Tribes 2 // Mod Development Handbook GitHub

60 · c2kconstruction

The largest package in the family — 744 files, 13 MB — and the only one that ships more compiled bytecode than source. It is Construction 0.69a plus a large vehicle roster plus the full Tricon 2 administration suite, distributed as a server operator’s complete drop-in.

   
Base Construction 0.69a
Scripts 219 .cs — 74 identical to base (67 %), 36 changed, 109 new, 0 removed
Size 744 files, 13 MB — the largest here
.dso : .cs 520 : 218
Installs as GameData/Construction/

Additive, like Power Edition — but much bigger

67 % of 0.69a survives byte-identical and nothing is removed. Only 36 base files are modified. On the discipline axis, c2kconstruction sits with 59 · Power Edition rather than with QuantiumX or MooCon 1.9 — it grew by addition.

The difference is scale: 109 new .cs files against Power Edition’s 45, plus a bundled third-party suite and enough art to reach 13 MB.

It ships mostly .dso

520 compiled .cs.dso files against 218 .cs sources [mod-script]. Many scripts ship both, and some ship only bytecode — tricon2/defaultConfig.cs.dso has no .cs beside it, and .dso-only files appear at the top of the script directory (BountyGame.cs.dso, CTFGame.cs.dso, ChatGui.cs.dso, and others).

This is the source-hiding distribution option described in Packaging, used at scale. It has two consequences you will meet immediately:

  • Shipping both .cs and .dso is the configuration this handbook warns against. The engine prefers the compiled form [binary], so an edit to a .cs does nothing until the matching .dso is deleted. On a package this size that is a real hazard — and it is why the family ships DSO-deleter batch files (What it changed).
  • .dso-only files cannot be modified. There is no source. They can be replaced wholesale or decompiled, and nothing else.

If you fork this, delete every .dso first and confirm the mod still loads. Whatever breaks was .dso-only.

Tricon 2

c2kconstruction ships Tricon 2 unpacked, as scripts/tricon2/ [mod-script]:

tricon2/
├── Tricon 2 Quick Start.txt
├── Tricon2_v300_manual.pdf
├── base/
├── menuitems/
├── defaultConfig.cs.dso        ← no source
├── tempdata.cs  / tempdata.cs.dso
└── tempdata2.cs / tempdata2.cs.dso

plus TriconPackageGame.cs at the script root, which opens [mod-script]:

package Tricon2 {
//MissionDropReady
//{NQP!}Qing
//www.tricon2.com

So Tricon 2 is by {NQP!}Qing, distributed from tricon2.com, versioned to v3.00, and — unlike almost everything else in this family — implemented as a package rather than by file shadowing. That is the correct choice for an add-on that must coexist with a host mod, and it is why the same suite could be bundled into 66 · Ultimate Build 2.0 as .vl2 archives without conflict.

It is a telnet-driven remote administration suite: separate GUI client, telnet passwords with full and read-only tiers, and in-game admin authentication by typing the password as a chat message. Setup detail is in 66 · Ultimate Build 2.0.

TriconPackageGame.cs matching scripts/*Game.cs means it is picked up by the vanilla gametype auto-discovery glob (Gametypes) — using the gametype loader as a general “load my package” hook. Neat, and slightly cheeky.

The TracerDX content

A second bundled body of work [mod-script]:

autoexec/TracerDXChat.cs      TracerDXNullSounds.cs
TDXNullMale1.cs               TDXNullMale3.cs        TDXMenuMale3.cs

TDX* files named for player-model and sound overrides, plus a chat script in autoexec/. Note that scripts/autoexec/ placement — the same directory used by the support pack and RC2a, and by your own mod’s entry script. On this install that directory has multiple occupants loaded in OS-determined order (Boot sequence).

The vehicle roster

The largest in the family [mod-script]:

vehicle_eagle.cs        vehicle_condor.cs       vehicle_crusader.cs
vehicle_tender.cs       vehicle_support.cs      VEHICLEB.CS
vehicle_admingunship.cs vehicle_adminfighter.cs vehicle_admintank.cs
vehicle_spec_fx.cs      servervehiclehudB.cs

The admin* group is the notable one — vehicles restricted to administrators, which fits a package built around an administration suite. VEHICLEB.CS in shouting caps is a reminder that the mod path stack is case-insensitive on Windows and nobody normalised the filename.

What it is, in one line

A server operator’s complete package: Construction, a large content roster, remote administration, and model/sound overrides, pre-compiled and ready to drop in.

For someone working on it

  • Delete every .dso before you start. Otherwise your source edits are inert, and you will not know which files are .dso-only until you do.
  • Tricon 2 is a package and separable. Leave it alone; it is somebody else’s project with its own manual and versioning.
  • 67 % of the base is intact — section 58’s description of baseline Construction is more reliable here than for most forks in this family. Verify the 36 changed files.
  • Watch scripts/autoexec/. It already has an occupant; add yours with a distinct name and defer order-sensitive work (Your first mod).