Does anyone have tips/advice for adding structures? Is there a guide for this?
There is the guide to adding new content.
Additionally, in your cataclysm directory, navigate to the doc folder, and check out mapgen.md. There’s a lot of information in there.
There’s also been questions and comments here in the forum that you might find useful by using the ‘search’ function for specific questions. And, of course, you’re free to ask questions if you get stuck.
General advice? Copy and paste everything until you know what you’re doing, you’ll get fewer errors that way.
Are there anything that could aid modding buildings?
Individually adding tiles to a building data is tedious.
There was a program that allowed for editing mapgen using actual tiles. It only worked with 0.C, though, and even after I got it working it had some major limitations that I learned to hate. I don’t remember the program, and again, it doesn’t work with the current version of the game so it would provide limited benefit.
Although it can be tedious to do things in the json, once you get the hang of it and do it for a while it becomes pretty easy. Especially if you always use the same palette.
Actual suggestions? Are you referring to a guide to actually do it?
Cause, boy howdy, I have suggestions!
A good one is make every building with a garage door, have an actual way of opening the darn door. This is funny to drive through a few times. But not so much when yyou are playing more seriously. All doors should have a way to open them too. Other wise not even the person who owned it originally would have access(Gunshops with gates you cannot open besides destroying a wall or something).