Flirper

Flirper mod for Cities: Skylines

This mod changes the main menu background to a random image from a user-supplied list.

Usage

Getting started

Subscribe to the mod via the Steam Workshop (or put it in your local Mods if you are compiling manually).

Once added, it will read (and create if needed) the file FlirperImageList.txt in your Cities: Skylines user folder:

• Windows: C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Colossal Order\Cities_Skylines\ModConfig\
• Mac: /Users/<username>/Library/Application Support/Colossal Order/Cities_Skylines/ModConfig/
• Linux: /home/<username>/.local/share/Colossal Order/Cities_Skylines/ModConfig/

Default configuration

The mod ships with a default FlirperImageList.txt. It contains links to Cities: Skylines screenshots with attributions to serve as an example.

Custom configuration

FlirperImageList.txt is a list of image sources, with each line representing one source. Each line must start with a path to either a local image file, a local directory or a URL to an image. For example:

C:\Users\MyUserName\Desktop\images\
C:\Users\MyUserName\Desktop\family\cat.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/H2mby53.jpg

Each line (except for directories and special sources) can have additional fields separated by a ;. The fields are:

• path
• title
• author
• additional information

For example

http://i.imgur.com/H2mby53.jpg;Cats on stairs;13ucci;http://redd.it/2ytelo/

Special sources

You can add the line

LATESTSAVEGAME

to the FlirperImageList.txt, just like any other source. If the mod chooses this line, it will get your latest savegame and display its preview screenshot. Due to technical limitations (low resolution), this image is blurred, so it might not look great everywhere.

Disabling the mod

Flirper cannot be enabled or disabled via the Content Manager, because its logic is started when the game checks the mod's name. Therefore, to disable Flirper, you need to unsubscribe from the mod (through Steam or the Content Manager).

Known issues

Flirper should fail gracefully when it cannot load an image, but I have not tested every possible combination. Similarly, I don't know how it handles uncommon resolutions.

Some of the default image URLs may not be reachable at any moment. Flirper will write an exception to the game's console (F7) when it can't load a source.

Attributions

The default images are fully sourced in the FlirperImageList.txt file.

Thanks to the people of #skylines-modders @ irc.esper.net for many ideas and solutions.