Asset Structure

¹This list contains all the asset types used by the game.

Type	.Extension	Compiler	Info
VPK	vpk	CompileMap (only for maps)	Valve Pack. Is used to store content. One VPK file is limited to 2GB.
KV3	kv3	CompileKV3	KeyValues3. Main file used for almost all asset types. Supports binary encodings, versioning and data annotation.
VData Asset	vdata	CompileVData	VData asset. Form of Generic Data loaded by game for various stuff like weapons, heroes, abilities, decalgroups, styles, asset tags, precipitation, modifiers, entity subclasses, tagged sounds. Depending on the generic_data_type that comes from schemas.
Animation File	vanim	CompileAnimation	Used by Legacy VMDL. Unused.
Animation Group	vagrp	CompileAnimGroup	Used by Legacy VMDL. Unused.
Sequence Group	vseq	CompileSequence	Used by Legacy VMDL. Unused.
Particle Asset	vpcf	CompileParticle	Particles. Created in the Particle Editor.
Material Asset	vmat	CompileMaterial	Materials. Created in the Material Editor.
Mesh Asset	vmesh	CompileRenderMesh	Used by Legacy VMDL. Unused.
Texture Asset	vtex	CompileTexture	Textures. Created by either the Material Editor, manual .vtex file or anything involving Panorama (VPDI/VDATA).
Model Asset	vmdl	CompileModel	Model. Created in the ModelDoc Editor. Compiled file embeds multiple blocks in itself.
Physics Collision	vphys	CompileVPhysXData	Legacy Physics Collision file, used for Legacy VMDL and pre-Jun 6 2023 map compile. Unused.
Sound Asset	vsnd	CompileSound	Sound file. Compiled out of a mp3/wav file. Can embed encoding data from encoding.txt and phoneme/morph data from soundname.txt.
Sound Container	vsnd	CompileSound	Soundcontainer. Shares the .vsnd extension with Sound, but is actually a .vdata file with a data type CVoiceContainerBase. A special kind of sound with rules/unique properties.
Morphset Asset	vmorf	CompileMorph	Used by Legacy VMDL. Unused.
Resource Manifest	vrman	CompileResourceManifest	Resource Manifest. Tells the game to load specified assets when being read.
World Asset	vwrld	CompileWorld	World Asset. Part of a compiled map file. Loads defined in it worldnodes, lightmaps and entity lumps.
Worldnode Asset	vwnod	CompileWorldNode	World Node Asset. Part of a compiled map file. Loads defined worldnode models/scene objects.
Worldvis Asset	vvis	CompileMapVisibility	World Visibility Asset. Part of a compiled map file. Loads map visibility data. Visibility data are stored in voxel clusters.
Entitylump Asset	vents	CompileEntityLump	Entitylump Asset. Part of a compiled map file. Loads all defined map entities. Regular map entities are stored in default_ents.vents file, while point_template/world_layer entity lumps are stored in hammeridofapointtemplate#entitylumpname.vents_c.
Surfaceproperties Asset	vsurf	CompileSurfaceProperties	Surfaceproperties Asset. Has all the defined surface properties that Material Editor can use for materials.
Soundevent Script	vsndevts	CompileSoundEventScript	Soundevent Script. Before being played in the game, your sound must be defined here. Then, that new soundevent can be defined anywhere else where it's needed.
Soundstack Script	vsndstck	CompileSoundStackScript	Soundstack Script. Rules,operators and parameters for all the soundevents of the game.
Mixgraph	vmix	CompileVMix	Mixgraph Data. Created in the VMix Tool.
Postprocessing Settings	vpost	CompilePostProcessing	Postprocessing settings. Created in the Postprocessing Editor. Controls postprocessing.
Resource Remap Table	vrmap	CompileResourceRemapTable	Resource Remap Table. Unknown. Unused.
Panorama Style	vcss	CompilePanorama	Panorama Style. Compiled .css file, defines how a Panorama UI element will look.
Panorama Layout	vxml	CompilePanorama	Panorama Layout. Compiled .xml file, a skeleton of a Panorama UI element.
Panorama Dynamic Images	vpdi	CompilePanorama	Panorama Dynamic Images. Acts the same purpose as Resource Manifest, but for Panorama images. They will be converted from source image asset to .vtex_c upon compile.
Javascript	vjs	CompileJavaScript	Javascript. Created from a .js file.
Typescript	vts	CompileTypeScript	Typescript. Created from a .ts file.
PulseGraphDef	vpulse	CompilePulseGraphDef	Pulse Graph Definition. Created in the Pulse Editor.
Vector Graphic	vsvg	CompileVectorGraphic	Vector Graphic. Created from a .svg file.
Particle Snapshot	vsnap	CompileSnap	Particle Snapshot. Made in the Particle Editor, child asset for the Particle Asset, acts as a reference for the particle.
ModelDoc Template	vmodel_template	CSimpleAssetTypeInfo (not compileable)	ModelDoc Template.
ModelDoc Prefab	vmdl_prefab	CSimpleAssetTypeInfo (not compileable)	ModelDoc Prefab, is essentially a .vmdl. Used by .vmdl files to share nodes.
Animgraph Asset	vanmgrph	CompileAnimgraph	Animgraph1 Animgraph. Requires a .vmdl to compile. Animgraph 1 Graph, used for animation behavior, states, and etc. Currently being replaced by Animgraph2.
Animgraph Subgraph	vsubgrph	CSimpleAssetTypeInfo (not compileable)	Animgraph1 Subgraph. Used by .vanmgrph files to share nodes, tags and parameters, is essentially a Animgraph group in a separate file.
Map Asset	vmap	CompileMap	Map Asset. Compiled version does nothing and only references all the necessary stuff to load the map, while the source version is a Keyvalues2 VMAP file.
Subrect Asset	rect	CSimpleAssetTypeInfo (not compileable)	Subrect Asset. Created in the Subrect Editor, used for hot-spotting in Hammer.
Composite Material Kit	vcompmat	CompileVCompMat	Composite Material Asset. Used by CS2 for weapon skins.
Econ Item	econitem	CompileCS2EconItem	Economy Item. Used by CS2 Item Editor.
Smart Prop	vsmart	CompileVSmart	SmartProp. A prop with a defined set of rules and parameters in the VData Editor. Allows for much more control over a prop.
Response Rules	vrr	CompileResponseRules	Response Rules. Plays voicelines in response to events in the game.
Choreo Scene File Data	vcdlist	CompileChoreoSceneFileData	Choreo Scene File Data. A combination of .vcd files for Choreo Scenes. Deprecated.
VCD File (Choreo)	vcd	CompileChoreoScene	Valve Choreography Data. Stores choreography data for use with Faceposer and the game.
Animgraph2 Skeleton	vnmskel	CompileNmSkel	Animgraph2 Skeleton. Used by Animgraph2 for skeleton(s) and bonemask data.
Animgraph2 Clip	vnmclip	CompileNmClip	Animgraph2 Clip. Animation file used by Animgraph2. Can contain events to respond from graphs.
Animgraph2 Graph	vnmgraph	CompileNmGraph	Animgraph2 Graph. Animgraph2's graph. Contains all the necessary behavior. Graph variations have a vnmgraph.+variationname suffix.
Animgraph2 Variation	vnmvar	CompileNmGraphVariation	Animgraph2 Variation. Deprecated.
VModuleMetadata	vmmd	CVMMDAssetTypeInfo (not compileable)	Module Metadata. Contains all of the metadata about the module (like server.dll, resourcecompiler.dll) like resourcemanifests to load on startup and Pulse bindings.
CompiledShader	vcs	CompiledShader (uses vfxcompile)	CompiledShader. Contains all the shader data. Comes in multiple sets depending on the shader type. Stored in shaders_platform/api.vpk.
FlexSceneFile	vfe	Not compileable	FlexSceneFile. Has expressions/phonemes data used by game/Faceposer.
ClosedCaptions	dat	Compiled from txt with captioncompiler	Compiled Closed Captions file.
DAC Game Defs Data	vdacdefs	CompileDACGameDefsData	Dota Underlords Game Definitions file. Compiled version is a KV3 file.
Dota Visual Novels	vdvn	CompileDotaVisualNovels	Visual Novels for various Dota 2 events.
Dota Patch Notes	vdpn	CompileDotaPatchNotes	Patch Notes for Dota 2.
Dota Hero List	herolist	CompileDotaHeroList	Hero List for Dota 2.
Item	item	CompileDotaItem	Item. Piece of items_game.txt.
Tools Asset Info	bin	Not compileable	Information file about all referenced assets used in Tools.
Bitmap Font	vfont	Not compileable	Bitmap font.
Processing Graph	vpram	?	Processing Graph. Precursor to legacy VMDL nodes.
Surface Graph	vsgraph	?	Surface Graph. Unknown.

Footnotes

1. Information on some assets taken from ValveResourceFormat ↩