ReefCharacters
The Reef's characters live on the server: your character is stored there, sent back when you join, one character per Steam account, rolling backups. Drop-in successor of ServerCharacters (same files).
About this mod Author’s original text
ReefCharacters
Your character lives on the server. Every time the game saves your character (every 30 minutes, when you log out, when you die), a copy goes to the server; when you join, the server copy is what you play with. Nobody can bring an inventory from another server or from an edited save.
Install on the server and on every client. The server refuses a client that does not run the same version (Jötunn network compatibility). Players on The Reef get it through the TheReef modpack.
What it does
- Your character is stored on the server under your Steam account and character name, and sent back to you when you join. Your local save is overwritten with the server copy at every join, so what you see is what the server has.
- One character per Steam account on the server (server admins are exempt). You keep playing the character you created there.
- A new player must create a new character for the server. A character that has already played elsewhere is refused when the server has no copy of it — that is the whole point of the mod.
- Rolling backups on the server: a dated copy before every overwrite, 25 kept per character (server setting).
- Dedicated to the server: a character used on this server carries the server's map and spawn data in its file. Use a separate character for your solo worlds. The first time the mod overwrites a local file that already had progress, it keeps a one-time copy next to it (.fch.beforereef).
Messages you may see when joining
- "This server keeps one character per Steam account." — you already have a character here; log in with that one.
- "Your character already has progress but the server has no copy of it." — create a new character for this server.
- "The server copy of your character could not be read." — tell the admin; nothing was changed on your side.
- "The server did not send your character in time." — try again; if it repeats, tell the admin.
Coming from ServerCharacters
Nothing to do. The files on the server are the same (characters_local/Steam__.fch, the game's own save format): every character stored under ServerCharacters is read as it is. Remove ServerCharacters from the profile; the two refuse to load together.
Settings
BepInEx/config/reef.characters.cfg — server: Backups to keep (25), One character per account (true); client: Profile timeout (20 s).
Install & use Install: BepInEx plugin
- The archive from playbuff is the mod itself — usually a BepInEx plugin (a .dll or a plugin folder once unzipped).
- Recommended: use a community mod manager (such as r2modman) — pick this game, import the mod, and the manager sets up BepInEx and its dependencies for you.
- Manual route: install the BepInEx loader in the game folder, then drop the unzipped .dll or plugin folder into BepInEx/plugins/.
- Launch the game — the BepInEx console logs every plugin it loads; seeing this mod in the log means it is installed.
Mods with listed dependencies need those installed too, or they will not load. Options are usually changed in-game or in the plugin's config file. In multiplayer, the host and every client need the same mods installed.
Install these first, or the mod will not work: