SMAPI/docs/technical/smapi.md

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This file provides more technical documentation about SMAPI. If you only want to use or create mods, this section isn't relevant to you; see the main README to use or create mods.

This document is about SMAPI itself; see also mod build package and web services.

Contents

• Customisation
  • Configuration file
  • Command-line arguments
  • Compile flags
• For SMAPI developers
  • Compiling from source
  • Debugging a local build
  • Preparing a release
  • Using a custom Harmony build
• Release notes

Customisation

Configuration file

You can customise some SMAPI behaviour by editing the smapi-internal/config.json file in your game folder. See documentation in the file for more info.

Command-line arguments

The SMAPI installer recognises three command-line arguments:

argument	purpose
--install	Preselects the install action, skipping the prompt asking what the user wants to do.
--uninstall	Preselects the uninstall action, skipping the prompt asking what the user wants to do.
--game-path "path"	Specifies the full path to the folder containing the Stardew Valley executable, skipping automatic detection and any prompt to choose a path. If the path is not valid, the installer displays an error.

SMAPI itself recognises two arguments on Windows only, but these are intended for internal use or testing and may change without warning. On Linux/macOS, see environment variables below.

argument	purpose
--no-terminal	SMAPI won't write anything to the console window. (Messages will still be written to the log file.)
--mods-path	The path to search for mods, if not the standard Mods folder. This can be a path relative to the game folder (like --mods-path "Mods (test)") or an absolute path.

Environment variables

The above SMAPI arguments don't work on Linux/macOS due to the way the game launcher works. You can set temporary environment variables instead. For example:

SMAPI_MODS_PATH="Mods (multiplayer)" /path/to/StardewValley

environment variable	purpose
SMAPI_NO_TERMINAL	Equivalent to --no-terminal above.
SMAPI_MODS_PATH	Equivalent to --mods-path above.

Compile flags

SMAPI uses a small number of conditional compilation constants, which you can set by editing the <DefineConstants> element in SMAPI.csproj. Supported constants:

flag	purpose
SMAPI_FOR_WINDOWS	Whether SMAPI is being compiled for Windows; if not set, the code assumes Linux/macOS. Set automatically in common.targets.

For SMAPI developers

Compiling from source

Using an official SMAPI release is recommended for most users, but you can compile from source directly if needed. There are no special steps (just open the project and compile), but SMAPI often uses the latest C# syntax. You may need the latest version of your IDE to compile it.

SMAPI uses build configuration derived from the crossplatform mod config to detect your current OS automatically and load the correct references. Compile output will be placed in a bin folder at the root of the Git repository.

Debugging a local build

Rebuilding the solution in debug mode will copy the SMAPI files into your game folder. Starting the SMAPI project with debugging from Visual Studio (on macOS or Windows) will launch SMAPI with the debugger attached, so you can intercept errors and step through the code being executed. That doesn't work in MonoDevelop on Linux, unfortunately.

Preparing a release

To prepare a crossplatform SMAPI release, you'll need to compile it on two platforms: Windows and Linux. The instructions below assume you have Windows 11, but you can adapt them for a different setup if needed.

Initial setup

First-time setup on Windows:

1. Install Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL).
2. Install the needed software in WSL:
   1. Run sudo apt update to update the package list.
   2. Install the .NET 5 SDK (for Stardew Valley 1.5.5+) or mono-complete (for earlier versions). You can run lsb_release -a to get the Ubuntu version number.
   3. Install Steam.
   4. Launch steam and install the game like usual.
   5. Download and install your preferred IDE. For the latest standalone Rider version:

      wget "<download url here>" -O rider-install.tar.gz
      sudo tar -xzvf rider-install.tar.gz -C /opt
      ln -s "/opt/JetBrains Rider-<version>/bin/rider.sh"
      ./rider.sh
      

   6. Clone the SMAPI repo in WSL:

      git clone https://github.com/Pathoschild/SMAPI.git
      

To compile SMAPI in WSL:

1. Run ./rider.sh to open the Rider GUI.
2. Use the GUI to compile the solution.

To launch the game:

1. Open a WSL terminal.
2. Run these commands to start Steam:

   export TERM=xterm
   steam
   

3. Launch the game through the Steam UI.

Prepare the release

1. Update the version numbers in build/common.targets, Constants, and the manifest.json for bundled mods. Make sure you use a semantic version. Recommended format:

   build type	format	example
   dev build	<version>-alpha.<date>	3.0.0-alpha.20171230
   prerelease	<version>-beta.<date>	3.0.0-beta.20171230
   release	<version>	3.0.0

2. In Windows:
   1. Rebuild the solution with the release solution configuration.
   2. Copy the bin/SMAPI installer and bin/SMAPI installer for developers folders to Linux.
3. In Linux:
   1. Rebuild the solution with the release solution configuration.
   2. Add the windows-install.* files from Windows to the bin/SMAPI installer and bin/SMAPI installer for developers folders compiled on Linux.
   3. Rename the folders to SMAPI <version> installer and SMAPI <version> installer for developers.
   4. Zip the two folders.

Custom Harmony build

SMAPI uses a custom build of Harmony, which is included in the build folder. To use a different build, just replace 0Harmony.dll in that folder before compiling.

Release notes

See release notes.