Skip to content

title: SwitchOnOff type: GameClasses created_in: 0.2.6228.27061 verified_in: 0.2.6228.27061 verified_at: 2026-06-03 sources: - .work/decomp/0.2.6228.27061/Assembly-CSharp.decompiled.cs :: lines 32327-32365 (DevicePart abstract base, parentThing field, SetParentThing, abstract RefreshState), 137865 (namespace Objects opens), 138371 (DevicePart declaration), 138394-138497 (SwitchOnOff : DevicePart class header, 4 SerializeField materials off/on/onPowered/error[], switchRenderer reference, _currentColorState, IsOn, RefreshState wrapper, RefreshPositionState body, RefreshColorState body with full material-swap on state change) - Investigated while triaging a PowerGridPlus flash-color bug: per-property emission writes to the vanilla SwitchOnOff material were silently ineffective because the on/onPowered materials carry baked _EmissionMap textures that mask any per-property tint. The fix required understanding that RefreshColorState swaps the whole material (not just a color) and only on state CHANGE, not per-frame. related: - ./Interactable.md - ./Transformer.md tags: [prefab, unity]

SwitchOnOff

Objects.SwitchOnOff : DevicePart (decompile L138394) is the Stationeers MonoBehaviour that paints the on/off button face on most powered devices (transformers, batteries, APCs, most appliances). It owns four materials (off, on, onPowered, error[]) and one switchRenderer MeshRenderer, and on a state transition it does a full switchRenderer.material = <slot> swap. It is NOT an Interactable and does NOT extend LogicOnOffButton; on a Stationeers transformer the on/off button has only Transform + SwitchOnOff + BoxCollider + MeshFilter + MeshRenderer.

The class is in the bare Objects namespace, NOT Assets.Scripts.Objects. The two parents (Objects and Assets.Scripts.Objects) coexist in vanilla; a mod that consumes SwitchOnOff by name in a using Assets.Scripts.Objects; context will fail to compile and needs an explicit using global::Objects; or qualified reference like global::Objects.SwitchOnOff.

DevicePart base + parentThing

DevicePart (L138371) is public abstract class DevicePart : MonoBehaviour in the same Objects namespace as SwitchOnOff. Its only state is the [SerializeField] private Thing parentThing field (L32328) plus a _animationCancellation. The base exposes SetParentThing(Thing) to override the auto-discovered parent and RefreshState(bool skipAnim) as the abstract entry point each subclass overrides.

Auto-discovery: DevicePart.OnEnable (around L32327-32352) does if (parentThing == null) parentThing = GetComponentInParent<Thing>(); so prefabs without an explicit parentThing SerializeField assignment resolve at GameObject-enable time.

For a Harmony patch on SwitchOnOff.RefreshColorState that needs to filter by parent type, the parentThing field on DevicePart is the right access point: reach it via AccessTools.Field(typeof(Objects.DevicePart), "parentThing"). The field is private on DevicePart so the subclass SwitchOnOff only sees it through inheritance; direct reflection on typeof(SwitchOnOff).GetField("parentThing") returns null without BindingFlags.NonPublic | BindingFlags.Instance because the field is declared on the base.

Four serialized materials and the SwitchColorState enum

SwitchOnOff carries four material fields (L138406-138415):

[SerializeField] protected Material off;
[SerializeField] protected Material on;
[SerializeField] protected Material onPowered;
[SerializeField] protected Material[] error;
[SerializeField] protected MeshRenderer switchRenderer;

Plus _currentColorState (a SwitchColorState enum: Off, On, OnPowered, Error, declared L138358 in the same namespace) and IsOn (cached parentThing.OnOff).

The four materials are baked at prefab-author time: on Stationeers Luna transformers, the off and on slots typically use a flat-coloured material with no emission, while onPowered carries an _EmissionMap texture (a green glowing decal) that produces the visible green LED. A mod that writes the _EmissionColor property on the onPowered material has its tint MULTIPLIED by the emission map texture sample at each pixel; the texture's green channel dominates and the tint is barely visible. This is why a naive "tint the LED orange during a fault" approach against the live material produces the same green glow regardless of the colour written.

RefreshState fan-out

RefreshState(bool skipAnim) (L138436) is the public entry point:

public override void RefreshState(bool skipAnim = false)
{
    if (!(parentThing == null))
    {
        RefreshColorState(skipAnim);
        RefreshPositionState(skipAnim);
    }
}

RefreshPositionState (L138442) toggles a translation between two cached Vector3s (default offPosition = (-13.5, 0, 0), onPosition = (13.5, 0, 0)) when parentThing.OnOff != IsOn. It also fires Defines.Sounds.SwitchOn / SwitchOff if within AudibleSqrDistance = 121f of the player and not skipAnim.

RefreshColorState: state-change full material swap

RefreshColorState (L138462) decides the target colour state from the parent's OnOff, Powered, HasPowerState, and Error:

protected virtual void RefreshColorState(bool skipAnim)
{
    SwitchColorState switchColorState = SwitchColorState.Off;
    if (parentThing.OnOff)
        switchColorState = ((parentThing.Powered || !parentThing.HasPowerState)
                            ? SwitchColorState.OnPowered : SwitchColorState.On);
    if ((parentThing.Error != 0 && parentThing.Powered)
        || (parentThing.Error != 0 && !parentThing.HasPowerState))
        switchColorState = SwitchColorState.Error;

    if (switchColorState != _currentColorState)
    {
        _currentColorState = switchColorState;
        CancelErrorAnimation();
        switch (_currentColorState)
        {
        case SwitchColorState.Off:       switchRenderer.material = off; break;
        case SwitchColorState.On:        switchRenderer.material = on; break;
        case SwitchColorState.OnPowered: switchRenderer.material = onPowered; break;
        case SwitchColorState.Error:
            _errorStateCancellationTokenSource = new CancellationTokenSource();
            ErrorAnimation(_errorStateCancellationTokenSource.Token).Forget();
            break;
        }
    }
}

Key observations for any mod that wants to override the LED colour:

  • Full material swap, not property write. switchRenderer.material = <slot> replaces the entire material reference, blowing away any prior MPB or sharedMaterial-instance state from the previous frame. A mod that mutates the live material is wiped on the next state transition.
  • Only on state CHANGE. The swap is gated on switchColorState != _currentColorState. Between transitions the material reference is stable, so a mod that REPLACES switchRenderer.sharedMaterial (or material) once per lockout entry survives until the next genuine OnOff / Powered / Error transition. This is the override window.
  • Error path is separate. Error doesn't swap to a single material; it kicks off a ErrorAnimation UniTask (the 250 ms flash documented under "4 materials" notes in earlier research) that paints error[i] materials in a loop. Cancelling the token (via CancelErrorAnimation) stops the animation; a Harmony prefix that returns false from RefreshColorState ALSO needs to call CancelErrorAnimation if it might transition the parent into an Error state mid-lockout.

Mod override strategy (verified pattern)

The pattern PowerGridPlus uses to paint the LED during a fault lockout (orange for the deprioritization lockout, red for the other faults):

  1. Harmony prefix on RefreshColorState that returns false when the parent is a target Thing in the special state (in the shipped code: FaultHover.ActiveFault(refId, currentTick) != Kind.None inside SwitchOnOffFaultPatches). This stops vanilla from swapping back to the on/off/onPowered material while the mod is painting.
  2. A companion MonoBehaviour on the parent Thing's GameObject that, on lockout entry, swaps switchRenderer.sharedMaterial = customFlashInstance. The runtime material is a clone of the prefab's original sharedMaterial with _EmissionMap cleared (so the baked green texture doesn't multiply against the flash colour) and the _EMISSION shader keyword enabled. The flash _EmissionColor is then animated per frame.
  3. On lockout exit, restore switchRenderer.sharedMaterial = originalSharedMaterial (cached at Init). The Harmony prefix stops short-circuiting, vanilla's next RefreshColorState call resumes the normal On/Off/OnPowered swap.

The prefix is mandatory: without it, the FIRST OnOff or Powered transition during a lockout (e.g. the player toggling the button mid-lockout, or the grid hiccupping the powered state) restores vanilla's material in step 1's place and the flash disappears until the next lockout entry.

Per-property writes against the on / onPowered materials don't work for the green-LED case because of the baked _EmissionMap. Per-renderer MaterialPropertyBlock writes against _EmissionColor also don't survive the multiplication by the emission texture. The full material swap is the only path that bypasses both.

Verification history

  • 2026-06-03: page created. Sourced from .work/decomp/0.2.6228.27061/Assembly-CSharp.decompiled.cs. Driving question: why does writing _EmissionColor on the on/off button material fail to override the green glow on a Stationeers transformer LED. Verbatim extracts: DevicePart header (L138371), DevicePart.parentThing field (L32328) and OnEnable auto-discovery (L32327-32352), Objects namespace opens (L137865) and Objects.Structures close (L139049) so SwitchOnOff is anchored in bare Objects, SwitchOnOff class header + 4 material fields + switchRenderer (L138394-138418), _currentColorState/IsOn/_errorStateCancellationTokenSource (L138423-138436), RefreshState wrapper (L138436-138441), RefreshPositionState body with switchTransform.localRotation + audible sound (L138442-138461), RefreshColorState decision logic and state-gated full material swap (L138462-138497). Diagnostic confirmation via PowerGridPlus's ScenarioRunner BFB-HIER probe: GameObject component list on a live transformer's SwitchOnOff child was [Transform, SwitchOnOff, BoxCollider, MeshFilter, MeshRenderer] with no LogicOnOffButton, no Animator, on materials ColorYellow (Instance) (housing) and ColorGreenEmissive (Instance) (LED).

Open questions

None.