With this guide you can make an extension mod that modifies other Scientific Projects (including the ones added by other extension mods). Note that you cannot add a new project without code. You can also rearrange the grouping of the projects, including creating a new group and moving the projects around into different groups.

You should have read at least the first step of the guide: Getting Started.

Changing a simple project

All projects are defined by ScientificProjectSpec JSON files. You can find them in the mods’ Blueprints folders or in the mods’ source code here. For example, consider the Resin-Infused Planks project:

// ScientificProjects\Factions\FtPlankUpgrade.ScientificProjectSpec.json
{
    "ScientificProjectSpec": {
        "Id": "FtPlankUpgrade",
        "GroupId": "Factions",
        "NameKey": "LV.SP.FtPlankUpgrade",
        "EffectKey": "LV.SP.FtPlankUpgradeEff",
        "LoreKey": "LV.SP.FtPlankUpgradeLore",
        "Icon": "Sprites/Projects/ftplank",
        "ScienceCost": 2500,
        "Parameters": [ 1, -0.9999 ],
        "Order": 10,
        "Factions": [ "Folktails", "GreedyBuilders" ]
    }
}

Most of the time, you will want to change the ScienceCost or the Parameters properties. If you are not sure which number the parameters are, check the Localizations\enUS.csv file, the description should have placeholders explaining which parameter corresponds to which effect.

LV.SP.FtPlankUpgradeEff,"Woodworkshop uses {1:#.###%} power and {0:+#%} the Treated Planks output.",

Note: the parameter index starts at 0. So you can see the first number in Parameters is for the output multiplier (but when showing as text, it’s formatted as a percentage for easy reading) while the second number is the power reduction, again formatted as a percentage when showing on the UI.

For example, let’s say you want to increase the science cost but also increase the output (1 stands for +100% output), in your mod, create a file FtPlankUpgrade.ScientificProjectSpec.json anywhere in the Blueprints folder:

// Blueprints\Vanilla\FtPlankUpgrade.ScientificProjectSpec.json
{
    "ScientificProjectSpec": {
        "ScienceCost": 5000,
        "Parameters": [ 2, -0.9999 ]
    }
}

The Projects Group

As you can see above, the project has the "GroupId": "Factions" property. You should see the blueprints\ScientificProjectGroups\Factions.ScientificProjectGroupSpec.json file that defines that group:

// ScientificProjectGroups\Factions.ScientificProjectGroupSpec.json
{
    "ScientificProjectGroupSpec": {
        "Id": "Factions",
        "NameKey": "LV.SP.FactionsGroup",
        "DescKey": "LV.SP.FactionsGroupDesc",
        "Order": 40
    }
}

You can create, modify and move projects into other groups as you wish.

Daily and Custom Cost projects

Some other projects like “Precision Tool Maintenance” (WorkEffUpgrade2.ScientificProjectSpec.json) are Daily-cost projects. These projects do not have an up-front cost to unlock but instead use RequiredId to be locked by a prerequisite project (note that a normal one-time cost project can still be locked with RequiredId):

// ScientificProjects\WorkEffs\WorkEffUpgrade2.ScientificProjectSpec.json
{
    "ScientificProjectSpec": {
        "Id": "WorkEffUpgrade2",
        "RequiredId": "WorkEffUpgrade1",
        "GroupId": "WorkEff",
        "NameKey": "LV.SP.WorkEffUpgrade2",
        "EffectKey": "LV.SP.WorkEffUpgrade2Eff",
        "LoreKey": "LV.SP.WorkEffUpgrade2Lore",
        "Icon": "Sprites/Projects/WorkEffUpgrade2",
        "ScienceCost": 15,
        "MaxSteps": 5,
        "HasScalingCost": true,
        "ScalingCostKey": "LV.SP.WorkEffUpgrade2Cost",
        "Parameters": [ 0.1, 15, 20 ],
        "Order": 20
    }
}

With "MaxSteps": 5, the project is considered a Daily-cost project automatically and ScienceCost becomes the normal daily cost per step instead.

However, if you read the Description, you will notice this project cost scales with the number of Adult beavers you have too (and is defined by "HasScalingCost": true):

LV.SP.WorkEffUpgrade2Eff,"{0:+#%} additional work efficiency of all beavers per Level.",
LV.SP.WorkEffUpgrade2Cost,"[Cost] per Level, and {1} for every {2} Adult beavers (rounded up)",

With "HasScalingCost": true, ScalingCostKey is required and it’s handled with custom C# code but the text has access to a special placeholder [Cost] which is the ScienceCost. So for this project Parameters, the first number is the Work Efficiency boost per Level/step, ScienceCost is the flat cost per Level, and the second number is the cost increase per the third number of adult beavers.

For example, let’s say we want to keep the flat cost but increase the science cost to 30 per 30 beavers instead, and also increase the maximum Levels/Steps to 10:

// Blueprints\Vanilla\WorkEffUpgrade2.ScientificProjectSpec.json
{
    "ScientificProjectSpec": {
        "MaxSteps": 10,
        "Parameters": [ 0.1, 30, 30 ]
    }
}

Conclusion

This guide likely covers all scenarios in which you can mod Scientific Projects without C# code. You can likely make significant balance changes with this approach but unfortunately you cannot really change the behavior or add a new project.

In order to do that, you will need to code a mod using C#. The Modding Scientific Projects with C# guide would come in handy.

Back to Scientific Projects