My semester started getting serious today and I need to summarise the progress I made during the break and give some plans for the future.
Autoharvest Mod
I managed to provide ACE compatible version of individual harvest and add long wanted features: hotkey support and box selection. However, as the Lua part still involves mixing into the RRN component I consider making the mod even more lightweight by tasking the harvest on renew directly instead of using a listener, just like ACE does for its en masse approach. When it comes to functionality, I consider this mod complete now.
LostEms
This was my main focus during the break and I managed to push a major update I had planned for a long time. There still is a somewhat tricky fix waiting to be uploaded but no new content for this mod is planned in the nearest future.
Archmod
I know, I promised a release long time ago, but then I had some real life problems, then it turned out some of my ideas are actually impossible to implement, then I had a ton of new ideas which of course I had to try (many of them actually made it to the mod), then I found that old wig model in my files and felt a sudden urge to make a kingdom and biome mod. So after a series of semi-productive distractions I finally got the diagonal cornice pieces to line up correctly, ending a major crisis in the mod. Another major improvement is switching from one-file-per-entity to a mixin-driven model of file management allowing me to provide variants of the same type of object much quicker. What has to be finished at this very stage is cornices in all Classical styles (right now I have only the Ionic one) and a series of round arches in different sizes (current one is 4 tiles long). A small thing to complete the basic set which has yet to be made is a set of pilasters. Then a set of larger than typical SH windows and doors would be needed but the real problem are roofs. I have no idea how to implement the roof tiles but they are certainly necessary for the cornices. Here’s a re-linked very old screenshot of them for those of you who forgot about them:
There is a problem of double length roof tiles as well because cornices are 2x1 so the roof has to be flatter than usual SH diagonal roof. I’m still having a major headache about these.
From the good news side: I implemented Pandemic’s wooden platform models as placeable objects, also some decorative bricks to be placed on walls and clay arches are coming:
Serene League & Coast Biome
This is the newborn offspring of the break. Some outfits and most hairdos are already made, the lore is crystallising and the population of entities is growing. There is a problem which could be fixed by merging this mod with Archmod (if some of you thought by separating this from Archmod the latter will be released earlier, well, you’ve been wrong): the starting crafter for the League is the Mason who gets a whole new set of pieces and decor made from concrete, which is in fact stone refined in a cement kiln (a stone analogue of clay bricks). This allows for both faster levelling of the Mason to get an Architect or Potter earlier and for a whole new style, which better suits the League. Now, an optimal choice for obtaining stucco in Archmod would be to mix clay with concrete (or ACE’s marble for better conversion rate later on) but this involves a major interplay between the mods if they are to be kept separate. Similar problems occur for a huge set of silk items I have planned for Archmod interior and decided to tie them to the League, the League’s blueprints etc. I see the results of the poll above and I think I will go against them anyway to improve the quality of both mods in the long run.