Bay 12 Games Forum

Good afternoon.

In the process of tracking down an unrelated error (I think), I've noticed two small errors in your graphics reference files.

#1, in the creature_standard file:

[CREATURE_GRAPHICS:TITAN]
        [DEFAULT:STANDARD:0:18:AS_IS:DEFAULT]
        [CHILD:STANDARD:1:17:AS_IS:DEFAULT]  <--This should be 1,18

#2, in the creature_large_riverlake file:

[CREATURE:FISH_GAR_LONGNOSE]
        [DEFAULT:RIVERLAKE:0:0:AS_IS:DEFAULT]
        [CHILD:RIVERLAKE:1:0:AS_IS:DEFAULT]
        [ZOMBIE:RIVERLAKE:2:0:AS_IS:ZOMBIE]
        [SKELETON:RIVERLAKE:3:0:AS_IS:SKELETON]

[CREATURE:FISH_CARP]
        [DEFAULT:RIVERLAKE:0:0:AS_IS:DEFAULT]  <-- Should be 0,1
        [CHILD:RIVERLAKE:1:0:AS_IS:DEFAULT]
        [ZOMBIE:RIVERLAKE:2:0:AS_IS:ZOMBIE]
        [SKELETON:RIVERLAKE:3:0:AS_IS:SKELETON]

[CREATURE:FISH_TIGERFISH]
        [DEFAULT:RIVERLAKE:0:0:AS_IS:DEFAULT]  <-- Should be 0,2
        [CHILD:RIVERLAKE:1:0:AS_IS:DEFAULT]
        [ZOMBIE:RIVERLAKE:2:0:AS_IS:ZOMBIE]
        [SKELETON:RIVERLAKE:3:0:AS_IS:SKELETON]

[CREATURE:FISH_PIKE]
        [DEFAULT:RIVERLAKE:0:0:AS_IS:DEFAULT]  <-- Should be 0,3
        [CHILD:RIVERLAKE:1:0:AS_IS:DEFAULT]
        [ZOMBIE:RIVERLAKE:2:0:AS_IS:ZOMBIE]
        [SKELETON:RIVERLAKE:3:0:AS_IS:SKELETON]

Minor stuff to be sure, but it'd prevent anybody from seeing most of these sprites. Keep up the great work.

Rochndil, who uses this mod, but still with the DR dwarves...

P.S. I found one more, in race_kobolds:

[CREATURE_GRAPHICS:KOBOLD]
   [DEFAULT:KOBOLDS:0:0:ADD_COLOR:DEFAULT]
   [STANDARD:KOBOLDS:1:0:AS_IS:DEFAULT]
   [BABY:KOBOLDS:2:0:AS_IS:DEFAULT[  <-- Oops!
   [CHILD:KOBOLDS:3:0:AS_IS:DEFAULT]
   [THIEF:KOBOLDS:6:0:AS_IS:DEFAULT]
   [MASTER_THIEF:KOBOLDS:7:0:AS_IS:DEFAULT]

There may be something else, I'm still testing...

PPS, and now you're compiling clean.

In the large_river_lake file, the CREATURE_GRAPHICS: tag was CREATURE: instead.

Greetings!

I've been reading the summary of your mod, and I think it looks very promising. The only problem I have with it at the moment is that you combined your new content with the existing matgloss/reaction files.

Unless I am very much mistaken, there's no need to include new content with the existing files. The file headers include the relevant data to allow DF to parse the files correctly. SO, instead of writing new gems into matgloss_stone_gem.txt, for example, you can just as easily write them into matlgoss_stone_gem_SIF.txt - with the tremendous advantage that NOW your files can be dropped right into an existing setup without messing anything else up.

Now, of  course, if you were making CHANGES to any of the default data, then you'd have to change the original file(s), but that's not the case for most of your stuff, and the few exceptions could be easily noted (take THIS item and replace THIS one).

As it stands, I'm going to have to carefully cut redundant records out of your file so I can add them to my in-progress build without buggering up any of the other dozens of changes I've already made (otherwise your changes could un-do changes made by other mods, or combine with them in unpredictable ways).

ONCE I get it all running, I'll be sure to let you know what I think about your mod.

Rochndil, who has lots of experience processing text...

P.S. Upon getting into this process, it quickly becomes apparent that you have a lot of directly conflicting overlap with Sean Mirrsen's Minerals Mod. Specifically, peat as a carbon source, anthracite coal, and probably more stuff I haven't come across yet. I'm still tinkering. Sometimes I go with your implementation, sometimes with his.

Good evening!

I can't believe I finally finished this beast. I started working on it WAY back in the fall, and it got pushed aside about a dozen times for RL interruptions. Now that it's finally out there, I hope everyone enjoys it.

DFFD link: http://dffd.wimbli.com/file.php?id=880

Basically, I created this reference because I was having trouble keeping all the different metals data in my head. What do I need to smelt this? What ores do I need to make this metal, what do I get when I smelt this - these were all questions I had when I started with DF, and it took me MANY trips to the Wiki before I started to get a handle on things.

THEN, Sean Mirrsen put out his excellent Metals Mod, and I was right back at square one, having to learn everything over again. So I resolved to do something about it.

This spreadsheet is the result of that work. Basically, it shows you what components you need to produce which metals at the smelter, the general properties OF those metals and alloys, and also computes whether you're losing or gaining value in the process.

I hope that this is helpful to both new DF fans and modders, since it's easily expandable to account for new metals, alloys, and components. I'll be happy to update the sheet if any errors or omissions are discovered.

Feel free to use this as you wish, but I'd like to be remembered for the many hours I put into it.

Rochndil, who is better at organizing data than creating it...

Good afternoon!

I was originally writing about sorting tags WITHIN a given entity, but sorting the entities themselves would also be very useful. I've been mulling this idea over, and some of your comments made me think of an additional possibility.

Any program smart enough to sort the tags into their correct order, and possibly re-order the entities themselves, would be just a hair away from being able to parse out the contents of the given file to a database - heck, it might NEED to do that to do the sorting efficiently.

Think for a moment how useful it would be to modders to have all the raw data in a nicely organized database display, where you could compare entities to each other, easily make changes that spanned a group of entities at one time, import and merge compatible entities into one another, and then when it was all done, just write out the data (correctly) into a raw TXT file.

Now THAT would totally rock. And, I don't think it would be that difficult to accomplish. It would certainly make modding a LOT easier, maybe even easy enough for ME to do.

Rochndil, who thinks too much sometimes...

I hate it when someone steals my thunder (great minds think alike, Ramirez!  . I was going to make a post about those real-world, but incredibly rare, Platimun Family minerals. Iridium and Osmium, in particular, are pretty incredible substances. But, they're so rare and hard to refine that getting enough to make anything out of them is rather...problematic. That said, though, they'd be right at home in a fantastic setting like DF. Unfortunately, the best resource I had about the metals in that group is gone, the new edition of McCreight's Complete Metalsmith doesn't have the nifty-keen section on the rarer members of the platinum family. If you wiki a bit you'll find all the relevant information, just not in such a user-friendly form. I was trying to noodle a way to get SMALL quantities from Platinum in-game, but it looks like Sean is way ahead of me.

Some things definitely do NOT need to be added though...beryllium bronze and cadmium plating (at forging temperature) are horribly toxic, and we don't want a bunch of heavy-metal poisoned dwarves falling into the magma pit.

Rochndil, sometime blacksmith, jeweler, and DF-fan!

Greetings!

I think a compiled mod pack (or a series of mutually-compatible mod modules) is an excellent idea. I intend to take this for a spin on my next game. I do have one question and one suggestion.

Question: In the item_stoneweapon.txt file, I noticed that the "name" for the stone club is bow:bows - is this intentional?

Suggestion: While you've done a very good write-up for the modpack both here and at DFFD, I would suggest including that same text in the mod archive as a readme.txt. A distributed file WILL get separated from its documentation sooner or later, and including it in the file archive will help keep the necessary information available to the end-user longer.

Thanks again to all the contributors!

Rochndil, DF addict.