Mod Packs

Binky · 2014-02-20T11:45:26.000Z

So the medieval content pack has gone in finally! Congrats to John.
I wanted to make a topic to discuss what things should be modded out and what should stay in the core, and I’d like to do it with the least amount of flaming/trolling and debating over if modularising is good or not.

Packs that have been suggested/worked on so far:

Medieval weapon pack
Old weapons pack (anything before 1980 (remember we’re 40 or so years in the future))
‘Special’ weapons pack (flame swords/chainsaw katans and other things which are a bit dead rising esque)
Sci-fi weapons pack (anything not practically available now or in the very near future)
Monster packs (Triffids, Nethercreatures and so on)

Is there anything missing?

The most difficult one will be sci-fi - some things like a solar car aren’t widespread now, but they’re not particularly ‘sci-fi’. I did start work on this, but lost some steam with it and then the feature freeze came in.

Iosyn · 2014-02-20T13:58:18.000Z

indeed. Solar cars should remain core.

How about hydrogen cars/trucks etc and a few plasma-powered military vehicles for the sci-fi pack.

The way I see it the oil crisis and inflation of petrol would lead to government directives and schemes to phase out gas in favor of solar or more probably hydrogen or biogas cars. This wouldn’t be immediate, it would probably be something like a five or ten year thing and most national fuel reserves would be reserved for stuff like power generation, crisis management and military use. Also corrupt oil barons would probably be trying everything in the book to keep their customers, perpetuating such a crisis, but

So, the military might get a few new shiny plasma-powered prototypes to sell the idea and be caught in the process of retrofitting some suitable vehicles (e.g humvees,) at the time of the cataclysm.

StopSignal · 2014-02-20T17:42:30.000Z

We should have a “Total Lovecraftian” mod, with only lovecraft’s creatures.
(But i am pretty ignorant about the topic, never had the chance to read any of the books)

Soyweiser · 2014-02-20T17:57:45.000Z

[quote=“StopSignal, post:3, topic:5147”]We should have a “Total Lovecraftian” mod, with only lovecraft’s creatures.
(But i am pretty ignorant about the topic, never had the chance to read any of the books)[/quote]

Most of them are kinda nasty. As in, the world ends if they arrive/wake up, and you die/go insane if you look at them, nasty.

StopSignal · 2014-02-20T17:59:56.000Z

Oh. Yeah it would be quite hard to survive, indeed.

Adrian · 2014-02-20T18:25:58.000Z

[quote=“StopSignal, post:3, topic:5147”]We should have a “Total Lovecraftian” mod, with only lovecraft’s creatures.
(But i am pretty ignorant about the topic, never had the chance to read any of the books)[/quote]

A big theme in Lovecraft’s works is humanity’s insignificance in the universe.
And while i’d LOVE a more cosmic horror themed Cata, i don’t see how that’d be possible with what we have now.

Also, sanity.

Soyweiser · 2014-02-20T18:47:32.000Z

[quote=“Adrian, post:6, topic:5147”]A big theme in Lovecraft’s works is humanity’s insignificance in the universe.
And while i’d LOVE a more cosmic horror themed Cata, i don’t see how that’d be possible with what we have now.

Also, sanity.[/quote]

Another theme: things man should not know, nor strive to know. (In the mountains of madness (imho one of his best works) a person goes insane by looking back at the last moment. Nobody knows what he saw (it isn’t described)).

Binky · 2014-02-20T18:53:56.000Z

Well there are already categories of monsters which are built into the game, the ones I feel need to be modularised are:

Wild Mutants
Insectoids
Giant worms
Spiders
Fungi
Blobs
Underground dwellers
Unearthed horrors
Netherworld inhabitants
Cult
Robots

Zombies pretty much HAVE to be however, as without it the game would be pretty deserted. I guess the issue is whether each one is modularised or if we group some together. Insectoids, Spiders, Worms and Blobs could all go in one pack I guess (Evil nature), but I’m not sure about the other ones.

One thing I’m EXTREMELY excited about is the idea that you could ‘pick your cataclysm’. With a modularised method you could potentially have each one of these being a massive threat, rather than parts of a whole. It would mean that each enemy set would need considerable work (and be much stronger) but you could then go for a skynet style robot apocalypse or a Triffid style one.

The full list is here btw:

Domesticated Animals
Forest Animals
Wild Mutants
Insectoids
Giant worms
Zombies
Plants
Fungi
Blobs
Underground dwellers
Swamp creatures
Spiders
Unearthed horrors
Netherworld inhabitants
Cult
Robots
Hallucinations
Other

Iosyn · 2014-02-20T18:59:23.000Z

Nether, Cult and Hallucination could probably go in a horror/lovecraft pack.
Maybe unearthed stuff too but that might be taking a bit too much from core.

Binky · 2014-02-20T20:19:23.000Z

[quote=“Iosyn, post:9, topic:5147”]Nether, Cult and Hallucination could probably go in a horror/lovecraft pack.
Maybe unearthed stuff too but that might be taking a bit too much from core.[/quote]

Mod packs don’t take anything away from core. These will be enabled by default, but can be turned off for people that want a more specific experience.

I realise I did mentioned that it would be nice in the future to have just one or two enabled, but this won’t work currently (as in you can’t have a complete robot apocalypse, it’d just be zombies + robots) and would probably need a lot of work.

Nether,Cult and Hallucination would be good in a pack and unearthed stuff could go in it’s own ‘underground’ pack probably.

Rivet · 2014-02-20T20:21:35.000Z

Binky:

Mod packs don’t take anything away from core.

Actually they do. Items or monsters which are hard-coded to spawn in the mapgen files have to be removed entirely from those files if they’re moved into mods.

That means that as more stuff gets put in mods, you’ll see less and less guaranteed spawns in-game.

Enjoy.

BeigeSand · 2014-02-20T23:13:03.000Z

[quote=“Rivet, post:11, topic:5147”][

Items or monsters which are hard-coded to spawn in the mapgen files have to be removed entirely from those files if they’re moved into mods.

That means that as more stuff gets put in mods, you’ll see less and less guaranteed spawns in-game.

Enjoy.[/quote]
Hrmnn, couldn’t we just have a file that flips on/off certain guaranteed spawns based on what mods are loaded? I’m no C-Ninja but most other code bases can do that without too much lag/complexity. You would just need a loop to load all the vars in, and then check to see if the item is off or not before you spawn it.

Binky · 2014-02-21T00:30:46.000Z

[quote=“Rivet, post:11, topic:5147”]Actually they do. Items or monsters which are hard-coded to spawn in the mapgen files have to be removed entirely from those files if they’re moved into mods.

That means that as more stuff gets put in mods, you’ll see less and less guaranteed spawns in-game.

Enjoy.[/quote]

I didn’t think that was the case? I remember this being brought up in the medieval pack git and it was said they’d turn up (like armour in mansions) if they were hardcoded?? As Beigesand said though, there are ways around it if it did, and it’s basically just a very few instances that are hard coded.

KA101 · 2014-02-21T02:22:04.000Z

FWIW: Things that Happen when You Modpack Content.

BeigeSand · 2014-02-21T04:17:37.000Z

KA101:

FWIW: Things that Happen when You Modpack Content.

It moves the flame wars to GitHub?

Zireael · 2014-02-21T08:10:05.000Z

No, other things break…

Binky · 2014-02-21T12:11:46.000Z

KA101:

FWIW: Things that Happen when You Modpack Content.

Correct me if I’m wrong (as in, really do, I’m not just saying that) but doesn’t that just mean you need to create a new world if you want to play with different mod packs? I don’t see that as being a big problem really. I know a lot of people like to continue with the same world, but I think it’s a completely fine trade off for the amount of flexibility you get and seems like an ok stipulation (as long as it’s stated at the start).

I know a lot of content creators are annoyed because people might be able to turn off their content, but suck it up - if it’s great, no one will.

Soyweiser · 2014-02-21T12:23:25.000Z

[quote=“Binky, post:13, topic:5147”][quote=“Rivet, post:11, topic:5147”]Actually they do. Items or monsters which are hard-coded to spawn in the mapgen files have to be removed entirely from those files if they’re moved into mods.

That means that as more stuff gets put in mods, you’ll see less and less guaranteed spawns in-game.

Enjoy.[/quote]

I didn’t think that was the case? I remember this being brought up in the medieval pack git and it was said they’d turn up (like armour in mansions) if they were hardcoded?? As Beigesand said though, there are ways around it if it did, and it’s basically just a very few instances that are hard coded.[/quote]
Labs are all hardcoded. FYI

Binky · 2014-02-22T19:18:57.000Z

Soyweiser:

Labs are all hardcoded. FYI

Does that mean that the items still stay even if taken out of a mod pack?

Soyweiser · 2014-02-22T19:35:45.000Z

Binky:

[quote=“Soyweiser, post:18, topic:5147”]Labs are all hardcoded. FYI

Does that mean that the items still stay even if taken out of a mod pack?[/quote]
I think it means the game crashes when the modpack is not activated. Or it might just not spawn.