This sounds really neat. I'm not entirely sure what's possible after reading the thread, but whatever it is, it's pretty cool. Is this intended for standalone vehicle-like things, or platforms that move in specific directions within a confined area? Are "multilevel" machines ones that can move across levels, or take up multiple levels, or something else? Are wheels required / are they the only requirement?
- Distinguish moving machine platforms from normal constructions in some way, perhaps by using reverse video? POSTPONED, no obvious way to do this.
Not sure what this means, but I might have ideas. Are you trying to distinguish them for users (i.e. making them more visible) or for some internal plugin purpose?
Thank you for your interest.
I guess I should be more clear. This mod is supposed to implement standalone vehicles that move by themselves; "platform" is just the name I gave to a construction which is part of a moving machine. "Multilevel" machines are machines that take up more than one level (i.e. have walls inside them.) Wheels are the mechanism for making the machines move, so they are required if you want your platform to do anything.
And I meant distinguish visually, so the users know what is platform and what is not. (The plugin already distinguishes platforms internally using its own construction flag.) I recently was thinking that I might be able to pull it off by designating the constructions for removal but then deleting the removal job from the queue, but I'm not sure if that'll work. Are there tiletypes specifically for constructions designated for removal?
If I'm not able to pull it off in a more-elaborate-yet-less-tedious way, I guess I could always just hook viewscreen_dwarfmodest.
EDIT: Actually, come to think of it, making constructions designated to be platforms look like those designated for removal might be too confusing, especially if you have to designate constructions to be both.... I might just hook viewscreen_dwarfmodest and make arrows flash over the moving machine to indicate which way it's going, or ■ when it's stationary.