Upgrading from SML 3.11.x to 3.12.x

Users can now reset Mod Configuration options to their default values directly from the config screen. Package ExampleMod and try it out in game!

As a mod developer, you can exclude certain options from being reset ('Allow User Reset'), check if a setting is at its default value, or trigger a reset yourself via code. If a config section disallows reset, all options within that section are also unable to be reset.

All existing default values and user config choices have been preserved. Although you do not technically need to change anything for your mods to get this feature, it is worth reviewing your configuration to see if there are any values that the user should not be allowed to reset.

For more information, see the PR adding the feature.

ficsit.app now allows you to communicate if your mod works with controllers, such as Xbox, Playstation, or Steam controllers. This information is presented and stored in a system similar to the existing Stable and Experimental branch compatibility.

The possible options are:

This information is currently only visible on ficsit.app, not inside of SMM.

ficsit.app now offers a consistent location for mods to place their Network Activity Transparency information. Previously, this information was expected to be somewhere inside the mod description text. This new change helps users find the information quickly and ensures developers know they need to provide it. Together with this field is a new one for disclosing generative AI usage.

You can read more about what information must be disclosed in the ficsit.app Content Policy.

Note that uploading additional versions of your mod is blocked until disclosure questions are answered.

This information is currently only visible on ficsit.app, not inside of SMM.

Thanks to some hard work on the build system, the binaries we distribute for SML 3.12 and the custom Unreal Engine version are now compiled on Linux machines.

This shouldn’t change anything visible to end users or mod developers, but it makes our automated build systems a lot easier to maintain, and means it’s now easier for individual mod developers to set up their own, if desired.

Coinciding with this, we’ve done a bunch of testing with developing mods from Linux machines, and it’s now stable enough for us to include directions on the docs. As Linux systems are often unique, expect to have to face some undocumented complications and join the Discord to seek setup assistance.

You can find the Linux-specific setup directions on the Linux Setup page.

Satisfactory 1.2 has renamed the concept of Advanced Game Settings to "Creative Mode". These options still disable achievements. There is a new category of settings called "Game Modes" that include the new ore node randomization and cost multiplier settings. "Game Modes" do not disable achievements.

It should be possible to define new Game Mode settings using `FGUserSetting`s, but at the time of writing no one has tried it yet.

As of 1.2, the base game includes a basic read-only version of the SML Content Tag Registry via the mGameplayTags field on the following classes:

It also introduces a few new Gameplay Tags used by the base game. A select few interesting ones:

The base game’s system is significantly limited compared to SML’s - see the Content Tag Registry - Vanilla Functionality section for more info.

SML’s registry has been updated to reuse the vanilla gameplay tag container of a class if it already exists.

The new Game Feature system should allow using the Unreal World Partition Data Layers system, with data layers loaded by Game Features, will be the intended approach for creating additions to the game map, like new ore nodes or terrain elements, replacing the current sublevel spawning approach.

Based on Mircea and SirDigby’s testing, this is not working reliably yet, and the specifics are still being figured out. More info in this Discord message chain.

The following project dependencies have updated. Install the updated versions as you follow the Updating your Mod guide.

If you see the "GeneratedSoundBanks folder does not seem to be set. Would you like to open the settings window to set it?" message, use the Wwise editor to manually generate sound banks once, You should not need to do this again unless you create a new Wwise project or use Wwise systems in your mod.

Changes in 1.2 allow Satisfactory to take advantage of the Unreal Game Features and Modular Gameplay system. Game Features are a asset detection and registration system similar to SML’s Mod Modules, except built into Unreal.

99% of mods should now include a "Game Feature Data Asset", with the exception being mods that introduce no new content nor assets, just scripting libraries. Future Satisfactory updates are likely to further extend the capabilities of the Game Feature Data Asset system.

In previous versions, a number of asset types were auto-detected by the game without registration. These include icon libraries, input contexts, FGMessages (for ADA), and FGUserSettings. As of 1.2, these content types must now be registered via the Game Features system.

To migrate your mod to use Game Features:

ExampleMod is updated to use the Game Feature system if you’d like to compare against an already migrated mod.

Satisfactory has switched to use Unreal TObjectPtr<>`s instead of raw pointers (for example, `UObject*) in their codebase for the memory and dependency management benefits it offers.

Any C‍+‍+ mods using raw pointers to UObjects/UStructs/UProperties must switch to this format to avoid crashes (It will build somewhat fine like this but not using TObjectPtr might result in GC crashes if/when we enable Incremental GC - Arch). In the next SML update, mods still using raw pointers will be unable to compile. You can force this compile-time check now by adjusting the Unreal Header Tool configuration:

In most cases the swap can be a drop-in replacement, as TObjectPtr can automatically cast to a raw pointer as needed, but it can’t automatically cast to a pointer-by-reference, which may require additional code changes.

Unreal has provided a conversion tool that can update portions of your code automatically. Below is a summary of the steps adapted to a Satisfactory mod’s needs. Unreal’s original usage guide for the tool can be found on their documentation: Unreal Engine 5 Migration Guide: Optional Conversion Tool. Running the tool applies for every loaded mod in the project.

A number of fields have been moved between InputMappingContext and InputAction classes this update.

You can find their old values by opening up your backup copy of the project and checking it there. If you don’t have a backup copy, make one next time! You may also be able to recover this info by using FModel or Content Inspector on an existing release of your mod.

A change in CSS build settings means that all modules must follow BuildSettingsVersion.V5. Previously, targets for mods could have slightly different settings and still work properly.

Although the Alpakit mod templates have been updated to account for this for a few game updates, existing mods using legacy build settings may need to update their mod source to compile under the updated settings.

The most common example of this is needing to use full paths in includes now. For example, code previously using #include "FGHologram.h" must now use #include "Hologram/FGHologram.h".

More context on this Discord message chain.

Dumping assets with -nullrhi is no longer possible, because Unreal Engine doesn’t load mesh data when using that anymore, as a dedicated servers memory optimization.

-RenderOffscreen can be used instead, which will still use the GPU to render, but without the game window.

Archengius has updated Example Level’s lighting to use exactly the same settings as the base game. If you’ve developed a custom map, check out the settings and lighting actors inside ExampleLevel so you can match the base game’s settings.

TODO list of places to look at specifically?

Note that Satisfactory 1.2 brings the PC and console versions of the game to the same codebase. Although it is still not possible to develop mods for consoles, you may notice additional code and assets for console support code.

1.2 fixes a base-game bug content registration bug, allowing modded Icon Libraries to work properly on dedicated servers. No changes to existing icon libraries are known to be required for the fix to work.

With the addition of the recipe cost multiplier system, getting the ingredients of a recipe now requires world context to involve the save’s multiplier settings.

The base game uses Gameplay Tags to control the behavior of the recipe cost multiplier system. Modded component recipes should tag their components with Recipe.Part to be included in the multiplier. Make sure to leave out the tag on recipes that would break if multiplied, for example, packaging and unpackaging liquids.

Using the -NoFirstLoginPopup launch argument skips the Experimental branch popup on the main menu.

TODO - In testing, this behaved inconsistently, and may also need to be used with the -nosplash argument. Please try it out and let us know what you find on the Discord.

The game now ships with an implementation for FVariant to convert FStrings. This is useful for implementing string-based FGUserSettings. Previously this required a custom conversion implementation.

The game now ships with a Linear Color FGUserSetting type.