Modding
Mods in Software Inc. can be defined in simple text-based files or using C# and compiling code for the game to load. You can add new software types, furniture, translations and room textures using only the TyD file format.
Debugging console
You'll need the in-game console to properly test your mods and check if everything is working as it should. The debugging console is enabled by binding the console key at the bottom of the key binding menu in the options window. More information about how to use console can be found on Console.
Folder structure
Unless downloaded from the Steam Workshop, mods are placed in the root of the game folder, depending on which type of mod you are making. Each mod should be placed in its own folder within the following folders (Note that these folders might not exist in the first place, so you should create them yourself):
- Software types and personalities should be placed in the Mods folder.
- Furniture should be placed in the Furniture folder.
- Room, path and roof textures should be placed in the Materials folder.
- C# code and dll files should be placed in the DLLMods folder.
- Translations should be placed in the Localization folder.
Meta file
Each mod will take its name from the folder it is in. However, you can customize the Name, Description and Author of your mod by adding a meta.tyd file to the root of your mod's folder, containing the specified records. This file will be created automatically when you edit your mod in-game (Not implemented yet as of Alpha 11.4.7).
Localizations
All mods can have their own custom localizations defined, to make it easier to translate or support multiple languages out of the box. Simply add a Localization folder to the root of your mod's folder, and then put a folder with the name of each language you want to translate to, which should at a minimum contain English. Translations are just a list of TyD records, however, software types and features are a little more complex, and you should follow the layout in the Software.Tyd file in the main English localization folder. Your translations will be loaded and used based on the name of the language the player is currently using.
Mod types
Data mod
Data mods can add, change or remove software types, AI company types, name generators and employee personalities. This is all done with TyD files, however software can have scripts attached using SIPL.
Furniture
You can add furniture using .obj 3D object files. The furniture modding system, while only using TyD files, allows you to change pretty much anything about your furniture that would be possible to change from within the game's engine.
Materials
Material mods allow you to load textures into the game for interior walls, exterior walls, floors, roofs and paths.
Code mod
If you want to dive even further, you can put .cs files directly with the game, and it will compile and load your scripts on startup. For more control, you can compile your own DLL files for the game to load.
Localizations
To create a localization you can copy the English folder from the Localization folder and fill in your own text in the appropriate fields. Localization files are written entirely in TyD, to be easily human-readable.
Localizations can also contain femalefirstnames.txt, malefirstnames.txt and lastnames.txt files to overwrite the default employee names in the game. These should contain a list of names separated by new lines, ordered by how common the name is.
Helpful console commands
- COMPARE_LOCALIZATION X Y - Compares what has changed between between localization X and Y, Y should almost always be "English"
- CONVERT_LOCALIZATION_TYD X - Converts localization named X from XML to TyD
- RELOAD_LOCALIZATION - Reloads all localizations, but does not update UI instantly when in-game