Event Deps

Based on game build 722832 | Last updated: 2026-04-18

Overview

event_deps.lua is a data configuration file that defines asset dependencies for Don't Starve Together seasonal and festival events. It contains three primary static tables: LOADING_IMAGES maps event types to loading screen image atlas/texture pairs, SPECIAL_EVENT_DEPS maps special event types to frontend/backend asset dependencies, and FESTIVAL_EVENT_DEPS maps festival event types to frontend/backend asset dependencies. Only LOADING_IMAGES is a true global table accessible by other systems; SPECIAL_EVENT_DEPS and FESTIVAL_EVENT_DEPS are file-local tables used internally for prefab registration.

Usage example

-- This file is automatically required by the game's prefab system
require('prefabs/event_deps')
-- It returns multiple prefab instances via unpack(ret), not a table
-- Only LOADING_IMAGES is a global table accessible externally.
-- SPECIAL_EVENT_DEPS and FESTIVAL_EVENT_DEPS are file-local tables
-- used internally for prefab registration.

-- Access loading images for a specific event (as global)
local hallowed_images = LOADING_IMAGES[SPECIAL_EVENTS.HALLOWED_NIGHTS]

-- The prefabs registered by this file (returned as multiple values):
-- - [event]_event_global, [event]_event_frontend, [event]_event_backend
-- - [festival]_fest_global, [festival]_fest_frontend, [festival]_fest_backend

Dependencies & tags

External dependencies:

• SPECIAL_EVENTS -- event type enumeration for seasonal events
• FESTIVAL_EVENTS -- event type enumeration for festival events
• Asset() -- global function for defining asset dependencies
• Prefab() -- global function for registering prefabs
• CreateEntity() -- global function for entity creation

Components used: None identified

Tags: None identified

Properties

Property	Type	Default Value	Description
LOADING_IMAGES	table	---	Maps event types to loading screen image atlas/texture pairs.
LOADING_IMAGES[SPECIAL_EVENTS.HALLOWED_NIGHTS]	table	---	Hallowed Nights loading images (2).
LOADING_IMAGES[SPECIAL_EVENTS.WINTERS_FEAST]	table	---	Winter's Feast loading images (3).
LOADING_IMAGES[SPECIAL_EVENTS.YOTG]	table	---	Year of the Gobbler loading images (2).
LOADING_IMAGES[SPECIAL_EVENTS.YOTV]	table	---	Year of the Varg loading images (1).
LOADING_IMAGES[SPECIAL_EVENTS.YOTC]	table	---	Year of the Carrat loading images (1).
LOADING_IMAGES[SPECIAL_EVENTS.YOT_CATCOON]	table	---	Year of the Catcoon loading images (1).
LOADING_IMAGES[SPECIAL_EVENTS.NONE]	table	---	Default loading images (8, with spiral flag).
LOADING_IMAGES[n].atlas	string	---	Image atlas XML path (e.g., "images/bg_spiral_fill1.xml").
LOADING_IMAGES[n].tex	string	---	Image texture path (e.g., "bg_image1.tex").
LOADING_IMAGES[n].spiral	boolean	---	Optional flag indicating spiral animation (present on NONE event images).
SPECIAL_EVENT_DEPS	table	---	File-local table mapping special event types to frontend/backend asset dependencies. Structure: [event] = { frontend = { assets = {...} }, backend = { assets = {...}, prefabs = {...} } }.
FESTIVAL_EVENT_DEPS	table	---	File-local table mapping festival event types to frontend/backend asset dependencies. Structure: [festival] = { frontend = { assets = {...} } }.

Main functions

fn()

• Description: Local prefab function that creates an empty entity. This prefab is never instantiated at runtime — it exists solely to carry asset dependencies for the loading system.
• Parameters: None
• Returns: Entity instance created via CreateEntity()
• Error states: None

AddLoadingAssets(deps, special_event)

• Description: Adds loading screen image assets to the deps table for a given event. Iterates through LOADING_IMAGES for the event type (or falls back to NONE) and inserts DYNAMIC_ATLAS and PKGREF assets.
• Parameters:
  • deps -- dependency table to modify (must have global.assets or be initialized)
  • special_event -- event type constant from SPECIAL_EVENTS
• Returns: None
• Error states: Errors if any atlas path in LOADING_IMAGES does not end with ".xml" (assert failure on v.atlas:sub(-4) check).

AddDependencyPrefab(name, env)

• Description: Creates and registers a prefab with the given name and environment (assets/prefabs). Appends to the ret table for final return.
• Parameters:
  • name -- string prefab name
  • env -- table containing assets and/or prefabs arrays
• Returns: None
• Error states: None

Events & listeners

None identified