Modding Guide

[Asher]

Is there a basic, somewhat beginner modding guide somewhere?

[guerringuerrin]

6 minutes ago, Asher said:

Is there a basic, somewhat beginner modding guide somewhere?

https://gitea.wildfiregames.com/0ad/0ad/wiki/Modding_Guide

And also you have the full 0ad Wiki here:
https://gitea.wildfiregames.com/0ad/0ad/wiki

[Asher]

Thanks!

[Asher]

16 hours ago, guerringuerrin said:

https://gitea.wildfiregames.com/0ad/0ad/wiki/Modding_Guide

And also you have the full 0ad Wiki here:
https://gitea.wildfiregames.com/0ad/0ad/wiki

Is there a list of the xml tags for units and structures?

[Atrik]

6 minutes ago, Asher said:

Is there a list of the xml tags for units and structures?

https://docs.wildfiregames.com/entity-docs/r28/components/

@Vantha gave me this link a while ago, but no idea where I was supposed to find it.

[guerringuerrin]

45 minutes ago, Atrik said:

https://docs.wildfiregames.com/entity-docs/r28/components/

@Vantha gave me this link a while ago, but no idea where I was supposed to find it.

That's cool stuff to add to my bookmarks 

 

56 minutes ago, Asher said:

Is there a list of the xml tags for units and structures?

I'm not really into modding units, but maybe this web can be useful for you too:
https://docs.wildfiregames.com/templatesanalyzer/

[Asher]

Thanks for all these resources! 

[Asher]

On 01/04/2026 at 1:56 PM, guerringuerrin said:

On 01/04/2026 at 1:09 PM, Atrik said:

https://docs.wildfiregames.com/entity-docs/r28/components/

@Vantha gave me this link a while ago, but no idea where I was supposed to find it.

That's cool stuff to add to my bookmarks 

 

On 01/04/2026 at 12:58 PM, Asher said:

Is there a list of the xml tags for units and structures?

I'm not really into modding units, but maybe this web can be useful for you too:
https://docs.wildfiregames.com/templatesanalyzer/

Are there templates for the units and structures and other civ data for a new civ?

[guerringuerrin]

10 minutes ago, Asher said:

Are there templates for the units and structures and other civ data for a new civ?

I can’t really tell you. I’ve never modded unit/civ templates.
But if I were to do it, I think I’d start by looking at how a civ’s files are structured here:

https://gitea.wildfiregames.com/0ad/0ad/src/branch/main/binaries/data/mods/public/simulation/templates

[Asher]

 

56 minutes ago, guerringuerrin said:

1 hour ago, Asher said:

Are there templates for the units and structures and other civ data for a new civ?

I can’t really tell you. I’ve never modded unit/civ templates.
But if I were to do it, I think I’d start by looking at how a civ’s files are structured here:

https://gitea.wildfiregames.com/0ad/0ad/src/branch/main/binaries/data/mods/public/simulation/templates

Do you know if there is a guide to making a new civ?

[guerringuerrin]

30 minutes ago, Asher said:

Do you know if there is a guide to making a new civ?

I don't know.
But, you could check how is done in this mods:
https://github.com/JustusAvramenko/delenda_est
 

Or maybe @Emacz can help you with that =)

[Asher]

Ok, Thanks so much!

[Lopess]

@Asher, My advice is to download a mod from Github, for example, and get it running. Analyze the mod's files closely (I recommend using VS Code or something similar). Start with something simple, (Create a new unit, or change the name and icon of a civilization) with this you can find most of the errors by reading the logs.The manuals are a good starting point, but that doesn't negate the fact that the best approach is to modify existing mods to achieve a greater goal. Believe me, the learning curve is quite steep.

[Asher]

9 hours ago, Lopess said:

@Asher, My advice is to download a mod from Github, for example, and get it running. Analyze the mod's files closely (I recommend using VS Code or something similar). Start with something simple, (Create a new unit, or change the name and icon of a civilization) with this you can find most of the errors by reading the logs.The manuals are a good starting point, but that doesn't negate the fact that the best approach is to modify existing mods to achieve a greater goal. Believe me, the learning curve is quite steep.

Thanks!

[Asher]

I am trying to make a text input box for starting resources. How would I make it text input: 

GameSettingControls.StartingResources = class StartingResources extends GameSettingControlDropdown
{
    constructor(...args)
    {
        super(...args);

        this.dropdown.list = g_StartingResources.Title;
        this.dropdown.list_data = g_StartingResources.Resources;

        this.sprintfArgs = {};

        g_GameSettings.startingResources.watch(() => this.render(), ["resources", "perPlayer"]);
        g_GameSettings.map.watch(() => this.render(), ["type"]);
        this.render();
    } ...

[Vantha]

Making it a text input is definitely possible, but not straightforward, unfortunately. In the game settings code there are a lot of layers of abstraction, a lot of wrappers and super classes, to make adding new ones easy. Like the current dropdown. But there are no such classes for text inputs yet, since no game setting actually requires them. I suggest to try to make it a slider instead, this is easier since there are existing game setting controls that are sliders. See https://gitea.wildfiregames.com/0ad/0ad/commit/38eb999ff9d627ab319820a5fc77f332b100e32d

[Asher]

3 minutes ago, Vantha said:

Making it a text input is definitely possible, but not straightforward, unfortunately. In the game settings code there are a lot of layers of abstraction, a lot of wrappers and super classes, to make adding new ones easy. Like the current dropdown. But there are no such classes for text inputs yet, since no game setting actually requires them. I suggest to try to make it a slider instead, this is easier since there are existing game setting controls that are sliders. See https://gitea.wildfiregames.com/0ad/0ad/commit/38eb999ff9d627ab319820a5fc77f332b100e32d

But there are text inputs when singing in to the multiplayer lobby. I guess a slider would work though

Edited April 14 by Asher

[Vantha]

10 hours ago, Asher said:

But there are text inputs when singing in to the multiplayer lobby. I guess a slider would work though

Yes, the engine totally supports text inputs, but as I said on the game setup screen there is a lot of extra JS logic for each of the setting types (dropdown, checkbox, etc.) but there is no "GameSettingControl_____" class for text inputs here yet: https://gitea.wildfiregames.com/0ad/0ad/src/branch/main/binaries/data/mods/public/gui/gamesetup/Pages/GameSetupPage/GameSettings, so you'd probably have to add that first.

[Asher]

What does this do: 

<PassabilityClass>
    default
  </PassabilityClass>

It was in the unitmotion in https://docs.wildfiregames.com/entity-docs/r28/components/unitmotion/?h=

[Perzival12]

24 minutes ago, Asher said:

What does this do: 

<PassabilityClass>
    default
  </PassabilityClass>

It was in the unitmotion in https://docs.wildfiregames.com/entity-docs/r28/components/unitmotion/?h=

That's what decides how big a unit actually is, for pathfinding purposes (such as if it can walk between trees or buildings that are close together). Default is regular unit size, large is used by siege machines and war elephants, and then there's several naval classes.

[Asher]

I am trying to make a unit able to build palisade wall, I tried structures/{civ}/palisade_wall, but it didn't work. What is the correct name for the wall?

<Builder>
  <Rate>
    2.0
  </Rate>
  <Entities datatype="tokens">
    structures/{civ}/palisade_wall
  </Entities>
</Builder>

 

[Asher]

Also how would I make a structure a drop site?