Asset Definitions

Unturned asset definitions associate game data with Unity asset bundles. They are stored in .dat or .asset files.

For information about the file format please refer to Data File Format.

Header

Each asset has a common GUID and Type header:

GUID GUID: Unique ID used to link assets together. If left empty the game will prepend a newly generated GUID during startup.

Type string: Specific guides will list individual type names. This determines which keys the game will read. It can also be set to the fully qualified name of any class in any module.

Note

Type and GUID can either be specified in the root dictionary (default), or in a Metadata sub-dictionary. For example this is valid as well:

Metadata
{
        GUID 7e4b847061b64272b42ea8869fd053c7
        Type SDG.Unturned.Asset
}

If GUID is specified in the Metadata sub-dictionary the game cannot (as of 2023-04-13) automatically prepend a newly generated one during startup.

Body

The body contains any class properties. Individual asset type documentation elaborates on these.

ID uint16: 16-bit identifier. Unfortunately this ID must be unique within each category of assets (vehicles, items, animals, etc). Objects are the exception from this legacy restriction because they have been upgraded to fully use GUIDs.

Optionally the body properties can be placed into an Asset sub-dictionary. For example:

GUID [...]
Type [...]
Asset
{
        ID [...]
        Key1 Value
        Key2 Value
}

Is equivalent to:

GUID [...]
Type [...]
ID [...]
Key1 Value
Key2 Value

Unity Asset Bundles

Each Unturned asset is associated with a Unity asset bundle. If there is a master bundle in the file hierarchy that takes priority, otherwise a .unity3d bundle with the same name as the .dat file is used. There are several keys available to control the asset bundle:

Asset_Bundle_Version int: Indicates which version of Unity this .unity3d bundle was built for. When Unturned upgrades Unity versions it tries to maintain backwards compatibility based on this number. 1 is Unity 5.5, 2 is 2017.4 LTS and 3 is 2018.4 LTS.

Master_Bundle_Override string: Name of a master bundle to use rather than the .unity3d bundle or master bundle found in the hierarchy.

Exclude_From_Master_Bundle string: If this key exists the asset will look for a .unity3d bundle instead of the hierarchy.

Bundle_Override_Path string: Path within the master bundle to load rather than this asset’s file path.

Localization

Each asset looks for a localization .dat file in the same directory based on the current language. For example: English.dat or French.dat.

Loading Order

When scanning a folder for assets the game checks in this order:

Is there a .asset file with the same name as the folder? e.g. Eaglefire.asset in the Eaglefire folder
Is there a .dat file with the same name as the folder? e.g. Eaglefire.dat in the Eaglefire folder
Is there an Asset.dat file?
Otherwise, load all files with the .asset extension in the folder.