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Author Topic: Metal Creation Issues  (Read 674 times)

HFS Victim

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Metal Creation Issues
« on: June 03, 2013, 05:52:26 pm »

I'm relatively new at Dwarf Fortress; I've only fought one megabeast so far and am 50 dwarves away from a metropolis.
I wanted to try my hand at modding; I had a vision for a grand tower constructed of ever-warm Fire Metal, a caged dragon in a room made of the stuff (which is dragonfire-safe), a military decked out in fiery orange armor, and a broody monarch sitting on a Fire Throne.

Needless to say, I ran into problems.

I've managed to make the substance appear in the smelter menu, and it can be added as a task; but it doesn't appear to ever be made, cannot be designated in stockpiles, doesn't appear in the status screen and doesn't appear on the metalsmithing screen.

I'd like it to have all of the functions of bronze. Here are the raws I've managed to make so far.

Metal itself:
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

The associated reaction:
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Help would be much appreciated as this is my first mod.
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Hugo_The_Dwarf

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Re: Metal Creation Issues
« Reply #1 on: June 03, 2013, 06:02:05 pm »

saddly new entries need a new world.
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scamtank

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Re: Metal Creation Issues
« Reply #2 on: June 03, 2013, 06:04:39 pm »

"GEM" in the reagent definition refers to large gems. What you're probably looking for is ROUGH or SMALLGEM depending which way you want to swing with it.

e: Oh! You're missing a tag, I believe. Try sticking [INORGANIC:FLAME_COPPER] right above the USE_MATERIAL_TEMPLATE thing.
« Last Edit: June 03, 2013, 06:09:27 pm by scamtank »
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Brilliand

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Re: Metal Creation Issues
« Reply #3 on: June 03, 2013, 06:08:16 pm »

Edit an existing metal that you don't care about (say, bismuth).  You can change all of its properties, including the name, without needing to gen a new world - just don't change its ID.

I think the raws in the OP are actually wrong, though.  The raws for bismuth open with [INORGANIC:BISMUTH], so I think your metal would need to be [INORGANIC:<whatever>].
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smakemupagus

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Re: Metal Creation Issues
« Reply #4 on: June 03, 2013, 06:14:33 pm »

Not all vanilla workshops accept custom reactions, so you need to check whether or not the smelter is one of them.

Also, missing [INORGANIC:FLAME_COPPER] tag, as others have said.  This is what defines the name of the material you're working on ... without it you're not opening a new material definition, but rather overwriting the properties of whatever material came above it in the file.

the tag you have used [OBJECT:INORGANIC] goes once, above all the inorganic materials you're defining in a particular file.

HFS Victim

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Re: Metal Creation Issues
« Reply #5 on: June 03, 2013, 08:26:12 pm »

Quote
Not all vanilla workshops accept custom reactions, so you need to check whether or not the smelter is one of them.

Also, missing [INORGANIC:FLAME_COPPER] tag, as others have said.  This is what defines the name of the material you're working on ... without it you're not opening a new material definition, but rather overwriting the properties of whatever material came above it in the file.
Posted by: Brilliand
« on: Today at 06:08:16 pm »

Quote
I think the raws in the OP are actually wrong, though.  The raws for bismuth open with [INORGANIC:BISMUTH], so I think your metal would need to be [INORGANIC:<whatever>].
Posted by: scamtank
« on: Today at 06:04:39 pm »

Quote
"GEM" in the reagent definition refers to large gems. What you're probably looking for is ROUGH or SMALLGEM depending which way you want to swing with it.

e: Oh! You're missing a tag, I believe. Try sticking [INORGANIC:FLAME_COPPER] right above the USE_MATERIAL_TEMPLATE thing.

So I did what was suggested and fixed the errors, but even though it now gives me crafting options in the metalsmithing screen, and the reaction consumes its reagents and can be queued, nothing is produced. I think I might do what smakemupagus suggested and try to make a custom workshop to deal with this error. Any ideas?
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scamtank

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Re: Metal Creation Issues
« Reply #6 on: June 03, 2013, 08:49:26 pm »

The smelter should accept new metal recipes just fine. Check errorlog.txt in the root directory, it usually throws up text if stuff isn't all spic-and-span.

I also noticed another thing in the metal definition: the color tokens are off. The scale goes only from 0-7. ..._COLOR:4:0:1] produces bright red on black, for instance. Check this for proper usage. Dunno if that's enough to throw it off, but it's a thought.
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laularukyrumo

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Re: Metal Creation Issues
« Reply #7 on: June 03, 2013, 09:46:22 pm »

You didn't mention genning a new world. You need to do that if you added an entirely new line to the PERMITTED REACTIONS, as opposed to repurposing nickel silver or lay pewter or something like that.

Also, regarding the Color scale... It's actually untrue that it "only goes" to 0-7. If you overflow past 7 (IE values 8-15), it'll run through the cycle again, but it'll treat the color as if it had the Brightness flag set to 1. This is how you get brightness flag on BG colors. You can, in fact, type in 15 as a value for color, and it will appear as bright white.
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HFS Victim

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Re: Metal Creation Issues
« Reply #8 on: June 03, 2013, 09:50:12 pm »

Quote
You didn't mention genning a new world. You need to do that if you added an entirely new line to the PERMITTED REACTIONS, as opposed to repurposing nickel silver or lay pewter or something like that.
I did edit permitted reactions and gen a new world, but I think I've found the problem.
I created some Flame Copper weapons in the Arena and they immediately exploded upon spawn.
Looking through the raws for a reason for the metal's immediate evaporation, I found THIS:

  [SPEC_HEAT:1000]
   [MELTING_POINT:50000]
   [BOILING_POINT:75000]
   [MAT_FIXED_TEMP:10050]

The metal boiled away, but the fixed temperature is lower than the boiling point...Hmm.
Tips?

In regards to color, I'm more concerned with getting the material in-game and then dealing with the appearance. Really any shade of bright orangish-red would work.
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Reelya

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Re: Metal Creation Issues
« Reply #9 on: June 04, 2013, 01:54:05 am »

I recommend copying in the definition for bronze itself, then change one line at a time until it acts / looks like you want. That's generally a much faster way to prototype new materials, start by cloning an existing substance, then tweak it and test each change.

Brilliand

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Re: Metal Creation Issues
« Reply #10 on: June 04, 2013, 03:16:10 am »

The metal boiled away, but the fixed temperature is lower than the boiling point...Hmm.
Tips?

Use DFHack to check the material properties of the object the same tick it's created (before it boils)?  You might find something strange that you could then find an explanation for.
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The blood of our enemies is but a symbol.  The true domain of Armok is magma - mountain's blood.

laularukyrumo

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Re: Metal Creation Issues
« Reply #11 on: June 04, 2013, 05:38:35 am »

Hahaha. Your boiling point. THAT'S the problem.

Certain integers can overflow. Others... cannot. 60,000 is the upper bound on temperature in DF... any "hotter" and you wrap around to 0. So while it MELTS at 50K, it boils at far, far, far, far, FAR below absolute zero. Set boiling point to 57500 and see if that fixes it.
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Quote from: Dwarfotaur
Everytime one of my militia has given birth in the Danger Room, it's lead to instant baby smoothies for everyone.

Gotta Catch 'Em All!

Dat Sig Thread

HFS Victim

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Re: Metal Creation Issues
« Reply #12 on: June 06, 2013, 12:34:46 am »

Many thanks to all that helped. The problem is resolved and this section of the mod is done.
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