What tools do you recommend for modding?

[katyal]

Hello I'm setting up to start modding and I was wondering what tools people use. To be clear I'd like to know what editors, ide, testing frameworks, image or 3d software to make sprites you all use.

For bonus points does anyone know which version of lua the game uses?

[Choumiko]

I'm using lua development tools, but if this seems too much notepad++ does just fine (i really like how notepad++ lets you collapse all kinds of brackets)
testing frameworks: none, don't know any for lua
for the graphics: gimp (but all i'm doing is recoloring/combining base images with filters, absolutely basic stuff)

I _think_ i read somewhere that it's 5.1, not sure though

[FreeER]

I use notepad++ (editor) and GIMP (image editor, same use cases as Choumiko), I've tried Blender (free 3D) but my laptop won't really render well and I don't have experience with it (also, I really don't do enough of anything to need it). As for testing, I open up Factorio and look for error messages
The version of Lua that Factorio uses is Lua 5.2.1, the math.random is changed to a deterministic version and slpwnd is working on a deterministic hash table (if I recall correctly) due to their necessity in Factorio's replay and multiplayer systems. serpent deserializer is loaded and essentially all external-oriented functionality is removed (io, os, etc.) via C++ No Luajit currently.

P.S. as for testing frameworks (as I said, I don't use any but) here's a linkedin post where someone asked about it.