Cursor image mods

Torreta's default cursor remains the current insect leg. A mod can replace its PNG for the native mouse/trackpad pointer and the controller pointer. Both use the same artwork; the existing Small, Medium and Large options still apply.

Try the current-art example

1. Open Options → Mods → Open Mods Folder.
2. Copy _example_cursor to my_cursor, without the leading underscore.
3. Change the id and name in its mod.json.
4. Replace Textures/pata.png with your PNG, then restart Torreta.

The example uses the exact current cursor_pata_hd.png insect-leg artwork, with the game's detailed orange/green/yellow/blue recoloring. Its unedited appearance matches the normal cursor. The example is ignored until copied or renamed; it does not replace the default cursor automatically.

Minimal definition

Add cursor.json alongside the mod's mod.json:

{
  "version": 1,
  "file": "Textures/my_cursor.png",
  "hotspot": [4, 2]
}

hotspot is the click point, measured in pixels of the source PNG from its top-left corner. It scales with cursor size and screen density. It can be inside a transparent area, for example the center of a crosshair. If omitted, Torreta finds the leading visible tip (smallest x + y) after resizing, as it does for the insect leg. Supply an explicit point for cursors with a different orientation.

Use a relative PNG path inside the mod. PNGs load directly from the mod folder; no Godot import or .import file is needed. Embedded transparency is supported. Source dimensions must be 1–1024 pixels on each axis, and the file at most 8 MiB. A 128px or 256px image is usually sufficient. Empty/fully transparent cursors are rejected. Non-square images retain their proportions and receive transparent padding; the game keeps its portable 128px native-cursor limit.

Color options

By default, custom PNGs retain the artist's colors. To opt into Torreta's shell hue shift, add:

{
  "version": 1,
  "file": "Textures/pata.png",
  "recolor": true,
  "source_color": "b46d3d",
  "colors": { "orange": "Textures/pata.png" }
}

source_color is the original shell's dominant hex color. The current reference-based insect leg uses b46d3d; omitting the field retains b77535 for compatibility with earlier cursor mods. The recoloring preserves shading, neutral bristles and highlights. It follows the Orange, Green, Yellow and Blue options. The explicit orange variant keeps the source artwork untouched, as in the shipped cursor. Omit that variant if orange should also receive the hue shift.

Alternatively, supply authored images for selected colors:

{
  "version": 1,
  "file": "Textures/default.png",
  "hotspot": [4, 2],
  "colors": {
    "green": {"file": "Textures/green.png", "hotspot": [4, 2]},
    "blue": {"file": "Textures/blue.png", "hotspot": [16, 16]}
  }
}

Valid color keys are orange, green, yellow, blue. Each variant may have its own dimensions and hotspot. Omitting a variant's hotspot detects that image's leading visible tip; it does not inherit the base hotspot. Variants retain their authored colors, even when recolor is enabled for the base image. Missing color variants fall back to the base PNG and its recoloring setting.

Activation and fallback

Restart after installing, editing, enabling or disabling a cursor mod, following the normal Mods workflow. Startup replaces the temporary boot cursor after the mod stack loads. The replacement covers arrow, button-hand and drag pointers; text editing and window-resize cursors retain their semantic system shapes.

The last valid cursor mod wins. A missing/invalid PNG, invalid variant or invalid hotspot rejects that mod's cursor definition, preserving the earlier valid mod or the standard insect leg. Unrelated contents of the same mod still load. Warnings identify the rejected file. The standard mod content hash includes cursor.json and its PNGs, as it does for other mod assets.