Starbound is massive. Here are some mods to help you make it massive-er.
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Despite the fact that it “launched” only a couple weeks ago, Starbound has been in various states of Early Access for years. The quadrillion-planet-strong side-scrolling space sandbox has a mod community nearly as vast as its universe. Here are a few (but hardly all) of the best.
VehiclesExplorerpod
Starbound is, first and foremost, a game about exploration. Often, that means hoofing it from place-to-place as mites of sleep begin to cloud your vision. The Explorerpod is a vehicle that makes the whole process quicker and more convenient.
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Submarine
Another exploration-focused vehicle. This one’s a sweet submarine. Why swim and slowly suffocate when you can travel in style?
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XS Mechs (and ZZ Mech Modifications)
This mod gives you a bunch of big ol’ mechs to clomp around in. Some are light, humble things that only have guns the size of several adult humans. Others have shoulder-mounted cannons the size of buses. Fun!
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Mecharachnid
A giant robot spider. The devil given glistening metal flesh.
RacesAvali
Space raptor things! People have put tons of work into turning Avali into a fully fledged race on par with anything else in Starbound, and it shows.
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Felin
Who doesn’t want to be a cat person? This is not a rhetorical question.
Starbound Byos Designs
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Familiars
They’re fuzzy meerkat type things, I think. I want to hug them, which is good enough to get a recommendation from me.
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Munari
Undersea folk. They outgrew their ocean, and now they’re coming for yours.
Vespoids
Wasp people. I bet they love country clubs.
OverhaulsFrackin’ Universe
The mother of all Starbound mods. Here’s its description: “FrackinUniverse combines new biomes, a hugely increased crafting system, science, monsters, tiles and hundreds of other assets to the game. It’s 3 years in now, and quite encompassing.” If you want to change everything, this is the mod for you. Be wary, though: if you install the mod, it will permanently change your universe, and uninstalling the mod will probably wreck it.
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Frackin’ Races
A mod that adds species-specific powers and characteristics. Pairs well with Frackin’ Universe.
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Frackin’ Music
Another part of the Frackin’ series. Adds more than 200 new songs to the game.
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Spooky Tweaks
A bunch of tweaks in the name of making Starbound more streamlined and fun. Also slightly more spooky (allegedly).
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Improvements and FixesEfficient Watering
A mod that makes watering crops more convenient. You can water while walking! Thank goodness. Now I just have to figure out how to do that in real life.
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The Tabula Rasa
A unified crafting bench for mod content. Instead of scrambling to organize things you’ve downloaded, this mod offers a one-stop station for all of it.
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Enemies Aren’t Stupid
Starbound’s enemies can be kinda stupid. This makes them faster, more reactive, and more capable when faced with the most intimidating foe of all: doors.
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Weapon Stats
A detailed weapon stats readout for swords and guns.
Earth’s Finest—Crew Improvements
This mod expands the game’s crew system, turning it into a series of meaningful choices rather than a half-baked sideshow. Each class gets unique stats and abilities with an eye toward balance. This is an especially good mod to snap up if you’re playing solo.
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Purchasable Pets
Buy pets for your ship! Have as many as you want! This is the only Starbound mod that really matters.
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Crossovers
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Dead Squirrel’s Firefly for Humans - “You paid money for this, sir? On purpose?”
Replaces the human ship with the gorram ship from Firefly.
Metal Gear Solid Alert Sound
Plays the Metal Gear Solid alert sound when enemies notice you. Game’s unplayable without it imo.
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Dark Souls Armor And Weapons
Armor and weapons... from Dark Souls!
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Castlevania
Tons of objects from Castlevania games. Be the Dracula you want to see in the world.
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Metroid’s Varia Suit Armor Mod
A bunch of Metroid armor mods.
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Deathclaw
You can flee from city to city, planet to planet, and even play a wholly unrelated video game, but you’ll never truly be safe from Fallout’s Deathclaws.
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Overwatch Mod
I’ll level with you: doing anything other than playing Overwatch is a pretty tall order for me these days. This mod lets you craft items, outfits, and weapons from Overwatch. You can basically be Genji, Soldier 76, Tracer, et al. If you’re an Overwatch addict, this one’s basically mandatory.
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Starbound Except It Makes That Weird Tim Allen Noise When Monsters Die
“You see things; and you say ‘Why?’ But I dream things that never were; and I say ‘Why not?’” - George Bernard Shaw
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GOT A BUG REPORT? Please attach your starbound.log file, without it I cannot diagnose the problem. It can be found in program files/steam/steamapps/starbound/storage/starbound.log. Open it, copy the contents to pastebin.com and attach that link to me in the forums or a PM. Note: If you do not have 1.4 of starbound installed, you cannot use FU. It will not work. Buy the game. Note: FU now includes some races. You will require a Character Extender mod like Xbawks or your game will not run. companion add-on: want to help but can't code? Try adding to the Want to support the project with donations? Click here: https://www.patreon.com/sayter Discord Server:https://discord.gg/eV9dP4w ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The absolutely most recent build here, if you don't care about modpack format: (note that you MUST rename the folder after you extract it, to FrackinUniverse. Or it won't work) https://github.com/sayterdarkwynd/FrackinUniverse for detailed instructions on using and keeping up to date with the GitHub version read Xylia's guide here: http://community.playstarbound.com/threads/how-to-update-with-github.123937/ ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- SAIL changes for modded races/ships : https://github.com/xn-5o8h/FUSAILModdedRaceSupport If using *modded* races, you will want the FU BYOS addon herehttps://community.playstarbound.com/resources/official-fu-byos-modded-race-patch.5094/ For install/uninstall and game version information click the spoiler. Note that this mod may impact existing characters. Start a NEW character for it so you don't ruin your favorite avatar. You've been warned. Below in the spoiler are some important notes on installation, compatibility , etc. Ignore them at your peril. Included Mods you don't need from elsewhere: Bees! Augment Extractor Harvester Beamgun Quarterstaves Dungeoneer Dungeons Patchwork Hair Starbooze Enhanced Weapon Generation Legacy Dungeons Extra Dungeons Memento Mori Nightar Slime Race Kirhos Race Mantizi Race Mods that go great with FU: Elithian Races Avali Triage Attribution: see included credits file The largest mod for Starbound, FrackinUniverse combines new biomes, a hugely increased crafting system, science, monsters, tiles and hundreds of other assets to the game. It's 5 years in the making now, and quite huge. A few things to expect:
FU will change several aspects of vanilla play, in terms of survival (see EPP notes below for a specific example) and has a learning curve. Some find the learning curve rather steep. Others do not. So bear this in mind.
Play through the mod, work through the techs (including the genetically engineered plants!), and create stuff. Intro-level things unlock other things, and everything builds up until you are a kick-ass name-taking machine of destruction and SCIENCE. For a detailed guide on how to use the included automation systems in FU, refer to this guide: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1618972523
Q: How do I tell if it's working?
A: Quite simple. When you launch starbound, look at the main menu screen. Do you see 'Powered by Frackin Universe'? If so, you're good to go! Q: Will this work on a server? A: Read : http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=734496146&searchtext=Frackin+Universe Q: How do I run a server? A: Read : http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=735510285 Q: Do I need to delete my characters and universe before I start? Will it work with the character I already have? (or any possible variation of this question) A: No, you do not. However, you will need to travel a fair ways away on your starmap in order to generate the new biome types. Generally a few seconds will do. So yes, it will work with your existing character. I recommend a clean universe, personally, but that's only if you absolutely want to have FU planets right near your starting location. Q: I seem to be taking forever to generate my starting planets. It's in warp for like...ever. A: Starbound is generating a universe and looking for a starting system that fits exact specifications. Because FU adds so many biomes it increases the time it takes to find the setup. I recommend visiting the Science Outpost when this happens, which can be triggered from your shiplocker items. By the time you come back you'll have your starting planet visible and a quest to begin! Q: Where do I find (ITEM NAME)?!?!?! A: Everything has a source. You just need to figure out what that source is. That's part of the mod. Exploration, experimentation...just seeing what sort of things lead to others and eventually ending up with a hard-core science lab. The wiki link given on this page right after the FAQ is a good source of information. Q: Does FU add quests/missions or bosses? A: Yes Q: Does FU affect the main storyline or game progression? A: No. The only true progression change is with EPP packs (see above sections for info on that). Otherwise you can progress exactly as normal through the base game. Q: I can't find something on the Wiki A: The wiki is player maintained. So, if you find something missing you can feel free to add it in. Q: My EPP pack isn't working A: Yes it is. Read the mod description information above for more details about how they operate now. If for some reason you want to hurl money at me for my labors: https://www.patreon.com/sayter Wiki (player maintained): http://frackinuniverse.wikia.com/wiki/FrackinUniverse_Wiki CF Forum version found here: http://community.playstarbound.com/resources/frackinuniverse.2920/ GitHub project version location is here: https://github.com/sayterdarkwynd/FrackinUniverse A great number of mods and features in FU are from contributors or other authors. Check out the included credits.txt here: https://github.com/sayterdarkwynd/FrackinUniverse/blob/master/_FUcredits.config or visit https://github.com/sayterdarkwynd/FrackinUniverse for info
Venturing onto an unexplored foreign planet is a bit like emigrating, but instead of immediately setting up a bank account, renting a flat, and/or hiring a car your primary is concern is, well, staying alive. In interstellar sandbox adventure Starbound [official site] there are plenty of moon-bound monsters out to get you from the off – be that of the biome, procedurally-generated or unique variety – so it’s absolutely essential your house/ship/pithy gathering of dirt and mud is in order quick snap.
Luckily, Starbound packs quite the selection of mods to help that along. The following should give you an extra leg-up before the extra-terrestrials get you.
Inventory Interface Redone and Weapons Stats
By Tatsu and Tripod respectively
Inventory Interface Redone is a handy mod to install early on which reconfigures how your inventory interface is displayed. As can be seen in the header image above, by rotating the items pane and running it vertically on one side allows enough space for text identifiers to fit alongside the five main criteria. With that slight adjustment, everything else suddenly feels like it’s in the right place, and what at first may seem like a pretty insignificant tweak makes juggling your inventory so much easier over time.
Once the critters come calling, you’ll want your finest weapons at hand too. Weapons Stats displays item level, the damage per second (DPS) and the damage per energy (DPE) for swords and guns. This is based on raw damage only – therefore abilities and combo attacks aren’t factored in – however this is a neat quality of life mod that should help you organise your offensive.
Container UI Tweak and Improved Containers
By By Lunchghost and v6 respectively
The Monica Geller-level of clerical organisation continues with both Container UI Tweak and Improved Containers.
First the former, which is another superficial display tweak that separates your inventory and containers windows with a much wider margin offered by the game’s v1.1. “This mod changes four pixels (as standard in v1.1) to 160 pixels, which means you must manually move the inventory window to the left once,” reads the creator’s blurb. It’s worth noting that, unfortunately, the Container UI tweak isn’t compatible with the aforementioned Inventory Interface mod. While I personally prefer the one listed above, I like this one enough to recommend it here on the off-chance you lean this way instead.
Frackin Universe Default Ship
Improved Containers simply allows containers to be renamed, sorted and quick stacked which should boost your organisational needs to no end.
Compact Crops, Craftable Seeds and Efficient Watering
By Kave Johnson, Neo and zecra respectively
Right, now all of that boring secretarial stuff is out of the way let’s get onto the fun stuff. Like gardening. Hey, you guys and gals gotta eat. And if you wanna survive… look, we spoke about this already. Anyway, Compact Crops halves the required space for large horizontal-lying crops that in essence makes for more crops on less land.
Following this, Craftable Seeds allows you to create all seeds and certain saplings – not to mention new Mushroom Seeds and Thorny Plant Seeds; and new saplings from Alienfruit, Mushrooms, Coconuts, Red Apples, and Plant Fibre – directly from crops and fruits. Simply open the new ‘Seed Maker’, craftable via your Inventor’s Table, and create away to your heart’s content.
Then of course you have Efficient Watering. There’s perhaps not another Starbound mod out there that is so simple yet so satisfying. It lets you water your crops without those pesky cool-down times. It decreases the overall time it takes to water crops. And, crucially, it lets you water while walking. Perfect.
Earth’s Finest – Crew Improvements and Instant Crafting
By Mickyan and v6 respectively
Okay, so it’s finally time to seek some help out in the celestial wilderness, but everyone you’ve happened upon so far is completely handless. Enter Earth’s Finest, a mod that improves the crew system by greatly increasing the strength and services of your entourage. With balance in mind, each class gets treated to their own unique stats making crew choice top priority.
Outlaws, for example, receive reduced health and regeneration capabilities, however can deal greater damage, have increased invulnerability time after being struck, and can run faster than before. Likewise, Soldiers are afforded higher damage rates, and increased health. “Additionally, your tailor will now consider your head slot items for your crew’s uniform,” says the mod’s creator, which is a nice touch.
With Instant Crafting, you can put your newly-formed motley crew to work. Much similar to how crafting functioned in Starbound’s earliest days, Instant Crafting disables the more recently introduced timer on crafting tables so that everything you turn your hand to is created instantaneously.
Explorerpod, XS Mechs – Vehicle Edition and ZZ Mech Modifications
By Lukky, lophatkao and ZimaZang respectively
Now, onto the real fun stuff.
Once you’ve settled on your once foreign planet, how are do you plan to further explore? You could use the hoverbikes Starbound offers as standard. But you’re BETTER using Lukky’s Explorerpod mod which adds a host of two-seater Explorerpod vehicles that can be claimed via Penguin Pete’s Vehicle Lot in exchange for a healthy sum of pixels. Oh, and not only can these hovercrafts skoot from surface-to-air-to-space – they can also dive deep as fully-submersible ships.
But then again, is this the best way to get around? I mean, what if you get attacked while flying around in the pod? Wouldn’t it be nice to ensure your safety too? Of course it would, which is where both XS Mechs and ZZ Mech Mods come in. The former adds a suite of ultra-cool mechs which boast lasers and turrets and cannons and skull heads and rail guns and whole range of other artillery and neat designs. ZZ Mech Mods then asks: “Love using XS Mechs? Ever wish your mech could stand out from the stock mechs? Then look no further,” before adding even more mechs to the mix.
To gain access to this, you’ll first need to have completed Floran boss mission, before visiting Penguin Pete who’ll offer a new quest. Ultimately, he points you in the direction of an illegal mech dealer – who deals in special weapons, mech, and a mech recolouring scheme. Be warned, though, the dealer ain’t cheap.
Frackin’ Universe, Frackin’ Races and Frackin’ Races Food
By Sayter
Similar to Fluffy’s RimWorld mods, Sayter’s Starbound Steam Workshop page is worth visiting in its entirety. Frackin’ Universe is essentially a total conversion that adds new biomes, expands the crafting system, adds science, micro-dungeons, custom crew members, armours, weapons, new monsters, tiles and loads of other incremental and superficial adjustments to the base game. Separate mods Starbooze and Bees are also slotted in there which add, funnily enough, alcohol and bees to the sandbox.
Frackin’ Races and Frackin’ Races Foods are good complimentary mods to the above (although can be used on their own) which introduce more idiosyncratic options and ability alterations to race and foods. It’s worth noting that given these mods alter so much of the original game, they’re probably best suited to those who’ve spent a long time playing, or are perhaps fed up with playing, the vanilla game.
Sayter has attached the following disclaimer to the Universe mod’s page:
“Installing FU is a one-way trip. FU will affect your game universe *and* *ALL* characters. If you uninstall the mod, your game will inevitably crash, unless you wipe your universe and player folders. THIS CANNOT BE AVOIDED, so please do not request that we ‘fix’ this. It is not avoidable. If you are not sure you want to keep this mod, be sure to back up your universe and player folders before installing.”
Dark Souls Armour and Weapons, Castlevania and Overwatch
By Magnus, Cookie the Ice-Cream Kookaburra and SwolarPug respectively
Of course a list of best Starbound mods wouldn’t be complete without mention of crossovers. There are plenty of them out there (I’ve inevitably missed your personal favourites – sorry!), however these ones are probably the most fun and/or sophisticated of the lot. Erring towards the former, I just can’t get over how cute Smough of Ornstein and Smough of Dark Souls is shrunk, pixelated and forced into Starbound.
If Overwatch is your thing (it’s not mine), then the Overwatch mod looks pretty nifty. In the style of Blizzard’s team-based multiplayer FPS, you can craft weapons, items and costumes, and make use of other miscellaneous items such as the Roadhog Gas Cannister and Legendary Panel.
The stand out crossover for me, though, is Cookie the Ice-Cream Kookaburra’s Castlevania which borrows loads of items, objects and backdrops from the renowned Akumajō Dracula series. There’s genuinely hours of fun to be had in this mod alone.
Mecharachnid
By Peasly Wellbott
Um… yeah, this one is pretty terrifying. Creator Peasly Wellbott describes Mecharachnid as “the pinnacle of ill-advised Penguin research” with which you can “gain a vehicle of uncompromising might.” Only problem is, it’s tooled up with a rather uncompromising AI that’s not for the faint of heart. “Speak with the Barkeep after dealing with Dreadwing, and come equipped for a hard fight.”
Look at that thing. Best assemble the mechs.
Honourable Mentions
Mini Village
By Doctor Ragnarok
Here’s what to do with all those spare gnomes.
Enemies Aren’t Stupid!
By SupaCURE
Add some intelligence to your adversaries.
Momento Mori
By Lunchghost
A handy item that guides you back to the site of your last death.
Frackin Universe Custom Ship Schedule
Deathclaw
By odkupiciel375
Add a splash of the Wasterland to Starbound.
Which brings us to the end of our best Starbound mods. But space is a pretty big place to explore. Have we missed some mods along the way? Probably – tell us which ones in the comments below.
Starbound is available now for Windows, Mac and Linux via The Humble Store, GOG or Steam.
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