SMAPI/docs/technical-docs.md

← README

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.

Contents

• Development
  • Compiling from source
  • Debugging a local build
  • Preparing a release
• Customisation
  • Configuration file
  • Command-line arguments
  • Compile flags

Development

Compiling from source

Using an official SMAPI release is recommended for most users.

SMAPI uses some C# 7 code, so you'll need at least Visual Studio 2017 on Windows, MonoDevelop 7.0 on Linux, Visual Studio 2017 for Mac, or an equivalent IDE to compile it. It 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 StardewModdingAPI project with debugging from Visual Studio (on Mac or Windows) will launch SMAPI with the debugger attached, so you can intercept errors and step through the code being executed. This 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. See crossplatforming info on the wiki for the first-time setup.

1. Update the version number in GlobalAssemblyInfo.cs and Constants::Version. Make sure you use a semantic version. Recommended format:

   build type	format	example
   dev build	<version>-alpha.<timestamp>	2.0-alpha.20171230
   prerelease	<version>-prerelease.<ID>	2.0-prerelease.2
   release	<version>	2.0

2. In Windows:

   1. Rebuild the solution in Release mode.
   2. Rename bin/Packaged to SMAPI <version> (e.g. SMAPI 2.0).
   3. Transfer the SMAPI <version> folder to Linux or Mac.
      This adds the installer executable and Windows files. We'll do the rest in Linux or Mac, since we need to set Unix file permissions that Windows won't save.

3. In Linux or Mac:

   1. Rebuild the solution in Release mode.

   2. Copy bin/internal/Packaged/Mono into the SMAPI <version> folder.

   3. If you did everything right so far, you should have a folder like this:

      SMAPI-2.x/
         install.exe
         readme.txt
         internal/
            Mono/
               Mods/*
               Mono.Cecil.dll
               Newtonsoft.Json.dll
               StardewModdingAPI
               StardewModdingAPI.AssemblyRewriters.dll
               StardewModdingAPI.config.json
               StardewModdingAPI.exe
               StardewModdingAPI.pdb
               StardewModdingAPI.xml
               steam_appid.txt
               System.Numerics.dll
               System.Runtime.Caching.dll
               System.ValueTuple.dll
            Windows/
               Mods/*
               Mono.Cecil.dll
               Newtonsoft.Json.dll
               StardewModdingAPI.AssemblyRewriters.dll
               StardewModdingAPI.config.json
               StardewModdingAPI.exe
               StardewModdingAPI.pdb
               StardewModdingAPI.xml
               System.ValueTuple.dll
               steam_appid.txt
      

   4. Open a terminal in the SMAPI <version> folder and run chmod 755 internal/Mono/StardewModdingAPI.

   5. Copy & paste the SMAPI <version> folder as SMAPI <version> for developers.

   6. In the SMAPI <version> folder...

      • edit internal/Mono/StardewModdingAPI.config.json and internal/Windows/StardewModdingAPI.config.json to disable developer mode;
      • delete internal/Windows/StardewModdingAPI.xml.

   7. Compress the two folders into SMAPI <version>.zip and SMAPI <version> for developers.zip.

Customisation

Configuration file

You can customise the SMAPI behaviour by editing the StardewModdingAPI.config.json file in your game folder.

Basic fields:

field	purpose
DeveloperMode	Default false (except in SMAPI for developers releases). Whether to enable features intended for mod developers (mainly more detailed console logging).
CheckForUpdates	Default true. Whether SMAPI should check for a newer version when you load the game. If a new version is available, a small message will appear in the console. This doesn't affect the load time even if your connection is offline or slow, because it happens in the background.
VerboseLogging	Default false. Whether SMAPI should log more information about the game context.
ModData	Internal metadata about SMAPI mods. Changing this isn't recommended and may destabilise your game. See documentation in the file.

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, but these are intended for internal use or testing and may change without warning.

argument	purpose
--log-path "path"	The relative or absolute path of the log file SMAPI should write.
--no-terminal	SMAPI won't write anything to the console window. (Messages will still be written to the log file.)

Compile flags

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

flag	purpose
SMAPI_FOR_WINDOWS	Indicates that SMAPI is being compiled on Windows for players on Windows. Set automatically in crossplatform.targets.