The world

Modding the raw files

Much of what makes the game's world, from how a dwarf's body is built to what a stone is worth, lives in plain text files. That openness has made it one of the most tinkered-with games there is.

A great deal of Dwarf Fortress is not hard-wired into the program. The creatures, materials, plants, items, peoples and reactions that fill each world are described in separate definition files, which players have long called the "raws". Because these files are plain text, anyone with a text editor can read them and, with care, change them. That is the foundation of the game's modding scene.

What the raw files are

The official wiki's modding page defines modding as modifying the behaviour of the base game, which players call "vanilla", and describes the game as remarkably moddable. It explains that the game's object files define the specifics of items, materials and creatures, can be changed through mods to alter how the game behaves, and are text-based, editable with any text editor.

Open one and you will find a structured description: this creature has these body parts, made of these tissues, with these abilities and behaviours; this stone melts at this temperature and is worth this much; this people lives in these places and values these things. The game reads all of it when it builds a world, which is why changes to the raws usually take effect in newly made worlds rather than existing ones.

What players change

Mods range from tiny adjustments to complete overhauls. Some common kinds, in general terms:

Balance changes

Making a creature stronger or weaker, an industry faster or slower, or a material more or less valuable. Many players make small balance tweaks for their own taste.

New creatures and plants

Adding animals, monsters, crops or trees that the base game does not have, each described in the same way as the originals.

New peoples

Adding whole civilisations with their own values, languages and preferences, or changing how existing ones behave.

New workshops and reactions

Adding buildings where dwarves can turn one set of materials into another, which opens up entirely new craft chains.

Appearance

Changing how things look, from the colours used to the pictures shown for creatures, as the graphics sets page describes.

Playable peoples

Letting you run a fortress as another people, or adventure as a creature the base game does not offer.

Because the game models creatures down to their tissues, even small changes can have interesting knock-on effects. The same body-and-tissue system that shapes how wounds work, explained on the wounds and anatomy page, is defined in these files.

How mods are organised today

The modern release made modding more structured. Rather than editing the game's own files, players are encouraged to package changes as separate mods that the game loads alongside the base definitions. The official page is explicit that editing the vanilla raw files directly is now discouraged, and that the current best practice is to make changes through mods instead. This keeps the base game intact, makes it easy to turn mods on and off, and lets several mods coexist.

The details of the mod format, loading order and token syntax are version-specific and technical, and they are best learned from the official wiki's documentation rather than from a summary. This guide deliberately avoids listing syntax, because a small error in a definition can cause confusing problems.

Keeping things safe

• Back up first. Copy your saves and your game folder before experimenting. It takes seconds and prevents regret.
• Start with a new world. Most changes apply when a world is built, and testing on a fresh world avoids damaging one you care about.
• Change one thing at a time. If something goes wrong, you will know what caused it.
• Keep notes. Record what you changed and why. Future you will be grateful.
• Check versions. A mod written for one release may not work in another.

Why modding matters to the game

Modding has been part of the game's culture for most of its life. Players have used it to fix things they disliked, to add things they wanted and to build entirely new experiences on top of the base simulation. It sits alongside the community tools and the stories and challenges as one of the ways the community has made the game its own.

A gentle first project

If you want to try, start with something small and visible: change the colour or description of a common creature, build a new world, and go and find it. Then try a slightly larger change, such as adding a simple new plant. By the time you want to add a whole new people, you will know your way around the files and the official documentation.

Reading as well as writing

Even if you never change anything, the raws are worth reading. They reveal how the game thinks about the world: how bodies are assembled, what materials are made of, how peoples differ. Browsing them is one of the best ways to understand why the simulation behaves as it does, and a lot of the fun of the game is in that understanding.