Understanding Prefabs in V Rising

Every item, NPC, buff, structure, and effect in V Rising is defined by a prefab. Once you understand how prefabs and entities relate to each other, most of the game's data model clicks into place.

What is a PrefabGUID?

A PrefabGUID is how the game identifies any prefab. It's a struct wrapping a single integer:

var buff = new PrefabGUID(-480024072); // Admin_Invulnerable_Buff

That number is a stable hash of the prefab's name. It doesn't change between game versions (unless Stunlock renames the asset), so it's safe to hardcode in your mod.

The convention is to collect these in a static Prefabs.cs file so you reference them by name rather than scattering raw integers throughout your code:

// Instead of this:
ApplyBuff(entity, new PrefabGUID(-480024072));

// Do this:
ApplyBuff(entity, Prefabs.Admin_Invulnerable_Buff);

Entities vs Prefabs

These two things are often confused:

Concept	What it is
Prefab	The template. Defines what a thing is: its components, stats, and behavior.
Entity	A live instance in the world. Just an ID number pointing to component data.

A prefab is like a blueprint; an entity is what gets built from it. When a vampire spawns a rat, the game looks up the rat prefab, instantiates a new entity from it, and that entity lives in the world until it is destroyed.

Prefabs themselves are stored as entities internally. PrefabCollectionSystem holds the lookup table from PrefabGUID to the prefab entity.

How Entities Spawn from Prefabs

When the game (or your mod) wants to create something, it:

1. Looks up the prefab entity by GUID
2. Calls EntityManager.Instantiate() on it, which copies all components to a new entity
3. That new entity is the live object in the world

In mod code this looks like:

var prefabEntity = Core.PrefabCollectionSystem._PrefabGuidToEntityMap[buffGuid];
var instance = Core.EntityManager.Instantiate(prefabEntity);

You can then modify components on instance after instantiation before it fully enters the world.

How to Find Prefab IDs

There are three main ways to find the GUID for what you need:

The wiki prefab reference

The prefab pages on this wiki list prefabs by category with their GUIDs. This is the fastest starting point for common things like NPCs, items, and buffs.

KindredExtract

KindredExtract is a server mod that dumps the game's prefab data to files when installed. Run it once and you get a complete set of name-to-GUID mappings for everything in the game. This is the most thorough option, especially after a game update when new prefabs are added.

Searching existing mods

Well-named Prefabs.cs files in open-source mods are a quick way to find GUIDs for things that other modders have already looked up. Check the open source mods list for examples.

Reading Prefab Dumps

KindredExtract outputs files with entries pairing names to GUIDs. You can load these as embedded resources in your own mod for runtime lookups, or just use them as a reference while writing your Prefabs.cs constants.

When searching a dump, look for name patterns:

Prefix	Category
CHAR_	NPCs and creatures
Item_	Items and equipment
Buff_	Buffs and debuffs
AB_	Abilities
TM_	Tile models (structures)

The prefab pages on this wiki are a browsable, categorized version of this same data, useful for quick lookups without digging through raw files.