Melee Asset

Intermediate40-60 minutesWindowsUnity EditorBlenderNotepad++

Melee weapons are one of the foundational item categories in Unturned™ modding. A melee asset defines a close-quarters weapon — a knife, club, sword, axe, hammer, machete, or any hand-wielded tool that deals damage through direct contact. Unlike firearms, melee weapons do not consume ammunition and do not require a separate magazine asset. They are self-contained items defined by a single .dat file, a Unity prefab in a master bundle, and an English.dat localization entry.

57 Studios™ has documented and validated the full melee asset configuration surface across the Unturned™ modding community. This article covers every .dat field that applies to melee assets, the swing mechanics model, two-handed configuration, repair-tool flagging, and the resource-harvesting melee subtype (axes, pickaxes) that interacts directly with the resource asset system.

Documentation source: This article references the official Smartly Dressed Games modding documentation for field definitions and game behavior. Community-validated notes are marked where the official documentation is silent on a detail.

Who this article is for

This article is written for Unturned™ mod authors who have already completed at least one item mod of another type (gun, throwable) and are familiar with the master bundle pipeline and .dat authoring workflow. If you are new to Unturned™ modding, start with Project Folder Structure and GUIDs and How to Install Notepad++ before returning here.

How the melee system works

Unturned's melee runtime is driven by the UseableMelee script and the ItemMeleeAsset configuration. When a player equips a melee weapon and presses the primary or secondary attack button, the UseableMelee script reads the .dat field configuration, triggers the animation, and after the hit-frame animation event fires, performs a sphere or ray cast originating from the player's hand position. Any entity inside the cast radius that is within the configured Range is dealt damage according to the target category (player, zombie, animal, resource, structure, object).

The secondary attack button (Action_Secondary) follows the same sequence but uses the secondary damage and action fields. This allows a melee weapon to have distinct primary and secondary behaviors — for example, a spear that stabs on primary and sweeps on secondary.

Melee weapon subtypes

Before examining individual fields, it is useful to understand the three functional subtypes of melee weapon that the asset system supports. Each subtype uses the same .dat field set but with different values and optional fields enabled.

Subtype	Examples	Key distinction
Combat melee	Knife, sword, club, bat, machete	Primarily damages players, zombies, and animals. Low resource damage.
Harvesting melee	Axe, hatchet, pickaxe, mining drill	High resource and object damage. Used to gather wood, stone, ore.
Repair tool	Wrench, hammer	Flagged as a repair tool. Interacts with barricade and structure repair logic.

All three subtypes use the same core .dat fields. The difference is in which damage fields are high, which are low, and whether the RepairTool flag is set.

File and folder structure

A complete melee mod requires the following files:

Workshop/Content/304930/<modID>/
├── Bundles/
│   └── <BundleName>.unity3d          ← master bundle containing the prefab
└── Items/
    └── MyMelee/
        ├── MyMelee.dat               ← primary configuration
        └── English.dat               ← display name and description

The folder name, the .dat filename stem, and the internal Name field should all match. This is not enforced at runtime, but divergence causes diagnostic confusion.

Complete .dat field reference

Identity fields

Every item in Unturned™ requires an identity block. These fields identify the item to the engine and to other mod files that reference it.

Field	Type	Example	Required	Purpose
ID	uint16	4001	Yes	Numeric item ID. Must be unique across all loaded mods. Use IDs in the 50000+ range to avoid collision with vanilla and established community mods.
GUID	uint128 hex	a1b2c3d4e5f64a7b8c9d0e1f2a3b4c5d	Yes	128-bit globally unique identifier. Generate a new GUID for every new item. Never reuse GUIDs.
Type	enum	Melee	Yes	Must be Melee for melee weapons.
Name	string	MyAxe	Yes	Internal name. Used in console commands and cross-reference in other .dat files.
Rarity	enum	Common	No	Controls the inventory highlight color. Values: Common, Uncommon, Rare, Epic, Legendary, Mythical. Defaults to Common.
Slot	enum	Primary	No	Inventory slot. Primary, Secondary, Tertiary. Melee weapons are typically Primary.
Size_X	uint8	2	Yes	Width in inventory grid cells.
Size_Y	uint8	1	Yes	Height in inventory grid cells.
Model	string	MyAxePrefab	No	Override the prefab name if it differs from the Name field.

GUID generation

Generate a fresh GUID for every melee asset using an online UUID v4 generator (e.g., uuidgenerator.net). Remove the hyphens before pasting into the .dat file. Reusing a GUID from another item — even one from a different mod — causes assets to overwrite each other at load time and is among the hardest bugs to diagnose.

Damage fields

The damage fields define how much damage the melee weapon deals to each entity category on a successful hit. Each category is independent; tuning one does not affect the others.

Field	Type	Unit	Default	Purpose
Damage_Player	float	HP	30	Damage dealt to other players on hit.
Damage_Zombie	float	HP	50	Damage dealt to zombies on hit.
Damage_Animal	float	HP	40	Damage dealt to animals (deer, wolves, etc.) on hit.
Damage_Resource	float	HP	20	Damage dealt to resource nodes (trees, rocks, ore) on hit. High values here define harvesting weapons.
Damage_Structure	float	HP	10	Damage dealt to player-built structures on hit.
Damage_Barricade	float	HP	10	Damage dealt to player-placed barricades on hit.
Damage_Object	float	HP	20	Damage dealt to world objects (vehicles, level objects) on hit.
Damage_Vehicle	float	HP	5	Damage dealt to vehicles specifically on hit.

::: callout Balance reference: combat melee For a melee weapon intended for combat (knife, sword, bat), the cohort-validated starting point is:

• Damage_Player: 30–55 depending on weapon size
• Damage_Zombie: 50–90
• Damage_Animal: 40–70
• Damage_Resource: 5–15 (should not be a primary harvesting tool)
• Damage_Structure / Damage_Barricade: 10–20

High structure damage on a combat melee weapon (e.g., a sledgehammer) is intentional but should be documented in the workshop description so players understand the trade-off. :::

::: callout Balance reference: harvesting melee For a melee weapon intended for resource harvesting (axe, hatchet, pickaxe), the cohort-validated starting point is:

• Damage_Player: 20–35 (harvesting tools should be weaker in combat)
• Damage_Zombie: 30–50
• Damage_Animal: 20–40
• Damage_Resource: 80–200 (primary harvesting stat)
• Damage_Object: 40–80

High Damage_Resource makes the weapon effective at gathering wood and stone. The vanilla axe uses approximately 150 resource damage. :::

Range and swing fields

Field	Type	Unit	Default	Purpose
Range	float	meters	2.0	The maximum distance from the player at which a hit can be registered. The sphere cast radius extends to this distance. Typical values: knife 1.5 m, sword 2.5 m, two-handed axe 2.8 m.
Strength	float	multiplier	1.0	A multiplier on damage outputs and hit-stagger effect. Values above 1.0 increase the perceived weight of the weapon.
Durability	float	0.0–1.0	1.0	The maximum durability of the weapon expressed as a normalized value. At 0.0 the item is destroyed.
Wear	uint8	units	1	The amount of durability lost per swing. Higher values cause the weapon to wear out faster.
Alert_Radius	float	meters	0	The radius in which zombies are alerted on a successful hit. 0 = no alert. Useful for differentiating silent melee (knife) from noisy melee (axe).

::: callout Durability math Unturned™ tracks durability as a uint8 internally even though the .dat file accepts a float for the initial value. The effective number of swings before destruction is:

Max swings = floor(Durability × 100) ÷ Wear

Example: Durability 1.0 and Wear 2 = floor(100) ÷ 2 = 50 swings before the item is destroyed (without repair).

A knife with Durability 1.0 and Wear 1 lasts 100 swings. A heavy sledgehammer with Durability 1.0 and Wear 5 lasts 20 swings. Design Wear relative to the weapon's intended use case — a frequently-used harvesting axe should last longer than a specialty combat sword. :::

Action fields

The action fields define the swing behavior for each attack button. Unturned™ supports two distinct swing actions per melee weapon: a primary action (left mouse button) and a secondary action (right mouse button).

Field	Type	Values	Purpose
Action_Primary	enum	Slash, Stab, Punch, Stomp	The swing type for the primary attack.
Action_Secondary	enum	Slash, Stab, Punch, Stomp	The swing type for the secondary attack.

Action type behavior:

Action	Hit-cast type	Typical use
Slash	Wide arc, sphere cast	Swords, axes, machetes — horizontal swing covering a broad angle.
Stab	Narrow ray, forward-directed	Knives, spears — linear thrust with tighter hit window.
Punch	Short sphere cast	Fists, clubs, blunt instruments.
Stomp	Downward ray	Stomp attack when target is on ground. Primarily used for zombie finishing animations.

Primary and secondary action mismatch

If Action_Secondary is set to an action the prefab's Animator Controller does not have a state for, the secondary attack button will produce a visual with no sound or animation feedback. Always author an animation state in the Animator Controller for every action type you configure in .dat. The animation state name must match the exact value of the Action field (e.g., state name Stab for Action_Primary Stab).

Two-handed configuration

Unturned™ supports two-handed melee weapons — weapons that occupy both inventory hands when equipped and use a different player animation rig.

Field	Type	Default	Purpose
TwoHanded	flag	not set	Presence of this field (no value needed) marks the weapon as two-handed. The player's secondary hand is locked to the weapon while equipped.

Two-handed weapons:

• Block the secondary inventory slot while equipped
• Use the player's two-handed animation set
• Can still have a Action_Secondary behavior, but the secondary slot is unavailable for a separate weapon

Large harvesting tools (two-handed axe, sledgehammer, pickaxe, scythe) should be flagged as TwoHanded. One-handed weapons (knife, hatchet, short sword) should omit the flag.

Repair tool flag

Field	Type	Default	Purpose
RepairTool	flag	not set	Presence of this field marks the weapon as a repair tool. Equipping it and activating it on a barricade or structure repairs that object rather than dealing damage.

When RepairTool is present, the weapon's primary action against barricades and structures becomes a repair action instead of a damage action. The Damage_Structure and Damage_Barricade fields are ignored when repairing; instead, the object gains HP per use according to the structure/barricade's own repair configuration.

A repair tool can still deal damage to players, zombies, and animals normally. The repair behavior applies only when the target is a player-constructed barricade or structure.

::: callout Typical repair tool configuration A wrench or repair hammer should be configured with:

• RepairTool (flag set)
• Damage_Player: 10–20 (low, used only in emergencies)
• Damage_Zombie: 20–35
• Damage_Resource: 5 (negligible)
• Wear: 1 (light wear; repair tools are used frequently)
• TwoHanded: typically omitted (one-handed for quick equip)

Do not set Damage_Structure high on a repair tool — the field is relevant only when the item is used without the RepairTool flag. :::

Audio fields

Field	Type	Example	Purpose
Attack	enum	Melee	The audio category for the swing sound. Valid categories include Melee, Axe, Hammer.
Hit	enum	Flesh	The audio category for the hit sound. Valid categories: Flesh, Metal, Concrete, Wood, Grass.

The Hit category drives the impact sound heard when the weapon connects. A combat melee weapon connecting with a player should use Flesh. An axe connecting with a tree should use Wood. Because the same weapon can hit different surfaces, the engine selects the hit category from the target object's surface definition, not from the weapon's .dat — the weapon's Hit field acts as a fallback only.

Resource-harvesting melee: detailed breakdown

The resource-harvesting melee subtype is the primary tool for gathering raw materials from world resources. Axes gather wood from trees; pickaxes gather stone and ore from rocks and mining nodes. The melee asset configuration for a harvesting weapon is the weapon side of a two-part equation — the resource asset defines what is harvestable and what it yields; the melee asset defines the tool that does the harvesting.

For a harvesting weapon, Damage_Resource is the single most important field. A higher value means fewer swings to fell a tree or break a rock. The cohort recommendation for balance is to match Damage_Resource to the target resource's Health field divided by the intended number of swings.

Example calculation:

A tree has Health 100 (in the resource .dat). The modder wants the tree to take 5 swings with a custom hatchet. The hatchet should have Damage_Resource 20.

This calculation applies to all resource node types: trees (wood), rocks (stone), and ore nodes (metal, iron, lead, gold).

Harvest tool requirements

Resource assets can restrict which tools are valid for harvesting. See the Resource Asset article for the Requires_Harvest_Tool field. If a resource restricts its tool, only melee weapons that the resource's configuration recognizes as valid will deal Damage_Resource to that node. A kitchen knife should not be able to mine iron ore — the resource asset enforces this through its own field.

Complete .dat example: combat knife

ID 50100
GUID b3c4d5e6f7084a9b1c2d3e4f5a6b7c8d
Type Melee
Name CustomKnife
Rarity Uncommon
Slot Primary
Size_X 2
Size_Y 1

Action_Primary Stab
Action_Secondary Slash
Range 1.5
Strength 1.0
Durability 1.0
Wear 1

Damage_Player 40
Damage_Zombie 55
Damage_Animal 45
Damage_Resource 5
Damage_Structure 8
Damage_Barricade 8
Damage_Object 10
Damage_Vehicle 3

Alert_Radius 0

Attack Melee
Hit Flesh

Complete .dat example: two-handed woodcutting axe

ID 50101
GUID c4d5e6f7081a4b9c2d3e4f5a6b7c8d9e
Type Melee
Name CustomAxe
Rarity Common
Slot Primary
Size_X 3
Size_Y 2

TwoHanded

Action_Primary Slash
Action_Secondary Slash
Range 2.8
Strength 1.2
Durability 1.0
Wear 2

Damage_Player 28
Damage_Zombie 45
Damage_Animal 35
Damage_Resource 150
Damage_Structure 25
Damage_Barricade 20
Damage_Object 50
Damage_Vehicle 8

Alert_Radius 15

Attack Axe
Hit Wood

Complete .dat example: repair wrench

ID 50102
GUID d5e6f708192a4b3c5d6e7f8a9b0c1d2e
Type Melee
Name RepairWrench
Rarity Common
Slot Secondary
Size_X 2
Size_Y 1

RepairTool

Action_Primary Punch
Action_Secondary Punch
Range 2.0
Strength 0.8
Durability 1.0
Wear 1

Damage_Player 12
Damage_Zombie 18
Damage_Animal 15
Damage_Resource 3
Damage_Structure 5
Damage_Barricade 5
Damage_Object 8
Damage_Vehicle 3

Alert_Radius 5

Attack Hammer
Hit Metal

Prefab structure

The Unity prefab for a melee weapon is simpler than a gun prefab because there are no attachment hooks, no magazine sub-mesh, and no ejection port. The minimum cohort-validated hierarchy is:

MyMeleePrefab (root, with UseableMelee script)
├── Body (MeshRenderer + MeshFilter for the main weapon mesh)
├── Animator (Animator component)
│   └── Armature (if the weapon has animated sub-meshes such as a folding blade)
└── AudioSource (configured for spatial 3D)

For simple weapons without animation (a solid club, a fixed-blade knife), the Animator and Armature children can be omitted. The UseableMelee script does not require an Animator if the weapon has no moving parts.

Animation states for melee

State	Trigger parameter	When required
Idle	— (default state)	Always required. The weapon's at-rest pose.
Slash	primary or secondary	Required if Action_Primary Slash or Action_Secondary Slash.
Stab	primary or secondary	Required if Action_Primary Stab or Action_Secondary Stab.
Punch	primary or secondary	Required if Action_Primary Punch or Action_Secondary Punch.
Inspect	inspect	Optional. Plays when the player uses the inspect key.

The Animator Controller must have one state per action type configured in the .dat. If a state is missing, the corresponding attack fires the hit-cast logic but shows no animation — a common first-time bug.

Inventory size guidelines

Weapon class	Suggested Size_X	Suggested Size_Y	Rationale
Small knife / folding blade	2	1	Fits in a pocket slot
One-handed hatchet / tomahawk	2	2	Medium inventory footprint
One-handed sword / machete	3	1	Long but thin
Two-handed axe	3	2	Large tool, two-handed
Two-handed sword / claymore	4	1	Very long, narrow profile
Sledgehammer	3	2	Large tool head
Wrench / repair hammer	2	1	Compact tool

Size directly affects how many inventory slots the weapon occupies. A larger size is a meaningful balance cost — players choosing to carry a two-handed axe are spending grid space that could hold other items.

Durability and repair system

Melee weapons with Durability greater than 0.0 degrade with each swing (governed by Wear). Players can repair degraded melee weapons using a repair tool (a RepairTool-flagged item) at a workbench, or using the vanilla repair consumable system. The weapon is destroyed when its internal HP reaches 0.

Indestructible weapons

Setting Wear 0 produces a weapon that never degrades. This is appropriate for admin/creative items or legendary quest rewards but should be used rarely in public mods — it removes the attrition pressure that durability is designed to create. If you want a very durable weapon without making it indestructible, use Wear 1 with a high inventory note in the workshop description.

Testing a melee weapon in single-player

1. Copy the master bundle and .dat files to the local Unturned™ install's mod folder: Workshop/Content/304930/<modID>/Bundles/ and Workshop/Content/304930/<modID>/Items/<WeaponName>/.
2. Launch Unturned™ in single-player.
3. Open the in-game console with ~.
4. Spawn the weapon: @give <weaponID>.
5. Equip the weapon. Verify the model appears in the player's hand at the correct scale and orientation.
6. Test primary attack against a zombie. Confirm damage is applied and the animation plays.
7. Test secondary attack. Confirm the secondary action (if different from primary) plays correctly.
8. Test against a resource node (tree, rock). Confirm Damage_Resource is applied and the node's HP decrements.
9. Test durability: swing until the Wear reduces durability noticeably. Confirm the item's condition indicator decrements.
10. If TwoHanded is set, confirm the secondary inventory slot is blocked while the weapon is equipped.
11. If RepairTool is set, test against a barricade or structure and confirm repair behavior.

Diagnostic table

Symptom	Most likely cause	Resolution
Weapon does not appear in inventory after @give	ID mismatch or .dat in wrong folder	Confirm ID in command matches ID in .dat; check folder path
Weapon appears but is invisible when equipped	Prefab reference broken in master bundle	Re-assign prefab in Unity, rebuild bundle
Pink material on weapon	Shader missing or material not assigned	Re-assign material in Unity, rebuild bundle
Primary attack fires hit-cast but no animation	Animator Controller missing state for Action_Primary	Add the correct state to the Animator Controller
No damage to zombies	Damage_Zombie is 0	Set a positive value
No damage to resource nodes	Damage_Resource too low or resource requires a specific tool	Increase Damage_Resource; check resource .dat
Weapon does not repair barricades	RepairTool flag missing from .dat	Add the RepairTool flag
Secondary slot not blocked for two-handed weapon	TwoHanded flag missing	Add the TwoHanded flag
Durability depletes instantly	Wear too high relative to Durability	Reduce Wear to 1 or 2
Weapon never degrades	Wear is 0	Set Wear to at least 1
Alert radius too small — zombies not alerted	Alert_Radius too low	Increase to 15–25 for a noisy weapon
Hit sound does not play	Hit audio category not recognized	Use a known category: Flesh, Metal, Wood, Concrete
Weapon swing sound wrong	Attack audio category not recognized	Use a known category: Melee, Axe, Hammer
Scale is wrong in-game	Non-unit scale on mesh in Blender	Apply scale in Blender (Ctrl+A → Scale), re-export, rebuild bundle

Best practices

• Generate a fresh GUID for every melee asset. Never reuse GUIDs from other items.
• Choose IDs in the 50000+ range to avoid collision with vanilla and established community mods.
• Author Damage_Resource to be high on harvesting tools and low on combat weapons — this clearly separates tool roles.
• Use TwoHanded for any weapon longer than a one-handed sword. It signals intent to the player.
• Apply scale in Blender before FBX export. Non-unit scale produces incorrect in-game size.
• Design Wear relative to the weapon's use frequency. A harvesting axe used constantly should last longer than a specialty combat blade.
• Flag Alert_Radius as 0 for silent weapons (knife) and 15+ for noisy ones (axe, sledgehammer).
• Test RepairTool behavior against both barricades and structures — they are distinct hit categories.
• Confirm Action_Primary and Action_Secondary both have matching Animator Controller states before shipping.
• Write the workshop description to set expectations on weapon role (combat vs. harvesting vs. repair).

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between Damage_Structure and Damage_Barricade?

Damage_Structure applies to player-built structures (walls, floors, roofs built with the structure build tool). Damage_Barricade applies to player-placed barricades (smaller placeable objects like storage boxes, wire fences, spike traps). They share the same hit system but reference separate HP pools on each object type. A weapon intended to raid player bases should have both fields tuned; a weapon intended only for PvP can leave both at low defaults.

Can a melee weapon have both combat and harvesting roles?

Yes. The fields are independent — there is no constraint preventing high values in both Damage_Player and Damage_Resource. A machete that both damages players effectively and harvests jungle resources is a valid design. The trade-off is inventory slot cost and balance pressure: a weapon that excels at everything gives players less reason to carry specialized tools. Consider whether that trade-off fits your mod's design intent.

Does Alert_Radius apply to every swing or only to hits?

Alert_Radius only triggers on a successful hit (when the sphere cast contacts an entity). Swings that miss do not generate an alert. This means a player who misses a zombie with a noisy axe does not pull additional zombies from the alert radius — only a connected hit does.

How do I make a weapon that breaks rocks but not trees?

Unturned™ melee assets do not natively filter resource damage by resource type — Damage_Resource applies to all resource nodes. The filtering is handled on the resource side: the resource asset's Requires_Harvest_Tool field can restrict which weapon types are valid harvesters for that specific node. A mining rock resource configured to require a pickaxe-type tool will not be damaged by an axe, even if the axe has high Damage_Resource.

What happens when Durability reaches zero?

The item is destroyed and removed from the player's inventory. No drop is generated — the item is simply gone. Players who want to preserve a weapon should repair it using a RepairTool-flagged item or a workbench before durability bottoms out. There is no grace period; destruction is immediate when the final Wear decrement brings the item to zero.

Can I set Strength above 1.0?

Yes. Strength is a multiplier — values above 1.0 increase the effective force of the hit. In practice, Strength scales the damage output and, in the vanilla engine, influences the stagger effect on zombies. A sledgehammer with Strength 1.5 deals 50% more damage than its raw Damage_* fields suggest. Note that Strength affects all damage categories simultaneously — there is no per-category strength modifier.

How do I make a weapon that kills zombies in one hit?

Set Damage_Zombie high enough to exceed the target zombie type's maximum HP in a single hit. Standard zombies have approximately 100 HP; mega zombies have significantly more. A Damage_Zombie of 200 will one-shot standard zombies. Be careful — this is a significant balance decision for a public mod, and players may find it removes meaningful challenge from the zombie threat.

Can a two-handed weapon also be used as a repair tool?

Yes. TwoHanded and RepairTool are independent flags and can both be present in the same .dat. A two-handed repair wrench (e.g., a large breaker bar) is a valid item. The two-handed constraint (blocking the secondary slot) and the repair behavior (activating repair on barricades/structures) will both apply.

How do I configure the weapon to appear correctly in the workshop icon?

The workshop icon (inventory preview) is driven by the item's prefab scale and the camera position defined in the Unturned™ item icon system. If the weapon appears too large or too small in the inventory icon, adjust the item's scale in the prefab (not the mesh scale in Blender — that affects in-game size). The cohort recommendation is to scale the prefab root to 1.0 and to tune the Blender mesh scale, then re-export if the icon looks wrong.

What is the maximum Range value?

There is no hard maximum enforced by the engine, but practical values beyond 5.0 meters produce hit detection that feels inconsistent with the animation. The vanilla two-handed axe uses approximately 2.5 meters. A spear or halberd could reasonably use 3.0–3.5 meters. Values above 4.0 meters will feel like a hack to most players. The cohort recommendation is to keep combat melee at 1.5–2.5 m and harvesting melee at 2.5–3.0 m.

How do I localize the weapon name and description?

Create an English.dat file in the same folder as the weapon's main .dat. The format is:

Name Your Weapon Display Name
Description Flavor text shown in the inventory tooltip.

For other language localizations, create additional files following Unturned™'s localization naming convention (e.g., French.dat, German.dat). Unturned™ selects the appropriate localization based on the player's language setting and falls back to English.dat.

Can a melee weapon generate a custom hit particle?

Custom hit particles require a Unity prefab with a particle system assigned to the weapon's prefab. The particle system is spawned at the hit point by the UseableMelee script if a particle system is present as a child of the prefab. The cohort recommendation is to position a particle system child at the origin of the prefab (not at the blade tip) and let the runtime calculate the world-space hit point for spawning.

Appendix A: Melee asset .dat field quick reference

Field	Type	Required	Default
ID	uint16	Yes	—
GUID	uint128	Yes	—
Type	enum (Melee)	Yes	—
Name	string	Yes	—
Rarity	enum	No	Common
Slot	enum	No	Primary
Size_X	uint8	Yes	—
Size_Y	uint8	Yes	—
Action_Primary	enum	Yes	—
Action_Secondary	enum	No	Same as primary
Range	float	Yes	2.0
Strength	float	No	1.0
Durability	float	No	1.0
Wear	uint8	No	1
Alert_Radius	float	No	0
TwoHanded	flag	No	not set
RepairTool	flag	No	not set
Damage_Player	float	No	30
Damage_Zombie	float	No	50
Damage_Animal	float	No	40
Damage_Resource	float	No	20
Damage_Structure	float	No	10
Damage_Barricade	float	No	10
Damage_Object	float	No	20
Damage_Vehicle	float	No	5
Attack	enum	No	Melee
Hit	enum	No	Flesh

Appendix B: Combat melee balance comparison table

The table below provides cohort-validated balance reference values for combat melee weapons across weapon archetypes. Values are for single-player / PvE balance; PvP servers may tune Damage_Player lower.

Archetype	Damage_Player	Damage_Zombie	Range	Wear	TwoHanded
Small knife	35	50	1.5	1	No
One-handed axe (hatchet)	30	55	2.0	2	No
One-handed sword	40	60	2.2	2	No
Baseball bat	28	45	2.0	1	No
Machete	38	58	2.0	2	No
Two-handed axe	28	50	2.8	2	Yes
Two-handed claymore	55	75	3.0	3	Yes
Sledgehammer	50	80	2.5	4	Yes
Pickaxe (combat)	40	65	2.5	3	Yes
Spear	45	70	3.0	2	Yes

Appendix C: External references

• Smartly Dressed Games official modding documentation — Item assets — the authoritative field reference for all item types including melee.
• Unturned on Steam — the Unturned™ store page and community hub.
• Resource Asset — the companion article that defines harvestable resource nodes; covers the Damage_Resource interaction in detail.
• Throwable Asset — the previous article; shares the identity block conventions.
• Project Folder Structure and GUIDs — GUID generation and folder layout for all item mods.
• Master Bundle Export — the Unity bundling workflow used to package melee prefabs.
• Steam Workshop Submission — the publishing workflow for finished mods.

Advanced considerations

Authored melee combos

Unturned™ does not natively support multi-hit combo chains at the .dat level. However, melee weapons can simulate a two-stage attack pattern by configuring Action_Primary and Action_Secondary differently. A sword that has Action_Primary Slash and Action_Secondary Stab gives the player two mechanically distinct attack modes. The Animator Controller must have matching states for both action types. Some community modders implement a visual combo by chaining animation events within the Slash state — the animation plays a two-stroke swing, with a hit-cast event at both the first and second stroke frames. This effectively gives the weapon two hit windows per primary attack trigger.

Melee weapons with elemental or status effects

The base Unturned™ melee .dat does not include elemental damage fields. Status effects (bleeding, burning, infection) are not configurable through the vanilla .dat system for melee weapons. Custom status effects require server-side scripting via the Unturned Dedicated Server API. If your mod scenario requires a melee weapon that applies a status effect, consider pairing the weapon with a consumable item (a poison vial, a flaming oil) that the player applies separately — this achieves a similar design goal without requiring scripting.

Using melee weapons as quest or scenario items

Melee weapons with Wear 0 (no durability loss) and very low damage values serve well as quest items or scenario props — a ceremonial blade that a player must carry to a trigger zone, for example. For this use case, set all damage fields to 1 or 0 (the engine does not accept a literal 0 for damage, so use 0.1 if zero effect is desired), set Wear 0, and set Rarity to Legendary to signal to players that the item is special.

Melee weapon sound authoring considerations

Audio category	Swing sound	Hit sound	When to use
Melee + Flesh	Generic melee swing	Wet flesh impact	Combat knife, sword, machete
Axe + Wood	Axe chop	Wood split crack	Woodcutting axe, hatchet
Hammer + Metal	Hammer strike	Metal clang	Repair wrench, hammer
Melee + Metal	Generic melee swing	Metal clang	Crowbar, pipe weapon
Melee + Concrete	Generic melee swing	Stone crack	Sledgehammer vs. structure

If none of the vanilla audio categories match the desired sound design for your weapon, custom audio requires packaging an audio clip in the master bundle and referencing it through the weapon's audio configuration. See Audio Packaging for Unturned for the audio bundle workflow.

Per-player weapon skin support

Unturned™'s base item system supports cosmetic skin overrides for items via the Steam item economy. A melee weapon mod can designate alternate material/texture sets as skin variants. Skin variants do not change any .dat fields — they are purely visual. Configuring a melee weapon for skin support requires additional setup in the Economy.dat configuration alongside the standard item .dat. Skin support is an advanced feature relevant primarily for commercial mods distributed through the Tebex or Workshop marketplace.

Melee weapons in RP server contexts

On roleplay (RP) servers such as Horizon Life RP — a 57 Studios™ development context — melee weapons serve purposes beyond raw damage. An axe might be the only legal harvesting tool in a lumber roleplay economy; a knife might be restricted to specific player factions; a repair wrench might require a mechanic profession to equip. These restrictions are enforced server-side through the RP server's plugin system, not through the .dat file. The .dat should be authored with base values reflecting the in-universe role of the item; the RP server's configuration layer handles access control.

Melee weapon design patterns

The following design patterns are recurring archetypes in successful Unturned™ melee mods. Each pattern describes a proven combination of .dat field values that achieves a specific in-game feel.

The silent scout knife

A small, fast, silent melee weapon optimized for PvP encounters without alerting nearby zombies.

• Action_Primary Stab — precise forward thrust
• Range 1.5 — forces close engagement
• Alert_Radius 0 — zero zombie aggro on hit
• Wear 1 — low attrition; scouts use it frequently
• Damage_Player 40 — meaningful PvP threat
• Damage_Zombie 30 — intentionally weak vs. zombies to enforce specialization

The utility hatchet

A one-handed axe that balances combat capability with light wood harvesting.

• Action_Primary Slash — broad arc for crowd scenarios
• Range 2.0 — comfortable one-handed reach
• TwoHanded omitted — fits in secondary slot
• Damage_Player 30 — moderate; not a primary combat weapon
• Damage_Resource 80 — can fell small trees; not efficient on large ones
• Alert_Radius 12 — noisy; draws zombies
• Wear 2 — moderate attrition; needs occasional repair

The crowd-control sledgehammer

A slow, heavy two-handed weapon that excels at structure damage and zombie staggering.

• Action_Primary Punch — short, heavy blow with wide sphere cast
• TwoHanded — occupies both hand slots
• Strength 1.5 — amplified stagger on zombie hits
• Range 2.5 — compensates for the heavy swing arc
• Damage_Structure 60 — genuine raiding capability
• Damage_Zombie 80 — strong single-target zombie damage
• Wear 4 — high attrition; carries a repair cost

Authoring checklist

Before publishing a melee weapon mod to the Steam Workshop, confirm the following:

• [ ] GUID is unique — generated fresh, not copied from another asset
• [ ] ID is in the 50000+ range
• [ ] Action_Primary has a matching Animator Controller state
• [ ] Action_Secondary (if different from primary) has a matching Animator Controller state
• [ ] TwoHanded flag is present for two-handed weapons
• [ ] RepairTool flag is present for repair tools
• [ ] Damage_Resource is appropriate for the weapon's intended role
• [ ] Wear is set to a non-zero value unless intentional indestructibility
• [ ] Scale has been applied in Blender before FBX export
• [ ] Material is assigned in Unity, not pink in the prefab
• [ ] Master bundle is built and copied to the mod's Bundles/ folder
• [ ] English.dat is authored with Name and Description fields
• [ ] Tested in single-player: model visible, hit detected, damage applied, durability decrements
• [ ] Workshop description documents the weapon's role (combat / harvesting / repair)

Document history

Version	Date	Author	Notes
1.0	2025-05-18	57 Studios	Initial publication. Full melee asset .dat field reference, examples, FAQ, appendices.

Cross-references

• Throwable Asset — the previous article in this section.
• Resource Asset — the next article; covers tree, rock, and mining node assets that harvesting melee weapons interact with.
• Project Folder Structure and GUIDs — GUID authoring workflow.
• Master Bundle Export — Unity bundling pipeline.
• Smartly Dressed Games modding documentation — official field reference.
• Unturned on Steam — game page and community.