FCS I: The Basics

Contents

Welcome To FCS
The Four Cardinal Rules of Modding

Welcome To FCS

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It’s weird. Functions are missing in places. Some things don’t work the way you think they do and others don’t work at all. Figuring out how things work is like cutting your way through a thick jungle with a butter knife.

You’re going to love it.

Checklist Before You Begin

If you’re new to FCS and Kenshi modding, you’re going to want to do a few things before you get started on your project.

  1. Verify your game files
  2. Grab any tools you need from the resources page
  3. Build a test file and run through relevant tutorials
  4. Join a Discord server for advice
  5. Pray to Okran
  6. Say goodbye to sunlight

The Four Cardinal Rules of Kenshi Modding

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Rule #0: Go Back To The Basics

You will fail.

You will get stuck. Your mod will break. Your game will crash. You will sit on a problem and you will trawl and traipse around in pointless circles with no solution in sight, cursing yourself for ever trying.

You will encounter pitfalls and you will make stupid mistakes.

You will forget Rules #1, #2, and #3 – and you will want to give up and throw in the towel.

And when that happens, you will remember the first rule.

Go back to square zero; work the problem. When even the most basic thing eludes you, find a solution that already exists and emulate it – whether in the vanilla game or in community content.

Rule #1: Back Everything The Fuck Up

Back up your mod files, your art files, your dialogue, and your assets. Back them up on your hard drive, back them up on an external hard drive, and back them up on a cloud storage service.

Losing work is disheartening at the best of times, and kills your projets dead at the worst.

Don’t lose work. Make backups.

Rule #2: Take A Step Back

Think your goals through to the end.

No idea is perfect – and it’s a safe bet a “good” idea isn’t half the idea it could be. When you’ve got something, you know you’ve got something… But there’s something better and it’s just around the corner. Iterate on your ideas.

First drafts are rarely good.

My first drafts are shit – even the tutorials you’re reading are several iterations down the line. Taking a step back is important for large-scale projects, too. It’s easy to become wrapped up in the throes of your vision and forget what the game is about. Don’t be afraid to fire up the vanilla game and mess around for a good portion of a playthrough now and then.

But, in spite of that, publish. Some people will hate the stuff you make, and that’s absolutely fine. If somebody hates something you make and goes on a rant, it’s not about you. It’s about them, so shrug, and keep going.

And definitely don’t be afraid to take hard breaks from big undertakings.

Rule #3: Fail

Screw up.

Whether you’re designing 3D assets, writing dialogue, building towns, making quests, or doing something completely out of left field, know that failure is normal and it’s only another stepping stone. Things don’t go to plan.

So fail faster.