Difference between revisions of "Modding"

{{Quality|Fine}}

{{For/see|a list of Dwarf Fortress mods|[[List of mods]]}}

{{Modding}}

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All sound and music files used by ''Dwarf Fortress'' are stored in the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ogg .ogg] format within the <code>/data/sound/</code> subfolders. You can replace the existing ogg files with different ones. That has to be performed manually and isn't actually supported by the game. You can also change some of the definitions of when certain musical cues are played, using available [[music token]]s and [[sound token]]s in the raw files. However, you can't add new music or sounds other than replacing what's already there.

The current best practice is to not modify the original raw files, since most modifications can be made via mods. Mods can add new objects, add tokens to existing objects, and cut objects entirely. You should prefer SELECT over CUT, and prefer CUT over not loading vanilla raws.

The [[info.txt]] is formatted like so:

A mod should have all of these. There are a [[mod info token|few more tokens]], but the above are the important ones.

Most of the game's vanilla content is in the same format as mods. Many text files can be found in the subfolders of the <code>/data/vanilla</code> folder - these are the [[raw file|raw files]], and using them as a basis for modification is quite easy. For now, we will take a look at one of the existing files. For example, if you open <code>/data/vanilla/vanilla_creatures/creature_standard.txt</code>, it should look something like this:

# A filename that refers to the type of objects contained therein. '''Creature files must start with creature_, entity files must start with entity_, and so on.'''

# The filename on the first line of the file.

# [OBJECT:type], where "type" is replaced with the relevant object type.

Below the headers, there begins a list of entries. Each entry is made up of its own header (in this case, "[CREATURE:DWARF]"), again stating the type of object, and then the object's unique identifier - if an identifier isn't unique, the game will mess up and you'll get some serious, and potentially very trippy, errors. ([[Duplicated raws|For example...]])  Below that, we have the body of the entry, which determines the entry's specific properties.

* Try to avoid modifying the existing raw files when possible. You should make a mod instead!

* When adding files, token identifiers are all you need to include to ensure proper references are maintained.  The game searches through all loaded raw files by tokens.  For example, you can add a new pair of leather boots and not even have to add it to a file named item_shoes.txt, but rather your own file, say item_shoes_new.txt and ensure you have the token listed, ex. [ITEM_SHOES:ITEM_SHOES_BOOTS_NEW].

 

* There's nothing stopping you from just copying an existing creature/entity/whatever, changing the identifier, and modifying it. This can save you a lot of time, especially when it comes to entities.

 

 

There are two patching functions: SELECT and CUT. When SELECT is used, it lets you make changes to an object without needing the entire entry to be present in your mod file. When CUT is used, it forces the game to not use that object, even though it is still found in the vanilla raws (or in any other mods earlier in the load order). Both of these functions take the form of tokens. These functions are not universally applicable to any token found in any entry, just the following list of objects:

 

 

The syntax required for these functions is: '''['''<function>'''_'''<object>''':'''<specific object being affected>''']'''. For instance, [CUT_PLANT:MUSHROOM_HELMET_PLUMP] cuts the plump helmet object in the vanilla file plant_standard.txt, so the game will not use that object at all. However, [SELECT_ITEM_HELM:ITEM_HELM_HELM] does not select the helm object from the vanilla file item_helm.txt, even though that's how the object appears in that file, because there is no [SELECT_ITEM_HELM] token. Instead, the helm would be selected with [SELECT_ITEM:ITEM_HELM_HELM].

 

For example, if you wanted to mod beards onto dwarven women while also removing elephants from the game:

 

 

 

[SELECT_CREATURE:DWARF] starts editing DWARF from the end of the entry

 

[CUT_CREATURE:ELEPHANT] removes the ELEPHANT creature

 

Or, say, add your own reaction and building to dwarves:

 

 

 

 

And in any of these, one can add the token [LOG_CURRENT_ENTRY] somewhere under one of the objects of the file, which logs the full contents of the object in question to logs\current_entry.txt. This can be useful to make sure that the patch is doing what you think it is. For instance if [LOG_CURRENT_ENTRY] were added on the next line after [CREATURE:DWARF] in your mod file, then the dwarf object would be the object detailed in the log entry.

 

...Speaking of, let's move on to modifying and adding entities.

Entities - the objects that determine how civilizations work - are stored in <code>vanilla_entities/entity_default.txt</code> (though, like all other files, you may add more). They follow the same format as any other raw file:

     [BIOME_SUPPORT:BIOMETOKEN:FREQUENCY]

"[CREATURE:]" links the civilization with a specific creature defined in a creature file. This is the creature that'll be making up the entity's population, and, therefore, the creature you'll be playing as in fortress or adventure mode if the entity is a playable one. For example, if you wanted to do something silly, you could switch the "CREATURE:DWARF" entry in entity_default.txt with "CREATURE:ELF" and you would be marching elves around in fortress mode, although they would still use dwarven technology, language and names and so forth. Oh, and before you get any funny ideas - it ''is'' possible to define more than one creature for a civ, but that won't work in quite the way you probably expect; it will pick only one of the defined creatures at random to use for the civ. Later on, in the creature section, you'll learn about castes, which will provide a much more viable alternative, so try to bear with us until then.

You can find many details about the rest of the civilization tokens [[entity token|here]].