Assembly

The Assembly view (Ctrl+2) edits the game's content database, assembly.dat, and the language files Localization/<LANG>/Lang_<LANG>.dat. Champions, abilities (devices), cards and talents, items, skins, loot tables and their names and descriptions in every language all live there.

Layout

• Left: every file with its header (database and game version) and its tables, with row counts. Pick a table to open it.
• Middle: the grid, 200 rows per page.
• Right: the selected row with every field, and Used by: every row of the file that refers to it.

Reading the grid

• Filter rows matches any cell. Click a column header to sort.
• *_ID columns are links to the row they name (Ctrl+click opens a new tab). Back and Forward retrace them.
• *_VALUE_ID cells show the meaning of the value next to it (for example 217 Device), and *_MSG_ID cells show the English text of the message.
• Nested row sets (a device's modes, a bot's devices) open in place; the breadcrumbs above the grid lead back.
• The id and name columns stay pinned while you scroll sideways. The column button hides columns per table, and the choice is remembered.

Editing

The grid has a cell cursor. Move it with the arrow keys or Tab. Enter, F2 or typing starts editing; Enter commits and moves down, Tab moves right, Esc cancels. Space toggles a flag. *_VALUE_ID editors suggest the valid values. Double-clicking a cell also edits it.

In the row pane every field is editable: flags as toggles, long strings as text areas. Each *_MSG_ID shows its message in every language, editable in place.

To edit many rows at once, mark them with Ctrl+click, Shift+click or Shift+arrows: an edit to one marked row sets the same value on every marked row.

Adding and removing rows

• New row (Ctrl+Shift+Enter) appends an empty row shaped like the last one.
• Duplicate (Ctrl+D) appends a copy of the selected row.
• Ctrl+C copies the marked rows as JSON; Ctrl+V in the same table appends them. Copy as TSV pastes into a spreadsheet.
• Delete… removes the marked rows after asking.

New rows always go at the end. Their id gets a fresh value, nested row sets are renumbered so they point at the new row, and each *_MSG_ID gets a new message with the same text in every language, so editing the copy's name never renames the original.

Id range

Ids are global: two mods that both add item 40001 cannot be installed together. Set your own id range in the New content dialog (for example 900000 to 909999). Every id the Studio allocates for you then comes from that range. Agree on ranges with other modders you work with.

New content

New content… (above the grid) creates a playable thing from a template, with fresh ids and new name and description messages in every language:

• Device or card/talent: the device rows and its item, attached to the champion (REF_BOT_ID) and slot you choose.
• Item, with its skin row.
• Champion: the bot, one device per ability slot, the Character Class and Weapon items, a default skin, and an entry in the Champion Vendor so the champion is listed.

Champion Vendor

The client builds the champion list (lobby and champion select, offline too) from the active entries of loot table 475, the Champion Vendor, not from the bots. A champion without an entry never appears. Champion Vendor… shows how many entries are active against the 60 buttons of the in-match selector, lists the champions missing from it, and Add creates their entry.

Saving and building

Undo (Ctrl+Z), Discard and Save act on the .dat files while the Assembly view is active. In a mod project the edits are kept in the project like package edits. The mod cooker ships them as row deltas: only the rows you added, changed or removed, keyed by id, so your mod combines with other mods that edit the same files.

Export a mod from the assembly changes… writes a mod folder for new champions and abilities: the deltas, a paserver.json with what a private server must answer for the new champion, scripts/main.lua handlers and UnrealScript stubs for the new devices, and a README with the build steps.