VFS¶
The Virtual File System (VFS) combines multiple directory structures into a single view of the filesystem used to load assets.
Search order:
- Files in the active mod directory, if any
- Data archives in the active mod directory, if any
- Files in the application's base directory
- Data archives in the application's base directory
Base directory¶
The base directory is usually located in the directory of the application EXE and named base
. This location can be overridden in the engine configuration.
Data archives¶
The data archives provide a a way to combine the entire game content (maps, scripts, models, textures, ...) into a few large files. This simplifies installation and updating and also reduces the likelihood of users accidentally modifying the content.
The data archives are normal ZIP archives, optionally using a file extensions different from .zip
. They should be stored in uncompressed form to speed up loading processes.