Starting Items 0.2.0 — visual loadout editor

An independent replacement for StartBonusMod, with the original ItemStringParser library used as an external dependency. No StartBonusMod source or binaries are bundled. Published under the Pyroglaive team.

Press F6, or go to Options > Mod Options > Starting Items > Visual loadout editor > Open editor. The shortcut can be changed in Risk Of Options. Edit in the lobby before starting a run.

The editor uses the game's item and equipment icons. Search by readable name, internal name, or description; cycle rarity filters with the arrows; cycle sorting between name, rarity, and quantity; choose ascending or descending order. Selected only narrows the catalog to your loadout. Reset filters brings everything back. The loadout summary stays visible on the right; click an icon for its description.

Use + / − to change quantities from 0 to 1000. Shift-click changes by 5; Ctrl-click changes by 10. Several items from the same tier can be selected. Adding an item enables the visual loadout and the mod. Counts save automatically after a short delay and when closing. Zero removes a selection. The Random tiers tab adds a random item from each selected tier, with its own quantity. Equipment selections fill only the survivor's available equipment slots and sets.

Starter preset clears existing selections, then chooses two random white copies and one random green copy. Clear loadout requires a second click to confirm. Undo restores the loadout from before the last clear or preset. The gold override is editable in the summary. Existing 0.1.0 explicit tier selections migrate to individual item quantities once; random choices and advanced text remain intact. Legacy Risk Of Options tier selectors still add bonuses if used after migration.

F6, Esc, or Close closes the panel. It blocks gameplay input and clicks on menus underneath, keeps a stable cursor, and pauses single-player runs. Closing restores the prior game speed; opening an already paused game does not resume it. Multiplayer continues running. The visual editor is operated with mouse and keyboard; controller-only navigation is not implemented.

The host grants bonuses once per player per run, including late joiners. Deaths and respawns do not repeat the grant. Clients cannot grant items. Configuration changes affect future first spawns, not players who already received their loadout. Unavailable or expansion-disabled items/equipment are skipped; equipment uses the survivor's current slots and accessible equipment sets.

Optional Starting gold replaces vanilla gold, scaled by difficulty. Optional Advanced loadout in Risk Of Options accepts ItemStringParser syntax such as 2xSyringe & Tier2; it adds to the visual loadout and tier selectors. Disable selectors to use only the advanced field. See the original parser documentation for tier and drop-table syntax. Each item is capped at 1000 copies across all inputs.

Install BepInExPack, RoR2BepInExPack, Risk Of Options 2.8.6+, Def ItemStringParser 2.0.0 and R2API Core 5.3.0+ with its dependencies. Disable StartBonusMod and duplicate Starting Items builds before installing this package. Existing StartBonusMod configuration is not migrated; the new config is local.ror2.startingitems.cfg.

Build

Use .NET SDK 8, the installed game managed assemblies, BepInEx core DLLs, and the official Risk Of Options and ItemStringParser DLLs. From the source root:

dotnet build StartingItems/StartingItems.csproj -c Release -p:GameManaged="C:/path/to/game/Risk of Rain 2_Data/Managed" -p:LoaderRefs="C:/path/to/BepInEx/core" -p:RiskOfOptionsRef="C:/path/to/RiskOfOptions.dll" -p:ItemParserRef="C:/path/to/ItemStringParser.dll" -p:R2APIRef="C:/path/to/R2API.Core.dll"

The original mods retain their respective authorship. This local implementation is separate from Def's StartBonusMod.

Release notes

Published as Pyroglaive-Starting_Items-0.2.0 for Risk of Rain 2 1.5.0#1210 / Hallowed Concepts. Configure Starting Items before a run. Changes to starting bonuses affect future first spawns, and unavailable items are skipped. Use one copy of each plugin; disable its predecessor to prevent conflicts. Full multiplayer sessions and every survivor/item combination have not been verified.

The editor was tested in a real single-player run, including icon loading, quantity limits, sorting, filters, saving, same-tier item grants and cursor/pause cleanup alongside Location Markers.

0.4.0 — complete catalog and redesigned editor

• Dedicated Meals, Hallowed, Hexes, Pages, Other, Equipment and Curios categories alongside the original rarities.
• Recognize DLC tiers from their live definitions, including runtime-assigned tier IDs.
• Include named items without a rarity, consumed variants, Lunar equipment and player-facing elite aspects.
• Fix explicit and random grants for runtime tiers omitted from vanilla item-rule masks, while respecting existing item rules and disabled expansions.
• One-slot curio selection; Page loadouts automatically receive N'Tormat when the curio slot is empty.
• Large scrollable icon grid, readable category buttons, search, effect descriptions, sorting and selected-only review.
• Quantity step controls, per-item + / −, exact quantity input, Ctrl+F search, presets, clear confirmation and undo.
• Automatic saving, stable cursor ownership, single-player pause and host-only first-spawn grants.
• Checked against the installed 1.5.0#1210 game and the October 8, 2026 Hallowed Concepts update.

The public release includes the icon-grid improvements previously available in the local 0.3.0 build.