Getting Started

The OpenRA SDK includes an example mod that demonstrates the environment, but it is missing most of the core definitions that are required for a basic game. For this reason, we recommend that you start your project by copying and adapting one of our official OpenRA mods using the following procedure:

• Run make or make.cmd from the SDK directory to download the engine and dependencies, and make sure that you can successfully launch the example mod. It should show you a black screen with a "Quit" button.
• Delete the mods/example directory.
• Choose one of the default OpenRA mods to use as a base for your mod. In this example we will assume you are copying cnc.
• Choose a new internal name / id for you mod. In this example we will assume you are using mynewmod.
• Copy engine/mods/cnc to mods/mynewmod.
• Open mods/mynewmod/mod.yaml and make the following changes:
  • In the Metadata section set your mod title and version.
  • In the Packaging section replace $cnc: cnc with $mynewmod: mynewmod. This tells OpenRA that the explicit mount mymod should refer to the root of your mod package (see Mod manifest).
  • Change all lines that start with cnc| to mynewmod|. This updates the explicit mount references to account for the change that you have just made above.
• Open mod.config and replace MOD_ID="example" near the top of the file with MOD_ID="mynewmod".

You should now have a functioning stand-alone clone of the cnc mod that you can adapt / replace piece by piece with your own project.

If you don't plan on including any custom C# logic in your mod then you should delete ExampleMod.sln and the OpenRA.Mods.Example directory. If you do plan on including custom logic, then you will need to make some futher changes:

• TODO: Explain updating the GUIDs, project name, and changing the build output to mods/mynewmod/
• TODO: Explain how to customize a new C# library to reference the engine and output files to the correct location.

If you would like to adapt an existing mod to the SDK, then the steps are largely the same as above. Copy your mod files to the SDK mod directory, and if you have custom code copy these files to the root of the repository. The main difference is that you may need to update your mod to be compatible with the latest engine release. If your mod already targets bleed then you probably already know how to do this; just update ENGINE_VERSION in mod.config to reference the upstream commit that you are targeting and you should be set. Otherwise, see Updating to a new SDK or Engine version for instructions on how to update your mod to to the latest engine.