You’re Cloning the Starter Project

You’ve chosen to clone the Starter Project repository. Good choice! This will make it easy to update the project with changes to SML later.

The below box will help you decide which repository branch to clone. It’s imperative that you download the correct Starter Project version of the game you’re modding or you will have to repeat some of the setup process again.

What is Cloning?

If you aren’t familiar with version control software (VCS) like Git, check out our mini tutorial that will cover the basics.

What Branch to Clone

This is the latest stable version of the docs.
Stable (Release) and Experimental are currently both the same game version.

You should clone either the dev branch or the master branch. Of those two, you probably want whichever branch was pushed to most recently, which you can see in the ("Updated" column) on the GitHub repository.

If you’re uncertain about which branch to use, ask us on the Discord.

Go to this GitHub repository: https://github.com/satisfactorymodding/SatisfactoryModLoader/

Get the clone URL via the <> Code dropdown button on the GitHub page.

If you just followed the mini git tutorial, we suggest following the steps here to use GitHub Desktop to clone the repository. Otherwise, use the git clone method of your choice.

If using the command line, the -b branchName option can control what branch is cloned, for example:

git clone -b branchName [email protected]:satisfactorymodding/SatisfactoryModLoader.git

Switch Branches

Your Git client will probably start you on the master branch by default, so you may have to switch branches to the branch or tag you actually intended to clone.

You can move the cloned repository folder later, and you can name it whatever you’d like. Make sure to read the notes on the Starter Project page about good long-term homes for your starter project files.

The directory is ready for use as soon as the clone is complete and you have switched to the branch you intend to use.

Many Git clients will automatically clone the repository’s default branch. Make sure you’re on the branch/tag you intended before proceeding!

Next Steps

Now that all the dependencies are installed, you can move onto setting up the project.