Article Goals

• Learn to read and write Tuning XML

Lot51

People typically use Lot51’s Tuning Builder to create tuning XML, but it’s still useful to know how to read and write the XML directly.

XML Nodes

When writing tuning XML, nodes are written as a single letter based on their type. There are 2 top level node types and 6 regular node types.

Top Level Nodes

I - Instance - Add new features
M - Module - Define values of global variables

Most mods will add or update Instance tuning, but overriding Module tuning is possible.

Regular Nodes

T - Tunable - A single value
E - Enum - An enum value
L - List - A lists of values
U - Tuple - An object with key->value pairs
V - Variant - A single value with multiple valid types
C - Class - Used when defining enums, not seen often

Tunable Node Types

Multiple field types use the same node letter, so their usage is defined as a type. For example in a trait tuning, both display_name and icon are single values, so they use the T tag, but they store different data types. display_name is a TunableLocalizedString and stores a string key, while icon is a TunableReference and stores a resource key for an icon.

Almost all nodes will have an n node defining the name, which is used to map nodes between tuning XML and tuning description.