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[Saetar33]

So, a caste is like in human civilization, kinda....

There's the high-rollers...
then the middle-rollers...
and then the bottom feeders.

So, for example, ants...
The [CASTE_QUEEN] defines if it is a queen ant, and a [CASTE_WORKER] tag defines it as a worker ant?

Not quite. . .
You begin by defining a caste name. I'll use the worker caste from the antmen.
[CASTE:WORKER] <----This defines a caste.
[CASTE_NAME:worker ant:worker ants:worker ant]<----This is what the creatures will be named when they are born into the caste.
[POP_RATIO:10000]<----Determines how many there will be per group(Entity groups, mind you.)
[SELECT_CASTE:WORKER]<----This is used to add specific details to a caste. Replace the caste name with ALL if you wish to apply details to all castes.
Hope this helps!

So for the [POP_RATIO:10000] tag (it's the only one that doesn't make sense to me)  it has to be a playable civ?  Because that's what I think entities are, unless an entity is classified as an object inside of the game... I'ma go look at the entity txt file in a mo', see where that thought leads me.)
Or does it just max out how many there can be for that caste, and is applicable to all animals?

EDIT (3's post)  so, if I, say, selected the queen caste, then the worker caste....

[CASTE:QUEEN]
ETC

[CASTE:WORKER]
ETC

I would input

[SELECT_CASTE:QUEEN] (or something to the sort)

to edit the queen caste again?

EDITAGAIN:  Ugh.  I use _'s too much.

EDITFAIL T_T:  I see where I was in error with the whole selecting caste thing, so... like it would be I could call 2 castes...

[CASTE:QUEEN]
[CASTE:WORKER]

and then select one, input the tokens I need, then select the other and input the tokens I need there?

[GaxkangtheUnbound]

So, a caste is like in human civilization, kinda....

There's the high-rollers...
then the middle-rollers...
and then the bottom feeders.

So, for example, ants...
The [CASTE_QUEEN] defines if it is a queen ant, and a [CASTE_WORKER] tag defines it as a worker ant?

Not quite. . .
You begin by defining a caste name. I'll use the worker caste from the antmen.
[CASTE:WORKER] <----This defines a caste.
[CASTE_NAME:worker ant:worker ants:worker ant]<----This is what the creatures will be named when they are born into the caste.
[POP_RATIO:10000]<----Determines how many there will be per group(Entity groups, mind you.)
[SELECT_CASTE:WORKER]<----This is used to add specific details to a caste. Replace the caste name with ALL if you wish to apply details to all castes.
Hope this helps!

So for the [POP_RATIO:10000] tag (it's the only one that doesn't make sense to me)  it has to be a playable civ?  Because that's what I think entities are, unless an entity is classified as an object inside of the game... I'ma go look at the entity txt file in a mo', see where that thought leads me.)
Or does it just max out how many there can be for that caste, and is applicable to all animals?

EDIT (3's post)  so, if I, say, selected the queen caste, then the worker caste....

[CASTE_QUEEN]
ETC

[CASTE_WORKER]
ETC

I would input

[SELECT_CASTE_QUEEN] (or something to the sort)

to edit the queen caste again?

Remember: Always use colons (:) to separate tokens from their arguments(Like, [POP_RATIO] is a tag, and 1000 is the argument, so put together would be [POP_RATIO:1000])

[Saetar33]

See above edit. 

[3]

So for the [POP_RATIO:10000] tag (it's the only one that doesn't make sense to me)  it has to be a playable civ?

No.

Because that's what I think entities are, unless an entity is classified as an object inside of the game... I'ma go look at the entity txt file in a mo', see where that thought leads me.)

An entity is a set of specifications that guide civilisations; they exist independantly of whether any or all of them are playable.

Or does it just max out how many there can be for that caste, and is applicable to all animals?

You're closer this time. The POP_RATIO tag defines a relative weighting towards a birth being of that caste. Example:

Code: [Select]

[CASTE:MALE]
[POP_RATIO:50]
[CASTE:FEMALE]
[POP_RATIO:1]

This would result in an average of 50 males to one female.

so... like it would be I could call 2 castes...

[CASTE:QUEEN]
[CASTE:WORKER]

and then select one, input the tokens I need, then select the other and input the tokens I need there?

You were more correct earlier.

Code: [Select]

[CASTE:MALE]
initial stuff
[CASTE:FEMALE]
initial stuff
[SELECT_CASTE:MALE]
later changes
[SELECT_ADDITIONAL_CASTE:FEMALE]
later changes to both

etc.

[Saetar33]

So, here's a quick example, tell me if I'm doing something wrong....

[CREATURE:ECHOR]
[CASTE:MALE]
[POP_RATIO:50]
[MALE]

[CASTE:FEMALE]
[POP_RATIO:12]
[FEMALE]

[SELECT_CASTE:MALE]
[CASTE_NAME:echoro:echoros:echoron]
[CASTE_TILE:'E'][COLOR:1:0:0]

[SELECT_CASTE:FEMALE]
[CASTE_NAME:echora:echoras:echoran]
[CASTE_TILE:'E'][COLOR:1:0:1]

[SELECT_ADDITIONAL_CASTE:MALE]
[CASTE_ALTTILE:'E'][COLOR:1:1:0]


etc?

[3]

That looks like it'd work, yes.

[Saetar33]

All right, I know how to make male and female echors.  That have different tiles.  Pretty neat.

Can all tokens be used in a caste, or can some only be used at the creature level?  Like, if I want the males to have [LARGE_ROAMING]  but the females to not have it, would that work?

[3]

Most tags work at the caste level... LARGE_ROAMING isn't a very good example, as it's a necessary component of getting actual populations of non-civ creatures (actually, it might be a very good example - perhaps removing it from the female caste will result in populations sustaining themselves but no physical females ever being present. I really don't know how well the game handles this sort of thing. I think I'll test it).

I don't think there a definitive list of what tags are applicable at the caste level or not anywhere. The list of creature tokens on the wiki explains the case for some of them, but not all.

Edit: Well, they're appearing in the population list, so either you and I have discovered a means of making viable monosexual creatures or (more likely) LARGE_ROAMING works at the creature level.

[Saetar33]

So I'm guessing that was something interesting.  Kinda like the female piggies in Enderverse, second, third, fourth books. /offtopic/

Anyways, I think I understand castes well enough... But what about bodies?  I don't understand bodies very well, seeing as there's so much to see.
I tried making a....body component, I guess... before.  I think I posted it back there, somewheres.  But someone said that it hadn't had any veins or something, I forgot.

Ah, found it.

"Lots of things need to be changed here. Most fundamentally, the creature has no materials or tissues. None of its bodyparts are made out of anything. You also haven't declared any arteries, sinews, nerves, appearance modifiers, your bodyparts don't have any declared relative sizes, etc., etc.. All of this bears the hallmarks of you referring to a 28.40d modding guide. Find a more recent one if you're able, or just look through the raws and figure out what to update." 


Well, I don't exactly know about materials/tissues. Or any of the other stuff.  Well, maybe I understand what goes where, and everything, but applying it is a whole other concept.

Also, do bones have to be called, as well?

[3]

As you already know, creatures are made up of bodyparts. In .28, a creature could either be entirely made out of a single, specified material, or you'd give it STANDARD_FLESH instead (which would set things like weight to a default value). Now, each bodypart is made up of a series of layers of tissues, which are themselves comprised of different materials.

If we look at the DWARF entry in creature_standard.txt:

[BODY:HUMANOID:2EYES:2EARS:NOSE:2LUNGS:HEART:GUTS:ORGANS:HUMANOID_JOINTS:THROAT:NECK:SPINE:BRAIN:SKULL:5FINGERS:5TOES:MOUTH:FACIAL_FEATURES:TEETH:RIBCAGE]

   Next we use body detail plans (which have their own raw file) to streamline the addition of some of the common materials, tissues and their relationships with each other.

   [BODY_DETAIL_PLAN:STANDARD_MATERIALS]
   [BODY_DETAIL_PLAN:STANDARD_TISSUES]
   [BODY_DETAIL_PLAN:VERTEBRATE_TISSUE_LAYERS:SKIN:FAT:MUSCLE:BONE:CARTILAGE]
   [BODY_DETAIL_PLAN:HEAD_HAIR_TISSUE_LAYERS]

Detail plans take a little explaination. What a detail plan essentially does is declare a load of materials or tissues in a preset manner so an editor doesn't have to type out "USE_MATERIAL:FAT", "USE_TISSUE:FAT", "USE_MATERIAL:SKIN" and so on for every single creature. STANDARD_MATERIALS and STANDARD_TISSUES set up all the basics for you, so you've got skin and muscle and bone and eye tissue or whatever already declared.

Next comes VERTEBRATE_TISSUE_LAYERS. Another function of detail plans is the possibility of adding your own argument fields. Let's take a closer look:

[BODY_DETAIL_PLAN:VERTEBRATE_TISSUE_LAYERS]
   This body detail plan accepts argument tokens that can fill the role of the tissue token.  For instance, the dwarf sends in SKIN, FAT, MUSCLE, BONE and CARTILAGE.
   [BP_LAYERS:BY_CATEGORY:BODY:ARG3:50:ARG2:5:ARG1:1]
   [BP_LAYERS:BY_CATEGORY:BODY_UPPER:ARG3:50:ARG2:5:ARG1:1]
   [BP_LAYERS:BY_CATEGORY:BODY_LOWER:ARG3:50:ARG2:5:ARG1:1]
   [BP_LAYERS:BY_CATEGORY:ARM:ARG4:25:ARG3:25:ARG2:5:ARG1:1]

   
So when we declare VERTEBRATE_TISSUE_LAYERS in our creature entry, we declare the arguments (ARG1, ARG2 etc) ourselves. In the dwarf entry, ARG1 is SKIN, so the SKIN layer gets a thickness of 1; then there's FAT, with a thickness of 5, muscle with 25, and so on. This allows us to easily substitute tissues for each other (I could declare a scale tissue, then just replace SKIN with SCALE, and my creature would have scales in place of skin). As I've been asked about it before - there no real reason why the detail plan is declared backwards (with ARG1 on the right instead of the left); it's just the way Toady did it.

   Eyebrows and eyelashes are manually added here.

   [USE_TISSUE_TEMPLATE:EYEBROW:EYEBROW_TEMPLATE]
   [TISSUE_LAYER:BY_CATEGORY:HEAD:EYEBROW:ABOVE:BY_CATEGORY:EYE]
   [USE_TISSUE_TEMPLATE:EYELASH:EYELASH_TEMPLATE]
   [TISSUE_LAYER:BY_CATEGORY:EYELID:EYELASH:FRONT]

   And nails.

   [USE_MATERIAL_TEMPLATE:NAIL:NAIL_TEMPLATE]
   [USE_TISSUE_TEMPLATE:NAIL:NAIL_TEMPLATE]
   [TISSUE_LAYER:BY_CATEGORY:FINGER:NAIL:FRONT]
   [TISSUE_LAYER:BY_CATEGORY:TOE:NAIL:FRONT]

   
You can see here some materials and tissue layers being manually declared. This is because they're not included as part of the STANDARD_MATERIALS/STANDARD_TISSUES plans. Also note that templates are still being used here - if you want/need to, it's entirely possible to make a material/tissue from scratch within the creature entry, but for common materials it's easier to make a template to refer to.

If you continue running through the dwarf entry most of the other stuff should become self-evident.

[Saetar33]

As you already know, creatures are made up of bodyparts. In .28, a creature could either be entirely made out of a single, specified material, or you'd give it STANDARD_FLESH instead (which would set things like weight to a default value). Now, each bodypart is made up of a series of layers of tissues, which are themselves comprised of different materials.

If we look at the DWARF entry in creature_standard.txt:

[BODY:HUMANOID:2EYES:2EARS:NOSE:2LUNGS:HEART:GUTS:ORGANS:HUMANOID_JOINTS:THROAT:NECK:SPINE:BRAIN:SKULL:5FINGERS:5TOES:MOUTH:FACIAL_FEATURES:TEETH:RIBCAGE]

   Next we use body detail plans (which have their own raw file) to streamline the addition of some of the common materials, tissues and their relationships with each other.

   [BODY_DETAIL_PLAN:STANDARD_MATERIALS]
   [BODY_DETAIL_PLAN:STANDARD_TISSUES]
   [BODY_DETAIL_PLAN:VERTEBRATE_TISSUE_LAYERS:SKIN:FAT:MUSCLE:BONE:CARTILAGE]
   [BODY_DETAIL_PLAN:HEAD_HAIR_TISSUE_LAYERS]

Detail plans take a little explaination. What a detail plan essentially does is declare a load of materials or tissues in a preset manner so an editor doesn't have to type out "USE_MATERIAL:FAT", "USE_TISSUE:FAT", "USE_MATERIAL:SKIN" and so on for every single creature. STANDARD_MATERIALS and STANDARD_TISSUES set up all the basics for you, so you've got skin and muscle and bone and eye tissue or whatever already declared.

Next comes VERTEBRATE_TISSUE_LAYERS. Another function of detail plans is the possibility of adding your own argument fields. Let's take a closer look:

[BODY_DETAIL_PLAN:VERTEBRATE_TISSUE_LAYERS]
   This body detail plan accepts argument tokens that can fill the role of the tissue token.  For instance, the dwarf sends in SKIN, FAT, MUSCLE, BONE and CARTILAGE.
   [BP_LAYERS:BY_CATEGORY:BODY:ARG3:50:ARG2:5:ARG1:1]
   [BP_LAYERS:BY_CATEGORY:BODY_UPPER:ARG3:50:ARG2:5:ARG1:1]
   [BP_LAYERS:BY_CATEGORY:BODY_LOWER:ARG3:50:ARG2:5:ARG1:1]
   [BP_LAYERS:BY_CATEGORY:ARM:ARG4:25:ARG3:25:ARG2:5:ARG1:1]

   
So when we declare VERTEBRATE_TISSUE_LAYERS in our creature entry, we declare the arguments (ARG1, ARG2 etc) ourselves. In the dwarf entry, ARG1 is SKIN, so the SKIN layer gets a thickness of 1; then there's FAT, with a thickness of 5, muscle with 25, and so on. This allows us to easily substitute tissues for each other (I could declare a scale tissue, then just replace SKIN with SCALE, and my creature would have scales in place of skin). As I've been asked about it before - there no real reason why the detail plan is declared backwards (with ARG1 on the right instead of the left); it's just the way Toady did it.

   Eyebrows and eyelashes are manually added here.

   [USE_TISSUE_TEMPLATE:EYEBROW:EYEBROW_TEMPLATE]
   [TISSUE_LAYER:BY_CATEGORY:HEAD:EYEBROW:ABOVE:BY_CATEGORY:EYE]
   [USE_TISSUE_TEMPLATE:EYELASH:EYELASH_TEMPLATE]
   [TISSUE_LAYER:BY_CATEGORY:EYELID:EYELASH:FRONT]

   And nails.

   [USE_MATERIAL_TEMPLATE:NAIL:NAIL_TEMPLATE]
   [USE_TISSUE_TEMPLATE:NAIL:NAIL_TEMPLATE]
   [TISSUE_LAYER:BY_CATEGORY:FINGER:NAIL:FRONT]
   [TISSUE_LAYER:BY_CATEGORY:TOE:NAIL:FRONT]

   
You can see here some materials and tissue layers being manually declared. This is because they're not included as part of the STANDARD_MATERIALS/STANDARD_TISSUES plans. Also note that templates are still being used here - if you want/need to, it's entirely possible to make a material/tissue from scratch within the creature entry, but for common materials it's easier to make a template to refer to.

If you continue running through the dwarf entry most of the other stuff should become self-evident.

ALMOST tl;dr.

But if I want to learn, I need to read.

So.... body detail plans are like pre-made sets of differrent types, that each cover part of what the body is composed of.  I looked at the file, and that's what they seemed like.
But wouldn't just the STANDARD_MATERIALS and the VERTEBRATE_TISSUE_LAYERS be enough?  Or do you need the hair?

BP_LAYERS is how the fat and muscle is done?  Oh, wait, I see the arg1, arg2, arg3.

Arg1 = skin, which I'm guessing if set higher it = more damage absorption?
arg2 = fat, correct?  Fat does what, ingame?  Does it affect how fast they move, and how (generally) how agile they are?
arg3 = muscle, which I'm thinking determines how enduring/strong said unit is.

Dragons have scales, correct?  So for BP_LAYERS, I would add in there, somewhere (if I wanted to do it separately) USE_MATERIAL:SCALE  and said entity would have scales?  Or would that go above it, in the body plan section?

And bones and cartilage; I'm guessing those are arg4 and arg5, respectively?

[3]

But wouldn't just the STANDARD_MATERIALS and the VERTEBRATE_TISSUE_LAYERS be enough?  Or do you need the hair?

Assuming you're referring to HEAD_HAIR_TISSUE_LAYERS, the hair plan is seperate to the vertebrate layers plan so it can be used independently of it.

Arg1 = skin, which I'm guessing if set higher it = more damage absorption?
arg2 = fat, correct?  Fat does what, ingame?  Does it affect how fast they move, and how (generally) how agile they are?
arg3 = muscle, which I'm thinking determines how enduring/strong said unit is.

Primarily, tissues play into combat simulation. There isn't a value like DAMBLOCK was in .28, where you'd just be able to make things artifically tougher - you actually have to modify the properties of the materials themselves to make them more resistant to damage.

Some tissues have special properties - fat is one (there's some correlation between the toughness attribute and fat or something, maybe it was endurance, I don't remember) and muscle is another (higher strength == more muscle).

But you shouldn't have to modify these values. If you wanted stronger dwarfs, you could just go and raise their median strength attribute (which is a little later on in the file), and that'd subsequently result in them being more muscley.

Dragons have scales, correct?  So for BP_LAYERS, I would add in there, somewhere (if I wanted to do it separately) USE_MATERIAL:SCALE  and said entity would have scales?  Or would that go above it, in the body plan section?

Yep. You'd declare an applicable material (USE_MATERIAL_TEMPLATE:SCALE:SCALE_TEMPLATE would do), then you'd declare a tissue (USE_TISSUE_TEMPLATE:SCALE:SCALE_TEMPLATE), then you'd replace whatever in VERTEBRATE_TISSUE_LAYERS with SCALE.

And bones and cartilage; I'm guessing those are arg4 and arg5, respectively?

Yes.

[Saetar33]

So, in the long run, making more BODY_DEFAULTS and templates (scale, etc) will be more beneficial in the long run, because if I can reuse it..... that saves time.

though, can you explain replacing certain parts inside of the template?  I kind of understood your explanation about scales... but not entirely.

[USE_TISSUE_TEMPLATE:SCALE:SCALE_TEMPLATE]

I don't know why the SCALE_TEMPLATE is nescessary, when I've already asked the program to use the scale template.  Or does the USE_TISSUE_TEMPLATE:SCALE just replace arg1?  Like, if I were to replace said dwarves with scales, would I do this?

[BODY_DETAIL_PLAN:STANDARD_MATERIALS]
[USE_MATERIAL_TEMPLATE:SCALE:SCALE_TEMPLATE]

or am I missing some crucial point?

[3]

If you're using a detail plan, and want to add a material or tissue that isn't part of that detail plan, you'll have to declare it manually. SCALE isn't a part of STANDARD_MATERIALS/STANDARD_TISSUES, so we have to declare it within the creature and give it an identifier.

This is what the "use template" tokens are for - they grab one of the templates defined in the template files, and load it into the creature with a minimum of fuss. This is exactly the same thing as what the detail plans are doing with the other materials; the only reason declaring manually is necessary is that the plans aren't covering this specific material.

Once the material is declared, we can declare the tissue that corresponds to that material, and we can then use it. If we hadn't declared the SCALE tissue, the game wouldn't know what we were talking about when we told it to use SCALE; if we had declared the SCALE tissue but not the base material, it wouldn't have any physical properties.

[Saetar33]

Could you give me an example of a dwarf with scale skin?  Just the body parts will be fine, but I'm kinda struggling to understand what I need to do to call it.  Thanks for bearing with me, though.  Means a great deal to me.