GameManager

Vanilla top-level game-manager singleton. Holds global state referenced by many subsystems.

CustomColors list

Source: F0027.

GameManager.Instance.CustomColors is a List<CustomColor> where each entry has a .Normal material. The index into this list is the canonical color identifier used throughout the mod.

Load finalize chain

GameManager.StartGame() is the post-deserialize entry point that flips the game from "loading" to playable. Body (verbatim, in order):

public static async UniTask StartGame()
{
    GameState = GameState.Running;
    GameTime = Time.time;
    HelperHintsTextController.InitializePanel();
    UpdateThingsOnGameStart();
    StructureNetwork.StructureNetworksOnFinishedLoad();
    Rocket.OnFinishedLoad();
    SpaceMap.CleanUpOnFinishedLoad();
    // ... InventoryManager parent-brain hookup, time scale, FoV, UI cleanup,
    //     NetworkServer.Host()/PopulateHostClient(), StationAutoSave reset,
    //     OrbitalSimulation.OnGameStarted(), Steam rich presence ...
}

UpdateThingsOnGameStart() iterates the global registry and dispatches per-Thing finalization:

public static void UpdateThingsOnGameStart()
{
    OcclusionManager.AllThings.ForEach(UpdateThingsOnGameStartAction);
}

private static readonly Action<Thing> UpdateThingsOnGameStartAction = delegate(Thing thing)
{
    if ((object)thing == null) return;
    thing.OnFinishedLoad();
    foreach (Interactable interactable in thing.Interactables)
    {
        if (interactable.JoinInProgressSync && (bool)interactable.Animator)
        {
            interactable.SetState();
            thing.OnFinishedInteractionSync(interactable);
        }
    }
};

Implications for a mod that needs to run a one-shot pass after the world has fully deserialized:

• GameState is already Running at the moment UpdateThingsOnGameStart() is invoked. A guard GameManager.GameState != GameState.Running is therefore not sufficient to distinguish "during load finalize" from "in-game running".
• Thing.OnFinishedLoad has been called on every Thing by the time UpdateThingsOnGameStart() returns. A Postfix on GameManager.StartGame (or on UpdateThingsOnGameStart itself) is the earliest reliable hook for "every Thing's transforms, rotations, and side-car-restored state are settled". Hooking individual Thing.OnFinishedLoad postfixes only sees its own state; partner Things may not have had their OnFinishedLoad run yet.
• StructureNetwork.StructureNetworksOnFinishedLoad, Rocket.OnFinishedLoad, SpaceMap.CleanUpOnFinishedLoad run sequentially after the per-Thing pass. A mod whose post-load pass depends on cable networks being formed should run after StructureNetworksOnFinishedLoad; for transform-only work, hooking after UpdateThingsOnGameStart is enough.
• StartGame is async UniTask. A Harmony Postfix returning before the awaits will run synchronously after the body up to the first await. The first await is NetworkServer.Host() (gated by Settings.CurrentData.StartLocalHost || IsBatchMode); for single-player and host-as-server, the Postfix fires after every synchronous step including UpdateThingsOnGameStart. For pure-client joining a remote host, StartGame may not be called the same way; the join path uses NetworkClient.ProcessJoinData instead (see Research/Protocols/PlayerConnectedThingFindTiming.md).

Verification history

• 2026-04-20: page created from the Research migration; verbatim content lifted from F0027. No conflicts.
• 2026-05-02: added "Load finalize chain" section with the verbatim StartGame body, UpdateThingsOnGameStart static, and UpdateThingsOnGameStartAction delegate. Sourced from the 0.2.6228.27061 Assembly-CSharp decompile (lines 188908, 189593, 189647). Documents the order in which post-deserialize callbacks fire so a mod-side one-shot post-load pass can pick the right hook (Postfix on GameManager.StartGame for transform-settled state across all Things; per-Thing OnFinishedLoad is too early when partners are involved).

Open questions

None at creation.