Kiscule Node Reference

A readable catalogue of Wolfenstein II's Kiscule node types, for modders who want to wire a custom map's logic rather than just reading Kiscule Scripting's container-format writeup. Built from re_probes/kisculeref/catalogue.json — every node type, every port, every parameter, and every wiring statistic measured across all 2,408 retail scripts, 70,274 node instances, 178,559 edge ends, cross-checked against the engine's own RTTI class table. Full report: Research-Report-R3-Kisculeref.

This page is a curated summary, not the JSON — it groups nodes by what a modder actually uses them for, names typical wiring with real retail counts, and flags which ones matter for a custom map. For a node not covered here, or for exact per-port numeric ranges, read catalogue.json directly (992 KB, re_probes/kisculeref/) or use python tools/kiscule.py --signature <NodeTypeName>.

Grading: everything below is measured — a node's ports, parameters, and wiring counts come from parsing every retail script, not a guess. What is not measured: whether any of the "unused" classes (§7) actually work if added to a script by hand, and most engine-side semantics beyond name/base-class/wiring pattern. The game was not started for this catalogue; see TNC Console Unlock §4 for the one place a Kiscule node (Command) ties directly into console-command execution.

0. The shape of a node

Every node has ports of three kinds:

• Regular (InputRegular/OutputRegular) — an execution pulse, like a wire carrying "now".
• Variable (InputVariable/OutputVariable) — a value (bool, int, float, string, vector, entity reference, list). Every parameter is also exposed as a Variable port pair of the same name, so a value can be wired in instead of typed as a constant.
• Notification (OutputNotification) — an event output, functionally a Regular output that fires asynchronously from something the engine observed (damage taken, a volume entered, a trigger fired).

205 node types are used in retail; by RTTI base chain, 153 inherit directly from idKisculeInstanceNode, 29 directly from idKisculeNodeNotification (the ~20 *Notification listener nodes, §2.1), and 23 indirectly (the typed idKisculeVariableNode<T> template family — Bool, Int, Float, EntityReference, ListEntityReference, and the five NamedVariable* globals). A further 102 node classes exist in the engine but are used in zero retail scripts (§7 covers the 13 most relevant to custom-map work).

Three properties bits on a port are behaviourally characterized (not proven from source, no engine access):

1. Spawn and AI waves

Unused, relevant (exist in the EXE, 0 retail instances, untested):

2. Trigger volumes and interaction

Unused, relevant:

3. Objectives and mission flow

Unused, relevant:

4. Doors and moving geometry

No node named "Door" is used in any of the 2,408 retail scripts. idKisculeNodeDoorNotification exists in the engine, well-formed, 0 retail instances. Doors are built by combining movement/constraint nodes instead:

Unused, relevant:

5. Dialogue and UI

Unused, relevant:

6. Music, sound, and RTPCs

7. Checkpoint / save

ActionAutosave — 177 instances / 53 scripts. persistToStorage = true in 177/177. saveSlot is "AUTOSAVE" in 176, "TRANSITION" in 1 (a mid-level checkpoint distinct from the main autosave slot).

8. Console commands — Command

idKisculeNodeCommand (short Command) — 7 instances / 4 scripts, tiny node (Exec in/out, one command string parameter) with outsized consequences: its Exec handler queues the string straight into the engine's command-text buffer, the same mechanism resourceExec uses, reachable without ever opening the console. Full writeup, including the exact disassembly and the one caveat (none of retail's 7 instances actually needs the unrestricted path — see TNC Console Unlock §4 and Research-Report-R5-Kiscule-Command).

9. Flow control — the glue

These carry no custom_map_tags (they're used everywhere, not specific to any map feature) but are what everything above gets wired through:

10. Variables, entities, and math

11. Visibility, effects, and presentation

12. Player state and control

13. AI control

14. The Notification family — one shared shape

Roughly twenty node types — TriggerNotification, VolumeNotification, UseNotification, DamageNotification, AiKilledNotification, PlayerStartNotification, AINotification, AlarmNotification, MissionNotification, PickupNotification, ScenepointNotification, BreakableNotification, SeparableNotification, WeaponFireNotification, AISpawnNotification, UINotification, MapMovementNotification, WarmapNotification, SavegameNotification, and several rarer/unused ones — all inherit from idKisculeNodeNotification and share almost the identical port set:

Reset (in/out)        — clears the notification's internal state
Out (notification)    — fires on ANY of the type-specific events below
<type-specific events> (notification, e.g. Touching/Untouched/Empty, Spotted Player, Pickup, …)
listenedEntities (in/out var)  — optional entity/list filter; unfiltered if left empty
enabled (in/out var)
activator (out var)   — who/what triggered the most recent event
maxNotificationCount (in/out var)  — -1 = unlimited, otherwise a hard cap

Once you recognize this shape, reading any new Notification node in catalogue.json is just "what are its type-specific event ports and its type-specific filter params" — the plumbing around them is always the same.

15. Full index, by the numbers

For anything not covered above: catalogue.json's nodes array has one entry per type (ports, parameters with measured distinct_values_seen/examples, and up to-5 typical_targets per port), sorted by nothing in particular — query it directly, e.g.

python -c "import json; d=json.load(open('re_probes/kisculeref/catalogue.json', encoding='utf-8')); \
  print([n['short'] for n in sorted(d['nodes'], key=lambda x:-x['count'])[:20]])"
python tools/kiscule.py --signature idKisculeNodeDelay

The 205 catalogued types span from EntityReference (13,850 instances) down to 25 types used exactly once in all of retail — one-off nodes like ActionTrial, BulletTime, DebugPoint, LogicGateOr, CompareEntity, or title-specific set pieces (ActionAlligatorGrappleActivation, ActionPanzerhundRideCompleted, EnvironmentDamage). These are real, working node types — just rare because the content they drive is rare.

Related pages

TNC Console Unlock · Kiscule Scripting (container format, round-trip, how to edit a value) · Mission Kiscule Scripting · Mission Anatomy · Research-Report-R3-Kisculeref · Research-Report-R5-Kiscule-Command