Tribes 2 // Mod Development Handbook GitHub

54 · Masters mod

A deliberately closed-source combat mod by SirElim (MastersMod.com) — and the clearest example in this handbook of a mod whose own author intended it not to be read.

   
Author SirElim [community]
Distribution 209 of 210 script files ship as compiled .cs.dso; only one header stub survives as source
Lineage Undetermined — cannot be fingerprinted; filenames closely mirror vanilla base’s own script set
Notable Reuses Team Rabbit 2’s own bonus-matrix and role-system code

The license explains the distribution choice

Masters license.txt states its intent without hedging [community]:

“I have personally put a LOT of hard work into this mod and care to keep the making of it mostly secret. I do not give anyone any right to copy/modify/change in any way this mod.”

That secrecy is enforced structurally, not just legally: of 210 files in Masters/scripts/, only MastersTDMGame.cs remains plain text — and even that file is a fourteen-line stub carrying just the DisplayName and rules comment. The actual logic, for every gametype and every system, ships only as compiled bytecode. This handbook’s usual method — fingerprint the .cs against known baselines — does not work here; there is essentially nothing to fingerprint.

What the compiled strings reveal

Bytecode still carries identifiers and string literals even with all comments and structure stripped, so some of what Masters mod does is recoverable without the source.

Three gametypes, beyond the headline Team Deathmatch: ArenaGame, DuelGame, plus Masters-specific MastersArenaGame and MastersDuelGame variants (aiMastersDuel confirms bot support for the duel mode).

Custom player classes beyond the stock armours: elite.cs, engineer.cs, sniper.cs, warrior.cs, sitting alongside bioderm_heavy/light/medium.cs reskins.

Team Rabbit 2’s bonus system, reused wholesale. String extraction from TR2Prefixes.cs.dso, TR2Qualifiers.cs.dso, and TR2Nouns.cs.dso recovers the same procedural phrase generator documented in full in 30 · Team Rabbit 2 — prefixes (“Angled,” “Twisted,” “Deranged”), animal nouns (“Shark’s,” “Llama’s,” “Wolf’s”), qualifiers (“Sharp,” “Blazing,” “Elite”), assembled into kill-bonus announcements. TR2Roles.cs.dso carries the matching Offense/Defense/Goalie role-assignment system ($TR2::role, resetPlayerRoles, assignOuterMostRole), role-specific loadouts, and TR2’s own weapon set (TR2chaingun, TR2disc, TR2mortar). This is the second mod this handbook has found reusing TR2’s bonus-matrix machinery outside Team Rabbit 2 itself — direct evidence that TR2’s design was admired and lifted by other mod authors, not merely played.

A separate client-side installer, Mastersclientside1.5.exe, is referenced by the install documentation as delivering admin functions (MakeMapsList, CheckMapRotations) via a MastersClientSide.cs dropped into vanilla base’s own scripts/autoexec/ — meaning the mod expects a base install underneath it, which is consistent with, though not proof of, base lineage for the parts this handbook cannot read.

What this handbook cannot verify

Every claim above comes from filenames, license text, and bytecode-surviving strings, not from reading executable logic. Masters mod’s actual scoring, balance, and gametype mechanics are not independently verifiable from this workspace, and the license under which it was distributed makes that gap permanent by design.