Cetric's mod request page - hosted by a modding idiot (me)

Dear Engineers!
I confess to mother church Keen Software House and the assembled Congregation: I am a modding idiot. I can't do things by creating mods. I can only pray to the Saints and Cardinals, be they Honorary or Designated by our Vatikan here, to do things for me and us upon my most humble request, as a faithful believer in the Holy Spirit working wonders in you, so you may find a solution which stays otherwise inaccessible to me .
What this thread is all about, now and in all future unto the end of all days, Amen!

​

--- Automerge ---
CHAPTER ONE - The Book of Empty Ceilings

My first request is about a gap in ceilings, like in between ceiling arc blocks as shown here. I fact it sounds easy to my modding idiot ears - basically only the plain thin wall placed on top instead of the sides of a grid.

Here is an example situation:



I used stone beams to indicate the borders of the spaces in between those ceiling blocks. The mod request part would fill out perfectly in and create a three block wide arc ceiling.
So a closed floor would be created. Right, one could place complete stone blocks on top but that would mean a whole height level wasted.



So with inserted thin wall parts turned to top side of the grid, those floors shown here would be closed. In the past, I used to fill such gaps with assembled stone beams, but because texture is different, it looks like makeshift.

 

I'm interesting
Send me a mp if you want!

 

What do you mean by 'mp'? Multi-Prayers??

(You discovered your balustrade mod on the picture?)

 

Yeah !! Really nice, and major update coming soon

Oh sorry MP is in French, in English it's PM, Private Message !!

 

message privat?or something along those lines?

 

Hey, I wrote up a quick guide to aid people with modding, you'll find the link in my signature. It's not complete yet, but I'm going to take a few weeks to explain how to mod every item in Medieval Engineers, in one complete guide. It'll teach someone with zero experience to be a pro

So essentially the block you're asking for is really simple. If it was was an odd angle, then we'ed have to use multi-block code, and that's a hassle.

How would you go about it? I'ed say make a 3 x 1 x 1 dimension block, by importing the vanilla "cube block". You can edit that imported fbx to be shaped 3 x 1 x 1. Then just edit away to make it look like an arch, then when you're done, add a texture to it.

Then code? That's honestly the easy part, the guide I linked below will explain a lot of the terms.

 

Thanks for the encouragement. Unfortunately, my time to knee into the mysteries of programming, coding, modding are limited by having to do a living in my profession. So I like to spend my spare time in the game and I wonder what will be left of that if I study modding instead? You guys are so talented, meantime, you like the challenge. And I like to inspire some competition by describing my problems here which need attention by some modding genius to get solved. And then we see if the idea finds interest in people in the know.
Maybe I will dare follow your invitation and try to understand the thing. However, I am lacking the ambition to compete with you guys who can do better.

 

Dont think of it as a competition, we're all working together to make Medieval Engineer's a better game while the devs focus on core content

Every mod published makes the game have more content, so go ahead and give it a try if you're up for the challenge. Honestly, the toughest part is motivation, the actual modding is the easy part. But with a good support group, you'll be motivated to keep working. If you ever have questions on how to mod something, I'm more then happy to assist you. If you're serious about getting into modding, I will help you

 

CHAPTER TWO - The Damsel in distress

Your favorite modding idiot (me) wants to make public some thoughts he had about one possible goal of the game, or multiplayer game option (while he is oblivious of the multiplayer pleasures). It's somehow similar to the 'capture the flag' sort of thing, but should be more intriguing by a few factors.
How's about adding a Queen/Countess/Dame to the game who represents the partner or wife of your character and needs to be defended against barbarians, raiders, multiplayer opponents?

(1) What is a 'Damsel in distress'?

Basically a lady always in trouble, often threatened by some villain, who has not yet discovered the wonders of feminism and fully depends on a knight (ingame: engineer) to rescue her from perill. Of course you guys like to be useful and become the savior for a pretty girl. It is much what chivalry is all about. And most classic literature, movies and now games contain plots which include satisfying our romantic needs of saving girls from... things. And of course the hero earns her gratitude. If she isn't a capricious bitch, though.


Frank Bernard Dicksee: 'Chivalry' (1885)
- a multiplayer scene of the future, I suppose. Some raider dared kidnap your bride and now you are paying your respects to the griefer.


John Everett Millais: 'The Knight Errand' (1870)
- some barbarian has tied her to the tree, you found her and now we are gonna discuss who switched off the alarm system at home while you were wood-chopping in the forest? Fortunately you always have your 30kg plate armor with you when woodchopping!


John William Waterhouse: 'Ophelia' (1905)
- it does not need always barbarians and multiplayer raiders, your wife may also just act unreasonable and run off the place or get lost, and you have to retrieve her.

(2) Developing the idea

Alright, those Prerafaelite paintings aren't exactly medieval, but they perfectly deal with romantic ideas (in a time when industrialization made people look back on other eras in a more favorable way) about middle ages and fit well for illustrating the topic.
So my idea for modders or future vanilla development would be a NPC styled as an aristocrat lady who tends to stay around your castle/home/claim block or accompanies you sometimes. The game mechanics has to add value to this NPC, if you don't value her for herself, you brute!
Now she could be catched, as indicated above, by either barbarians (for single players) or multiplayers or both (!) - and taken away to some hideout.
So it is no static object like in a 'capture the flag' concept, but movable. We need to define a value for her, maybe depending on the number of blocks you had built your realm with (more structures, more value for the lady -> baroness -> countess -> duchess -> queen!), and on new planet maps, according to number of squares on the map under your rule.
So either you have to pay ranson to get her back (and there must be some privilege connected with her being home, so it is more desirable, except of the personal love interest simulated, of course) or you free her by force. Battle. Siege. Whatever.
As an independent person, she may just be in the mood for playing hide and seek with you, or she is angry with you for bringing home nothing but mushrooms for dinner during last 100 playing hours, - so she could run away and you have to seek her for bringing her home again.
--
I imagine in multiplayer it could also be entertaining if one player takes over the role of the damsel in distress. And if that player is your reallife partner, it adds to the spice, doesn't it?

 

"favourite modding idiot" lol

 

Yes, I sure did find my niche here.
--
Appendix to CHAPTER TWO, The Damsel in distress

Your trusted wife/bride/mistress at home may have a significance as her presence in your buildings (while you are away on duties) prevents them from detoriating. That means, if she is lost or kidnapped, you have a disadvantage because repairs are sooner to cope with. Why this? Let's say the woman as traditional (switch off your modern age brain about gender equality) keeper of the house is seeing after all is kept in good order while you are out there on the job. She is dusting off your sword and putting everywhere useless little needlework decorations with kitschy design, hearts, unicorns and bright, too bright eye-hurting colors... it drives you mad but anyway you will sadly miss it once it is gone. So that makes it more important to keep your female companion right there where she belongs. And kidnapping her is a weapon for your adversaries.
So, engineer-knight, see that you get her back once she is stolen! You know you will miss something!

 

I really like the idea of this! Though currently Ai Behavior is unsupported so I cant program the NPC to behave uniquely. In the future keen plans on updating bots.

Though if bots where updated and could be modded fully, I would deffinitly do something simaler. Instead of a damsel, I'ed make a wife/husband mod. Doing simaler features you layed out.

Infact, I could probably modify the doggy mod behavior code to simulate a "Companion" who would be with you for your adventures. Possibly use stockpile area code to set up a "Stay Home" command where the NPC roams around the designated "house" area.

Furthermore, I can make the NPC equip different items for different situations. Possibly have he/she wave when you get close to it. I can also set voice and sound commands too!


I can additionally use the Male/Female character model for the companion.



Not exactly everything you asked, but possibly some things I could do/mod now...

 

Thanks, Master Coggernaut. No hurry here, if we need time to implement that complex feature, I am the last one to apply pressure for fast results. I am convinced the 'damsel in distress' could become something unique in the world of computer games which will draw people to ME, also it meets some concerns I read about lacking longtime motivation of some gamers (while I am sure they also put aside a millions-dollars-project-shooter which is done in 10 hours and never played twice because of single track events and they don't complain about it), as the girl you'd need to watch over and defend adds several new aspects: besides the claim block another symbol of your rule, but harder to defend because she is moving + role playing spice as it is your bride + dynamics as it opens various strategies on side of raiders and the defending engineer-knight-husband.
What you, Master Coggernaut, mentioned about the bots currently taken off the game by our Honorable Cardinals at Holy KEEN Church of Engineers for rework - that is in fact an advantage. If our beloved vatican likes my idea about the 'damsel in distress' (and I did not differ between mod or vanilla implementation on purpose), they are welcome to take into account behavioral routines as described in my concept and may consider them in the new programming of NPC's. So now is the right time window to make proposals like this here. Later, when NPC's would already be reworked and finished, the initiative to include my idea might be less welcome, as it could not be combined with ongoing work or even make it obsolete (don't know, I am no programmer).
--
Well, let me close with another annotation to CHAPTER TWO, 'The Damsel in distress':

Your companion, the lady in your home and your virtual life, isn't immortal. You also have to take care of her life (like your own). Raiders may not kidnap her but kill her. Though we need to provide a strong reason for preferring the kidnapping, because just killiing would be too simple and
somewhat counterproductive for tension and dramatization of events. So there has to be an advantage granted to the raiders for not killing the damsel (Programming should prevent barbarians from killing her, though), just taking her with them in captivity. Maybe she is of value by cooking for them meals which are far better in nutrition content than meals they prepare by themselves? (Think of yourself only able to open a can of Ravioli while your girlfriend can prepare whole dishes which make your mouth water...) Hm, we have to leave out other aspects of her 'value' to kidnappers, because this is supposed to be a game for all ages. Or there would be a prestige points system which gets boosted if you temporarily 'own' the damsel of another engineer? Could we create an offline prestige ranking for engineers taking part in such olympics? - There the killing of a damsel would have to mean a substantial loss of prestige! Just to make sure people behave accordingly, no griefing encouraged.
Now what if it happens and she is dead, what then? I propose she would not be simply replaced by another one, but the player would have to pay a price as 'dowry' at his claim block just as he is paying taxes to some distant king. Of course a much higher price than simple taxes. He would have to save for some time to bring enough payment to the claim block and get a new bride. Meanwhile he sure will notice the disadvantages of no bride/wife/mistress present - he needs to see after detoriation and do more repairs as he would have to do when she is present in his home. And the meals are weaker in nutrition value.
--
Another use for the damsel is, you could invite her to do the collecting of food ingredients while you do the heavy work (mining, woodcutting). If you have Coggernaut's doggy companion, you could order the dog to watch over your damsel, so you have a chance when you hear the barking as alarm signal to rush to her and rescue her before barbarians or raiders put hands on her. That makes a good team of you, the girl and the dog.

 

Thanks for the attention. I am relieved censorship still works as well as in 1870 in regard of disturbing nudity. To help you, I put some black boxes over all places possibly considered dangerous to morale and put back the picture in a G-rated, Disneypark-compatible version. Thank you.

 

CHAPTER THREE - The book of mice and more useful animals for medieval farming pleasures

Today your favorite modding fool (me) came across a post which complained about disappearing plants in his garden. Alas! That is no wonder! God has sent us vermin and pest to devour our hands' fruits! Among them nasty mice who are good for nothing else than amusing your cat or inspiring cartoon authors of later centuries!


So what I am proposing is the implementation of animals to MEDIEVAL ENGINEERS, after we have learned so far of the existence of deer (with and without red noses) and a companion dog (mod by Master Coggernaut). Obviously the deer is good for hunting but cannot be domesticated. And it is fine this way. The companion dog may fulfill a number of tasks, he is really a universal attribution. I will tell in a minute.
--
As long as we don't have NPC peasants who later may occur and be assigned for all labor, you (the Lord and engineer in one person) have to do all the labor yourself. I think in the agricultural field we have a splendid variety by now, thanks to our developers. I may ask for wine production but that is just a luxury plus. However, wine would be a good high-value trade item for paying taxes for your claims. And it is indispensable for parties with other engineers you are allied to, with a little social booze.
I want to talk about another category of medieval farming, and that is about farm animals.

For game mechanics, such domesticated animals which have multi-purpose make the most sense. Other then the deer, which is only good for meat (and bones, if you have Stori3d PastProductions chess mod where you craft figures out of bones). Farm animals could be:
# Cattle - good for towing wagons, plow and other farming machinery. When circulating can drive a millstone and other slow motion devices, like lifts. May give milk, cheese and butter after procession. When butchered, gives meat and leather.


Wine, cheese, butter, leather - all fine materials for trading with other engineers or paying taxes.

# Sheep - besides meat and leather, they are prosperous farm attribution because of their habit of growing wool on them! You have already a weaving device in vanilla. Use the same for making garments, carpets and warm blankets for your bed out of wool. Just like tools, they will get worn out over time and need to be replaced. Sheep is a good reason for adding a new function to the 'companion dog', he may be ordered to keep them together in a herd and defend the herd against barbarians who like to steal lambs for their dinner. The dog can also defend your gardens against mice eating your precious salad ingredients by being ordered to watch over the place. When a mouse shows up, the dog will chase the mouse.



# Poultry - Add much farming atmosphere to your settlement. They are good for eggs, meat, feathers (should become material for arrows).



Later, when we have human NPCs working for you, and possibly there is a morale system for them, you reach the highest satisfaction in your population by providing in your settlement as many variations in nutrition (not just one meat sort) as possible.
--
At the beginning, you would find wild animals in the landscape which you have to catch (nets? trapping?) first and bring home into a confinement, a shed, a corral so they don't run off. Your dog helps you keep them where they belong. Unlike the plants, you would have to keep at least two animals of one species (we assume they are always male-female-couples) for having spawn "new" animals of same sort among them, but at much slower reproduction rate than we see in the world of plants. So this makes you think twice before you butcher your animals, as you will have more value from them when they are alive and kept well. Our existing plants/seedbags could serve as food for animals if they don't find it by themselves in nature (sheep or cattle on a corral will simply eat grass, but if you have them in a barn, you need to feed them manually).
--
Now that looks like life in full bloom, doesn't it? And your 'damsel in distress' can do some work, too, while she is not in distress.
With such variety maybe not all players will build and entertain all kinds of agriculture and lifestock keeping, so this opens a good reason for trading among them in safe places (in multiplayer), like the 'neutral market towns' we mentioned somewhere in the forum.

 

CHAPTER FOUR - The Book of Good Night's Sleep

So we have a day and night circle in awesome vanilla Medieval Engineers. That is good for optics, but what is the practical use? Nothing, so far, besides indicating the plants in your world have had grown a fresh generation.
Let's put some sense into night in terms of game mechanics. I am aware this what I will propose is again so substantial a change that it is more applicable to a future vanilla game development than to modding. I put my ideas all into one thread, so I have them all in one place; who is going to use them I leave to you guys, devs or modders.



Back to sleep: I think we should implement the need to recover for the engineer. There is already a bar we could use for this: the stamina bar. Up to now you seldom reduce it into low levels in power, unless you eat pumpkins or strike hard for a very long time with your tool. In one word: the stamina bar is neglectable most of the time. I propose to use it instead for simulating 'tiredness'. Like before, agitation and work drains the ex-stamina, now tiredness bar, but *NOT* for instant restoration after the source of powerloss is removed. And it drains on a slow pace during the day anyway, if you stay completely inactive or not. However, hard work increases the need for sleep.



And your tiredness bar refreshes the best during nighttime in your world. You could also chose to sleep during daytime, but it will happen against your 'inner clock' and provide not the same effect. If something happens while you sleep, you get a wakeup call by the game, in multiplayer that could be a siege party coming in, or a barbarian visit. This allows also a new siege technique: robbing the defender of his sleep by constant attacking at night time, so he gets weaker in defense. Simulates starving the garrison or depriving them of water access and is therefore historical. What could be the counter-strategy? Cooperation. You call your allies to help you and while one organizes the defense, the other can recover while sleeping. So it requires a sort of guard shift system to stay on the scene. Same goes for the attacker side.

Beds we already have in the game. With this game dev idea, they would become more important. And once you have also the 'damsel in distress' idea realized, there will be:


"Just another kiss!" - "No, I need to go to work!"
(1400 AD)

 

Interesting concept. However, how do you want the night to progress for the player himself. What is he going to do while his character is asleep?

 

Thanks for asking, I had forgotten to write about this aspect. I think the moment when you put your engineer to sleep, you activate a time lapse. You define the time you want to wake up like you would set an alarm clock (what you will be hearing is the rooster, not a bell sound). In case nothing happens during the night (attackers... barbarians... collapsing building), you sleep through and at the appointed time (for example at sun rise) your rooster cries and game returns to normal speed for your day activities.
As I said, if you love the nocturnal ME world, just work at night and activate 'sleep mode' during day, but it won't do you good so much. The game has to reward you for following the natural circles of day and night. By giving you better recovering during night sleeping.

 

You forget 1 aspect right now.... This is only feasible when playing offline, or when everybody goes to bed at the same instant.... In sibgleplayer this will work indeed, however multiplayer would not have any benefit of this, even worse, multiplayer would need to have a completely different system. If it was night at the same time all around the workd, then yes, you could do this. But since its not, online would need to remain at the old system.
--- Automerge ---
For offline i agree, its a neat concept, saves lots of time for those who cant see the within the darkness

 

No, I don't think so. The game in multiplayer has one day-night-circle set up for all players, right? No matter where on the real world they are located. So this problem, different time zones of participating players, is consistent in *any* multiplayer session they do. My idea is not touched by that.
The argument you bring in would only be valid if every player in multiplayer would have another time zone as well *inside* the game. That would mean as many suns wandering over the sky as there are players involved. that's nonsense.

 

I think you missed my point. If 1 person wants to sleep, yet the other players dont, he would be put into the future, or have nothing to do for a long time.
Hope this clears up a little.
(im looking at this through game design eyes atm)

 

As I said, when anything hostile is happening in his claim during his sleep, he would receive an alarming wake-up call. Could be different one than the sunrise rooster call, maybe bells being rung. Unless he has an allied buddy taking over his shift so he can continue to sleep, while the ally deals with the threat. For combined defense efforts, the buddy would have to wake him up manually.

 

And since were talking multiplayer, you cant make time desynchronize between clients. Meaning everyone should sleep at the same time, or someone sleeps and has nothing to do.

 

Ed Frost is right,

You'ed need a different system, one that works multiplayer and all players on the same time. I propose a different system, where you "log off" in your bed... Like rust. But more-so optional, and is more of a look rather then a game mechanic.


The current respawn mechanics are fine, and need little improvement. Though having a "sleeping" mechanic while offline on multiplayer servers would be like the Cyro Pods. Which are something keen knows how to program via space engineers

 

thank you

 

Well, maybe it's pretty obvious: I have my complete game experience and interaction from singleplayer mode. I just read about 'griefers' who destroy stuff while the owners of claims are absent in multiplayer. So I guess best would be if a claim would stay not attackable as long as the owner is not logged in *OR* in asleep mode, but the latter would exclude that interesting tactic I was thinking about - depriving someone of his sleep for weakening and finally defeating him. Everybody else on that map could battle each other as they see fit. Again, this has more to do with ME general gameplay, it does not start with my idea of a sleeping function being implemented.
My emphasis was on the player getting tired over the day, under work stress even more so, and having to rest in bed for regaining power for the next day. As in real life.
Things which concern strictly multiplayer issues I need to depend on the Holy Experts for that playing category.

 

and thats where i am looking at. i agree, in offline play, this is a feasible option. however, it doesnt make sense for keen to create a mechanic just to use it in singleplayer/offline play. it would be more of a waste of time. since it doesnt work well for people in online play.
this is kind of what i meant at me looking at it through game designer eyes. for my study i have been making games, currently working on nr 7, so trust me on this part.

 

Note: CHAPTER ONE - The Book of Empty Ceilings has been fulfilled by divine creation, I have a flat ceiling part for closing such gaps in my repertoire.
--
Now that we go naval, thanks to Peaceman's great mod about water, ocean, lakes and move on them by sails, my next generation mod requests are about timber and plank parts which could produce really nice ships and boats. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1503751972

CHAPTER FIVE - The Book of Naval Architecture

What is needed for beautiful vessels on the waterways? Curved parts to build a hull which is less resistant to water flow and also less painful to the esthetic's eye.
Both timbers and lean planks, which are bent, are needed for crafting fine boats and ships. Lesser bent for bigger hulls and curved to a higher degree for smaller hulls.




They still look bulky, those Kogges and Hules, if you compare them with the age of sail beauties of later centuries. But they serve their purpose.
Our sawmill is perfect for crafting curved timber pieces and planks of various diameters to fit into different sizes of ship and boat hulls.
Some rudder variations would be fine as well. The wheel Peaceman included in his mod isn't exactly medieval but became popular later.
And of course oars would make sense, as you see in this graphic galley types of the mediterranean sea were mostly rowed which also allows to direct the vessel.
--
Sub-wishes:
(1) Bouyancy does exist in the mod. Now how to let the game know when a ship has lost bouyancy due to leakening? Logic says we need a possibility to sink ships once they fill up with water or are too heavy. Maybe a script can determine floating ability and loss of it? Which triggers sinking?
(2) Barbarian type which spawns on waters with their ships. They would either try to attack and board your ship upon sight, or land at coastal settlements and try to loot and burn them. Viking raids confirmed! Now that is very medieval...
--
Boats and ships can get integrated in the food chain of our game, by providing fishing and whale hunting (this is even part of the mod already). I think for multiplayer they are also interesting, for traveling long distance to another island or shore with much less pain than pulling carts by yourself, for trading from port to port, and of course naval battles.
--- Automerge ---
People start already creating floating ships, based on the water mod. However... with only straight wooden parts, they appear bulky and very much 'minecraft'-alike. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1507901935

 

check out the mod that allows you to adjust the length of Diagonal Timbers, with this smaller angles are doable and much better ship design, see

Medieval Engineers> Workshop > C3ntron's Workshop

29 ratings
Diagonal Timbers 1x1 to 10x10 for 0.6.x (NOW ALSO FOR SURVIVAL)

https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198106095836/myworkshopfiles/?appid=333950

>>> imho this makes timber design much better, easier

>>> idea: have pre built HULLS as a mod, where you construct the huge base of the ship in a single piece? the wonderful illustration above makes me wish for a HULL blueprint...