The 11 Universal Modder skills

01 · The orchestrator

mod-any-game

Takes an idea to working in the real game and recorded. Runs the 10-step loop, enforces the hard safety rules, and holds the 12 engine playbooks and case studies.

Loads when: Any modding request: “add a nuke to Terraria”, “can I mod this game?”, “put Minecraft inside X”.

references/engines/*.md, case-studies.md, safety.md

02 · Before any code

game-recon

Finds the install, engine and version, managed vs native code, anti-cheat, loaders already present, save and config folders, and the community route. Writes MODDING_PLAN.md.

Loads when: “What engine is this?”, “how do people mod X?”, the start of every task.

03 · Open-web research

game-research-websearch

Archive-aware research: Wayback Machine and archive.today for dead forums (XeNTaX, Zenhax), GitHub code search, Nexus / Workshop / Thunderstore APIs, Reddit, YouTube transcripts, with snapshots kept as evidence.

Loads when: A tool link is dead, a forum is login-gated, or a field note needs sources.

04 · Read the real code

reverse-engineering

Decompiles .NET/Mono (ILSpy), IL2CPP (Cpp2IL, Il2CppDumper), Java (Vineflower) and native code (Ghidra, IDA over MCP); reads live memory (Cheat Engine, Frida, x64dbg); finds render passes (RenderDoc); proves a file format with a round trip.

Loads when: “How does the boss AI work?”, “what format is this .pak?”, “where is the player position?”

05 · Art, 3D and audio

fal-assets

Sprites with real transparency, consistent variants and animation frames, pixel art, seamless textures, PBR maps, image-to-3D, remeshing, auto-rigging, SFX, music, voice and cutscene video through the fal MCP or um fal.

Loads when: A mod needs new art, sound or models.

06 · Engine-exact frames

asset-pipeline

Cutouts, nearest-neighbour fitting to frame sizes, palettes, sheets and strips, team-colour masks, seamless textures, and 3D → 8/16-heading sprites rendered from the game's camera in Blender.

Loads when: After generating art, or when asked for sprite sheets, isometric units or icons.

07 · Test in the real game

game-automation

Launch via Steam or exe, fixed-size windowed mode, GPU-safe screenshots, safe clicks and keys, crash-reporter cleanup, kill by PID, logs, scripted test scenes and an in-game JSON bridge. Windows-first, also from WSL.

Loads when: A mod must be verified in game, or a repeatable demo scene is needed.

08 · The clip

showcase-video

Records the window with only the game's audio, picks moments from contact sheets, and cuts a styled video from an EDL: titles, credits, transitions, music, watermark.

Loads when: A demo, trailer or montage for X or YouTube.

09 · Game inside a game

mashup-mods

Passthrough mods (two games running and exchanging state, rendering and collision), content ports, decompiled games as libraries, and clean reimplementations that read your own game files.

Loads when: Combining two games, or bringing an enemy, mechanic or world from one into another.

references/mashup-cases.md

10 · Ship it

publish-mod

Pre-release lint, README and install steps, credits and AI disclosure, versioning, uploads (Nexus Mods, Steam Workshop, Thunderstore, mod.io, GitHub releases) and the post.

Loads when: Ship, share, upload or release.

11 · Teach the next agent

share-field-notes

Searches the knowledge base before work starts, and at the end writes a field note (versions, route, engine facts, verification, gotchas) and opens a PR with your OK.

Loads when: “Has anyone modded X?”, when stuck on an engine quirk, and at the end of every session.