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Signs of Life

Make your first mod

This walkthrough puts one custom item into a running game. You do not need Lua, animation tools, or a Workshop page yet.

1. Open Mod Prep

In Signs of Life → Mods, choose Create / Edit Mods. You can also run Tools/Mod Prep.bat next to the installed game.

On the Mod Prep home screen, choose Create New Mod. Fill in:

  • UniqueModName: a short permanent ID such as alex_first_mod. Players do not see this name.
  • Display name (optional): the name players will see. If you leave it blank, Mod Prep uses the unique name.
  • Description: a sentence suitable for a future Workshop page.

The default project location is your live Mods folder:

Documents/My Games/Signs of Life/Mods/

Press Create and Continue. Mod Prep creates modinfo.json, a sample item (item_sample_widget.json), a cyan-and-magenta sprite at Sprites/sample_widget.png, and a README with these test steps.

Do not casually rename identities

Saved games remember which mod and item they belong to. UniqueModName is the prefix on every content ID. The starter item is <UniqueModName>.sample_widget. After players save your content, changing the unique mod name or an item's UniqueIdentifier creates a different identity.

2. Validate

Press Validate. Errors block testing and staging; warnings explain something worth reviewing. The starter project should report one content entry and no errors.

If you created the project outside the live Mods folder, press Install / Refresh Test Copy after each edit. A project created in the Mods folder is already installed.

3. Load it in the game

  1. Launch Signs of Life and open Mods.
  2. Find your display name under Installed Mods.
  3. Press Load Now, or restart the game.
  4. Enter a single-player world.
  5. Open chat and type /creative (or /c).
  6. Find <Display name> Sample under Misc.

The bright cross-shaped icon proves that the game found your mod, read the new item, and loaded its picture.

4. Make a change

In Mod Prep, press Open Project Folder. Edit item_sample_widget.json, changing the item Name or Description while leaving UniqueIdentifier alone. Save, then repeat Validate → Install / Refresh Test Copy if needed → Load Now. Change one thing at a time so you can tell which edit did what.

5. Publish privately

When the local copy works:

  1. In Mod Prep, add a useful description and preview (Browse an image, or Generate a starfield card from the title and description), then press Stage for in-game.
  2. Launch Signs of Life and open Mods → Staged Mods.
  3. Select the package, then Upload New Mod or Update Existing Mod to Steam Workshop.
  4. Confirm whether it should create a new page or update the one this project already remembers.

New projects are private by default. Check the resulting Steam page before making one public.

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