Aug 06, 2016 If the one and only reason you're doing it is to change hairstyle - there used to be a program back in the earlier versions of Starbound that let you edit your characters appearance. It would just take the player file and edit the appearance right in it without needing to run any mods. Jan 27, 2014 I couldn't figure out a way of changing my characters name using that site, is there a way when uploading your player file? You can open your character file using notepad and open up the finder window with ctrl+F and search 'name'. The first text it finds right after that, you'll see your name. From there, you can change your characters name. Starbound How To Edit Character. Make modifications and save the changes, then click on the 3rd icon (top left) that looks like an ancient 3.5' floppydisk, a window will pop up. Now you can change folder, overwrite or simply give your modified savegame a new name. If yougive your save a new name, follow the naming restrictions to be safe i.e. I host a server using starboundserver.exe and 'Join' it using 127.0.0.1 as the target IP address with two separate instances of the game, meaning I launch starbound.exe two times. The other one is the old character and other one new character. Then in-game the old character invites the new character to the party from top left corner of the screen.
This article will show you the steps you need to take before you can start actually modding, and also the steps you can take after you are done modding, to pack and publish your mod.
You will need a text editor that is not the Windows included notepad.exe, as it does not support UNIX line endings. Do not use a word processor such as MS Word instead of a text editor. Only UTF-8 is supported, other encodings are likely to cause crashes. Optionally, for easier packing and unpacking of mods and assets, you may use ModPackHelper (available for Windows and Linux) or PAK GUI.
Furious Koala introduced a .pak format which improves loading times and eases mod distribution. This means we need to unpack the assets before we can start modding.
Note - This step will not remove or change your packed.pak file, but simply extract its content for use as reference material. Unpacked assets may be safely left in ..assets and changes you make to the unpacked assets will have no effect on your game as Starbound will prioritize the use of assets.pak (unless the unpacked _metadata is deleted).
Current as of Version 1.4.3, June 27th, 2019
.win32asset_unpacker.exe '.assetspacked.pak' '.assetspacked'
Notes
SteamsteamappscommonStarbound
It is advised to read the Unofficial Modding E-book instead, available on Chucklefish Forums. http://community.playstarbound.com/resources/unofficial-modding-ebook-2-0.2930/
Current as of version 1.3.0, June 13th, 2017
If you have purchased Starbound from Steam, then these instructions will work. Otherwise you will have to find your Starbound assets folder and apply the file paths to these instructions.
cd ~/Library/Application Support/Steam/steamapps/common/Starbound/assets
Now you are in the assets folder.mkdir unpacked
cd ../osx
./asset_unpacker ../assets/packed.pak ../assets/unpacked
(The asset_unpacker should finish anywhere from 1 to 500 seconds depending on your computer, so let it work. If it takes longer than 20 minutes, quit Terminal.app and start over. If retrying doesn't work, then you have an issue external to the asset_unpacker.)It is highly recommended that you make a backup copy of your original, working packed.pak before you mod and pack.
To pack, do exactly the same steps as mentioned above (minus making a new folder 'unpacked'), but when you get to step 5, where you actually unpack the packed.pak file:
./asset_packer ../assets/unpacked ../assets/packed.pak
Current as of version 1.2.3b, May 26th, 2017
linux/asset_unpacker assets/packed.pak unpacked_assets
Unpacked assets to unpacked_assets in 70.0567s
If you did everything right, Starbound should load your new mod the next time you run it. If the game crashes, or your changes are not found in the game, check your starbound.log file.
The metadata file (usually named _metadata
) is a completely optional file that contains your mod's name, description, and more. If using the Steam Uploader Tool, a basic metadata file will be generated for you. While optional, it is recommended to have at least have a name set in the metadata in case a companion mod ever needs to require or include your mod, and to make your mod more easily identifiable within the game log should any errors occur.
Before publishing your mod, it is recommended to pack it as a single <modname>.pak
file. This simplifies installation (drop the file in the Starbound/mods/ folder). The alternative is to just put all the files into an archive for distribution which will need to be unpacked by end users to install.
The mod uploader included with the Steam version of Starbound will automatically pack your mod into a pak file when it uploads to the workshop. If you subscribe to your own mod, you may copy this pak from the workshop folder for redistribution through other channels, or you may follow standard packing methods. Linux users may use Proton to launch the mod uploader.
Alternately, all users may use the SteamCMD method as per this guide by The | Suit. This is the only reliable option for Mac users.
To pack your mod into a pak file, you may either manually use asset_packer.exe as included with Starbound, or you can automate it with PAK GUI or ModPackHelper.
.win32asset_packer.exe .mods<mod folder name> .mods<modname>.pak
(substitute <mod folder name> with your mod's folder and <modname> with whatever you wish)Only one thing left to do - publish your mod!
Once you have all desired fields filled in the uploader, hit 'Upload to Steam'. When the status bar vanishes, you're done!
Go to the official modding forums, select 'add mod' in the upper right hand section, select the category of your mod, fill out the information form and hit save. It is that easy.
Publishing methods for other services, such as NexusMods, may vary. Please refer to the individual service for more information. Otherwise, your mod's folder or pak file may be distributed as you choose.