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Project Setup

This guide walks through installing Deadworks and setting up a Visual Studio project for plugin development.

Prerequisites​

  • .NET 10.0 SDK (or later)
  • Visual Studio 2022 (17.x+) or any IDE with .NET support
  • Deadlock installed via Steam

1. Install Deadworks​

Extract Core Files​

Extract the Deadworks archive into your Deadlock installation:

Deadlock/game/bin/win64/

This places the Deadworks runtime and the managed/ folder (containing DeadworksManaged.Api.dll) in the correct location.

Add Configuration File​

Place deadworks_mem.jsonc into:

Deadlock/game/citadel/cfg/deadworks_mem.jsonc

Enable IntelliSense (Optional)​

Place DeadworksManaged.Api.xml in the managed/ folder alongside the DLL:

Deadlock/game/bin/win64/managed/DeadworksManaged.Api.xml

This gives you full XML documentation and IntelliSense in Visual Studio when referencing the API.

Verify Installation​

Run the Deadworks executable and check the console for pink-colored output. Look for one of these messages:

  • ".NET runtime initialized" — Deadworks is installed correctly and ready for plugins.
  • "Failed to initialize .NET runtime" — The .NET 10.0 SDK is missing or not installed correctly.

2. Create a Class Library Project​

In Visual Studio, create a new C# Class Library project.

Important: Target .NET Core (e.g. net10.0), not .NET Standard. Deadworks requires a .NET Core runtime.

<Project Sdk="Microsoft.NET.Sdk">
  <PropertyGroup>
    <TargetFramework>net10.0</TargetFramework>
    <ImplicitUsings>enable</ImplicitUsings>
    <Nullable>enable</Nullable>
  </PropertyGroup>
</Project>

3. Add API References​

Add assembly references to the Deadworks API and Google Protobuf DLLs from your Deadlock installation:

<ItemGroup>
  <Reference Include="DeadworksManaged.Api">
    <HintPath>C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Deadlock\game\bin\win64\managed\DeadworksManaged.Api.dll</HintPath>
  </Reference>
  <Reference Include="Google.Protobuf">
    <HintPath>C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Deadlock\game\bin\win64\managed\Google.Protobuf.dll</HintPath>
  </Reference>
</ItemGroup>

Note: Adjust the HintPath if your Steam library is in a different location. The DLLs are also available in the managed/ folder of this repository.

4. Configure Auto-Deploy (Optional)​

Add a post-build target to automatically copy your compiled plugin to the game's plugin directory:

<Target Name="DeployToGame" AfterTargets="Build">
  <ItemGroup>
    <DeployFiles Include="$(OutputPath)YourPlugin.dll;$(OutputPath)YourPlugin.pdb" />
  </ItemGroup>
  <Copy
    SourceFiles="@(DeployFiles)"
    DestinationFolder="C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Deadlock\game\bin\win64\managed\plugins"
    SkipUnchangedFiles="false"
    Retries="0"
    ContinueOnError="WarnAndContinue" />
</Target>

5. Complete .csproj Example​

<Project Sdk="Microsoft.NET.Sdk">
  <PropertyGroup>
    <TargetFramework>net10.0</TargetFramework>
    <RootNamespace>MyPlugin</RootNamespace>
    <ImplicitUsings>enable</ImplicitUsings>
    <Nullable>enable</Nullable>
  </PropertyGroup>

  <ItemGroup>
    <Reference Include="DeadworksManaged.Api">
      <HintPath>C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Deadlock\game\bin\win64\managed\DeadworksManaged.Api.dll</HintPath>
    </Reference>
    <Reference Include="Google.Protobuf">
      <HintPath>C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Deadlock\game\bin\win64\managed\Google.Protobuf.dll</HintPath>
    </Reference>
  </ItemGroup>

  <Target Name="DeployToGame" AfterTargets="Build">
    <ItemGroup>
      <DeployFiles Include="$(OutputPath)MyPlugin.dll;$(OutputPath)MyPlugin.pdb" />
    </ItemGroup>
    <Copy
      SourceFiles="@(DeployFiles)"
      DestinationFolder="C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Deadlock\game\bin\win64\managed\plugins"
      SkipUnchangedFiles="false"
      Retries="0"
      ContinueOnError="WarnAndContinue" />
  </Target>
</Project>

Plugin Deployment​

Compiled plugin DLLs are loaded from:

Deadlock/game/bin/win64/managed/plugins/

Place your .dll (and optionally .pdb for debugging) in this directory. Plugins are loaded automatically when the server starts.

Troubleshooting​

SymptomSolution
No pink console output at allDeadworks files not extracted to the correct directory. Verify files exist in Deadlock/game/bin/win64/
"Failed to initialize .NET runtime"Install or repair the .NET 10.0 SDK
"Unknown command 'dw_plugin'"The runtime hasn't loaded — check for errors earlier in the pink console output
No IntelliSense in Visual StudioEnsure DeadworksManaged.Api.xml is in the same folder as the DLL
Build targets .NET StandardChange your project to target net10.0 (.NET Core), not .NET Standard

Next Steps​