I would like to work with Xonotic

Hello !
As i said in my presentation post, i am interested into game development, not a perticular field, but pretty much everything, programming, map editing and so on ...

The thing is that i am quite new into it and this is why i am kinda lost.
For example, if i want to create a new weapon for fun, i would unzip the folder containing the models for the weapons, and i would dump in my new weapon, but then if i re-zip the folder the game wont recognize it.

Another example, if i want to take out one weapon, i unzip the folder delete the models of the corresponding item, and when i re-zip the game wont recognize the re-zipped folder.

Am i doing it horribly wrong ?
And if so i am very sorry for these stupid questions and concerns, but the one who ask a stupid question is a fool for 20 mins, wherehas never asking question by fear of looking stupid, is a fool for eternity right ?
I will edit this post to add more informations later on, when i will have time to..

Hello, and welcome to the community!

Adding new weapons is a rather large task. You can't add a new model to the pk3 (zip) file and expect the game to suddenly recognize it. What about the code that initializes the model and all of its mechanics (fire rate, ammo type, etc etc)? It doesn't exist!

I would recommend coming onto our development chat channel on IRC: it is the #xonotic channel on Freenode's IRC network. Many developers hang out there.

Hello, and welcome to the community!

Adding new weapons is a rather large task. You can't add a new model to the pk3 (zip) file and expect the game to suddenly recognize it. What about the code that initializes the model and all of its mechanics (fire rate, ammo type, etc etc)? It doesn't exist!

I would recommend coming onto our development chat channel on IRC: it is the #xonotic channel on Freenode's IRC network. Many developers hang out there.

What if i just pick an already existing weapon and that i just change how it looks like ?