Project files and folders

Make a folder for your mod beside the ContentTool folder under Mods. Pass its folder name to authoring commands. If that sibling has no ppcontent.json, ContentTool can instead select a same-named folder inside its own folder. Keep one working copy so the selected project is clear.

<Phoenix Point>\
  Mods\
    ContentTool\
      ContentTool.dll
      <project>\                 <- fallback when no sibling project has ppcontent.json
        ppcontent.json
    <project>\                   <- preferred authoring project
      meta.json
      ppcontent.json
      README.md                  <- optional release notes
      SOURCES.md                 <- optional source and licence notes
      LICENSE                    <- optional
      Icons\                     <- optional mod-manager and weapon art
      Content\
        Textures\                <- .png, .jpg, .jpeg
        Meshes\                  <- .obj, .glb replacement geometry
        Models\                  <- .glb complete new models
        Audio\                   <- .wav, .ogg, .mp3 new sounds
          Replace\               <- source files for shipped-sound replacements
        Videos\                  <- .webm, .mp4, .mov
      Dist\
        <bundle>                 <- mod-owned baked bundle
        Sounds\
          <mediaId>.bnk          <- baked shipped-sound replacements
          sources.ledger

Baking streamed new sounds extracts their streams into the project's own WwiseAudio\ folder; ContentTool's self-check uses <ContentTool mod folder>\WwiseAudio\. Neither is part of a release. Patched copies of shipped bundles live outside the project at <persistentDataPath>\ContentTool\Patched\<install-tag>\<id>\. Do not put them in the mod or a release archive. ct_package refuses a Patched folder in staged content. Its publishable output is <persistentDataPath>\ContentTool\Packaged\<project>\.

Root files

• ppcontent.json is required. Its root id and bundle must be non-empty, safe single names. They determine the patched-copy folder and Dist\<bundle>. See all manifest keys.
• meta.json is required for a mod the player can install. Its ID must be non-empty, Dependencies must contain com.morgott.ContentTool, and a declared AssemblyName must name a DLL in the package. See metadata fields.
• ContentTool does not compare the two IDs. Give meta.json's ID and ppcontent.json's id the same globally distinct value.

Source files

ContentTool scans files directly inside the named source folders. It does not search their subfolders.

Folder	Accepted extensions	How the name is used	Other files
Content\Textures\	.png, .jpg, .jpeg	Lowercase file stem for a texture source.	Not imported.
Content\Meshes\	.obj, .glb	Lowercase file stem for replacement geometry. A mesh needs a replace row to be baked.	Not imported.
Content\Models\	.glb	Lowercase file stem for a complete new model.	Not imported.
Content\Audio\	.wav, .ogg, .mp3	Stem contributes to an added-sound record.	Unsupported files are named and counted as skipped sources.
Content\Audio\Replace\	.wav, .ogg, .mp3	A numeric stem can identify shipped media directly; a sounds row can instead name a source file.	Handled by ct_sound bake, not the new-sound scan.
Content\Videos\	.webm, .mp4, .mov	Lowercase file stem for a live video row.	Not imported.

For example, a texture row naming stem <stem> looks for an accepted file directly in Content\Textures\. A file in Content\Textures\Characters\ is too deep. The old Content\Meshes\materials\ layout is not a texture source folder. Material property changes are material values in ppcontent.json, not separate material files.

Added sounds

New sounds in Content\Audio bake and self-check, but ContentTool does not load their added bank when players run the mod. They are silent unless the mod's own DLL loads that bank. Replacement sources in Content\Audio\Replace become banks in Dist\Sounds and work without a DLL. New sources named <name>.stream.wav, <name>.stream.ogg, or <name>.stream.mp3 are not packaged.

Names and collisions

• An imported source gets its file stem as its name. Source references ignore case; imported stems are lowercased.
• Do not put two accepted files with the same stem, ignoring case, in one source folder. For example, swatch.png and SWATCH.jpg both claim swatch. Both files of a colliding stem are skipped and the failure is counted; other stems can still bake. This also applies to Content\Videos.
• Content\Audio\Replace must not contain two files aimed at the same media ID. ct_sound bake refuses that collision.
• A shipped Unity asset target is matched by its exact, case-sensitive m_Name. Use ct_list to copy the name. If no asset or more than one asset of the requested class has that name in the bundle, the row is refused.
• A replacement's shipped bundle name is matched without regard to case, but it must name a bundle the game ships.
• Root id and bundle must each be one plain file or folder name, not a path. They cannot be empty, . or .., contain a path separator, colon, or invalid filename character, start or end with a space, or end with a dot. Windows reserved device names are also refused, even with an extension: CON, PRN, AUX, NUL, COM1–COM9, and LPT1–LPT9.
• Keep JSON key spelling as shown in the manifest reference. replace, publish, and sounds use a JSON parser; creature and weapons use their documented block and flat-row forms.

Before publishing, run the applicable bake commands and then ct_package <project>. Zip the package folder itself, so extraction into Mods\ places meta.json inside the mod's own folder.