(Guide) How to get autocompiler and nescessary tools for modding Don't Starve Together on Linux.

[. . .]

Hello, I have downloaded an autocompiler program from here.

https://github.com/kleientertainment/ds_mod_tools

 

And I installed Premake4 and everything then it makes/compiles the autocompiler.
Now I have the autocompiler in this directory (which is basically in a folder on my desktop)
"/home/david/Desktop/DST/Modding Tools/ds_mod_tools-master/build/linux/mod_tools"

And when I try to double-click the autocompiler program it doesn't open up!
In the temp folder (/home/david/Desktop/DST/Modding Tools/ds_mod_tools-master/build/temp)

It has an autocompiler log that states this

../../src/app/autocompiler/main.cpp:102 ERROR: Could not open '/home/david/Desktop/DST/Modding Tools/ds_mod_tools-master/build/linux/mod_tools/compilers.txt'.

I'm at a loss what to do, if anybody can help me I would greatly appreciate it because this is just so exhausting I was already stuck for 1 hour on the compiling part 

I'm on Linux Mint Cinnamon 22.1 if that matters

Edited September 4, 2025 by . . .

[FerniFrenito]

In the folder that contains compilers.txt, open a terminal and execute that in it:

ls -l

Let me see the permissions for that file

[. . .]

I'm going to include the entire ds_mod_tools-master in a zip too in case somebody wants to test it out or something, I'm at such a loss this is so difficult compared to using it on Windows 7 ;-;

ds_mod_tools-master.zip

5 minutes ago, FerniFrenito said:

In the folder that contains compilers.txt, open a terminal and execute that in it:

ls -l

Let me see the permissions for that file

This is a screenshot of the terminal when I did that command you said in the folder containing the compilers.txt

[FerniFrenito]

6 minutes ago, . . . said:

I'm going to include the entire ds_mod_tools-master in a zip too in case somebody wants to test it out or something, I'm at such a loss this is so difficult compared to using it on Windows 7 ;-;

ds_mod_tools-master.zip

This is a screenshot of the terminal when I did that command you said in the folder containing the compilers.txt

The problem is the path. The code searches in 

'/home/david/Desktop/DST/Modding Tools/ds_mod_tools-master/build/linux/mod_tools/compilers.txt'

but the file is in

'/home/david/Desktop/DST/Modding Tools/ds_mod_tools-master/build/linux/mod_tools/mod_tools/compilers.txt'

The folder "mod_tools" is duplicated, try to putting just compilers.txt in /linux/mod_tools/ and, if that throws an error, put all of the files of linux/mod_tools/mod_tools/ in linux/mod_tools/.

There's a possibility that the developer designed the folder structure like that but that's not a normal structure, so maybe something went wrong when you install the program

[. . .]

16 minutes ago, FerniFrenito said:

The problem is the path. The code searches in 

'/home/david/Desktop/DST/Modding Tools/ds_mod_tools-master/build/linux/mod_tools/compilers.txt'

but the file is in

'/home/david/Desktop/DST/Modding Tools/ds_mod_tools-master/build/linux/mod_tools/mod_tools/compilers.txt'

The folder "mod_tools" is duplicated, try to putting just compilers.txt in /linux/mod_tools/ and, if that throws an error, put all of the files of linux/mod_tools/mod_tools/ in linux/mod_tools/.

There's a possibility that the developer designed the folder structure like that but that's not a normal structure, so maybe something went wrong when you install the program

I did it and now no log is created when I try running the autocompiler program and it doesn't do anything still.

I include the zip folder showing that I got rid of the duplicate mod_tools ds_mod_tools-master without duplicate mod_tools.zip
 

When I put it back with duplicate folder the temp folder creates autocompiler_log.txt again when I try running the program, but it wouldn't when I got rid of the duplicate folder it wouldn't create any log file even though it doesn't run the program

Edited September 3, 2025 by . . .

[FerniFrenito]

6 minutes ago, . . . said:

I did it and now no log is created when I try running the autocompiler program and it doesn't do anything still.

I include the zip folder showing that I got rid of the duplicate mod_tools ds_mod_tools-master without duplicate mod_tools.zip
 

When I put it back with duplicate folder the temp folder creates autocompiler_log.txt again when I try running the program, but it wouldn't when I got rid of the duplicate folder it wouldn't create any log file even though it doesn't run the program

Maybe you need do that:

I guess your folder structure need to be like that:

In addition, i think the program in linux isn't a conventional program with UI, maybe is most like a console tool like gnuplot 

[. . .]

OKAY, something new is happening, thank God I completely copy and pasted the entirety of Don't Starve Mod Tools folder of Windows in an external HDD so I went and looked how that is set up and it seems in that the directory which contains autocompiler program

so what I did is I dumped all the files from this folder

/home/david/Desktop/DST/Modding Tools/ds_mod_tools-master/build/linux/mod_tools/mod_tools

into

/home/david/Desktop/DST/Modding Tools/ds_mod_tools-master/build/linux/mod_tools

and now when I try running the autocompiler program it gives something different in the autocompiler_log.txt is says now

 

compiler registered: /home/david/Desktop/DST/Modding Tools/ds_mod_tools-master/build/linux/mod_tools/png
compiler registered: /home/david/Desktop/DST/Modding Tools/ds_mod_tools-master/build/linux/mod_tools/scml

although, I still don't see anything popping up on the screen for the autocompiler? Maybe it works? I don't know how I would compile a texture with it

 

 

 

 

21 minutes ago, FerniFrenito said:

I guess your folder structure need to be like that:

In addition, i think the program in linux isn't a conventional program with UI, maybe is most like a console tool like gnuplot 

I wish the tools was more clear on github on how to use it on Linux ;-;

I'm making some progress, but I am stuck again.

I have dumped all the contents of the "ds_mod_tools-master/build/linux/mod_tools"
directory straight into this directory which is Don't Starve Mod Tools I installed off of Steam

"/home/david/.steam/steam/steamapps/common/Don't Starve Mod Tools/mod_tools"

The program still doesn't seemingly compile textures in exported, but the autocompiler_log.txt is full of a lot more information now, but I'm stuck again what to do...

This is what's contained in the autocompiler_log.txt
 

compiler registered: /home/david/.steam/steam/steamapps/common/Don't Starve Mod Tools/mod_tools/png
compiler registered: /home/david/.steam/steam/steamapps/common/Don't Starve Mod Tools/mod_tools/scml


>> Compiling /home/david/.steam/steam/steamapps/common/Don't Starve Mod Tools/mod_tools/../../Don't Starve Together/mods/TEST MOD/exported/unholymeat/unholymeat.scml.

=================

"/home/david/.steam/steam/steamapps/common/Don't Starve Mod Tools/mod_tools/scml" "/home/david/.steam/steam/steamapps/common/Don't Starve Mod Tools/mod_tools/../../Don't Starve Together/mods/TEST MOD/exported/unholymeat/unholymeat.scml" "/home/david/.steam/steam/steamapps/common/Don't Starve Mod Tools/mod_tools/../../Don't Starve Together/mods/TEST MOD"



>> Packaging 'unholymeat.zip'

=================

"python2.7" "/home/david/.steam/steam/steamapps/common/Don't Starve Mod Tools/mod_tools/compiler_scripts/zipanim.py" "/home/david/.steam/steam/steamapps/common/Don't Starve Mod Tools/mod_tools/../../temp/unholymeat" "/home/david/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/common/Don't Starve Together/mods/TEST MOD/exported/unholymeat/unholymeat.zip"

ERROR: Command failed!

In the end it says command failed which I have no idea why

I really hope I'm not the only person to ever try modding DST on Linux, hopefully somebody that uses Linux will see this... ;-;

Edited September 4, 2025 by . . .

[FerniFrenito]

30 minutes ago, . . . said:

OKAY, something new is happening, thank God I completely copy and pasted the entirety of Don't Starve Mod Tools folder of Windows in an external HDD so I went and looked how that is set up and it seems in that the directory which contains autocompiler program

so what I did is I dumped all the files from this folder

/home/david/Desktop/DST/Modding Tools/ds_mod_tools-master/build/linux/mod_tools/mod_tools

into

/home/david/Desktop/DST/Modding Tools/ds_mod_tools-master/build/linux/mod_tools

and now when I try running the autocompiler program it gives something different in the autocompiler_log.txt is says now

 

compiler registered: /home/david/Desktop/DST/Modding Tools/ds_mod_tools-master/build/linux/mod_tools/png
compiler registered: /home/david/Desktop/DST/Modding Tools/ds_mod_tools-master/build/linux/mod_tools/scml

although, I still don't see anything popping up on the screen for the autocompiler? Maybe it works? I don't know how I would compile a texture with it

I wish the tools was more clear on github on how to use it on Linux ;-;

I'm making some progress, but I am stuck again.

I have dumped all the contents of the "ds_mod_tools-master/build/linux/mod_tools"
directory straight into this directory which is Don't Starve Mod Tools I installed off of Steam

"/home/david/.steam/steam/steamapps/common/Don't Starve Mod Tools/mod_tools"

The program still doesn't seemingly compile textures in exported, but the autocompiler_log.txt is full of a lot more information now, but I'm stuck again what to do...

This is what's contained in the autocompiler_log.txt
 

compiler registered: /home/david/.steam/steam/steamapps/common/Don't Starve Mod Tools/mod_tools/png
compiler registered: /home/david/.steam/steam/steamapps/common/Don't Starve Mod Tools/mod_tools/scml


>> Compiling /home/david/.steam/steam/steamapps/common/Don't Starve Mod Tools/mod_tools/../../Don't Starve Together/mods/TEST MOD/exported/unholymeat/unholymeat.scml.

=================

"/home/david/.steam/steam/steamapps/common/Don't Starve Mod Tools/mod_tools/scml" "/home/david/.steam/steam/steamapps/common/Don't Starve Mod Tools/mod_tools/../../Don't Starve Together/mods/TEST MOD/exported/unholymeat/unholymeat.scml" "/home/david/.steam/steam/steamapps/common/Don't Starve Mod Tools/mod_tools/../../Don't Starve Together/mods/TEST MOD"



>> Packaging 'unholymeat.zip'

=================

"python2.7" "/home/david/.steam/steam/steamapps/common/Don't Starve Mod Tools/mod_tools/compiler_scripts/zipanim.py" "/home/david/.steam/steam/steamapps/common/Don't Starve Mod Tools/mod_tools/../../temp/unholymeat" "/home/david/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/common/Don't Starve Together/mods/TEST MOD/exported/unholymeat/unholymeat.zip"

ERROR: Command failed!

In the end it says command failed which I have no idea why

Yeah it's working, it's working.

Did you install those dependencies?

Edited September 4, 2025 by FerniFrenito

[. . .]

@FerniFrenitoThanks for all the help bro, what I ended up doing as I was very annoyed is just copy and pasting the entire Don't Starve Mod Tools that ONLY installs on Windows for some reason that I thankfully backed up to my external HDD into my steam common directory and just ran the autocompiler.exe with wine and it compiled the texture in the test mod.

Which makes me wonder that if I didn't copy and paste the entire Windows Don't Starve Mod Tools on an external HDD then how the heck is somebody on Linux even supposed to compile textures for DST because the Don't Starve Mod Tools I got on Linux only had a ModUploader and basically nothing else so it's practically useless doesn't even include spriter or fmod!! It seems it's impossible to mod DST if you are on Linux xD

BUT if you still want to try to help me to get the linux version working I wouldn't mind getting the help !

On my Linux Mint Cinnamon 22.1 it seems it came pre-installed with Python 3.12.3 this is obviously a much higher version then 2.7, I don't know if because it's higher it's the reason why the autocompiler was failing to work?

for the Python Imaging Library (PIL) or Pillow... I do not have either installed it seems when I checked using terminal commands and they seemingly aren't available in the Software Manager for Linux Mint..

also, I don't think I have a "A system wide installation of the TEX converter ktech in ktools." because my ktools-4.3.1 is just in its own folder and when I drag and drop the anim, bin, and atlas files into it and run the "decompile.bat" using wine it decompiles the texture.

As I type all of this I realize, Linux is such a headache and if I try to do all this the proper Linux way I might genuinely break down in tears from how stressful it seems to install multiple programs and configure each one of them to work perfectly together.

I'm so grateful that I backed up my Windows 7 version of Don't Starve Mod Tools and the autocompiler.exe in that works just fine by running it with Wine, I think what I will do is just use that, I will also see if it's possible for me to remove the unnecessary files in it except for the autocompiler then I can ZIP it up and put it as an attachment here then if anybody moves to Linux in the future and wants to mod DST doesn't have to go through horrible suffering I did been days I trying to get all this stuff to work real headache and if I didn't happen to have the Windows ver. of DS mod tools on hand I would have been genuinely screwed over.

Thanks for all the help Ferni I do appreciate it a lot even if though I decided to just delete all this linux version of the mod tools and use the windows one.

[. . .]

Hello, I'm posting all of this in case somebody ever moves to Linux (Mint Cinnamon) from Windows like I did and wants to continue to be able to mod Don't Starve (Together) and happens to find this topic.

Here are the programs you would need on Linux Mint Cinnamon.

1. You need to have Steam installed, this can easily be done by going on the official Steam website. I myself installed it off a .deb file there, for other Linuxes it might be different.
2. You need to install Wine, this is very important program to be able to run Windows exes. You will have to use the Terminal to install this as the one on the Software Manager is very outdated. This is the website to install Wine along with the instructions https://gitlab.winehq.org/wine/wine/-/wikis/Debian-Ubuntu , do not feel ashamed to ask ChatGPT if something's not clear then it can help you as that's what I did in combination with watching a YouTube video (although the YT video was not as helpful as ChatGPT was) when I couldn't understand and I managed to do it.
3. Off of Steam you need to install "Don't Starve Mod Tools" this is a free tool you can install on Steam by searching for it in your library, it seems on Linux unlike Windows this tool comes with none of the apps you actually need to mod DST. It basically only comes with the ModUploader which is still important to be able to publish mods to the Steam workshop, but that's it. So, I have put all the other things you would need as ZIP you can get right here for your convince as not all of us are lucky enough to have been on a Windows PC before and installed the Don't Starve Mod Tools and backed up the entirety of it on an external HDD.

This is free version of Spriter that comes with Don't Starve Mod Tools on Windows. You need to run Spriter.exe using Wine/Wine Windows Program Loader, do take note if you're moving from Windows to Linux Spriter and all these other programs with UI that you can move around are much choppier than they are on Windows.

Spriter.zip
 

 

This is free version of FMOD_Designer that comes with Don't Starve Mod Tools on Windows. You need to run fmod_designer.exe using Wine/Wine Windows Program Loader.

FMOD.zip

 

This is TEXTool, TEXCreator, and Texture and Atlas Packer v1.0.2. They are all useful programs for viewing and creating TEX files and necessary if you want to mod DST/DS. To run them you just open the exe files with Wine/Wine Windows Program Loader.

TEXTool and Texture and Atlas Packer v1.0.2.zip

 

This is ktools-4.3.1, it's needed to decompile textures of DST, although like in Windows it sometimes decompiles textures (especially modded ones) all corrupted and stretched this is not an issue exclusive to Linux. You can also decompile textures iirc using the tool in this guide right here on the forums, https://forums.kleientertainment.com/forums/topic/159394-tool-new-anim-tool/ , I remember using it to decompile a workshop character and unlike ktools it didn't corrupt the textures. However, if you're like me and like to have copies of everything on your own PC and not rely on sites or web apps that could disappear one day then it's good to have a copy of ktools as well. You just run the decompile.bat with Wine/Wine Windows Program Loader while a bin, anim, and atlases of the texture you want to decompile are in its folder.

ktools-4.3.1.zip

And finally, this is one of most important tools that gave me a lot of hassle trying to get the native Linux one working which was a complete waste of time! This is autocompiler which is needed to compile your textures then you can use them in DST/DS! By default the folder containing this is over 100mb in size, so I deleted as many files as I could to lower the size tremendously, removing a LOT of python files, but each file I removed I tested if the autocompiler.exe functioned and compiled texture and it did, so I would assume it works, but if it doesn't for some reason then it's probably because I had to remove so many things to lower its file size to put on here.

• Unlike the other programs, the autocompiler is VERY picky, it will not work unless it's in a very specific directory! You must put the folder contained in this ZIP inside of your steamapps > common directory where all your game folders and apps are contained otherwise it will REFUSE to run! Even creating a "link" on Linux and going into the folder that way will prevent the autocompiler from working! YOU have to manually go into the folder at that directory and then run autocompiler.exe using Wine/Wine Windows Program Loader for it to work!
• This goes for Windows too, for textures to compile using this tool you must have an "exported" folder in the mod you're making in the mods folder of the Don't Starve Together folder. For example "steamapps/common/Don't Starve Together/mods/TEST MOD/exported", you then have your texture folder containing the assets and scml file in that exported folder and then run autocompiler.exe using Wine/Windows Program Loader and it will compile your texture like it would on Windows.

Don't Starve Autocompiler.zip

I don't know if these work on other Linux distros, but these all seem to work for me right now just fine. I put as many of them as I could into ZIP files then you could get it right from here as it's impossible to get an easy to use autocompiler otherwise if you're on Linux because its version of Don't Starve Mod Tools installed from Steam doesn't come with it.

I just wanted to write this and include all the necessary tools as it really frustrated me that the Don't Starve Mod Tools downloaded from Steam on Linux are so incomplete, you basically cannot mod DST or DS on Linux because it lacks all the tools one would need to do so, hopefully for any future Linux users that do want to mod DST and find this post your experience goes much more easy than mine did with trying to set up everything then I can mod DST again .

[Rickzzs]

You'd better use stex and my python scripts(github zzzzzzzskyward/dstmodutils/pyscript , which shares the same technique as Jerry's animation tool) If you use Linux. autocompiler is difficult to compile as believed.

Edited September 4, 2025 by Rickzzs