Support for virtual mods

Some time ago @Nystul-the-Magician raised the need to simplify mod testing and use debuggers during mod development and came up with this solution:

/*  
*   used for debugging
*   howto debug:
*       -) add a dummy GameObject to DaggerfallUnityGame scene
*       -) attach this script (_startupMod) as component
*       -) deactivate mod in mod list (since dummy gameobject will start up mod)
*       -) attach debugger and set breakpoint to one of the mod's cs files and debug
*/
void Awake()
{
     initMod();
}

The issue is that mod functionalities like settings, loading resources or localization are not functional during debug. So i decided to further develop the idea with a concept of “virtual mod”, which relies on a folder inside Assets/Game/Mods instead of an assetbundle when running inside the Editor. This is a pratical example:

public class Test : MonoBehaviour
{
    static Mod mod;

    [Invoke(StateManager.StateTypes.Start)]
    private void Init(InitParams initParams)
    {
        mod = initParams.Mod;
        var go = new GameObject(mod.Title);
        go.AddComponent<Test>();
    }

    private void Awake()
    {
#if UNITY_EDITOR
        if (mod == null)
            mod = new Mod("Test/Test.dfmod.json");
#endif

        mod.IsReady = true;
    }

    private void Start()
    {
        var settings = mod.GetSettings();
        int number = settings.GetValue<int>("Configuration", "Number");

        var texture = mod.GetAsset<Texture2D>("Example_Tex");
        var shader = mod.GetAsset<Shader>("NewUnlitShader");
        var material = mod.GetAsset<Material>("Example_Material");
    }
}

All the code is shared for both testing and releases because the Mod class instance handles loading assets from assetbundle, if running from a released mod, or Assets/Game/Mods/Test/Resources/ if running from a virtual debug mod environment. Ideally, this means you can write and test a mod with the same comfort of writing core code, and only build an assetbundle for release.

I published this to a separate branch for testing and get some opinions 😃

[Nystul-the-Magician]

will have to test this out the next time I touch my mods 😉

[AsesinoBlade]

hi all, I finally got around to testing how this works, and can confirm that I have it working now. It is quite slick, just drop the mod builder dfmod.json file into assets\game\mods and the mod shows up in mods. Nicely Done!! I can now debug my mod scripts!

thanks again for the very fast responses. A