a) parse existing body files for body parts and allow them to be inserted
a) Yes, this is quite possible. The code structure is mostly there already. It would be nearly the same as loading the CREATURE tokens into the insert menu.
My long term goal was to ask the user to open the raw/objects folder directly instead of one file at a time. That way, more features that are dependant on more than one file would be possible.
Question: If the user adds custom raw text files, can they have more than one "object type" in them ? like [CREATURE:***] and [ITEM:***], for example ?b) to make sure that the body parts are added to the creature in the correct order so that body parts are loaded after the body parts they depend on, possibly marking body parts with dependencies that do not exist in the creature already.
b) I did intend to add some kind of parsing/validation to the loaded file. But yeah, a basic thing like order of body parts should be good place to start.
I have no need in such tool because I'm prety used to notepad++ with special syntax highlighting I've set up for myself.
It would be useful for starting people though.
This is exactly what I was thinking in my description. Until this utility gets a lot more features, it won't be all that useful for experienced modders. But for beginners, this can potentially reduce by a lot basic structure, typo and logic errors.
And this is also why people like you are needed to help me understand what is exactly needed, because like I said earlier, I'm barely a DF beginner myself
A suggestion: make various similar tags to be differentiated by color. It really helps (at least for me).
I.e. ACTIVE_SEASON, WEAPON: , ARMOR:, and the like.
This is a great idea for quick visual identification. One problem : I don't know about "and the like" that much. I do have two alternatives if you're interested though. #1. Since you already added custom syntax rules to Notepad++ to help editing the raw files, would you be interested in quickly reviewing the tags.ini file for my program and setup colors for similar tags ? I'd imagine it could be something like
[IDENTIFIER:DATA] *tab* color *tab* info/description instead of the current
[IDENTIFIER:DATA] *tab* info/description. Or #2 : Message me a copy fo your custom syntax rules for Notepad++ so I can get a better idea of what experienced modders like so I can add something similar color-coding wise.
P.S. Also it would be nice if you removed obsolete tokens (like that LARGE_LAVA etc. you show on your screenie), they are from 2d version of DF.
This is something that would be very useful, but again I have to rely on outside help. It would be as simple as opening tags.ini and removing the brackets around the tokens that aren't valid/are obsolete. This would disable them instantly. Obviously, it would be quite good if someone who knows about those could do that and upload a copy of the modified tags.ini here.
Example from the wiki :
marked "not used anymore": ADD_VERSION, GENPOWER
marked "obsolete": SESSILE_LAND
This is why there is a bunch of obsolete tokens in tags.ini, I have no way of knowing other than the wiki and your help.
P.P.S. Also I don't think that making an attack string to take a few strings is a good idea, you could find a way to place it on a single screen in your interface to avoid hundred of errors (i.e. make it a single "attack" string with other options as parameters, i.e. damage, type and other additions like bloodsucking or latching).
I get the idea that [ATTACK:***] is quite the complex string, but unfortunately, I'm not sure I fully understand it yet either...
[ As a side note, I just tried to mod a new creature/civ into the game, and it crashes at worldgen... so I'm guessing I'll need a lot more experimenting... (btw, is there a log of where the worldgen crashed so I can see why ?) ]
So, yes, I would like to add more specific options for [ATTACK:***], and as Captain Mayday asked, for [BODY:***] too.
These two tokens seem to be at the limit of what the token structure can support without becoming too complex and at the same time this makes them harder to handle on beginners and a lot more error prone. So, in respect with the goal of this software, this should be high priority.
Also, I've noticed while looking at creatures / body yesterday (
while *trying* to mod) that BODY can also be linked to [ATTACK:***] (by using BYTOKEN instead of BYTYPE). So I think I should work on getting BODY validated first, and then attack. Any thoughts on this anyone ?
Good luck with your work!
Taking the time to give out all those ideas was very helpful, thanks !
And my thanks to the others who posted before, too !