Cosmoteer Language Server
This is not an official extension from the Cosmoteer team.
A language server for Cosmoteer modding files: .rules (including mod.rules manifests) and .shader. It provides completion, hover, navigation, refactoring, formatting, diagnostics and a live shader preview, in VS Code and JetBrains IDEs.
Based on the VS Code LSP sample.
Setup
The extension detects the Cosmoteer installation automatically. If that fails, set cosmoteerLSPRules.cosmoteerPath to your installation folder; reference and asset validation and all cross-file features need it.
Completion entries provided by this extension carry the language-server icon; plain abc entries are VS Code's own word-based suggestions. Trigger completion with Ctrl+Space (default keybinding).
Settings
All settings live under the cosmoteerLSPRules. prefix.
| Setting |
Default |
What it does |
cosmoteerPath |
"" |
Path to the Cosmoteer installation (auto-detected when empty) |
ignorePaths |
[] |
Reference paths to exclude from validation; any path containing one of these strings is ignored |
maxNumberOfProblems |
100 |
Maximum number of problems reported per file |
diagnostics.validateWholeWorkspace |
off |
Validate every .rules file in the workspace, not just open files |
diagnostics.workspaceValidationScope |
allFiles |
Scope of the whole-workspace pass: all files, or only the files reachable from the mod.rules manifest |
diagnostics.validateComponentReferences |
on |
Flag a component ID reference that names no component in the part or its bases |
diagnostics.validateCrossFileReferences |
on |
Flag a GUI toggle/color/targeter/trigger id with no declaration in the project or game data |
diagnostics.validateRequiredFields |
on |
Flag a group missing a schema-required field (inherited fields count as present) |
diagnostics.validateShaderConstants |
on |
Flag a material shader constant the referenced .shader does not declare, or with a mismatched value type |
diagnostics.validateShaderCode |
on |
Diagnostics inside .shader files: missing #include targets, undeclared uniforms, unknown functions |
diagnostics.validateLocalizationKeys |
on |
Flag a localization key that no language strings file declares |
diagnostics.validateRedundantSeparators |
on |
Hint at a ,/; separator a line break already makes redundant (shown as an editor hint, not in the Problems panel) |
rename.allowEditingVanillaFiles |
off |
Allow Rename to edit files inside the game Data install |
associateShaderFiles |
on |
Open .shader files with the Cosmoteer Shader language when another extension claims the extension |
formatting.enabled |
on |
Document formatting for .rules and .shader files |
formatting.formatOnSave |
off |
Format before every save, independent of the editor's formatOnSave |
trace.server |
off |
Trace the communication between the editor and the language server |
The cross-file validators (component references, GUI ids, localization keys) run only once the game install is indexed.
Features
Editing
- Syntax highlighting, plus semantic tokens that color references, enum values, math functions and field names from the real parse
- Code formatting for
.rules and .shader files: re-indents by nesting and normalizes spacing, changing whitespace only. The result must lex to the identical token stream, otherwise the file is left unchanged. Optional format on save
- Document outline (annotated with each group's resolved schema class) and workspace symbols
- Reference-path completion for every reference form the game accepts, including inheritance bases after
: (siblings, the ^/N/ extend-own-member idiom), virtual-inheritance : segments (&:/…) and, inside a mod, the mod's own cosmoteer.rules convenience globals after &/
Schema intelligence
A schema of every .rules type, extracted from the game's own classes, drives type-aware editing:
- Field-name completion with type, default and enum documentation, inserted as ready-to-fill snippets
- Value completion for
Type= discriminators, enums, booleans and ID<…> references, plus an "Insert N required fields" scaffold
- Validation of enum values,
Type= discriminators, numeric fields and missing required fields, with "Did you mean …?" quick fixes
- Hover showing a field's type, default, enum members and what a reference resolves to
Navigation & refactoring
- Go to definition, find all references and rename across the mod and the game
Data tree, including cross-file entities (factions, GUI ids, techs, buffs, resources, components, particle data channels)
- "Extract value to shared root field": a code action on a number repeated across several assignments that hoists it into a root field and replaces every occurrence with a reference, following the single-source-of-truth practice from the game's own style guide
- Rename never writes to the vanilla game files
Diagnostics
- Syntax errors, unresolved references and assets, math expressions, duplicate keys, inheritance cycles
- Missing separators: two fields on one line with no
,/; between them (the game silently reads them as ONE value) and a run of numbers read as a single list element, each with a quick fix. Conversely, a separator a line break already makes redundant is shown as a subtle hint with a remove quick fix
- Component references, cross-file GUI ids, localization keys, shader constants and shader code, each toggleable in the settings
mod.rules actions: unknown verbs, missing required fields, unresolvable targets- Deprecation hints for renamed types, with a quick fix
Resolved values
- Hover showing the resolved value of a reference, with sprite preview for assets
- Inlay hints with computed math results (e.g.
Damage = (&Base)/2 + ceil(17/2) = 14) and percentages evaluated to their decimal form
- Signature help for math functions, with arity checking for every known function
- Completion for math-function names inside expressions and on numeric fields, inserted as ready-to-fill call snippets
Shaders
.shader is a full language: HLSL highlighting, completion, hover, signature help, go-to-definition through #includes, document outline- Shader-constant completion and hover in a material's
Shader = … block
- Live WebGL preview (CodeLens or
Cosmoteer: Preview Shader) that renders the material the way the game does, with live constant controls, updating as you edit
Mod tooling
- Full
mod.rules manifest support: parsing, validation and completion of Actions
- Mod overview report (CodeLens or
Cosmoteer: Show Mod Overview): what the manifest does, whether each action target resolves, and which files are unreachable by the game
- Localization-key completion and hover for
KeyString fields, with an insert-into-all-strings quick fix
- Color swatches with an in-place picker, part-category completion
- Multi-root workspace support, localization (en, de)
Planned
- In Depth Diagnostics
- More useful code actions and refactorings and quick fixes
- More visuals for understanding how sprites are working
- If you have suggestions or ideas, please open an issue on GitHub
Credits
Thanks to the Cosmoteer team for beeing that open and allow to have the schema public available without the modders first need to generate it, and to the modders who have contributed to the community and provided feedback on this extension.
Especial thanks to Walt for the open communication and allowance. As Celeste for helping with laying the ground for Jetbrains IDE Support and providing valuable input. Same for Rojamahorse which provided valuable feedback and testing and a very complex mod for testing the extension. And also SkipperWraith who brought me back to this project.
Showcase
https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/b1de7a49-404f-483b-8739-f1e7b6706a50
| |
