L&S - New game mode that forces specific mods/terrain

[Cervator]

This is for expanding Light & Shadow the module into a game mode and relates primarily to the "Choose type of game" option on the create world screen

• Allow a game type selection to force certain modules to be mandatory (akin to how "Core Gameplay" cannot be disabled). Difference between current "Survival" and "Free style" is minimal ..
• Allow a game type to force the selection of a specific entry in the "Choose Map Generator" drop-down and lock the selection
• Fancy (Optional) - Change the game type drop-down to include support for dynamic entries scanned from modules (and flag the L&S module in this fashion). This would ultimately include the mandatory map gen / mod selection.

While it would be nice to add support for including dynamic game modes in modules that can come later if needed and we can hard code the L&S entry for now.

The new game mode should force the use of custom L&S Tree (#542), Flora (#544), and Chunk generator (#564 - likely based on a heightmap chunk gen using a specific heightmap)

[cmfcmf]

"Choose type of game" option on the create world screen

Allow a game type selection to force certain modules to be mandatory (akin to how "Core Gameplay" cannot be disabled).

This would be quite cool indeed, because I'm a bit overwhelmed by the many mods and don't know exactly which mods to enable to get a Minecraft-like feeling.

[immortius]

Automatic inclusion of dependencies is a feature of the module system - so
ultimately selecting a gametype would select its module and all its
dependencies. Directly selecting modules should later disappear.

The current game type support is not a good platform for further
development though.

[Cervator]

@immortius - True on the current game type and effort, I was a little worried about that.

Initial thought on the mandatory mods for the game type was before I really thought of the impact of the module defining the game type - since then yeah the mod itself can just declare dependencies. The added work here could just be disabling the "mods" button with the new game type selected, or you could enable more mods - with the pros and cons that come with that.

[synopia]

I just had a quick look into the relevant code. It really needs some refactorizations. Biggest problem I see is, that mods are loaded when game starts - which makes map generators in mods impossible for now.

But nevertheless I would like to try to improve the UI code, so that this issue should be solved easily. But I cant give any time or date for when this will be happen. Maybe coming weekend.. depends a bit on the work that the pathfinder will give to me ;-)

@immortius What do you mean with: "The current game type support is not a good platform for further development though." You may talk to me on irc, if you prefer that ;-)

[Cervator]

@synopia - anything beyond very "bare" content (isolated well in modules) that would integrate well to the multiplayer branch probably should be written against it directly in the first place. A lot of stuff has changed there vs. current state in develop :-)

[synopia]

@ALL: Here my third try, reviews are welcome. Its not ready for PR
synopia@2290e16

[Cervator]

Looks cool :-)

Noted some stuff:

• The "Choose Map Generator" drop-down correctly overlaps the "Play" button but gets hidden by the "Mods" button
• The "Perlin with Setup" generator's "Setup" button appears correctly but doesn't seem to work
• "Flat" becomes the default option - we'll probably want to be able to pick something more entertaining :D
• I don't see any trees? Plenty of grass and stuff though

[Cervator]

Completed by @synopia in #621 - closing!