T4 Modules Howto Guide/Getting Started

2018-12-05T14:11:54Z

Huxx: typo: 'is to in' under long_name description

<p>In order to start your own module, you need to create a new directory in the /game/modules/ directory, into which you copy the contents of either /game/modules/example/ or /game/modules/example_realtime/, which will give you bare-bones but working base to work off of.</p>
<p>Good existing modules to copy are Gatecrashers (contains shaders) and Hulk (tiles) - they are only slightly bigger than the example modules, but clear and readable.</p>

==init.lua==
<p>The first file you need to customize is the init.lua file. This file has a few things you need to edit to make this module your own:</p>

<table class="wikitable">
<tr>
<th>Setting</th>
<th>Effect</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>name</td>
<td>This is the official name of the module as seen in module selection list.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>long_name</td>
<td>This is the long name of the module that appears in descriptions.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>short_name</td>
<td>This is a short name used internal to the module. Preferred to be lower case and should be the same as the folder name.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>author</td>
<td>Your name or pseudonym and email address.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>homepage</td>
<td>Optional homepage of the module.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>version</td>
<td>Module version. Does not automatically update. Change this between releases to differentiate them.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>engine</td>
<td>Expected engine version.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>description</td>
<td>A description of your module. Can be multiple lines and paragraphs.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>starter</td>
<td>Only change if you know what you are doing. And if you have to ask, you don't.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>show_only_on_cheat</td>
<td>If true, prevents this module from appearing in the mods list normally. This is enabled by default on the example module and should be disabled in your module.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>no_get_name</td>
<td>Prevents the new character name dialog from showing up for your module. Use this if you set the character name yourself in your module.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>no_funfacts</td>
<td>Set to true. This stops ToME4 gameplay stats from appearing on the loading screen.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>loading_wait_ticks</td>
<td>The affects the full speed of the loading bar. Set to around 30 for a small game, or tweak to get a speed that feels right to you.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>allow_userchat</td>
<td>Registers 'space' as a key to talk, joins a channel named "module", and inits the chat system. If the game implements a game.logChat(str, ...) method it'll send chat listens to there.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>background_name</td>
<td>A list of filenames (without the extension) of PNG images under the data/gfx/background directory to use as startup screen backgrounds. The game will load a logo file for each background at data/gfx/background/background_name.png if it is there</td>
</tr>
</table>

<h2 id="toc2">Launching your module using command line parameters</h2>
<p>By now you should be able to start t-engine normally and see your module in the list when you select new game. However, when changing features then quickly wanting to see its effects, this process involves a lot of unneeded clicks and wasted time. For this reason t-engine.exe supports various command line parameters.</p>

<table class="wikitable">
<tr>
<th>Parameter</th>
<th>Effect</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>-M<Module></td>
<td>Auto-loads the specified module '''(using the module's short_name)'''.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>-u<name></td>
<td>Uses the specified name for the character.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>-n</td>
<td>Forces a new character, overwriting any old saves with the same name.</td>
</tr>
</table>

<p>To take advantage of this in windows, you need to right-click on t-engine.exe and select 'Create Shortcut'. On the created shortcut right-click again and select properties. In the dialog add the following to the Target field:</p>

<code>.../t-engine.exe -MMyModule -udefault -n</code>

<p>Replacing MyModule with your module name and default with whichever character name you desire. Using this shortcut now will launch your module directly, saving you some time while prototyping.</p>

Go back to [[T4 Modules Howto Guide]].

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T4 Modules Howto Guide/Getting Started