Starting to Mod difficulty

[Iceburg71]

Ok, I am starting to work on modding, creating my own mods\modlets. I am running into the issue of not being able to find information on specifics for what things do. I can fumble around a figure it out, but it would be nice if there was a reference manual to let people know what things are and what they do.

For example in entityclasses

<property name="Tags" value="entity,animal,zombie,hostile,radiated"/>

what do each of those values do, and if I add one, what must I do in other sections\xml files.

Also like this one:

<property name="ReplaceMaterial0" value="particleeffects/blood"/>

It would be nice to know what ReplaceMaterial0 is and what are the accepted values for it.

Any help on where to find this would be great. the Wiki was a good start, but I didn't see a reference manual out there. Been looking around off and on for a couple days now.

Thanks for anything you can provide or point me to.

 

[Guppycur]

You will not like this answer...

...most of the knowledge comes from changing things to see what you can break and what happens, and as far as I know very little is documented. I will say, pull up xml.txt in the configs folder and give it a good read or three, as well as the comments in the .xml files themselves.

 

[Iceburg71]

ok. So I have been working on a test thing to learn with. pretty basic and someone else has done it, so I can use it for reference.

for EntityClasses.xml I have this:

<configs><append xpath="/entity_classes">

<entity_class name="animalFly" extends="animalZombieVulture">

<property name="Tags" value="entity,animal,hostile"/>

<property name="Radiated" value=""/>

<property name="SizeScale" value="0.06"/>

<property name="SightRange" value="180"/>

<property name="MoveSpeed" value="1.1"/>

<property name="MoveSpeedAggro" value="1.2, 1.1"/>

<property name="MaxTurnSpeed" value="150"/>

<property name="ParticleOnSpawn" value="ParticleEffects/RadiatedParticlesOnMesh" data="SetShapeToMesh0"/>

<property name="ExperienceGain" value="500"/>

<property name="DeadBodyHitPoints" value="80"/>

<effect_group name="Base Effects">

<passive_effect name="HealthMax" operation="base_set" value="3"/>

<passive_effect name="HealthMax" operation="perc_set" value="1"/>

</effect_group>

</entity_class>

</configs>

For EntityGroups I have this:

<configs><!-- Add Fly to AnimalsAll -->

<append xpath="/entitygroups/entitygroup[@name=AnimalsAll]">

<entity name="animalFly" prob="0.05" />

</append>

<!-- Add Fly to ZombieAnimalsGroup -->

<append xpath="/entitygroups/entitygroup[@name=ZombieAnimalsGroup]">

<entity name="animalFly" prob="0.05" />

</append>

<!-- Add Fly to ZombiesAll -->

<append xpath="/entitygroups/entitygroup[@name=ZombiesAll]">

<entity name="animalFly" prob="0.05" />

</append>

<!-- Add Fly to ZombiesNight -->

<append xpath="/entitygroups/entitygroup[@name=ZombiesNight]">

<entity name="animalFly" prob="0.05" />

</append>

<!-- Add Fly to ZombiesWasteland -->

<append xpath="/entitygroups/entitygroup[@name=ZombiesWasteland]">

<entity name="animalFly" prob="0.05" />

</append>

<!-- Add Fly to ZombiesWastelandNight -->

<append xpath="/entitygroups/entitygroup[@name=ZombiesWastelandNight]">

<entity name="animalFly" prob="0.05" />

</append>

<!-- Add Fly to ZombiesWastelandNightNoBears -->

<append xpath="/entitygroups/entitygroup[@name=ZombiesWastelandNightNoBears]">

<entity name="animalFly" prob="0.05" />

</append>

<!-- Add Fly to ZombiesWastelandNight2 -->

<append xpath="/entitygroups/entitygroup[@name=ZombiesWastelandNight2]">

<entity name="animalFly" prob="0.05" />

</append>

<!-- Add Fly to ZombiesWastelandNight2NoBears -->

<append xpath="/entitygroups/entitygroup[@name=ZombiesWastelandNight2NoBears]">

<entity name="animalFly" prob="0.05" />

</append>

<!-- Desert -->

<append xpath="/entitygroups/entitygroup[@name=EnemyAnimalsDesert]">

<entity name="animalFly" prob="0.05" />

</append>

<!-- Forest -->

<append xpath="/entitygroups/entitygroup[@name=EnemyAnimalsForest]">

<entity name="animalFly" prob="0.05" />

</append>

<!-- Snow -->

<append xpath="/entitygroups/entitygroup[@name=EnemyAnimalsSnow]">

<entity name="animalFly" prob="0.05" />

</append>

<!-- Plains -->

<append xpath="/entitygroups/entitygroup[@name=EnemyAnimalsPlains]">

<entity name="animalFly" prob="0.05" />

</append>

<!-- Wasteland -->

<append xpath="/entitygroups/entitygroup[@name=EnemyAnimalsWasteland]">

<entity name="animalFly" prob="0.05" />

</append>

<!-- Burnt Forest -->

<append xpath="/entitygroups/entitygroup[@name=ZombiesBurntForest]">

<entity name="animalFly" prob="0.05" />

</append>

</configs>

What I want is for this thing to spawn in any biome except snow, either day or night, at any time.

This just feels like I am doing too much to do that.

Thanks for any input on how to best do this.