ModAPI Changes

Hey guys, we've been hard at work on the ModAPI and I wanted to give you a preview of the upcoming changes. These changes aren't being released this week, but you'll have them Soon™ You have these changes right now!

First off, massive thanks to Phoenix84 and Malware for all of their hard work <3

In no particular order:

IMyShipController now has TryGetPlanetPosition and TryGetPlanetElevation. The latter lets you select the distance to 'sea level' or distance to the actual surface. Obviously they only work on planets. These methods are available in the programmable block

IMyEntities.
GetTopMostEntitiesInSphere and GetTopMostEntitiesInBox. These methods are much faster than GetEntitiesInSphere, as they only return top-level entities. For instance, if you scan in the middle of a ship, you'd only get back the grid entity, instead of a list of every single block in the sphere.

Programmable block can now modify settings in the conveyor sorter.

IMyCubeBlock now has a SlimBlock property so you can quickly switch between the two.

In the voxel storage (IMyStorage), there are now two methods which accept delegates: PinAndExecute (overloaded)
PinAndExecute will pin the voxel storage (so it doesn't close out from underneath you) and execute the supplied method.
The storage will automatically be unpinned for cleanup (if necessary) when the supplied method returns.

Also there's a Closed property added, so the voxel storage can be checked to see if it's still valid (not needed inside a pinned action).

The gravity generator is now fully moddable. In the definition you can specify limits for the gravity range and strength.

System.Diagnostics.Stopwatch has been added to the ModAPI whitelist (not available for progammable block).

And GUI access. In MyAPIGateway you'll find a new IMyGui interface. Here's the contents of it

Code:

public enum MyTerminalPageEnum
{
  None = -2,
  Properties = -1,
  Inventory = 0,
  ControlPanel = 1,
  Production = 2,
  Info = 3,
  Factions = 4,
  Gps = 6,
}

public interface IMyGui
{
  /// <summary>
  /// Event triggered on gui control created.
  /// </summary>
  event Action<object> GuiControlCreated;

  /// <summary>
  /// Event triggered on gui control removed.
  /// </summary>
  event Action<object> GuiControlRemoved;

  /// <summary>
  /// Gets the name of the currently open GUI screen.
  /// </summary>
  string ActiveGamePlayScreen { get; }

  /// <summary>
  /// Gets the entity the player is currently interacting with.
  /// </summary>
  IMyEntity InteractedEntity { get; }

  /// <summary>
  /// Gets an enum describing the currently open GUI screen.
  /// </summary>
  MyTerminalPageEnum GetCurrentScreen { get; }

  /// <summary>
  /// Checks if the chat entry box is visible.
  /// </summary>
  bool ChatEntryVisible { get; }
}

In addition to that, MyCubeBuilder.CubeBuilderState.CurrentBlockDefinition and MyHud.BlockInfo have been re-added to the mod whitelist, so Digi's mods can work again

This is just the first batch of changes, we've got a lot more to come!

 

nice to see additions to the API

 

good one.

but we have InteractedEntity, and no callback when it changes or interaction happens?

 

Thank you.
This will make fixing orbital code much easier. No more dynamic adjustment, now I can code in the right thrust off the bat. And get accurate readings.

 

Can some one update the list for all the blocks? All the one I've seen are outdated.

 

(Maybe not so) Stupid questions:
As usual these Entity-functions are returning all entities including e.g. voxels and floating objects, not only grids ?
If an object consists of more than one grid (rotor, piston) the entities of all grids (inside the sphere/box) will be returned, right ?
If GetTopMostEntitiesInBox goes through an asteroid, the asteroid entity will be returned ? I remember that all the existing methods searching entities in a "box"/"AABB" didn't work well.

 

After staying up to 1 am. It lands, it takes off, it does not overshoot target and can even do suicide landings. Thank you keen. Now I need to clean up the code and figure out the math of how it works.

 

Hello people
What is "voxel storage" ?

 

Haha, and I had just get done with my launch/land autopilot.... using gravity gradients since I couldn't get elevation

Guess this makes the code a lot simpler!

 

If you need the MaxEffectiveThrust for Atmo/Ion there is a work around till that method makes it in.

 

oh doh I forgot to put the workaround here.

Code:

            //for (int i = 0; i < thrusters.Count; ++i) normalThrust += thrusters[i].MaxEffectiveThrust;
            for (int i=0; i<thrusters.Count; ++i) {
                if (thrusters[i].GetValueFloat("Override") > 1.0001){
                    normalThrust += thrusters[i].CurrentThrust * 100 / thrusters[i].GetValueFloat("Override");
                }
            }

Work around is 0.001% accurate to MaxEffectiveThrust as long as override is greater than 1.0001

 

any ETA till PBs have access to CoM?

 

No