Custom tech.. Spawn monsters, items etc in multiplayer

If you go here https://gist.github.com/jordoh/7864154 you can see a (partial) list of functions that are available to us through LUA scripting. You can do things like spawnMonsters, spawnItems and much more all from within the game. It's all very interesting.. but how can you actually call these functions and have them work serverside when in multiplayer? If that interests you then keep reading..

We'll begin by creating a new mod (set it all up, I presume you know how) and then copy over the entire "/tech/" folder from your unpacked assets folder. Now find and open up the freshly copied over "blink.lua" in your text editor.

Within the "blink.lua" code locate this:

Code:

function input(args)
  if args.moves["special"] == 1 then
    return "blink"
  end

  return nil
end

..And change it to this:

Code:

function input(args)
  local currentPosition = tech.position() -- Gets your chars position that we can use later
  if args.moves["special"] == 1 then
    return "blink"
  end
  if args.moves["special"] == 2 then
    -- your code here
  end
  if args.moves["special"] == 3 then
    -- more of your code here
  end
  return nil
end

Now, special 1,2 and 3 all correspond to particular keybindings from within the game, 1 is "F", 2 is "G" and 3 is "H" by default. So literally any time you press one of these letters AND you have the tech active (blink in this case) your custom code will run in the game. You can of course change all of these keybindings if you want by locating and then editing the "starbound.config" file which resides within the main starbound directory.

The reason I chose for you to edit the blink.lua file first is because it has no secondary or tertiary specials so you won't be messing anything up it's just completely additonal however I suspect that you can just create a brand new custom tech and apply this same principle, I'd expect it to work although I haven't personally tried it.

Okay well. That is it. Now you know how to call functions from within the game. All that is left is to show you some examples. These are very simple examples, you can expand upon them and come up with even more, this really is only a tiny proportion of what you can do and there are many functions and options I'm still yet to discover..

Spawn a monster and apply some options (find more monster options within .monstertype files)

Code:

world.spawnMonster("glitchknight", { currentPosition[1] - 15, currentPosition[2] + 10 }, { level = 1, scale = 2 } )

Spawn random guns / swords

Code:

world.spawnItem("generatedgun", { currentPosition[1] - 10, currentPosition[2] + 10 }, 1, { level = 5} )
world.spawnItem("generatedsword", { currentPosition[1] - 10, currentPosition[2] + 10 }, 1, { level = 5} )

Rain pixels

Code:

world.spawnItem("money", { currentPosition[1] - 5, currentPosition[2] + 10 }, 12345)
world.spawnItem("money", { currentPosition[1] + 0, currentPosition[2] + 10 }, 12345)
world.spawnItem("money", { currentPosition[1] + 5, currentPosition[2] + 10 }, 12345)

Place a single block somewhere (whats cool about this is that you could potentially draw stuff by placing many of them in a coherent pattern using different materials and what not)

Code:

world.placeMaterial({ currentPosition[1], currentPosition[2] + 10 }, "foreground", "crystalblock")
world.placeMaterial({ currentPosition[1], currentPosition[2] + 11 }, "background", "rainbowwoodblock")

Warp from your current position or to any absolute position

Code:

tech.setPosition({ currentPosition[1], currentPosition[2] + 3 })
tech.setPosition({ 123, 123 })

Warp in the direction you are walking (press up/down/left/right and then tap F, G or H depending upon where you put the code)

Code:

if args.moves["up"] then
  tech.setPosition({ currentPosition[1], currentPosition[2] + 3 })
elseif args.moves["down"] then
  tech.setPosition({ currentPosition[1], currentPosition[2] - 3 })
elseif args.moves["left"] then
  tech.setPosition({ currentPosition[1] - 3, currentPosition[2] })
elseif args.moves["right"] then
  tech.setPosition({ currentPosition[1] + 3, currentPosition[2] })
end

Spawn an NPC

Code:

world.spawnNpc({ currentPosition[1], currentPosition[2] + 10 }, "human", "villager", 1, 0, {})

Find the closest npc to you, make it talk and then jump (find more npc functions in the scripts/api/npchooks.lua file)

Code:

local npcId = world.npcQuery(tech.position(), 100)
world.callScriptedEntity(npcId[1], "entity.say", "Test 123.. Jump!")
world.callScriptedEntity(npcId[1], "entity.jump", "")

As a final example this is what you could put within blink.lua:

Code:

function input(args)
  local currentPosition = tech.position()
  if args.moves["special"] == 1 then
    return "blink"
  end
  if args.moves["special"] == 2 then
    world.spawnItem("diamonddrill", { currentPosition[1] - 10, currentPosition[2] + 10 }, 1)
  end
  if args.moves["special"] == 3 then
    world.spawnNpc({ currentPosition[1], currentPosition[2] + 10 }, "floran", "bandit", 6, 0, { damageTeam = 2 })
  end
  return nil
end

Note: If you find that it's not working remember that well administered servers can and do disable users from calling some of these functions on their home planet so try them off world or locally first.

 

Hmm, does that mean that tech is ever connected with player? So when you get the position from tech it is the same position as from player, and that moving one also moves the other?

 

Yes AFAIK that's correct. I've tested blink, booster, skyrail and morphball. All of their tech positions are exactly equal to the players position. However tech is different to player, if you run the code

Code:

tech.setVisible(false)

it will only make the worn tech item (if applicable) and any of the effects dissapear, it won't effect the player.

 

How would one go about applying status effects to monsters spawned? I'm trying to make mobs that deal certain damagetypes when they spawn, but it isn't working.

Code:

  if args.moves["special"] == 3 then
    world.spawnMonster("smallbiped", { currentPosition[1] - 15, currentPosition[2] + 10 }, { level = 1, scale = 1 }, {statusEffects = "testburning" } )
  end

 

could a file be uploaded like it all there ready to go?

 

hehe!

 

Ahem. One does not simply put all kinds of crap in input(). If you want to have cleaner code, try something like this:

Code:

function input(args)
  -- You do NOT need to store the current position in an unnecessary variable. tech.position() checks for your position in the world at the exact moment it's called.
  if args.moves["special"] == 1 then
    return "blink"
  end
  if args.moves["special"] == 2 then
    return "spawnDiamondDrill"
  end
  if args.moves["special"] == 3 then
    return "spawnNpc"
  end
  -- nil is automatically returned in any Lua function without return lines at the end
end

And there's your input() function.

Now for update(). Put your actual code after blink's code in the function, like this:

Code:

function update(args)
  if args.actions["blink"] then
    -- run whatever code runs when you blink
  end
  if args.actions["spawnDiamondDrill"] then
    world.spawnItem("diamonddrill", { currentPosition[1] - 10, currentPosition[2] + 10 }, 1)
  end
  if args.actions["spawnNpc"] then
    world.spawnNpc({ currentPosition[1], currentPosition[2] + 10 }, "floran", "bandit", 6, 0, { damageTeam = 2 })
  end
end

And there you have it!

 

what do i use for the lua coding?

plz reply

ty

 

You mean like... What do you open the files with? Any old text editing program works just fine. Notepad++ works well for most. It is an advanced text editor. It can color-code and stuff like that.
You could also find a LUA-specific editor, if you want to. It might help with some LUA-specific functions/utilities that a text editor could never do.

However, you don't need any specific tools to write LUA code. You can just as easily write them in a regular Notepad document or anything else.

It's actually good habit to do this anyway.
There are two reasons:
1. Better transitioning into other programming languages that do not automatically return values for you.
2. You don't always want to return nil on an end-case, so never using it may lead you to forget it when you actually want it.

 

ty

 

how do we set up a mod?[DOUBLEPOST=1420692825][/DOUBLEPOST]are there any non-download alternatives to notepad++ that work like notepad++

 

Personally I love this text editor more than Notepad++:
http://www.sublimetext.com/

It can be used for a limitless evaluation time, it has a portable version for WIndows platforms, and, even if I'm just arrived in the Starbound Mod area, I've just found some good plugin for LUA.
For example:
https://packagecontrol.io/packages/Lua Love

 

Not helpful at all.