Re: How To Install Mods In Starbound
Larae Mobus
Starbound has a variety of mods available on the Steam Workshop, ranging from minor cosmetic changes to entirely new gameplay mechanics. After following this guide, you will be able to play with custom mods in Singleplayer or on any modded server using the same mods.
Tip: Zip your mods and upload them to a platform like DropBox.
You can then share the DropBox link with your friends, and they only need to extract the mods and copy them to the mods folder.
Non-workshop mods are installed the exact same way on the server as on your computer; simply use the File Manager on the left side of your NodePanel to access the server's mods folder.The easiest way to get Steam Workshop mods is described below, and starts with subscribing to the mods in Steam Workshop and letting Steam download them automatically to the client on your local computer.
When it's subscribed to, the button changes to say "Subscribed" with a checkmark, and Steam has begun to automatically download the mods in the background to the local computer files. For a large number of mods, you might have to wait a little while for Steam to finish downloading them all.
You will see this view of the game files on your local computer, as shown below. To get to where Steam hides the mods, click on the arrow in the upper left to move up one level, which is circled in the screenshot.
In the screenshot below, you will also see a "mods" folder. That is NOT where Steam stores the workshop mods that it downloads automatically. The "mods" folder is where you manually add your own mods, and after a fresh install this folder is usually empty .
The last step before the server can actually use the mods, is the file inside every numbered folder needs to be moved out of that folder and directly into the /mods folder. The server will not load any files inside other folders inside /mods. The problem with that is, they're all named the same exact name: content.pak.
If you have a lot of mods, this will take a while, and it's kind of tedious. So, here at Nodecraft, we have a magic button that does it all for you. Seriously, magic button.
Please restart the server, and it should automatically load every mod in the /mods folder. If there are any issues with a mod loading at startup, the "Console" section of the server will usually contain any error messages related to that.
Several games use the .pak extension for their asset files. The problem is that these files are not all created equally, and Starbound is all alone with its type of .pak files. Therefore, only information specifically for Starbound .pak files is valid for Starbound mods, and .pak's from other games have no relevance here whatsoever.
Thankfully, every Starbound installation comes with all the tools necessary for packing and unpacking the asset files. For Windows users, they are located in the win32 subfolder of your installation, right next to your storage, mods and other folders.
And now - Linux
To get to the directory of the binaries (this is the default directory of course, if you have installed Starbound somewhere else, the path should be different):
cd /.steam/steam/steamapps/common/Starbound/linux
Starbound was always going to be a game that players would want to re-build in their own image. A procedurally generated sandbox means systems. Lots and lots of systems. It means the community can change whatever they want, and the players have responded at a phenomenal rate of moddery. I've done ridiculous things to my game that I'd never recommend you do. I've added a Dubstep gun and a Vuvuzela*. But there are broader changes I'd happily recommend: tweaks to ship shapes, planet generation, better farming. There's as much to explore in the modding scene as there is on Alpha Diadem 028 III C, and I've beamed down to have a look.
Before you do anything, install this Starbound Mod Manager. It acts like teacher on a school outing to ensure the mods know what they're doing, where they need to be, and how to get along. That's really important when dealing with potential incompatibility between mods. It'll do all this while preventing changes to any of the game's core files, which is probably its most invaluable trick.
But where could you take that ship? The universe Starbound creates is one of gaming's most impressive feats: star systems with explorable planets and moons, lovely backdrops of desert moons, forest planets, and arid, evocative landscapes. Variety Is The Spice of the Universe adds to that in some wonderful ways, turning the weird and exotic up a notch. There are Frostfire planets with sub-zero surface temperatures and pools of lava, Tarballs are dirty rocks of slime and bones (and tar), and many more. On top of those are biomes as well: metallic moons, or huge mountains, or spooky forests. And there are a few more modifiers, like acid eating away at the savannah. I can't say I was ever bored exploring in Starbound, but with this installed I'm almost sure I'll never be bored again.
To make sure of that, I uninstalled it. Why? Because I found the sadly incompatible Wastelands Planets, and I just had to have it. Despite everything Starbound is capable of, it doesn't do desolation very well. That's clearly a stylistic choice by the developers, and though there are abandoned places, they don't feel old. Wastelands Planets are post-industrial places: cracked, grey, lost. It's the backdrops that really sell it, with tilted, post-apocalyptic landscapes creating a lovely mood for the rubble and the ash storms.
It seems like the perfect place to take on Per Aspera Ad Aspera, an in progress mod that has some evil plans. I'm suggesting you keep an eye on this rather than installing it now, because the plan is to basically overhaul the complexity of the game, turning it into a ridiculous, complicated adventure where material properties extends to things like thermal conductivity, organic protection, temperature stabilisation. Just look at the list and tell me you don't want to be dealing with nuclear fission and colonial warfare.
Hmm, things are getting kind of bleak. To counter-act the destruction and darkness there's Persistent Farmables. It's one of those mods that would be right at home if it was added to the vanilla game, making crops grow when you're off-planet and on adventures. You can even have them sprout when you're not even playing the game, which makes complete sense to me. A living breathing universe should tick along when you're not around. I love the idea of coming back to something that you've planted as proof that the world kept on going when you were asleep.
There are a plethora of mods available for Starbound that can easily be added to your server for all of your players to use. Below, we will take a look at where to get these mods and how to install them properly.
Once inside of the File Manager, navigate to the mods folder. Inside of this folder, click the Upload button. Upload the contents.pak file inside of the folder that we found on your computer earlier. In this case, 823605680
With all of that done, head back out of your File Manager. Click the Restart button to reload your server. When it reloads, it will download and install your new mod(s). You can check the Web Console to verify that it loaded. The message will look like the image below.
In your gamepanel you will see three buttons, Steam Workshop, Steam Workshop (installed) and Steam Workshop (updates). Each of these buttons allow you to have full control over the mods installed on your server, in the next section we will cover what each of these buttons do.
Steam Workshop
Install new mods to your server. Gives you the ability to sort results by popularity over a time period, filter by content type in addition to a search box.
Steam Workshop (installed)
Shows you the mods you have installed on your server. Mods can also be uninstalled from within this window.
Steam Workshop (updates)
Update your installed mods. Allows you to update all your installed mods with the click of a button. This can also be configured to be automatically executed which we will cover at the end of this guide.
With the addition of our new and improved Steam Workshop installers, adding mods to your server is as easy as ever. To help you get started we will walk you through all the steps needed to get mods installed and enabled on your server.
This is how you can manually install and add mods to a starbound server you created , all you will need to do so you can see the mods installed on your starbound game is to reset or close and re-open your Starbound partie and you will be able to see the mods added into your game .
This way to install mods on starbound on steam can be better for you if you are not interested in doing the technical changes yourself as dealing with that can be frustrating for non techie starbound players .
As happens with all the best sandbox game, a huge and creative community has attached itself to Starbound. While the game's still in Early Access, through the use of mods you can expand it into something more varied, more vibrant, and specifically tailored to what you want it to be. Here are ten of the best mods, chosen from the many now available in Starbound's growing mod directory .
Before we get to the mods, first download the Starbound Mod Manager. The game doesn't yet offer official mod support, but this third-party application does a great job of installing the files for you. It doesn't matter where you install it, as long as you tell it the location of your Starbound install. You'll most likely find that in your Steam directory, by default in "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Starbound".
Once it's set up, you can install new mods by dragging and dropping their zip files into the main window of the Mod Manager. If compatible, it'll automatically unpack the files, and let you install or remove them with a single click.
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