Why can't I find my Vanilla art files?

[Absolution]

My Vanilla game works absolutely fine, but while modding I noticed some weird issue - Most art files don't appear in the game folders, or in my computer at all!

Assests/Art/LeaderHeads - their folders are empty but for some eyeshadow files.
In BtS and Warlords, as well as in Vanilla built-in mods, I can see the whole folder, including NIF and KFM files.

How is it even possible that the Vanilla game works when these files are not found at my computer at all?
The XML/Art directs to a specific location (e.g. Art/Interface/TeamColor/FlagDECAL_FleurDeLis.dds), which does not exist at all!

A similar (actually more severe) situation occurs in my Colonization files.

I am reviving an old question about this, the answer there wasn't really helpful to me - https://forums.civfanatics.com/threads/civ4vanilla-resources-cant-find-them.267977/

I was not sure if it belongs to the Modding forum or to here, but I guess it is still a strange issue, even if I didn't try to mod those arts.

 

[Lemon Merchant]

The art files are actually contained in the .PAK files in the Vanilla main directory. They have the paths in the files so that Vanilla can find them. BTS has them too, but there are also some alternate files which are contained in the normal game directory and not packed.

Hope that makes sense.

 

[Absolution]

It does, but where will those .pak files be found, and can they be addressed?
Is there a simple way to borrow a Vanilla art file from there, without a third party application?

 

[Lemon Merchant]

They will be in your Assets folder under the vanilla install, and they are *.fpk files. IT is possible to use them if you know the location and filename of the file that you want to use. If you want the raw files to incorporate into a mod for instance, you will have to use PakBuild to unpack the appropriate .fpk file, find the art you need and copy into somewhere where you can use it. There are articles in the Tutorial section of the modding forums which can guide you through the process.

For example, this link shows you how to use .fpk files in your mod: https://forums.civfanatics.com/threads/using-pakbuild-to-compress-your-art-folder.297865/

The procedure for unpacking is the reverse of what Wolfshanze is talking about, and may be covered in the thread. There are other resources in the modding threads as well.