Everything you change in a game client is kept in a project, apart from the game, until you choose Install. Nothing you do in Studio changes the client or the server before that.
An MMO World is different: it is your own folder, so Save writes straight into it and there is no project and no Install. See MMO Worlds.
The unsaved project
The moment you open a client, Studio gives it an unsaved project to hold your work, and the top bar says Unsaved project. Saved maps, extracted files, recoloured textures, imports and bakes all go into it. Open the same client again later and the same unsaved project comes back with your work.
When you want to keep it under a name, choose Save project as… in the top bar or the File menu (Ctrl + Shift + S) and type a name. Studio copies the project to Documents\GoMMO Studio\Projects\<name> and switches to it. The top bar then shows its name; hover over it to see the folder.
File > Open project… reopens a project and the client it was made for. File > Open project folder shows it in Explorer.
What a project holds
| folder | what is in it |
|---|---|
maps | your edited copy of each map you saved |
files\client | files that replace or add to the client's own, at the client's own paths |
files\server | the same for the linked server |
assets | imported models, built maps and baked lighting not yet installed |
backups | a copy of every file an install replaced |
exports | spawn tables and map pictures you export |
logs | the logs of a server you run from the Server panel |
The files\client folder is read before the client's own files, everywhere in Studio. A texture you save there shows on the model at once, a file you extract from an archive lands there, and anything you drop into it yourself at the right path does the same. See Editing skins and hot reload.
A map you have saved opens from the project, with your changes, rather than from the client.
Installing
Install… in the top bar works out exactly which files change and shows them before anything is written. It covers the open map, if there is one, and every file in the project's files folders.
- Issues the game found. A warning is worth reading; anything that blocks must be fixed first. Click an issue to select the object it is about.
- Files that change, each marked client or server, with the reason it changes.
Choose Install to write them. Every file that is replaced is first copied into the project's backups folder, and if any write fails, everything already written is put back. A file that already matches what Install would write is left alone.
Server files are installed only while a server is linked; the dialog says how many it is leaving out. See Linking a server.
Close the game and stop its server before installing, so neither has the files open.
Putting an install back
Restore last install, in the same dialog, puts back the files from the newest backup. It only restores into the client and server folders that backup was made for, and it backs up what it replaces, so you can restore again to undo the restore.
Saving
Save (Ctrl + S) saves the open map into the project. Imports, map builds and bakes are kept in the project as soon as they finish, so closing Studio before you install never loses one. Closing a map, opening another, closing the client and restarting to update all save the open map first.