Modding

Downwell is a GameMaker game, and nearly everything about it — sprites, code, sounds — lives in a single data.win file that can be edited with UndertaleModTool. This page is adapted from VirtuaVirtue's Downwell Modding Documentation, with additions from this wiki's own decompilation notes.

Tools required

• UndertaleModTool — the only tool you strictly need. Download a Stable release ("Bleeding Edge" is newer but less stable).

• Any pixel-precise image editor — Paint.NET, Aseprite, even MS Paint.

The game data lives at:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Downwell\data.win

Make a backup of data.win before editing — you are modifying the game itself.

Tutorial: new upgrades

Upgrades are the items offered at the end of every level. They are the best starting point for modding: little to no coding knowledge required.

Sprites

Each upgrade is one sprite with two frames:

• Frame 0 — the selection icon shown on the end-of-level choice screen. 24×24 pixels.
• Frame 1 — the inventory icon shown in the corner once taken. 12×12 pixels.

Upgrade sprites use at most three colors: red #FF0000, white #FFFFFF and black #000000. The game's palette shaders automatically remap them to the player's chosen palette.

Naming scheme

Name the files as frames of one sprite, e.g. for a "Knuckle Sandwich" upgrade:

sUgSandwich_0.png   (large icon)
sUgSandwich_1.png   (small icon)

UndertaleModTool imports numbered files as frames of the same sprite. Put them alone in a folder.

Importing

1. Open data.win in UndertaleModTool.

1. Run Scripts → Resource Repackers → ImportGraphics.csx and select your folder.

1. Check that a new UndertaleEmbeddedTexture exists (a texture-loading warning at this stage can be ignored, or save and reload).

1. Find your sprite in the Sprites section and check its properties — most importantly the origin must be 12×12 so the icons align in the menu and inventory.

language.ini

All of the game's text lives in language.ini next to data.win. Add your upgrade's name to the ugName section — the last vanilla entry is ugName22. Entries for the other languages are optional, but without them those languages show a blank name and description.

The upgrade table

Search for upgrades in UndertaleModTool and open gml_Script_scrUpgrades under Code.

This script is the upgrade database: every upgrade in the game is a block of global.ug assignments, with i += 1 between blocks (the index — without the increment you overwrite the previous entry).

Field	Meaning
ug[i][0]	Name (shown on the choice screen)
ug[i][1]	Copies currently owned — the game resets it; leave at 0
ug[i][2]	Sprite index. The first sprite a mod imports lands at index 741; add 1 per additional sprite
ug[i][3]	Description; # is a line break
ug[i][4]	Maximum copies obtainable. The pickers only offer an upgrade while ug[i][1] < ug[i][4] — vanilla entries with 0 here (Dumbbell, Super Charge, Sudden Fortune) are cut content that can never appear. Leave at 1
ug[i][5]	Price in gems — only read for the shop consumables (indexes 100–105); dead data for regular upgrades. Leave at 200
ug[i][6]	Japanese name
ug[i][7]	Japanese description

Copy an existing block to the end of the list, keep the i += 1 above it, and fill in your values.

Functionality

Search for pug (Player UpGrade) and open gml_Script_scrIncrementPug.

It is one large switch over the upgrade index, run when an upgrade is taken. Add a case for your index at the bottom (the 24th item is case 23 — indexes start at 0) and put your effect there.

Tutorial: new styles

Styles are the characters chosen at the start of a run.

Sprites

A style needs a run cycle of 8 frames and an idle animation of 4 frames, at 15×15 pixels, using the same three-color rule as upgrades. Name them so they don't collide with existing sprites, e.g.:

sprPlayerIdleCart_0.png … sprPlayerIdleCart_3.png
sprPlayerRunCart_0.png … sprPlayerRunCart_7.png

Import exactly as in the upgrade tutorial, then check the sprite properties — here the origin must be 6×6.

language.ini

Add the style's name to the styleName section — the last vanilla entry is styleName4.

Wiring it up

Four scripts, all found by searching style:

1. gml_GlobalScript_styleInit — declares each style's name and animation sprite indexes (index variable s, incremented per style like the upgrade table). Point the animation fields at your imported sprite indexes (double-click a sprite; its index is shown at the bottom right).

1. gml_GlobalScript_styleUpdate — runs when a style is selected and sets the player's stats. Copy an existing case to the end and adjust. Vanilla gunType values are 0–6 (see the weapon table).

1. gml_GlobalScript_styleSet — declares the animations again; possibly never called, but add your style for good practice.

1. gml_Object_PlayMenu_Create_0 (search playmenu) — increment styleMax by 1 so the menu shows your style.

Unlocking

A new style starts locked with no unlock condition. Either:

• add it to the unlock tables — an entry in gml_GlobalScript_unlockGoalNum (shifting the later indexes) and a case in gml_GlobalScript_unlockNotice — or

• cheat it open: in save.ini (at C:\Users\<you>\AppData\Local\Downwell_v1_0_5) set the gems field, your progress toward all unlockables, to something absurd.

Reference: weapon stats

New weapons are added in gml_GlobalScript_bStatInitLevel1 by copying an existing weapon's block. Increment gunnum (gunnum += 1) above every new weapon.

Most stats are arrays of two values: [gunnum][0] applies without gem high, [gunnum][1] with gem high (typically slightly stronger).

Stat	Meaning
bStatName	Pickup name, quoted, usually capitalised — e.g. "NOPPY"
bStatGunSprite	Letter shown on the collectible: position in the alphabet minus one (11 = "L")
bStatObject	Bullet object index — 261 for MACHINEGUN/SHOTGUN/TRIPLE/PUNCHER/BURST/NOPPY, 260 for LASER
bStatBulletSprite	Bullet sprite index (LASER: 466 normal, 465 gem high)
bStatSound	Firing sound index (LASER: 20 normal, 21 gem high)
bStatMuzzle	Muzzle-flash sprite index (SHOTGUN: 603 normal, 602 gem high)
bStatConRate	Charge consumed per shot
bStatRof	Rate of fire — lower is faster; negatives appear to disable it
bStatRecoil	Vertical speed lost when firing
bStatScreenShake / bStatScreenShakeDur	Screen-shake strength / duration
bStatDelayKill	Unclear; rapid-fire weapons set 1
bStatBurst	Burst-fire flag; only SHOTGUN and BURST set 1
bStatBurstRate	Delay between burst bullets — lower is faster
bStatBurstAmount	Bullets per trigger pull
bStatDamage	Damage per bullet (MACHINEGUN: 9 normal, 15 gem high)
bStatSpeed	Bullet speed
bStatAccuracy	Random spread
bStatPierce	1 = bullets pass through enemies/objects while damaging them (LASER)
bStatWave	Unused
bStatExplode	Unused by vanilla — set 1 and every bullet explodes; balance accordingly
bStatRangeRandom / bStatRangeTimer	Bullet lifetime and its randomisation (how SHOTGUN pellets vanish unevenly)
bStatSpType	Appears to control TRIPLE's three-bullet spawn
bStatSpTy1–3	Undetermined; copy from the closest vanilla weapon
bStatAimAngleAccl / Dccl / Limit	Aim rotation speed/deceleration/max angle — only NOPPY aims (limit 25)