Personnel

Latest release	2.1.1
Download	GitHub · Thunderstore
Requires	MelonLoader 0.7.3, S1API Forked 3.1.1
API	Reference

🛟 Need help or found a bug? Get support at support.doodesch.de/personnel.

The NPC framework for Schedule I. Personnel lets anyone ship custom NPCs as simple pack folders - designed in Personify or written by hand - and lets mods spawn them as real, first-class S1API NPCs: networked, saved, and walking the world as if the mod author had built them in code. Built on S1API.

Personnel is primarily a library / dependency. On its own it adds no NPCs - it’s the thing NPC packs and NPC-spawning mods depend on. Install it alongside an NPC pack and the NPCs appear: since 2.0 a pack can opt into auto-registration and needs no mod code at all.

Documentation

• 📖 Wiki - the full guide: pack format and id rules, the API (spawning real S1API NPCs), custom PNG layer authoring, multiplayer, troubleshooting.
• 🧩 Personify - the in-game editor that designs and exports these packs.

Features

• NPC mods without code. A pack manifest can carry the whole NPC: spawn point and region, a daily schedule (walk routes, buildings, seats, vending machines, slot machines, dialogue spots, car trips), customer or dealer economy, inventory, relationships and contact presentation. Flip "autoRegister": true and Personnel spawns them as real world NPCs that run their day on their own.
• Real S1API NPCs, not props. Prefab, networking, save/load and mugshot are handled by S1API - the same machinery hand-coded NPC mods use.
• Deep appearance. The full avatar-settings surface: body, skin, hair, face, eyes, eyebrows, clothing layers, accessories, plus custom PNG layers (e.g. tattoos) loaded from the pack folder.
• Physical or contact-only. Most roster NPCs can stay phone contacts (near-zero cost); only the ones that should walk the world are physical. Big packs stay fast, also on Steam Deck.
• NPC packs are plain folders - a manifest.json plus optional PNGs under UserData/Personnel/Packs/<PackName>/. Design them live in-game with Personify.
• Coordinates from the console. The game shows none, so personnel pos 07:30 gives you a finished walkTo action for the spot you are standing on, personnel spawn a full spawn block, and personnel route collects a whole day’s route. Everything lands on your clipboard.
• Stable, save-safe ids with rename escape hatches (packId, saveId).
• Bundled example pack (off by default) drops a working manifest template to copy.

Requirements

Component	Version / Source
Schedule I	IL2CPP (current Steam public build)
MelonLoader	0.7.3+
S1API	ifBars/S1API_Forked

Installation

Recommended: a Thunderstore mod manager

Install with r2modman / Gale from the Schedule I community; the dependencies (MelonLoader, S1API) are pulled in automatically. Then install any NPC pack or NPC mod that lists Personnel as a dependency.

Manual

1. Install MelonLoader 0.7.3 for Schedule I.
2. Install S1API (its DLLs go in Mods/ and Plugins/ per its own instructions).
3. Drop Personnel.dll into your Schedule I Mods/ folder.
4. Add NPC packs (see below), or enable the bundled example pack (see Configuration).

For players: using NPC packs

An NPC pack is just a folder under:

<Schedule I>/UserData/Personnel/Packs/<PackName>/

containing a manifest.json and any PNGs it references. On startup Personnel logs each loaded pack with the NPC ids it provides. Packs with autoRegister bring their NPCs into the world by themselves; older appearance-only packs are used by whatever consumer mod spawns them. In co-op, everyone needs the same packs installed - the same rule as for mods.

For pack authors: the pack format

The comfortable way is the in-game editor Personify (a Side Hustle gamemode): design NPCs live on the menu character, then hit Export - it writes a ready-to-publish pack. By hand, create UserData/Personnel/Packs/<YourPack>/manifest.json:

{
  "name": "My Pack",
  "author": "you",
  "schemaVersion": 2,
  "autoRegister": true,
  "npcs": [
    {
      "name": "Pale",
      "appearance": {
        "gender": 0.5, "height": 1.0, "weight": 0.4,
        "skinColor": "#8899AA", "hairPath": "", "hairColor": "#101014",
        "faceLayers": [ { "file": "grin.png", "tint": "#FFFFFF" } ]
      },
      "spawn": { "x": -66.4, "y": -2.9, "z": 86.1, "region": "Westville", "physical": true },
      "schedule": [
        { "type": "walkTo", "time": "07:30", "position": [-70.1, -2.9, 80.0] },
        { "type": "stayInBuilding", "time": "09:00", "duration": 240, "building": "Thrifty Threads" }
      ]
    }
  ]
}

• An authored id is respected (normalized); without one it is derived as <packname>_<npcname>. Ids are the save identity - never change them once a pack shipped (use saveId when renaming).
• Appearance mirrors the S1API avatar-settings surface; every field is optional and defaults to the game’s baseline. Layers take either a path (existing game layer) or a file (pack-relative PNG).
• On top of appearance there are spawn, schedule, customer, dealer, inventory, relationships and contact blocks - the Pack Format wiki page documents every field.
• Enable the example pack (Configuration below) for a complete, working template.

For mod developers: spawning the NPCs

Reference Personnel.dll (add [assembly: MelonOptionalDependencies("Personnel")]) and declare one tiny subclass per NPC you want - then spawn it the normal S1API way:

public sealed class PaleNpc : Personnel.PersonnelNpc
{
    protected override string DefId => "examples_pale";   // id from an installed pack
}

// wherever you populate the world:
var npc = new PaleNpc();          // S1API builds the prefab, networks and saves it
npc.Position = spawnPoint;        // then use S1API as usual: schedules, dialogue, ...

DefId must return a constant (S1API builds prefabs from uninitialized instances). Lower-level entry points on Personnel.API: All / TryGet(id, out def) to enumerate definitions, BuildAvatarSettings(def) / ApplyAppearance(avatar, def) to realise just the look on any avatar, and ConfigureFromDef(builder, def) if you keep your own NPC subclass. A complete reference consumer lives in the repo as PersonOfInterest.

Configuration

Settings live in UserData/MelonPreferences.cfg under Personnel_01_Main.

Setting	Default	What it does
LoadExamplePack	false	When on, drops a small example pack into UserData/Personnel/Packs/Examples on startup (if not already there) - ready-made NPCs plus a manifest template to copy. Requires a game restart. Never overwrites an existing Examples folder.
EnableAutoRegister	true	Kill switch for pack auto-registration. When off, packs with autoRegister load as data only and nothing spawns. Requires a game restart.

How it works

Packs are parsed into plain definitions at startup (no Unity objects). When a consumer first uses a definition, Personnel maps it onto S1API’s avatar-settings builder; custom PNG layers are loaded into textures, wrapped into cloned avatar layers via S1API’s AvatarLayerFactory, and registered at custom Resources paths - so the game’s own pipeline renders, saves and networks them like built-in layers. Full NPCs ride entirely on S1API’s prefab/networking machinery via PersonnelNpc.

Compatibility

• IL2CPP build only (current Steam public branch).
• Multiplayer: NPCs spawned via S1API follow S1API’s networking. Custom PNG layers are referenced by resource-path string - clients need Personnel and the same pack to render them; others simply don’t show that layer (no desync, no crash).

Credits

• DooDesch - mod author.
• ifBars/S1API - the modding API this is built on.

License

Provided as-is under the MIT License.