If you came here for a specific mod, jump to the section you need:

• Download releases;
• Augmented Reality Mod Guide

Project setup

It is expected that:

• you already know how to create at least a simple hello-worldish console C# application;
• you read the Stationeers.Addons documentation and know how to create your own mod with custom C# scripts;

1. Open Env.props and set correct paths (StationeersDir and maybe others).

2. Start dotnet build command and check that it was successful.

3. Project folders:

mod25243	Tiny mod example to check your development environment setup
mod1332	Augmented Reality Mod
test	Unit tests

4. There is a second Git repository with binary files (e.g., Unity assets bundles), stationeers-cynofield-mods-binaries. You may need to download it as well.

Development environment setup

C# SDK

The version of .Net your project using must be compatible with the one used inside Unity. Currently, it is .NET Framework 4.8 aka TargetFramework=net48.

If you are setting up a development environment for the first time, start with mod25243. This is the tiny project you may use to check that everything is fine with your development setup. Try the following commands inside mod25243 folder and check that all of them succeeded:

dotnet restore
dotnet clean
dotnet build

Then copy mod files as described in this readme and that readme. Start the game and check that you see what ModScriptExample.cs did.

The versions of C# SDK I use:

> dotnet --version
7.0.101

> dotnet msbuild --version
MSBuild version 17.4.0+18d5aef85 for .NET 
17.4.0.51802

> dotnet nuget --version
NuGet Command Line
6.4.0.117

VSCode

If you already have fully functional MS Visual Studio, you may skip this chapter.

Otherwise consider using MS VSCode - a lightweight IDE that will save you from installing a full version of Visual Studio.

You will need to restart VSCode several times when making changes below. Sometimes soft restart is enough - Ctrl-Shift-P - Developer: Reload Window.

Extensions

First of all, you need ms-dotnettools.csharp.

See the full list of recommended extensions:

ms-dotnettools.csharp
jmrog.vscode-nuget-package-manager
fernandoescolar.vscode-solution-explorer
redhat.vscode-xml
Fudge.auto-using
FelschR.extbundles-csharp
k--kato.docomment
tintoy.msbuild-project-tools
pflannery.vscode-versionlens
yzhang.markdown-all-in-one

Global omnisharp settings

Go into %USERPROFILE%\.omnisharp\omnisharp.json. If this file/dir doesn't exist yet - create it. The file must contain the following, you will have to print the value of %USERPROFILE% variable:

{
    "RoslynExtensionsOptions": {
        "enableAnalyzersSupport": true,
	"LocationPaths": ["C:/Users/______YOUR USER NAME HERE______/.omnisharp/nuget/Microsoft.Unity.Analyzers/analyzers/dotnet/cs"]
    }
}

Then download Microsoft.Unity.Analyzers package by clicking Download package.

Then unzip the downloaded .nupkg file, so the LocationPaths in omnisharp.json will match directories on disk.

Global VSCode settings

Global VSCode settings file is located here %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Roaming\Code\User\settings.json.

Make sure it contains the following options:

{
    "omnisharp.enableEditorConfigSupport": false,
    "omnisharp.enableRoslynAnalyzers": true,
    "omnisharp.useModernNet": false,
    "csharp.unitTestDebuggingOptions": {
        "type": "clr",
        "console": "integratedTerminal"
    },
}

dnSpy

This will allow you to view Stationeers internal classes: https://github.com/dnSpy/dnSpy

Once installed, open %steam%\steamapps\common\Stationeers\rocketstation_Data\Managed\Assembly-CSharp.dll with it.

Other important things to know

For correct support of net48 (and other older .Net frameworks) debug, launch configuration types must be clr, not coreclr as VSCode usually sets by default.

It applies to csharp.unitTestDebuggingOptions (above), and to launch configurations in .code-workspace and .vscode/launch.json files.

You cannot debug Unity process from VSCode because omnisharp doesn't support Mono debug. Mono is the version of .net execution environment used inside Unity.

But you will be able to debug unit tests if you use them.

There were mentions about the means to debug Mono from VSCode by replacing Unity DLLs with patched ones, which enables remote debugging. But I didn't manage to make it working.