Presets

A preset is a named, reusable list of Rust item or entity shortnames. Define a list once (say, every scientist type) and reference it as @presetName from any objective or condition field that takes an item or entity list, instead of repeating the whole list in every contract.

Presets are stored in the preset_data.json data file and authored with the web editor.

Shape

A preset is simply a list of one or more shortnames, stored under a name you choose:

{
  "presets": {
    "scientists": [
      "scientist2",
      "scientist2.heavy",
      "scientistnpc_oilrig",
      "scientistnpc_patrol"
    ],
    "ballista": [
      "ballista.static",
      "ballista.mounted"
    ]
  },
  "version": {
    "Major": 1,
    "Minor": 7,
    "Patch": 0
  }
}

The name is the key, and the value is the list. The plugin ships with a ready-made @scientists preset (every scientist NPC type) plus a handful of others.

Preset names are player-visible

The in-game requirement display renders a preset reference as a single chip showing the preset name exactly as written. It never unpacks the list. Players read the @rifles preset as rifles, so name presets like the player-facing text they are.

Referencing a preset

Anywhere a field takes an item or entity list (entities, items, item, fish, bait, weapon lists, and so on), you can write @presetName in place of a literal shortname. At load time the plugin expands the reference into that preset’s list:

{
  "type": "Kill",
  "title": "Hunt scientists",
  "amountRequired": 10,
  "conditions": {},
  "entities": ["@scientists"]
}

You can mix preset references and literal shortnames in the same list, for example ["@scientists", "scarecrow"].

Nesting

A preset can reference other presets, so you can compose larger lists from smaller ones:

{
  "presets": {
    "weak_npcs": ["scarecrow", "murderer"],
    "all_npcs": ["@scientists", "@weak_npcs"]
  }
}

References are expanded recursively at runtime.

See the Objectives overview for more on shortnames and how item and entity lists are matched.