@Xavion had the great idea of having the modding community start a separate wiki that includes information on modding Stonehearth. I thought I’d get the ball rolling, as the preview release is scheduled to come out late next month, and see what others thought. This wiki will include resources for new modders on the basics of modding, serve as a platform for modders to document the things they find in the game files, and as a space to share programming know-how that pertains to modding Stonehearth.
I’m looking for any ideas from modders, or anyone else, on how this wiki should be set up and what should all be included. Currently a wiki from wikia seems like the best option but if there are any better ideas I’m all for it.
i think its a great idea… obvioulsy the discourse will serve as a resource for modders as well, but having a wiki environment, where the community can collectively contribute what they’ve learned about the api will be a huge benefit…
I think one great addition to something like this would be a basic code base, if you will, where common changes that are made can be deposited and just copy pasted for other mods.
example: mods that change the “skins” or looks of factions could simply write a single, universal code for changing those models. then you just make your own models, change the link lines in the code base to your models name, and there you have a newly skinned faction
something like that could also be a great help to new modders that would allow them to see how different things work together, and be a sort of entry-level modding tool.
Definitely agree with what you’re saying - whatever sort of repository we have whether it be an official thing that Radiant are setting up, or a wiki, some sort of coding tutorials (I’m sure @voxel_pirate will be making these videos) where one aspect is taken and the code altered for the desired results would be good.
Basically reverse-engineering I suppose, simple stuff that would mean you can play around with basic mechanisms to introduce your own models/ clothes/ structures.
It all becomes a bit complicated when you want to create larger self-constructed mods - although the ability to share and discuss code will sit very nicely in the “coding” section of the discourse.
That might be difficult to simplify it more than it already is, currently how it works is you have entities that pretty much just list the models they can use to generate themselves and then the factions list which entities they use. It’s all in the json.
There is also that goal I made a while back for an in-game modding gui, remove the barrier for modding. It would hopefully be able to cover anything basic, maybe even allow it to do near anything eventually but that would depend on how much power we have with the js/lua. Something to add in extra models, professions, or monsters or what not would be the aim though.
We’re not ready to talk about our official release plans for modding documentation yet, but if you feel like embroidering a wiki with some data, you can always do it over at: Official Stonehearth Wiki
Please remember though that any conclusions you may have drawn from modifying the graphics test may not hold true in the actual game. So you’re welcome to write them down but put a big caveat on it somewhere, lest people get confused.
