Dwarf Fortress Wiki - User contributions [en]

User:Borgin

2011-03-02T22:16:45Z

Borgin:

Currently writing up a DF mod.

40d Talk:Modding guide

2008-08-13T01:12:17Z

Borgin: /* Fireproof Trees? */

[re: Creating separate .txt file for new creatures]

This didn't work well for me. I added a new playable civ (Klackon) to the entity_default file like this page said, and the species (Klackon) in that new civ was located in a new .txt file. Dwarves still showed up, but never my civ. I kept reducing the number of allowable dwarf civs thinking they were just competing for selection, culminating in getting rid of them entirely, ending up in developing a world that had humans and elves only! Oops.

Finally, I added my Klackon creature to the end of the creature_standard file instead of only having them in the creature_klackon.txt file.. Voila! I now have dwarf civs and klackon civs in the same world and actually get a choice between them when I make a fort.

It's very possible that I just messed up something basic when I made the new .txt file to contain the creature definition, but I could still point out that making a new, separate .txt file certainly didn't make things simpler for me, so it's not such great advice for budding modders.

Everything else worked fine though, so thanks, still!
:Have to be sure to add the text files name ( "creature_klackon" without the parenthesis, or brackets) and the line [OBJECT:CREATURE] to tell the game its a creature file. --[[User:Darkone|Darkone]] 18:17, 2 May 2008 (EDT)

== Bad info? ==

So someone added a big notice at the top that suggests there's a fair bit of out-of-date text.. but no mention of what that may be, no links to forum posts, et cetera. Someone want to clue me in on just what, exactly, is no longer relevant? --[[User:Nunix|Nunix]] 15:14, 28 February 2008 (EST)
:I think it's safe to take off the version warning but the examples need to be tested. It would probably be easier to manage if this article was split into smaller, in depth, modding guides. --[[User:Hex Decimal|Hex Decimal]] 23:07, 28 February 2008 (EST)

I would love to see a little more descriptive way of handling the raw files as opposed to simply a slew of examples on things to mod. Perhaps I'm just not spending enough time "tinkering", but it seems that the current article is set up rather poorly. Is that just me? --[[User:Borgin|Borgin]]
[EDIT]
I didn't realize there were complete lists of tokens. Silly me; that sure makes things easier. 1:37, 15 May 2008 (CST)

== Arachnid Tutorial ==

<s>Minor nitpick here, but it apears he forgot to add :5FINGERS:</s> tested it and it works, added it to wiki. as one of its body tags to go with its hands. Also, as a nice additional tutorial, maybe add in this little bit of code to show people how to add joints? --[[User:Darkone|Darkone]] 18:39, 2 May 2008 (EDT)<pre>
[BODY:ARACHNID_JOINTS]
[BP:RUA_J:right shoulder][CON:RUA][JOINT][SMALL][INTERNAL][RIGHT]
[BP:LUA_J:left shoulder][CON:LUA][JOINT][SMALL][INTERNAL][LEFT]
[BP:RLA_J:right elbow][CON:RLA][JOINT][SMALL][INTERNAL][RIGHT]
[BP:LLA_J:left elbow][CON:LLA][JOINT][SMALL][INTERNAL][LEFT]
[BP:RH_J:right wrist][CON:RH][JOINT][SMALL][INTERNAL][RIGHT]
[BP:LH_J:left wrist][CON:LH][JOINT][SMALL][INTERNAL][LEFT]
</pre>

== Dwarven Flight ==

If I add the line [FLIER] to my dwarven civilisation would anything interesting happen? --[[User:AlexFili|AlexFili]] 05:30, 18 June 2008 (EDT)

:No, dwarves will just spam "Task cancelled: dangerous terrain". They will have problems doing anything. --[[User:Someone-else|Someone-else]] 08:09, 18 June 2008 (EDT)

== Fireproof Trees? ==

Is there any means to create a wood material (and corrosponding trees to harvest for it) which will not burn, or at least won't ignite from contact with magma? --[[User:Rakankou|Rakankou]] 00:47, 25 July 2008 (EDT)
:I am no expert but, what if you added the [FIRE_IMMUNE] tag to trees. Do not know if that will work, or if thats even the right tag. [[User:Magikarcher|Magikarcher]] 02:12, 25 July 2008 (EDT)
::[FIREIMMUNE] doesn't seem to work for making a fire safe wood. I think it's a creature token, anyway, so it makes sense that it wouldn't work for materials. --[[User:Rakankou|Rakankou]] 12:27, 25 July 2008 (EDT)
::: It's a creature token so it won't work. However, taken from Adamantine's entry (it is magma-proof):
::::[SPEC_HEAT:7500]
::::[MELTING_POINT:25000]
::::[BOILING_POINT:50000]
:::Hopefully that helps. --[[User:Borgin|Borgin]] 20:11, 12 August 2008

== .txt ==

My word processer won't let me save .txts. Does that matter?
:Yes. A word processor program (like anything from Microsoft Office) will generate all sorts of gibberish in addition to your text. [[User:HeWhoIsPale|HeWhoIsPale]] 11:22, 5 August 2008 (EDT)

== Adventure mode? ==

Do I have to add the tag adventure tier to the dark elves to make them playable in adventure mode? [[User:Yaddy1|Yaddy1]] 16:13, 5 August 2008 (EDT)

40d Talk:Legendary artifact

2008-08-13T01:04:40Z

Borgin: /* Too precious to put down */

==What can become an artifact?==
What are some of the things that dwarfs can make into artifacts? [[User:Diabl0658|Diabl0658]] 03:59, 1 December 2007 (EST)
:Any item that your dwarves can craft and has a quality modifier can be made into artifacts. This includes armor, clothing, weapons, all kinds of crafts, furniture, cut gems and whatnot. Notable exceptions include coins(dunnae have quality modifiers), buildings(aint items) and babies(those rascals!). Bars, blocks, raw glass and other such base materials have no quality modifier and cannot be artifacts. I've never seen or heard about legendary meals, drinks and cloth/thread, so I think they can't be artifacts either. Though dwarves will say that they've eaten a legendary meal, when they've consumed a masterpiece meal. [[User:Noctis|Noctis]] 06:02, 1 December 2007 (EST)
::Ive heard of someone creating a artifact meal and almost having it rot away before getting it into the food stockpile [[User:Diabl0658|Diabl0658]] 11:00, 1 December 2007 (EST)
==Destruction==
On #bay12games, there was some question about artifacts being destroyed by magma. Can anyone confirm or deny this? Also ways to destroy artifacts which aren't listed: Trading, dumping in magma vent (the floorless bottom seems to count as chasm), and dropping a bridge on it. [[User:Rkyeun|Rkyeun]] 02:10, 20 January 2008 (EST)
:I can't imagine anything not made of a [[magma-proof]] base material *not* being destroyed by any significant immersion in magma. --[[User:N9103|Edward]] 20:29, 20 January 2008 (EST)
::And yet because it's an artifact, it may have a special flag that prevents specifically that. Can anyone confirm non-magma-proof artifact destruction in magma? [[User:Rkyeun|Rkyeun]] 11:52, 24 January 2008 (EST)
::Nevermind. I did. Artifact mechanism melted in magma. [[User:Rkyeun|Rkyeun]] 02:34, 16 May 2008 (EDT)

== Furniture ==

All right, so what can I do with a legendary [[lace agate]] [[hatch cover]]?[[User:GarrieIrons|GarrieIrons]] 03:20, 22 January 2008 (EST)
:<s>Same thing as 90% of Artis. Sell it or</s> Build it in a Noble's room. --[[User:N9103|Edward]] 06:04, 28 April 2008 (EDT)
:: Artifacts are not tradeable. --[[User:Koltom|Koltom]] 08:19, 28 April 2008 (EDT)
:::Really... that's weird then since I would swear that I sold a particularly valuable bracelet after killing off it's creator that was otherwise useless... Being that it was a good amount of time ago (possibly even pre-3D) that I actually *tried* to sell an arti, it's quite likely that time has muddled an attempt to sell into a successful sale. I suppose this somewhat nullifies my previous comment, since it's far less than 90% of artis which are buildable. --[[User:N9103|Edward]] 08:46, 28 April 2008 (EDT)

We just endured a rather nasty goblin ambush (I'd built a nice castle but hadn't yet built a real military to go with it, so we huddled inside with the drawbridge up for a whole season while I had my dwarves equip and train a small army to "break out" with) and one of my peasants gave me the nicest present after we cleaned up; a legendary goblin bone door made out of the bones of our fallen enemies. I very much want to use this as our castle's main entrance door now. Does anyone know if an artifact's indestructibility applies to trolls and similar door-wreckers? Oh, I've got magma, so I'll make a copy of the save game and test whether magma can burn through such a thing too. [[User:Bryan Derksen|Bryan Derksen]] 15:30, 5 May 2008 (EDT)
:It's a constructed nonterrain feature, thus it's going to be knocked down by anything that deconstructs constructions. --[[User:GreyMario|GreyMario]] 17:38, 5 May 2008 (EDT)

::Hmph. I'll put it a couple of layers deep inside my fortifications, then. Guests will pass through it but invaders will have to fight pretty hard to get there. I'll just have to be satisfied with my giant electrum drawbridge as a fancy front door. [[User:Bryan Derksen|Bryan Derksen]] 18:10, 5 May 2008 (EDT)

== Artifact menu ==

I seem to recall stumbling across a list of the various legendary artifacts I had created. Can anyone tell me how to get to it again?
:If you're talking about current artifacts in a given fortress, you get a new menu option once you've produced atleast one in that fortress. (lowercase {{k|L}}) --[[User:N9103|Edward]] 21:59, 22 January 2008 (EST)

much better
--[[User:NateAustin|NateAustin]] 17:36, 29 February 2008 (EST)

== Trade ==

Is it possible to trade legendary artifacts? I just got a legendary statue and it currently sitting my furniture storage. I 've tried to get my dwarves to bring it to the depot, but it doesnt show up on the trade list. Is it possible? [[User:Robje|Robje]] 18:09, 12 March 2008 (EDT)
:No, Artifacts are not tradeable. They will not even take them to the depot if they sit in a bin marked for trade. --[[User:Koltom|Koltom]] 08:20, 28 April 2008 (EDT)

== Value ==
The value can be found under the artifact menur "l"
what is the maximum calue you have found on an artifact, mine is platnium high boot for 146400? --[[User:Corhen|Corhen]]
:There is a thread on the forums somewhere with this specific purpose. --[[User:GreyMario|GreyMario]] 17:02, 28 April 2008 (EDT)

== "Finished Goods"-type Artifacts...? ==

I understand the point of furniture artifacts- they can be built and are great for nobles- but what the heck are you supposed to do with artifact rings/amulets/crowns/scepters/et cetera? I'm sitting on over 300,000 value worth of "Finished Goods" artifacts. I guess my dwarves don't like building furniture... --[[User:Borgin|Borgin]]

:You could abandon the fortress and come back in adventure mode. Artifact rings? Too good! --[[User:Marble Dice|Marble Dice]] 11:01, 15 May 2008 (EDT)

:There might be more point to those types if/when artifacts start getting special magical effects. That's probably a long ways off though. --[[User:BahamutZERO|BahamutZERO]] 12:16, 15 May 2008 (EDT)

:But even in Adventure Mode, artifacts (besides weapons/armor) don't have much of a point, right? To be honest, I've never gone through Adventure Mode- ''it lags my laptop''. Sad, I know. But like BahamutZERO said, at least they'll gain some point ''eventually''... And hopefully soon. --[[User:Borgin|Borgin]] 23:46, 15 May 2008 (CST)

::Well you can trade 'em to merchants in Adventure mode, I'd imagine? Maybe not, I've never tried, and I doubt the shops sell anything you'd care about (ie masterpiece steel or adamantine weapons and armor). Still, I think it's fun to walk around wearing an artifact ring or amulet! At least until an archer kills you. --[[User:Marble Dice|Marble Dice]] 02:45, 16 May 2008 (EDT)
:::As far as I can tell, artifact crafts/goblets/etc are used entirely for boosting your fortress created wealth stat. There is rarely a time when a sudden 200k added to that is trivial.--[[User:Dadamh|Dadamh]] 14:36, 30 May 2008 (EDT)

:::Artifact craft items work weird in Adventure mode: you can sell them to a shopkeeper for all their goods and cash, and just pick it back up and walk away without guards jumping you for thievery; you can even re-sell it to the same guy if he has any money left. This is a pretty blatant exploit, though of limited use (coins is heavy!). You cannot, however, fast travel with an artifact you've already sold. But what does a wandering professional spearelf do with a turtle bone crown, anyway? --[[User:Zombiejustice|Zombiejustice]] 21:25, 1 July 2008 (EDT)

== selling ==

is there a way to hack DF and be able to sell artifacts? --[[User:0todd0|0todd0]] 20:58, 2 June 2008 (EDT)

== Artifact millstones and gems ==
My dwarves have made three artifacts so far; I know that my emerald flask is just for style, but what of the "Perfect Aquamarine" and the Millstone? Will some noble love having a mill placed in his bedroom, grinding away at all hours of the night when he's trying to sleep, or is it just going to annoy him? As for the aquamarine, can it be crafted into furniture? Will this raise the item's value exponentially? Will it still serve to elevate a room to royal status for satisfying noble needs? If no one has the answers to these questions, I'll do the research myself and post findings.
--[[User:Eddie|Eddie]] 14:33, 2 July 2008 (EDT)

== Artifact quality modifier? ==

I know that the quality modifier for regular equipped items is 1.0... for masterful it's 2.0... But what is the modifier for artifact level items? I can't find it anywhere. --[[User:PrettyGrizzly|PrettyGrizzly]] 11:04, 4 July 2008 (EDT)
:The QUALITY modifier for artifacts is the same as Masterful, 2.0. The VALUE modifier of artifacts is MUCH higher than the Masterful's x12, though. :) AFAIK, the only difference is that only Legendary weapon/armor users can equip legendary weapons/armors. I may be wrong but I believe I read something to that effect a few months back. ----[[User:Borgin|Borgin]] 20:00, 12 August 2008

== Too precious to put down ==

Am I the only one whose dwarves create legendary... [[floodgate]]s, put them down in the workshop and immediately pick them up again... then continue on with their merry lives just significantly weighed down?

I have never been able to use an artifact yet. My dwarves just never let them go!
[[User:GarrieIrons|GarrieIrons]] 03:04, 6 July 2008 (EDT)

:That's never happened to me, fortunately. I've seen three legendary doors, a legendary grate, a legendary bed, and a legendary batman cabinet, and was able to place them all normally. In fact, I've never had a military dwarf who was skillful enough to be worthy of picking up a legendary weapon or piece of armor. [[User:Bryan Derksen|Bryan Derksen]] 04:37, 6 July 2008 (EDT)

:I do believe that, in earlier versions, artificiers would carry their artifacts with them until death ripped them from their icy fingers. Perhaps you're just using an older version...? [[User:Borgin|Borgin]] 20:04, 12 August 2008

== Weird Materials (and armour?) ==

"Artifact weapons won't be used by recruits and normal warriors, only by elites and champions." Does this include armour? Also, should we add somewhere that weird materials are possible? Platinum plate armour (which is AWESOME) and the like that aren't normally possible? (I know I've seen it said ''somewhere'', but it's not here) [[User:Droqen|Droqen]] 10:58, 27 July 2008 (EST)

: My Charbone Battle Axe says it should be written down SOMEWHERE :P ...as does my Kunzite Cabinet and Blue Garnet Statue. I have some crazy dwarves. Oh, and that thing about any room with an artifact in it being royal....bunk. I have an artifact Bismuth Chain in a throne room, place didn't get bumped up to royal status until I also threw in the artifact Oaken Hatch Cover. --[[User:Eddie|Eddie]] 11:51, 26 July 2008 (EDT)
:: I think that, more specifically, it is that ''most'' artifacts will bump up a room to royal but all. Example: I have a Purple Spinel Door (worth 48000) that bumped up three rooms at once to royal quality. --[[User:Toloran|Toloran]] 20:07, 10 August 2008 (EDT)

== availability ==
Is there a way to hack the game so you can make artifact weapons, even if the dwarf isn't in a fey mood? Or better, for them out of nothing? -Eddren, Fortress extraordinar

== Artifact Quine! ==

My Tanner claimed a leatherworking shop and produced a self-referential artifact: Lathonnunùr, "The Mythical Crevices", a donkey leather mask.
:This is a donkey leather mask. All craftsdwarfship is of the highest quality. This object menaces with spikes of dog leather and Alunite. '''On the item is an image of The Mythical Crevices the donkey leather mask in donkey leather.''' On the item is an image of Portalshades the alligator and dwarves in muskox leather. Portalshades in surrounded by the dwarves. The artwork relates to the rise of the alligator Portalshades as an enemy of The Problematic Sack in 29.
Presumably the image is recursive? Anyway, this artifact was apparently ''so cool'' that it created a disturbance in the Force which the dwarves back home managed to pick up, because the very next caravan to arrive offered an empty lead cage decorated with a (presumably also recursive) picture of The Mythical Crevices:
:This is a well-crafted Lead cage. It is decorated with exceptionally worked giant eagle leather and encircled with bands of exceptionally worked Ruby. On the item is a finely-designed image of The Mythical Crevices the donkey leather mask in Cassiterite.
(Note that I'm running with <tt><nowiki>[SHOW_ALL_HISTORY_IN_DWARF_MODE:YES]</nowiki></tt>, and my fortress started in the year 88. I didn't feel like waiting for the whole thousand-year history to generate — if you hit Escape during worldgen, you can start playing with the universe "so far". Useful thing to know.)
--[[User:Quuxplusone|Quuxplusone]] 23:40, 3 August 2008 (EDT)

40d Talk:Legendary artifact

2008-08-13T00:59:52Z

Borgin: /* Artifact quality modifier? */

==What can become an artifact?==
What are some of the things that dwarfs can make into artifacts? [[User:Diabl0658|Diabl0658]] 03:59, 1 December 2007 (EST)
:Any item that your dwarves can craft and has a quality modifier can be made into artifacts. This includes armor, clothing, weapons, all kinds of crafts, furniture, cut gems and whatnot. Notable exceptions include coins(dunnae have quality modifiers), buildings(aint items) and babies(those rascals!). Bars, blocks, raw glass and other such base materials have no quality modifier and cannot be artifacts. I've never seen or heard about legendary meals, drinks and cloth/thread, so I think they can't be artifacts either. Though dwarves will say that they've eaten a legendary meal, when they've consumed a masterpiece meal. [[User:Noctis|Noctis]] 06:02, 1 December 2007 (EST)
::Ive heard of someone creating a artifact meal and almost having it rot away before getting it into the food stockpile [[User:Diabl0658|Diabl0658]] 11:00, 1 December 2007 (EST)
==Destruction==
On #bay12games, there was some question about artifacts being destroyed by magma. Can anyone confirm or deny this? Also ways to destroy artifacts which aren't listed: Trading, dumping in magma vent (the floorless bottom seems to count as chasm), and dropping a bridge on it. [[User:Rkyeun|Rkyeun]] 02:10, 20 January 2008 (EST)
:I can't imagine anything not made of a [[magma-proof]] base material *not* being destroyed by any significant immersion in magma. --[[User:N9103|Edward]] 20:29, 20 January 2008 (EST)
::And yet because it's an artifact, it may have a special flag that prevents specifically that. Can anyone confirm non-magma-proof artifact destruction in magma? [[User:Rkyeun|Rkyeun]] 11:52, 24 January 2008 (EST)
::Nevermind. I did. Artifact mechanism melted in magma. [[User:Rkyeun|Rkyeun]] 02:34, 16 May 2008 (EDT)

== Furniture ==

All right, so what can I do with a legendary [[lace agate]] [[hatch cover]]?[[User:GarrieIrons|GarrieIrons]] 03:20, 22 January 2008 (EST)
:<s>Same thing as 90% of Artis. Sell it or</s> Build it in a Noble's room. --[[User:N9103|Edward]] 06:04, 28 April 2008 (EDT)
:: Artifacts are not tradeable. --[[User:Koltom|Koltom]] 08:19, 28 April 2008 (EDT)
:::Really... that's weird then since I would swear that I sold a particularly valuable bracelet after killing off it's creator that was otherwise useless... Being that it was a good amount of time ago (possibly even pre-3D) that I actually *tried* to sell an arti, it's quite likely that time has muddled an attempt to sell into a successful sale. I suppose this somewhat nullifies my previous comment, since it's far less than 90% of artis which are buildable. --[[User:N9103|Edward]] 08:46, 28 April 2008 (EDT)

We just endured a rather nasty goblin ambush (I'd built a nice castle but hadn't yet built a real military to go with it, so we huddled inside with the drawbridge up for a whole season while I had my dwarves equip and train a small army to "break out" with) and one of my peasants gave me the nicest present after we cleaned up; a legendary goblin bone door made out of the bones of our fallen enemies. I very much want to use this as our castle's main entrance door now. Does anyone know if an artifact's indestructibility applies to trolls and similar door-wreckers? Oh, I've got magma, so I'll make a copy of the save game and test whether magma can burn through such a thing too. [[User:Bryan Derksen|Bryan Derksen]] 15:30, 5 May 2008 (EDT)
:It's a constructed nonterrain feature, thus it's going to be knocked down by anything that deconstructs constructions. --[[User:GreyMario|GreyMario]] 17:38, 5 May 2008 (EDT)

::Hmph. I'll put it a couple of layers deep inside my fortifications, then. Guests will pass through it but invaders will have to fight pretty hard to get there. I'll just have to be satisfied with my giant electrum drawbridge as a fancy front door. [[User:Bryan Derksen|Bryan Derksen]] 18:10, 5 May 2008 (EDT)

== Artifact menu ==

I seem to recall stumbling across a list of the various legendary artifacts I had created. Can anyone tell me how to get to it again?
:If you're talking about current artifacts in a given fortress, you get a new menu option once you've produced atleast one in that fortress. (lowercase {{k|L}}) --[[User:N9103|Edward]] 21:59, 22 January 2008 (EST)

much better
--[[User:NateAustin|NateAustin]] 17:36, 29 February 2008 (EST)

== Trade ==

Is it possible to trade legendary artifacts? I just got a legendary statue and it currently sitting my furniture storage. I 've tried to get my dwarves to bring it to the depot, but it doesnt show up on the trade list. Is it possible? [[User:Robje|Robje]] 18:09, 12 March 2008 (EDT)
:No, Artifacts are not tradeable. They will not even take them to the depot if they sit in a bin marked for trade. --[[User:Koltom|Koltom]] 08:20, 28 April 2008 (EDT)

== Value ==
The value can be found under the artifact menur "l"
what is the maximum calue you have found on an artifact, mine is platnium high boot for 146400? --[[User:Corhen|Corhen]]
:There is a thread on the forums somewhere with this specific purpose. --[[User:GreyMario|GreyMario]] 17:02, 28 April 2008 (EDT)

== "Finished Goods"-type Artifacts...? ==

I understand the point of furniture artifacts- they can be built and are great for nobles- but what the heck are you supposed to do with artifact rings/amulets/crowns/scepters/et cetera? I'm sitting on over 300,000 value worth of "Finished Goods" artifacts. I guess my dwarves don't like building furniture... --[[User:Borgin|Borgin]]

:You could abandon the fortress and come back in adventure mode. Artifact rings? Too good! --[[User:Marble Dice|Marble Dice]] 11:01, 15 May 2008 (EDT)

:There might be more point to those types if/when artifacts start getting special magical effects. That's probably a long ways off though. --[[User:BahamutZERO|BahamutZERO]] 12:16, 15 May 2008 (EDT)

:But even in Adventure Mode, artifacts (besides weapons/armor) don't have much of a point, right? To be honest, I've never gone through Adventure Mode- ''it lags my laptop''. Sad, I know. But like BahamutZERO said, at least they'll gain some point ''eventually''... And hopefully soon. --[[User:Borgin|Borgin]] 23:46, 15 May 2008 (CST)

::Well you can trade 'em to merchants in Adventure mode, I'd imagine? Maybe not, I've never tried, and I doubt the shops sell anything you'd care about (ie masterpiece steel or adamantine weapons and armor). Still, I think it's fun to walk around wearing an artifact ring or amulet! At least until an archer kills you. --[[User:Marble Dice|Marble Dice]] 02:45, 16 May 2008 (EDT)
:::As far as I can tell, artifact crafts/goblets/etc are used entirely for boosting your fortress created wealth stat. There is rarely a time when a sudden 200k added to that is trivial.--[[User:Dadamh|Dadamh]] 14:36, 30 May 2008 (EDT)

:::Artifact craft items work weird in Adventure mode: you can sell them to a shopkeeper for all their goods and cash, and just pick it back up and walk away without guards jumping you for thievery; you can even re-sell it to the same guy if he has any money left. This is a pretty blatant exploit, though of limited use (coins is heavy!). You cannot, however, fast travel with an artifact you've already sold. But what does a wandering professional spearelf do with a turtle bone crown, anyway? --[[User:Zombiejustice|Zombiejustice]] 21:25, 1 July 2008 (EDT)

== selling ==

is there a way to hack DF and be able to sell artifacts? --[[User:0todd0|0todd0]] 20:58, 2 June 2008 (EDT)

== Artifact millstones and gems ==
My dwarves have made three artifacts so far; I know that my emerald flask is just for style, but what of the "Perfect Aquamarine" and the Millstone? Will some noble love having a mill placed in his bedroom, grinding away at all hours of the night when he's trying to sleep, or is it just going to annoy him? As for the aquamarine, can it be crafted into furniture? Will this raise the item's value exponentially? Will it still serve to elevate a room to royal status for satisfying noble needs? If no one has the answers to these questions, I'll do the research myself and post findings.
--[[User:Eddie|Eddie]] 14:33, 2 July 2008 (EDT)

== Artifact quality modifier? ==

I know that the quality modifier for regular equipped items is 1.0... for masterful it's 2.0... But what is the modifier for artifact level items? I can't find it anywhere. --[[User:PrettyGrizzly|PrettyGrizzly]] 11:04, 4 July 2008 (EDT)
:The QUALITY modifier for artifacts is the same as Masterful, 2.0. The VALUE modifier of artifacts is MUCH higher than the Masterful's x12, though. :) AFAIK, the only difference is that only Legendary weapon/armor users can equip legendary weapons/armors. I may be wrong but I believe I read something to that effect a few months back. ----[[User:Borgin|Borgin]] 20:00, 12 August 2008

== Too precious to put down ==

Am I the only one whose dwarves create legendary... [[floodgate]]s, put them down in the workshop and immediately pick them up again... then continue on with their merry lives just significantly weighed down?

I have never been able to use an artifact yet. My dwarves just never let them go!
[[User:GarrieIrons|GarrieIrons]] 03:04, 6 July 2008 (EDT)

:That's never happened to me, fortunately. I've seen three legendary doors, a legendary grate, a legendary bed, and a legendary batman cabinet, and was able to place them all normally. In fact, I've never had a military dwarf who was skillful enough to be worthy of picking up a legendary weapon or piece of armor. [[User:Bryan Derksen|Bryan Derksen]] 04:37, 6 July 2008 (EDT)

== Weird Materials (and armour?) ==

"Artifact weapons won't be used by recruits and normal warriors, only by elites and champions." Does this include armour? Also, should we add somewhere that weird materials are possible? Platinum plate armour (which is AWESOME) and the like that aren't normally possible? (I know I've seen it said ''somewhere'', but it's not here) [[User:Droqen|Droqen]] 10:58, 27 July 2008 (EST)

: My Charbone Battle Axe says it should be written down SOMEWHERE :P ...as does my Kunzite Cabinet and Blue Garnet Statue. I have some crazy dwarves. Oh, and that thing about any room with an artifact in it being royal....bunk. I have an artifact Bismuth Chain in a throne room, place didn't get bumped up to royal status until I also threw in the artifact Oaken Hatch Cover. --[[User:Eddie|Eddie]] 11:51, 26 July 2008 (EDT)
:: I think that, more specifically, it is that ''most'' artifacts will bump up a room to royal but all. Example: I have a Purple Spinel Door (worth 48000) that bumped up three rooms at once to royal quality. --[[User:Toloran|Toloran]] 20:07, 10 August 2008 (EDT)

== availability ==
Is there a way to hack the game so you can make artifact weapons, even if the dwarf isn't in a fey mood? Or better, for them out of nothing? -Eddren, Fortress extraordinar

== Artifact Quine! ==

My Tanner claimed a leatherworking shop and produced a self-referential artifact: Lathonnunùr, "The Mythical Crevices", a donkey leather mask.
:This is a donkey leather mask. All craftsdwarfship is of the highest quality. This object menaces with spikes of dog leather and Alunite. '''On the item is an image of The Mythical Crevices the donkey leather mask in donkey leather.''' On the item is an image of Portalshades the alligator and dwarves in muskox leather. Portalshades in surrounded by the dwarves. The artwork relates to the rise of the alligator Portalshades as an enemy of The Problematic Sack in 29.
Presumably the image is recursive? Anyway, this artifact was apparently ''so cool'' that it created a disturbance in the Force which the dwarves back home managed to pick up, because the very next caravan to arrive offered an empty lead cage decorated with a (presumably also recursive) picture of The Mythical Crevices:
:This is a well-crafted Lead cage. It is decorated with exceptionally worked giant eagle leather and encircled with bands of exceptionally worked Ruby. On the item is a finely-designed image of The Mythical Crevices the donkey leather mask in Cassiterite.
(Note that I'm running with <tt><nowiki>[SHOW_ALL_HISTORY_IN_DWARF_MODE:YES]</nowiki></tt>, and my fortress started in the year 88. I didn't feel like waiting for the whole thousand-year history to generate — if you hit Escape during worldgen, you can start playing with the universe "so far". Useful thing to know.)
--[[User:Quuxplusone|Quuxplusone]] 23:40, 3 August 2008 (EDT)

40d:Modding guide

2008-05-16T04:49:58Z

Borgin: /* Basics of DF modding */

{{Old|0.23.130.23a|, the 2D version}}

'''A NEW UPDATE HAS MADE MOST OF THIS INFORMATION REDUNDANT IN REGARDS TO NEW CIVILISATIONS'''

This is intended to be an easy guide for general newbies on how to both edit and add civilizations, creatures, objects, and so on in Dwarf Fortress, both [[Adventure_Mode|adventurer]] and [[Dwarf_Fortress_Mode|fortress]] modes, without breaking anything too much. Generally breaking stuff is fine! Just always back up your work + the originals, and be patient at having to [[World_Generation|generate new worlds]] over and over.

== Basics of DF modding ==

All of the data you can edit are stored in the \raw\ folder wherever you saved your DF executable. The raw folder contains two subfolders: graphics (where you insert [[Object_Tilesets|graphic packs]] to make custom tiles), and objects, which contains all the data for generally everything in the game that is not hardcoded. Quite a lot is not hardcoded, so you can edit a wide variety of things in the game.

Essentially, everything that can be modded uses text files to determine how they interact with the world or with other objects. With a bit of know-how you can tinker with just about everything.

Every text file uses what are called "tokens", also called "flags". They are essentially attributes that you can add or remove or edit for any particular object in the game, that change the way the object works or acts. Most of the actual effects are hardcoded: for example, giving a creature such as a moose the [EVIL] creature token will make it only appear in evil maps, or giving it [BONECARN] will make it chow down on bones.

A few key things to remember when modding the text files:

* Always back up the default text files you plan on editing. This way, if your game crashes (due to say, a typo that you can't find) you can simply copy-paste it back in for a 'vanilla' DF.
* When you edit any of the text files in the raw folder you must do the following: go into the \data\save folder and delete everything in it, including subfolders. Just do a ctrl-A and hit delete. If you try to play a game of DF with edited text files without making a new world first, bad stuff will happen.
''[EDIT 05/01/08]
''It seems you do not need to delete old saves; simply create a new world using your modded files and things should run just fine. Just don't try to play a "non-modded" world with modded files! Should you desire to go back to your old sites, just make sure you revert to the raw files used for the creation of that world. This author has not had any trouble "swapping mods" using this method, but would still like verification before this section is deleted.''
* In general it's better to make whole new text files for new stuff you're adding rather than editing the existing ones by tagging them onto the bottom. This allows you to keep track of them easier and keeps them all in one place so there's less messing about with tons of files.

In addition, if you ''rename'' the any of the \raw\ files themselves (such as 'creature_insects.txt' to 'creature_bugs.txt'), you must find the same filename in the \data\objects\ folder and delete it. This is required because once the world is generated it creates the new files and saves them for use next time the world is needed; without deleting the file you will get duplication errors. This is not necessary if you just don't change any of the filenames.

== Modding the civilizations ==

The civilization entries are stored in entity_default.txt. They are quite simple files that are in the following format:

[ENTITY:ENTITYNAME]
[CREATURE:CREATURETYPE]
[TRANSLATION:LANGUAGETYPE]
[BIOME_SUPPORT:BIOMETOKEN:FREQENCY]
...[OTHER NONESSENTIAL TAGS]...

At the top of the file you'll see an 'entity_default' all by itself, that must be at the top of the file only. All game files require those markers at the top. You can safely ignore them for now.

Now what do these mean, exactly? For one, where the tags are located don't generally matter quite a lot. You can add them in any order as long as they're underneath the "[ENTITY:]" token, which is the 'header' of the civilization and lets the game know that everything underneath deals with that civ. The entity token can be anything as long as it's not the same as another one.

'[CREATURE:]' links the civilization with a certain creature defined in a different file. This is the creature you play in adventurer or fortress mode, or that wanders around their towns when you explore them. For example, if you wanted to do something silly you could switch the "DWARF" entry in entity_default.txt with "ELF" and you would be marching elves around in fortress mode.

'[TRANSLATION:]' connects the civ to a specific language file that determines things like their natural (untranslated) creature first + last names and city names. The valid ones are HUMAN, DWARF, ELF, and GOBLIN.

'[BIOME_SUPPORT::]' defines biomes that civs will appear in.

You can find many details about the rest of the civilization tokens [[Entity_Tokens|here]]. The important ones are the CIV_CONTROLLABLE token, which lets you control the civ in dwarf fortress mode (by random chance if you have more than one set controllable) and the INDIV_CONTROLLABLE and ADVENTURE_TIER tokens which lets you play the civ in adventure mode via the PLAY NOW! command.

Any token that has to deal with weapons, armor, clothing, etc. are all the items that the civ can build, not necessarily the ones they can wear. For example, you could create a species with no clothes specified, but then rob a clothes shop in adventurer mode and wear everything you want.

[SELECT_SYMBOL:ALL:] and [CULL_SYMBOL:ALL:] are the words that can be randomly generated in names, civs, cities, artifacts, engravings, etc. "SELECT_SYMBOL" means that the civ is far more likely to use those, and CULL_SYMBOL means they never will. You can find a list of every symbol type [[Language|here]].

An easy method of creating a civilization is just to copy-paste a similar one to the bottom of the entity_default.txt file and edit things to your liking.

NOTE: With version 32a and higher, if you use [NUISANCE] or [BABYSNATCHER] with older mods then you will get things like wyverns sneaking into your fort knocking everything over, as they're set buildingdestroyer. Just remove the line (nuisance, babysnatcher, sieger) entirely.

== Modding the creatures ==

Creature modding is great fun. Essentially you can change nearly any aspect of a creature or completely make your own from scratch. You can either add a new creature to the bottom of an existing creature_thing.txt file or make your own file; just be sure to add the name of the file (without the txt) to the top of it. For example, I tend to use a 'creature_newbies.txt' file myself.

Modding creatures is exactly similar to modding civs: just a matter of editing, adding, or removing tokens, enclosed in square brackets underneath the creature's [CREATURE:] header. The creature entries contain all the information about each specific creature in the game, from animals to dwarves to goblins to even caravan wagons. Much of the data of a creature is quite self-explanatory; you can find a list of every creature token [[Creature_Tokens|here]].

There're some tokens which use temperature values. Dwarf Fortress has it's own temperature scale for this. [[Temperature scale|DF temperature scale]].

Note: If you add a butcherable creature to the game such as a domestic animal, people will automatically wander around wearing its fur or skin as leather items when you are in the game, assuming the creature comes from the civ's biome (natural area). So don't be surprised to see 'duck leather armor' or something if you add ducks.

== Modding items ==

Items come in several flavors: 'crafted' items, and 'natural' items. Both are the same in most ways, but are stored in different places: most crafted item data are stored in the item_blah.txt files (such as item_armor.txt), while things like plants, gems, food, and ore are stored in "matgloss" files, ie. matgloss_plant.txt. Both are easily editable just like a creature or civ, but the problem is that there is no definitive list of what most of the tokens for these quite do yet. In any case they are usually pretty self-explanatory and you can guess what they do by checking out similar entries.

For example, let's look at the entry for, of course, the thong:

[ITEM_PANTS:ITEM_PANTS_THONG]
[NAME:thong:thongs]
[WEIGHT:10]
[VALUE:10]
[BLOCKPOWER:5]
[LAYER:UNDER]
[COVERAGE:25]
[LAYER_SIZE:10]
[LAYER_PERMIT:30]
[MATERIAL_SIZE:1]
[SOFT]
[LEATHER]

Most of these are pretty obvious if one compares them to the other entries. Now, if you wanted to mod these to turn them into metal thongs (ouch!), you would simply have to add [METAL] to it somewhere, and probably [HARD] instead of [SOFT]. Simple!

Weapons work largely the same way; but remember that in order to actually use any of these things you'd have to add the ITEM_THING item flag to the civilization's 'useable items' list in entity_default.txt. For example, if you're fond of Scots and decided to make a 'claymore' sword that's even bigger than the two-hander already in the files. It might look like this:

[ITEM_WEAPON:ITEM_WEAPON_SWORD_CLAYMORE]
[NAME:claymore sword:claymore swords]
[DAMAGE:160:SLASH]
[WEIGHT:120]
[SKILL:SWORD]
[CRIT_BOOST:1]
[TWO_HANDED:0]
[MINIMUM_SIZE:7]
[MATERIAL_SIZE:5]

Tada! Yes, it's that easy. Then you just add it to the civ entry so a civilization can actually use and craft it, and it's done.

== Modding language files ==

Let's say you added a whole new species. Sure, you could just swipe one of the existing translation files and steal their language for your species, but that's the lazy way! If you want to create a whole new language, it's very simple.

First, you'd need a whole new language_RACE file, such as language_LIZARDMAN.txt, along with "language_LIZARDMAN" at the top of the file proceeded by [OBJECT:LANGUAGE] and [TRANSLATION:LIZARDMAN]. After that, it's just a matter of copy-pasting one of the existing language lists and editing the finished 'translated' word. That's it! Then just add the translation link to your civ in entity_default.txt and it'll be added to the game on worldgen.

== Modding body parts ==

Imagine you have this fantastic idea for a multi-tentacled winged spider-monster. Sounds great! But in order to make this a reality you may need to create a new set of body parts for it. That's no problem! Making body parts is easy, though it may look complicated at first.

All body definitions are located in body_default.txt and then linked to a creature in the creature's entry. For example, the dwarf creature has: [BODY:HUMANOID:2EYES:2EARS:NOSE:2LUNGS:HEART:GUTS:ORGANS:HUMANOID_JOINTS:THROAT:NECK:SPINE:BRAIN:5FINGERS:5TOES:MOUTH]. All of these are seperate bodypart definitions in body_default.txt. You can mix and match them in the creature entry and it makes no difference, as long as they're there: each bodypart will link itself to the appropriate connection automatically when the creature is first created. This means that if you don't add the appropriate bodyparts, hilarious things can happen: if you forget to add a throat or lungs your new creature will suffocate after taking a few steps (unless you make it a nonbreather).

Body parts work by sections: you can add as many sections as you want to a bodypart definition, but generally you should keep it fairly low for ease of use. Each body section entry is in the very simple format:

[BODY:BODYNAME]
[BP:ID:name][TOKENSGOHERE]

You can add as many sub-parts as you want to an overall section. The most important tokens are 'CONTYPE' and 'CON': CONTYPE means the bodypart in question is connected to a certain *type* of bodypart, while CON means it's connected to a *specific* one. Let's break down a few entries:

[BODY:BASIC_HEAD]
[BP:HD:head][CONTYPE:UPPERBODY][HEAD]

This is a very simple one: a head. It connects directly to an upper body. All the stuff inside the head are seperate entries that call up the head as a different contype in turn:

[BODY:THROAT]
[BP:THROAT:throat][CONTYPE:HEAD][THROAT][EMBEDDED][SMALL]

The foot bone's connected to the ankle bone..

If you wanted someone to be able to break someone else's throat (like breaking a joint) and suffocate them, just add the [JOINT], [BREATHE], and possibly [NERVOUS] to the throat object's tokens.

A 'BODYGLOSS', which you can sometimes find in the creature entries, are simply replacement words for certain defined words in a creature. For example, you'll find the bodygloss [BODYGLOSS:CLAW_HAND:hand:claw] in the body_default.txt, and then you can use this in a creature with '[BODYGLOSS:CLAW_HAND]' and it will replace all instances of "hand" with "claw" in that creature.

Note that only creatures with the [EQUIPS] token (and possibly [INTELLIGENT]) and a civ that can create clothes/armor/weapons will be able to actually wear stuff.

== Example one: dark dwarves ==

These examples will go over the details for creating several new things as well as editing some old ones.

Remember: delete the contents of your \save\ folder before editing any of the game text files, and always back up the old ones so you don't have to download a new copy of dwarf fortress if you messed something up and can't remember how to fix it.

First, we're going to create a new, evil civilization of dwarves called, unsurprisingly, dark dwarves. This will be quite easy, though with a few fundamental differences. Mainly, that dark dwarves are evil and more warlike than regular dwarves.

First, back up your stuff and delete your saved worlds. Yes, I'm saying that again.

Now, open up entity_default.txt. All your species civilizations will be in there. We're going to make a whole new one for our dark dwarves. In many ways it'll be a simple copy-paste job of regular dwarves, then tweaking some things.

Add this to the bottom of the entity_default file:

[ENTITY:DARK_DWARVES]
[CIV_CONTROLLABLE]
[CREATURE:DARK_DWARF]
[TRANSLATION:DWARF]
[START_BIOME:MOUNTAIN]
[BIOME_SUPPORT:ANY_WETLAND:1]
[BIOME_SUPPORT:ANY_DESERT:1]
[BIOME_SUPPORT:ANY_FOREST:3]
[BIOME_SUPPORT:MOUNTAIN:3]
[BIOME_SUPPORT:ANY_GRASSLAND:4]
[BIOME_SUPPORT:ANY_SAVANNA:4]
[BIOME_SUPPORT:ANY_SHRUBLAND:3]
[BIOME_SUPPORT:ANY_RIVER:1]
[DIGGER:ITEM_WEAPON_PICK]
[WEAPON:ITEM_WEAPON_AXE_BATTLE]
[WEAPON:ITEM_WEAPON_WHIP]
[WEAPON:ITEM_WEAPON_FLAIL]
[WEAPON:ITEM_WEAPON_SCOURGE]
[WEAPON:ITEM_WEAPON_DAGGER_LARGE]
[WEAPON:ITEM_WEAPON_MACE]
[WEAPON:ITEM_WEAPON_SWORD_SHORT]
[WEAPON:ITEM_WEAPON_CROSSBOW]
[AMMO:ITEM_AMMO_BOLTS]
[ARMOR:ITEM_ARMOR_PLATEMAIL:COMMON]
[ARMOR:ITEM_ARMOR_CHAINMAIL:COMMON]
[ARMOR:ITEM_ARMOR_LEATHER:COMMON]
[ARMOR:ITEM_ARMOR_COAT:COMMON]
[ARMOR:ITEM_ARMOR_SHIRT:COMMON]
[ARMOR:ITEM_ARMOR_CLOAK:COMMON]
[ARMOR:ITEM_ARMOR_TOGA:UNCOMMON]
[ARMOR:ITEM_ARMOR_VEST:COMMON]
[ARMOR:ITEM_ARMOR_DRESS:COMMON]
[ARMOR:ITEM_ARMOR_ROBE:COMMON]
[HELM:ITEM_HELM_HELM:COMMON]
[HELM:ITEM_HELM_HOOD:COMMON]
[GLOVES:ITEM_GLOVES_GAUNTLETS:COMMON]
[GLOVES:ITEM_GLOVES_GLOVES:COMMON]
[SHOES:ITEM_SHOES_SHOES:COMMON]
[SHOES:ITEM_SHOES_BOOTS:COMMON]
[SHOES:ITEM_SHOES_BOOTS_LOW:COMMON]
[PANTS:ITEM_PANTS_PANTS:COMMON]
[PANTS:ITEM_PANTS_GREAVES:COMMON]
[PANTS:ITEM_PANTS_LEGGINGS:COMMON]
[SHIELD:ITEM_SHIELD_SHIELD]
[SHIELD:ITEM_SHIELD_BUCKLER]
[SIEGEAMMO:ITEM_SIEGEAMMO_BALLISTA]
[TRAPCOMP:ITEM_TRAPCOMP_GIANTAXEBLADE]
[TRAPCOMP:ITEM_TRAPCOMP_ENORMOUSCORKSCREW]
[TRAPCOMP:ITEM_TRAPCOMP_SPIKEDBALL]
[TRAPCOMP:ITEM_TRAPCOMP_LARGESERRATEDDISC]
[TOY:ITEM_TOY_HAMMER]
[TOY:ITEM_TOY_AXE]
[TOY:ITEM_TOY_MINIFORGE]
[INSTRUMENT:ITEM_INSTRUMENT_TRUMPET]
[INSTRUMENT:ITEM_INSTRUMENT_DRUM]
[SIEGER]
[CLOTHING]
[SUBTERRANEAN_CLOTHING]
[CURRENCY_BY_YEAR]
[CURRENCY:COPPER:1]
[CURRENCY:SILVER:5]
[CURRENCY:ELECTRUM:10]
[CURRENCY:GOLD:15]
[CURRENCY:PLATINUM:30]
[SELECT_SYMBOL:ALL:EVIL]
[SELECT_SYMBOL:ALL:EARTH]
[SELECT_SYMBOL:ALL:VIOLENT]
[SELECT_SYMBOL:ALL:DEATH]
[SELECT_SYMBOL:ALL:NEGATIVE]
[SELECT_SYMBOL:ALL:UGLY]
[SELECT_SYMBOL:ALL:UNTOWARD]
[CULL_SYMBOL:ALL:DOMESTIC]
[CULL_SYMBOL:ALL:FLOWERY]
[CULL_SYMBOL:ALL:HOLY]
[CULL_SYMBOL:ALL:PEACE]
[CULL_SYMBOL:ALL:NEGATOR]
[CULL_SYMBOL:ALL:GOOD]
[METAL_PREF]
[GEM_PREF]
[STONE_PREF]
[INDOOR_FARMING]
[USE_CAVE_ANIMALS]
[USE_EVIL_ANIMALS]
[USE_ANIMAL_PRODUCTS]
[COMMON_DOMESTIC_PACK]
[COMMON_DOMESTIC_PULL]
[COMMON_DOMESTIC_MOUNT]
[COMMON_DOMESTIC_PET]

The fun part is that your dark dwarves will, thanks to the specified symbols, have some crazy names that you'd never see with regular dwarves (one of the fortresses it generated was called "Crowanus", for example). If you dislike having bad language, just remove the [SELECT_SYMBOL:ALL:UNTOWARD].

The main differences you'll see here compared to the dwarf entry is that they have different weapons, toys, instruments (thanks to their warlike nature, they build less of them) and [USE_EVIL_ANIMALS] is turned on: this will do nothing in dwarf fort mode but you'll see tamed trolls and ogres in their fortresses in adventurer mode.

Now, we need to build the DARK_DWARF creature. Create a new text file called 'creature_new.txt'. Immediately, add the following:

creature_new

[OBJECT:CREATURE]

That'll make this text file recognized as a creature file. Now, we simply add our dark_dwarf creature:

[CREATURE:DARK_DWARF]
[NAME:dark dwarf:dark dwarves:dark dwarven]
[TILE:1][COLOR:3:0:0]
[GENPOWER:3]
[BUTCHERABLE_NONSTANDARD]
[INTELLIGENT]
[TRANCES]
[CANOPENDOORS]
[LIKES_FIGHTING]
[PREFSTRING:beards]
[PREFSTRING:violent tempers]
[BODY:HUMANOID:2EYES:2EARS:NOSE:2LUNGS:HEART:GUTS:ORGANS:HUMANOID_JOINTS:THROAT:NECK:SPINE:BRAIN:5FINGERS:5TOES:MOUTH]
[STOUT]
[MAXAGE:150:170]
[ATTACK:MAIN:BYTYPE:GRASP:punch:punches:1:2:BLUDGEON][ATTACKFLAG_WITH]
[ATTACK:SECOND:BYTYPE:MOUTH:bite:bites:1:1:GORE][ATTACKFLAG_CANLATCH]
[CHILD:12][BABY:1][MULTIPLE_LITTER_RARE]
[DAMBLOCK:1]
[FAT:3]
[SIZE:6]
[EQUIPS]
[CAVE_ADAPT]
[NOCTURNAL]
[CRAFTSMAN_NAME:craftsdwarf:craftsdwarves]
[FISHERMAN_NAME:fisherdwarf:fisherdwarves]
[HAMMERMAN_NAME:hammerdwarf:hammerdwarves]
[SPEARMAN_NAME:speardwarf:speardwarves]
[CROSSBOWMAN_NAME:marksdwarf:marksdwarves]
[AXEMAN_NAME:axedwarf:axedwarves]
[SWORDSMAN_NAME:swordsdwarf:swordsdwarves]
[MACEMAN_NAME:macedwarf:macedwarves]
[PIKEMAN_NAME:pikedwarf:pikedwarves]
[BOWMAN_NAME:bowdwarf:bowdwarves]
[SPEECH:dwarf.txt]
[STANDARD_FLESH]
[HOMEOTHERM:10067]
[LAYERING:50]
[EVIL]

This is largely a copy of the regular dwarves, but with several differences: [LIKES_FIGHTING] will give them happy thoughts when they have fought something, [NOCTURNAL] means they like nights rather than days, and [EVIL] means on the adventurer map their fortresses will tend to end up on evil tiles rather than good ones. Otherwise, they are exactly the same as regular dwarves. To make them extra evil, add [BONECARN] somewhere in there and they can eat bones (they'll actually haul them from your refuse pit to the dining table, yum), but will sometimes (though rarely) choke to death on them. Also, they do not require booze to stay happy (though will happily drink it anyway if they have to).

There! That's all we need to do in order to add our civilization. Just create a new world and they'll be there: however, when you go to adventurer mode, all (or none) of your dwarf entries might be replaced with dark dwarves, so it's really a matter of luck. When you start a new fortress, there will be a 50-50 chance of playing either as dwarves or dark dwarves.

== Example two: "Arachnid" playable creature ==

This time, we're going to add a new playable creature to adventurer mode, but not playable in fortress mode. An 'arachnid' is a large, powerful, evil half-elf, half-spider (no copyright violations here!): they are too big to wear standard equipment and are quite nasty enough without it anyway. The downside to playing them is that since they do not form standard civilizations, you cannot start them at a specific location nor will they have any weapon, armor, or [[wrestling]] skills to start out. Oh well.

First off, we need to add a civilization entry in entity_default.txt. Open it up and add this to the bottom of the file:

[ENTITY:ARACHNIDS]
[MOUNTAIN_SETTLEMENTS]
[CREATURE:ARACHNID]
[INDIV_CONTROLLABLE]
[ADVENTURE_TIER:4]
[TRANSLATION:ELF]
[CLOTHING]
[SUBTERRANEAN_CLOTHING]
[ITEM_THIEF]
[BIOME_SUPPORT:ANY_WETLAND:2]
[BIOME_SUPPORT:ANY_DESERT:3]
[BIOME_SUPPORT:ANY_FOREST:1]
[BIOME_SUPPORT:MOUNTAIN:4]
[BIOME_SUPPORT:ANY_GRASSLAND:1]
[BIOME_SUPPORT:ANY_SAVANNA:1]
[BIOME_SUPPORT:ANY_SHRUBLAND:1]
[BIOME_SUPPORT:ANY_RIVER:2]
[SELECT_SYMBOL:ALL:EVIL]
[SELECT_SYMBOL:ALL:VIOLENT]
[SELECT_SYMBOL:ALL:DEATH]
[SELECT_SYMBOL:ALL:UNTOWARD]
[CULL_SYMBOL:ALL:DOMESTIC]
[CULL_SYMBOL:ALL:FLOWERY]
[CULL_SYMBOL:ALL:HOLY]
[CULL_SYMBOL:ALL:PEACE]
[CULL_SYMBOL:ALL:NEGATOR]
[CULL_SYMBOL:ALL:GOOD]

This will give us some fun random names. As a 'nuisance' race they may appear and try to steal stuff from you in fortress mode (like kobolds), but I have yet to see that actually happen. The nuisance token also makes them not appear as regular civilizations, which is the entire point. Arachnids are solitary and do not form civilizations (though they WILL be found in caves). However, the INDIV_CONTROLLABLE and ADVENTURE_TIER tokens allows us to use ARACHNID: PLAY NOW! in adventurer mode, which is exactly what we want. They'll be powerful enough to use without gear anyhow.

Next, we open up creature_new.txt (if you haven't made one, check the above example) and add the new creature to it:

[CREATURE:ARACHNID]
[NAME:arachnid:arachnids:arachnid]
[TILE:'&'][COLOR:7:0:0]
[MODVALUE:20]
[INTELLIGENT][CANOPENDOORS]
[LARGE_CHASM][FREQUENCY:1][DIFFICULTY:4]
[SPEED:700]
[STOUT]
[EXTRACT:giant cave spider venom:7:0:0]
[EXTRACT_VALUE:100]
[EXTRACT_PARALYZE][NATURAL][PET_EXOTIC]
[EXTRACT_ANTIDOTE:giant cave spider antivenin:7:0:0:100]
[WEBIMMUNE][AMBUSHPREDATOR][PARALYZEIMMUNE]
[GENPOWER:4]
[BLOODTYPE:W][CHITIN]
[PETVALUE:2500]
[GRASSTRAMPLE:10]
[CARNIVORE][BONECARN]
[EXTRAVISION][NOSTUN][NOEXERT][NOFEAR]
[BUILDINGDESTROYER:1]
[PREFSTRING:terrifying presence]
[BODY:ARACHNOBODY:8EYES:2EARS:NOSE:2LUNGS:HEART:GUTS:ORGANS:THROAT:NECK:SPINE:BRAIN:MOUTH:5FINGERS]
[SIZE:10]
[MAXAGE:20:30]
[ATTACK:MAIN:BYTYPE:MOUTH:bite:bites:1:6:GORE][SPECIALATTACK_INJECT_EXTRACT:50:100]
[ATTACK:SECOND:BYTYPE:GRASP:punch:punches:1:2:BLUDGEON][ATTACKFLAG_WITH]
[FAT:2]
[CHILD:12][BABY:1][MULTIPLE_LITTER_RARE]
[DAMBLOCK:4]
[ALL_ACTIVE]
[BIOME:SUBTERRANEAN_CHASM]
[STANDARD_FLESH]
[HOMEOTHERM:10067]
[LAYERING:50]

Now, what does this all mean, exactly? Well, compared to dwarves they are big, bad, as fast as elves, as sturdy as dwarves (hard to knock over), they have white blood, can eat bones, are immune to fear, stun, and never get tired, see twice as far, and are almost totally immune to most small-damage attacks. In addition I copied the giant cave spider paralyzing bite attack, so when you bite and hit, you'll sometimes inject a paralyzing poison fairly often that'll knock your prey unconscious in a few combat rounds. Not only is the bite very damaging, but you can even knock out creatures like ettins or giants and rip them up as they sleep at your leisure.

However, we're not done yet. Notice the BODY: token has a few tidbits that we need to take a closer look at- 'ARACHNOBODY' and '8EYES' in particular. These are new to our species and we need to add them. So, close that and open up body_default.txt. Add the following to the bottom:

[BODY:ARACHNOBODY]
[BP:UB:upper body][UPPERBODY]
[BP:LB:abdomen][CON:UB][LOWERBODY]
[BP:HD:head][CON:UB][HEAD]
[BP:RUA:right upper arm][CON:LB][LIMB][RIGHT]
[BP:LUA:left upper arm][CON:LB][LIMB][LEFT]
[BP:RLA:right lower arm][CON:RUA][LIMB][RIGHT]
[BP:LLA:left lower arm][CON:LUA][LIMB][LEFT]
[BP:RH:right hand][CON:RLA][GRASP][RIGHT]
[BP:LH:left hand][CON:LLA][GRASP][LEFT]
[BP:RA1:right first leg][CON:LB][LIMB][RIGHT]
[BP:LA1:left first leg][CON:LB][LIMB][LEFT]
[BP:RF1:right first claw][CON:RA1][STANCE][RIGHT]
[BP:LF1:left first claw][CON:LA1][STANCE][LEFT]
[BP:RA2:right second leg][CON:LB][LIMB][RIGHT]
[BP:LA2:left second leg][CON:LB][LIMB][LEFT]
[BP:RF2:right second claw][CON:RA2][STANCE][RIGHT]
[BP:LF2:left second claw][CON:LA2][STANCE][LEFT]
[BP:RA3:right third leg][CON:LB][LIMB][RIGHT]
[BP:LA3:left third leg][CON:LB][LIMB][LEFT]
[BP:RF3:right third claw][CON:RA3][STANCE][RIGHT]
[BP:LF3:left third claw][CON:LA3][STANCE][LEFT]
[BP:RA4:right fourth leg][CON:LB][LIMB][RIGHT]
[BP:LA4:left fourth leg][CON:LB][LIMB][LEFT]
[BP:RF4:right fourth claw][CON:RA4][STANCE][RIGHT]
[BP:LF4:left fourth claw][CON:LA4][STANCE][LEFT]

[BODY:8EYES]
[BP:REYE:first eye][CONTYPE:HEAD][SIGHT][EMBEDDED][SMALL][RIGHT]
[BP:REYE:second eye][CONTYPE:HEAD][SIGHT][EMBEDDED][SMALL][RIGHT]
[BP:REYE:third eye][CONTYPE:HEAD][SIGHT][EMBEDDED][SMALL]
[BP:REYE:fourth eye][CONTYPE:HEAD][SIGHT][EMBEDDED][SMALL]
[BP:REYE:fifth eye][CONTYPE:HEAD][SIGHT][EMBEDDED][SMALL]
[BP:REYE:sixth eye][CONTYPE:HEAD][SIGHT][EMBEDDED][SMALL]
[BP:REYE:seventh eye][CONTYPE:HEAD][SIGHT][EMBEDDED][SMALL][LEFT]
[BP:LEYE:eighth eye][CONTYPE:HEAD][SIGHT][EMBEDDED][SMALL][LEFT]

Voila! Now you have your complete arachnid. They are very fun to play in adventurer mode, yet still a challenge. You can tear through unarmed civilians like a knife through butter, armed soldiers pose a minor challenge (much bigger if you are getting ganged up on), elite spearmen are devastating, and archers still rip you to shreds unless you close in on them quickly and poison them. However, thanks to your multiple eyes and legs you can take quite a few direct hits and still keep going (I once had an arrow smash straight through my head, taking out 5 eyes and wounding the throat, brains, and both ears, and survived the encounter).

In any case, you're now done! Create a new world and you will now be able to use arachnids as a playable creature in adventurer mode.

Written by Teldin.

[[Category:Modding]]
[[Category:Guides]]

40d:Modding guide

2008-05-16T04:49:19Z

Borgin: /* Basics of DF modding */

{{Old|0.23.130.23a|, the 2D version}}

'''A NEW UPDATE HAS MADE MOST OF THIS INFORMATION REDUNDANT IN REGARDS TO NEW CIVILISATIONS'''

This is intended to be an easy guide for general newbies on how to both edit and add civilizations, creatures, objects, and so on in Dwarf Fortress, both [[Adventure_Mode|adventurer]] and [[Dwarf_Fortress_Mode|fortress]] modes, without breaking anything too much. Generally breaking stuff is fine! Just always back up your work + the originals, and be patient at having to [[World_Generation|generate new worlds]] over and over.

== Basics of DF modding ==

All of the data you can edit are stored in the \raw\ folder wherever you saved your DF executable. The raw folder contains two subfolders: graphics (where you insert [[Object_Tilesets|graphic packs]] to make custom tiles), and objects, which contains all the data for generally everything in the game that is not hardcoded. Quite a lot is not hardcoded, so you can edit a wide variety of things in the game.

Essentially, everything that can be modded uses text files to determine how they interact with the world or with other objects. With a bit of know-how you can tinker with just about everything.

Every text file uses what are called "tokens", also called "flags". They are essentially attributes that you can add or remove or edit for any particular object in the game, that change the way the object works or acts. Most of the actual effects are hardcoded: for example, giving a creature such as a moose the [EVIL] creature token will make it only appear in evil maps, or giving it [BONECARN] will make it chow down on bones.

A few key things to remember when modding the text files:

* Always back up the default text files you plan on editing. This way, if your game crashes (due to say, a typo that you can't find) you can simply copy-paste it back in for a 'vanilla' DF.
* When you edit any of the text files in the raw folder you must do the following: go into the \data\save folder and delete everything in it, including subfolders. Just do a ctrl-A and hit delete. If you try to play a game of DF with edited text files without making a new world first, bad stuff will happen.
''[EDIT 05/01/08]
It seems you do not need to delete old saves; simply create a new world using your modded files and things should run just fine. Just don't try to play a "non-modded" world with modded files! Should you desire to go back to your old sites, just make sure you revert to the raw files used for the creation of that world. This author has not had any trouble "swapping mods" using this method, but would still like verification before this section is deleted.''
* In general it's better to make whole new text files for new stuff you're adding rather than editing the existing ones by tagging them onto the bottom. This allows you to keep track of them easier and keeps them all in one place so there's less messing about with tons of files.

In addition, if you ''rename'' the any of the \raw\ files themselves (such as 'creature_insects.txt' to 'creature_bugs.txt'), you must find the same filename in the \data\objects\ folder and delete it. This is required because once the world is generated it creates the new files and saves them for use next time the world is needed; without deleting the file you will get duplication errors. This is not necessary if you just don't change any of the filenames.

== Modding the civilizations ==

The civilization entries are stored in entity_default.txt. They are quite simple files that are in the following format:

[ENTITY:ENTITYNAME]
[CREATURE:CREATURETYPE]
[TRANSLATION:LANGUAGETYPE]
[BIOME_SUPPORT:BIOMETOKEN:FREQENCY]
...[OTHER NONESSENTIAL TAGS]...

At the top of the file you'll see an 'entity_default' all by itself, that must be at the top of the file only. All game files require those markers at the top. You can safely ignore them for now.

Now what do these mean, exactly? For one, where the tags are located don't generally matter quite a lot. You can add them in any order as long as they're underneath the "[ENTITY:]" token, which is the 'header' of the civilization and lets the game know that everything underneath deals with that civ. The entity token can be anything as long as it's not the same as another one.

'[CREATURE:]' links the civilization with a certain creature defined in a different file. This is the creature you play in adventurer or fortress mode, or that wanders around their towns when you explore them. For example, if you wanted to do something silly you could switch the "DWARF" entry in entity_default.txt with "ELF" and you would be marching elves around in fortress mode.

'[TRANSLATION:]' connects the civ to a specific language file that determines things like their natural (untranslated) creature first + last names and city names. The valid ones are HUMAN, DWARF, ELF, and GOBLIN.

'[BIOME_SUPPORT::]' defines biomes that civs will appear in.

You can find many details about the rest of the civilization tokens [[Entity_Tokens|here]]. The important ones are the CIV_CONTROLLABLE token, which lets you control the civ in dwarf fortress mode (by random chance if you have more than one set controllable) and the INDIV_CONTROLLABLE and ADVENTURE_TIER tokens which lets you play the civ in adventure mode via the PLAY NOW! command.

Any token that has to deal with weapons, armor, clothing, etc. are all the items that the civ can build, not necessarily the ones they can wear. For example, you could create a species with no clothes specified, but then rob a clothes shop in adventurer mode and wear everything you want.

[SELECT_SYMBOL:ALL:] and [CULL_SYMBOL:ALL:] are the words that can be randomly generated in names, civs, cities, artifacts, engravings, etc. "SELECT_SYMBOL" means that the civ is far more likely to use those, and CULL_SYMBOL means they never will. You can find a list of every symbol type [[Language|here]].

An easy method of creating a civilization is just to copy-paste a similar one to the bottom of the entity_default.txt file and edit things to your liking.

NOTE: With version 32a and higher, if you use [NUISANCE] or [BABYSNATCHER] with older mods then you will get things like wyverns sneaking into your fort knocking everything over, as they're set buildingdestroyer. Just remove the line (nuisance, babysnatcher, sieger) entirely.

== Modding the creatures ==

Creature modding is great fun. Essentially you can change nearly any aspect of a creature or completely make your own from scratch. You can either add a new creature to the bottom of an existing creature_thing.txt file or make your own file; just be sure to add the name of the file (without the txt) to the top of it. For example, I tend to use a 'creature_newbies.txt' file myself.

Modding creatures is exactly similar to modding civs: just a matter of editing, adding, or removing tokens, enclosed in square brackets underneath the creature's [CREATURE:] header. The creature entries contain all the information about each specific creature in the game, from animals to dwarves to goblins to even caravan wagons. Much of the data of a creature is quite self-explanatory; you can find a list of every creature token [[Creature_Tokens|here]].

There're some tokens which use temperature values. Dwarf Fortress has it's own temperature scale for this. [[Temperature scale|DF temperature scale]].

Note: If you add a butcherable creature to the game such as a domestic animal, people will automatically wander around wearing its fur or skin as leather items when you are in the game, assuming the creature comes from the civ's biome (natural area). So don't be surprised to see 'duck leather armor' or something if you add ducks.

== Modding items ==

Items come in several flavors: 'crafted' items, and 'natural' items. Both are the same in most ways, but are stored in different places: most crafted item data are stored in the item_blah.txt files (such as item_armor.txt), while things like plants, gems, food, and ore are stored in "matgloss" files, ie. matgloss_plant.txt. Both are easily editable just like a creature or civ, but the problem is that there is no definitive list of what most of the tokens for these quite do yet. In any case they are usually pretty self-explanatory and you can guess what they do by checking out similar entries.

For example, let's look at the entry for, of course, the thong:

[ITEM_PANTS:ITEM_PANTS_THONG]
[NAME:thong:thongs]
[WEIGHT:10]
[VALUE:10]
[BLOCKPOWER:5]
[LAYER:UNDER]
[COVERAGE:25]
[LAYER_SIZE:10]
[LAYER_PERMIT:30]
[MATERIAL_SIZE:1]
[SOFT]
[LEATHER]

Most of these are pretty obvious if one compares them to the other entries. Now, if you wanted to mod these to turn them into metal thongs (ouch!), you would simply have to add [METAL] to it somewhere, and probably [HARD] instead of [SOFT]. Simple!

Weapons work largely the same way; but remember that in order to actually use any of these things you'd have to add the ITEM_THING item flag to the civilization's 'useable items' list in entity_default.txt. For example, if you're fond of Scots and decided to make a 'claymore' sword that's even bigger than the two-hander already in the files. It might look like this:

[ITEM_WEAPON:ITEM_WEAPON_SWORD_CLAYMORE]
[NAME:claymore sword:claymore swords]
[DAMAGE:160:SLASH]
[WEIGHT:120]
[SKILL:SWORD]
[CRIT_BOOST:1]
[TWO_HANDED:0]
[MINIMUM_SIZE:7]
[MATERIAL_SIZE:5]

Tada! Yes, it's that easy. Then you just add it to the civ entry so a civilization can actually use and craft it, and it's done.

== Modding language files ==

Let's say you added a whole new species. Sure, you could just swipe one of the existing translation files and steal their language for your species, but that's the lazy way! If you want to create a whole new language, it's very simple.

First, you'd need a whole new language_RACE file, such as language_LIZARDMAN.txt, along with "language_LIZARDMAN" at the top of the file proceeded by [OBJECT:LANGUAGE] and [TRANSLATION:LIZARDMAN]. After that, it's just a matter of copy-pasting one of the existing language lists and editing the finished 'translated' word. That's it! Then just add the translation link to your civ in entity_default.txt and it'll be added to the game on worldgen.

== Modding body parts ==

Imagine you have this fantastic idea for a multi-tentacled winged spider-monster. Sounds great! But in order to make this a reality you may need to create a new set of body parts for it. That's no problem! Making body parts is easy, though it may look complicated at first.

All body definitions are located in body_default.txt and then linked to a creature in the creature's entry. For example, the dwarf creature has: [BODY:HUMANOID:2EYES:2EARS:NOSE:2LUNGS:HEART:GUTS:ORGANS:HUMANOID_JOINTS:THROAT:NECK:SPINE:BRAIN:5FINGERS:5TOES:MOUTH]. All of these are seperate bodypart definitions in body_default.txt. You can mix and match them in the creature entry and it makes no difference, as long as they're there: each bodypart will link itself to the appropriate connection automatically when the creature is first created. This means that if you don't add the appropriate bodyparts, hilarious things can happen: if you forget to add a throat or lungs your new creature will suffocate after taking a few steps (unless you make it a nonbreather).

Body parts work by sections: you can add as many sections as you want to a bodypart definition, but generally you should keep it fairly low for ease of use. Each body section entry is in the very simple format:

[BODY:BODYNAME]
[BP:ID:name][TOKENSGOHERE]

You can add as many sub-parts as you want to an overall section. The most important tokens are 'CONTYPE' and 'CON': CONTYPE means the bodypart in question is connected to a certain *type* of bodypart, while CON means it's connected to a *specific* one. Let's break down a few entries:

[BODY:BASIC_HEAD]
[BP:HD:head][CONTYPE:UPPERBODY][HEAD]

This is a very simple one: a head. It connects directly to an upper body. All the stuff inside the head are seperate entries that call up the head as a different contype in turn:

[BODY:THROAT]
[BP:THROAT:throat][CONTYPE:HEAD][THROAT][EMBEDDED][SMALL]

The foot bone's connected to the ankle bone..

If you wanted someone to be able to break someone else's throat (like breaking a joint) and suffocate them, just add the [JOINT], [BREATHE], and possibly [NERVOUS] to the throat object's tokens.

A 'BODYGLOSS', which you can sometimes find in the creature entries, are simply replacement words for certain defined words in a creature. For example, you'll find the bodygloss [BODYGLOSS:CLAW_HAND:hand:claw] in the body_default.txt, and then you can use this in a creature with '[BODYGLOSS:CLAW_HAND]' and it will replace all instances of "hand" with "claw" in that creature.

Note that only creatures with the [EQUIPS] token (and possibly [INTELLIGENT]) and a civ that can create clothes/armor/weapons will be able to actually wear stuff.

== Example one: dark dwarves ==

These examples will go over the details for creating several new things as well as editing some old ones.

Remember: delete the contents of your \save\ folder before editing any of the game text files, and always back up the old ones so you don't have to download a new copy of dwarf fortress if you messed something up and can't remember how to fix it.

First, we're going to create a new, evil civilization of dwarves called, unsurprisingly, dark dwarves. This will be quite easy, though with a few fundamental differences. Mainly, that dark dwarves are evil and more warlike than regular dwarves.

First, back up your stuff and delete your saved worlds. Yes, I'm saying that again.

Now, open up entity_default.txt. All your species civilizations will be in there. We're going to make a whole new one for our dark dwarves. In many ways it'll be a simple copy-paste job of regular dwarves, then tweaking some things.

Add this to the bottom of the entity_default file:

[ENTITY:DARK_DWARVES]
[CIV_CONTROLLABLE]
[CREATURE:DARK_DWARF]
[TRANSLATION:DWARF]
[START_BIOME:MOUNTAIN]
[BIOME_SUPPORT:ANY_WETLAND:1]
[BIOME_SUPPORT:ANY_DESERT:1]
[BIOME_SUPPORT:ANY_FOREST:3]
[BIOME_SUPPORT:MOUNTAIN:3]
[BIOME_SUPPORT:ANY_GRASSLAND:4]
[BIOME_SUPPORT:ANY_SAVANNA:4]
[BIOME_SUPPORT:ANY_SHRUBLAND:3]
[BIOME_SUPPORT:ANY_RIVER:1]
[DIGGER:ITEM_WEAPON_PICK]
[WEAPON:ITEM_WEAPON_AXE_BATTLE]
[WEAPON:ITEM_WEAPON_WHIP]
[WEAPON:ITEM_WEAPON_FLAIL]
[WEAPON:ITEM_WEAPON_SCOURGE]
[WEAPON:ITEM_WEAPON_DAGGER_LARGE]
[WEAPON:ITEM_WEAPON_MACE]
[WEAPON:ITEM_WEAPON_SWORD_SHORT]
[WEAPON:ITEM_WEAPON_CROSSBOW]
[AMMO:ITEM_AMMO_BOLTS]
[ARMOR:ITEM_ARMOR_PLATEMAIL:COMMON]
[ARMOR:ITEM_ARMOR_CHAINMAIL:COMMON]
[ARMOR:ITEM_ARMOR_LEATHER:COMMON]
[ARMOR:ITEM_ARMOR_COAT:COMMON]
[ARMOR:ITEM_ARMOR_SHIRT:COMMON]
[ARMOR:ITEM_ARMOR_CLOAK:COMMON]
[ARMOR:ITEM_ARMOR_TOGA:UNCOMMON]
[ARMOR:ITEM_ARMOR_VEST:COMMON]
[ARMOR:ITEM_ARMOR_DRESS:COMMON]
[ARMOR:ITEM_ARMOR_ROBE:COMMON]
[HELM:ITEM_HELM_HELM:COMMON]
[HELM:ITEM_HELM_HOOD:COMMON]
[GLOVES:ITEM_GLOVES_GAUNTLETS:COMMON]
[GLOVES:ITEM_GLOVES_GLOVES:COMMON]
[SHOES:ITEM_SHOES_SHOES:COMMON]
[SHOES:ITEM_SHOES_BOOTS:COMMON]
[SHOES:ITEM_SHOES_BOOTS_LOW:COMMON]
[PANTS:ITEM_PANTS_PANTS:COMMON]
[PANTS:ITEM_PANTS_GREAVES:COMMON]
[PANTS:ITEM_PANTS_LEGGINGS:COMMON]
[SHIELD:ITEM_SHIELD_SHIELD]
[SHIELD:ITEM_SHIELD_BUCKLER]
[SIEGEAMMO:ITEM_SIEGEAMMO_BALLISTA]
[TRAPCOMP:ITEM_TRAPCOMP_GIANTAXEBLADE]
[TRAPCOMP:ITEM_TRAPCOMP_ENORMOUSCORKSCREW]
[TRAPCOMP:ITEM_TRAPCOMP_SPIKEDBALL]
[TRAPCOMP:ITEM_TRAPCOMP_LARGESERRATEDDISC]
[TOY:ITEM_TOY_HAMMER]
[TOY:ITEM_TOY_AXE]
[TOY:ITEM_TOY_MINIFORGE]
[INSTRUMENT:ITEM_INSTRUMENT_TRUMPET]
[INSTRUMENT:ITEM_INSTRUMENT_DRUM]
[SIEGER]
[CLOTHING]
[SUBTERRANEAN_CLOTHING]
[CURRENCY_BY_YEAR]
[CURRENCY:COPPER:1]
[CURRENCY:SILVER:5]
[CURRENCY:ELECTRUM:10]
[CURRENCY:GOLD:15]
[CURRENCY:PLATINUM:30]
[SELECT_SYMBOL:ALL:EVIL]
[SELECT_SYMBOL:ALL:EARTH]
[SELECT_SYMBOL:ALL:VIOLENT]
[SELECT_SYMBOL:ALL:DEATH]
[SELECT_SYMBOL:ALL:NEGATIVE]
[SELECT_SYMBOL:ALL:UGLY]
[SELECT_SYMBOL:ALL:UNTOWARD]
[CULL_SYMBOL:ALL:DOMESTIC]
[CULL_SYMBOL:ALL:FLOWERY]
[CULL_SYMBOL:ALL:HOLY]
[CULL_SYMBOL:ALL:PEACE]
[CULL_SYMBOL:ALL:NEGATOR]
[CULL_SYMBOL:ALL:GOOD]
[METAL_PREF]
[GEM_PREF]
[STONE_PREF]
[INDOOR_FARMING]
[USE_CAVE_ANIMALS]
[USE_EVIL_ANIMALS]
[USE_ANIMAL_PRODUCTS]
[COMMON_DOMESTIC_PACK]
[COMMON_DOMESTIC_PULL]
[COMMON_DOMESTIC_MOUNT]
[COMMON_DOMESTIC_PET]

The fun part is that your dark dwarves will, thanks to the specified symbols, have some crazy names that you'd never see with regular dwarves (one of the fortresses it generated was called "Crowanus", for example). If you dislike having bad language, just remove the [SELECT_SYMBOL:ALL:UNTOWARD].

The main differences you'll see here compared to the dwarf entry is that they have different weapons, toys, instruments (thanks to their warlike nature, they build less of them) and [USE_EVIL_ANIMALS] is turned on: this will do nothing in dwarf fort mode but you'll see tamed trolls and ogres in their fortresses in adventurer mode.

Now, we need to build the DARK_DWARF creature. Create a new text file called 'creature_new.txt'. Immediately, add the following:

creature_new

[OBJECT:CREATURE]

That'll make this text file recognized as a creature file. Now, we simply add our dark_dwarf creature:

[CREATURE:DARK_DWARF]
[NAME:dark dwarf:dark dwarves:dark dwarven]
[TILE:1][COLOR:3:0:0]
[GENPOWER:3]
[BUTCHERABLE_NONSTANDARD]
[INTELLIGENT]
[TRANCES]
[CANOPENDOORS]
[LIKES_FIGHTING]
[PREFSTRING:beards]
[PREFSTRING:violent tempers]
[BODY:HUMANOID:2EYES:2EARS:NOSE:2LUNGS:HEART:GUTS:ORGANS:HUMANOID_JOINTS:THROAT:NECK:SPINE:BRAIN:5FINGERS:5TOES:MOUTH]
[STOUT]
[MAXAGE:150:170]
[ATTACK:MAIN:BYTYPE:GRASP:punch:punches:1:2:BLUDGEON][ATTACKFLAG_WITH]
[ATTACK:SECOND:BYTYPE:MOUTH:bite:bites:1:1:GORE][ATTACKFLAG_CANLATCH]
[CHILD:12][BABY:1][MULTIPLE_LITTER_RARE]
[DAMBLOCK:1]
[FAT:3]
[SIZE:6]
[EQUIPS]
[CAVE_ADAPT]
[NOCTURNAL]
[CRAFTSMAN_NAME:craftsdwarf:craftsdwarves]
[FISHERMAN_NAME:fisherdwarf:fisherdwarves]
[HAMMERMAN_NAME:hammerdwarf:hammerdwarves]
[SPEARMAN_NAME:speardwarf:speardwarves]
[CROSSBOWMAN_NAME:marksdwarf:marksdwarves]
[AXEMAN_NAME:axedwarf:axedwarves]
[SWORDSMAN_NAME:swordsdwarf:swordsdwarves]
[MACEMAN_NAME:macedwarf:macedwarves]
[PIKEMAN_NAME:pikedwarf:pikedwarves]
[BOWMAN_NAME:bowdwarf:bowdwarves]
[SPEECH:dwarf.txt]
[STANDARD_FLESH]
[HOMEOTHERM:10067]
[LAYERING:50]
[EVIL]

This is largely a copy of the regular dwarves, but with several differences: [LIKES_FIGHTING] will give them happy thoughts when they have fought something, [NOCTURNAL] means they like nights rather than days, and [EVIL] means on the adventurer map their fortresses will tend to end up on evil tiles rather than good ones. Otherwise, they are exactly the same as regular dwarves. To make them extra evil, add [BONECARN] somewhere in there and they can eat bones (they'll actually haul them from your refuse pit to the dining table, yum), but will sometimes (though rarely) choke to death on them. Also, they do not require booze to stay happy (though will happily drink it anyway if they have to).

There! That's all we need to do in order to add our civilization. Just create a new world and they'll be there: however, when you go to adventurer mode, all (or none) of your dwarf entries might be replaced with dark dwarves, so it's really a matter of luck. When you start a new fortress, there will be a 50-50 chance of playing either as dwarves or dark dwarves.

== Example two: "Arachnid" playable creature ==

This time, we're going to add a new playable creature to adventurer mode, but not playable in fortress mode. An 'arachnid' is a large, powerful, evil half-elf, half-spider (no copyright violations here!): they are too big to wear standard equipment and are quite nasty enough without it anyway. The downside to playing them is that since they do not form standard civilizations, you cannot start them at a specific location nor will they have any weapon, armor, or [[wrestling]] skills to start out. Oh well.

First off, we need to add a civilization entry in entity_default.txt. Open it up and add this to the bottom of the file:

[ENTITY:ARACHNIDS]
[MOUNTAIN_SETTLEMENTS]
[CREATURE:ARACHNID]
[INDIV_CONTROLLABLE]
[ADVENTURE_TIER:4]
[TRANSLATION:ELF]
[CLOTHING]
[SUBTERRANEAN_CLOTHING]
[ITEM_THIEF]
[BIOME_SUPPORT:ANY_WETLAND:2]
[BIOME_SUPPORT:ANY_DESERT:3]
[BIOME_SUPPORT:ANY_FOREST:1]
[BIOME_SUPPORT:MOUNTAIN:4]
[BIOME_SUPPORT:ANY_GRASSLAND:1]
[BIOME_SUPPORT:ANY_SAVANNA:1]
[BIOME_SUPPORT:ANY_SHRUBLAND:1]
[BIOME_SUPPORT:ANY_RIVER:2]
[SELECT_SYMBOL:ALL:EVIL]
[SELECT_SYMBOL:ALL:VIOLENT]
[SELECT_SYMBOL:ALL:DEATH]
[SELECT_SYMBOL:ALL:UNTOWARD]
[CULL_SYMBOL:ALL:DOMESTIC]
[CULL_SYMBOL:ALL:FLOWERY]
[CULL_SYMBOL:ALL:HOLY]
[CULL_SYMBOL:ALL:PEACE]
[CULL_SYMBOL:ALL:NEGATOR]
[CULL_SYMBOL:ALL:GOOD]

This will give us some fun random names. As a 'nuisance' race they may appear and try to steal stuff from you in fortress mode (like kobolds), but I have yet to see that actually happen. The nuisance token also makes them not appear as regular civilizations, which is the entire point. Arachnids are solitary and do not form civilizations (though they WILL be found in caves). However, the INDIV_CONTROLLABLE and ADVENTURE_TIER tokens allows us to use ARACHNID: PLAY NOW! in adventurer mode, which is exactly what we want. They'll be powerful enough to use without gear anyhow.

Next, we open up creature_new.txt (if you haven't made one, check the above example) and add the new creature to it:

[CREATURE:ARACHNID]
[NAME:arachnid:arachnids:arachnid]
[TILE:'&'][COLOR:7:0:0]
[MODVALUE:20]
[INTELLIGENT][CANOPENDOORS]
[LARGE_CHASM][FREQUENCY:1][DIFFICULTY:4]
[SPEED:700]
[STOUT]
[EXTRACT:giant cave spider venom:7:0:0]
[EXTRACT_VALUE:100]
[EXTRACT_PARALYZE][NATURAL][PET_EXOTIC]
[EXTRACT_ANTIDOTE:giant cave spider antivenin:7:0:0:100]
[WEBIMMUNE][AMBUSHPREDATOR][PARALYZEIMMUNE]
[GENPOWER:4]
[BLOODTYPE:W][CHITIN]
[PETVALUE:2500]
[GRASSTRAMPLE:10]
[CARNIVORE][BONECARN]
[EXTRAVISION][NOSTUN][NOEXERT][NOFEAR]
[BUILDINGDESTROYER:1]
[PREFSTRING:terrifying presence]
[BODY:ARACHNOBODY:8EYES:2EARS:NOSE:2LUNGS:HEART:GUTS:ORGANS:THROAT:NECK:SPINE:BRAIN:MOUTH:5FINGERS]
[SIZE:10]
[MAXAGE:20:30]
[ATTACK:MAIN:BYTYPE:MOUTH:bite:bites:1:6:GORE][SPECIALATTACK_INJECT_EXTRACT:50:100]
[ATTACK:SECOND:BYTYPE:GRASP:punch:punches:1:2:BLUDGEON][ATTACKFLAG_WITH]
[FAT:2]
[CHILD:12][BABY:1][MULTIPLE_LITTER_RARE]
[DAMBLOCK:4]
[ALL_ACTIVE]
[BIOME:SUBTERRANEAN_CHASM]
[STANDARD_FLESH]
[HOMEOTHERM:10067]
[LAYERING:50]

Now, what does this all mean, exactly? Well, compared to dwarves they are big, bad, as fast as elves, as sturdy as dwarves (hard to knock over), they have white blood, can eat bones, are immune to fear, stun, and never get tired, see twice as far, and are almost totally immune to most small-damage attacks. In addition I copied the giant cave spider paralyzing bite attack, so when you bite and hit, you'll sometimes inject a paralyzing poison fairly often that'll knock your prey unconscious in a few combat rounds. Not only is the bite very damaging, but you can even knock out creatures like ettins or giants and rip them up as they sleep at your leisure.

However, we're not done yet. Notice the BODY: token has a few tidbits that we need to take a closer look at- 'ARACHNOBODY' and '8EYES' in particular. These are new to our species and we need to add them. So, close that and open up body_default.txt. Add the following to the bottom:

[BODY:ARACHNOBODY]
[BP:UB:upper body][UPPERBODY]
[BP:LB:abdomen][CON:UB][LOWERBODY]
[BP:HD:head][CON:UB][HEAD]
[BP:RUA:right upper arm][CON:LB][LIMB][RIGHT]
[BP:LUA:left upper arm][CON:LB][LIMB][LEFT]
[BP:RLA:right lower arm][CON:RUA][LIMB][RIGHT]
[BP:LLA:left lower arm][CON:LUA][LIMB][LEFT]
[BP:RH:right hand][CON:RLA][GRASP][RIGHT]
[BP:LH:left hand][CON:LLA][GRASP][LEFT]
[BP:RA1:right first leg][CON:LB][LIMB][RIGHT]
[BP:LA1:left first leg][CON:LB][LIMB][LEFT]
[BP:RF1:right first claw][CON:RA1][STANCE][RIGHT]
[BP:LF1:left first claw][CON:LA1][STANCE][LEFT]
[BP:RA2:right second leg][CON:LB][LIMB][RIGHT]
[BP:LA2:left second leg][CON:LB][LIMB][LEFT]
[BP:RF2:right second claw][CON:RA2][STANCE][RIGHT]
[BP:LF2:left second claw][CON:LA2][STANCE][LEFT]
[BP:RA3:right third leg][CON:LB][LIMB][RIGHT]
[BP:LA3:left third leg][CON:LB][LIMB][LEFT]
[BP:RF3:right third claw][CON:RA3][STANCE][RIGHT]
[BP:LF3:left third claw][CON:LA3][STANCE][LEFT]
[BP:RA4:right fourth leg][CON:LB][LIMB][RIGHT]
[BP:LA4:left fourth leg][CON:LB][LIMB][LEFT]
[BP:RF4:right fourth claw][CON:RA4][STANCE][RIGHT]
[BP:LF4:left fourth claw][CON:LA4][STANCE][LEFT]

[BODY:8EYES]
[BP:REYE:first eye][CONTYPE:HEAD][SIGHT][EMBEDDED][SMALL][RIGHT]
[BP:REYE:second eye][CONTYPE:HEAD][SIGHT][EMBEDDED][SMALL][RIGHT]
[BP:REYE:third eye][CONTYPE:HEAD][SIGHT][EMBEDDED][SMALL]
[BP:REYE:fourth eye][CONTYPE:HEAD][SIGHT][EMBEDDED][SMALL]
[BP:REYE:fifth eye][CONTYPE:HEAD][SIGHT][EMBEDDED][SMALL]
[BP:REYE:sixth eye][CONTYPE:HEAD][SIGHT][EMBEDDED][SMALL]
[BP:REYE:seventh eye][CONTYPE:HEAD][SIGHT][EMBEDDED][SMALL][LEFT]
[BP:LEYE:eighth eye][CONTYPE:HEAD][SIGHT][EMBEDDED][SMALL][LEFT]

Voila! Now you have your complete arachnid. They are very fun to play in adventurer mode, yet still a challenge. You can tear through unarmed civilians like a knife through butter, armed soldiers pose a minor challenge (much bigger if you are getting ganged up on), elite spearmen are devastating, and archers still rip you to shreds unless you close in on them quickly and poison them. However, thanks to your multiple eyes and legs you can take quite a few direct hits and still keep going (I once had an arrow smash straight through my head, taking out 5 eyes and wounding the throat, brains, and both ears, and survived the encounter).

In any case, you're now done! Create a new world and you will now be able to use arachnids as a playable creature in adventurer mode.

Written by Teldin.

[[Category:Modding]]
[[Category:Guides]]

40d Talk:Vomit

2008-05-16T04:47:33Z

Borgin: /* Mood penalty? */

Perhaps this page should be merged with and redirect to a general contaminants page? - [[User:Mzbundifund|Mzbundifund]] 23:52, 21 November 2007 (CST)

I agree--vomit isn't big enough to have its own page. [[User:Midna|Midna]] 13:44, 6 May 2008 (EDT)

== Mood penalty? ==

Is there any sort of mood penalty associated with vomit? I can't imagine dwarves like trodding through the stuff...
:Nope they're quite content to wade through the stuff.--[[User:Richards|Richards]] 20:48, 15 May 2008 (EDT)
::Eww. --[[User:Borgin|Borgin]] 23:47, 15 May 2008 (CST)

40d Talk:Legendary artifact

2008-05-16T04:46:30Z

Borgin: /* "Finished Goods"-type Artifacts...? */

What are some of the things that dwarfs can make into artifacts? [[User:Diabl0658|Diabl0658]] 03:59, 1 December 2007 (EST)
:Any item that your dwarves can craft and has a quality modifier can be made into artifacts. This includes armor, clothing, weapons, all kinds of crafts, furniture, cut gems and whatnot. Notable exceptions include coins(dunnae have quality modifiers), buildings(aint items) and babies(those rascals!). Bars, blocks, raw glass and other such base materials have no quality modifier and cannot be artifacts. I've never seen or heard about legendary meals, drinks and cloth/thread, so I think they can't be artifacts either. Though dwarves will say that they've eaten a legendary meal, when they've consumed a masterpiece meal. [[User:Noctis|Noctis]] 06:02, 1 December 2007 (EST)
::Ive heard of someone creating a artifact meal and almost having it rot away before getting it into the food stockpile [[User:Diabl0658|Diabl0658]] 11:00, 1 December 2007 (EST)

On #bay12games, there was some question about artifacts being destroyed by magma. Can anyone confirm or deny this? Also ways to destroy artifacts which aren't listed: Trading, dumping in magma vent (the floorless bottom seems to count as chasm), and dropping a bridge on it. [[User:Rkyeun|Rkyeun]] 02:10, 20 January 2008 (EST)
:I can't imagine anything not made of a [[magma-proof]] base material *not* being destroyed by any significant immersion in magma. --[[User:N9103|Edward]] 20:29, 20 January 2008 (EST)
::And yet because it's an artifact, it may have a special flag that prevents specifically that. Can anyone confirm non-magma-proof artifact destruction in magma? [[User:Rkyeun|Rkyeun]] 11:52, 24 January 2008 (EST)

== Furniture ==

All right, so what can I do with a legendary [[lace agate]] [[hatch cover]]?[[User:GarrieIrons|GarrieIrons]] 03:20, 22 January 2008 (EST)
:<s>Same thing as 90% of Artis. Sell it or</s> Build it in a Noble's room. --[[User:N9103|Edward]] 06:04, 28 April 2008 (EDT)
:: Artifacts are not tradeable. --[[User:Koltom|Koltom]] 08:19, 28 April 2008 (EDT)
:::Really... that's weird then since I would swear that I sold a particularly valuable bracelet after killing off it's creator that was otherwise useless... Being that it was a good amount of time ago (possibly even pre-3D) that I actually *tried* to sell an arti, it's quite likely that time has muddled an attempt to sell into a successful sale. I suppose this somewhat nullifies my previous comment, since it's far less than 90% of artis which are buildable. --[[User:N9103|Edward]] 08:46, 28 April 2008 (EDT)

We just endured a rather nasty goblin ambush (I'd built a nice castle but hadn't yet built a real military to go with it, so we huddled inside with the drawbridge up for a whole season while I had my dwarves equip and train a small army to "break out" with) and one of my peasants gave me the nicest present after we cleaned up; a legendary goblin bone door made out of the bones of our fallen enemies. I very much want to use this as our castle's main entrance door now. Does anyone know if an artifact's indestructibility applies to trolls and similar door-wreckers? Oh, I've got magma, so I'll make a copy of the save game and test whether magma can burn through such a thing too. [[User:Bryan Derksen|Bryan Derksen]] 15:30, 5 May 2008 (EDT)
:It's a constructed nonterrain feature, thus it's going to be knocked down by anything that deconstructs constructions. --[[User:GreyMario|GreyMario]] 17:38, 5 May 2008 (EDT)

::Hmph. I'll put it a couple of layers deep inside my fortifications, then. Guests will pass through it but invaders will have to fight pretty hard to get there. I'll just have to be satisfied with my giant electrum drawbridge as a fancy front door. [[User:Bryan Derksen|Bryan Derksen]] 18:10, 5 May 2008 (EDT)

== Artifact menu ==

I seem to recall stumbling across a list of the various legendary artifacts I had created. Can anyone tell me how to get to it again?
:If you're talking about current artifacts in a given fortress, you get a new menu option once you've produced atleast one in that fortress. (lowercase {{k|L}}) --[[User:N9103|Edward]] 21:59, 22 January 2008 (EST)

much better
--[[User:NateAustin|NateAustin]] 17:36, 29 February 2008 (EST)

== Trade ==

Is it possible to trade legendary artifacts? I just got a legendary statue and it currently sitting my furniture storage. I 've tried to get my dwarves to bring it to the depot, but it doesnt show up on the trade list. Is it possible? [[User:Robje|Robje]] 18:09, 12 March 2008 (EDT)
:No, Artifacts are not tradeable. They will not even take them to the depot if they sit in a bin marked for trade. --[[User:Koltom|Koltom]] 08:20, 28 April 2008 (EDT)

== Value ==
The value can be found under the artifact menur "l"
what is the maximum calue you have found on an artifact, mine is platnium high boot for 146400? --[[User:Corhen|Corhen]]
:There is a thread on the forums somewhere with this specific purpose. --[[User:GreyMario|GreyMario]] 17:02, 28 April 2008 (EDT)

== "Finished Goods"-type Artifacts...? ==

I understand the point of furniture artifacts- they can be built and are great for nobles- but what the heck are you supposed to do with artifact rings/amulets/crowns/scepters/et cetera? I'm sitting on over 300,000 value worth of "Finished Goods" artifacts. I guess my dwarves don't like building furniture... --[[User:Borgin|Borgin]]

:You could abandon the fortress and come back in adventure mode. Artifact rings? Too good! --[[User:Marble Dice|Marble Dice]] 11:01, 15 May 2008 (EDT)

:There might be more point to those types if/when artifacts start getting special magical effects. That's probably a long ways off though. --[[User:BahamutZERO|BahamutZERO]] 12:16, 15 May 2008 (EDT)

:But even in Adventure Mode, artifacts (besides weapons/armor) don't have much of a point, right? To be honest, I've never gone through Adventure Mode- ''it lags my laptop''. Sad, I know. But like BahamutZERO said, at least they'll gain some point ''eventually''... And hopefully soon. --[[User:Borgin|Borgin]] 23:46, 15 May 2008 (CST)

40d Talk:Legendary artifact

2008-05-15T07:10:49Z

Borgin: /* "Finished Goods"-type Artifacts...? */

40d Talk:Legendary artifact

2008-05-15T07:09:31Z

Borgin: "Finished Goods"-type Artifacts...?

40d Talk:Modding guide

2008-05-15T06:38:06Z

Borgin: /* Bad info? */

40d Talk:Modding guide

2008-05-15T06:37:47Z

Borgin: /* Bad info? */

User:Borgin

2008-05-15T06:35:47Z

Borgin:

Borgin cancels Play Dwarf Fortress: Interrupted by school.

40d Talk:Vomit

2008-05-15T06:33:45Z

Borgin: /* Mood penalty? */

40d Talk:Vomit

2008-05-15T06:33:12Z

Borgin:

40d Talk:Vomit

2008-05-15T06:32:43Z

Borgin: Mood penalty?

User:Borgin

2008-05-06T01:01:24Z

Borgin: New page: Borgin has been disgusted by a miasma recently. [...] He needs alcohol to get through the working day.

Borgin has been disgusted by a miasma recently. [...] He needs alcohol to get through the working day.

40d:Modding guide

2008-05-01T22:14:05Z

Borgin: /* Basics of DF modding */

{{Old|0.23.130.23a|, the 2D version}}

'''A NEW UPDATE HAS MADE MOST OF THIS INFORMATION REDUNDANT IN REGARDS TO NEW CIVILISATIONS'''

This is intended to be an easy guide for general newbies on how to both edit and add civilizations, creatures, objects, and so on in Dwarf Fortress, both [[Adventure_Mode|adventurer]] and [[Dwarf_Fortress_Mode|fortress]] modes, without breaking anything too much. Generally breaking stuff is fine! Just always back up your work + the originals, and be patient at having to [[World_Generation|generate new worlds]] over and over.

== Basics of DF modding ==

All of the data you can edit are stored in the \raw\ folder wherever you saved your DF executable. The raw folder contains two subfolders: graphics (where you insert [[Object_Tilesets|graphic packs]] to make custom tiles), and objects, which contains all the data for generally everything in the game that is not hardcoded. Quite a lot is not hardcoded, so you can edit a wide variety of things in the game.

Essentially, everything that can be modded uses text files to determine how they interact with the world or with other objects. With a bit of know-how you can tinker with just about everything.

Every text file uses what are called "tokens", also called "flags". They are essentially attributes that you can add or remove or edit for any particular object in the game, that change the way the object works or acts. Most of the actual effects are hardcoded: for example, giving a creature such as a moose the [EVIL] creature token will make it only appear in evil maps, or giving it [BONECARN] will make it chow down on bones.

A few key things to remember when modding the text files:

* Always back up the default text files you plan on editing. This way, if your game crashes (due to say, a typo that you can't find) you can simply copy-paste it back in for a 'vanilla' DF.
* When you edit any of the text files in the raw folder you must do the following: go into the \data\save folder and delete everything in it, including subfolders. Just do a ctrl-A and hit delete. If you try to play a game of DF with edited text files without making a new world first, bad stuff will happen.
++[EDIT 05/01/08]
It seems you do not need to delete old saves; simply create a new world using your modded files and things should run just fine. Should you desire to go back to your old sites, just make sure you revert to the raw files used for the creation of that world. I have not had any trouble "swapping mods" using this method, but would still like verification before this section is deleted.++
* In general it's better to make whole new text files for new stuff you're adding rather than editing the existing ones by tagging them onto the bottom. This allows you to keep track of them easier and keeps them all in one place so there's less messing about with tons of files.

In addition, if you ''rename'' the any of the \raw\ files themselves (such as 'creature_insects.txt' to 'creature_bugs.txt'), you must find the same filename in the \data\objects\ folder and delete it. This is required because once the world is generated it creates the new files and saves them for use next time the world is needed; without deleting the file you will get duplication errors. This is not necessary if you just don't change any of the filenames.

== Modding the civilizations ==

The civilization entries are stored in entity_default.txt. They are quite simple files that are in the following format:

[ENTITY:ENTITYNAME]
[CREATURE:CREATURETYPE]
[TRANSLATION:LANGUAGETYPE]
[BIOME_SUPPORT:BIOMETOKEN:FREQENCY]
...[OTHER NONESSENTIAL TAGS]...

At the top of the file you'll see an 'entity_default' all by itself, that must be at the top of the file only. All game files require those markers at the top. You can safely ignore them for now.

Now what do these mean, exactly? For one, where the tags are located don't generally matter quite a lot. You can add them in any order as long as they're underneath the "[ENTITY:]" token, which is the 'header' of the civilization and lets the game know that everything underneath deals with that civ. The entity token can be anything as long as it's not the same as another one.

'[CREATURE:]' links the civilization with a certain creature defined in a different file. This is the creature you play in adventurer or fortress mode, or that wanders around their towns when you explore them. For example, if you wanted to do something silly you could switch the "DWARF" entry in entity_default.txt with "ELF" and you would be marching elves around in fortress mode.

'[TRANSLATION:]' connects the civ to a specific language file that determines things like their natural (untranslated) creature first + last names and city names. The valid ones are HUMAN, DWARF, ELF, and GOBLIN.

'[BIOME_SUPPORT::]' defines biomes that civs will appear in.

You can find many details about the rest of the civilization tokens [[Entity_Tokens|here]]. The important ones are the CIV_CONTROLLABLE token, which lets you control the civ in dwarf fortress mode (by random chance if you have more than one set controllable) and the INDIV_CONTROLLABLE and ADVENTURE_TIER tokens which lets you play the civ in adventure mode via the PLAY NOW! command.

Any token that has to deal with weapons, armor, clothing, etc. are all the items that the civ can build, not necessarily the ones they can wear. For example, you could create a species with no clothes specified, but then rob a clothes shop in adventurer mode and wear everything you want.

[SELECT_SYMBOL:ALL:] and [CULL_SYMBOL:ALL:] are the words that can be randomly generated in names, civs, cities, artifacts, engravings, etc. "SELECT_SYMBOL" means that the civ is far more likely to use those, and CULL_SYMBOL means they never will. You can find a list of every symbol type [[Language|here]].

An easy method of creating a civilization is just to copy-paste a similar one to the bottom of the entity_default.txt file and edit things to your liking.

NOTE: With version 32a and higher, if you use [NUISANCE] or [BABYSNATCHER] with older mods then you will get things like wyverns sneaking into your fort knocking everything over, as they're set buildingdestroyer. Just remove the line (nuisance, babysnatcher, sieger) entirely.

== Modding the creatures ==

Creature modding is great fun. Essentially you can change nearly any aspect of a creature or completely make your own from scratch. You can either add a new creature to the bottom of an existing creature_thing.txt file or make your own file; just be sure to add the name of the file (without the txt) to the top of it. For example, I tend to use a 'creature_newbies.txt' file myself.

Modding creatures is exactly similar to modding civs: just a matter of editing, adding, or removing tokens, enclosed in square brackets underneath the creature's [CREATURE:] header. The creature entries contain all the information about each specific creature in the game, from animals to dwarves to goblins to even caravan wagons. Much of the data of a creature is quite self-explanatory; you can find a list of every creature token [[Creature_Tokens|here]].

Note: If you add a butcherable creature to the game such as a domestic animal, people will automatically wander around wearing its fur or skin as leather items when you are in the game, assuming the creature comes from the civ's biome (natural area). So don't be surprised to see 'duck leather armor' or something if you add ducks.

== Modding items ==

Items come in several flavors: 'crafted' items, and 'natural' items. Both are the same in most ways, but are stored in different places: most crafted item data are stored in the item_blah.txt files (such as item_armor.txt), while things like plants, gems, food, and ore are stored in "matgloss" files, ie. matgloss_plant.txt. Both are easily editable just like a creature or civ, but the problem is that there is no definitive list of what most of the tokens for these quite do yet. In any case they are usually pretty self-explanatory and you can guess what they do by checking out similar entries.

For example, let's look at the entry for, of course, the thong:

[ITEM_PANTS:ITEM_PANTS_THONG]
[NAME:thong:thongs]
[WEIGHT:10]
[VALUE:10]
[BLOCKPOWER:5]
[LAYER:UNDER]
[COVERAGE:25]
[LAYER_SIZE:10]
[LAYER_PERMIT:30]
[MATERIAL_SIZE:1]
[SOFT]
[LEATHER]

Most of these are pretty obvious if one compares them to the other entries. Now, if you wanted to mod these to turn them into metal thongs (ouch!), you would simply have to add [METAL] to it somewhere, and probably [HARD] instead of [SOFT]. Simple!

Weapons work largely the same way; but remember that in order to actually use any of these things you'd have to add the ITEM_THING item flag to the civilization's 'useable items' list in entity_default.txt. For example, if you're fond of Scots and decided to make a 'claymore' sword that's even bigger than the two-hander already in the files. It might look like this:

[ITEM_WEAPON:ITEM_WEAPON_SWORD_CLAYMORE]
[NAME:claymore sword:claymore swords]
[DAMAGE:160:SLASH]
[WEIGHT:120]
[SKILL:SWORD]
[CRIT_BOOST:1]
[TWO_HANDED:0]
[MINIMUM_SIZE:7]
[MATERIAL_SIZE:5]

Tada! Yes, it's that easy. Then you just add it to the civ entry so a civilization can actually use and craft it, and it's done.

== Modding language files ==

Let's say you added a whole new species. Sure, you could just swipe one of the existing translation files and steal their language for your species, but that's the lazy way! If you want to create a whole new language, it's very simple.

First, you'd need a whole new language_RACE file, such as language_LIZARDMAN.txt, along with "language_LIZARDMAN" at the top of the file proceeded by [OBJECT:LANGUAGE] and [TRANSLATION:LIZARDMAN]. After that, it's just a matter of copy-pasting one of the existing language lists and editing the finished 'translated' word. That's it! Then just add the translation link to your civ in entity_default.txt and it'll be added to the game on worldgen.

== Modding body parts ==

Imagine you have this fantastic idea for a multi-tentacled winged spider-monster. Sounds great! But in order to make this a reality you may need to create a new set of body parts for it. That's no problem! Making body parts is easy, though it may look complicated at first.

All body definitions are located in body_default.txt and then linked to a creature in the creature's entry. For example, the dwarf creature has: [BODY:HUMANOID:2EYES:2EARS:NOSE:2LUNGS:HEART:GUTS:ORGANS:HUMANOID_JOINTS:THROAT:NECK:SPINE:BRAIN:5FINGERS:5TOES:MOUTH]. All of these are seperate bodypart definitions in body_default.txt. You can mix and match them in the creature entry and it makes no difference, as long as they're there: each bodypart will link itself to the appropriate connection automatically when the creature is first created. This means that if you don't add the appropriate bodyparts, hilarious things can happen: if you forget to add a throat or lungs your new creature will suffocate after taking a few steps (unless you make it a nonbreather).

Body parts work by sections: you can add as many sections as you want to a bodypart definition, but generally you should keep it fairly low for ease of use. Each body section entry is in the very simple format:

[BODY:BODYNAME]
[BP:ID:name][TOKENSGOHERE]

You can add as many sub-parts as you want to an overall section. The most important tokens are 'CONTYPE' and 'CON': CONTYPE means the bodypart in question is connected to a certain *type* of bodypart, while CON means it's connected to a *specific* one. Let's break down a few entries:

[BODY:BASIC_HEAD]
[BP:HD:head][CONTYPE:UPPERBODY][HEAD]

This is a very simple one: a head. It connects directly to an upper body. All the stuff inside the head are seperate entries that call up the head as a different contype in turn:

[BODY:THROAT]
[BP:THROAT:throat][CONTYPE:HEAD][THROAT][EMBEDDED][SMALL]

The foot bone's connected to the ankle bone..

If you wanted someone to be able to break someone else's throat (like breaking a joint) and suffocate them, just add the [JOINT], [BREATHE], and possibly [NERVOUS] to the throat object's tokens.

A 'BODYGLOSS', which you can sometimes find in the creature entries, are simply replacement words for certain defined words in a creature. For example, you'll find the bodygloss [BODYGLOSS:CLAW_HAND:hand:claw] in the body_default.txt, and then you can use this in a creature with '[BODYGLOSS:CLAW_HAND]' and it will replace all instances of "hand" with "claw" in that creature.

Note that only creatures with the [EQUIPS] token (and possibly [INTELLIGENT]) and a civ that can create clothes/armor/weapons will be able to actually wear stuff.

== Example one: dark dwarves ==

These examples will go over the details for creating several new things as well as editing some old ones.

Remember: delete the contents of your \save\ folder before editing any of the game text files, and always back up the old ones so you don't have to download a new copy of dwarf fortress if you messed something up and can't remember how to fix it.

First, we're going to create a new, evil civilization of dwarves called, unsurprisingly, dark dwarves. This will be quite easy, though with a few fundamental differences. Mainly, that dark dwarves are evil and more warlike than regular dwarves.

First, back up your stuff and delete your saved worlds. Yes, I'm saying that again.

Now, open up entity_default.txt. All your species civilizations will be in there. We're going to make a whole new one for our dark dwarves. In many ways it'll be a simple copy-paste job of regular dwarves, then tweaking some things.

Add this to the bottom of the entity_default file:

[ENTITY:DARK_DWARVES]
[CIV_CONTROLLABLE]
[CREATURE:DARK_DWARF]
[TRANSLATION:DWARF]
[START_BIOME:MOUNTAIN]

[BIOME_SUPPORT:ANY_WETLAND:1]

[BIOME_SUPPORT:ANY_DESERT:1]

[BIOME_SUPPORT:ANY_FOREST:3]

[BIOME_SUPPORT:MOUNTAIN:3]

[BIOME_SUPPORT:ANY_GRASSLAND:4]

[BIOME_SUPPORT:ANY_SAVANNA:4]

[BIOME_SUPPORT:ANY_SHRUBLAND:3]

[BIOME_SUPPORT:ANY_RIVER:1]

[DIGGER:ITEM_WEAPON_PICK]
[WEAPON:ITEM_WEAPON_AXE_BATTLE]
[WEAPON:ITEM_WEAPON_WHIP]
[WEAPON:ITEM_WEAPON_FLAIL]
[WEAPON:ITEM_WEAPON_SCOURGE]
[WEAPON:ITEM_WEAPON_DAGGER_LARGE]
[WEAPON:ITEM_WEAPON_MACE]
[WEAPON:ITEM_WEAPON_SWORD_SHORT]
[WEAPON:ITEM_WEAPON_CROSSBOW]
[AMMO:ITEM_AMMO_BOLTS]
[ARMOR:ITEM_ARMOR_PLATEMAIL:COMMON]
[ARMOR:ITEM_ARMOR_CHAINMAIL:COMMON]
[ARMOR:ITEM_ARMOR_LEATHER:COMMON]
[ARMOR:ITEM_ARMOR_COAT:COMMON]
[ARMOR:ITEM_ARMOR_SHIRT:COMMON]
[ARMOR:ITEM_ARMOR_CLOAK:COMMON]
[ARMOR:ITEM_ARMOR_TOGA:UNCOMMON]
[ARMOR:ITEM_ARMOR_VEST:COMMON]
[ARMOR:ITEM_ARMOR_DRESS:COMMON]
[ARMOR:ITEM_ARMOR_ROBE:COMMON]
[HELM:ITEM_HELM_HELM:COMMON]
[HELM:ITEM_HELM_HOOD:COMMON]
[GLOVES:ITEM_GLOVES_GAUNTLETS:COMMON]
[GLOVES:ITEM_GLOVES_GLOVES:COMMON]
[SHOES:ITEM_SHOES_SHOES:COMMON]
[SHOES:ITEM_SHOES_BOOTS:COMMON]
[SHOES:ITEM_SHOES_BOOTS_LOW:COMMON]
[PANTS:ITEM_PANTS_PANTS:COMMON]
[PANTS:ITEM_PANTS_GREAVES:COMMON]
[PANTS:ITEM_PANTS_LEGGINGS:COMMON]
[SHIELD:ITEM_SHIELD_SHIELD]
[SHIELD:ITEM_SHIELD_BUCKLER]
[SIEGEAMMO:ITEM_SIEGEAMMO_BALLISTA]
[TRAPCOMP:ITEM_TRAPCOMP_GIANTAXEBLADE]
[TRAPCOMP:ITEM_TRAPCOMP_ENORMOUSCORKSCREW]
[TRAPCOMP:ITEM_TRAPCOMP_SPIKEDBALL]
[TRAPCOMP:ITEM_TRAPCOMP_LARGESERRATEDDISC]
[TOY:ITEM_TOY_HAMMER]
[TOY:ITEM_TOY_AXE]
[TOY:ITEM_TOY_MINIFORGE]
[INSTRUMENT:ITEM_INSTRUMENT_TRUMPET]
[INSTRUMENT:ITEM_INSTRUMENT_DRUM]
[SIEGER]
[CLOTHING]
[SUBTERRANEAN_CLOTHING]
[CURRENCY_BY_YEAR]
[CURRENCY:COPPER:1]
[CURRENCY:SILVER:5]
[CURRENCY:ELECTRUM:10]
[CURRENCY:GOLD:15]
[CURRENCY:PLATINUM:30]
[SELECT_SYMBOL:ALL:EVIL]
[SELECT_SYMBOL:ALL:EARTH]
[SELECT_SYMBOL:ALL:VIOLENT]
[SELECT_SYMBOL:ALL:DEATH]
[SELECT_SYMBOL:ALL:NEGATIVE]
[SELECT_SYMBOL:ALL:UGLY]
[SELECT_SYMBOL:ALL:UNTOWARD]
[CULL_SYMBOL:ALL:DOMESTIC]
[CULL_SYMBOL:ALL:FLOWERY]
[CULL_SYMBOL:ALL:HOLY]
[CULL_SYMBOL:ALL:PEACE]
[CULL_SYMBOL:ALL:NEGATOR]
[CULL_SYMBOL:ALL:GOOD]
[METAL_PREF]
[GEM_PREF]
[STONE_PREF]
[INDOOR_FARMING]
[USE_CAVE_ANIMALS]
[USE_EVIL_ANIMALS]
[USE_ANIMAL_PRODUCTS]
[COMMON_DOMESTIC_PACK]
[COMMON_DOMESTIC_PULL]
[COMMON_DOMESTIC_MOUNT]
[COMMON_DOMESTIC_PET]

The fun part is that your dark dwarves will, thanks to the specified symbols, have some crazy names that you'd never see with regular dwarves (one of the fortresses it generated was called "Crowanus", for example). If you dislike having bad language, just remove the [SELECT_SYMBOL:ALL:UNTOWARD].

The main differences you'll see here compared to the dwarf entry is that they have different weapons, toys, instruments (thanks to their warlike nature, they build less of them) and [USE_EVIL_ANIMALS] is turned on: this will do nothing in dwarf fort mode but you'll see tamed trolls and ogres in their fortresses in adventurer mode.

Now, we need to build the DARK_DWARF creature. Create a new text file called 'creature_new.txt'. Immediately, add the following:

creature_new

[OBJECT:CREATURE]

That'll make this text file recognized as a creature file. Now, we simply add our dark_dwarf creature:

[CREATURE:DARK_DWARF]
[NAME:dark dwarf:dark dwarves:dark dwarven]
[TILE:1][COLOR:3:0:0]
[GENPOWER:3]
[BUTCHERABLE_NONSTANDARD]
[INTELLIGENT]
[TRANCES]
[CANOPENDOORS]
[LIKES_FIGHTING]
[PREFSTRING:beards]
[PREFSTRING:violent tempers]
[BODY:HUMANOID:2EYES:2EARS:NOSE:2LUNGS:HEART:GUTS:ORGANS:HUMANOID_JOINTS:THROAT:NECK:SPINE:BRAIN:5FINGERS:5TOES:MOUTH]
[STOUT]
[MAXAGE:150:170]
[ATTACK:MAIN:BYTYPE:GRASP:punch:punches:1:2:BLUDGEON][ATTACKFLAG_WITH]
[ATTACK:SECOND:BYTYPE:MOUTH:bite:bites:1:1:GORE][ATTACKFLAG_CANLATCH]
[CHILD:12][BABY:1][MULTIPLE_LITTER_RARE]
[DAMBLOCK:1]
[FAT:3]
[SIZE:6]
[EQUIPS]
[CAVE_ADAPT]
[NOCTURNAL]
[CRAFTSMAN_NAME:craftsdwarf:craftsdwarves]
[FISHERMAN_NAME:fisherdwarf:fisherdwarves]
[HAMMERMAN_NAME:hammerdwarf:hammerdwarves]
[SPEARMAN_NAME:speardwarf:speardwarves]
[CROSSBOWMAN_NAME:marksdwarf:marksdwarves]
[AXEMAN_NAME:axedwarf:axedwarves]
[SWORDSMAN_NAME:swordsdwarf:swordsdwarves]
[MACEMAN_NAME:macedwarf:macedwarves]
[PIKEMAN_NAME:pikedwarf:pikedwarves]
[BOWMAN_NAME:bowdwarf:bowdwarves]
[SPEECH:dwarf.txt]
[STANDARD_FLESH]
[HOMEOTHERM:10067]
[LAYERING:50]
[EVIL]

This is largely a copy of the regular dwarves, but with several differences: [LIKES_FIGHTING] will give them happy thoughts when they have fought something, [NOCTURNAL] means they like nights rather than days, and [EVIL] means on the adventurer map their fortresses will tend to end up on evil tiles rather than good ones. Otherwise, they are exactly the same as regular dwarves. To make them extra evil, add [BONECARN] somewhere in there and they can eat bones (they'll actually haul them from your refuse pit to the dining table, yum), but will sometimes (though rarely) choke to death on them. Also, they do not require booze to stay happy (though will happily drink it anyway if they have to).

There! That's all we need to do in order to add our civilization. Just create a new world and they'll be there: however, when you go to adventurer mode, all (or none) of your dwarf entries might be replaced with dark dwarves, so it's really a matter of luck. When you start a new fortress, there will be a 50-50 chance of playing either as dwarves or dark dwarves.

== Example two: "Arachnid" playable creature ==

This time, we're going to add a new playable creature to adventurer mode, but not playable in fortress mode. An 'arachnid' is a large, powerful, evil half-elf, half-spider (no copyright violations here!): they are too big to wear standard equipment and are quite nasty enough without it anyway. The downside to playing them is that since they do not form standard civilizations, you cannot start them at a specific location nor will they have any weapon, armor, or [[wrestling]] skills to start out. Oh well.

First off, we need to add a civilization entry in entity_default.txt. Open it up and add this to the bottom of the file:

[ENTITY:ARACHNIDS]
[MOUNTAIN_SETTLEMENTS]
[CREATURE:ARACHNID]
[INDIV_CONTROLLABLE]
[ADVENTURE_TIER:4]
[TRANSLATION:ELF]
[CLOTHING]
[SUBTERRANEAN_CLOTHING]
[ITEM_THIEF]
[BIOME_SUPPORT:ANY_WETLAND:2]
[BIOME_SUPPORT:ANY_DESERT:3]
[BIOME_SUPPORT:ANY_FOREST:1]
[BIOME_SUPPORT:MOUNTAIN:4]
[BIOME_SUPPORT:ANY_GRASSLAND:1]
[BIOME_SUPPORT:ANY_SAVANNA:1]
[BIOME_SUPPORT:ANY_SHRUBLAND:1]
[BIOME_SUPPORT:ANY_RIVER:2]
[SELECT_SYMBOL:ALL:EVIL]
[SELECT_SYMBOL:ALL:VIOLENT]
[SELECT_SYMBOL:ALL:DEATH]
[SELECT_SYMBOL:ALL:UNTOWARD]
[CULL_SYMBOL:ALL:DOMESTIC]
[CULL_SYMBOL:ALL:FLOWERY]
[CULL_SYMBOL:ALL:HOLY]
[CULL_SYMBOL:ALL:PEACE]
[CULL_SYMBOL:ALL:NEGATOR]
[CULL_SYMBOL:ALL:GOOD]

This will give us some fun random names. As a 'nuisance' race they may appear and try to steal stuff from you in fortress mode (like kobolds), but I have yet to see that actually happen. The nuisance token also makes them not appear as regular civilizations, which is the entire point. Arachnids are solitary and do not form civilizations (though they WILL be found in caves). However, the INDIV_CONTROLLABLE and ADVENTURE_TIER tokens allows us to use ARACHNID: PLAY NOW! in adventurer mode, which is exactly what we want. They'll be powerful enough to use without gear anyhow.

Next, we open up creature_new.txt (if you haven't made one, check the above example) and add the new creature to it:

[CREATURE:ARACHNID]
[NAME:arachnid:arachnids:arachnid]
[TILE:'&'][COLOR:7:0:0]
[MODVALUE:20]
[INTELLIGENT][CANOPENDOORS]
[LARGE_CHASM][FREQUENCY:1][DIFFICULTY:4]
[SPEED:700]
[STOUT]
[EXTRACT:giant cave spider venom:7:0:0]
[EXTRACT_VALUE:100]
[EXTRACT_PARALYZE][NATURAL][PET_EXOTIC]
[EXTRACT_ANTIDOTE:giant cave spider antivenin:7:0:0:100]
[WEBIMMUNE][AMBUSHPREDATOR][PARALYZEIMMUNE]
[GENPOWER:4]
[BLOODTYPE:W][CHITIN]
[PETVALUE:2500]
[GRASSTRAMPLE:10]
[CARNIVORE][BONECARN]
[EXTRAVISION][NOSTUN][NOEXERT][NOFEAR]
[BUILDINGDESTROYER:1]
[PREFSTRING:terrifying presence]
[BODY:ARACHNOBODY:8EYES:2EARS:NOSE:2LUNGS:HEART:GUTS:ORGANS:THROAT:NECK:SPINE:BRAIN:MOUTH]
[SIZE:10]
[MAXAGE:20:30]
[ATTACK:MAIN:BYTYPE:MOUTH:bite:bites:1:6:GORE][SPECIALATTACK_INJECT_EXTRACT:50:100]
[ATTACK:SECOND:BYTYPE:GRASP:punch:punches:1:2:BLUDGEON][ATTACKFLAG_WITH]
[FAT:2]
[CHILD:12][BABY:1][MULTIPLE_LITTER_RARE]
[DAMBLOCK:4]
[ALL_ACTIVE]
[BIOME:SUBTERRANEAN_CHASM]
[STANDARD_FLESH]
[HOMEOTHERM:10067]
[LAYERING:50]

Now, what does this all mean, exactly? Well, compared to dwarves they are big, bad, as fast as elves, as sturdy as dwarves (hard to knock over), they have white blood, can eat bones, are immune to fear, stun, and never get tired, see twice as far, and are almost totally immune to most small-damage attacks. In addition I copied the giant cave spider paralyzing bite attack, so when you bite and hit, you'll sometimes inject a paralyzing poison fairly often that'll knock your prey unconscious in a few combat rounds. Not only is the bite very damaging, but you can even knock out creatures like ettins or giants and rip them up as they sleep at your leisure.

However, we're not done yet. Notice the BODY: token has a few tidbits that we need to take a closer look at- 'ARACHNOBODY' and '8EYES' in particular. These are new to our species and we need to add them. So, close that and open up body_default.txt. Add the following to the bottom:

[BODY:ARACHNOBODY]
[BP:UB:upper body][UPPERBODY]
[BP:LB:abdomen][CON:UB][LOWERBODY]
[BP:HD:head][CON:UB][HEAD]
[BP:RUA:right upper arm][CON:LB][LIMB][RIGHT]
[BP:LUA:left upper arm][CON:LB][LIMB][LEFT]
[BP:RLA:right lower arm][CON:RUA][LIMB][RIGHT]
[BP:LLA:left lower arm][CON:LUA][LIMB][LEFT]
[BP:RH:right hand][CON:RLA][GRASP][RIGHT]
[BP:LH:left hand][CON:LLA][GRASP][LEFT]
[BP:RA1:right first leg][CON:LB][LIMB][RIGHT]
[BP:LA1:left first leg][CON:LB][LIMB][LEFT]
[BP:RF1:right first claw][CON:RA1][STANCE][RIGHT]
[BP:LF1:left first claw][CON:LA1][STANCE][LEFT]
[BP:RA2:right second leg][CON:LB][LIMB][RIGHT]
[BP:LA2:left second leg][CON:LB][LIMB][LEFT]
[BP:RF2:right second claw][CON:RA2][STANCE][RIGHT]
[BP:LF2:left second claw][CON:LA2][STANCE][LEFT]
[BP:RA3:right third leg][CON:LB][LIMB][RIGHT]
[BP:LA3:left third leg][CON:LB][LIMB][LEFT]
[BP:RF3:right third claw][CON:RA3][STANCE][RIGHT]
[BP:LF3:left third claw][CON:LA3][STANCE][LEFT]
[BP:RA4:right fourth leg][CON:LB][LIMB][RIGHT]
[BP:LA4:left fourth leg][CON:LB][LIMB][LEFT]
[BP:RF4:right fourth claw][CON:RA4][STANCE][RIGHT]
[BP:LF4:left fourth claw][CON:LA4][STANCE][LEFT]

[BODY:8EYES]
[BP:REYE:first eye][CONTYPE:HEAD][SIGHT][EMBEDDED][SMALL][RIGHT]
[BP:REYE:second eye][CONTYPE:HEAD][SIGHT][EMBEDDED][SMALL][RIGHT]
[BP:REYE:third eye][CONTYPE:HEAD][SIGHT][EMBEDDED][SMALL]
[BP:REYE:fourth eye][CONTYPE:HEAD][SIGHT][EMBEDDED][SMALL]
[BP:REYE:fifth eye][CONTYPE:HEAD][SIGHT][EMBEDDED][SMALL]
[BP:REYE:sixth eye][CONTYPE:HEAD][SIGHT][EMBEDDED][SMALL]
[BP:REYE:seventh eye][CONTYPE:HEAD][SIGHT][EMBEDDED][SMALL][LEFT]
[BP:LEYE:eighth eye][CONTYPE:HEAD][SIGHT][EMBEDDED][SMALL][LEFT]

Voila! Now you have your complete arachnid. They are very fun to play in adventurer mode, yet still a challenge. You can tear through unarmed civilians like a knife through butter, armed soldiers pose a minor challenge (much bigger if you are getting ganged up on), elite spearmen are devastating, and archers still rip you to shreds unless you close in on them quickly and poison them. However, thanks to your multiple eyes and legs you can take quite a few direct hits and still keep going (I once had an arrow smash straight through my head, taking out 5 eyes and wounding the throat, brains, and both ears, and survived the encounter).

In any case, you're now done! Create a new world and you will now be able to use arachnids as a playable creature in adventurer mode.

Written by Teldin.

[[Category:Modding]]
[[Category:Guides]]

40d:Modding guide

2008-05-01T22:13:11Z

Borgin: /* Basics of DF modding */

{{Old|0.23.130.23a|, the 2D version}}

'''A NEW UPDATE HAS MADE MOST OF THIS INFORMATION REDUNDANT IN REGARDS TO NEW CIVILISATIONS'''

This is intended to be an easy guide for general newbies on how to both edit and add civilizations, creatures, objects, and so on in Dwarf Fortress, both [[Adventure_Mode|adventurer]] and [[Dwarf_Fortress_Mode|fortress]] modes, without breaking anything too much. Generally breaking stuff is fine! Just always back up your work + the originals, and be patient at having to [[World_Generation|generate new worlds]] over and over.

== Basics of DF modding ==

All of the data you can edit are stored in the \raw\ folder wherever you saved your DF executable. The raw folder contains two subfolders: graphics (where you insert [[Object_Tilesets|graphic packs]] to make custom tiles), and objects, which contains all the data for generally everything in the game that is not hardcoded. Quite a lot is not hardcoded, so you can edit a wide variety of things in the game.

Essentially, everything that can be modded uses text files to determine how they interact with the world or with other objects. With a bit of know-how you can tinker with just about everything.

Every text file uses what are called "tokens", also called "flags". They are essentially attributes that you can add or remove or edit for any particular object in the game, that change the way the object works or acts. Most of the actual effects are hardcoded: for example, giving a creature such as a moose the [EVIL] creature token will make it only appear in evil maps, or giving it [BONECARN] will make it chow down on bones.

A few key things to remember when modding the text files:

* Always back up the default text files you plan on editing. This way, if your game crashes (due to say, a typo that you can't find) you can simply copy-paste it back in for a 'vanilla' DF.
* When you edit any of the text files in the raw folder you must do the following: go into the \data\save folder and delete everything in it, including subfolders. Just do a ctrl-A and hit delete. If you try to play a game of DF with edited text files without making a new world first, bad stuff will happen.
**[EDIT 05/01/08]
It seems you do not need to delete old saves; simply create a new world using your modded files and things should run just fine. Should you desire to go back to your old sites, just make sure you revert to the raw files used for the creation of that world. I have not had any trouble "swapping mods" using this method, but would still like verification before this section is deleted.**
* In general it's better to make whole new text files for new stuff you're adding rather than editing the existing ones by tagging them onto the bottom. This allows you to keep track of them easier and keeps them all in one place so there's less messing about with tons of files.

In addition, if you ''rename'' the any of the \raw\ files themselves (such as 'creature_insects.txt' to 'creature_bugs.txt'), you must find the same filename in the \data\objects\ folder and delete it. This is required because once the world is generated it creates the new files and saves them for use next time the world is needed; without deleting the file you will get duplication errors. This is not necessary if you just don't change any of the filenames.

== Modding the civilizations ==

The civilization entries are stored in entity_default.txt. They are quite simple files that are in the following format:

[ENTITY:ENTITYNAME]
[CREATURE:CREATURETYPE]
[TRANSLATION:LANGUAGETYPE]
[BIOME_SUPPORT:BIOMETOKEN:FREQENCY]
...[OTHER NONESSENTIAL TAGS]...

At the top of the file you'll see an 'entity_default' all by itself, that must be at the top of the file only. All game files require those markers at the top. You can safely ignore them for now.

Now what do these mean, exactly? For one, where the tags are located don't generally matter quite a lot. You can add them in any order as long as they're underneath the "[ENTITY:]" token, which is the 'header' of the civilization and lets the game know that everything underneath deals with that civ. The entity token can be anything as long as it's not the same as another one.

'[CREATURE:]' links the civilization with a certain creature defined in a different file. This is the creature you play in adventurer or fortress mode, or that wanders around their towns when you explore them. For example, if you wanted to do something silly you could switch the "DWARF" entry in entity_default.txt with "ELF" and you would be marching elves around in fortress mode.

'[TRANSLATION:]' connects the civ to a specific language file that determines things like their natural (untranslated) creature first + last names and city names. The valid ones are HUMAN, DWARF, ELF, and GOBLIN.

'[BIOME_SUPPORT::]' defines biomes that civs will appear in.

You can find many details about the rest of the civilization tokens [[Entity_Tokens|here]]. The important ones are the CIV_CONTROLLABLE token, which lets you control the civ in dwarf fortress mode (by random chance if you have more than one set controllable) and the INDIV_CONTROLLABLE and ADVENTURE_TIER tokens which lets you play the civ in adventure mode via the PLAY NOW! command.

Any token that has to deal with weapons, armor, clothing, etc. are all the items that the civ can build, not necessarily the ones they can wear. For example, you could create a species with no clothes specified, but then rob a clothes shop in adventurer mode and wear everything you want.

[SELECT_SYMBOL:ALL:] and [CULL_SYMBOL:ALL:] are the words that can be randomly generated in names, civs, cities, artifacts, engravings, etc. "SELECT_SYMBOL" means that the civ is far more likely to use those, and CULL_SYMBOL means they never will. You can find a list of every symbol type [[Language|here]].

An easy method of creating a civilization is just to copy-paste a similar one to the bottom of the entity_default.txt file and edit things to your liking.

NOTE: With version 32a and higher, if you use [NUISANCE] or [BABYSNATCHER] with older mods then you will get things like wyverns sneaking into your fort knocking everything over, as they're set buildingdestroyer. Just remove the line (nuisance, babysnatcher, sieger) entirely.

== Modding the creatures ==

Creature modding is great fun. Essentially you can change nearly any aspect of a creature or completely make your own from scratch. You can either add a new creature to the bottom of an existing creature_thing.txt file or make your own file; just be sure to add the name of the file (without the txt) to the top of it. For example, I tend to use a 'creature_newbies.txt' file myself.

Modding creatures is exactly similar to modding civs: just a matter of editing, adding, or removing tokens, enclosed in square brackets underneath the creature's [CREATURE:] header. The creature entries contain all the information about each specific creature in the game, from animals to dwarves to goblins to even caravan wagons. Much of the data of a creature is quite self-explanatory; you can find a list of every creature token [[Creature_Tokens|here]].

Note: If you add a butcherable creature to the game such as a domestic animal, people will automatically wander around wearing its fur or skin as leather items when you are in the game, assuming the creature comes from the civ's biome (natural area). So don't be surprised to see 'duck leather armor' or something if you add ducks.

== Modding items ==

Items come in several flavors: 'crafted' items, and 'natural' items. Both are the same in most ways, but are stored in different places: most crafted item data are stored in the item_blah.txt files (such as item_armor.txt), while things like plants, gems, food, and ore are stored in "matgloss" files, ie. matgloss_plant.txt. Both are easily editable just like a creature or civ, but the problem is that there is no definitive list of what most of the tokens for these quite do yet. In any case they are usually pretty self-explanatory and you can guess what they do by checking out similar entries.

For example, let's look at the entry for, of course, the thong:

[ITEM_PANTS:ITEM_PANTS_THONG]
[NAME:thong:thongs]
[WEIGHT:10]
[VALUE:10]
[BLOCKPOWER:5]
[LAYER:UNDER]
[COVERAGE:25]
[LAYER_SIZE:10]
[LAYER_PERMIT:30]
[MATERIAL_SIZE:1]
[SOFT]
[LEATHER]

Most of these are pretty obvious if one compares them to the other entries. Now, if you wanted to mod these to turn them into metal thongs (ouch!), you would simply have to add [METAL] to it somewhere, and probably [HARD] instead of [SOFT]. Simple!

Weapons work largely the same way; but remember that in order to actually use any of these things you'd have to add the ITEM_THING item flag to the civilization's 'useable items' list in entity_default.txt. For example, if you're fond of Scots and decided to make a 'claymore' sword that's even bigger than the two-hander already in the files. It might look like this:

[ITEM_WEAPON:ITEM_WEAPON_SWORD_CLAYMORE]
[NAME:claymore sword:claymore swords]
[DAMAGE:160:SLASH]
[WEIGHT:120]
[SKILL:SWORD]
[CRIT_BOOST:1]
[TWO_HANDED:0]
[MINIMUM_SIZE:7]
[MATERIAL_SIZE:5]

Tada! Yes, it's that easy. Then you just add it to the civ entry so a civilization can actually use and craft it, and it's done.

== Modding language files ==

Let's say you added a whole new species. Sure, you could just swipe one of the existing translation files and steal their language for your species, but that's the lazy way! If you want to create a whole new language, it's very simple.

First, you'd need a whole new language_RACE file, such as language_LIZARDMAN.txt, along with "language_LIZARDMAN" at the top of the file proceeded by [OBJECT:LANGUAGE] and [TRANSLATION:LIZARDMAN]. After that, it's just a matter of copy-pasting one of the existing language lists and editing the finished 'translated' word. That's it! Then just add the translation link to your civ in entity_default.txt and it'll be added to the game on worldgen.

== Modding body parts ==

Imagine you have this fantastic idea for a multi-tentacled winged spider-monster. Sounds great! But in order to make this a reality you may need to create a new set of body parts for it. That's no problem! Making body parts is easy, though it may look complicated at first.

All body definitions are located in body_default.txt and then linked to a creature in the creature's entry. For example, the dwarf creature has: [BODY:HUMANOID:2EYES:2EARS:NOSE:2LUNGS:HEART:GUTS:ORGANS:HUMANOID_JOINTS:THROAT:NECK:SPINE:BRAIN:5FINGERS:5TOES:MOUTH]. All of these are seperate bodypart definitions in body_default.txt. You can mix and match them in the creature entry and it makes no difference, as long as they're there: each bodypart will link itself to the appropriate connection automatically when the creature is first created. This means that if you don't add the appropriate bodyparts, hilarious things can happen: if you forget to add a throat or lungs your new creature will suffocate after taking a few steps (unless you make it a nonbreather).

Body parts work by sections: you can add as many sections as you want to a bodypart definition, but generally you should keep it fairly low for ease of use. Each body section entry is in the very simple format:

[BODY:BODYNAME]
[BP:ID:name][TOKENSGOHERE]

You can add as many sub-parts as you want to an overall section. The most important tokens are 'CONTYPE' and 'CON': CONTYPE means the bodypart in question is connected to a certain *type* of bodypart, while CON means it's connected to a *specific* one. Let's break down a few entries:

[BODY:BASIC_HEAD]
[BP:HD:head][CONTYPE:UPPERBODY][HEAD]

This is a very simple one: a head. It connects directly to an upper body. All the stuff inside the head are seperate entries that call up the head as a different contype in turn:

[BODY:THROAT]
[BP:THROAT:throat][CONTYPE:HEAD][THROAT][EMBEDDED][SMALL]

The foot bone's connected to the ankle bone..

If you wanted someone to be able to break someone else's throat (like breaking a joint) and suffocate them, just add the [JOINT], [BREATHE], and possibly [NERVOUS] to the throat object's tokens.

A 'BODYGLOSS', which you can sometimes find in the creature entries, are simply replacement words for certain defined words in a creature. For example, you'll find the bodygloss [BODYGLOSS:CLAW_HAND:hand:claw] in the body_default.txt, and then you can use this in a creature with '[BODYGLOSS:CLAW_HAND]' and it will replace all instances of "hand" with "claw" in that creature.

Note that only creatures with the [EQUIPS] token (and possibly [INTELLIGENT]) and a civ that can create clothes/armor/weapons will be able to actually wear stuff.

== Example one: dark dwarves ==

These examples will go over the details for creating several new things as well as editing some old ones.

Remember: delete the contents of your \save\ folder before editing any of the game text files, and always back up the old ones so you don't have to download a new copy of dwarf fortress if you messed something up and can't remember how to fix it.

First, we're going to create a new, evil civilization of dwarves called, unsurprisingly, dark dwarves. This will be quite easy, though with a few fundamental differences. Mainly, that dark dwarves are evil and more warlike than regular dwarves.

First, back up your stuff and delete your saved worlds. Yes, I'm saying that again.

Now, open up entity_default.txt. All your species civilizations will be in there. We're going to make a whole new one for our dark dwarves. In many ways it'll be a simple copy-paste job of regular dwarves, then tweaking some things.

Add this to the bottom of the entity_default file:

[ENTITY:DARK_DWARVES]
[CIV_CONTROLLABLE]
[CREATURE:DARK_DWARF]
[TRANSLATION:DWARF]
[START_BIOME:MOUNTAIN]

[BIOME_SUPPORT:ANY_WETLAND:1]

[BIOME_SUPPORT:ANY_DESERT:1]

[BIOME_SUPPORT:ANY_FOREST:3]

[BIOME_SUPPORT:MOUNTAIN:3]

[BIOME_SUPPORT:ANY_GRASSLAND:4]

[BIOME_SUPPORT:ANY_SAVANNA:4]

[BIOME_SUPPORT:ANY_SHRUBLAND:3]

[BIOME_SUPPORT:ANY_RIVER:1]

[DIGGER:ITEM_WEAPON_PICK]
[WEAPON:ITEM_WEAPON_AXE_BATTLE]
[WEAPON:ITEM_WEAPON_WHIP]
[WEAPON:ITEM_WEAPON_FLAIL]
[WEAPON:ITEM_WEAPON_SCOURGE]
[WEAPON:ITEM_WEAPON_DAGGER_LARGE]
[WEAPON:ITEM_WEAPON_MACE]
[WEAPON:ITEM_WEAPON_SWORD_SHORT]
[WEAPON:ITEM_WEAPON_CROSSBOW]
[AMMO:ITEM_AMMO_BOLTS]
[ARMOR:ITEM_ARMOR_PLATEMAIL:COMMON]
[ARMOR:ITEM_ARMOR_CHAINMAIL:COMMON]
[ARMOR:ITEM_ARMOR_LEATHER:COMMON]
[ARMOR:ITEM_ARMOR_COAT:COMMON]
[ARMOR:ITEM_ARMOR_SHIRT:COMMON]
[ARMOR:ITEM_ARMOR_CLOAK:COMMON]
[ARMOR:ITEM_ARMOR_TOGA:UNCOMMON]
[ARMOR:ITEM_ARMOR_VEST:COMMON]
[ARMOR:ITEM_ARMOR_DRESS:COMMON]
[ARMOR:ITEM_ARMOR_ROBE:COMMON]
[HELM:ITEM_HELM_HELM:COMMON]
[HELM:ITEM_HELM_HOOD:COMMON]
[GLOVES:ITEM_GLOVES_GAUNTLETS:COMMON]
[GLOVES:ITEM_GLOVES_GLOVES:COMMON]
[SHOES:ITEM_SHOES_SHOES:COMMON]
[SHOES:ITEM_SHOES_BOOTS:COMMON]
[SHOES:ITEM_SHOES_BOOTS_LOW:COMMON]
[PANTS:ITEM_PANTS_PANTS:COMMON]
[PANTS:ITEM_PANTS_GREAVES:COMMON]
[PANTS:ITEM_PANTS_LEGGINGS:COMMON]
[SHIELD:ITEM_SHIELD_SHIELD]
[SHIELD:ITEM_SHIELD_BUCKLER]
[SIEGEAMMO:ITEM_SIEGEAMMO_BALLISTA]
[TRAPCOMP:ITEM_TRAPCOMP_GIANTAXEBLADE]
[TRAPCOMP:ITEM_TRAPCOMP_ENORMOUSCORKSCREW]
[TRAPCOMP:ITEM_TRAPCOMP_SPIKEDBALL]
[TRAPCOMP:ITEM_TRAPCOMP_LARGESERRATEDDISC]
[TOY:ITEM_TOY_HAMMER]
[TOY:ITEM_TOY_AXE]
[TOY:ITEM_TOY_MINIFORGE]
[INSTRUMENT:ITEM_INSTRUMENT_TRUMPET]
[INSTRUMENT:ITEM_INSTRUMENT_DRUM]
[SIEGER]
[CLOTHING]
[SUBTERRANEAN_CLOTHING]
[CURRENCY_BY_YEAR]
[CURRENCY:COPPER:1]
[CURRENCY:SILVER:5]
[CURRENCY:ELECTRUM:10]
[CURRENCY:GOLD:15]
[CURRENCY:PLATINUM:30]
[SELECT_SYMBOL:ALL:EVIL]
[SELECT_SYMBOL:ALL:EARTH]
[SELECT_SYMBOL:ALL:VIOLENT]
[SELECT_SYMBOL:ALL:DEATH]
[SELECT_SYMBOL:ALL:NEGATIVE]
[SELECT_SYMBOL:ALL:UGLY]
[SELECT_SYMBOL:ALL:UNTOWARD]
[CULL_SYMBOL:ALL:DOMESTIC]
[CULL_SYMBOL:ALL:FLOWERY]
[CULL_SYMBOL:ALL:HOLY]
[CULL_SYMBOL:ALL:PEACE]
[CULL_SYMBOL:ALL:NEGATOR]
[CULL_SYMBOL:ALL:GOOD]
[METAL_PREF]
[GEM_PREF]
[STONE_PREF]
[INDOOR_FARMING]
[USE_CAVE_ANIMALS]
[USE_EVIL_ANIMALS]
[USE_ANIMAL_PRODUCTS]
[COMMON_DOMESTIC_PACK]
[COMMON_DOMESTIC_PULL]
[COMMON_DOMESTIC_MOUNT]
[COMMON_DOMESTIC_PET]

The fun part is that your dark dwarves will, thanks to the specified symbols, have some crazy names that you'd never see with regular dwarves (one of the fortresses it generated was called "Crowanus", for example). If you dislike having bad language, just remove the [SELECT_SYMBOL:ALL:UNTOWARD].

The main differences you'll see here compared to the dwarf entry is that they have different weapons, toys, instruments (thanks to their warlike nature, they build less of them) and [USE_EVIL_ANIMALS] is turned on: this will do nothing in dwarf fort mode but you'll see tamed trolls and ogres in their fortresses in adventurer mode.

Now, we need to build the DARK_DWARF creature. Create a new text file called 'creature_new.txt'. Immediately, add the following:

creature_new

[OBJECT:CREATURE]

That'll make this text file recognized as a creature file. Now, we simply add our dark_dwarf creature:

[CREATURE:DARK_DWARF]
[NAME:dark dwarf:dark dwarves:dark dwarven]
[TILE:1][COLOR:3:0:0]
[GENPOWER:3]
[BUTCHERABLE_NONSTANDARD]
[INTELLIGENT]
[TRANCES]
[CANOPENDOORS]
[LIKES_FIGHTING]
[PREFSTRING:beards]
[PREFSTRING:violent tempers]
[BODY:HUMANOID:2EYES:2EARS:NOSE:2LUNGS:HEART:GUTS:ORGANS:HUMANOID_JOINTS:THROAT:NECK:SPINE:BRAIN:5FINGERS:5TOES:MOUTH]
[STOUT]
[MAXAGE:150:170]
[ATTACK:MAIN:BYTYPE:GRASP:punch:punches:1:2:BLUDGEON][ATTACKFLAG_WITH]
[ATTACK:SECOND:BYTYPE:MOUTH:bite:bites:1:1:GORE][ATTACKFLAG_CANLATCH]
[CHILD:12][BABY:1][MULTIPLE_LITTER_RARE]
[DAMBLOCK:1]
[FAT:3]
[SIZE:6]
[EQUIPS]
[CAVE_ADAPT]
[NOCTURNAL]
[CRAFTSMAN_NAME:craftsdwarf:craftsdwarves]
[FISHERMAN_NAME:fisherdwarf:fisherdwarves]
[HAMMERMAN_NAME:hammerdwarf:hammerdwarves]
[SPEARMAN_NAME:speardwarf:speardwarves]
[CROSSBOWMAN_NAME:marksdwarf:marksdwarves]
[AXEMAN_NAME:axedwarf:axedwarves]
[SWORDSMAN_NAME:swordsdwarf:swordsdwarves]
[MACEMAN_NAME:macedwarf:macedwarves]
[PIKEMAN_NAME:pikedwarf:pikedwarves]
[BOWMAN_NAME:bowdwarf:bowdwarves]
[SPEECH:dwarf.txt]
[STANDARD_FLESH]
[HOMEOTHERM:10067]
[LAYERING:50]
[EVIL]

This is largely a copy of the regular dwarves, but with several differences: [LIKES_FIGHTING] will give them happy thoughts when they have fought something, [NOCTURNAL] means they like nights rather than days, and [EVIL] means on the adventurer map their fortresses will tend to end up on evil tiles rather than good ones. Otherwise, they are exactly the same as regular dwarves. To make them extra evil, add [BONECARN] somewhere in there and they can eat bones (they'll actually haul them from your refuse pit to the dining table, yum), but will sometimes (though rarely) choke to death on them. Also, they do not require booze to stay happy (though will happily drink it anyway if they have to).

There! That's all we need to do in order to add our civilization. Just create a new world and they'll be there: however, when you go to adventurer mode, all (or none) of your dwarf entries might be replaced with dark dwarves, so it's really a matter of luck. When you start a new fortress, there will be a 50-50 chance of playing either as dwarves or dark dwarves.

== Example two: "Arachnid" playable creature ==

This time, we're going to add a new playable creature to adventurer mode, but not playable in fortress mode. An 'arachnid' is a large, powerful, evil half-elf, half-spider (no copyright violations here!): they are too big to wear standard equipment and are quite nasty enough without it anyway. The downside to playing them is that since they do not form standard civilizations, you cannot start them at a specific location nor will they have any weapon, armor, or [[wrestling]] skills to start out. Oh well.

First off, we need to add a civilization entry in entity_default.txt. Open it up and add this to the bottom of the file:

[ENTITY:ARACHNIDS]
[MOUNTAIN_SETTLEMENTS]
[CREATURE:ARACHNID]
[INDIV_CONTROLLABLE]
[ADVENTURE_TIER:4]
[TRANSLATION:ELF]
[CLOTHING]
[SUBTERRANEAN_CLOTHING]
[ITEM_THIEF]
[BIOME_SUPPORT:ANY_WETLAND:2]
[BIOME_SUPPORT:ANY_DESERT:3]
[BIOME_SUPPORT:ANY_FOREST:1]
[BIOME_SUPPORT:MOUNTAIN:4]
[BIOME_SUPPORT:ANY_GRASSLAND:1]
[BIOME_SUPPORT:ANY_SAVANNA:1]
[BIOME_SUPPORT:ANY_SHRUBLAND:1]
[BIOME_SUPPORT:ANY_RIVER:2]
[SELECT_SYMBOL:ALL:EVIL]
[SELECT_SYMBOL:ALL:VIOLENT]
[SELECT_SYMBOL:ALL:DEATH]
[SELECT_SYMBOL:ALL:UNTOWARD]
[CULL_SYMBOL:ALL:DOMESTIC]
[CULL_SYMBOL:ALL:FLOWERY]
[CULL_SYMBOL:ALL:HOLY]
[CULL_SYMBOL:ALL:PEACE]
[CULL_SYMBOL:ALL:NEGATOR]
[CULL_SYMBOL:ALL:GOOD]

This will give us some fun random names. As a 'nuisance' race they may appear and try to steal stuff from you in fortress mode (like kobolds), but I have yet to see that actually happen. The nuisance token also makes them not appear as regular civilizations, which is the entire point. Arachnids are solitary and do not form civilizations (though they WILL be found in caves). However, the INDIV_CONTROLLABLE and ADVENTURE_TIER tokens allows us to use ARACHNID: PLAY NOW! in adventurer mode, which is exactly what we want. They'll be powerful enough to use without gear anyhow.

Next, we open up creature_new.txt (if you haven't made one, check the above example) and add the new creature to it:

[CREATURE:ARACHNID]
[NAME:arachnid:arachnids:arachnid]
[TILE:'&'][COLOR:7:0:0]
[MODVALUE:20]
[INTELLIGENT][CANOPENDOORS]
[LARGE_CHASM][FREQUENCY:1][DIFFICULTY:4]
[SPEED:700]
[STOUT]
[EXTRACT:giant cave spider venom:7:0:0]
[EXTRACT_VALUE:100]
[EXTRACT_PARALYZE][NATURAL][PET_EXOTIC]
[EXTRACT_ANTIDOTE:giant cave spider antivenin:7:0:0:100]
[WEBIMMUNE][AMBUSHPREDATOR][PARALYZEIMMUNE]
[GENPOWER:4]
[BLOODTYPE:W][CHITIN]
[PETVALUE:2500]
[GRASSTRAMPLE:10]
[CARNIVORE][BONECARN]
[EXTRAVISION][NOSTUN][NOEXERT][NOFEAR]
[BUILDINGDESTROYER:1]
[PREFSTRING:terrifying presence]
[BODY:ARACHNOBODY:8EYES:2EARS:NOSE:2LUNGS:HEART:GUTS:ORGANS:THROAT:NECK:SPINE:BRAIN:MOUTH]
[SIZE:10]
[MAXAGE:20:30]
[ATTACK:MAIN:BYTYPE:MOUTH:bite:bites:1:6:GORE][SPECIALATTACK_INJECT_EXTRACT:50:100]
[ATTACK:SECOND:BYTYPE:GRASP:punch:punches:1:2:BLUDGEON][ATTACKFLAG_WITH]
[FAT:2]
[CHILD:12][BABY:1][MULTIPLE_LITTER_RARE]
[DAMBLOCK:4]
[ALL_ACTIVE]
[BIOME:SUBTERRANEAN_CHASM]
[STANDARD_FLESH]
[HOMEOTHERM:10067]
[LAYERING:50]

Now, what does this all mean, exactly? Well, compared to dwarves they are big, bad, as fast as elves, as sturdy as dwarves (hard to knock over), they have white blood, can eat bones, are immune to fear, stun, and never get tired, see twice as far, and are almost totally immune to most small-damage attacks. In addition I copied the giant cave spider paralyzing bite attack, so when you bite and hit, you'll sometimes inject a paralyzing poison fairly often that'll knock your prey unconscious in a few combat rounds. Not only is the bite very damaging, but you can even knock out creatures like ettins or giants and rip them up as they sleep at your leisure.

However, we're not done yet. Notice the BODY: token has a few tidbits that we need to take a closer look at- 'ARACHNOBODY' and '8EYES' in particular. These are new to our species and we need to add them. So, close that and open up body_default.txt. Add the following to the bottom:

[BODY:ARACHNOBODY]
[BP:UB:upper body][UPPERBODY]
[BP:LB:abdomen][CON:UB][LOWERBODY]
[BP:HD:head][CON:UB][HEAD]
[BP:RUA:right upper arm][CON:LB][LIMB][RIGHT]
[BP:LUA:left upper arm][CON:LB][LIMB][LEFT]
[BP:RLA:right lower arm][CON:RUA][LIMB][RIGHT]
[BP:LLA:left lower arm][CON:LUA][LIMB][LEFT]
[BP:RH:right hand][CON:RLA][GRASP][RIGHT]
[BP:LH:left hand][CON:LLA][GRASP][LEFT]
[BP:RA1:right first leg][CON:LB][LIMB][RIGHT]
[BP:LA1:left first leg][CON:LB][LIMB][LEFT]
[BP:RF1:right first claw][CON:RA1][STANCE][RIGHT]
[BP:LF1:left first claw][CON:LA1][STANCE][LEFT]
[BP:RA2:right second leg][CON:LB][LIMB][RIGHT]
[BP:LA2:left second leg][CON:LB][LIMB][LEFT]
[BP:RF2:right second claw][CON:RA2][STANCE][RIGHT]
[BP:LF2:left second claw][CON:LA2][STANCE][LEFT]
[BP:RA3:right third leg][CON:LB][LIMB][RIGHT]
[BP:LA3:left third leg][CON:LB][LIMB][LEFT]
[BP:RF3:right third claw][CON:RA3][STANCE][RIGHT]
[BP:LF3:left third claw][CON:LA3][STANCE][LEFT]
[BP:RA4:right fourth leg][CON:LB][LIMB][RIGHT]
[BP:LA4:left fourth leg][CON:LB][LIMB][LEFT]
[BP:RF4:right fourth claw][CON:RA4][STANCE][RIGHT]
[BP:LF4:left fourth claw][CON:LA4][STANCE][LEFT]

[BODY:8EYES]
[BP:REYE:first eye][CONTYPE:HEAD][SIGHT][EMBEDDED][SMALL][RIGHT]
[BP:REYE:second eye][CONTYPE:HEAD][SIGHT][EMBEDDED][SMALL][RIGHT]
[BP:REYE:third eye][CONTYPE:HEAD][SIGHT][EMBEDDED][SMALL]
[BP:REYE:fourth eye][CONTYPE:HEAD][SIGHT][EMBEDDED][SMALL]
[BP:REYE:fifth eye][CONTYPE:HEAD][SIGHT][EMBEDDED][SMALL]
[BP:REYE:sixth eye][CONTYPE:HEAD][SIGHT][EMBEDDED][SMALL]
[BP:REYE:seventh eye][CONTYPE:HEAD][SIGHT][EMBEDDED][SMALL][LEFT]
[BP:LEYE:eighth eye][CONTYPE:HEAD][SIGHT][EMBEDDED][SMALL][LEFT]

Voila! Now you have your complete arachnid. They are very fun to play in adventurer mode, yet still a challenge. You can tear through unarmed civilians like a knife through butter, armed soldiers pose a minor challenge (much bigger if you are getting ganged up on), elite spearmen are devastating, and archers still rip you to shreds unless you close in on them quickly and poison them. However, thanks to your multiple eyes and legs you can take quite a few direct hits and still keep going (I once had an arrow smash straight through my head, taking out 5 eyes and wounding the throat, brains, and both ears, and survived the encounter).

In any case, you're now done! Create a new world and you will now be able to use arachnids as a playable creature in adventurer mode.

Written by Teldin.

[[Category:Modding]]
[[Category:Guides]]

40d Talk:Modding guide

2008-05-01T21:51:20Z

Borgin:

40d Talk:Modding guide

2008-04-30T23:10:00Z

Borgin:

40d Talk:Dungeon master

2008-01-23T00:01:37Z

Borgin:

Anyone know what triggers the dungeon master now? I have absolutely NO coins whatsoever and he just showed up at the start of my 4th spring. [[User:Rpb|Rpb]] 11:54, 8 November 2007 (EST)

Is there a point to the image? --[[User:Eagle of Fire|Eagle of Fire]] 01:38, 9 November 2007 (EST)

:I think it's there to show what skills the Dungeon Master starts with. Putting the same in plain text would work better, methinks. --[[User:Zirik|Zirik]] 03:08, 9 November 2007 (EST)

::My oppinion also. --[[User:Eagle of Fire|Eagle of Fire]] 00:45, 10 November 2007 (EST)

He showed up here in summer 1055 with the 'normal'/standard skill level in those four skills mentioned in the article (Animal Trainer, Animal Caretaker, Furnace Operator, Metal Crafter). I've got no coins either. Created wealth was around 70k, around 60-70 dwarves. Maybe it's the number of pets? I have 123.--[[User:SL|SL]] 00:43, 11 November 2007 (EST)

:Probably not. I got him in 1054 with no more than 25 animals, and had passed 70k wealth long ago so that wasn't it either. Number of dwarves? 1054 would have been the first year after I hit 50 dwarves, which might be the case with yours as well. [[User:Rpb|Rpb]] 01:36, 11 November 2007 (EST)

:When I got him, I had 57 dwarves. The requirement is probably 50 dwarves, we all have that number in common. --[[User:Valdemar|Valdemar]] 10:19, 11 November 2007 (EST)

:I dont think the requirement is 50 dwarves, i have the dungeon master arrive when i was nearing the 80 Mark, and had a wealth of around 200k. --[[User:Fedaykin|Fedaykin]] 20:48, 15 November 2007 (EST)
::Were you nearing the 80 mark BEFORE or AFTER the migration when he showed up? A requirement of 50 dwarves to trigger him would mean you would probably have 70+ dwarves by the time he actually arrives, since he generally shows up at the same time as 20 other immigrants.
:::It was before the migration ofcourse, ill try it again when i have time [[User:Fedaykin|Fedaykin]] 14:44, 17 November 2007 (EST)
:My numbers were 68 dwarves (I went from 36 to 60+ in the last wave), roughly 2.7M in wealth (and I'd been over 1M for years) in year 1056 with a moderate number of pets and no coins. I'd also dug to the deepest level the first year, in case folks were considering that as a criterion. I have fought numerous slugmen, goblins and kobolds, but nothing exotic (I had to reload after the dragon arrived and burned everything down). Bear in mind that if there's a pop requirement, then it's important how many you have before the DM arrives, but it's equally important how many you had before the ''previous'' wave. Those numbers form the bounds. So if you had 80 before the DM arrived, but 31 of them arrived or were born in that last wave, then this will have been the first time the caravan saw you with 50+ pop. [[User:Doctorlucky|Doctorlucky]] 01:56, 20 November 2007 (EST)

I think his arrival might be related to your stored animals. He seems to arrive for me whenever I get my first goblin in a cage trap. [[User:Moonman|Moonman]] 09:04, 21 December 2007 (EST)
:I just had this happen again. My pop. went from 57 to 80 or so and it was the first wave after I had captured a dragon and some goblins. [[User:Moonman|Moonman]] 09:22, 24 December 2007 (EST)

I can confirm that he does NOT arrive simply at 50 dwarves. Just got an immigration wave that raised my pop from 52 to 60, and no DM.
--[[User:Tyrving|Tyrving]] 02:56, 22 December 2007 (EST)

How about using skill names that are shown in the game? For example armor crafting -> Armorsmith , weapon smithing -> Weaponsmith and so on. Its a bit confusing now with blacksmithing and all.

Have you considered that the DM has /a percentage based chance of arriving once you fortress reaches the population of 50?/ --[[User:Hamenopi|Hamenopi]] 07:13, 17 January 2008 (EST)

I had about 53 dwarves then an immigration wave took me up to 62 but it wasnt until the next wave which gave me 81 that I got him also in requirements says you need to discover hidden site feature, but i havent discovered anything yet. Imported wealth is 128245 Exported is 682 Created wealth is 429483 and on the off chance his arrival is related to animal numbers i have 5 trained and 21 others [[User:Thatguyyaknow|Thatguyyaknow]] 07:26, 19 January 2008 (EST) - I hadnt caught anything in a trap but i had nicked a cougar from the elves. Also I'd smithed a massive amount of gold and copper as well as some silver reckon it might be related to that? [[User:Thatguyyaknow|Thatguyyaknow]] 07:49, 19 January 2008 (EST)

I snagged the DM right as my population hit 80. I have >700K wealth (got lucky with artifacts), and hardly any jobs (as Economy requires), so I would imagine it's either a population thing, or a mix of things including population.