Mod stuff

[Effidian]

I know you haven't really started working on this yet, but here are a couple minor things.

1. An override directory in each mod. Say Mods/Native/override. If you put a file like item_kinds1.txt in that directory and have just a "great_lance ... " line in it, it would override the great_lance from the Mods/Native/items_kinds1.txt. This would allow mod developers to modify a certain set of things without having to distrubute the entire file (which could get messy with multiple mods).

Actually, it would be great to support multiple override files, so maybe you could just have great_lance_mod.txt and the first line in the file could tell what it was overridding:

great_lance_mod.txt:
item_kinds1.txt
1
great_lance ...

You could just read every file in the override directory and apply the changes to each specified file. If there are duplicates, the last one you read is the one that applies. If the "name" is the same as an existing one it would override. If it doesn't match it would add it.

That would be very nice.

2. I think we need savegames per major mod. So if you have Mods/Native and Mods/Fantasy you'd get Savegames/Native and Savegames/Fantasy. That way you wouldn't screw up savegames by loading it in the wrong mod.

3. If this has been fixed, ignore this. In 6.23 I know adding a party to party_templates.txt then required any games saved with that version to have at least that number of parties. If possible, it would be nice not to have any restrictions like this. That way if you add a party "override" mod, and then decide you don't like it and remove it, it wouldn't invalidate save games.

That's it. Unless of course you wanted to publish your data structures for the files so we could more easily mess around before your tools come out.

 

[armagan]

Thanks a lot for your suggestion Effidian.

I know you haven't really started working on this yet, but here are a couple minor things.

Actually, this is what I am working on these days.

1. An override directory in each mod. Say Mods/Native/override....

Good idea. I'll try to achieve the same goal with a different method though.

2. I think we need savegames per major mod. So if you have Mods/Native and Mods/Fantasy you'd get Savegames/Native and Savegames/Fantasy.

Yes. That's almost the same as the way I was planning to do it. My plan is having: Mods/Native/Savegames and Mods/Fantasy/Savegames

3. If this has been fixed, ignore this. In 6.23 I know adding a party to party_templates.txt then required any games saved with that version to have at least that number of parties. If possible, it would be nice not to have any restrictions like this.

I'll try to remove any restrictions that can be practically removed. But ultimately it is impossible to retain savegame compatibility accross different content.

That's it. Unless of course you wanted to publish your data structures for the files so we could more easily mess around before your tools come out.

Heheh! I hope I'll be able to start releasing bits and pieces in a few weeks. It is very encouraging to see such enthusiastic module authors. If only days could be 48 hours.

 

[Effidian]

Thanks armagan.

Yes. That's almost the same as the way I was planning to do it. My plan is having: Mods/Native/Savegames and Mods/Fantasy/Savegames

I think there may be some advantages to having the saves in savegames/ModName rather than having the save in the mod folder. That way to back up your saves you just grab the savegames folder. Additionally, if you wanted to reinstall a mod (for an update or whatever), you could just delete the mod's folder and put the new one in.

Either way is fine though...

I'll try to remove any restrictions that can be practically removed. But ultimately it is impossible to retain savegame compatibility accross different content.

Understood. Thanks.

 

[armagan]

I think there may be some advantages to having the saves in savegames/ModName rather than having the save in the mod folder. That way to back up your saves you just grab the savegames folder. Additionally, if you wanted to reinstall a mod (for an update or whatever), you could just delete the mod's folder and put the new one in.

Good point. I'll think aobut that. Thanks!