Hello! As mentioned in the previous post new post, this update features the revised loaders, and most interestingly, the official mod loaders.
This is on the tester's branch first because redoing the asset loading on the back end is a pretty dramatic change. It's one of those things that ideally, people won't notice, because that means it all still works correctly.
The Mod Loaders
Starting with this version, data/asset mods can be created and loaded by putting them into a "Mods" folder located in the game's base directory. There's no UI to indicate loaded mods yet, but something very basic will be coming soon.
To create a mod:
- If it doesn't exist, create a folder names "Mods" (without quotes) in the game's base directory. You can get here by right clicking on the game in Steam -> Manage -> Browse local files.
- Inside the Mods folder, create a new folder with the name of your mod.
- Inside your mod's folder, create a new text file called Mod.json with the following contents
{ "Name": "A-10", "DisplayName": "A-10 Mod", "Description:": "Adds the A-10A", "Assets": [ ] } - Modify the above contents to fit your mod.
- Create a Data folder and then add any JSON files you wish to overwrite or add to the game. The folder structure should mirror the game's own Data folder as found in TinyCombatArena\Arena_Data\StreamingAssets\Data.
- Mod loading can be confirmed by checking the logs which can be found here.
A better version of this with images will be posted separately as a Guide, but this is enough to get started. As stated in the previous news post, the asset bundler still requires some work before it can be released, and it's kind of a weekend side-project to be honest so I'm not willing to give an ETA beyond "soon".
As for Steam Workshop, as I've said before, it's still not in my immediate plans, but I've not ruled it out yet. The work done in this patch would have been one of the steps necessary to support Workshop. It might eventually happen, but no promises, and not soon.
Changelog
New features:
- New mod loading system
- Mods can be loaded on top of each other
- Core game is now a hardcoded "mod" that gets loaded first
Improvements:
- Unified loaders for all JSON data
- Text adjusted to work better at low (800x600) resolutions
Balance:
- AV8B roll rate increased 140 -> 180
JSON:
- In Loadout definitions, "Aircraft" renamed to "Name"
- In Loadout definitions, "Loadout" renamed to "Loadouts"
- "Store" in the Store definition has been removed and made part of the Store definition itself