r/starbound • u/DEEP-WONG • 35m ago
Lets Play [Tool Release] Starbound World Editor — Edit .world Files, Regenerate Complete Biomes, and Customize Planet Backgrounds
Hello everyone! I’ve created a Windows world-editing tool designed for vanilla Starbound: Starbound World Editor.
If you have ever wanted to change the weather or background of an existing planet, repair an incorrectly generated ocean floor, or fully transform a selected region into another biome instead of simply replacing a few surface blocks, this tool may be exactly what you are looking for.
It can read Starbound World4 .world files and convert their complex world parameters into an editable JSON format. The toolkit consists of three parts.
01 — Export World to JSON
Exports the editable parameters from a .world file to JSON, including:
Planet name / Weather / Sky and ambient light colors / Gravity / Day length / World layer definitions / Surface Level / Space Level / Biomes / Monster spawn tables / Terrain selectors / Caves and ores / Liquids / Ambient sounds and music / Parallax backgrounds
Large amounts of tile, entity, and sector data are not included in the JSON, making the exported file much easier to read and modify. The source .world file is not changed.
02 — Import JSON to World
Writes the modified JSON parameters into a copy of the original world and creates a new .world file.
Unmodified world data, previously generated terrain, player-built structures, placed objects, and entity records are preserved. It can also change the planet’s name and optionally synchronize the name displayed on the navigation map.
03 — Regenerate Biome Region
This is the toolkit’s most important feature.
After selecting a target biome and an X/Y coordinate range, the tool reads and compiles the biome’s complete generation rules from the selected Starbound assets. The game can then regenerate the selected region with:
Terrain elevation and shape / Foreground and background blocks / Caves and ores / Vegetation, trees, and placed features / Creatures and monsters / Liquids and oceans / Microdungeons / Ambient sounds, music, and Parallax backgrounds
Even if the selected biome has never appeared on the target planet, it can still be compiled and added as long as it exists in the selected assets.
For oceanfloor, toxicoceanfloor, arcticoceanfloor, and magmaoceanfloor, the tool automatically generates both the upper ocean and the lower ocean floor. This includes seawater, island-generation rules, uneven seabed terrain, underwater plants, creatures, treasure chests, microdungeons, and the appropriate backgrounds.
Vanilla Terraformers mainly convert the surface biome of an entire planet. This tool instead lets you select a precise rectangular region and generate the terrain, vegetation, creatures, and background that genuinely belong to the target biome, providing much more control and a more complete result.
Vanilla Compatibility and Custom Parallax
When using vanilla assets, the tool does not modify any original game files and does not require an in-game script or runtime mod. Its output remains a standard World4 .world file that can be placed back into the vanilla storage\universe directory.
In addition to using existing vanilla backgrounds, you can edit the Parallax parameters, convert custom images into image directives that Starbound can understand, and write them directly into the planet’s background.
Important Warning
03_Regenerate_Biome_Region.exe completely removes every saved sector that intersects the selected region, including:
Natural terrain / Player-built structures / Placed objects / Liquids / NPCs / Monsters / Stagehands / Unique entities
Starbound cannot reliably distinguish naturally generated blocks from blocks placed by players. Therefore, the tool currently cannot regenerate only the natural terrain while preserving player-built structures inside the selected region.
The tool does not overwrite the source .world file. It creates a new output file instead, but you should still always back up the original world before using it.
Languages and System Requirements
The interface supports English / Simplified Chinese / German, and confirmation messages and warnings follow the currently selected language.
I would also like to give special thanks to a German friend of mine. I hope the German interface will make the tool more accessible to additional Starbound players.
System requirements: Windows 10/11 / Python 3.8 or later / Python 3.11 or 3.12 recommended / No third-party pip packages required. The archive must be fully extracted before use.
This is an independent community-made tool and is not official Chucklefish software. It is still being tested and improved, so suggestions, test results, and error logs are very welcome.
I hope this tool can take Starbound planet editing beyond basic terraforming and turn it into a genuine way to create entirely new worlds.
Download:
here in github

