Delta-V: Rings of Saturn supports mods, and has provided modding support since mid-2021. The game's modloader, when active, loads mods as .zip files from a 'mods' folder within the game's directory.
Mods can execute unsafe or dangerous code on your computer, and may carry bugs or game-breaking issues. Mods are not guaranteed to be compatible with another mod, and it is advised to use only a small handful of mods at a time to get the best experience from them. Contact the mod author if you have problems, as Kodera Software cannot and will not help with problems caused by mods, and will flag bugs reported as "using mods".
If you want to make your own mod, check out Za'krin's Modding Helper Guide, and the modding help channel in the Kodera Software Discord where you can ask for assistance, or the (currently under construction) technical info page which goes into how various numbers and mechanics work and are formatted. (if the first discord link does not work, you may need to have joined the Discord server, which you can do here
If you are already familiar with how modding works and are aware of the dangers, you can find a list of every known mod and mod repository on it's dedicated page. It is highly advised you give Getting Started a read, however, as mods can very easily cause irreparable damage to your save.
YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!!
Getting Started
Installing Mods
Installing Delta-V mods is a relatively simple process:
- Open the game's installation directory and create a folder called
mods. This folder should be alongside the game's executable and .pck file. The folder's path should appear like this for your intended OS (directories are currently listed for Steam only):- Windows:
C\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\dV Rings of Saturn\mods\ - Linux/ChromeOS:
~/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/common/dV Rings of Saturn/mods/ - OS X:
~/Library/Application Support/Steam/steamapps/commom/dV Rings of Saturn/mods/
- Windows:
- Download a mod. You'll receive a .zip file. Don't extract it, as the modloader will do that for you when the game runs.
- Place the mod's .zip inside the mods folder.
- Add the argument
--enable-modsto your game's launch parameters.- On Steam, either right-click on your game in the Library menu or select it and click on the gear button on the right side of the window, then select "Properties...". In the popup window's "General" tab, place the argument into the "Launch Options" box, then close the popup.
- On the Epic Games launcher, go to the Library menu, click on the "..." button next or near to the game's icon and select "Manage". In the popup window, Enable "Launch Options" and put the argument into the box that appears, then close the popup.
- On GOG Galaxy, go to the Installed menu, then either right-click on the game's panel or select it and click the settings button next to Play, then navigate to "Manage installation" > "Configure...". In the popup window, go to the "Features" tab and enable the "Launch parameters" option. Select "Duplicate" for File 1, then put the argument into the "Arguments" box. Set it as the default executable, customise the label if you want to, and then press "OK".
- If you don't have a launcher, go to your game's directory and create a shortcut from its executable file. On Windows, you do this by right-clicking the executable and selecting "Create shortcut". Right-click on the shortcut and, in the "Target" box, add the argument to the end. You'll need to open the game from this shortcut for it to work.
- Run the game. Delta-V doesn't currently have a mod menu, so you won't see changes until they appear in the game.
Backing Up Save Files
It's a good idea to back up save files before installing mods, even if said mods do not directly add or change a save directly. Some mods may also 'taint' a save by making it either marking a save as "cheeta", as the writer believed their mod would alter the vanilla experience if said save was loaded in vanilla, or changing a save in a way that prevents the vanilla game from being able to load it.
Windows
On Windows, Delta-V's save files are stored in the dV folder in AppData. This is accessible by typing %appdata%\dV into the address bar. From there, copy the savegame.dv files into a separate folder. You can restore backed-up save files by replacing the ones in your AppData folder with your backed-up versions.
Linux / ChromeOS
Linux distributions will have a couple of different locations where the dV folder is stored, dependent on which installation method your launcher used. Both can be accessed without needing elevated permissions, and are located in either the .local/share or .var/app/com.valvesoftware.Steam/data/ folders. They can be accessed with the following command lines, cd ~/.local/share/dV/ or cd ~/.var/app/com.valvesoftware.Steam/data/dV/, respectively.
Mac OS / OS X
Mac OS works similarly to Linux distributions in folder structure, and thus has a similar location of the dV folder. The folder can be found at ~/Library/Application Support/dV
Uninstalling mods
Removing mods is generally an easy of a step as installing, and in many cases easier as if you just want to stop using mods entirely, as you only need to remove the --enable-mods launch parameter. Stopping mods from loading is effectively as easy as moving them to a different folder or changing the file's extension. The most common methods involve creating a subfolder named disabled and moving unwanted mods there, or adding a .disabled extension to the mod to disable it. NOTE: these methods may not work when loaded using mods that extend modloader functionality.
However, some mods (namely mods that add content in the form of ships, equipment, locations, and the like) may need extra steps to go through before a save that had been used can be loaded without that mod. Mods generally fall into one of three categories when it comes to footprint: none (lightweight mods), null equipment, and ghost slots.
None (Lightweight Mods)
These mods generally don't add much in terms of functionality. Most of the time they compliment without adding anything 'new', or add onto existing vanilla mechanics that the vanilla game can handle perfectly fine.
You will be free to add and remove these mods at will.
Null Equipment
Although these mods will have slight differences depending on which equipment becomes unavailable (ships or equipment), they're classified under the same category as both require a very minor task to be vanilla-compatible.
New Equipment: Any equipment added by mods that is compatible with vanilla slots will just not appear on the slots they were fitted to, and it will act like an empty equipment worth 0 E$. The only loss with this is whatever the equipment cost to apply, which could easily be sold with the mod enabled to get the money back.
New Ships: New ships will work very similarly to new equipment, in the fact they just disappear from the fleet menu. HOWEVER, if the ship is the active ship, it will crash the game. The solution is to just switch to a vanilla ship before removing the mod.
Ghost Slots
Ghost slots appear when any mod that physically changes how slots are handled on a ship gets removed, and act in one of two ways:
Mirrored Slots: these appear with two or more slots on the equipment screen with the same title, and always share the same equipment regardless when one changes. These can also work vice versa where one slot type on the equipment screen changes equipment on the ship in more than one place.
Empty Slots: these are slots on the equipment screen that can be interacted with and have equipment changed on, but doesn't get applied on the ship.
These happen when a mod that altered the way slots are used on a ship gets removed. This can be counteracted by buying a new ship from the dealer.