Manual Installation (Advanced)

Warning

This guide is for advanced users who prefer not to use MDK Hub or need to set up MDK2 in special environments. Most users should use MDK Hub instead - it's simpler and handles these steps automatically.

If you're here because you're having issues with the Hub, consider filing an issue so we can improve the experience for everyone.

Prerequisites

  1. .NET 9 SDK - Download from dotnet.microsoft.com

    • Verify installation: dotnet --list-sdks
    • You should see at least one 9.x.x version listed

  2. Space Engineers - Required for game assembly references

    • The game must be installed and findable by MDK
    • On Linux: Note your installation path (you'll need to configure it manually)

  3. IDE (optional but recommended):

    • Visual Studio 2022 (17.10 or later) with .NET desktop development workload
    • Visual Studio Code with C# Dev Kit extension
    • JetBrains Rider

Installing Templates

  1. Open a terminal/command prompt.
  2. Run: 
    dotnet new install Mal.Mdk2.ScriptTemplates
  3. Verify installation: 
    dotnet new list | grep mdk2
    You should see mdk2pbscript and mdk2pbmixin templates listed.

Troubleshooting Template Installation

If you get an error about NuGet sources:

  1. Check your NuGet sources: 
    dotnet nuget list source
  2. If nuget.org is missing, add it: 
    dotnet nuget add source https://api.nuget.org/v3/index.json -n nuget.org
  3. Try the template installation again.

Note

Some users need to restart their computer after installing .NET 9 before template installation will work.

Creating a Project

Option 1: Command Line

dotnet new mdk2pbscript -n MyScriptName -o MyScriptName

Replace MyScriptName with your desired project name.

Option 2: IDE Template

Configuration (Linux Users & Non-Hub Users)

If you're on Linux, Space Engineers isn't auto-detected, or you're not using MDK Hub:

  1. Create or edit MyScriptName.mdk.local.ini in your project folder.
  2. Add: 
    [mdk]
binarypath=/path/to/SpaceEngineers/Bin64
output=/path/to/.local/share/SpaceEngineers/IngameScripts/local
interactive=DoNothing

Replace paths with your actual Space Engineers installation and desired output location.

Note

The interactive=DoNothing setting prevents MDK from showing Hub notifications. This is recommended if you're not using the Hub or running in CI/CD environments.

Building

From Command Line

cd MyScriptName
dotnet build

From IDE

Your compiled script will appear in the configured output path (or the default Space Engineers local scripts folder on Windows).

Updating Templates

To update to the latest template version:

dotnet new update

Or to update a specific template:

dotnet new install Mal.Mdk2.ScriptTemplates --force

Updating NuGet Packages

MDK2 uses NuGet packages for analyzers, packagers, and references. To update:

Command Line

dotnet list package --outdated
dotnet add package Mal.Mdk2.PbPackager
dotnet add package Mal.Mdk2.PbAnalyzers
dotnet add package Mal.Mdk2.References

IDE

Why Use Hub Instead?

MDK Hub provides several benefits over manual installation:

If you're doing manual installation due to a Hub issue, please report it - we want to make the Hub work for everyone!

Next Steps