Modding without changing base files?

[caiophox]

Had my first try at modding, and after 5 hours I finally got a wooden transport belt. The problem is the default files that are used. I can't make a 'modded' version of the 'transport-belt-pictures.lua', I keep getting an error about an unknown symbol on the code next to '='. When I changed that file on the base folder, everything worked. I just copied the code for fast transport belts and changed it to wood. I want to keep going into a more complex mod, but I feel that messing up with base files is not very healthy. Any tips, advice, suggestions?
Just to be clear, without changing the base files I either get an error or I lose the custom textures for the horizontal and vertical belts.

[caiophox]

I had a clean install to organize my folders. Downloaded through steam, now nothing works -.- Says it's not recognizing the .png

[IhanaMies]

can you send me your mod so i can check the code out?

[caiophox]

I uploaded to my drive> Wooden Transport Belt 0.1.0

[IhanaMies]

in entity.lua you should add
require ("prototypes.entity.wooden-transport-belt-pictures")
copy demo-transporter-belt-pictures to your mods prototype folder and rename it accordingly

inside it change every part of a line of __base__ into __wooden-transport-belt__/.../wooden-transport-belt.png (the __MODNAME__ part is a reference to mods name which you specify in info.json file)
------
and change

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icon = "__wooden-transport-belt_0.1.0__...",

(same in item.lua)

-->

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icon = "__wooden-transport-belt__...",

-------

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    animations =
    {
      filename = "__mods__/graphics/entity/wooden-transport-belt.png",

-->

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    animations =
    {
      filename = "__wooden-transport-belt__/graphics/entity/wooden-transport-belt.png",

-->

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    belt_horizontal = wooden_belt_horizontal,
    belt_vertical = wooden_belt_vertical,
    ending_top = wooden_belt_ending_top,
    ending_bottom = wooden_belt_ending_bottom,
    ending_side = wooden_belt_ending_side,
    starting_top = wooden_belt_starting_top,
    starting_bottom = wooden_belt_starting_bottom,
    starting_side = wooden_belt_starting_side,

(references to functions in wooden-transport-belt-pictures.lua)
-------
in wooden-transport-belt-pictures.lua you need to name the functions name like above basic_belt_horizontal --> wooden_belt_horizontal etc.


I attached fixed mod, but you should do the changes yourself to get a better hang of how modding works if you want to add/change more stuff. Feel free to ask any questions

Edit: Factorio mods has to be compressed in zip format. Compression into rar then renaming the extension to zip doesn't work

[caiophox]

First of all, thank you so much!
Seems like most of my problem was about the path names. Now I know about the hierarchy.
Also, I was in the right track about adding the .lua file to the mod folder (tried that a few times) and 'require' it, but I was doing it wrong

Now my problem is, since I want to change the game learning curve, how do I go about changing the existing belts, instead of creating a new one?
Should I create copies of them and make it switch them to mine, or can I just alter the properties of the 'base' belts from my mod folder, like an entity.lua?

[Quantumtroll]

First of all, thank you so much!
Seems like most of my problem was about the path names. Now I know about the hierarchy.
Also, I was in the right track about adding the .lua file to the mod folder (tried that a few times) and 'require' it, but I was doing it wrong

Now my problem is, since I want to change the game learning curve, how do I go about changing the existing belts, instead of creating a new one?
Should I create copies of them and make it switch them to mine, or can I just alter the properties of the 'base' belts from my mod folder, like an entity.lua?

NB: I've only just started out, so don't take my word as gospel.

You can overwrite default behaviour by altering the values stored in data.raw.whatever.you.want.to.change. Download some mods and take a look at how they do it, you can learn lots (and probably even borrow some code!).

For instance, as one way of quickening the pace of the game I'm rebuilding the tech tree so it's shorter. Since so much of it needs to be revamped I'm tearing it out completely with the line data.raw.technology = {} before adding the techs I want back in. The items that now don't have a tech to unlock them will be unlocked with a bunch of

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data.raw.recipe["thing"].enabled="true"

.

[IhanaMies]

You can change existing entities with the form

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data.raw[transport-belt][basic-transport-belt].speed = 0.015

where the first bracket is the entity type (assembling-machine, cant remember what furnaces are called since im on phone, will explain better when i get on to computer) and the second one is the name of the entity.

The dot defines what attribute to change, like in the example, speed changes to 0.015 which is normally 0.01.

You can change existing icon by your own by

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data.raw[transpolt-belt][basic-transpolt-belt].icon = "__wooden-transpolt-belt__/graphics/icon/new-sprite.png"

And recipes like how long it takes to craft by

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data.raw.recipe[basic-transpolt-belt].energy_required = 5

Changing ingredients

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data.raw.recipe[basic-transpolt-belt].ingredients = {{type="item", name="iron-plate, amount=5}, {type="item", name="copper-wire", amount=2}}

Have fun

Edit: Changing existing recipies and entities should be done in data-updates.lua or data-final-fixes.lua. These has to be in the same folder as data.lua. Calling require("prototypes.basic-belt-changes") in data-updates.lua and making the changes there is a good example to keep your code organized, but is not a must.

https://wiki.factorio.com/index.php?title=Data.raw here you can find a list of entity families and their childrens name without scrolling through the code to find the right item you want to change. In the wiki you can also find what attributes different entities can hold.