There is only 1 week left before the launch of Stellaris, yet we are still getting dev diaries. What else is there to do? Mod some Art assets, duh! This week’s Stellaris dev diary goes into another realm of game modification — artistry.
Once you’ve twiddled with the codes and broken down the very systems that Stellaris is built upon, you might find yourself asking “What’s next?”. Well, start off by opening up Photoshop, Maya, or whatever else you use to edit and animate your art and get to work. You’ll initially need to make a 2-D character model:
For characters, you have two options. The simpler one is static 2d avatars. These are just an image with transparency that is used directly in-game. They don’t require Maya or any other fancy tools, and will likely be the initial choice for most modders. Static portraits are not used by the core game, but the functionality is there for the modders. There is an example for this in the games files, where we specify the species, so you just add textures and point to them in the files and you get new species.
For example, you might not have the craftiness and creativity to create your own cavern-dwelling creature — like the one above — but you might have the required Photoshop skills to edit and rearrange preexisting portraits. It’s all good under the may suns of Stellaris. As Aerie explains, “If you want to do this, take an existing texture and add some more colors to the entire texture, and you can see the entire area you have to work with. There is some space outside the edge of the character to work with”.
But it doesn’t just end with fancy alien portraits or neat clothing; you can also mod the very ships your species uses to conquer the stars.
The process is very straightforward. You build your mesh and use maya to export it. There is fairly little to be said simply because most things are theoretically possible to do. If you want ships with like 5 sections you can do that. Vertical ships? Sure. Organic ships? Absolutely. Stations are also technically ships that don’t move, so these are of course modable as well.
So, what do you think about the modding capabilities in Stellaris? There’s already a sizable mod database for a game that isn’t even released yet (goes to show just how committed the team is to making sure that you have the most tools possible at launch).
If you wish to know exactly how to add new portraits, there is a detailed guide on the wiki:
https://www.stellariswiki.com/Portrait_modding
If you want to download the exporter right away, go to
https://accounts.paradoxplaza.com/profile/downloads
More details on the exporter can be found on the wiki:
https://www.stellariswiki.com/Maya_exporter
We also started a new sub-forum for the exporter.
https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/index.php?forums/clausewitz-maya-exporter-modding-tool.935/
