Create items and vendors

Every item category in the Asset browser has its own Clone. A clone is a copy of an installed item of that category, with its own identity, name and index rows. It keeps everything Studio does not decode from its base: art, gear entity, lore and policies. Only Weapons has New, the exotic weapon flow. New in every other item category is gray, because Studio writes no item from scratch.

Item clones may not work in game. The exotic weapon flow is tested in game, except the parts listed in Create an exotic weapon. Create from a category explains where New and Clone are and how the dialog works.

Clone an item

1. Open a project.
2. Open the item’s category in the Asset browser, for example Ghosts.
3. Press Clone at the right of the list header. Or right-click an item and choose Clone, or press Clone in the viewer toolbar of an open item.
4. In Base item, choose the installed item to copy. The list shows only items of this category.
5. Type the Name.
6. Type an unused Package ID. See How projects store edits.
7. Fill the optional fields you need, listed below.
8. Press Create.

Some fields have a New and Pick existing switch. On a clone, New is gray. Hover it to see why.

Studio opens the base item first if nothing is open, then creates the copy. The new item opens in its category when it is done. Limits at the top of the dialog lists what the copy keeps from its base.

Weapons

Clone copies an installed weapon. The copy keeps the base weapon’s model, sounds and gameplay tables. Weapon type sets its type line.

New creates an exotic weapon with its own archetype, an exotic intrinsic, a unique normal trait, a catalyst and art from Blender. Create an exotic weapon has the steps, from the Blender export to the finished weapon.

Armor

Clone copies an installed armor piece. It keeps the base armor’s model. New is gray: Studio has no armor model writer.

Mods and plugs

1. In Mods and plugs, press Clone.
2. In Base item, choose a plug, such as a barrel, magazine or mod.
3. Fill Name, Package ID and the optional fields.
4. Press Create.

A plug carries installed sandbox perks only. To put a new plug in a weapon’s socket, clone or edit the weapon and choose the plug in Socket plugs. The plug’s base must be one of that socket’s embedded plug choices. New is gray: Studio writes no plug from scratch.

Other items

Ghosts, Vehicles, Ships, Subclasses, Shaders, Emblems, Emotes, Finishers, Clan banners, Artifacts, Engrams, Consumables, Bounties, Quests and Other items each clone the same way. The copy keeps what Studio does not decode:

If the base has objectives, a sack block or a plug block, the copy keeps them. Limits lists which.

Currencies

Clone copies an installed currency. The copy has its own hash, so it is a separate currency. Its New is gray, like the other item categories.

Vendors

1. Open a project.
2. In Vendors, press Clone. Vendor clones may not work in game.
3. In Base vendor policies, choose the installed vendor to copy.
4. Type the Name.
5. In Existing interaction, choose the interaction that opens this vendor.
6. Under Sales and prices, set the stock. The controls are listed below.
7. Type an unused Package ID.
8. Optionally type Secondary text and choose Icon from vendor.
9. Press Create vendor.

A sale has at most four prices. If Preparation reports a problem with the base vendor, fix it and press Retry preparation.

The chosen interaction opens the new vendor and stops opening its old one. A new vendor does not create or place an NPC. It keeps its base’s categories and conditions.

Edit an item

1. Open the item or its display record.
2. Press Edit in the viewer toolbar.
3. Change the fields.
4. Press Save changes.

The workflow saves the changes as deltas. Item and vendor edits may not work in game. To edit a vendor, open either of its two records, press Edit and press Save vendor.

If you add or remove a sandbox perk, Studio resets the item’s perk display rows and sets its item art perk list to the new perks. The reset clears the display text and visibility of every perk, also the perks you keep, so a perk the base hid may show. An item with no perk display block cannot take perks. Investment editing internals has the detail.

Assign a custom icon

1. Open a project-created item and press Edit.
2. At Icon from item, choose New PNG.
3. In Custom icon (PNG), choose a PNG with the current icon’s dimensions.
4. Press Save changes.

The form reports the needed size if it differs. Heliostat uses 96 x 96 pixels. On an installed item, New PNG is gray: clone the item first.

Studio creates a private texture, bitmap and icon container. It updates the item’s icon hash row and matching Collections display together. Installed icons stay unchanged. You can assign another PNG later, and each assignment supports Undo.

Custom PNG icons need a static, single-mip RGBA8 icon profile. A profile can have several bitmap groups. The PNG fills the first. Studio scales it for the others. An item with a plug block, such as a mod or a shader, uses the perk profile: 96 x 96 pixels plus a 40 x 40 copy for compact perk rows. Every other item uses the profile of its current icon. If that icon is animated or not RGBA8, the form says so and Studio writes nothing.

For a plug with one project-authored sandbox perk, Sandbox perk icon (PNG) changes that perk’s symbol separately. This lets a catalyst item and its bonus perk use different artwork. The behavior program stays unchanged.

For a weapon with a project-authored archetype, HUD silhouette (PNG) accepts a 137 x 76 transparent PNG. It changes the gameplay HUD silhouette separately from the inventory icon. It may not work in game.

Weapon type sets the type line under the name, the type identifier and the inventory trait. A stock name such as Auto Rifle keeps that type’s trait. A new name such as Induction Rifle gets its own identifier and no stock trait, so bounties that count a stock type do not count the weapon. The type name is only a label. It does not change how the weapon plays.

Name the frame

Frame name, Frame description and Frame icon from item change the weapon’s frame, such as Adaptive Frame, or its exotic intrinsic. They start with the frame’s current text. If the frame perk belongs to the project, it gets the same name and description. Frame icon from item picks an existing icon only; its New PNG choice is gray, since Studio has no frame icon writer yet. The frame fields may not work in game.

Most stock frames are shared by many weapons, so Studio refuses to edit them in place. Copy the frame first: Clone in Mods and plugs with the frame as the base item, then choose the copy under Socket plugs. The copy keeps the frame’s perk.

Tune gameplay

How a weapon plays comes from its raw stats and from tables in its weapon translation config. The config has one group of tables per weapon family. The weapon reads one group.

Weapon family picks that group: Auto Rifle, Pulse Rifle, Scout Rifle or Submachine Gun for the auto rifle config. This is the real weapon type for gameplay. Save a family change before you change its values.

The tuning, gameplay, reticle and HUD fields need a weapon made with New, which owns its archetype. On a cloned or installed weapon they are replaced by one gray Weapon tuning row. Hover it for why.

For a weapon with a project-authored archetype, three fields tune the most common values:

Gameplay values lists every table of the weapon’s group, by the stat it reads. Each box shows the value the weapon gets at its current stats, which add up the weapon’s and its plugs’ stats. Hover a box to see its name where it is known. A changed value scales the whole column, so masterworks and mods still move it. A column that is zero is set to the value at every stat.

The first change copies the shared translation config for this weapon and adds a private Inspect stat group. Later changes edit those copies. Blank fields keep the current value, and a new fire rate keeps the current magazine size. Other weapons are not affected. The Inspect bars of Range, Stability and the other stats come from Base stats and do not follow the tables.

A pulse rifle’s tables count bursts. Studio measures how many rounds Inspect shows per burst from the installed weapons of that family, and uses it for the RPM field and the Inspect RPM.

Write the item’s lore

Lore title, Lore subtitle and Lore text change what Inspect’s Show Lore page says. They start with the item’s current lore. The first change gives the item its own lore row, so the base item keeps its text. Later changes edit that row. Clear all three fields to remove the lore. The title is required otherwise. Use plain ASCII text.

Sight reticle adds the base weapon’s holographic reticle to the sight. The reticle shows at the center of the screen while aiming, so keep solid geometry off the line of sight. Reticle texture (PNG) replaces its texture. The red and green channels pick its two colors. A later Blender reimport keeps the reticle. Sight reticle and Reticle texture may not work in game.

Limits

• Item and vendor clones, other than the exotic weapon flow, may not work in game.
• Only Weapons has New. Every other item category clones an installed item.
• Two mods that each add an item, a vendor or a collectible both keep their rows. Sunrise merges the installed tables at startup and moves each mod’s references to its rows. If one of those tables cannot merge, none of them merges that startup, and the earlier mod’s rows are lost. See Two mods patching one package.
• Whether the game accepts a row added to an installed index table is unverified.
• The first new collectible moves the collectible rows to the end of their entry. This adds about 1 MB to the patch.
• A new collectible shares its base item’s acquired state.
• A conditional price stays conditional. The Sunrise server sells at static prices only.
• Some base vendors have policies that refer to sales by position. For those, removing or reordering sales is refused.
• The last usable vendor index is 32,766.
• Weapon family and Gameplay values may not work in game. A new family may keep some firing behavior of the old one, such as burst fire. The three tuning fields work in game.
• Sight reticle, Reticle texture (PNG), HUD silhouette (PNG) and the frame fields may not work in game.
• Whether Inspect shows the frame plug’s text or its perk’s text is unverified.

Related pages

• Edit items and vendors changes installed items and vendors.
• Investment editing internals explains the string bank, the index rows and the icon rows a new item gets.