Quick And Dirty Modding Guide :: Voxel Turf Modding

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SnapperTheTwig [developer] 12 Sep, 2017 @ 9:28pm

Quick And Dirty Modding Guide

Hi everyone,

I still haven't published my comprehensive modding guide, but hopefully this should help you get off the ground.

First of all, there are demo mods already available on the Steam Workshop. You should take a look at these first.

File Structure & Overrides

You can create a mod by placing files that mimic the directory structure of the game in the mod directory. The game will load these files in preference to the the normal ones.

So to create a mod called "TestMod" that replaces /textures/blocks/tex0.tga, create a file called tex0.tga (or .png or .jpg for textures) and place it in /mods/TestMod/textures/blocks/tex0.tga. Done!

A notable exception is .lua files which will not be replaced. Instead you will have to inject your code. See some of the examples on the workshop. Also note that the server has "--strictlua" set to on, but the client has it set to off. This means that if the server hits a lua error it'll shutdown and log the error in your logs directory. The client will not shutdown.

Adding new Buildings - Lotpacks

You can make your own buildings and save them as templates but these are only available to you.

The idea behind LotPacks is that you can bundle heaps of buildings together in one easy package that can be grabbed off the workshop. LotPacks don't change your game's checksum so you can play in multiplayer with players that have different LotPacks installed. You can only use buildings that are installed on the server though.

The game comes with a LotPack already - vanilla, and can be found in /lots/packs/vanilla. A pack consists of a text file with definitions and a directory full of .lot files.

To generate a .lot file stand in the lot you want to save and enter:
/lot save DIR FILENAME
where DIR is the current facing of the lot (N,S,E,W)
For example:
/lot save n test
Will create a test.lot in your lots/ directory

You can also use lots created from saved templates!
Go into /lots/template/player<your steamId32>/ and there is already a .lot file and a text file with the lines you need to copy into a definition file!

Uploading to Steam Workshop

Smack your mod into the /mods/upload directory and edit upload.txt. Then run Voxel Turf from Steam, this will upload the mod on startup.

Last edited by SnapperTheTwig; 27 Sep, 2017 @ 12:10am

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Showing 1-15 of 17 comments

Xorberax

20 Sep, 2017 @ 8:21pm

Thanks for this guide!

SnapperTheTwig [developer] 20 Sep, 2017 @ 8:22pm

Also be sure to check out the modding channel in the discord for help and live debugging

Xorberax

20 Sep, 2017 @ 8:37pm

Originally posted by SnapperTheTwig:
Also be sure to check out the modding channel in the discord for help and live debugging

I think it would be beneficial to add the Discord link to the main post ;)

bi204-1

21 Sep, 2017 @ 9:19pm

Originally posted by SnapperTheTwig:

Uploading to Steam Workshop
Smack your mod into the /mods/upload directory and edit upload.txt. Then run vtclient.exe, this will upload the mod on startup.

Um I'm sorry, but I don't know what "vtclient.exe" is. Also, shouldn't we copy the original upload text file in case we make a mistake when we try to upload and don't know how to fix it?

I just finished creating my first house, and I would like to share it with other people on steam, but I'm still not sure how to do that, since I don't know how to access "vtclient.exe."

SnapperTheTwig [developer] 21 Sep, 2017 @ 9:22pm

vtclient.exe is the main executable for the game. Just run voxel turf from steam and it'll upload.

bi204-1

21 Sep, 2017 @ 9:42pm

Originally posted by SnapperTheTwig:
vtclient.exe is the main executable for the game. Just run voxel turf from steam and it'll upload.

Okay, I'll try that. Thanks.

bi204-1

21 Sep, 2017 @ 10:57pm

SnapperTheTwig,

Sorry agian, but I just tried what you suggested, but whenever I try to upload it, it ends up setting it to private, even through I told it to be public. The description for the lot also does not show up on the workshop page and when I tried to install it in my game to test it out to see if it worked, it would not download.

SnapperTheTwig [developer] 22 Sep, 2017 @ 1:08am

No worries. I will make a proper GUI for this as people are having trouble with it. In the meantime, consider dropping in to the discord, then we can debug this live

https://discord.gg/UDV6qGj

bi204-1

22 Sep, 2017 @ 7:35am

Originally posted by SnapperTheTwig:
No worries. I will make a proper GUI for this as people are having trouble with it. In the meantime, consider dropping in to the discord, then we can debug this live

https://discord.gg/UDV6qGj

Thanks. You really should be able to come up with a better way to do this.

bi204-1

25 Sep, 2017 @ 7:55pm

SnapperTheTwig,

I have another question for you. How do you completly delete a lot pack? I finished creating my first building awhile back only to notice that part of it was outside of the lot, and thus didn't get placed down when I bought it to place on my maps. It was missing a piece of the fence becouse I had placed it outside of the lot. I fixed the mistake and renamed it. However for some bizzare reason the older version of the house, with the mistake keeps appearing on procedularly generated maps in my games for some reason. I don't know why since I remember deleting the older version. How do I get the older version with the mistake out of my game completely?

#10

SnapperTheTwig [developer] 25 Sep, 2017 @ 8:06pm

If its not in your:
/lots/packs folder
/mods/lots/packs folder
<Steam Workshop Folder>/404530/lots/packs folder

It shouldn't load. Did you put it on steam then subscribe to it?

Last edited by SnapperTheTwig; 25 Sep, 2017 @ 8:13pm

#11

bi204-1

25 Sep, 2017 @ 8:08pm

Originally posted by SnapperTheTwig:
If its not in your:
/lots/packs folder
/mods/lots/packs folder
<Steam Workshop Folder>/404530/lots/packs folder

It shouldn't load.

Okay. I'll see if its in any of those places. I remember deleting it from my lots pack folder, so it must be somewhere else. Thanks for your help. I'll see if I can find it now and get rid of it.

#12

bi204-1

25 Sep, 2017 @ 8:15pm

Originally posted by SnapperTheTwig:

Bad news, I checked all of those places, and it doesn't appear to be there, but for some reason it is still loading, and I don't know why.

#13

SnapperTheTwig [developer] 25 Sep, 2017 @ 8:19pm

Originally posted by bi204-1:
Originally posted by SnapperTheTwig:
Bad news, I checked all of those places, and it doesn't appear to be there, but for some reason it is still loading, and I don't know why.

Is it a template lot? It'll be in the lots/template folder, with two versions: one in the all folder, and one in the player(Your UID) folder

#14

bi204-1

25 Sep, 2017 @ 9:01pm

Originally posted by SnapperTheTwig:
Originally posted by bi204-1:
Bad news, I checked all of those places, and it doesn't appear to be there, but for some reason it is still loading, and I don't know why.

Is it a template lot? It'll be in the lots/template folder, with two versions: one in the all folder, and one in the player(Your UID) folder

Here's the really weird thing, its not. However, I tried repairing the integraty of the game. Hopefully that will work.

#15

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Voxel Turf > Modding > Topic Details

Date Posted: 12 Sep, 2017 @ 9:28pm

Posts: 17