Task Guides
Goal-oriented procedures for building, integrating, debugging, and shipping KDataForge packs.
Each page here starts from a goal and walks through however many files and document types it takes to get there. Every page includes complete, working YAML that you can copy directly. Features explains individual capabilities, while Reference provides normative fields and APIs.
If this is your first pack, start with Getting Started
before the guides below. It builds the smallest possible pack and confirms it loads, then covers
/kdf commands, debug logging, the load report, session restarts, and current multiplayer limits.
That is the groundwork these guides assume.
| Page | Goal |
|---|---|
| Item + Icon + Recipe + Tier-1 Unlock | The most common first pack: a new item with a placeholder icon, a recipe that produces it, and a Tier-1 schematic that actually makes it obtainable in a fresh game |
| Custom Research Trees | Generate a tree, place MAM schematics into its visual node graph, then extend or prune branches safely |
| Adding a Recipe to an Existing Schematic | Unlocking something new from a schematic you didn’t generate, vanilla, another mod’s, or your own from an earlier pack version |
| Localizing Your Pack | Shipping new text in multiple languages and overriding existing vanilla or modded strings without retyping them |
| Tag-Based Bulk Balancing | Registering your own gameplay tag and bulk-editing everything carrying it in one patch instead of one patch per target |
| Conditional Multi-Mod Integration Packs | Adding bonus content only when another mod (or a specific version or class of it) is present, without a hard dependency |
| Debugging a Pack That Won’t Apply | An ordered, top-to-bottom checklist for “my YAML file doesn’t seem to be doing anything” |
| Renaming Content Safely | What you can rename in a pack for free, what needs a redirects entry, and the one rename redirects genuinely can’t fix |
| Editing Another Mod’s Data Assets | Rebalancing existing KAPI or RefinedR&D PrimaryDataAsset instances without creating a new one and without a hard dependency on the mod that owns them |
| From Live Editor Edits to a Shareable Pack | Turning values you tweaked live in /kdf editor into a real YAML pack that survives a restart and that you can hand to other people |
| Player-Configurable Balancing | Turning fixed numbers into typed settings players can change (slider, checkbox, dropdown, tag list, text), reading them in patches, templates and conditions, and seeing hot and cold values in play |
If you’re not sure whether you want a tutorial or a reference page, here is the difference. Task Guides assume you know the basics from Getting Started and are trying to get one specific thing working. Use Features for conceptual and per-capability explanations. Use Examples when you want complete, copy-pasteable packs that wire several capabilities together.