Why would I need this?

These are the main usages I see for needing Unity Assets:

1. You want to make a game rip to extract assets into modeling software (e.g. Blender) or other games (e.g. VRChat). Alternatively, you want to explore a ripped game to get a better idea of how things work, instead of just using Unity Explorer and decompiled code.
2. You have a mod where you make prefabs in editor, and those prefabs use base game assets (e.g. Nomai props). Some people prefer placing props in editor over using New Horizons details
3. You want editor tools like stick-and-align because they make working in editor easier

If you don't do these things, you can probably get by without having access. You can make a mod entirely without the repository (e.g. only using New Horizons, using the older Outer Wilds Unity Template, or making your own Unity project). You can even make a game rip without Unity Assets, you just don't get tools like the unstreamer which means more work on your end.

How to access

1. Go to the modding Discord
2. Ask Pikpik, Wyrm, MegaPiggy, or JohnCorby for an invite.
3. Give them your GitHub username and what you are going to do with the repository.

Why is it like this?

This repository contains assets used by Outer Wilds. We make this repository private to give us a legal shield, as it makes sure we know who uses it and that they have a legitimate reason to need it.

We could separate out the tools that don't rely on base game assets into a separate repository, but that makes maintenance and updating harder. It's much easier for us to just have one, and users usually also want base game assets, so it wouldn't save them much time.