Wasteland Biome Mod
by Monomer

INSTALLATION:

-Unpack the archive and move the "wasteland" folder into your Mods folder in your root Starbound directory. Final file path should be Starbound/Mods/wasteland/

-That's it! Everything is contained in the wasteland root folder; if you wish to uninstall it at any time, simply delete that folder (or go into the wasteland folder and rename wasteland.modinfo if you want to "uninstall" the mod without deleting it)

FAQ:

Q: Do I need to make a new character to see the mod?

A: No, my testing so far has shown that you do not need a new character for the universe map to start showing Wasteland planets. However, any planets your existing character visited before installing the mod will be unaffected, even if the universe map now says they are Wasteland planets. So there's some wonkiness between the universe map and actual planet surfaces for existing characters. (If anyone knows more about planet gen in this regard, feel free to share your knowledge!)

Q: Will this mod work with this other mod that adds biomes/planet types (i.e. Toxic Planets Mod)?

A: No. Unfortunately, the code to allow for merging of .config files doesn't work well for the stuff these mods change, so this mod and all the other biome mods I've seen all overwrite celestial.config and/or planetgen.config. If you have one of those other mods installed and want this one as well, you'll have to merge the files manually. See the "How To Merge" section of this readme (at the bottom).

WHAT'S INCLUDED:

-The Wasteland planet type will be added to your universe generation in all sectors and most planets (planets orbiting too far from suns won't be wasteland planets). The basic Wasteland biome includes a new weather system (ash storms) and new parallax artwork. Additionally, I threw in some new tiles with the "Brittle" prefix (i.e. Brittle Metal, Brittle Junk). These tiles look the same as some of the existing "Rusty" tiles but are easier to mine through, making the planet less of a pain for low-tech tools.

-Minibiomes! In addition to dunes of ash and old junk, Wasteland planets include dead forests and ruined, withered buildings dotting the landscape.

-New Cosmetic Items! You'll notice some old wreckage strewn about Wasteland planets; old consoles and rusted metal signs, etc. These can be picked up and placed on your ship (or anywhere you wish).

-New Sound Effects! The wasteland biome and the ash storm weather system each have their own new SFX loops. The music is from vanilla Starbound but is a mure curated list of tracks that fit the Wasteland's harsh landscape.

COMING LATER:

-I'd like to add more cosmetic objects and eventually equipment for your character, all themed to fit this biome.

-More buildings and sub-biomes to discover on the planet's surface will be added in future updates to the mod.


HOW TO MERGE:

-If you have another mod that overwrites celestial.config or planetgen.config, the game will simply use the LAST one it loads in your mod order. So you'll need to figure out which one you want to load last and ensure it has all the changes necessary for all your mods. For this one, there's a couple changes.

In celestial.config:

1. Find the "Sectors:" section; you'll see that every sector in the game gets a list of allowed biomes.
2. Add "wasteland" to each of those biome lists; make sure you put a comma between every entry, but don't leave a comma after the last one! It'll asplode.

3. Find the "planetaryTypes:" section; scroll down until you see "orbitParameters:". You'll see some familiar looking lists of biomes. Add "wasteland" to the Hot and Mild lists in the same manner as you did in step 2.

4. Find the "satelliteTypes:" section, and scroll down until you see "orbitParameters:". Repeat the changes you made in step 3.

In planetgen.config:

1. Find the "surfaceBiomeTerrains" section; you'll see an array of information for each biome type. Add the following line to BEGINNING of that list:

"wasteland" : ["flats", "barren" ],

Mind the commas! Or else it will explode.

That's it! Your game should now load the mod. If you run into any errors, try opening the celestial.config included in this mod and finding the changes I just described to see exactly how it should look.