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Author Topic: Design Issues: Mod Loading 2  (Read 3299 times)

Tavana

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Design Issues: Mod Loading 2
« on: March 17, 2010, 23:49 »

Regarding the loading of mods - and in addition to the now locked thread further down the list - I wanted to add another possible option on how mods could be loaded in the future.

This is my "perfect" example of how mods could be loaded into the game.

There will be several options in the doomrlmod.ini file:
TCModList
ModList
DefaultLoad
LastSettings

These will the be selected via a menu option in the main screen of DoomRL. I believe that the option to mod the game should be "locked" initially, until you've unlocked at least one rank (gotten to dlvl 10). Here's my breakdown of the menu:

First Screen
Code: [Select]
Select your core system to mod:
doomrl.wad
wolfrl.wad
quakerl.wad
wh40k.wad
omgwtfbbq.wad
----
 OR
----
Play Default Mod Settings
Play Last Mod Configurations

Default mod settings will be "doomrl.wad" unmodded in the ini to start with, and can then be changed if you find something that you like to play a lot. The list would be populated from your doomrlmod.ini file, from the TCModList option. Note that the doomrl.wad is considered a "Total Conversion" for the purposes of this.

The next screen would then display all the available minor mods that you could choose, like so:
Second Screen
Code: [Select]
Choose your game modifications:
(Please note that mods that conflict with each other will cause you errors! Mod at your own risk!)
[ ] Massive BFG9K Spawns
[X] Only Spectres
[X] Super Run Mode
[ ] Cacodemons Are Pansies
[ ] JC Spawns On Normal Levels
Scroll down for more options!

Hopefully, there would be checking of what the mods will do to the system, so that if you choose mods that will conflict with each other the game will go "Umm, like, error?" BEFORE you start playing, but obviously that won't be perfect if it is implemented.

Anyhow, your selection of core system and mods will then be written to the doomrlmod.ini in the LastSettings option. Obviously, if a player attempts to run "Play Last Mod Configurations" there should be a check to make sure they haven't deleted the mod they were playing with the last time.

I find this idea to be superior to the CLI, though that could be an option as well. doomrlmod.ini seems to be a viable option to me, instead of adding the modding options into the doomrl.ini, for simplicity of someone who "just wants to mod" their game. Should it really happen? I'd prefer it not to. But I think there would be a call for it, regardless. Maybe I'm wrong.

Let me know if you have any thoughts.

EDIT: Just wanted to clarify, I was assuming that there is a default doomrl/mod folder where all the mods have to be located. I realized I never mentioned that.
« Last Edit: March 17, 2010, 23:56 by Tavana »
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Tavana

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Re: Design Issues: Mod Loading 2
« Reply #1 on: March 18, 2010, 00:10 »

The reasoning behind my post goes like so:

Each TCMod will have their own player.dat/score.dat. This has not been decided firmly, but I believe it should happen. This way the game will separate between which TC is being played, and thus select the correct files to write to. Then, when mods are applied, if new monsters are added or old monsters are changed (which really means that new monsters are added, inheriting some aspects of the old ones), they can go to a new category "Unknown" or "Unranked" in the player/score .dat. No problems with adding or changing monsters, then.

I'm uncertain of how to deal with changes to the spawn chance of monsters. Perhaps if a monster's spawn chance is changed to be higher than normally allowed, it won't be ranked on the player/score .dat's. Or perhaps it wouldn't matter?

Additional weapons would be treated in the same fashion as additional monsters. A new subsection "Unranked"/"Unknown".

Anything happening on non-standard levels would not be included, or all kills and items there would fall into the "Unranked" category.

Perhaps a new page on the player screen could appear, detailing how many Unknown levels the player has visited, as well as cleared. And then list how many unknown monsters, how many unknown weapons/items, and how many of each type he's killed/found.
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