Suggestions for Efficient Mod Making Please?

[Manxellion]

Hey I'm new here and I'm new to making mods for Minecraft (currently using the forge 1.6.4 because 1.7.2 confuses me). Don't worry about the Java stuff, I know how to code. Anyway I'd like to ask you guys for tips, suggestions, and anything else for efficient mod making.

 

Right now I'm really concerned in making my code clean and my mod lightweight. So far I've compiled a list of things I wanna ask (will add future questions here):

 

1. How and where do you guys (especially for experienced people) instantiate your blocks, items, and entities? I make my own package and classes for them (like net.manxellion.modname.blocks and in the package there's a MyOwnBlock class). I'm wondering though where is a really good and efficient place to instantiate them? (partially answered)

 

2. With relation to the previous question (number 1), where do you suggest I do the GameRegister(), LanguageRegistry(), and so on, be done? I've tried to make a separate class with a void method that will do all the registering. However, it crashes Minecraft (gives me a alc_cleanup: 1 device not closed). So I'm assuming I did something really terrible. I generally dislike the idea of having to put all the registering methods in the mod's preInit, Load, and postInit methods. (ANSWERED)

 

3. Suggestions for ID names for blocks, items, entities, and what not? I know Minecraft will auto assign IDs when you compile the code but I'd like to optimize it. (partially answered)[/b]

 

4. What's a good practice for world generation? I've never really tried it yet but I've been reading/skimming through tutorials and I feel like the mod(s) I'm gonna make will require my own world (with ore generation and stuff). (partially answered)[/b]

 

-----------------------------

So far that's it for now. I'll be editing this post if I'll add more questions.

 

If a question has been answered (In a sense I'm satisfied with the answers given), I'll switch the question's font to Italics and change the color to Green to signify other people to skip it.

[Manxellion]

reserved

[Manxellion]

reserved

[Draco18s]

Personally I do registration right in my mod's main class file.

 

Keep the static references there too (though I experimented with each block/item holding its own reference, as I'd seen someone else do, but I decided that there was no advantage to that).

 

Did make my main class extremely large, but as things are broken out into sections (config, instanciation, registration, recipes) it's not difficult to navigate.

 

As for the LanguageRegistry, don't use it.  It's much much better to use language files.  You just create a text file called en_US.lang inside your /assets/lang directory.  Then add translations like so:

this.to.translate=translate this

 

Bam.  Done.

[Manxellion]

I know that 1.7.2 we have to use .lang, but does it work in 1.6.4 as well? I've seen some code of other mods and I've noticed a good number of them don't even do the declarations in the main class file. It left me hanging and confused.

 

Oh yeah, off topic question: How do you get the Italics and font colors to work here on this forum? Hahaha

[Manxellion]

I also learned that some of people do all the registering in the proxy.init() or proxy.registerRenderers().

[Draco18s]

I know that 1.7.2 we have to use .lang, but does it work in 1.6.4 as well?

 

Yes.  I'm doing it with a 1.6.2 mod.

 

Oh yeah, off topic question: How do you get the Italics and font colors to work here on this forum? Hahaha

 

It's standard BBCode.  [i ], [b ], etc.  Only without a space.

 

There's also a toolbar if you do a full reply instead of a quick reply.

[WorldsEnder]

A Proxy is an object that gets injected by forge and is different on client and server side. So many modders may consider this as it is a "safe" way to distinguish server and client side.

Things like renderers don't belong on the server side so the server-side proxy would just do nothing when the registration function for renderers is called. This way there is nothing messy in your code, the only thing that bothered me is that I don't like reflection (the way the proxy is injected).

[Mecblader]

I have separate classes for my Game Reg and Language Reg. Basically I have separate classes for alot of stuff because I don't like having alot of code in my main mod class. 

[Opinion]

Pros: Every thing is cleaner and complected Item, Blocks, and Features are easier to program and easy to find stuff.

Cons: It takes more time to make simple things like regular blocks and Items that have nothing special because you need to go to all these different classes to so different things.

 

I have my mod setup like this (Note I am still in early development so it is not really clean yet):

 

Main Mod Class:

package mod.name.mod;

/**
* Mod
* 
* Mod
* 
* @author name
* @license Lesser GNU Public License v3 (http://www.gnu.org/licenses/lgpl.html)
* 
*/
@Mod(modid = Reference.MOD_ID, name = Reference.MOD_NAME, version = Reference.VERSION)
@NetworkMod(clientSideRequired = true, serverSideRequired = false)

public class mod {

@Instance(Reference.MOD_ID)
public static mod instance;


@SidedProxy(clientSide = Reference.CLIENT_PROXY_CLASS, serverSide = Reference.SERVER_PROXY_CLASS)
public static CommonProxy proxy;
public static IDHandler RCconfigidhandler;
public static BlockInitializer RCblockinitializer;
public static BlockRegistry BlockReg;
public static LanguageRegistry LanguageReg;
EventManager eventmanager = new EventManager();


    /***
     * This is code that is executed prior to your mod being initialized into of Minecraft
     * Examples of code that could be run here;
     * 
     * Initializing your items/blocks (you must do this here)
     * Setting up your own custom logger for writing log data to
     * Loading your language translations for your mod (if your mod has translations for other languages)
     * Registering your mod's key bindings and sounds
     * 
     * @param event The Forge ModLoader pre-initialization event
     */
@EventHandler
    public void preInit(FMLPreInitializationEvent event) {

	RCIDHandler.RegConfigIDs(event);
	new EnumModToolMaterial();
	new BlockInitializer();
	new ItemInitializer();
	new EventInitializer();
    }   
    /***
     * This is code that is executed when your mod is being initialized in Minecraft
     * Examples of code that could be run here;
     * 
     * Registering your GUI Handler
     * Registering your different event listeners
     * Registering your different tile entities
     * Adding in any recipes you have 
     * 
     * @param event The Forge ModLoader initialization event
     */
@EventHandler
public void init(FMLInitializationEvent event) {

	BlockRegistry.BlockReg();
	LanguageRegistry.LanguageReg();
	GameRegistry.registerWorldGenerator(eventmanager);
	GameRegistry.registerPlayerTracker(PlayerTrackerHandler.instance);
	NetworkRegistry.instance().registerGuiHandler(this, new GuiHandler());
}
    	
    /***
     * This is code that is executed after all mods are initialized in Minecraft
     * This is a good place to execute code that interacts with other mods (ie, loads an addon module
     * of your mod if you find a particular mod).
     * 
     * @param event The Forge ModLoader post-initialization event
     */
    @EventHandler
    public void postInit(FMLPostInitializationEvent event) {
    	proxy.registerRenderInformation();
    	proxy.initSounds();
    }
    
    public Mod() {}

}

 

Block Registry:

 

package mod.name.mod.handlers;

import mod.name.mod.block.yourBlock;
import cpw.mods.fml.common.registry.GameRegistry;

public class BlockRegistry {

public static void BlockReg()

{                                                  
}
}

Language Registry:

package mod.name.mod.handlers;

public class LanguageRegistry {

public static void LanguageReg()
{	
}
}

 

Message me if you want me to show how I setup some of my other classes, if you like my setup.

[Draco18s]

But you don't need a LanguageRegistry at all ;_;

[Mecblader]

I just keep one just for the sake of having it. I have many of my projects setup this way and I am just too lazy to get rid of the Language Registry. Is there a benefit of getting rid of the Language Registry?

[GotoLink]

1. When i have a lot of things, I wrap Block and Item, and register references into my own Map, keys being unlocalized names.

 

2. Registry things either in the constructor for the object, or in its wrapper constructor. Agreed with Draco18s, LanguageRegistry is deprecated since 1.6.

 

3. Minecraft doesn't do this in 1.6.4. The common method would be to use Forge Configuration class to get configurable (and free) block/item ids. No need to worry about this for entities, as long as you use EntityRegistry, and not EntityList or "uniqueid" things.

 

4. Use the world random reference to use the world seed, but don't change it.

Perform checks before generating.

Limit TileEntity generation.

Don't reinvent the wheel, Minecraft already has a lot of useable generators, especially for ores.

[larsgerrits]

I just keep one just for the sake of having it. I have many of my projects setup this way and I am just too lazy to get rid of the Language Registry. Is there a benefit of getting rid of the Language Registry?

It's easier to add more languages to your mod.

[starwarsmace]

Personally I do registration right in my mod's main class file.

 

Keep the static references there too (though I experimented with each block/item holding its own reference, as I'd seen someone else do, but I decided that there was no advantage to that).

 

Did make my main class extremely large, but as things are broken out into sections (config, instanciation, registration, recipes) it's not difficult to navigate.

 

As for the LanguageRegistry, don't use it.  It's much much better to use language files.  You just create a text file called en_US.lang inside your /assets/lang directory.  Then add translations like so:

this.to.translate=translate this

 

Bam.  Done.

 

Is there something better about language files?

 

Edit: Sorry didnt see Mecblader's post on this question.

 

Edit 2: Is there anything else about lang files that is benficial besides you can have more languages?

[Draco18s]

Edit 2: Is there anything else about lang files that is benficial besides you can have more languages?

 

Easier to maintain.  You don't need to recompile to make changes.

[starwarsmace]

Edit 2: Is there anything else about lang files that is benficial besides you can have more languages?

 

Easier to maintain.  You don't need to recompile to make changes.

 

I guess I should make one for my mod. So all I have to do for an item is:

 

item.[item].name=[item name]

 

And then for blocks I do:

 

title.[block].name=[block name]

 

Is that right?

Also do I have to name my entities?

[Manxellion]

I have separate classes for my Game Reg and Language Reg. Basically I have separate classes for alot of stuff because I don't like having alot of code in my main mod class. 

[Opinion]

Pros: Every thing is cleaner and complected Item, Blocks, and Features are easier to program and easy to find stuff.

Cons: It takes more time to make simple things like regular blocks and Items that have nothing special because you need to go to all these different classes to so different things.

 

I have my mod setup like this (Note I am still in early development so it is not really clean yet)

 

Message me if you want me to show how I setup some of my other classes, if you like my setup.

 

I tried making a class to register a block for me. When I ran the project, Minecraft crashed and it gave me a "device not closed error". What did I do wrong?

[Manxellion]

Edit 2: Is there anything else about lang files that is benficial besides you can have more languages?

 

Easier to maintain.  You don't need to recompile to make changes.

 

Is there a tutorial I can read through about how to implement .langs to my mod?

[Manxellion]

1. When i have a lot of things, I wrap Block and Item, and register references into my own Map, keys being unlocalized names.

 

2. Registry things either in the constructor for the object, or in its wrapper constructor. Agreed with Draco18s, LanguageRegistry is deprecated since 1.6.

 

3. Minecraft doesn't do this in 1.6.4. The common method would be to use Forge Configuration class to get configurable (and free) block/item ids. No need to worry about this for entities, as long as you use EntityRegistry, and not EntityList or "uniqueid" things.

 

4. Use the world random reference to use the world seed, but don't change it.

Perform checks before generating.

Limit TileEntity generation.

Don't reinvent the wheel, Minecraft already has a lot of useable generators, especially for ores.

 

1. Do you declare a separate class to contain the mapping code?

 

2. Oh you can register stuff from the constructor? I tried making void methods to initialize construction and it crashed my Minecraft. I might even start learning how to use the .lang

 

3. Any tips on general ID naming convention? I've skimmed through some code and saw that some people create a constant (let's say 500 for blocks, 1000 for items, and 2000 for entities). When they register the thing, they do registerMethod(params, params, params, constantBlockId++).

 

4. I try referencing though I'm still getting the hang out of modding. I'm kinda worried I'll have to dig through tons of deobfuscated methods (which scares the crap out of me).

[Draco18s]

Is there a tutorial I can read through about how to implement .langs to my mod?

 

My entire post on it WAS a tutorial.  It's that freaking simple.  Or see below.

 

I guess I should make one for my mod. So all I have to do for an item is:

 

item.[item].name=[item name]

 

And then for blocks I do:

 

title.[block].name=[block name]

 

Is that right?

Also do I have to name my entities?

 

Yes, that's right.  And yes, you do.

[Manxellion]

Ah shoot my aplogies. Thank you.

[Manxellion]

Thanks to everyone who's replied! My code is going well and it looks pretty clean imo. Still learning and getting the hang of using .langs and using configs (So generally when you use config, you create a config? Correct me if I'm wrong.)

[Draco18s]

You should set defaults in your config, yes.  Forge handles a lot of that for you with its Configuration class, as it requires a default value, but you don't have to worry about file IO yourself.

[starwarsmace]

Is there a tutorial I can read through about how to implement .langs to my mod?

 

My entire post on it WAS a tutorial.  It's that freaking simple.  Or see below.

 

I guess I should make one for my mod. So all I have to do for an item is:

 

item.[item].name=[item name]

 

And then for blocks I do:

 

title.[block].name=[block name]

 

Is that right?

Also do I have to name my entities?

 

Yes, that's right.  And yes, you do.

 

Ok thanks for the lang tutorial.

[sequituri]

I would point out for the benefit of those trying this code...

The .lang file contains tags like:

tile.blockname.name=Block Display Name

 

The previous posts used "title" not "tile", please note the difference.