Finding core content

Core content is everything the game ships with: its weapons and armor, perks, story fights, opponents, arenas, sounds, models and icons. Your mod can reuse any of it without copying files. You only need its ID, the exact name the game knows it by.

The Core catalog pages in the sidebar list every ID, generated from the game’s own data. Search a page, click an ID to copy it, and paste it into your script.

Three steps to use core content

1. Declare the core dependency in mod.toml. Every mod that names core content needs it:

[[dependencies]]
id = "core"
version = ">=2.0 <3.0"

2. Copy the ID from the catalog. Qualified IDs start with core: followed by a path, such as core:items/weapon/weapon_katana.

3. Pass it to the matching lookup. Each kind of content has its own function, and each returns a handle: a value that stands for that content. Pass the handle wherever a definition expects one.

local katana = sf2.items.get("core:items/weapon/weapon_katana")
local model  = sf2.assets.model("core:gamedata/models/mdl_weapon_katana_ritual")
local gong   = sf2.assets.audio("core:gamedata/sounds/snd_gong")
local shogun = sf2.warriors.get_template("core:warrior-templates/shogun_katana")

Which lookup takes which ID

Content	ID looks like	Use it with	Catalog
Equipment and consumables	core:items/weapon/weapon_katana	sf2.items.get	Items
Perks	core:perks/perk_cobra	sf2.perks.get	Perks
Story fights and battles	core:fights/zone_1/tournament/3	sf2.fights.patch { target = … }	Story map
Opponent blueprints	core:warrior-templates/shogun_katana	sf2.warriors.get_template	Warriors
Arenas and dojos	core:locations/dojo	location = …, sf2.locations.select_dojo	Locations
Sounds and music	core:gamedata/sounds/snd_gong	sf2.assets.audio	Audio
3D models	core:gamedata/models/mdl_weapon_katana_ritual	sf2.assets.model	Art
Icons and portraits	core:ui/items/armor12.img_armor_mantle_of_night	sf2.assets.sprite	Art

The handles are not interchangeable. An item is a complete piece of equipment with stats and a price; a model is only its appearance. To make a new weapon that looks like the katana, register your own weapon and pass the katana’s model, as in Your first weapon.

Plain names without core:

A few fields take a plain name instead of a qualified ID. The catalog lists these too.

Field	Example	Catalog
tactic on a warrior	"Aggressive"	Tactics
avatar on a warrior	"boss_shogun"	Portraits
subtype on an item	"Katana"	Item subtypes
skeleton on a warrior or actor	"SkeletonHeavy"	Rigs
sound in sf2.fx.screen	"snd_gong"	Audio

Move names such as ThrowForwardV are also plain names. The VS Code extension completes them, and the Moveset Lab shows them in game.

Spelling rules

• Write IDs in lowercase. The game ignores case in IDs, but the catalog uses lowercase, and so should your scripts, so that searches and comparisons match.
• Always include core:. Without it, an ID refers to your own mod. sf2.items.get("items/weapon/weapon_katana") looks for a katana your mod registered, and fails with “not registered”.
• Don’t guess IDs from display names. Names shown in game are translations and can differ from the ID. Use the catalog’s search, which matches both.
• A few legacy items share a name, so their IDs carry a suffix, for example core:items/ranged/glaivebowarrow/riflebullet. Copy those from the catalog rather than typing them.

Autocomplete in VS Code

With the Eclipse Modding extension, type core: inside a lookup’s quotes to get suggestions for that lookup’s kind, with the English name beside each one. Hovering a core ID shows what it is. The extension also warns about an ID that doesn’t exist and suggests the closest match, and flags a missing core: prefix.

Reuse or replace

Using an ID as shown above reuses core content: your mod points at it and nothing in the base game changes. To change the original itself, for example to give the vanilla katana a different icon everywhere, use asset replacement or a patch, which have their own permissions and conflict rules.

What the catalog leaves out

• Icons inside atlases. Many icons live inside a shared image called an atlas, and their names aren’t stored anywhere the catalog can read. The Art page lists every atlas, and the icons the game’s own data refers to, which covers equipment, perk and portrait icons.
• Translated text. Core text keys are not listed; reuse the text of an item or perk through its handle instead.