pardeike/steam-mods/rimworld-mod-creation

RimWorld Mod Creation

Create a minimal modern code-mod repository through steam-mods. Do not copy a whole existing mod; the generator owns the clean baseline and shared mechanisms.

Resolve requirements

Find steam-mods in this order:

1. an ancestor of this skill when repository-linked;
2. $STEAM_MODS_ROOT;
3. a sibling of the current/new repository;
4. ~/Projects/steam-mods.

Read its AGENTS.md, docs/NEW_MODS.md, and references/scaffold-contract.md. Establish the display name, repository name, package ID, one-sentence description, required DLCs, and art direction. Core-only is the default. Ask only when a missing fact would materially change the mod.

Create the artwork

Use the built-in imagegen skill for two original images:

• landscape 16:9 key art without title text, UI, logo, or watermark;
• a separate, simple square icon recognizable at 64 pixels.

Inspect the results. Pass both image paths and their exact prompts to scripts/new-mod; it writes About/Preview.png at 640x358, About/ModIcon.png at 64x64, and records provenance in docs/ASSETS.md. Do not substitute a programmatic placeholder for requested AI artwork.

Generate atomically

Run the generator without --apply first:

<steam-mods>/scripts/new-mod \
  --name "Display Name" \
  --repo RepositoryName \
  --description "One player-facing sentence." \
  --preview /absolute/path/to/preview.png \
  --preview-prompt "exact landscape prompt" \
  --icon /absolute/path/to/icon.png \
  --icon-prompt "exact icon prompt"

Add --dlc <name> only for required DLCs. Review the target, dependency resolution, and file plan, then repeat with --apply. The target must not already exist.

The generator queries current compatible dependency versions for the default RimWorld profile (1.7: Krafs 1.7.*, Harmony 3, net10.0; prereleases only for those two while upstream has no stable release), pins the highest stable installed .NET SDK, and records all resolved versions. Network failure is an actionable error unless an explicit offline/version override is used.

Prove the scaffold

In the generated repository:

./scripts/check
./scripts/build-quiet.sh
<steam-mods>/scripts/modctl validate-path "$PWD"
<steam-mods>/scripts/modctl plan-deploy "$PWD"
RIMWORLD_MOD_DIR="/absolute/path/to/RimWorld/Mods" ./scripts/deploy.sh

Build the independent tests and the main/companion pair. Audit that public staging excludes BridgeTools, SDK/annotation assemblies, private Harmony, symbols, source, build output, and Finder metadata.

On Windows use scripts\check.ps1, scripts\build-quiet.ps1, and scripts\deploy.ps1; they invoke the same Python implementation as the POSIX wrappers.

Read references/gabs-first-proof.md, then use the gabs-mcp skill. Use the game and profile captured by modctl plan-deploy from the private user profile. Capture the existing active mod order, set only Harmony, RimBridgeServer, Core, explicitly requested DLCs, and the new mod, restart through GABS, verify the exact loaded order, discover the new companion status tool, and call it. Restore prior state after a temporary probe.

Stop at the correct boundary

Repository creation does not authorize GitHub or Workshop publication. Report:

• created path and dependency versions;
• image sizes and recorded prompts;
• build, test, and package-audit results;
• deployed main/companion locations and hashes;
• exact GABS profile/order and live status result;
• placeholders that still require publication, especially Workshop ID 0.

Switch to rimworld-mod-release only when the user asks to publish.