Step 1) Go to the "Mods" subforum and browse for mods you like the look of. You can also look through a list of established mods at speed by looking in the
Mod Index.
Step 2) When you find a mod you want to try, check carefully for the following:
- The version of Starsector the mod is compatible with, and
- Any dependencies (library mods) the mod requires in order to function. LazyLib, GraphicsLib and MagicLib are in common use, so you might as well get them to start with.
Step 3) Assuming a mod you have chosen is compatible with your version of the game, download it.
Step 4) Unzip the downloaded archive and move the resulting folder (should bear the name of the mod) into the "mods" folder within your Starsector directory. Repeat the above steps until you're satisfied with your mod collection.
Step 5) Open Starsector. In the launcher window, click the "Mods..." button at the bottom, scroll through to locate your desired mods and click the checkbox for each one.
Step 6) Click "Save", then launch the game. That's it!
There are lots of good lists of mod recommendations for early mod-users, but I don't know where to locate them right now so I'll just throw in some generic tips to get your started.
- Start with
Version Checker, a utility mod that lets you know when your other mods have updates available. Pretty much the whole community swear by VC, and you probably won't find a single person who won't tell you to get it.
- Grab a couple of nice quality-of-life mods. I'd recommend
Combat Chatter, which gives you real-time alerts from your ships in combat when they take damage, overload, etc. and also pops up with amusing little dialogue lines in such situations. Take a look through the "Utility Mods" section in the Mod Index for more like this.
- It's recommended that first-time mod users avoid faction mods as they drastically affect the difficulty of the game, but you can ease into the concept of "new ships and weapons" with a ship pack or two.
Ship/Weapon Pack is the definitive such mod (one of the most well-established and popular ones around!), but there are a good few others such as
Tahlan Shipworks and
Arsenal Expansion.
- If you feel like the economy of the game needs a spin, or you want to play more of a 4X type of game, there's a highly popular mod called
Nexerelin, which overhauls a great deal of how inter-faction relationships go in the Sector and adds a lot in the ways of war and diplomacy between the player and the non-player factions. It adds custom start options that let you play as a member of a faction from the get-go, lets you deploy agents into markets for nefarious actions, adds a mining mechanic, vengeance fleets that are dispatched from factions you've seriously *** off, and even [REDACTED] raids! It's a pretty huge mod, and personally I would only recommend it at this stage if you really want to add that sort of thing to your game.
As I said, I'd avoid faction mods - that is, mods that add new major factions with their own set of ships and weapons - for now, but once you're comfortable with the quantity of factions in the game already then you can start branching out. Tiandong Heavy Industries, SCY Nation, Shadowyards Reconstruction Authority, Diable Avionics, Interstellar Imperium and Dassault-Mikoyan Engineering are just a handful of excellent such mods that I can recall right now. Even when you get to trying these mods I'd suggest only adding a couple at a time to avoid overloading yourself with content - trust me, you'll enjoy each mod better if you learn it gradually and develop an affinity for it.
That's all I can say on the topic for now. I haven't used many mods (besides the ones I make) for quite some time, so take all my recommendations with a pinch of salt. Regardless, plenty of people will give you tips on mod selection early on, and I know the "how to add mods" tips are accurate, haha! Seriously, it's that simple. Good luck, and happy modding!
