Gamedev:Structure

Mod structure

The mod file is just a plain zipped file in the .7z format.
In the zip file there are very few folders and files that are the de facto folders and files of a mod. For more about the de facto folers/files that are used in every mod you can read further on http://springrts.com/wiki/Mod_specification. The structure widely used for mod is as follows:

units/

This folder is the main folder for the units in the mod. Every unit in the mod must have its appropriate file in this folder. All files in this folder have the extension .fbi. For convention, the names given to the files are descriptive for the units. For example the arm commander's .fbi file is called "armcom.fbi".

*.fbi

files inside the ”units” folder have the extension .fbi. These files are simple text files with information about each unit used in the mod. No .fbi file, no unit! Keep in mind that this file just keeps information about each unit. It doesn't contain the actual 3d model of the unit that you see in game. Instead this file among other things tells the spring engine which 3d model to use for each unit.

Objects3d/

This folder contains the 3d models for each 3d object in the mod. That can be a model of a unit, a wreckage, a map object or something else. For each .fbi file in the ”units” folder there must be a corresponding 3d model in the ”Objects3d” folder.

Scripts/

This folder contains animations for the 3d models. Files are not necessary for each unit if you don't need one 3d object in the mod to be animated. That could be for example a decoration object for a map, like stones, trees etc. Files in this folder can either be of the .cob or .lua format. Both are simple text files. Bos and cob are file formats used in the original Total Annihilation. The relation between them is that the .bos files are compiled .cob files. Cob files are not really executed at any point but are rather in the folder so you can see what each compiled file does.