Mindustry Modding on OpenMods

A factory game built around an open-source modding pipeline

Mindustry, by Anuken (Anthony Ngu), is a 2D real-time strategy game with a tower-defense core and a factory-automation backbone. It runs on libGDX (the JVM-based game framework), and the game itself is fully open source on GitHub. Every block, item, and tower in the base game is defined the same way mods define theirs, which makes the modding scene unusually transparent: you can read how vanilla works and copy the pattern.

The community is dual-homed. The Steam release (Anuken Edition, 2020) is paid; the same game is free on Itch.io and Android. Mods made on one platform load on the others, with the caveat that Android needs the multidex flag on Java mods.

What this game's modding scene is shaped by

• Game engine on the JVM. Mods can be pure content (HJSON files plus sprites) or compiled Java that extends the Mod class. There is no third-party loader; the runtime ships with mod support baked in.
• A curated central index. The in-game mod browser pulls from github.com/Anuken/MindustryMods, a community-maintained list of GitHub repositories. Authors submit a PR to be listed; the game then surfaces releases by tag.
• Workshop-free distribution. Steam Workshop is not used. The game-internal browser and direct GitHub release downloads are the canonical channels.

The toolchain

• Mods folder: %appdata%/Mindustry/mods/ on Windows, ~/.config/Mindustry/mods/ on Linux, ~/Library/Application Support/Mindustry/mods/ on macOS. Drop a .jar or a folder/zip with a mod.hjson at its root to install manually.
• Manifest: every mod ships mod.hjson with name, displayName, author, version, minGameVersion, and an optional dependencies list.
• Content mods: put .hjson files under content/blocks/, content/units/, content/items/, content/liquids/, content/planets/, etc. Sprites go in sprites/ next to each. No compilation required.
• Java mods: Gradle build using Anuken's mindustry-template-mod skeleton. Subclass Mod, register at startup via init(), and hook the event bus through Events.on(...) for runtime logic.
• Schematics and maps: separate from mods. .msch (schematics) and .msav (maps) live in their own folders and do not load through the mod system.

What you'll find on OpenMods

The official MindustryMods index is the source of truth for in-game install. The OpenMods catalogue is a complement focused on GitHub-published mods that ship proper releases. If a mod is not on the official index yet, OpenMods may be the easier discovery path; once a mod hits the official list, the in-game browser is faster.

Catalogue size here will skew small compared to the official index. That is by design: we list GitHub-published mods that ship versioned releases, and many smaller Mindustry mods publish only through the in-game browser.

Practical notes

• Open vs paid is identical. Anuken Edition (Steam) and the free build share saves, mods, and schematics. Pick whichever based on whether you want to support the developer through Steam.
• Version compatibility matters. minGameVersion is enforced by build number, not version string. Mods targeting v7 will refuse to load on v6 builds, and v8 introduced sector and planet changes that break some v7 content packs.
• Android needs multidex. Compiled Java mods that target mobile must declare android: true in mod.hjson and produce a Dexed jar. Pure content mods work on mobile without special handling.
• Server-side modding. Dedicated servers run the same .jar. Gameplay-affecting mods must be installed on both client and server for multiplayer; recent versions sync pure content mods from the host on join, but Java mods do not.
• The in-game editor is genuinely usable. Maps, schematics, and the simplest content mods can be built without leaving the game. The Java route is for behaviour the HJSON layer cannot express.

Ready to install your first mod or write one of your own? Start with Getting Started with Mindustry Modding.