Packed Resources API
DANGER
This API is now deprecated, it's not recommended to use it.
The Packed Resources API is a part of the M.R.U library that allows you to distribute a "default" resource pack with your mod and then place it in an external location, such as the .minecraft folder, allowing users to easily edit the resource pack without having to extract it from the mod jar - it also allows you to create various editors for the resource pack due to the fact it's now external and editable using normal file system tools.
Usage
Ensure that any resources you want unpacked are located within a folder called packed within your mod's resources folder. The packed folder should be structured the same as a normal resource pack, with the root folder being assets. You do not need to create a pack.mcmeta, MRU will do this for you.
INFO
If you want to use data generation along with this system, you should use MRU's DatagenFinishedCallback event alongside the Packer.pack method.
Once you've set up your resources, you should register your resources using the Unpacker.register method. This method takes in a class and a UnpackedResourcePack instance. The class should be a class that is within your mod.
WARNING
It's recomended to use this at the earliest stage possible, eg; in onInitialize for Fabric, or in your Mod's constructor for [Neo]Forge.
An example of this can be seen below:
Unpacker.register(MRUFabric.class, new UnpackedResourcePack("mru", LoaderUtils.getGameDir().resolve("mru"), "mru", "This is a readme of what this resource pack is for. You should include an explaination of how to use it here for users."));This will register the mru resource pack to be unpacked to the .minecraft/mru folder. The mru folder will be created if it doesn't exist, and the resource pack will be unpacked to it. When the game reloads resources, MRU will automatically register the UnpackedResourcePack for you.
INFO
Your unpacked resource pack will always be at the bottom of the resource pack list to allow resource packs to override it.