Modding:Modder Guide/APIs/Content Packs
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A content pack is a special type of mod that isn't run by SMAPI directly, but contains files your own mod can read.
Content pack format
A content pack is a folder containing a manifest.json file which specifies your mod in its ContentPackFor field (see manifest). The format beyond that is up to you to define. For example, Content Patcher requires a content.json file, but that's not validated by SMAPI itself. Instead, SMAPI provides an API you can use to read any other file you need from the content pack.
See Modding:Content packs for more info about content packs.
Content pack API
You can get a list of content packs installed for your mod, and access the files within it:
foreach(IContentPack contentPack in this.Helper.ContentPacks.GetOwned())
{
this.Monitor.Log($"Reading content pack: {contentPack.Manifest.Name} {contentPack.Manifest.Version} from {contentPack.DirectoryPath}");
// read a JSON file
YourDataFile data = contentPack.ReadJsonFile<YourDataFile>("content.json");
// load an asset or image
Texture2D image = contentPack.LoadAsset<Texture2D>("image.png");
}
If you need to pass a content pack asset name to game code, you can use its GetActualAssetKey method:
tilesheet.ImageSource = contentPack.GetActualAssetKey("image.png");
In specialised cases, you can create a temporary content pack for a given directory path:
// create with random manifest data
IContentPack contentPack = this.Helper.ContentPack.CreateFake(
directoryPath: Path.Combine(this.Helper.DirectoryPath, "content-pack"),
);
// create with given manifest fields
IContentPack contentPack = this.Helper.ContentPack.CreateFake(
directoryPath: Path.Combine(this.Helper.DirectoryPath, "content-pack"),
id: Guid.NewGuid().ToString("N"),
name: "temporary content pack",
description: "...",
author: "...",
version: new SemanticVersion(1, 0, 0)
);