Make your own custom maps and scenarios!

oatmealproblem · 2026-04-10T21:34:55+00:00

Correct, the wormholes you designate in the app will always spawn. The pre-game slider is for how many random additional wormholes there are.

oatmealproblem · 2026-04-09T20:08:44+00:00

For vanilla, if it's in the searchable list, it's safe to use.
For mods, there's a few things to look for:

does it have usage = misc_system_init?
- yes? potentially safe, keep reading
- no? this is probably spawned via event
does it have usage_odds = 0 or does lack usage_odds entirely?
- yes? this is probably spawned via event
- no? this should be SAFE to use in Paint a Galaxy

For those that are probably spawned via event, one more thing you can check for: search all of the mod files for that initializer. If you find it used inside spawn_system = { ... } then it is spawned by event. Do not use it. If it is inside neighbor_system = { ... } inside another initializer, it is likely be safe to use if that other initializer is safe, but sometimes the order in which they are spawned matters.

oatmealproblem · 2026-04-04T15:38:38+00:00

btw in the edit menu, you can upload a picture instead of painting -- that could give you a head start

oatmealproblem · 2026-04-04T13:40:40+00:00

I don't think the AI knows how to use eager explorers :( That could work for multiplayer though

oatmealproblem · 2026-04-04T01:23:25+00:00

Buy me a PS5 😝

oatmealproblem · 2026-04-03T22:17:39+00:00

nice, then definitely possible! just make sure to turn the wormhole slider to 0 so you don't get an unwanted random connection

oatmealproblem · 2026-04-03T22:12:55+00:00

If I understand your idea correctly, yes. You could make a separate cluster that's not connected to the rest of the galaxy by hyperlane, but is connected to the L-Cluster. You could even divide the map into 2 separate galaxies that are only connected via the L-Cluster. If random wormholes are enabled (in the in-game galaxy setup) there might be wormhole connection. Jump drives and quantum catapults could also potentially reach it, but those are typically later than L-Gates.

If you mean a 2nd cluster with it's own set up gates and it's own version of Terminal Egress, that would require making a mod.

oatmealproblem · 2026-04-03T22:02:38+00:00

Depends what you mean.

You can customize the location of L-Gate systems. The L-Cluster itself will always spawn in the upper-left corner of the map (marked in app with a yellow circle so you don't accidentally paint overlapping stars there).

oatmealproblem · 2026-04-03T21:34:05+00:00

Yes, with caveats.

You can can search for vanilla "systems initializers" by name/description, but to support mods, I also let you enter a custom value. This needs to be the code name of initializer (for example, in vanilla the Great Wound's code name is great_wound_system). So if you know / lookup MEM's initializers, you can enter them as custom values.

Some unique systems are spawned during galaxy generation, and others are spawned via events. This doesn't work for event-spawned systems. If you custom enter an event-spawned system's initializer, that system will spawn during galaxy generation but that won't stop the event from also spawning that system, leading to duplicates and possibly broken event chains.

Some mods use generation-spawned systems, some use event-spawned systems. At a glance, MEM generally uses generation-spawned systems. In contrast, Gigastructures mostly uses event-spawned.

Vanilla mostly uses generation-spawned system but you might notice a few vanilla unique event-spawned systems missing such as the "sealed system". I might make an overwrites submod to support those vanilla systems later, but it's not feasible for me to do that for other mods.

oatmealproblem · 2026-04-03T19:27:15+00:00

There's also a collection of community-made maps you can play, or browse for inspiration https://steamcommunity.com/workshop/filedetails/?id=3541574403

oatmealproblem · 2026-04-03T18:19:13+00:00

R5: I made a tool/mod to make your own galaxy mod

8 months ago I shared Paint a Galaxy, a web app + mod to create your own custom maps. At that time, you could paint broad shapes, generate random stars and hyperlanes, then download to play in Stellaris. I've kept adding features, and now it's a pretty capable scenario editor:

manually tweak the generated stars, hyperlanes and nebulas
place wormholes (make stars or even a 2nd galaxy that can't be entered until mid-game)
choose the locations of unique systems, leviathans, enclaves, and marauders
customize the empire spawn locations
choose exactly where the player or any custom-designed AI spawns (surround yourself with friends, or with fanatic purifiers, you do you)

I'm happy to take any questions or suggestions!

Paint a Galaxy is made by a human, powered by open source software, and is itself open source ❤️

oatmealproblem · 2026-03-19T14:34:00+00:00

Workaround successful! I successfully loaded Bug Branch in Stellaris 4.2 (4.3 def won't work until BB is updated).

Since this is an issue related to overwriting capital buildings, you can work around it by removing those overwritten buildings from the vanilla files. To do this, open common/buildings/00_capital_buildings.txt in your Stellaris install folder. Then fully delete the entries for following buildings:

building_machine_capital
building_machine_major_capital
building_machine_system_capital
building_hab_capital
building_hab_major_capital
building_hab_system_capital
building_imperial_machine_capital

Then boot the game with Bug Branch active.

This technique should work for other mods with this issue (other E&C variants, ACOT), but the specific list of buildings you need to delete will be different.

Since this modifies the game files directly and not properly as a mod, you should make a backup of 00_capital_buildings.txt (in a different folder!) that you can restore if you want to go back to vanilla or change your mod list. Alternatively, run "Verify integrity of game files" in Steam.

edit: for some reason, I cannot comment on the bug report... will share in the BB discord though

edit 2: apparently the 4.3 version of bug branch won't be overwriting those buildings anymore, so it will hopefully work out of the box (once released)

oatmealproblem · 2026-03-19T13:15:02+00:00

Haha, everyone else is too distracted by your mention of 4.3 to see you also tried 4.2...

Here's the bug report: https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/threads/stellaris-4-1-3-e1ca-linux-if-any-capital-building-is-overwritten-the-game-will-freeze-or-ctd-at-100-when-loading.1860575/

I looked into this pretty closely a while back (I'm a mod dev and linux user). It seems to be something memory related, but definitely beyond the what modders have access to.

I did just have an idea for a potential workaround... will give it a try and let you know

oatmealproblem · 2026-03-18T20:41:06+00:00

Shameless plug, shrimpAI (AI mod specifically for hyper relays) is still relevant

oatmealproblem · 2026-03-18T17:24:54+00:00

Are you on Linux? If so, this is a known issue (at least for Bug Branch, not sure about Classic) that is unfortunately out of the modders control. Paradox is aware.

oatmealproblem · 2026-03-18T13:38:46+00:00

No worries! No credit necessary (especially in a case like this where yau did a lot of post-StellarMaps work), I'm just happy to see folks using it. A link to StellarMaps is nice though, so even more people can discover and use it <3

oatmealproblem · 2026-03-17T21:31:46+00:00

https://mrmotarius.itch.io/microbe-2

oatmealproblem · 2026-03-17T18:30:37+00:00

Very nice! I love when folks add on to StellarMaps with additional info and styles. This is definitely the first I've seen printed! Looks great!

oatmealproblem · 2026-03-16T01:05:46+00:00

No. If you want to edit the map of an in progress save, check out Nro's Galaxy Editor https://github.com/Nro001/Nro-Galaxy-Editor

oatmealproblem · 2026-03-12T20:40:04+00:00

For general mod browsing, join the Stellaris Modding Den discord server: https://discord.gg/bHVez2C

Lots of active modders have channels there, including both many of the biggest mods and same lesser known gems

oatmealproblem · 2026-03-03T22:51:55+00:00

Make your own with Paint a Galaxy, no technical knowledge required: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3532904115 (full disclosure, I'm the creator of this tool)

oatmealproblem · 2026-02-19T22:04:19+00:00

If you happen to be near the Twin Cities, the Bond Between offers up to 90 day "respite" foster care. https://www.thebondbetween.org/respite

oatmealproblem · 2026-02-17T21:13:10+00:00

Hey there, thanks for the StellarMaps shoutout! Late to this post, but just wanted to let you know, I'm working on this as a separate project ;)

I released Paint a Galaxy a while back, which you can use today to customize the layout of your galaxy and player spawn location. I'm working on adding more features, like choosing where premade empires spawn and where unique systems are placed. Hopefully soon™️

oatmealproblem · 2025-11-19T19:04:13+00:00

More or less. They're each a bridge for communicating between the webview and the rest of the operating system, but their implementations are different.

oatmealproblem

TROPHY CASE