Small Plugin Discussion (Unity version)

Quote from paulevs

1. Will plugins have a system for custom objects?

It depends: The old API only had a system to load custom models (through World3DModel class) and custom items (CustomItem class). It was possible for players to interact with custom models (and plugins could react on this interaction), but other than that, you couldn't make custom models behave like built-in objects (so it wasn't possible to create a custom chair, for example).

Custom items, on the other hand, provided a bit more freedom in this regard, since they could behave like regular tools or melee weapons. Implementing more complex items (like firearms) was a bit difficult though.

For the new API, we have plans to provide an easier way to create custom objects which behave like built-in objects (e.g. custom chairs, beds, chests etc). Same about plants and npcs in the long run.

Quote from paulevs

2. If yes how it will work? Will objects be loaded from some sort of unity assets or it will be possible to load models from formats like OBJ?

You will definitely be able to load obj files, but probably we will also add support for Unity assets/prefabs

Quote from paulevs

3. Will it be possible to construct things in code procedurally or it will require manual model loading?

When talking about procedural construction, do you actually mean an API to create custom meshes (by providing individual vertices and indices)? If there is demand for such a feature, we could implement that

Quote from paulevs

4. Will models have support for different shaders or they will use single shader with different texture maps?

Probably the game will provide a default lit and unlit shader for custom objects/models. Objects will require a single texture, however, we want to implement support for submeshes (so you can have separate textures per submesh). When it comes to custom plants (and other things like items or npcs), the game will probably use the same shader it already uses for built-in elements (so plants support wind and snowiness, for example).

If you provide a Unity asset/prefab, it will probably also be possible to provide custom shaders/materials. However, the game uses Unitys HDRP, so it would be necessary to provide HDRP-compatible shaders in this case. Currently Unity doesn't provide surface shaders for HDRP, and authoring hand-written shaders for HDRP is extremely cumbersome, so the only "smooth" way atm would be to use shader graph.
But this could also introduce compatibility issues: Unitys HDRP is still undergoing lots of changes, so there is always a chance that a newer Unity/HDRP version breaks old shaders/materials. So when providing custom materials/shaders, there is a chance they no longer work in a future RW version... ofc this doesn't happen when just providing raw obj files and textures.

Quote from paulevs

5. Will game automatically store objects data in worlds database or each plugin should implement its own system to store objects?

It depends on how the elements will be loaded: When just loading a custom model, the game doesn't store it persistently, so the plugin would be responsible for storing it in a file or database. However, when creating a custom item/object/plant through the specific API, they will actually be stored in the world database when a player places them in the world, so there is no need for the plugin to implement custom serialization.

When it comes to custom biomes: If a plugin alters the world generation, it will be necessary for the user to keep the plugin installed, otherwise the game will fallback to the default world generation once the plugin gets removed (which could result in messed up chunk borders if a custom world generation was used before). For custom objects or plants, it will also be necessary for the user to keep the plugin installed - otherwise the custom elements won't show up in the world anymore (they're still in the database though, so reinstalling the plugin will bring them back)

tl;dr Yes, when adding custom objects/plants/npcs etc, the game automatically stores them in the world database (when a player places a custom plant or object, or when a custom npc spawns)

Quote from red51

Same about plants and npcs in the long run.

Very cool 👍 I assume there will be animation support.

Quote from red51

create custom meshes (by providing individual vertices and indices)

Sounds hardcore. Very hardcore.

Quote from red51

However, when creating a custom item/object/plant through the specific API, they will actually be stored in the world database when a player places them in the world

I assume by custom item/object/plant you mean the customization of an existing object? Like a sword or pickaxe with a different set of attributes as opposed to an entirely new item that includes a custom object?

Quote from yahwho

Very cool 👍 I assume there will be animation support.

Most likely yes, but it depends on whether or not we add support for Unity assets/prefabs - otherwise we don't have a pipeline to import animations at runtime (unless we add fbx support) I guess there will be support for Unity assets eventually, so we could enable support for Unitys "AnimationClip" (but that would mean you have to prepare them in Unity).

But probably I can say more about that once we've added npcs to the new version

Quote from yahwho

I assume by custom item/object/plant you mean the customization of an existing object? Like a sword or pickaxe with a different set of attributes as opposed to an entirely new item that includes a custom object?

Oh, actually I was refering to adding entirely new items Unlike static models (e.g. models loaded through World3DModel in the Java version), the game would store them persistently and treat them like built-in objects. For example, you could give a custom bed (which could have a custom model and texture) a "bed attribute", define a lying position etc. Similar to how CustomItems worked in the Java version. the player could then craft your custom bed at the workbench, place it in the world and use it (it would just behave like a vanilla object)

Quote from paulevs

Yes, this is about custom vertices & indices handling. This is a very useful thing, especially for natural-looking objects and optimisation (when you can merge meshed into one to reduce render calls)

Does that mean you're mainly looking for an API to modify existing meshes (e.g. loaded through an obj file or a Unity asset), or an API to create entirely new meshes from scratch?

I guess we can definitely add a way to create new procedural meshes Maybe we can also add a way to read data from existing meshes, I'll put this on our to-do list

Support for Unity Assets/Prefabs and FBX files would be really great

Then theoretically I can also work with C#

Quote from Kryssi_79

Support for Unity Assets/Prefabs and FBX files would be really great

Then theoretically I can also work with C#

Well, unfortunately it won't be possible to load custom C# scripts this way We're using IL2CPP, so there is no Mono runtime which could load C# assemblies...

Support for Unity prefabs / asset bundles would only cover models and materials / shaders (which need to be HDRP compatible)

any idea if prefabs will be supported with the initial API release?