Lua scripting

Tempest.Scripting is a LuaJIT runtime (Lua 5.1 with the 5.2 extensions, ffi and bit included) that the launcher injects into Paladins alongside V2 mods. It gives a script live access to the game's UnrealScript object model without a UDK project, a compiler, or any hard-coded offsets.

With it a mod can:

• read and write any property of any object through the game's own reflection data
• call any UnrealScript or native function
• hook functions before or after they run, change their arguments, or cancel them
• construct objects, spawn actors, and iterate arrays and maps
• add console commands and key bindings
• draw an in-game UI with Dear ImGui: windows, widgets, tables, overlays
• share values with other Lua mods

Scripts reload while the game runs, so iteration is edit, save, reload.

How it fits with Tempest

A Lua mod is a regular Tempest mod: a folder with a manifest.toml and a scripts/ directory, packed into a .tempest file with the CLI and installed through the launcher. The runtime itself is installed the same way, once: its package carries dlls/64/Tempest.Scripting64.dll for the Win64 client and dlls/32/Tempest.Scripting32.dll for the Win32 client, and the launcher injects the one matching the game executable at launch. The runtime then runs the scripts of every enabled mod. Script mods do not bundle the DLL.

my-first-mod/
  manifest.toml
  scripts/
    main.lua
    lib/helpers.lua      loaded with require("lib.helpers")

Each mod runs in its own sandbox. Globals a script sets stay private to its mod; the API, the standard library, and the shared table are visible to all.

Supported game versions

The runtime is built for the Paladins 8.1 client, Win64 and Win32, and has also been run on the 0.57 (OB57) Win32 client. Engine addresses are found by signature scanning at startup and game-class layouts are read from live reflection, so other versions may well work: the log says at startup which signatures resolved, and nothing hooks when one is missing. Scripts are the same on both clients; the only visible differences are in memory.hook / memory.call, which need the calling convention on Win32 (see the memory reference), and tempest.status().arch, which tells a script where it runs.

Where to go next

• Getting started walks through a first mod, the console, reloading, and editor completion.
• Concepts explains objects, hooks, threads, and the sandbox.
• The API reference: tempest, objects and containers, console and input, memory, ui.
• Cookbook has copy-paste recipes.
• Limitations and troubleshooting lists what does not work and how to read the log.