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‎ModdingGuide/getting-started.MD‎

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---
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title: "Getting Started"
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description: A comprehensive guide for making mods for Timberborn
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date: 2025-03-13
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tags: mods timberborn guide modding
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---
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[Home](/../..) / [Modding Guide](../) / Getting Started
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In this part of the series, we will set up your modding environment and make a simple code-less mod. This will help you to understand the basic structure of a mod and how to make it work in Timberborn.
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## A simple IDE
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You can use any IDE you like (even Notepad) but I recommend using Visual Studio Code because it is lightweight and has a lot of useful extensions for C# development.
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Download: https://code.visualstudio.com/
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## AssetRipper
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AssetRipper is a tool that can extract game assets from Unity games. It is useful for modding because it allows you to extract textures, models, and other assets from the game and use them in your mods.
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- Download: https://github.com/AssetRipper/AssetRipper/releases
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Run the tool and select the game's executable file (e.g. `Timberborn.exe`). Then, you can extract all assets from the game to a folder. It will take a while to extract all assets so be patient. Most of the time the interesting assets are in the `Assets\Resources` folder.
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I usually use VS Code to browse the extracted assets.
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![VS Code with AssetRipper](./img/assets.jpg)
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## Making a simple code-less mod
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This is actually all you need to make a mod for Timberborn though you can't do much beside modifying existing assets. But it is a good way to start and understand the basic structure of a mod.
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### Step 1: Create `manifest.json` file
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_Reference: [Official Timberborn Modding](https://github.com/mechanistry/timberborn-modding)_
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1. Go to `Documents\Timberborn\Mods` folder and create a new folder `MyJsonMod` (the folder name does not matter).
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2. Open the folder with VS Code and create a `manifest.json` file:
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```json
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{
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"Name": "My JSON Mod",
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"Version": "7.0.0",
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"Id": "MyFirstMod",
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"MinimumGameVersion": "0.7.0.0",
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"Description": "The very first mod.",
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"RequiredMods": [
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{
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"Id": "AnotherMod",
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"MinimumVersion": "0.1"
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}
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],
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"OptionalMods": [
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{
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"Id": "YetAnotherMod"
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}
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]
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}
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```
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The above snippet is a basic manifest file for a mod. It's pretty self-explanatory and we can remove the `RequiredMods` and `OptionalMods` sections if we don't need them.
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> [!NOTE]
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> The game uses `0.7.0.0` for update 7 and `0.6.0.0` for update 6.
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### Step 2: Make a modification
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> [!WARNING]
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> For Update 6, the game (and official modding guide) uses `Specifications` folder but for Update 7, it is renamed to `Blueprints`. I will use `Blueprints` in this guide.
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Now you can look at the Assets you have extracted and find something you want to modify. For example, I will modify the `Good.Log.log` blueprint (the Log resource) and reduce its weight from 6 to 3.
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Make `Good.Log.json` file (note the file extension is `.json`), preferrably in the same path the game has, so: `Blueprints\Goods\Good.Log.json`:
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```json
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{
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"GoodSpec": {
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"Weight": 3
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}
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}
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```
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Now run the game, you should see your mod in the mod list and the Log resource should have a weight of 3 instead of 6.
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![JSON mod](./img/jsonmod.jpg)
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> [!TIP]
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> - You can use Dev Mode (<kbd>Alt + Shift Z</kbd>) to quickly test your mod.
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You can also put all above files into `version-0.7` folder so it will only loads for Update 7. For example it would be: `Documents\Timberborn\Mods\MyJsonMod\version-0.7\manifest.json`. This is how modders make mods compatible with multiple game versions.

‎ModdingGuide/img/assets.jpg‎

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‎ModdingGuide/img/jsonmod.jpg‎

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‎ModdingGuide/index.MD‎

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---
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title: "Timberborn Modding Guide"
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description: A comprehensive guide for making mods for Timberborn
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date: 2025-03-13
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tags: mods timberborn guide modding
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---
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I have made about 30+ mods for Timberborn and [all source code are available here](https://github.com/datvm/TimberbornMods). This guide is a collection of my experience and knowledge about modding Timberborn. I hope it will help you to make your own mods for Timberborn. Throughout this guide, I will introduce a few mods in that repository to illustrate the concepts and techniques I am talking about.
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> [!NOTE]
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> Feel free to use my code in your mods. I would appreciate it if you credit me but it is not required. Unless you make a carbon copy, feel free to make and upload similar mods to mine. I don't mind competition and I am happy to see more mods for Timberborn.
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- **None of my mods uses Unity** and so this guide will not cover Unity modding. You can still do powerful things without Unity except maybe making new graphical assets.
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- You will need some basic knowledge of C# and general programming concepts but making mods is also a good way to improve your programming skills. The game code itself is extremely well-organized and easy to read so you will have a good time exploring it and even learning from it.
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Useful external links:
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- [Official Timberborn Discord](https://discord.gg/6VZfcKGM2Z): you can ask modding question there at `#mod-creators` channel.
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- [Official Timberborn Modding](https://github.com/mechanistry/timberborn-modding).
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- [My mods' source code](https://github.com/datvm/TimberbornMods).
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> [!WARNING]
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> This guide will use Update 7 as the base version (which at this time is still in experimental branch). I will probably mention how to make it compatible to U6 but U7 will be the way forward.
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## Table of Contents
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1. [Getting Started](./getting-started): Setting up your modding environment and making a simple code-less mod and a "Hello World" mod.
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2. [Mod Settings and Harmony](./use-harmony): How to use Harmony to patch Timberborn's code and use Mod Settings to configure your mods.
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3. _(Optional)_ [Useful knowledge of Timberborn architecture](./timberborn-architecture): My experience and knowledge about Timberborn's codebase that may come in handy when making mods.
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4. _(Optional)_ [Advanced Modding Techniques](./advanced-modding): Some techniques I use in my mods to make modding easier and less repetitive.
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The following sections are more specific to certain types of mods that I made:
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5. [UI modding with TimberUi](./timber-ui): How to make UI mods for Timberborn using [TimberUi](../TimberUI).
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6. [Make a mod with Buff & Debuff mod](../BuffDebuff): Adding customizable buffs and debuffs to various in-game entities.
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7. [Make a mod with Scientific Projects mod](../ScientificProjects): Adding new research projects to the game.

‎ScientificProjects/index.MD‎

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---
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title: "Scientific Projects"
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description: Add Scientific Projects for Timberborn
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date: 2025-03-13
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tags: mods timberborn guide modding scientific projects
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---
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[Placeholder content here]

‎_config.yml‎

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- jekyll-remote-theme
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title: Luke's Timberborn Mods
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description: My collection of mods for Timberborn with documentations.
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show_downloads: false
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show_downloads: false
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github:
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is_project_page: false

‎index.MD‎

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All source code are available at https://github.com/datvm/TimberbornMods (on the `master` branch).
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# Table of Contents
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- [Modding Guide](#modding-guide): [Guide](./ModdingGuide)
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- [TimberUI](#timberui): [Docs](./TimberUI)
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- [Buff & Debuff System](#buff--debuff-system): [Docs](./BuffDebuff) \| [Steam Workshop](https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3433810580) \| [Mod.io](https://mod.io/g/timberborn/m/buff-debuff-system)
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# Modding Guide
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A comprehensive guide to modding Timberborn is available at [Timberborn Modding Guide](./ModdingGuide).
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# TimberUI
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TimberUI is a mod for Timberborn that helps you build UI for your mods.

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