Mods

Mods are in development! This section is a work in progress!

Setup

Creating a mod

1. If it doesn't already exist, create a Mods folder inside %userprofile%\appdata\LocalLow\Codebyfire Ltd\The Colonists\
2. Create a folder for your mod inside the Mods folder, e.g. codebyfireTestMod
3. Everything then goes inside codebyfireTestMod. You can use subfolders to organise content or keep it all in the main directory, the mod loader in the game will just look at the name of the file to determine what it is.

Enabling a mod

1. When you run the game, open the Mod Manager window and you should see an entry for codebyfireTestMod as well as any other folders in the Mods directory.
2. To enable a mod, tick the entry in the list. At this point any DLLs will be initialised.
3. Create a sandbox game and the game will process all other content in your mod, i.e. json files, images etc.
4. You can update your mod and reload the codex mid-game using the button in the top left info panel.

   Some things may go wrong when reloading the codex mid-game, depending on the changes you make! For example, removing a building or resource may not go down well.

Codex

Base Codex File

Generate default files using the Export Base Codex button in the Mod Manager window.

Footprint and Structure rendering

The render.json file can be used to change the building, structure, and track footprint shown when they are placed.
The file floor_buildings.png contains the graphics for the current buildings, structures, and tracks.

The file floor_base.png can be used to modify buildings, plots, and tracks with ID under 200 (existing)
The file floor_extra.png can be used to modify buildings, plots, and tracks with ID over 200 (new)

These files are size: 2048 x 2048 pixels
Building footprints are a 64 x 64 tiled grid with 0,0 being in the bottom left.
Structure footprints are a 68 x 68 tiled grid with 0,0 being in the bottom left, with a 2 pixel "bleed" border.

Structures Footprint

Tree and Crop rendering can be controlled in render.json