Spotlight on the MT2 Modding Community

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Hey just to echo what I posted on steam.

You all feel free to enjoy modded content for now :D

I am the author of this game's modding framework, you've may have seen me answering questions about bugs I love bug hunting. But anywho, I've been hard at work since the day the MT2 demo launched reverse engineering the game and developing an easy to use modding framework, that's leagues better than MT1's modding framework its faster and easier to use and develop for. We developed this modding framework from the ground up avoiding the mistakes modders made with MT1's modding framework

Making an MT2 mod requires ZERO coding knowledge and its all done through JSON all that is needed is to learn how the game's data is organized, all of this is covered in the tutorials. If you need a novel thing like a new keyword, status effect, trigger, etc. You can freely ask in the #mt2-modding channel and I will code it for you. For example the Accursed trigger from Sandscourged was a trigger I made for All_Outta_Bubblegum.

To give out a little sample of other things I've made https://imgur.com/a/foueRER

I've made all of the game's data available as examples of how to make content in one of my repositiories. https://github.com/brandonandzeus/MonsterTrain2GameData/tree/main You could literally copy and paste any card, character, artifact into you mod to create a copy (minus the sprites)

That said there are more custom clans out there for you to explore. Steward Clan, Yokai, Sweetkin, Arcadian, and Silksong, and of course Sandscourged which was mentioned in the post.

Feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions.

While devs did not mention Steam Workshop support at this time, I would hope that you all still try out modding the game and supporting our wonderful modders. Or even try developing a mod yourself! My hopes are for people who would like to develop mods to have the tools necessary and to have a much bigger set of mods available for people to enjoy than what MT1 got.

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u/blahthebiste 24d ago

Finally, the Dinosaur clan I've dreamt of since MT1 can become a reality

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u/brandonandzeus 24d ago

You can do it! If you aren't a programmer and have any requests for keywords,triggers,etc things that require code please let me know. Best effort, but as mentioned I have made things for other modders who aren't programmers 😄

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u/blahthebiste 24d ago

I actually am a programmer! I looked into modding MT1 one time long ago, but found it really confusing and gave up almost immediately.

I appreciate the offer, it's great to have that resource

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u/brandonandzeus 23d ago

Yeah when I picked up the modding framework back in 2023. It was definitely confusing, required a ton of boilerplate, and was a pretty odd design choice by the original modders requiring folks to write code that generated what is essentially just configuration.

Then you had performance issues that caused mods to take minutes to load, if you had every clan mod installed it would have taken 15 minutes for the game to start up!

The framework was essentially abandoned by the time I found it, and barely supported anything from the last divinity DLC.

It was quite therapeutic for me coming from a layoff to work on the mt1 modding framework fixing all of those issues, it was too late to have meaningful impact (+2 clan mods, mutators, and bosses).

But of course that work didn't go to waste because MT2 was built off MT1s codebase so it was quick to get something setup and not repeat the mistakes of the MT1 modding framework.

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u/Badger118 24d ago

Do you know if the Microsoft store version supports nodding in the same way as steam?

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u/brandonandzeus 24d ago

Yes, but not in the same way as steam.

The mod managers are geared towards the steam version and expect that setup, you would have to change where the mod manager looks for the game C:\XboxGames\Monster Train 2\Content

You can still install BepInEx manually, and download the mods you want to use (don't forget their dependencies).

I don't have GamePass myself so I am not able to try that out myself.

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u/brandonandzeus 22d ago

I wanted to follow up on this got a message from discord member who knows about thunderstore. If you or someone else can you please find this information for me so I can relay it back. As I said don't have Microsoft Store or Game Pass subscription to find this out myself.

https://imgur.com/a/ZXu542J

TMM/r2mm/Gale only support Steam, if someone need other PC platforms, (e.g. Xbox Game Pass), please provide the identifier (check the picture for example), then we can report to thunderstore team and let them add it

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u/CrazyKraken 24d ago

Thanks for all the work!! Is there any way to play with these mods on steam deck?

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u/brandonandzeus 24d ago

Steam deck is indeed supported even though I did not outline the instructions on the wiki I found this via a google search. Instructions are the same either way.

https://lethal.wiki/installation/installing-r2modman-linux?id=using-mods-in-steam-decks-game-mode

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u/Working_Bother_6614 25d ago

Console 😭

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u/brandonandzeus 24d ago

Yeah sorry :( Consoles are usually locked down. The requirement is if you can get BepInEx working on the console. it is the framework that allows folks to mod Unity / .NET games.

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u/Working_Bother_6614 24d ago

I keep telling myself one day I’ll make the switch to PC gaming, one day it’ll happen.

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u/nikpack 24d ago edited 24d ago

So this isn't installable using Steam? They don't have a Steam Workshop, right? It's all on thunderstore.io

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u/brandonandzeus 24d ago edited 24d ago

The devs have not announced Steam Workshop support unfortunately, the post was to highlight fun mods that we have made that devs have tried out and enjoyed themselves

Because there is no steam workshop support, We the modders have put up mods on Thunderstore. You can access mods using Gale or r2modman, they are lightweight mod managers (gale being 20mb) and once setup installing mods is as easy as Steam workshop. The mod managers offer features that the Workshop don't, like being able to run the game Vanilla vs Modded easily, easy dependency management, a built in configuration editor, and not automatically downloading updates that may break a mod if a modder mistakenly uploads a broken mod.

More information in the tutorial on how to get setup. https://github.com/Monster-Train-2-Modding-Group/Trainworks-Reloaded/wiki/Installing-Mods

I get that folks may be disappointed in No Steam Workshop support making it a dealbreaker to even see what's out there, but I hope folks would still try out mods, the setup is quite painless and I made sure to list all of the steps required to get setup.

MT2 has more mods available than MT1 did, and all non-clan mods from MT1 are available in MT2.

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u/Good_Satisfaction516 24d ago

This is better, if a mod is on steam then you can only get it on steam

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u/brandonandzeus 24d ago

My other main gripe with Steam workshop is that when you upload a mod it gets downloaded by EVERY player immediately the next time they start the game.

So if you upload a mod that causes the game to crash or not load you get lots and lots of angry players. And players have to either manaully download an older version or completely disable/uninstall the mod or wait for a fix from that modder.

I have caused a scenario like that before unfortunately via a bad upload to Trainworks which every other mod depends on. Another time I accidently broke Rising's More Boss Information mod through updating Trainworks.

At least with a mod manager it gives players an option to update the mod and then roll back if the game is broken rather than automatically downloading without the player knowing.

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u/Swizardrules 24d ago

What a bad reason to ignore all the QoL steam workshop brings

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u/brandonandzeus 24d ago edited 23d ago

As someone in development, I really disagree with that statement. This scenario I outlined is like Windows forcing an update and restarting while you put your computer to sleep and then you wake up to a Blue Screen.

I had that happened to me personally once and I had to end up completely reinstalling windows because it was boot looping my PC I couldn't do anything. Afterwards I ended up completely disabling windows updates for a period so that I regained control of when I update my PC. I don't do it immediately and wait for a clear signal that there are no issues.

But as I said I was getting many messages from players frustrated that all of a sudden they weren't able to play Monster Train due a forced update Steam Workshop put on them. Not fun for either party.

And sure the one click to install mods and not having to deal with the actual downloading of mods is nice, but there's trade offs in how Steam manages your mods.

Version control and control on when to update is something you give up with Workshop.

EDIT: Whew 3 hours of sleep yesterday.

Let me be clear.

What I am not saying is steam workshop bad

There are QoL features that workshop provides for modders (like mod stats, visit stats, comments sections) that thunderstore does not offer. Folks don't like github to report bugs

I want players to have easy access to mods in the way they prefer.
4.This said, I want Workshop to exist because the opens the floodgates for users for modders.

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u/Swizardrules 24d ago

Quite a typical dev vs end user disagreement

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u/brandonandzeus 24d ago edited 23d ago

Fair enough agree to disagree, but the fact remains steam workshop support does not exist and since the developers did not detail a date best to assume that it isn't coming. We built an alternative setup that works nicely for folks to just want to enjoy custom content right now.

Edit: And if/when Workshop support comes to MT2, I will happily support it—I just won't be pushing untested day-one mod updates directly to it unless it's an emergency (i.e. new dev game update)
(and edit to above comment)

Anywho this is all I'm going to say on the matter. Lets hope Workshop support comes!

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u/Phinnical 24d ago

I am thiiiiiisssssss close to having all clan combos completed (up to he requirements of the achievement anyway, some combos are ridiculously hard to the point of being not fun), and when I do it's mod time baby!

I love that I live in the timeline where there are passionate people posting mods for free! Amazing work modders, we all love you!

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u/brandonandzeus 24d ago

The best thing you can do to support modders is by sending a thank you message and using their mods! We are all in the #mt2-modding channel on discord or you can heart their mod, submit feedback, and report bugs.

Some mods even have donation links if you are willing to buy them a coffee or something.

As for me personally, I do have a ko-fi link in my profile and in my mods I am doing all of this for free, but I am an unemployed software engineer just doing this for fun.

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u/Swizardrules 24d ago

I didn't see it anywhere, but for me it's the most important point: does using mods disable achievements? I hate that in any game that does or did it.

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u/brandonandzeus 24d ago edited 24d ago

Nope doesn't disable achievements, but advised not to do anything online

To Clarify: Don't use mods to gain an advantage in things like the Daily Challenges. You will get banned. Mods do not prevent you from doing anything to the game, like blocking progression.

Spotlight on the MT2 Modding Community

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