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[They Got Leader]

Well, I was sitting around looking at modding section (especially the Wizards Tower) and thinking "huh, what about books and scrolls and such?"

Couldn't you (in theory), make an inorganic item that has no use whatsoever (like a craft?) that is made from plant fiber woven together to form a mat-like object which can be studded with metal, encased in glass, gems or bone. If you have "show history", then shouldn't anything of "quality" have history written on it in various forms? Then you can have this object passed around your fortress, having thousands of things engraved or gilded onto it. Then you safetly store it away somewhere in a stockpile to sell or to keep as a human player to "read" over your fortress history as compiled BY the inhabitants?

Then, of course, you could make a "custom workshop" that could be just one of these things that would act like a wall-ish object.

Better yet? Make it a reaction so that it can be put up like a window.

Ink could be plant extractable. Put into vials. A custom "writers workshop" would have the ability to take ink and put it on an object like gilding metal onto an object. Else you could sell it for some cash.

You know, like a painting? Make a specific "useless" object that can somehow be added to, then put up like a painting so that your noble will be like "I WANT 3 IN MY BEDROOM" and all the liaisons are like "wow, in 547, some dude ate cheese?" Your room values could skyrocket.

However, as great as it sounds, I have no idea how to even do this, or how to even begin. It was just an idea for all you out there.

Thanks for reading,
TGL

[Normandy]

I think it might be possible if you were to add a new craft type, don't add it to any civilization (so it doesn't appear normally), add a new workshop "Scribe's workshop" that has a reaction to produce this specific craft (that's possible now, right?) using the "writing" skill (shame that it won't have quality levels...), then add another workshop "Book pedestal" or "bookshelf" or something to that uses a cabinet and a book as an item to display.

I'd try it out myself if I hadn't modded all day today.

[They Got Leader]

I think it might be possible if you were to add a new craft type, don't add it to any civilization (so it doesn't appear normally), add a new workshop "Scribe's workshop" that has a reaction to produce this specific craft (that's possible now, right?) using the "writing" skill (shame that it won't have quality levels...), then add another workshop "Book pedestal" or "bookshelf" or something to that uses a cabinet and a book as an item to display.

I'd try it out myself if I hadn't modded all day today.

That sounds like a brilliant idea. I wish I knew how to mod, because I would do that. I would LEARN to mod, but I don't have the time.

[darkflagrance]

Currently, toys are the only items that can be added to the game as new crafts. I have used this, for example, to create "Ceremonial Swords". Toys could theoretically be used to make "Books" that would be required for the "Book Writing" reaction at the Scribe Custom Workshop.

I do not know if there is a way to make a custom reaction decorate, however. In theory, you could also make the reaction spit out a figurine-like object that would be called a book, and then display it with a slightly different version of the display cabinet custom workshops that already exist.

Also, I currently know of no way to force history or symbols to be the subject of decorations. However, you can alter the entity entry of a race so that it never makes any kind of decoration other than symbols or history, by altering the probabilities of the ITEM_IMPROVEMENT_MODIFIER , ITEM_IMPROVEMENT_MODIFIER , and ART_FACET_MODIFIER  entity tokens. You can check the wiki (under "Entity Tokens") to find more information on modding them.

[They Got Leader]

Thus far, it seems to be that if the person has skill, he/she will put historical parts on the object they are enhancing.

[Lofn]

Custom workshops generally only produce new items.  I don't think you can use them to decorate things.

[Malecus]

With the right custom reaction, you could make a custom workshop that produces the same items as vanilla workshops.  Aside from a learning process, I don't know why you'd want to recreate the existing workshops, but you can.

To the best of my lurking/hunting skills, it seems as though you can't mod-in books with engraving-level details (a shame), but I haven't seen anything saying that your book can't be decorated any differently than a toy, craft, or instrument can be.  Oh, for those halcyon future days when we can read "This is a steel tome.  It bristles with spikes of obsidian.  The cover is made from elf skin.  It is inked in unicorn blood.  Within, illuminations and text detail the failed goblin seige of Inkgrotto in the fall of 1053."

As for the book/scroll/painting creation process, I'm just getting my proverbial feet wet.  I can toss up a quick custom building and some page-making reactions for you, if you want.  I've been able to turn wood and plants into paper and rocks into tablets, but my reactions for vellum and metal sheets are... wonky still (I'm turning a single metal bar into 150 stacks of metal sheets and I've managed to turn a barrel of wine into vellum, so at least it's been an entertaining failure).  The bookbinding shouldn't be too hard once I've got this stage down.

Inks mean liquids, and that means problems.  A lot of people seem to be experiencing walls of frustration at getting all but the most basic of custom liquid reactions to succeed.  Perhaps we can take a lesson from the dyers and have ink stored in a bag as a powder until it's used for writing?

[Patchouli]

Inks mean liquids, and that means problems.  A lot of people seem to be experiencing walls of frustration at getting all but the most basic of custom liquid reactions to succeed.  Perhaps we can take a lesson from the dyers and have ink stored in a bag as a powder until it's used for writing?

In my personal paper mod, I opted for inksticks, sumi-e style.

This thread might be of interest to you guys as well, it discusses making books, complete with example  reactions and ideas.
http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=58951