mod unique names

[Chancebozey]

I see that you've added a mod unique name parameter to register blocks. Will we be able to reference blocks this way? This would be great. I would like to see mod unique names for most things including biomes. I could reference other mods content this way without needing to worry about the ID.  IDs can change and names of blocks, items, biomes... etc. are sometimes the same between mods so this would really help.

[Emasher]

The problem with referencing modded biomes individually like that is there's just too many of them now to really cover everything between EBXL, AS#B, Biomes O Plenty, and a few others (and without getting into details, I can say that with the next version of AS#B there's going to be a potential for way more than there are now). Blocks are a little different, as you'd likely be looking for something more specific, for instance, trying to reference something like RP2 marble for some sort of world generation structure. A tag based system for biomes is a much better solution, as it would allow a mod author to simply do something to all "Forest" biomes for instance, without having to know anything about the specific biomes in different mods. I've been working on such a system, which has mainly just become an API for AS#B  at this point, but it would be nice to have something like that in Forge where it it would actually be used.

[Chancebozey]

Thank you for your suggestion.

 

The problem with your idea is that not every forest biome is the same. Just look at the diversity in EBXL and BiomesO'Plenty biomes.  I look at the biome and then determine if it suits my mob's original purpose. As for having to write a lot of code, once you do the initial legwork you would only have to update the list slightly after that. Having callable/referable mod specific names simplifies mod compatibility down to simple null checks. No APIs needed. I use biome and block names now in a class I wrote to allow my entities and structures to spawn in the many EBXL and BiomesO'Plenty biomes. Since a few blocks and biomes share the same names I really could use mod unique naming. The display names would stay the same but a callable modid.name idea for registering biomes, blocks and such would uniquely identity them as separate. 

You could probably add a generalization as you suggest but the mod unique naming really should be incorporated as you simply cannot generalize such diversity in content for all. 

[Emasher]

You're right. A combination would probably work best just for those who want a little bit more control of what they're doing. Although, I still think something more general is needed to really solve the problem of mod authors ignoring non-vanilla biomes. I see what you mean about having some forest biomes for instance being vastly different from others, the majority of them are still similar enough that world generation and mobs spawning in one should most likely spawn in the other as well.

 

At the very least, you've convinced me to add an API to AS#B that allows for access to specific biomes in the mean time.

[Chancebozey]

The Reptile mod author http://www.minecraftforum.net/topic/585469-147forge-crackedeggs-mods-reptiles-parachute-walkingdead/page__hl__%20reptiles__st__0 had done something similar to what you propose. He uses rainfall, temperature etc.. descriptors in the BiomeGenBase class to determine suitable biomes for spawning. What is lacking is biome type descriptors as you would suggest using. Maybe you could convince the Forge developers to add some into the BiomeGenBase class. I dont think it would require alot of changes but I would think it best to give them clear outline of what you would expect it to accomplish and what parameters would be incorporated.

 

Edit: Just to clarify, what I mean when I say it would probably not require much coding by the Forge team to incorporate is that it does not change a biomes function in any way it would just be a descriptor for said group of biomes. Each biome would then need an associated destriptor assigned to it in the BiomeGenBase list.

[Emasher]

The fact that it's such a simple solution is why I suggested it in the first place. Quite a few mods now, Forestry and EBXL being some of the most well known ones, are already using biome properties to classify biomes, but standardizing the way biomes are classified within forge would cause a lot more mods to take advantage of it. Especially as we start to see more mods adding biomes, and more modders wanting to make their mods work with them. Now that I've added support for user made biomes in AS#B, it might be hard to keep up otherwise .