Recipe vs Schematic

Now that we’ve got the basic structure of our mod set up, let’s create a custom recipe that we can use to craft an existing in-game item.

Before we create our first recipe, however, it’s important to understand the difference between a 'recipe' and a 'schematic.'

In Satisfactory, 'Recipes' are used to define the item input/cost and output of crafting items, buildables, etc. They are backed by the FGRecipe class. Recipes are not only used for the craft bench or the workshop, but also for the build gun, smelters, manufacturers and more. You can read more about recipes on the Crafting page.

Note that recipes are used to define both crafting recipes in the craft bench and machines and construction prices when using the build gun. All buildables actually have an item equivalent in game as well.

'Schematics', on the other hand, define things like Milestones, the shipments submitted to FICSIT via the HUB in order to unlock new recipes and features. This is far from their only purpose. They are backed by the FGSchematic class. You can read more about schematics on the FGSchematic page.

In this segment of the tutorial, we will create both a recipe and a schematic. Our schematic will be used to give the player access to our recipe.

Create a Recipe

Let’s make some new leaf-based recipes to start, since leaves are pretty common, so it will be easy to test our recipes out in-game.

Go to the Content Browser in the Unreal editor. Navigate to the root folder of your mod (appears as DocMod Content), right click, and select 'New Folder'. Call the new folder "Recipes".

Inside of your Recipes folder in the Content Browser, right click, select to create a Blueprint Class, and use FGRecipe as the parent class. We’ll call it Recipe_DocRecipe to follow Coffee Stain’s naming convention for prefixing recipe files.

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Assign Recipe Properties

Next, we’ll configure our new recipe to control what it requires, what it produces, and what machines can use it.

Double click your new recipe to open it, and you should see the default settings of the classes' attributes. If not, click on the "Class Defaults" button in the toolbar and they should appear in the Details browser.

Let’s go through each attribute and set up our recipe’s properties. You can hover over the left side of a field to get a tooltip describing its purpose (pulled from the game headers).

  • M Display Name

    The name of a recipe will show up inside the manual crafting bench, or any machines you set it to be used in. By default, recipes take the name of their product item. If you want to define a custom override name for your recipe, you can specify it here. The base game uses this to give special names to alternate recipes.
    For our tutorial recipe, we’ll check the field and call it "Doc Recipe".

  • M Ingredients

    An array of structs, each of which contains the information for one crafting ingredient. Together, the array forms the input items for the recipe.
    We’ll add one entry and set the Item Class to Desc_Leaves and the Amount to 42.

  • M Product

    Another an array of structs that defines output of the recipe.
    Add a one entry and set the Item Class to Desc_Wood and the Amount to 1.

When making a recipe, be sure avoid the following common pitfalls:

  • Specifying more input/output types than the machine has ports

  • Requiring a fluid in a machine that doesn’t have (enough) pipe ports.

  • Ingredient or product quantity that exceeds the item’s stack size. If you do this, the machine will never run, because it can’t hold all of the items required to start operating.

  • Ingredient or product quantity that exceeds half of the item’s stack size. If you do this, the machine will still run, but it will never reach 100% uptime (efficiency). Satisfactory machines consume ingredients upon the completion of a production cycle, meaning the machine must wait for more items to be delivered by belts before it can begin crafting again.

If you use a fluid, multiply the quantity by 1000, since they are treated as liters internally, but displayed as cubic meters (1 cubic meter per 1000 liters).

  • M Overridden Category

    Categories control what subsection a recipe appears under in the recipe list. By default, recipes take on the category of their first product item.
    We’ll leave this at None so that it sticks with the default category of the Leaves item.

  • M Manufacturing Menu Priority

    Controls the order that recipes appear within their category. Lower values means earlier in the menu. Negatives and decimals allowed.
    Stick with the default value of 0.0.

  • M Manufacturing Duration

    This determines the time it takes for a machine to process this recipe in seconds.
    Let’s set this to 4.0 for reasons that will be explained below.

  • M Manual Manufacturing Multiplier

    If you want the same recipe to be usable in both machines and the craft bench, this value allows you to define how much longer the crafting of this recipe should take in the craft bench. By default, this value is 1.0. This means that number of clicks to craft the product will be the number of seconds it takes to craft divided by two. For example, Iron Rods have a Manufacturing Duration of 4.0 and a Multiplier of 0.5. This means that each batch takes 4 seconds in a machine, but only one click to craft (4 / 2 * 0.5 = 1) This is capped at a minimum of one click - if it goes to 0, it still takes 1 click to process.
    Let’s leave this at the default value of 1.0. Our recipe should now take 4 seconds to process in a machine, but only 2 clicks to craft.

  • M Produced In

    An array of IFGRecipeProducerInterface implementers (machines) that are allowed to use the recipe.
    Let’s add both FGWorkBench and Build_ConstructorMk1 to verify the behavior we discussed about the manufacturing times.

  • M Material Customization Recipe

    Used with the Customizer for switching between building materials.
    Leave this at the default of None since we’re not working with building recipes here.

  • Variable Power

    Controls the levels of power consumption that machines that support variable consumption will cycle between while producing this recipe. As of Update 6, the Particle Accelerator is the only base-game building that supports this feature.
    Let’s leave these at the default values.

  • M Relevant Events

    Restricts the recipe to only be valid during certain events, ex. FICSMAS or April First.
    Leave this empty.

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Ok, now you’ve created your first recipe!

Before continuing, remember to compile and save!

Create a Schematic

Next, let’s add our recipe to a schematic to make it available in game.

Schematics are what Satisfactory uses to grant recipes and capabilities to the player. Schematics are the milestones you’ll see in the HUB, the Tier 0 tutorial phases, M.A.M researches, alternate recipe researches, and more. If the player is unlocking an item, building, or any recipe, it’s probably be granted by a schematic.

Go to the Content Browser in the Unreal editor. Navigate to the root folder of your mod (appears as DocMod Content), right click, and select 'New Folder'. Call the new folder "Schematics" to keep with our organization pattern so far.

Inside of your Schematics folder in the Content Browser, right click, select to create a Blueprint Class, and use FGSchematic as the parent class. We’ll call it Schematic_DocSchem to follow Coffee Stain’s naming convention for prefixing schematic files.

Assign Schematic Properties

Next, we’ll configure our new schematic to control what tier it’s in and what it costs to unlock.

Double click your new schematic to open it, and you should see the default settings of the classes' attributes. If not, click on the "Class Defaults" button in the toolbar and they should appear in the Details browser.

Let’s go through each attribute and set up our schematic’s properties. You can hover over the left side of a field to get a tooltip describing its purpose (pulled from the game headers).

  • M Type

    Determines if the schematic is part of the tutorial system or if it’s a Milestone/etc.
    We’ll use Milestone so it can be unlocked in the HUB.

  • M Display Name

    The in-game name of our schematic, exactly as it is displayed to the user.
    We’ll use "Doc Plants Upgrade".

  • M Description

    A text description to display along with the schematic. As of Update 6, only AWESOME Shop schematics actually display this field anywhere in-game.
    We’ll leave it blank, since we’re making a HUB schematic.

  • M Schematic Category

    Defines the category in which this schematic gets grouped into. Only AWESOME Shop schematics actually use this field.
    Go ahead and pick one, it doesn’t matter for our example.

  • M Sub Category

    Defines in which sub groups the schematic should get categorized.
    We leave this array empty.

  • M Menu Priority

    Controls the order that schematics appear within their category. This has not been tested with the HUB, but is used in AWESOME Shop schematics.
    Stick with the default value of 0.0.

  • M Tech Tier

    Determines which Tier the schematic will appear under in the HUB.
    We’ll set it to 1 so that our content is available as soon as you finish the tutorial.

  • M Time to Complete

    Remember that annoying time when you purchased a milestone and the space ship leaves, blocking you from buying other milestones, or waiting for research to complete? This controls that timer. For milestones, if this value is shorter than the time it takes for the pod animation to launch, it will visually bug out, but you will still be able to submit milestones without issue. For HUB schematics, it will supposedly cause problems if less than 3 seconds, but this has not been tested.
    We will set it to 60 seconds.

  • M Schematic Icon

    The icon displayed on a HUB milestone, MAM Research, or AWESOME Shop page and preview.
    Go ahead and use this example image. Consider making another folder to hold your schematic icons.

  • M Cost

    An array of structs, each of which contains the information for one required item to submit.
    We’ll add two entries, one with 100 Desc_Leaves and another one with 50 Desc_Wood.

  • M Unlocks

    This array contains the rewards the player will get when purchasing this schematic. It’s an array of FGUnlock inner class instances. The different kinds of unlocks are discussed in the schematics page.
    We’ll add one BP Unlock Recipe. Add the recipe we created earlier (Recipe_DocRecipe) to its list.

  • M Schematic Dependencies

    This array allows for a schematic’s purchase to be locked depending upon other schematics or items in the world. This is completely ignored by the MAM in favor of node data, which is outside the scope of this tutorial.
    We’ll leave this empty because we don’t want our content to require any other particular schematic to be unlocked first.

  • M Dependencies Block Schematic Access

    Controls if the dependencies should block access to the schematic, requiring custom code to unblock it later.
    Leave this unchecked since we don’t have any dependencies.

  • M Relevant Events

    Restricts the schematic to only be valid during certain events, ex. FICSMAS or April First.
    Leave this empty.

  • M Include In Builds

    Set this to PublicBuilds so that your content is included in the build. Presumably, this is what Coffee Stain uses to keep their developer testing milestones from being shipped with the main game.

Finally! What a class. Now we just need to register this schematic so it shows up at runtime.

Before continuing, remember to compile and save!

Register the Schematic

To register the schematic, open up the RootGameWorld_YourModReferenceHere asset we created earlier and add the schematics to the M Schematics array.

And we’re set! Our recipe and schematic are registered and should show up in the game now.

Before continuing, remember to compile and save!

Testing Our Mod

To test it out, go ahead and run Alpakit and launch the game. You can find info on how to use it back on the Project Setup page.

Load up any save file you’d like, preferably an existing one so you don’t have to go through the tutorial again, and check out the HUB. You should be able to purchase your schematic and go to a workbench or constructor to use your recipe.

Troubleshooting

My schematic doesn’t show up in the HUB

  • Did you save and compile all relevant files before Alpaking? Check for any unsaved files via File > Choose Files to Save…​

  • Is the Game World Module you created on the last step of the docs marked as the Root Module?

  • Did you select a tier for the schematic that you can’t access yet in the save file?

  • Is the schematic type set to something other than Milestone?

My recipe doesn’t show up

  • Did you save and compile all relevant files before Alpaking? Check for any unsaved files via File > Choose Files to Save…​

  • Make sure that the product items you selected are exactly the ones we suggested here. As described in the upcoming Create an Item page, items without assigned categories are hidden in crafters unless you search for them directly.

My recipe doesn’t work as expected

Go back and check the recipe’s properties to see if they match what was described above.

Something Else

If something went wrong, feel free to contact us on the Discord for help. Even if you fix it yourself, please bring it up on the Discord so we can update the docs with your findings to help other people that might have a similar issue!

Next Steps

Next up, let’s create our own custom item, and change our recipe to produce it instead of boring, old, generic Wood.