Changes

For mods, it's '''strongly recommended''' to...

For mods, it's '''strongly recommended''' to...

* Use namespaced IDs prefixed with your [[Modding:Modder Guide/APIs/Manifest#Basic fields|mod's unique ID]] for all new content. For example, if your mod ID is <code>Example.PufferchickMod</code> and you're adding a pufferchick plushy, your item ID would look like <code>Example.PufferchickMod_PufferchickPlushy</code>. In a [[Modding:Content Patcher|Content Patcher pack]], you can use <code><nowiki>{{ModId}}_PufferchickPlushy</nowiki></code> to insert your mod ID automatically. This eliminates ID conflicts between mods, and makes it easy (for both troubleshooters and mod code) to identify which mod added a particular content. See [[Modding:Common data field types#Unique string ID|the new format docs]] for the recommended format.

* Use namespaced IDs prefixed with your [[Modding:Modder Guide/APIs/Manifest#Basic fields|mod's unique ID]] for all new content. For example, if your mod ID is <code>Example.PufferchickMod</code> and you're adding a pufferchick plushy, your item ID would look like <code>Example.PufferchickMod_PufferchickPlushy</code>. In a [[Modding:Content Patcher|Content Patcher pack]], you can use <code><nowiki>{{ModId}}_PufferchickPlushy</nowiki></code> to insert your mod ID automatically. This eliminates ID conflicts between mods, and makes it easy (for both troubleshooters and mod code) to identify which mod added a particular content. See [[Modding:Common data field types#Unique string ID|the new format docs]] for the recommended format.

* Only use alphanumeric (a–z, A–Z, 0–9), underscore (<code>_</code>), and dot (<code>.</code>) characters in string IDs. This is important because they're often used in places where some characters have special meaning (like file names or [[#Game state query|game state queries]]).

* Only use alphanumeric (a–z, A–Z, 0–9), underscore (<code>_</code>), and dot (<code>.</code>) characters in string IDs. This is important because they're often used in places where some characters have special meaning (like file names or [[#Game state queries|game state queries]]).

You can optionally migrate pre-1.6 content to use unique string IDs too, without breaking existing players' saves. This is recommended to reduce mod conflicts and simplify troubleshooting going forward. Here's how to migrate for each data type:

You can optionally migrate pre-1.6 content to use unique string IDs too, without breaking existing players' saves. This is recommended to reduce mod conflicts and simplify troubleshooting going forward. Here's how to migrate for each data type: