Getting Started

This guide walks you through setting up SteamNetworkLib in a Unity game mod using MelonLoader and implementing the minimal loop.

Installation

Prerequisites

1. MelonLoader installed on the target Unity game
2. Steam client running
3. Unity game with Steam integration
4. Basic C# and MelonLoader modding knowledge
5. Visual Studio or VS Code

Add SteamNetworkLib to Your Mod Project

Target .NET Standard 2.1 (works for Mono and Il2Cpp) and reference SteamNetworkLib:

<Project Sdk="Microsoft.NET.Sdk">
  <PropertyGroup>
    <TargetFramework>netstandard2.1</TargetFramework>
    <AssemblyTitle>YourAwesomeMod</AssemblyTitle>
    <AssemblyVersion>1.0.0</AssemblyVersion>
  </PropertyGroup>
</Project>

Add references to:

• MelonLoader.dll
• UnityEngine.dll
• Assembly-CSharp.dll
• SteamNetworkLib.dll

Minimal mod setup

using MelonLoader;
using SteamNetworkLib;

public class YourAwesomeModMain : MelonMod
{
    private SteamNetworkClient client;

    public override void OnInitializeMelon()
    {
        client = new SteamNetworkClient();
        if (client.Initialize())
        {
            // Optional: subscribe to events
            client.OnLobbyCreated += (s, e) => MelonLogger.Msg($"Lobby: {e.Lobby.LobbyId}");
        }
    }

    public override void OnUpdate()
    {
        client?.ProcessIncomingMessages();
    }

    public override void OnDeinitializeMelon()
    {
        client?.Dispose();
    }
}

From here, pick the guide you need next:

• Lobby Management: create/join/leave/invite
• Data Synchronization: lobby and member data
• P2P Messaging: typed messages, files, channels
• Events and Errors: event model and exceptions
• Recipes: copy-paste snippets for common tasks