Modding Help Making my first mod. Advice and tips

Discussion in 'Starbound Modding' started by OldPants101, Jul 13, 2018.

  1. OldPants101

    OldPants101 Void-Bound Voyager

    First time poster to the forums although I made this account a while back and kinda forgot about it...
    I've been wanting to make a mod for Starbound for sometime as a way to see how modding works but also maybe start making my own mods if things go smoothly. I wanted to start somewhat simple and make a hair mod, various hair styles for each race which are designed around said race. I've already drawn the designs that I wanted to make it just actually making them for Starbound. As a beginner to mod making I wanted to ask these questions:

    1.) Are Photoshop and/or Clip Studio good programs to use for pixel art?
    2.) How do I make the hair designs programmed to only be available to each certain race as designed?
    3.) Will it be a good idea to have another version of Starbound to test this and future mods?
    4.) Is there a way to animate the hair in any way? I know vanilla hair didn't have any animations but I have a few designs that would work great if they were.

    I hope to get along with everyone and create some mods of my own to add to the pile of so many great mods!
    Any advice and information will be appreciated :)
     
  2. Nexus Of Chaos

    Nexus Of Chaos Parsec Taste Tester

    1: Photoshop yes, the other idk
    2: species files:
    Code:
    "genders" : [
        {
          "name" : "male",
          "image" : "/interface/title/male.png",
          "characterImage" : "/interface/title/humanmale.png",
    ----->"hair" : [ "male1", "male2", "male3", "male4", "male5", "male6", "male7", "male8", "male9", "male10", "male11", "male12", "male13", "male14", "male15", "male16", "male17", "male18", "male19", "male21", "male22", "male23", "male24", "male25", "male26", "male27", "male28", "male29", "male30", "male31", "male32", "male33", "male34", "male35", "male36", "male37", "male38", "male39", "male40", "male41", "male42", "male43", "male44", "male45", "male46", "male47", "male48", "male49", "male50", "male51", "male52", "male53", "male54", "male55", "male56", "male57", "male58", "male59", "male60", "male61", "male62", "male63", "male64" ],
          "shirt" : [ "workoutchest", "coolchest", "conceptchest", "sweatervestchest", "hoodiechest", "hoodiechest2", "protectorateshirtchest", "protectoratevestchest" ],
          "pants" : [ "workoutlegs", "coollegs", "conceptlegs", "sweatervestlegs", "jeans1legs", "jeans2legs", "jeans3legs" ],
          "facialHairGroup" : "",
          "facialHair" : [ ],
          "facialMaskGroup" : "",
          "facialMask" : [ ]
        },
        {
          "name" : "female",
          "image" : "/interface/title/female.png",
          "characterImage" : "/interface/title/humanfemale.png",
    ----->"hair" : [ "fem1", "fem2", "fem3", "fem4", "fem5", "fem6", "fem7", "fem8", "fem9", "fem10", "fem11", "fem12", "fem13", "fem14", "fem15", "fem16", "fem17", "fem18", "fem19", "fem20", "fem21", "fem22", "fem23", "fem24", "fem25", "fem26", "fem27", "fem28", "fem29", "fem30", "fem31", "fem32", "fem33", "fem34", "fem35", "fem36", "fem37", "fem38", "fem39", "fem40", "fem41", "fem42", "fem43", "fem44", "fem45", "fem46", "fem47", "fem48", "fem49", "fem50", "fem51", "fem52", "fem53", "fem54", "fem55", "fem56", "fem57", "fem58", "fem59", "fem60", "fem61", "fem62", "fem63", "fem64" ],
          "shirt" : [ "workoutchest", "coolchest", "conceptchest", "sweatervestchest", "hoodiechest", "hoodiechest2", "protectorateshirtchest", "protectoratevestchest" ],
          "pants" : [ "workoutlegs", "coollegs", "conceptlegs", "sweatervestlegs", "jeans1legs", "jeans2legs", "jeans3legs" ],
          "facialHairGroup" : "",
          "facialHair" : [ ],
          "facialMaskGroup" : "",
          "facialMask" : [ ]
        }
    3: assuming you mean another copy of starbound, it wouldn't hurt, but it wouldn't hurt not to either
    4: afaik no. tho if any1 ever comes up with a way to animate anything other than arms, body, sleeves, or pants, I'm definitely going to get it
     
  3. The | Suit

    The | Suit Agent S. Forum Moderator

    From a person who used photoshop for years, I can tell you it is perfectly possible to use photoshop.

    Though honestly it is not ideal.

    Chucklefish Artists and many Pixel Game Artists use
    https://www.aseprite.org/

    Older versions of Asperite which don't have all the advanced features of the new one are completely free.

    https://www.aseprite.org/older-versions/

    Graphics Gale is an old program which used to be really popular in the day.
    https://graphicsgale.com/us/

    An Even Older program that was popular. Grfx2
    http://pulkomandy.tk/projects/GrafX2


    The 2 old programs don't support PNG with transparencies directly. So you may need to convert it to PNG with transparent background in another application.
     
  4. lazarus78

    lazarus78 The Waste of Time

    #3 You can use the "Unstable" version listed in steam as your testing platform. It is exactly the same as the regular version right now.
     

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