Dead Cells Core Modding

A Dead Cells Modding API/loader.

Documentation

Download the latest build here

Roadmap

• More convenient BuildSystem
• Linux platform support

Requirement

• .NET 10 runtime
• Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable package (2015-2022)

Installation

1. Get the core file from nightly link or releases
2. Unzip it to the game root directory

The folder structure should be similar to the following

<DeadCellsGameRoot>
|
+- coremod
|  |
|  +- core
|  |  |
|  |  +- native
|  |  |  |
|  |  |  +- ...
|  |  |
|  |  +- mdk
|  |  |	 |
|  |  |  +- install.ps1
|  |  |  |
|  |  |  +- uninstall.ps1
|  |  |  |
|  |  |  +- ...
|  |  |
|  |  +- host
|  |  |  |
|  |  |  +- startup
|  |  |  |  |
|  |  |  |  +- DeadCellsModding.exe
|  |  |  |  |
|  |  |  |  +- ...
|  |  |  +- ...
|  |  +- ...
|  +- ...
|
+- deadcells.exe
|
+- deadcells_gl.exe
|
+- ...

Mods Development

Here are some examples.

Preparation

1. Install .NET SDK 10
2. Install Dead Cells Core Modding as above
3. Run <DeadCellsGameRoot>/coremod/core/mdk/install.ps1 to configure the environment

Create a mod project

1. Create a library project based on .NET 10
2. Add package reference DeadCellsCoreModding.MDK
3. Add the following to your csproj file

<PropertyGroup>
	<!--Enter the mod name here-->
	<ModName>$(AssemblyName)</ModName>

	<!--
	Enter mod type here

	Available values:
		mod: Normal mod
		library: Library
	-->
	<ModType>mod</ModType>

	<!--Enter the full name of the mod's main type here-->
	<ModMain>ModNamespace.MainModClass</ModMain>
</PropertyGroup>

Build

Build the mod using dotnet build. The default output directory is $(OutputPath)/output/

Usage

Startup

Start the game from <DeadCellsGameRoot>/coremod/core/host/startup/DeadCellsModding.exe

Mods Installation

1. Create <DeadCellsGameRoot>/coremod/mods folder if it does not exist.
2. Move the mods files into the mods folder. The folder structure should look like this:

mods
|
+- <ModName>
|  |
|  +- modinfo.json
|  |
|  +- ...
|
+- ...

Warning

<ModName> must be exactly the same as the name property in modinfo.json, otherwise the mods loader will refuse to load the mods

Development

Requirement

• .NET SDK 10
• CMake
• MSVC

Download Additional Dependencies

The native build requires OpenAL and SDL2 headers and libraries:

cd sources\native\3rd\hashlink\include

# OpenAL
Invoke-WebRequest -Uri "https://github.com/kcat/openal-soft/releases/download/1.23.1/openal-soft-1.23.1-bin.zip" -OutFile "OpenAL.zip"
Expand-Archive -LiteralPath "OpenAL.zip" -DestinationPath . -Force
Move-Item -Path "openal-soft-1.23.1-bin" -Destination "openal" -Force

# SDL2
Invoke-WebRequest -Uri "https://www.libsdl.org/release/SDL2-devel-2.32.8-VC.zip" -OutFile "SDL.zip"
Expand-Archive -LiteralPath "SDL.zip" -DestinationPath . -Force
Move-Item -Path "SDL2-2.32.8" -Destination "sdl" -Force

Build

# Full build (Debug)
.\build.ps1

# Full build (Release)
.\build.ps1 --configuration Release

# Individual targets
.\build.ps1 BuildNative                  # Native runtime only
.\build.ps1 BuildCore                    # Managed core only
.\build.ps1 BuildMDK                     # MDK toolchain only
.\build.ps1 BuildAssets                  # Assets project only

# Combine multiple targets
.\build.ps1 BuildCore BuildMDK BuildAssets --configuration Release

⚠️ Before running BuildAssets, the MDK must be installed. See the step below.

Install MDK

After building the MDK, install it by running the setup script:

.\build.ps1 BuildMDK
.\bin\core\mdk\install.ps1

Output

Build artifacts are placed in the bin/ directory:

bin/
├── core/
│   ├── host/startup/          
│   │   └── DeadCellsModding.exe # Game launcher
│   ├── mdk/                   # MDK toolchain
│   └── native/
│       └── win-x64/           # Native runtime
│           └── goldberg/      # Goldberg Steam emulator
└── ...

Credit

• MonoMod
• HashlinkNET from DreamBoxSpy
• sharplink from Tomat
• DeadCellsDecomp and alivecells from N3rdL0rd
• Hashlink from HaxeFoundation

License

Distributed under the MIT license.

Disclaimer

Dead Cells Core Modding is in no way associated with Motion Twin.