README.md

xStarbound with Nix

xStarbound features first-class Nix support. 2 main methods of running xStarbound exists: through the app and through the package.

Note:

• This section assumes beforehand knowledge about Nix and flakes. If you're new to either, refer to the relevant documentation.
• xStarbound requires flake-enabled Nix, and to run the command(s) below, the experimental nix3 CLI is required.
• Nix usage still requires stock game assets!

App

You can run the xStarbound app with the following command:

nix run github:xstarbound/xstarbound

This will run xclient with the following parameters, writing config to a mktemp JSON file:

gog_assets_dir="$HOME/GOG Games/Starbound/game/assets"
steam_assets_dir="$HOME/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/common/Starbound/assets"
storage_dir="$HOME/.local/share/xStarbound/storage"

In other words, it looks for game assets in the standard GOG/Steam directories and puts mutable user data in ~/.local/share. For standard configurations, this will "just work".

But what if I have a nonstandard game assets directory? What if I want mods?

Read on further!

Package

The xStarbound app works great for ad-hoc demo purposes, but has a few downsides:

• Game assets lookup rely on $HOME, which is impure
• Game assets are mutable
• Configuration parameters are set in stone
• Doesn't properly "install" it to your system
• No proper mod support
• No orthogonality; everything needs to reside in your game install directory

Therefore, a Nix package is also provided. Here's how to install it with NixOS:

1. inputs.xstarbound.url = "github:xstarbound/xstarbound";
2. Add the xstarbound package to your config. Configuration is done through an .override. Example:

# /etc/nixos/xstarbound.nix
# ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
{ inputs, pkgs, lib, ... }: let  #  assume inputs is passed as a specialArg

  # some shortcuts
  xsb-pkgs = inputs.xstarbound.packages.${pkgs.system};
  inherit (inputs.xstarbound.legacyPackages.${pkgs.system}) mods;

  # replace this with your username.
  homeDir  = "/home/bob";

  # How to fetch the assets directory is left as an exercise for the reader.
  #   - A simple method would be to host a zipfile of it on your homeserver/cloud storage and then pkgs.fetchzip it.
  #   - You could also (probably?) use Git LFS.
  #   - In a pinch, requireFile is a reasonable escape hatch.
  # Either way, this drv should evaluate to an "assets" directory which contains the file "packed.pak".
  #     (i.e. /nix/store/<hash>-<name>/packed.pak)
  assetsDirectory = pkgs.someSourceFetcherProbably { };

  # Mods! With the power of Nix, 
  # you can seperate your modded/vanilla Starbound installs from each other! :-)
  # This encapsulation is especially useful for mods like Frackin' Universe which permanently changes mutable user state,
  # and crashes if you later remove the mod. (@fezzedone: Don't need to worry about that anymore with xStarbound though.)
  mods = [

    # use a pre-packaged mod from xStarbound
    mods.frackin-universe 

    # grab a starbound mod from the steam workshop using an url
    (xsb-pkgs.fetchStarboundMod {
      url = "https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=XXXXXXXXX";
      hash = lib.fakeHash;
    })

    # grab a starbound mod by workshopId
    (xsb-pkgs.fetchStarboundMod {
      workshopId = "XXXXXXXXX";
      hash = lib.fakeHash;
    })
  ];
# ----------------------------------------------------------------------------

  # the resulting drv 
  xstarbound' = xstarbound.override { 
    storageDirectory = "${homeDir}/.local/share/xStarbound/storage";
    inherit assetsDirectory mods;
  };

in {
  environment.systemPackages = [ xstarbound' ];
}

3. Run xstarbound!

Other systems? Other OSes?

Not explicitly tested, but should probably be easy to patch in. PRs welcome!