Tribes 2 01 · Getting Started
Before you write a line of TorqueScript, you need to know what is on disk, what tools open it, and how to make the engine load your code instead of Sierra’s.
| Page | Read it for |
|---|---|
| Install anatomy | What every file and folder in GameData/ does, and how to confirm you are on build 25034 |
| What you need | The toolchain: archive tools, text editors, and how to unpack .vl2 |
| Your first mod | A complete working mod, from empty folder to visible in-game change |
| Launch options | Every command-line switch console_start.cs parses, and what each does |
The shortest possible summary
- Tribes 2 lives in
GameData/. Game content is inbase/, packed into.vl2archives (which are ZIP files). - A mod is a sibling folder —
GameData/MyMod/— holding only the files you want to change. - You launch it with
Tribes2.exe -mod MyMod. The engine searchesMyMod/first and falls back tobase/. - Your
.csscripts are compiled to.cs.dsoon first load. Delete stale.dsofiles when you edit.
Everything else in this handbook is detail on those four sentences.
A note on patched installs
Your Tribes 2 is almost certainly running a community patch — nothing else has worked since the WON servers shut down in 2008. The four sentences above hold anyway: the patches do not change how mods work.
What they do change is documented at the end of each affected page under “Under the community patches”, and in full in 07 · Community Patches. The two pages here with meaningful differences are Install anatomy (different files on disk) and Launch options (same switches, different destinations).