Constants

Based on game build 722832 | Last updated: 2026-04-27

Overview

constants.lua is a data configuration file that defines global constant tables and helper functions used throughout the Don't Starve Together engine. It does not attach to entities as a component; instead, it is required by other modules to access shared configuration values. The file organizes constants into logical groups including ground tile IDs, special event and festival detection functions, color palettes with RGB normalization helpers, render layer definitions (LAYER_BACKDROP, LAYER_GROUND, LAYER_WORLD, etc.), animation sort orders, input key mappings, character lists, clothing configurations, control enums, and various UI and gameplay system enumerations. These constants ensure consistent behavior across all game systems and provide a single source of truth for values that may change between builds or platforms.

Usage example

local CONSTANTS = require "constants"

-- Access ground tile IDs
local grass_id = CONSTANTS.GROUND.GRASS

-- Check if a festival event is active (use string literal for event name)
if CONSTANTS.IsFestivalEventActive("lavaarena") then
    print("Lava Arena is currently active")
end

-- Use RGB helper for color definitions
local custom_color = CONSTANTS.RGB(255, 128, 64)

-- Get active special event info
local event_count = CONSTANTS.GetActiveSpecialEventCount()
local first_event = CONSTANTS.GetFirstActiveSpecialEvent()

Dependencies & tags

External dependencies:

• techtree -- Required module for TechTree technology definitions
• prefabskins -- Required to initialize PREFAB_SKINS global table mapping prefabs to skin variants
• clothing -- Required to initialize CLOTHING global table for character clothing skin configurations
• beefalo_clothing -- Required to initialize BEEFALO_CLOTHING global table for beefalo cosmetic skin configurations
• misc_items -- Required to initialize MISC_ITEMS global table for cosmetic items and profile data
• emote_items -- Required to initialize EMOTE_ITEMS global table for emote item configurations
• item_blacklist -- Required to initialize item display blacklist and skin decoration visibility tables
• entitlementlookups -- Required to initialize ENTITLEMENTLOOKUPS global table for platform-specific entitlement mappings

Components used: None identified

Tags: None identified

Properties

Property	Type	Default Value	Description
IS_BETA	boolean	true if BRANCH is "staging" or "dev"	Flag indicating if running on beta/staging/dev branch.
SPECIAL_EVENT_SKIN_TAGS	table		Table of skin tags for special events.
FESTIVAL_EVENT_SKIN_TAGS	table		Table of skin tags for festival events.
FESTIVAL_EVENT_INFO	table		Festival event configuration data.
CLOTHING.body_default1	string		Default body clothing skin prefab.
CLOTHING.hand_default1	string		Default hand clothing skin prefab.
CLOTHING.legs_default1	string		Default legs clothing skin prefab.
CLOTHING.feet_default1	string		Default feet clothing skin prefab.
MISC_ITEMS.beard_default1	string		Default beard skin prefab.
BEEFALO_CLOTHING.beef_body_default1	string		Default beefalo body clothing skin prefab.
BEEFALO_CLOTHING.beef_horn_default1	string		Default beefalo horn skin prefab.
BEEFALO_CLOTHING.beef_head_default1	string		Default beefalo head skin prefab.
BEEFALO_CLOTHING.beef_feet_default1	string		Default beefalo feet clothing skin prefab.
BEEFALO_CLOTHING.beef_tail_default1	string		Default beefalo tail skin prefab.
GROUND.OCEAN_REEF	number	GROUND.OCEAN_BRINEPOOL	Ocean reef ground type alias.
GROUND.OCEAN_REEF_SHORE	number	GROUND.OCEAN_BRINEPOOL_SHORE	Ocean reef shore ground type alias.
ANIM_ORIENTATION.Default	number	ANIM_ORIENTATION.BillBoard	Default animation orientation setting.

Main functions

GetWorldTileMap()

• Description: Constructs a unified map of world tile names to IDs by merging WORLD_TILES and GROUND tables, excluding duplicates and inverted tiles.
• Parameters: None
• Returns: table (world_tile_map)
• Error states: None

IsSpecialEventActive(event)

• Description: Checks if a specific special event (holiday-specific) is currently active by comparing against WORLD_SPECIAL_EVENT or WORLD_EXTRA_EVENTS table.
• Parameters:
  • event -- Special event identifier to check against WORLD_SPECIAL_EVENT or WORLD_EXTRA_EVENTS
• Returns: boolean -- true if the event is active, false otherwise
• Error states: None

IsAnySpecialEventActive()

• Description: Checks if any special event is currently active by testing if WORLD_SPECIAL_EVENT is not NONE or if WORLD_EXTRA_EVENTS has any entries.
• Parameters: None
• Returns: boolean -- true if any special event is active
• Error states: None

GetActiveSpecialEventCount()

• Description: Returns the total count of active special events by counting WORLD_SPECIAL_EVENT (1 if not NONE) plus the size of WORLD_EXTRA_EVENTS table.
• Parameters: None
• Returns: number -- count of active special events
• Error states: None

GetFirstActiveSpecialEvent()

• Description: Returns the first active special event, prioritizing WORLD_SPECIAL_EVENT if not NONE, otherwise returns the first key from WORLD_EXTRA_EVENTS using next().
• Parameters: None
• Returns: event identifier or nil if no events active
• Error states: None

GetAllActiveEvents(special_event, extra_events)

• Description: Builds a table of all active events by combining special_event and extra_events parameters, then removes SPECIAL_EVENTS.NONE from the result.
• Parameters:
  • special_event -- Primary special event identifier or nil
  • extra_events -- Table of additional event identifiers or nil
• Returns: table -- dictionary with event identifiers as keys set to true
• Error states: None

IsAny_YearOfThe_EventActive()

• Description: Checks if any Year of the <creature> event is active by iterating through WORLD_SPECIAL_EVENT and WORLD_EXTRA_EVENTS against IS_YEAR_OF_THE_SPECIAL_EVENTS table.
• Parameters: None
• Returns: boolean -- true if a Year of the event is active
• Error states: None

GetSpecialEventSkinTag()

• Description: Returns the skin tag associated with the current WORLD_SPECIAL_EVENT from SPECIAL_EVENT_SKIN_TAGS table.
• Parameters: None
• Returns: string skin tag or nil if no tag defined
• Error states: None

IsFestivalEventActive(event)

• Description: Checks if a specific intermittent scheduled festival event is currently active by comparing against WORLD_FESTIVAL_EVENT.
• Parameters:
  • event -- Festival event identifier to check against WORLD_FESTIVAL_EVENT
• Returns: boolean -- true if the festival event is active
• Error states: None

IsPreviousFestivalEvent(event)

• Description: Checks if the given event exists in the PREVIOUS_FESTIVAL_EVENTS_ORDER list by iterating through and comparing id fields.
• Parameters:
  • event -- Festival event identifier to check against PREVIOUS_FESTIVAL_EVENTS_ORDER
• Returns: boolean -- true if event is a previous festival event
• Error states: None

IsAnyFestivalEventActive()

• Description: Checks if any festival event is currently active by testing if WORLD_FESTIVAL_EVENT is not FESTIVAL_EVENTS.NONE.
• Parameters: None
• Returns: boolean -- true if any festival event is active
• Error states: None

GetFestivalEventSkinTag()

• Description: Returns the skin tag associated with the current WORLD_FESTIVAL_EVENT from FESTIVAL_EVENT_SKIN_TAGS table.
• Parameters: None
• Returns: string skin tag or nil if no tag defined
• Error states: None

GetFestivalEventInfo()

• Description: Returns the festival event info table for the current WORLD_FESTIVAL_EVENT from FESTIVAL_EVENT_INFO table.
• Parameters: None
• Returns: table with GAME_MODE, SERVER_NAME, FEMUSIC, STATS_FILE_PREFIX, LATEST_SEASON or nil
• Error states: None

GetFestivalEventSeasons(festival)

• Description: Returns the LATEST_SEASON value for the given festival from FESTIVAL_EVENT_INFO, or 0 if the festival entry does not exist.
• Parameters:
  • festival -- Festival event identifier to look up in FESTIVAL_EVENT_INFO
• Returns: number -- latest season count or 0
• Error states: None

GetActiveFestivalEventServerName()

• Description: Returns the server name for the active festival event by calling GetFestivalEventServerName with the current festival and its season.
• Parameters: None
• Returns: string server name or empty string
• Error states: None

GetActiveFestivalProductName()

• Description: Returns the SERVER_NAME from FESTIVAL_EVENT_INFO for the current WORLD_FESTIVAL_EVENT, or empty string if no festival is active.
• Parameters: None
• Returns: string server name or empty string if no festival active
• Error states: None

GetFestivalEventServerName(festival, season)

• Description: Returns the server name for a festival event. If season is 1, returns plain SERVER_NAME; otherwise appends _s<season> suffix using string.format.
• Parameters:
  • festival -- Festival event identifier
  • season -- Season number - affects naming format
• Returns: string server name or empty string
• Error states: None

GetActiveFestivalEventStatsFilePrefix()

• Description: Returns the STATS_FILE_PREFIX from FESTIVAL_EVENT_INFO for the active festival event, or defaults to "stats" if no festival is active.
• Parameters: None
• Returns: string stats file prefix
• Error states: None

GetActiveFestivalEventAchievementStrings()

• Description: Returns achievement strings from STRINGS.UI.ACHIEVEMENTS table using the uppercase festival name as key. Requires festival name spelling to match the string table.
• Parameters: None
• Returns: table of achievement strings or nil
• Error states: None

Server_IsTournamentActive()

• Description: Returns false. Internal server use function.
• Parameters: None
• Returns: boolean -- always false
• Error states: None

Client_IsTournamentActive()

• Description: Checks if tournament is active on client by calling Server_IsTournamentActive() and verifying IsSteam() returns true.
• Parameters: None
• Returns: boolean -- true only if server tournament is active and running on Steam
• Error states: None

RGB(r, g, b)

• Description: Converts 0-255 RGB values to normalized 0-1 format with alpha channel set to 1.
• Parameters:
  • r -- number -- Red channel value (0-255)
  • g -- number -- Green channel value (0-255)
  • b -- number -- Blue channel value (0-255)
• Returns: table -- RGBA color array {r/255, g/255, b/255, 1}
• Error states: None

Events & listeners

None.