Getting Started with Lua

This guide will walk you through setting up a project for a Lua mod. However, we recommend using the VSCode Extension, as it does this setup for you and makes it easy to get started.

Software and Installation

To get started modding Sapiens you should install a suitable code editor. We suggest Visual Studio Code from Microsoft and the Lua plugin to get started.

Creating the mod

To create a mod, create a folder in one of these locations:

• Windows (official platform): C:\Users\[user_name]\AppData\Roaming\majicjungle\sapiens\mods\
• MacOSX (official platform): ~/Library/Application\ Support/majicjungle/sapiens/mods
• Proton (unoffical):
  • ~/.steam/steam/steamapps/compatdata/1060230/pfx/drive_c/users/steamuser/AppData/Roaming/majicjungle/sapiens/mods/ or
  • [steamlibrary]/steamapps/compatdata/1060230/pfx/drive_c/users/steamuser/AppData/Roaming/majicjungle/sapiens/mods/ (if you've changed the install directory)

Next, create a modInfo.lua. This contains most of the important information about your mod. Example modInfo.lua, copy and change as necessary:

local modInfo = {
  name = "My Example Mod Name",
  description = "A super-duper groovy mod that does... stuff",
  type = "", -- We'll get back to this
  developer = "Me"
}
return modInfo

Here is a full list of modInfo parameters (optional):

local modInfo = {
    name = "My Example Mod Name",
    description = "A super-duper groovy mod that does... stuff",
    preview = "preview.jpg",
    version = "0.0.1",
    type = "app",
    developer = "Me",
    website = "https://sirlich.github.io/sapiens-modding-wiki/",
}
return modInfo

Mod Types

As you can see above, we have yet to fill the type parameter of our modInfo.lua. This is because it changes depending on the type of mod we want to make.

• World mods are the 'standard' type of mod. They are run both on the client and the server, and are very useful when trying to add any sort of content.
• App mods are mods that affect the whole game. They are run on the client, and are useful for things like Localization

Depending on the type of mod you'd like to create, type is either world (for World mods) or app (for App mods). Read more about it here.

What to do from here?

This guide just sets up a mod for you, nothing more. To make the game do what you want to do, look over on the sidebar and read up on how it works before trying to implement it. Some topics I suggest checking out:

• Shadowing - Further your knowledge on how shadowing works so you don't run into weird issues later.
• Mod Types - Understand what each type of mod does and how to develop them properly.
• Hammerstone Framework - Hammerstone Framework is a library that's designed to help modders and provide a level of 'protection' from the Sapiens codebase.