pict :: Running Starbound Beta Builds

did not sleep so instead we (finally) looked into re-accessing the beta builds of starbound. went through this walkthrough here and i'm gonna jot down some notes

• the steamdb.info manifest list of build updates
• steam console link: steam://nav/console (log into the steam client, then copy and paste this into a web browser URL bar to open the console. then put in a code from below, quick and easy)
• the download does not show a progress update, but the console will eventually spit out a folder location from steam's program files which the game can then be retrieved from (ex. default windows location is C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\content\app_211820\ )
• the game will in fact run regardless of where it is moved after that. you do not need to replace a steam-downloaded starbound game folder's contents with these files, despite the tutorial above saying you do

version history notes from starbounder are available here.

we were going to go for furious or rampaging koala, but ended up going for pleased giraffe since we do like the floran quest, and PG should be the update that was just before the gutting of a large number of parts from the creature generator.

here is an easy-access list of the console codes for the main 2014-2016 beta updates, focusing on the stable releases. keep in mind that there are 386 total release builds available, so there are plenty more than these to choose from. Not all can be downloaded successfully, but it seems that most or all stable builds are available.

Cheerful Giraffe A.K.A. The 1.0 Gutting (Jul 22nd, 2016):
download_depot 211820 211821 1832884687015271119

Glad Giraffe (Dec 15th, 2015):
download_depot 211820 211821 1443346306517760476

Pleased Giraffe (Aug 27th, 2015):
download_depot 211820 211821 8845584185793126915

Spirited Giraffe (Apr 21st, 2015):
download_depot 211820 211821 6724970938888632470

Upbeat Giraffe (Jan 29th, 2015):
download_depot 211820 211821 8657227482464348881

Rampaging Koala (Jun 16th, 2014):
download_depot 211820 211821 1181941016889826211

Furious Koala (Jan 26th, 2014):
download_depot 211820 211821 4287241326442211805

template:
download_depot 211820 211821 (version number from the ManifestID column here)

related: some mods on the forums have old versions archived. sign in to the forums, go to a mod's version history tab, and compare the game version release date against the release date for the mod update to snag the correct version.

unfortunately, as these files are hosted on a variety of external sites, a lot of them are now lost. for example, all versions of the avali triage mod pre-november 2019 have been deleted from the project github, and i have not yet found any backups (no luck on internet archive, either).

to install mods, go to the folder of the downloaded beta version (shown in the console).
for koala builds: in that depot folder, add a new folder just titled mods.
for giraffe builds: in that depot folder, open the giraffe_storage folder, and add the mods folder there.
from there, everything is mostly the same as current starbound - just huck the mods in to mods and extract from zip as necessary. every mod should be in its own folder within mods.
(here's a koala-build video tutorial i searched up if you want one. here's a giraffe-focused tutorial)

tested kawa's xbawks-mode character creator mod and the familiars race mod on PG stable to confirm mod functionality. if x64 bit crashes, switch to x32.

at the time of posting, this all still works without a hitch and the vibes are immaculate