Table of Contents

Template Validation

Use moongate-template to validate shard templates from the command line with the same loaders and cross-template checks used during Moongate startup.

This command should be part of the normal workflow whenever you edit shard data in your Moongate root directory, especially:

  • ~/moongate/templates/items
  • ~/moongate/templates/mobiles
  • ~/moongate/templates/loot
  • ~/moongate/templates/factions
  • ~/moongate/templates/sell_profiles
  • ~/moongate/data/containers

Command

moongate-template validate --root-directory ~/moongate

--root-directory must point at the shard root, not directly at templates/. The validator reads both templates/** and data/**.

Install From NuGet

dotnet tool install --global Moongate.TemplateValidator
moongate-template validate --root-directory ~/moongate

Update an existing global installation:

dotnet tool update --global Moongate.TemplateValidator

Install From Local Package

dotnet pack tools/Moongate.TemplateValidator/Moongate.TemplateValidator.csproj -o ./tools/Moongate.TemplateValidator/nupkg
dotnet tool install --tool-path ./artifacts/template-tool --add-source ./tools/Moongate.TemplateValidator/nupkg Moongate.TemplateValidator
./artifacts/template-tool/moongate-template validate --root-directory ~/moongate

What It Validates

  • item template inheritance and references
  • mobile template inheritance, equipment, and references
  • loot table references
  • faction references
  • sell profile references
  • book template references
  • container layout references

Expected Result

Success returns exit code 0 and prints a summary such as:

Template validation completed successfully. ItemTemplates=1660, MobileTemplates=459.

Failures return exit code 1 and print the runtime validation errors so broken references or invalid template combinations can be fixed before server startup.

Workflow Recommendation

Run the validator immediately after changing shard templates and before pushing or committing related work. This keeps the external shard root aligned with the runtime startup rules.

Edit this page