Posted February 23, 2018
So Starbound as a game is kind of empty as an experience. A shallow ocean, as it were.
Thankfully, it can be modded. The trouble is, a lot of mods require either singing up for a Chucklefish account, or subscribing to them on Steam. Obviously, there's no way the latter option is possible and the former means keeping another account. (Yes, really. Chucklefish doesn't have a FTP and their Workshop mods are subscribe only.)
To this, I thought it might be nice to compile a list of mods which have neither of these requirements along with links to them and a short description.
FrackinUniverse sucks. While I don't hold any ill will with the developers, there's a terrible amount of scope creep that has bogged down this mod, and I cannot recommend it any longer. It needs to lose at least 500 megabytes.
It is available on Github and updates often. (Proper tools and updating methods should be used instead of downloading the thing again.) But I caution: It is a one way trip and the developer is quite a character in that they fully expect you to fully read the manual and tutorials before asking a question.
SayterDarkwind's code is unoptimized spaghetti, and there's typically an entire team needed to tame the weird practices he uses in his code. It's some seriously hairy code.
I'm sorry, but I simply cannot reccomend the Factorio of Starbound mods because I have better things to do than grind my nose off.
Instead, here's StarExtensions. As far as I can tell, whoever is making it only compiles it for WIndows, so make what you can of it.
K'Raloth are a race of eldritch squid faced people. I presume that involves some manner of mind flaying.
The Stardust Suite contains several quality of life mods, including an interesting take on the nanosuit concept, allowing one to use it as an experience sink and multi-tier equipment slot. It has a lot of features I like which can potentially remove a lot of the tedium from SB, such as a nanolamp, storage facilities, and more.
Saturnians are Space Moths. It's a fairly popular and mature racial mod.
The Starbound Patch Pack aims to fix the many boneheaded, vexing, and potentially lethal issues that come with a game that was coded half drunk, half rushed before the footy game in London. It can't fix everything, because lua and JSON aren't miracle workers, and may not jive with mods.
Eternia adds a few things like planets, armor and tech. It's a fairly young mod with potental.
The Avali are feathery space raptors with four ears. In Starbound, this translates to a well aged mod that has a lot of content, but no custom missions or quests for them. Which is a slight shame, they're pretty cute.
Arcana is one of those massive overhaul mods, except the progression is basically separate of the main game, as it has a focus on pure magery instead of the typical way. Personally I think it needs better progression and a more interactive tutorial, but what do I know?
The Elithainian Alliance is probably the most code mature mod of all of Starbound. Stable, sturdy, and generally well integrated into the main path of the game. I like it. The Avakin are cute.
Now this is the part where you all come in. I would suggest mods from Gitlab or SVN, but the former has a login gate, and the latter I have no idea if there's a central repository to.
There are a few simple criteria I'd prefer to be followed:
1. It needs to be up to date. No dragging up a mod from Koala.
2. It needs to be within the realm of GOG's rules. No smutty mods.
3. No Modpacks. Those are just asking for trouble from mass conflicts and worse.
Thankfully, it can be modded. The trouble is, a lot of mods require either singing up for a Chucklefish account, or subscribing to them on Steam. Obviously, there's no way the latter option is possible and the former means keeping another account. (Yes, really. Chucklefish doesn't have a FTP and their Workshop mods are subscribe only.)
To this, I thought it might be nice to compile a list of mods which have neither of these requirements along with links to them and a short description.
FrackinUniverse sucks. While I don't hold any ill will with the developers, there's a terrible amount of scope creep that has bogged down this mod, and I cannot recommend it any longer. It needs to lose at least 500 megabytes.
It is available on Github and updates often. (Proper tools and updating methods should be used instead of downloading the thing again.) But I caution: It is a one way trip and the developer is quite a character in that they fully expect you to fully read the manual and tutorials before asking a question.
SayterDarkwind's code is unoptimized spaghetti, and there's typically an entire team needed to tame the weird practices he uses in his code. It's some seriously hairy code.
I'm sorry, but I simply cannot reccomend the Factorio of Starbound mods because I have better things to do than grind my nose off.
Instead, here's StarExtensions. As far as I can tell, whoever is making it only compiles it for WIndows, so make what you can of it.
K'Raloth are a race of eldritch squid faced people. I presume that involves some manner of mind flaying.
The Stardust Suite contains several quality of life mods, including an interesting take on the nanosuit concept, allowing one to use it as an experience sink and multi-tier equipment slot. It has a lot of features I like which can potentially remove a lot of the tedium from SB, such as a nanolamp, storage facilities, and more.
Saturnians are Space Moths. It's a fairly popular and mature racial mod.
The Starbound Patch Pack aims to fix the many boneheaded, vexing, and potentially lethal issues that come with a game that was coded half drunk, half rushed before the footy game in London. It can't fix everything, because lua and JSON aren't miracle workers, and may not jive with mods.
Eternia adds a few things like planets, armor and tech. It's a fairly young mod with potental.
The Avali are feathery space raptors with four ears. In Starbound, this translates to a well aged mod that has a lot of content, but no custom missions or quests for them. Which is a slight shame, they're pretty cute.
Arcana is one of those massive overhaul mods, except the progression is basically separate of the main game, as it has a focus on pure magery instead of the typical way. Personally I think it needs better progression and a more interactive tutorial, but what do I know?
The Elithainian Alliance is probably the most code mature mod of all of Starbound. Stable, sturdy, and generally well integrated into the main path of the game. I like it. The Avakin are cute.
Now this is the part where you all come in. I would suggest mods from Gitlab or SVN, but the former has a login gate, and the latter I have no idea if there's a central repository to.
There are a few simple criteria I'd prefer to be followed:
1. It needs to be up to date. No dragging up a mod from Koala.
2. It needs to be within the realm of GOG's rules. No smutty mods.
3. No Modpacks. Those are just asking for trouble from mass conflicts and worse.
Post edited August 31, 2022 by Darvond
