> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://mintlify.com/DarkoniusXNG/Legends-of-Dota-Redux/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# KV Files Overview

> Reference for all KeyValues data files used by Legends of Dota Redux.

## What is KV Format?

KeyValues (KV) is Valve's lightweight key–value text format used throughout Dota 2 for data-driven configuration. A KV file consists of nested blocks delimited by braces, where each entry is either a `"key" "value"` pair or a named sub-block.

```
"RootBlock"
{
    "SimpleKey"    "SimpleValue"

    "NestedBlock"
    {
        "ChildKey"  "1"
    }
}
```

In Lua, KV files are loaded with the built-in `LoadKeyValues` function:

```lua theme={null}
local abilities = LoadKeyValues("scripts/kv/abilities.kv")

-- Walk the top-level "skills" table
for abilityName, value in pairs(abilities.skills.main) do
    print(abilityName, value)
end
```

KV files live under `scripts/kv/` inside the game addon directory. They are loaded once at game start and cached for the lifetime of the match.

***

## File Reference

| File                      | Purpose                                                                                                                                      |
| ------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `abilities.kv`            | Master list of every ability that appears on the skill-select screen, divided into named brackets/categories.                                |
| `abilityDeps.kv`          | Ability dependencies — if a player picks the ability on the left, they automatically receive the ability on the right.                       |
| `bans.kv`                 | Ability combination bans. Handles special-case bans such as grouped banned sets, spammable spell lists, and multicast/spell-echo exclusions. |
| `bot_skills.kv`           | Priority-ordered ability lists that bots draw from when selecting their extra skills.                                                        |
| `bot_skills_imba_WIP.kv`  | OP ability list for bots. Currently unused.                                                                                                  |
| `camps.kv`                | Defines neutral camp creature groups used by camp-spawning abilities (e.g. `spawn_small_camp`).                                              |
| `consumable_items.kv`     | List of items that can be consumed by the consumable item system.                                                                            |
| `contributors.kv`         | Credits data for the in-game credits page and gold-name cosmetics.                                                                           |
| `hashes.kv`               | Internal hash mappings.                                                                                                                      |
| `hero_perks.kv`           | Maps perk categories (or specific abilities) to heroes for the perk-filter checkbox in the skill-pick menu.                                  |
| `owners.kv`               | Internal ownership mappings.                                                                                                                 |
| `perks.kv`                | Determines which abilities Chen grants via his perk, and hero gender for QOP's perk.                                                         |
| `randompicker.kv`         | Used by the deprecated "True Random" ability. No longer active.                                                                              |
| `sounds.kv`               | Sounds that will be precached at game start.                                                                                                 |
| `statuploadersettings.kv` | Web address used for uploading match statistics.                                                                                             |
| `towers.kv`               | Classifies tower abilities by power level to keep mirror-tower loadouts balanced.                                                            |
| `ts_entities.kv`          | Entities that must switch teams when a player switches teams.                                                                                |
| `unique_skills.kv`        | Abilities a bot team will only pick once — prevents multiple bots from taking the same unique ability.                                       |
| `voting.kv`               | Voting configuration.                                                                                                                        |
| `wearables.kv`            | Wearable library data (currently only the Roshan MAGA hat).                                                                                  |
| `whatsup.kv`              | Legacy welcome messages from the original Ash47 version. Unused.                                                                             |

***

## Loading Pattern

Most KV files follow the same load-and-cache pattern in Lua:

```lua theme={null}
-- GameMode init (e.g. baselodmode.lua)
self.abilityList  = LoadKeyValues("scripts/kv/abilities.kv")
self.bans         = LoadKeyValues("scripts/kv/bans.kv")
self.abilityDeps  = LoadKeyValues("scripts/kv/abilityDeps.kv")
self.botSkills    = LoadKeyValues("scripts/kv/bot_skills.kv")
```

Values are plain strings in KV; cast them when needed:

```lua theme={null}
local flag = tonumber(abilities.skills.main["pudge_flesh_heap"]) -- 1
```