How to add MODDING to your games!

[@CodeMonkeyUnity]

🎮 Play my game! cmonkey.co/dinkyguardians ❤ Watch my FREE Complete Course kzbin.info/www/bejne/d56qhHh-bLaWesk 🔴 RELATED VIDEOS 🔴 Turn PLAYERS into CREATORS with Unity UGC! kzbin.info/www/bejne/iZm9hqhrf9yqr7s How to Save File with Screenshot! kzbin.info/www/bejne/mqLchJ6De86Yfqc Simple Saving and Loading with JSON to a File kzbin.info/www/bejne/bKawd3iDYtOUpqc

[@aryantzh2028]

its 2023 and u still use light mode for ui and script background, that thing is hurt my eyes.

[@Synith19]

I really like how you make the tutorials not just for us but also for your future self.

[@CodeMonkeyUnity]

heh yup that's a great benefit of doing this! There's been plenty of times where I rewatched my own tutorials to remember how something work

[@Grinwa]

Mods are really a powerful thing if devs use it correctly cuz players are so creative and can make infinite games out of the original game

[@chuckdude514]

I think players would love to further costumize their characters in game. Take Garry's mod or Minecraft for example, everyone wants to be a copyrighted character they enjoy!

[@chimz8057]

YES! Modding is exactly what I wanted to learn about in Unity. Thank you!

[@toprogress]

I appreciate a lot that you cover the concepts of implementing modding in a game. Moreover your video only covers the main ideas, which makes it easier to watch. Thank you for sharing your knowledge!

[@dreamisover9813]

That was quite insightful, I like the showcase of putting all the data into a single file!

[@forbiddenbox]

These thumbnails go crazy 🔥🔥

[@Draekdude]

I'm almost ready to write my review of Dinky Guardians. Not sure if this could be a mod or just an improvement. But it would be cool to either have each Dinky have a name and then a UI that shows what each Dinky is actually assigned to. Or maybe a small icon over each of their heads showing what they're doing.

[@CodeMonkeyUnity]

Adding a UI like that is indeed on my list, I want to make a window that shows all the Dinkys and what they are currently doing. I think making a clear icon for each behaviour would be a bit tricky but they do have text on top of them that shows up when close

[@dav1dsm1th]

@@CodeMonkeyUnity Maybe change their colour to identify which action they've been assigned (if it's a relatively short set of options).

[@MarekNijaki]

Amazing content! I was always curious how to approach modding for games. You explained it very clearly and gave us good sample to start from. Great work!

[@BrainSlugs83]

New dinkies, player models, buildings, and planets would be cool. -- You could really open up a whole eco system of modding and use that to drive more engagement to your game. -- Even streamers who have already covered it might cover it again if someone makes a cool mod that they hear about. Question: I've seen some Unity games have a different approach to modding, like VR Chat and Boneworks -- where the modder can create the whole mod in Unity (with custom C# scripts that use an exposed API by the game, custom assets, shaders, etc.) and then they can package it up and the game can load that package somehow. -- Can you do a tutorial on more advanced modding support, like what VR Chat uses? -- There's tutorials on how to make VR Chat mods, but I'm not sure how someone would build a game that can load this type of mod; but it seems to be using some native Unity feature for this. Anyway, I think there's a time and place for having a simple modding system like this (many mods can probably be accomodated this way I bet) -- but an advanced modding system opens the door for talented modders to create some really cool content, which can drive further engagement to your game.

[@CodeMonkeyUnity]

Yup that's the much more advanced method, I've actually wanted to look at how VR Chat does its modding since it does seem to have near infinite possibilities. I believe the way they work is they put all assets in an AssetBundle which can then be dynamically loaded. Although from what I know I believe AssetBundles have some limitations when it comes to including code so I'll definitely have to research that.

[@stevenpike7857]

Oh yea, I forgot I bought this course from you a while ago. I'll have to go back and start watching it.

[@CodeMonkeyUnity]

Go for it! I hope you learn a lot!

[@alexdacat]

Mods are a great way to get a community to stick with your game! This is a great topic to think about!

[@RobertBlois]

If I missed this, then I apologize for duplicating it, but one thing that needs to be mentioned is that all data/files/code, etc. should be vetted/validated before importing anything to attempt to prevent problems with the game, whether intentional or accidental. People may make mistakes when creating the mods that may cause errors, or someone may be attempting do something malicious.

[@CodeMonkeyUnity]

Yup that is indeed a concern if you allow more complex modding, especially if you allow custom code to be run

[@NooBgaminGITA]

Love the tutorial! finally someone which talks about modding games with unity.....The only problem with UGS and this type of modding is that it is very limited🥲a modder can't add custom behavor except the one supported, that is, he can add a new recipe but not a different type of dish that can be delivered multiple time or some other strange behavor he want 😂It would be nice to be able to create something completely customizable like Minecraft mods...........anyway, thanks for the tutorial, it came at the perfect time 😂

[@CodeMonkeyUnity]

Yup that's where something like Lua comes in which is what I want to cover in a future video

[@ayayrawnnn9725]

Best unity tutorials on youtube - I would really like a tutorial on how to add logic via mods and UGC. I don't understand how you could add c# scripts via UGC, but in the unity talk they said you could for android and windows

[@ElianeGameDev]

Interesting video, I'll definitely give that a try in my future projects!

[@drottningu]

Awesome! I will also be looking back at this tutorial some time from now

[@JadenAllen]

I definitely recommend asset bundles for making mods for your games. You can build them with unity and this allows you to store pretty much any object in the asset bundle file that can be loaded at runtime with only a couple lines of code. You can even build entire scenes into asset bundles. Only downside is that custom scripts don't work with asset bundles but what you can do is compile your c# code into a dll and im pretty sure you can just load that dll with a few extra lines of code during runtime. Just gotta be careful as allowing the user full control of mods can be dangerous for users if there is harmful or malicious code

[@CodeMonkeyUnity]

They are indeed quite powerful, but if you take that approach then modders need to use Unity to make mods which adds quite a bit more complexity as opposed to just placing images or meshes in a specific folder. So pros and cons

[@JadenAllen]

@CodeMonkeyUnity exactly, they were my last resort when I made my mod loader. I'll just say asset bundles make the game developers life much easier but then adds more overhead to the user making the mod. If you want a simple modding system then probably stick to something else but if you want the user's to have full control and be able to make their own game inside your game then asset bundles can be a great way of doing so

[@mandisaw]

Deciding *what* to mod might be a good Part 2 to this. For myself, I think mods are a system/feature that should get the same careful consideration as any other - [how] does this improve the game, how many of my players will actually participate (as creators & users), what's the smallest/simplest piece(s) that can be tweaked for max fun, etc? Like for that kitchen sim, I'd have built-in a library of models & icons, and maybe coded a small number of extra station-types. Then the players can make & share custom recipes, using both the default items/stations and the pool of extras. Could do themed-packs of extras as free/paid DLC. Same applies to DG, just make it a pool of possible resources & extra activity stations, maybe with some UI so people can make them in-game for self-use. Seems to me the lower the barrier to modding, the more ppl are likely to engage with it. Most folks don't really know how to obtain models & icons, and the players do kind of expect things to still look good/consistent even with mods (unless that's the point, like Elsa/Frozen in GTA).

[@CodeMonkeyUnity]

Yup great point! Adding some default pieces and allowing players to mix them together is a great simple way to add some modding, it really lowers the barrier to entry if the players don't need to learn complex skills like 3D modelling

[@futuza]

One thing you don't mention, but which is really important to allowing mods in a game, is making some kind of license/legal terms that you release your game with. You need to explicitly allow legal terms for what kind of modding is allowed if you want to have a healthy modding scene. Modders can figure out and reverse engineer any aspect of your game if they put their mind to it, but they're far more likely to do interesting and cool things with your game if you tell them you're not going to send cease and desist letters to them and take them to court for doing so. Also, making a brief tutorial about how to make a mod for your game and including that documentation with your game is really important, most players won't be interested in attempting to mod for the game if you don't clearly lay out the path for how to do so. You might also consider releasing your game's source code at some point if you really want to be nice to modders (but be advised you probably need to plan to do that from the beginning so you can avoid using code that is proprietary/belongs to someone else that you couldn't release without permission - such as some kind of code asset such as an audio suite, or post-processing plugin). If you do that, you might consider releasing it 5 years after your game's release or something similar under an open source license like GPLV2/3.

[@TehAntares]

I was thinking of making mod support using addressables and asset bundles. Although the modding would be completely dependent on Unity editor, it would not need any conversion code and I expect the bundles to come with some performance benefits.

[@koukaakiva]

This is super helpful. Thank you.

[@jedi.gaming]

You're an inspiration for real

[@rafalfaro]

You should look into Addressables also another approach for modding the game and also hosting the patches/mods in a web server as DLC

[@CodeMonkeyUnity]

Addressables are indeed great for DLC, but cloud hosting only works for dev content, so Cloud Content Delivery cannot be used for player mods

[@armandoferreira1346]

so addressables can't be used for player made content that is uploaded somewhere?@@CodeMonkeyUnity

[@armandoferreira1346]

Maybe if all the assets that can be used to create a mod are already delivered with your game, and whats serialized are only references to these addressables in a cloud server?@@CodeMonkeyUnity

[@Laumania]

Modding is so powerful if done right. In my game I have created about 70 fireworks items - the community have created around 2000 :P

[@Laumania]

However when that said. Keep in mind you are putting on a huge task on yourself to maintain the modding community. They have different request than players. You need to make it easy to make mods etc etc. :)

[@CodeMonkeyUnity]

heh yup there's a huge difference between what even a super productive dev can make and what a huge community can make!

[@CraftBasti]

While that is a great guide for adding playing made content, I did that to the very first game I ever made (no, not finished/shipped games, the first one I ever started). Way more interesting would be how to make new logic or change logic, meshes, levels etc! Like for example: if I wanted to add a mechanic to your games that raw ingredients spoil after being taken out of the box and left lying around after 10 seconds. Or I want to make a mechanic that the kitchen in the game breaks in two and remerges every ten seconds like in overcooked. Or that the oven/stove needs fuel to function. Or I want to add a door to the level to outside where one can farm ingredient themselves. All these require changes very deep inside the code

[@CodeMonkeyUnity]

For adding custom modded logic the easiest way that a lot of games do it is through Lua scripts

[@suicune2001]

Interesting! I've been interested in making a moddable game but it always seems so complicated.

[@luaykashef]

Please please make a pedestrian system tutorial. I know there are some tutorials on this, but I'd love to see the CodeMonkey way of achieving this!

[@AlphaLul]

Great video! Do you plan on making a part 2 about adding custom logic with LUA or loading dlls?

[@CodeMonkeyUnity]

It's one of the many many things on my to-do list that I hope to get to at some point. I've wanted to research Lua for literally years but haven't been able to find the time yet

[@e_man111]

The thumbnail is literally my baby neece-

[@CodeMonkeyUnity]

heh don't let her eat batteries!

[@zORg_alex]

That code lacks a lot from mesh object. It won't support multiple materials on a same mesh, nor blendshapes, nor uv2. You really need to go through all properties of that object and iterate through submeshes and create all of them. Mesh have waaaay more than just vertices, triangles and uvs, what about, normals, uv2, tangents and so on.

[@zORg_alex]

Probably would be better to put mod files into a zip and work with them. Then mod will be a single file and user openable.

[@CodeMonkeyUnity]

Yup if you want to support complex meshes you do need to add that. Like I said this topic is extremely specific depending on the game. The game that I used as a demo has no secondary textures or submeshes or anything like that which greatly simplifies things.

[@pastuh]

Can you start physics tutorials? :) Sand, water, wind, fire, ice, smoke.. How to "glue" gravity, particles..

[@CodeMonkeyUnity]

I actually did something like that where I remade those misleading mobile games in a video quite a long time ago kzbin.info/www/bejne/l5nZnHmBiMyYaKM

[@pastuh]

@@CodeMonkeyUnity I'm curious about how simulate digging into the ground. For instance, if you were digging near water, how that water would fill the hole and to what level. How to describe that a pile of earth that was dumped can also be shoveled back, perhaps even with wet textures that affect how much earth you can lift?

[@_vicot]

I've been wondering, if I add official support for mods to my game, but with custom code too - lets say I expose some interface/api you can implement in your dll, drop it in the mods/ folder, and it registers with the game at start. Would it become my responsibility to somehow (near impossible?) protect users from malicious mods, or can we assume that using mods is on one's own responsibility? Also - I'm hyped for the follow-up video about LUA integration! ;)

[@CodeMonkeyUnity]

Yup allowing custom C# to directly interface with the game code is indeed the ultimate level of modding. I really want to look at LUA to see what limitations it has compared to that native approach

[@LuizMoratelli]

12:31 in that case creating a new instance, how would you reference 1 SO to another, like if a recipe requires mix 2 of these SOs, if you just have a SO with a list of required items, unity would use InstanceIDs to do the reference, you have one in this case to use in the dynamic creation?

[@CodeMonkeyUnity]

You would first dynamically create/load all the individual ingredients, and store them in a list. Then dynamically create/load all the recipes, when a recipe requires an ingredient check the list of the ones you already created and add them to the list.

[@LuizMoratelli]

@@CodeMonkeyUnity Gotcha! I think that will work. Any tips for logical mods? Like a mod that can handle new code. I see something with Lua that seems better than use compiled c# (better for modders, simple). Then I could add some anchors to places that I will call mods of that kind, let's say a place to call a type of mod/structure that matches the start of game logic, when enemy dies, when hit, etc...

[@JanMall]

Hey CodeMonkey I am currently working on your multiplayer course. I wanted to ask, if you could do a video, where you show how to modify this game, so it works as a template you can use for any multiplayer game

[@CodeMonkeyUnity]

What do you mean by that? There's no fixed way to "modify" the game, it's up to you as the developer to decide what you want to change, like this dev did unitycodemonkey.com/video.php?v=Aehydn9TJYU

[@Thamrill]

Great video, thanks. I assume that due to obj nature only static mesh can be loaded this way, is this the case? In order to mod animated characters would it be necessary to use a FBX importer? Edit: NVM, found a way to transfer boneweights alongside .obj files

[@aynsjc]

I want to import videos, how sahould i do this?

[@Wardergrip]

What about more complex mods like gamemodes, new weapons, game mechanics and so on?

[@CodeMonkeyUnity]

The core concepts are all the same, it's all just data which you as the developer interpret in some way

[@Wardergrip]

@@CodeMonkeyUnity I agree, but it would've been cool if you showed the bytecode pattern, a basic interpreter and so on

[@JokeryEU]

thks for the video. Since you were mentioning save data, whats the best way to encrypt it, so isn't just plain JSON so the user cant easily edit the data?

[@CodeMonkeyUnity]

My advice is don't waste time on encryption. The only way to be 100% safe is to store it server side, but unless you are building a hyper competitive multiplayer game then it's a waste to spend time on that

[@JokeryEU]

@@CodeMonkeyUnity Thank you for the reply. i was thinking server side too. So you know, nothing is 100% safe when it comes to encryption.

[@MrColinjsmith]

As an artist and a Unity developer (beginner), I have been looking into the prospect of Vuforia AR as a way to show my artwork to the hopeful buyer, They could see the 3D mesh with the artwork, displayed in the actual location. I need an easy way to update the app with new artwork and your video showcasing Modding may be the answer, but I'm unsure, can you advise, please?

[@CodeMonkeyUnity]

Sure that would work, just make the 3D mesh an Obj and load it like I loaded in the video

[@GamesAreArt1]

i have a question not related to this video what is the differences between Unity UI components(Image,RawImage,Text,Textmeshpro) and Unity GUI classes(GUIStyle,GUI,ONGUI). to be clear i did use both in my Projects and notice few stuff. 1.UI components are part of GameObjects and act as components attached to the GameObject, While GUI classes only serve as UI elements. 2.Performance, UI Components take more memory and are heavier that GUI and less efficiency. 3.both have the same features(as far as i know). I just want to know more about them Am i missing something is there anything i need to know,should i use this instead of that and why? and there's a lack of tutorials about GUI are they an old code or they are going to be obsoleted soon(Legacy code)? thanks for your help

[@CodeMonkeyUnity]

They are completely separate systems, UnityUI and IMGUI (then there's also UI Toolkit) For the most part, nowadays IMGUI is only used for Editor Tools, I don't think anyone uses IMGUI for actual game UI nowadays, it's extremely needlessly complex to build simple things. So unless you're trying to build editor tools, don't bother with IMGUI In theory in the future UI Toolkit will be the chosen tool for both Editor and Runtime UI, but it's not quite there yet

[@chrisskyr623]

Make a mod loader that allows to poad custom scripts

[@CodeMonkeyUnity]

Yup my plan is to research Lua soon and see how to mod some logic

[@Draekdude]

So can the battery be used on the chopping block?!?! haha!

[@CodeMonkeyUnity]

heh in this case not really since the chopping action only triggers if there's a CuttingRecipeSO with that ingredient, but that could indeed also be modded!

[@aryantzh2028]

its 2023 and u still use light mode for ui and script background, that thing is hurt my eyes

[@CodeMonkeyUnity]

Sorry but dark mode has always burned my eyes

[@theashbot4097]

SORRY if this sounds rude. I do not want it to. I know this is not the best place to tell you this but. I have ONE problem with your new game. It feels like you did not finish it before releasing. you seem to be constantly adding new features, which to me makes me think that it is not finished. adding new features once every 3 months would be just fine in my opinion, but every other update you are adding new features, and it makes it feel like it is not complete. I still do like the game, but it is one of those things that just makes me want to play it less.

[@CodeMonkeyUnity]

What features are you referring to? I've mostly been adding fixes based on user bug reports and safety checks to prevent bugs from happening. I haven't added any extra Machine or World or Dinky type or anything since the current design of the game is complete In terms of "features" the game is feature complete. There are definitely things I want to polish and improve (which I'm doing through updates) but the game is fully playable from start to finish

[@theashbot4097]

@@CodeMonkeyUnityI guess I mean polish. Every day that I play there is something new on the screen. By that I mean you keep on polling it. These small changes might not be seen by all but I can see them, and I personally do not like them. Please do not take this the wrong way. I still think it is fun.

[@CodeMonkeyUnity]

Yup in terms of polish that is definitely the case, I do wish I could have pushed back the release by a month to just work on polish, but due to the schedule of Steam festivals/sales that was just not possible, if I did not launch the game now I would have to wait until February. So I figured the best option was to launch now and keep improving it over time doing all the small things that I could not get done before release.

[@theashbot4097]

@@CodeMonkeyUnitythat makes sense.

[@lx2222x]

If you want to add modding then just enable debug symbols and smart people will figure the rest out

[@changtomy2229]

code monkey, there is no video about updating games or patches.

[@CodeMonkeyUnity]

There's not much to cover on that topic, in terms of development you just make a new build with whatever new content you want. Then in your platform (like Steam) you just upload the new build

[@changtomy2229]

@@CodeMonkeyUnity does that means it is a new download?? Or That way it will only download changes for player? That sophisticated (hard to believe)

[@CodeMonkeyUnity]

Most platforms nowadays (like Steam, Xbox) are smart enough to only update the bytes that changed. I've pushed over 10 updates to my own game this past week, almost all of them were under 5MB

[@changtomy2229]

@@CodeMonkeyUnity omg someone has to make this announcement. Thx you very much master code monkey.

[@BLACKDREAMIO]

please swtich to dark mode

[@CodeMonkeyUnity]

Sorry but dark mode burns my eyes

[@BLACKDREAMIO]

@@CodeMonkeyUnity huuuh are from the mars of venus or something else like even the windows explorer of your is white theee helll dude iam going to write an email to microsoft to remove the white theme from everywhere code editor windows everything also from your entiree life

[@mikeha]

seems super complicated to me. You talk too fast. Anyway, would it be possible to architect a game that has the ability to mod in new scene files? Like if you wanted players to be able to add new maps to your FPS game for example

[@CodeMonkeyUnity]

Like I said in the video this is not intended to be a step by step tutorial because every game's implementation will be slightly different. Yes you can mod whatever you want

[@docblz]

batteries are delicious.

[@LegoRobotic-no7pl]

Kitchen hehe

[@blackfruitcreativestudios]

Early!

[@crazii_gamzee8253]

I am not computer savi, and this did not help me

[@CodeMonkeyUnity]

Adding modding to your games is a pretty advanced topic, if you're a beginner then start with teh basics

[@Psyonx77]

Let them mod skin and textures.

[@benpielstick]

Eat battery?

[@CodeMonkeyUnity]

Probably not very edible!

[@LegoRobotic-no7pl]

I want you to be a builder of de muslim games (muslims adaptation mods not possible probly you do not know dat concept, still IM HAPPY TO SHARE A BIT MORE KNOWLEDGE PART with you) - dat secret part of coding is very interesting and n1 using dat right now. In 2028 smth coming out from de Arabs i think. **Dat part of de holy book is very interesting part of it about pictures for de main designer**

[@LegoRobotic-no7pl]

You not interested srryyyy np :)

[@CodeMonkeyUnity]

The goal with this channel is teaching game dev so yup you can learn (like from the free complete course) and then build whatever game you want!

[@NeonSkull0]

first