# Assets explained

## What is an asset?

An asset is a specific, objectified concept in the game that can be highly detailed like a blade of grass, or larger like a building, or intangible like sound effects. Unity defines an asset as, "Shorthand for anything that goes into a video game – characters, objects, sound effects, maps, environments, etc." 

Every asset is defined in a set of [normalized](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database_normalization) asset files that describe its relationship to the game, other assets, and itself.

## Visual Asset-Related File Formats

The following list contains file formats that are used to compose visual assets such as vehicles and weapons.

{% hint style="info" %}
The community-devloped tool **WolvenKit** can be used to browse game archives and extract game files.\
\
[Learn more](https://app.gitbook.com/o/-MP5ijqI11FeeX7c8-N8/s/-MP_ozZVx2gRZUPXkd4r/)
{% endhint %}

### MESH

3d models

### XBM (images and Textures)

2d textures mapped onto meshes, advertisements, or any other game asset that uses an image in the game. 

### APP (appearance)

Sets up appearances for assets such as NPCs and vehicles referenced by [**entity files**](#ent-entity)

### BK2 (Videos)

[**Bink 2**](https://www.radgametools.com/bnkdown.htm) file format (.bk2) that us used for any videos in game (Televsion, quest overlays, or some billboards) 

### ENT (entity)

Parent file for most visual assets which is directly linked by the [**Tweak DB**](https://wiki.redmodding.org/cyberpunk-2077-modding/tweaks/tweaks#what-is-the-tweak-db)

### HP (hair profile)

Color ramp data to set colors for meshes using the hair [**shader**](https://wiki.redmodding.org/cyberpunk-2077-modding/for-mod-creators-theory/materials/shaders)

### MI (material instance)

Instanced shaders for mesh materials

### MLMASK (multilayered mask)

Mask component of the [**Multilayer supershader**](https://wiki.redmodding.org/cyberpunk-2077-modding/for-mod-creators-theory/materials/multilayered)

### MLSETUP (multilayered setup)

Material setup component of the [**Multilayer supershader**](https://wiki.redmodding.org/cyberpunk-2077-modding/for-mod-creators-theory/materials/multilayered)

### MLTEMPLATE (multilayered template)

Pre-defined tiling surface component of the [**Multilayer supershader**](https://wiki.redmodding.org/cyberpunk-2077-modding/for-mod-creators-theory/materials/multilayered)

### MT (material template)

Base shader files for REDengine

***

## Visual Asset Graphs

#### Vehicles

![](https://1427525421-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2F4gzcGtLrr90pVjAWVdTc%2Fuploads%2Fgit-blob-a0b1944bb2bd6ca89d937c1e7763b9b1f667b239%2FCP2077%20Vehicle%20Example.svg?alt=media)