE_INSTANCE_FIELD_DEFAULT or have c++ style fields in your class that need special initialization, such as std::vector or something with a default value, ex:

cpp

DECLARE_CLASS_CODEGEN(MyNamespace, Counter, UnityEngine::MonoBehaviour,
    // C# members
    public:
    int counts = 5;
)

In this case you define the constructor method the same way and include INVOKE_CTOR() in the method definition:

cpp

void MyNamespace::Counter::ctor() {
    // sets counts to 5
    INVOKE_CTOR();
    // initialize other things
}

If you want these macros but have nothing else to do in the constructor, you can skip the method definition and just use DECLARE_DEFAULT_CTOR:

cpp

DECLARE_CLASS_CODEGEN(MyNamespace, Counter, UnityEngine::MonoBehaviour,
    // C# members

    // invokes the MonoBehaviour constructor and sets counts to 5
    DECLARE_DEFAULT_CTOR();

    public:
    int counts = 5;
)

Destructors can be defined custom similarly to contructors with DECLARE_DTOR, and/or DECLARE_SIMPLE_DTOR to run the destructor for any c++ fields that need to have special behavior when being destroyed. You don't need to worry about running the base class destructor, though.

WARNING

To create a new object, do not run ctor yourself or create it in c++ with new or any similar operator, but instead use il2cpp_utils::New<MyNamespace::Counter*>(...constructor arguments);, or any C# method that would create an object, such as AddComponent.

Registering

You can register all the custom types you have created using the custom_types::Register::AutoRegister() method.

This method should be put in your load() like so:

cpp

#include "custom-types/shared/register.hpp"

// other code

extern "C" void load() {
    // make sure this is after il2cpp_functions::Init()
    custom_types::Register::AutoRegister();

    // other code
}

To ensure correct behavior, make sure you install hooks after you register your Custom Types!

Using the Type

Custom Types can be used as if they were conventional C# types like you would find in the base game - for our Counter type, we can add it as a component to a GameObject as it inherits MonoBehaviour.

cpp

#include "UnityEngine/GameObject.hpp"
#include "Counter.hpp"

// in a hook somewhere
UnityEngine::GameObject* gameObject = UnityEngine::GameObject::New_ctor("CounterObject");
gameObject->AddComponent<MyNamespace::Counter*>();

Coroutines

In Unity, a coroutine is a method that can pause execution and return control to Unity but then continue where it left off on the following frame. Unity Documentation

Creating a Coroutine

Using Custom Types, coroutines are pretty much the same as their C# counterparts. Take a look at this example:

cpp

#include "custom-types/shared/coroutine.hpp"
#include "UnityEngine/WaitForSeconds.hpp"
#include "System/Collections/IEnumerator.hpp"

custom_types::Helpers::Coroutine counterCoroutine() {

    int secondsPassed = 0;

    // loop 30 times
    for (int i = 0; i < 30; i++) {
        secondsPassed++;

        // wait one second
        // arguments passed to co_yield must be cast to this type
        // you can also use co_yield nullptr; to wait a single frame
        co_yield reinterpret_cast<System::Collections::IEnumerator*>(UnityEngine::WaitForSeconds::New_ctor(1));
    }
    co_return;
}

C#	C++
`yield return`	`co_yield`
`yield`	`co_yield`
`yield break`	`co_return`

co_return is used to end a coroutine. C# automatically handles this during compilation, but c++ does not, so make sure you have one at the end of all your coroutines.

You can also use co_return to exit a coroutine early, just like return would in a typical function.

Using normal return in a coroutine will not work.

Using the Coroutine

You can start a coroutine on any MonoBehaviour using the StartCoroutine method just like in C#, however to create an actual coroutine from a function you need an extra call:

cpp

#include "UnityEngine/GameObject.hpp"
#include "custom-types/shared/coroutine.hpp"

// in a hook somewhere
auto gameObject = UnityEngine::GameObject::New_ctor("MyCoroutineRunner");
// this is the example custom type we made earlier, but anything inheriting from a MonoBehaviour will work
auto myMonoBehaviour = gameObject->AddComponent<MyNamespace::Counter*>();
// create the object that we can pass to StartCoroutine from our function
auto coroutine = custom_types::Helpers::CoroutineHelper::New(counterCoroutine());
myMonoBehaviour->StartCoroutine(coroutine);

You can use SharedCoroutineStarter to start a coroutine without the need of an instance like so:

cpp

#include "GlobalNamespace/SharedCoroutineStarter.hpp"
#include "custom-types/shared/coroutine.hpp"

// in a hook somewhere
auto coroutine = custom_types::Helpers::CoroutineHelper::New(counterCoroutine());
GlobalNamespace::SharedCoroutineStarter::get_instance()->StartCoroutine(coroutine);

Other

Some extra information and recommended dos and don'ts can be found here.

Quest Custom Types ​

Prerequisites ​

Basics ​

Declaring the Type ​

Defining the Type ​

Overriding methods ​

Using Interfaces ​

Constructors ​

Registering ​

Using the Type ​

Coroutines ​

Creating a Coroutine ​

Using the Coroutine ​

Other ​