Most importantly, you must know how to 'install' mods for this game. This is done by simply locating the mod (In the form of a folder) you downloaded from a site , and putting it in the 'mod' folder in your Starbound game files.

But before you start downloading mods, you will need to familiarize yourself with the locations of all the folders you need.

For all operating systems you need to locate your Steam directory, and from there its:
/SteamApps/common/Starbound

For Mac users the Library is hidden, so one way you can access the folder is by using the shortcut Shift + Command + G in Finder, which opens a little window to type in a file path. Copy and paste "/Users/YourName/Library/Application Support/Steam/SteamApps/common/Starbound" without the quotes and it will take you directly to the folder.

Since I am on a Mac, I don't do any of this 'extracting' the mod pages ask you do. I simply copy and paste from my Starbound folder to the mod folder (I dont drag because if the game crashes I want to keep one copy of the mod when I delete the one in the game's files).

In the past, I've had many issues in the past with mods crashing my game, and you can never be too careful. I recommend you take the following actions every time you install a mod.

1. Create a Starbound folder in an easily accessible place. In this folder you will have two things: player backups and mods.
   
2. Put installed mods in your new folder.
   
3. Backup your 'player' folder from the game's files.
   
4. Then, copy and paste the mod you want into the 'mod' folder in the game.
   
5. Run the game, and see if the mod works.

If your game crashes, you will want to delete the mod. If it still crashes, find the game in your steam library and 'Delete Local Content'. Once the game reinstalls, replace the new player folder with your backup to restore your characters.

Also, if your character has items added from other mods, and your game crashes when adding a new one, you will need to add the mods that worked back in ONE BY ONE. Even adding all the mod that worked fine previously all at once doesnt work. You must install one mod and start the game to see if it works. If it does, put back in another mod. If it doesn't, try putting in another one first. The issues most likely occur due to compatibility, so you will need to find out more on the mods page.

There is also a chance that the story might reset. By this I mean that you will loose all your sectors, spawn on a random planet, and have to do the starting quests over again. And this will happen accross all your characters. You will still have all of your items thoguh, so you will most likely have all the materials needed to complete the quests without lifting a finger, then you just need to craft the Rescue Beacon. From there, proceed to re-defeat all bosses. Unfortunately the game is still in beta, so issues like these will occur. In such situations, I recommend keeping spare Starmap upgrades, so you can even abadnon the quests, unlock sectors, and continue on.

I have recieved new information, that backing up your 'universe' folder as well as your 'player' can solve the issue of loosing your quest progress and planets.

There are many amazing mods available for Starbound. I aim to show you some of the best, and teach you how to use them.

First of all, let me start by providing you with the link the official community mod hub on the Chucklefish Games website: Link[community.playstarbound.com]. Here you will find were most of the mods are posted. There are many categories to choose from, and you can also sort them by Newest and Top Rated. Nexus mods also has a site for Starbound mods: Link[www.nexusmods.com].

I haven't really explored the Nexus website much, so if you find something worth mentioning, let me know and i can include it in the guide. The same goes for any other mod I haven't mentioned. Pass me the link to it and I can include it.

Secondly, I will be using some TheGullofdoom's YouTube videos in this guide. He makes wonderful videos showing you invidivdual mods. The complete playlist of his Starbound Mod videos can be found here: Link.

Before I get into specifics, I would also like to introduce you to this mod: The Tabula Rasa[community.playstarbound.com]. This mod acts as a unified crafting table for all mod content. Personally, I have never used it because most of the mods I have gotten include their own crafting tables. But, it is a preferable alternative to having multiple crafting tables sprawled all over your ship/base.

Alright, lets get to it!

This has to be the most sought after mod type. There are are many mods that allow you to customize your ship in many ways. They range from changing the default ship, to allowing you to completely demolish and build your ship the way you like. In terms of full customization, there are two mods that stood out for me:

Author: Princeofmar5
This Mod turns every starter ship into a basic wooden box. It allows you to break all of its compnents, including the ship equipment. However, its provide you with nothing else; This basic mod adds no new content. It is essentially for people who have the resources to recreate their ships from materials found in the universe. If you want your ship to actually look cool, and futuristic-looking, that means spedning hours harvesting Light Metal, Wall Panels, or other such materials from Apex/USCM laboratories and bases.

Also, if you fall through your ship, you need to teleport to the ground, then back up to your ship.

However, unlike the next mod, it is easy to install this mod on existing characters, as long as you take everything you want to keep fromm your ship out of it.


Author: MadTulip
This is by far the superior mod for ship customizaiton. It does the same as the above mod and more: All components and blocks are breakable, however, it adds a lot of content. First of all, its adds tech that allows you to float in space, so no falling through the endless vacuum. It adds two new ship equipment, one of which is a panel where all the new content is organized, and the other being a 'life support' system which detects hull breaches. In the panel you can make fins, thrusters, and other decorative objects for your spaceship. The mod also adds a neat feature called 'modules in a box', which are essentially spawnable mini-ships ranging from escape pods to large landing craft which contain all sorts of goodies.

Below are a series of screenshots documenting my progress in building my ship:













I certainly recommend you building your ship in a similar fashion: creating a large box out of easily-breakable material around your intended area of construction, as to a) serve as a structure guide and b) catch anything you might drop. True story: I accidentally threw a bomb, blasting a huge gap in my dirt perimeter, causing me to loose my Metalworking Station and two Furnaces. This led me to be much more careful, and issue you all this warning: DO NOT LOOSE ANY SHIP EQUIPMENT SUCH AS THE FUELING MACHINE OR CAPTAIN'S CHAIR. THEY DO NOT FLOAT IN ZERO GRAVITY LIKE YOU DO AND IF THEY FALL THEY ARE LOST.

You must approach ship building with this mod with another strategy: I recommend you complete the entire storyline first, for two reasons. The first being that I soon learned that building all these materials to build my spaceship consumes a lot of resources, and you don't want to be splitting resources (such as Steel Bars) between building your ship and building items to progress in the game, like the boss spawners. The second reason is that you unlock more items as you progress, and therefore once you finish the game and have all the items at your disposal, you can mess around all you like.

This second reason is also why I strongly recommended you do NOT try to implement this mod on existing characters: you will have to buy and unlock starmap upgrades all over again, as well taking everything out of your ship.

For more, here is Gullofdoom's review of the mod:

Cusotm Races are also very popular in starbound. But before you install any, you must get this mod: Xender Kau's Simple Extended Character Creation Mod[community.playstarbound.com]. This adds a new tab in the character creation screen where all your installed races can be found. It is essential if you want to download any custom races. And without further ado, here are some of my favorite races:

Author: Sabboth
"For Elder Scrolls and lizard fans."


Author: RyuujinZERO
A custom race designed by the author. Very in depth: comes with custom crafting stations, weapons, armor, upgrades, and even ship! It Is compatible with the MadTulip Ship mod though.


Author: Djinn
A custom race designed by the author. Also quite in depth: includes a cusotm ship, armor weapons, as well as additional quests and NPCs!

You can find more races here:

Next is a selection of popular themed mods. I will NOT include any Pony-themed content.

Author: arrjaytea
This mod is absolutely great. It adds a new Star Wars bench which you can get for 1 pixel. In it, you can craft a large selection of clothes and armor. The armor and clothes provide little stat bonuses, whch works fine because you can equip your stonger armor in the first slot, and equip the Star Wars armor in the exterior slot. There are no weapons unfortunately two force powers the mod includes, force lightning and force 'destroy'. The lightning is insalnely overpowered, as it costs just 5000 pixels (i.e. you can easily save up useing the refinery) and does 400 DPS . I easily got it before the thrid boss and crushed the Bone Dragon and the Jellyfish. The force crush is essentially a diamond pickaxe with a 4x4 mining radius. There are also two new techs, a jetpack and a speeder bike. The jetpack is awesome. You can craft the visual jetpack for 1 pixel to pair it up with the tech, and you look like a Fett flying around killing monsters. I haven't checked out the speeder purely because I am satisfied with the jetpack. Overall, this is easily my favorite mod.


Author: TShinzon
This mod adds Dark Souls themed armor and weapons. Most of it needs to be crafted with higher tier materials (Therozium), which is fine because the game kinda leaves you hanging after Aegisalt. My only complaint is that (in real Dark Souls fashion) the gear is way too big. And i mean, huge. But if you're into that, grab this mod.





Author: Pantherine
Adds Halo themed armor and weapons, as well as two new races: Elite and Brute. Unfortunately, it was incompatible with some of the mods I had, so it crashed my game. However, it helped me loads with adding more info into the 'Warning' section of this guide.

Author: Youwwwi
This mod adds a few more quests in the beginning to further familiarize you with the game. It also adds sidequests to give you a little more purporse.


Author: lornlynx
This mod is a borderline cheat, but extremely useful. It extends the size of your mining radius from 3x3 to 4x4 with drills and pickaxes. The reasoning behind it is that this increase in size allows you to walk through your holes, instead of having to mine two layers to walk through.


Author: Spacedino
A simple yet terribly useful mod. Adds blueprints that allow you to make bigger chests. The Author used a clever method for this mod: You can either create larger chests using individual materials, or by combing two smaller chests.


Author: Doctor Toad
Another borderline hack, but one that I couldn't pass up. This mod adds a crafting machine that allows you to turn scrap material into 'T-Fuel', which can fuel your spaceship. For example, 25 Dirt = 1 T-Fuel. 1 T-Fuel = 25 Fuel in the tank. In simple terms, 1000 Dirt Blocks = full fuel tank. Neat right?

I hope you liked reading this guide and have learned many things from it. If you have any problems, I'm not a modder, but ill try to help best I can. And if you really enjoyed it, rate it up and add it to your favorites. Thanks guys!