Uploading Mods To The Workshop

## Before Uploading

Before you upload your mod to the workshop, you should make sure that all required fields in your modinfo.lua are filled out, such as dependencies, authors and the contact field, so people can reach you in case they run into trouble.

Avorion itself will also tell you about issues in your mod, for example when configurations are wrong (ie. server side only but localizations were detected, etc).

**Note:** Mods can only be uploaded to the workshop when their file- and folder names have ASCII-only names!

## Preparing for Upload

To upload your finished mod to the workshop, in the main menu of the game, go to `Settings -> Mods`. In the upload tab, you'll see an overview over all mods the game detected. The game looks for mods in the *%AppData%/Avorion/mods/* (*~/.avorion/mods/* on Unix) folder.

Color codes are as follows:

* Blue: This mod was made by you and already uploaded to the workshop, you can update it
* White: This mod wasn't uploaded to the workshop yet
* Grey: This folder is either not a valid mod folder, or it's not a mod made by you and you can't upload it. This also happens when your modinfo.lua file has syntax errors.

When you select a valid mod folder in the top list, its contents are displayed in the bottom list and you can check one more time that the mod is correct.

Title and description of the mod will be filled out on the right, as taken from the modinfo.lua file. You can modify the description and title some more, but keep in mind that this is only the description and title that the mod will have on the workshop, not in the mod list of players that subscribed to it.

### Thumbnail

You have to set a thumbnail that will be displayed on the Steam Workshop when your mod is shown in the lists. That thumbnail can have up to 1MB in size.

You can use a .jpeg or .png file for this. Place the thumbnail next to the modinfo.lua of your mod. You can tell it worked when the thumbnail will be shown in the upload window.

### Automatic ID Replacement

When uploading your mod to the workshop, in order to keep consistency, your mod's ID will be replaced with its workshop ID. When your mod's name is empty, your mod's name will be set to its ID. In addition to that, Avorion's current version will be added as a maximum requirement for your mod.

## Uploading

When everything is ready, press "Submit New Mod" to upload the mod to the workshop. This can take seconds, minutes or even hours if your mod is very large.

* **Note**: You have to accept the Steam Workshop Agreement in order for mods to upload.
* **Note**: As stated above, your mod's ID will be replaced by its workshop ID, and its name, if empty, will be set to its previous ID.

### After the Upload

Once the mod was uploaded, its folder will turn cyan in the top list. You can click it and then click the button on the bottom left to show your item in the workshop.

You should show it some more love and upload some more pictures, maybe improve its description or, if you have any, add some dependencies to other mods to ease downloading of dependencies for players.

## Updating

To update your mod, simply select the mod in the top left list, enter some change notes and click 'Update Existing Mod'.

## See Also

* Modding
* Mod Examples
* Writing your own Mod
* Debugging Mods
* Performance Optimization
* Dedicated Server Mods
* Using Mods