KeyValues File Format

During Mod development, you might need to store data in an easy-to-use text format. For this purpose, we use Valve's KeyValues format.

Parent Keys

Parent Keys contain Nested Parent Keys and Key Values. They are defined by a name, followed by an opening curly brace {, the contents of the Parent Key, and a closing curly brace }.

Name 
{
    any other parent keys or key values would go here.
}

Key Values

Key Values contain accessible variable data in text form. They are defined by a Key (Name), followed by an indent and the desired Value.

Name    "Value"

Supported Value Datatypes

Type	Formatting Example
Integer	"123"
Float	"123.1"
Boolean	"true"
String	"string"
Vector3	"(1 2 3)" OR "1 2 3"
Vector4	"(1 2 3 4)" OR "1 2 3 4"

C# API

The KeyValues Format can be parsed through the KeyValuesFormat Class. This Class breaks a KeyValues file into the following structure.

ParentKey
├── ChildParentKey
│   ├── ChildKeyValue
│   └── ChildKeyValue
└── ChildKeyValue

To parse a KeyValue file using the C# API, first read the file contents, then create a new instance of the KeyValuesFormat class like this: new KeyValuesFormat(file_contents)

GameInfo Example

The following is an example of parsing a KeyValues file and getting Values from it to parse GameInfo.txt:

    /// <summary>
    /// Holds data from gameinfo.txt.
    /// </summary>
    public class GameInfoFormat
    {
        public KeyValuesFormat KeyValues;

        // Data
        public string GameName;
        public int SteamAppID;

        public GameInfoFormat(string content)
        {
            // Load KeyValues
            KeyValues = new KeyValuesFormat(content);

            // Populate Data
            GameName = (string) KeyValues.GetKeyValue("game").Value;
            SteamAppID = (int) KeyValues.GetKeyValue("SteamAppId").Value;
        }
    }