Schemas & patches

Schemas describe the binary layout of every supported DB table for every supported game. Without them, RPFM has no idea what a units_tables/data file looks like — it’s a binary blob.

Where schemas come from

Schemas live in the rpfm-schemas repository. About → Check Updates pulls the latest version from upstream over Git as part of the unified update check (it also covers the program itself, lua autogen and the legacy AK definitions). The Git update path is gated behind the integration_git Cargo feature, which is enabled by default in the shipped UI build.

Each schema is a RON file: schema_<game>.ron. Plus:

anim_ids_<game>.csv — per-game animation ID maps for matched_combat / anim_fragment_battle.

When to update schemas

When RPFM says there’s a new schema update available. There’s no benefit on using older versions of the schemas.

Patches

Schemas describe what a table is, and a large part of their information is extracted automatically from the Assembly Kit of the games. Patches are manually generated corrections for the schemas: lookup overrides, default values, tooltips, type-display hints, etc. They live alongside the schemas and overlay the base schema at runtime.

To contribute a patch upstream so everyone benefits, PR your changes to rpfm-schemas. The repo’s README covers the file format.

Adding or fixing a schema

When a game patch changes a table layout (new columns, reorder, type change), the existing schema is missing the new definitions and the tables won’t decode. Fix it:

Open one of the affected files in the DB Decoder.
Adjust the column types until the first row decoded field shows sane values.
Save the definition into the schema.
Try to open the table again and see if it opens correctly.
PR your changes to rpfm-schemas.

API surface

If you’re consuming schemas from Rust, the rpfm_lib::schema module is the entry point. Key types:

Schema — the full per-game schema document.
Definition — a single table version’s definition.
Field and FieldType — column metadata.