help Help For Creating a Character Asset Replacement Mod

[Jussatoon]

Basically, I want to make a mod that replaces as many assets of an existing character as possible (and maybe even their items as well) with custom ones, pretty much visually altering them, though mechanically they'd remain the same. 

How would I go about doing this?

[Haruhi Kawaii]

On 4/4/2026 at 5:21 AM, Jussatoon said:

Basically, I want to make a mod that replaces as many assets of an existing character as possible (and maybe even their items as well) with custom ones, pretty much visually altering them, though mechanically they'd remain the same. 

How would I go about doing this?

Try using this tool; it allows you to replace animations without having to decompress them. When your mod has a lower priority but uses the same file names, it will override the anim and inventory images of mods with higher priority

 

[Jussatoon]

What about the modmain.lua file, and what do I type in there?

[Haruhi Kawaii]

19 hours ago, Jussatoon said:

What about the modmain.lua file, and what do I type in there?

Depending on the asset you want to overwrite, there are different methods. If it's a character:
 

Assets = {
    -- Your asset; it doesn't need to match the prefab name, but it must match the name of the .zip file containing your build.
    Asset("ANIM", "anim/yourcharacter.zip") 
}
 PrefabFiles = {
    "test_skin",
 }

\scripts\prefabs\test_skin.lua
 

local prefabs = {}

table.insert(prefabs, CreatePrefabSkin("wilson_none", { 
    -- This is the default skin for the prefab, which includes the _none suffix. 
    -- Other skins may have different names, but by default, most use the _none suffix.
    base_prefab = "wilson", -- The prefab of the character we're adding a skin for
    build_name_override = "yourcharacter",
    skins = { ghost_skin = "ghost_yourcharacter_build", normal_skin = "yourcharacter", }, 
    type = "base",
    rarity = "Character",
}))

return unpack(prefabs)

If it is a structure or an item, I think this code is sufficient:
 

AddPrefabPostInit("xxx", function(inst)
    inst.AnimState:SetBuild("xxx")
    inst.AnimState:SetBank("xxx")
end)

Alternatively, you could create a skin for it instead of overwriting it. I have a quick guide here using the Glassic API—it's mainly for items, but it can be applied to characters as well.

 

Edited April 6 by Haruhi Kawaii

[Jussatoon]

Okay, so I know that I replace every instance of "yourcharacter" with the name of the character I want to overwrite; let's say "wilson", for this instance.
Let's say I have the assets of my custom character, and let's say their name is Wustom, for clarity.
What do I type or include to ensure that Wustom replaces Wilson's appearance? Do I replace "custom_skin" with "wustom", or something along those lines?

[Haruhi Kawaii]

10 hours ago, Jussatoon said:

Okay, so I know that I replace every instance of "yourcharacter" with the name of the character I want to overwrite; let's say "wilson", for this instance.
Let's say I have the assets of my custom character, and let's say their name is Wustom, for clarity.
What do I type or include to ensure that Wustom replaces Wilson's appearance? Do I replace "custom_skin" with "wustom", or something along those lines?

My bad, the previous guide was a bit messy. I’ve fixed it and used Wilson as an example. Please try a few different cases if it doesn't work.