Wishlist: Modding shortlist

[Edi]

You're welcome. I threw that list together late yesterday evening, so it's not complete yet. For example, poptype modding is missing so far, but your suggestions for that look good.

[Endoperez]

Great! How would you like the suggestions organized?


Weapon modding:

Range: -1 is range: strength, so that's very easy. If other ranges are -2 and -3, they're just as simple to add.

#copyweapon would be useful. You could copy a special effect like Steal Strength and add another special effect to it without giving Shades a big boost.




Showing the mod's title instead of a banner if there's no banner.

Spell modding:
* More spell id numbers
* More spell descriptions available (they cut out at 1000, spells at 1023, or at least something pretty similar).
* #newspell <nr> in addition to #newspell. This would let us properly use modded #onebattlespells. Alternatively, having #onebattlespell work with the NAMES of the modded spells would also work if that's easier to implement.

[Edi]

So fr I've managed to sort out suggestions from the ones made. I like having itemized lists so it is easy to see what's what. I actualy worked largely off the list you posted earlier as well as the DB entries for various properties of things.

So far the things in the list are mostly suggestions on opening up things that have already been done in the game instead of writing completely new stuff from scratch. More complicated things will obviously require more thought.

I'm going to be pretty useless for spell modding discussions, as that's an aspect I'm not familiar with.

[Endoperez]

I'm not good with spell-modding either, but here's something to get that started. Feel free to edit/leave out things as you feel necessary.


SPELL MODDING

• Increasing the range of available spell IDs and spell descriptions.
• #newspell <nbr> This would be a modification of the existing #newspell command and would allow the modmaker to use spesific spell IDs to create complex spell effects that work even when several mods adding new spells are used together.
• #event <nr> This command does not exist currently. The spell would cause the indicated event to happen in target province. Alternatively:
• #message "text" This command does not exist currently. The spell would create a message with the spesified text in the target province.

Spell-related:

• #onebattlespell <nr> | "name" Currently, #onebattlespell does not find modded spells referenced to by name, unlike #nextspell. Because spell IDs of modded spells vary with the number of enabled mods, multiple mods using #onebattlespell won't work as intended.

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Unrelated but interesting find of the day:
#nextspell "name" works on modded spells! I thought it was like #onebattlspell and would throw an exception, but no, it works perfectly! This means that modded summon spells can summon as many units and commanders as spell IDs allow without causing any problems with other mods.

[MaxWilson]

Don't know if this is a code bug or a documentation bug, but it would be nice if

#flightspr <effect no.>

worked for spells and/or we could figure out how to write it in order to MAKE it work. I've only been able to turn off flightsprites for spells with that command, never to enable or change them.

-Max

[Sombre]

#drainmage - drain immunity as featured by magisters of ulm

Not very high priority because it can be done with copystats.

#TroopA (monsterID)
#TroopnumA (number of troops)
#TroopB (monsterID)
#TroopnumB (numbers of troops)

-- Used for commanders to set troops automatically grouped into two units under them, much like starting troops under the starting commander. This would work for summons, heroes and recruitable commanders. It could have various applications and could be used with this next command;

#Trooplock

-- Can't move or add troops - just like mercenary commanders and their troops.



Nice shortlist Edi. Some stuff on there I would consider pretty low priority, like unique or numbers for armor,.. but there you go.

[Edi]

The following has been added to the modding wishes shortlist:

• Poptype modding as suggested by QM
• Lots of weapon modding commands that would unlock existing mechanics
• #desertsun and #heartofwinter to nation modding.
• #drainimmune, #drainpower and #magicpower to monster modding wishes. The latter two would be new mechanics instead of unlocking existing mechanics.

I have not added anything about spell modding yet. That is going to wait until I come back from Sicily on the 22nd, so you can expect that section to start filling in early July unless Ich, Ballbarian or Llamabeast takes it upon himself to manage that. Of course, there is nothing to prevent the lot of you spending the week plotting among yourselves what kinds of things would be cool, how the mod command could be formulated and what it should do. It'll be that much easier for me to swoop in and just reorganize all the ready stuff for a list format.

Incidentally, that is precisely the reason why I have gone to such length to formulate command format and explanations, because if half of the design is done, and done similarly to how Illwinter has done things in the past (e.g. already existing modding commands), they can just pick and choose what they want to do, code it in and even slap the whole shebang straight into the modding manual without editing. The designing of mod commands like this and then formulating the mod manual entries must be some of the more tedious work in doing it, or it would be for me at least. So serving things up on a platter, as it were, is likely going to serve us all well in the long run.

If you take a look at the existing list, you will see only two entries with "New mechanic" in the description (n addition to the more generic ones). This is intentional at the moment. The wishlist commands would be simply ways of opening up existing mechanics for modding, which is easier than coding in new mechanics from scratch. That's also why I had no qualms in putting up so many wishes. Asking for things does not mean we will get them, though we might, but NOT asking for them is almost certainly going to mean they won't happen.

To return to the subject of spell modding for a while, it seems there are many entirely new mechanics being suggested (which are good suggestions), so they deserve more detailed attention than I can give now.

[NTJedi]

Thanks Edi... any chance these could be added to the list as well ?

#Wither {NUM_1 thru NUM_10} = Unit loses life each game turn eventually leading to death and regeneration will not work during battle or outside of battle. Loss of life ranges from 1 to 10 per turn. Similar trait already exists for blood guards and blood lord.
*Usage = Future trait of a powerful SC which can rival the Tartarian

#Affliction {NUM_1 thru NUM_20} = Unit will arrive with specified affliction and NUM_20 is a random affliction.
*Usage = Allowing units created via mods to start with an affliction to add flavor and possible game balance.

#Wandering {NUM_1 thru NUM_99} = Commander has this percentage chance of turning independent each turn. Once independent it wanders into unpredictable provinces.
*Usage = Currently only one summon creature can turn independent and wander... we'd like to see more.

#Mercenary = Unit cannot be removed from its commander... the same as mercenary units cannot be removed.
*Usage = Prevents the usual scenario where leaders with magic are stashed into a castle while their units are passed to a different leader/mage.

#Turns {NUM_1 thru NUM_99} = Battlefield spell will only last specified number of turns during battle.
*Usage = Ability to Nerf and Fix battlefield spells which never end if the caster retreats such as Mists of Deception.

#SumSkill {NUM_1 thru NUM_10} = Grants a unit the summoning skill typically used by Ry'leh.
*Usage = Other nations can be modded to summon a being with the summoning skill thus when capturing Ry'leh's capital they can try the void gate or the magic site "strange house in the mist".

#EventMsg "XYZ ABC" = Spell is linked with a message event which is sent to the owner of the targeted province.
*Usage = Any spell which targets an enemy province can explain to the enemy what's happened.

#Delay {NUM_1 thru NUM_10} = Spell results/effect is delayed for X amount of turns. Can be used for battlefield spells or ritual spells.
*Usage = New Spells can have a delayed effect such as a spell called sun flare which may take 4 turns to reach the battlefield. Ritual spells can also have a delayed effect whether it's flames from the sky or summoning independents which attack a distant enemy province.


#Order " ", " ", " " = Summoned commander has these default orders to follow.
*Usage = Currently only very few commanders arrive with default orders such as Bogus and his men. Helpful for AI opponents.

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Also any improvements for the modding of magic items would be greatly appreciated. Currently modding of magic items are very limited.

[Sombre]

Being able to set separate underwater/overland PD and recruitment options (hardcoded for some existing nations) would be useful, even if only for tweaking the existing nations.

[Edi]

NT Jedi, I'll take a look at those. The affliction one is already in the list as #affliction <bitmask> <chance>. Adding a #voidsummon <value> command would be in line with the existing theme of unlocking stuff, so that one is in.

The mercenary thing is different, I have no idea what kind of special hardcoding there is for the mercenary companies and how easily it could be unlocked. So that would probably need its own subsection. Hence it will be evaluated after my vacation. Everything else on your list is spell modding and will thus be likewise postponed.

We're likely to get feedback on the shortlist from JohanK when he starts using it, which will help shape how it develops. After this initial frenzy of listing things, the followup is going to be slower. Both because it deals with sections that are unfamiliar to me and because it involves a lot of new mechanics from what I can see, as I outlined in my previous post.