Ability to depend on Space Age resources without using Space Age mod itself

[SwampKryakwa]

Currently, there is no proper way to use any of Space Age assets in the mods that don't depend on it. For mods that want to use them, this is a hurdle if they don't depend on SA, especially for things like Space Exploration and addons for it that are strictly incompatible with SA. In 2.0, it is possible to use them via relative path, but as of 2.1, it's no longer possible

The cleanest way I see this being done is separating Space Age into two mods — resource mod that would only have the assets, and the Space Age itself, depending on the resource mod. That's not the only way I'm certain, but it's one that would require the least changes

[eugenekay]

According to the Terms of Service:

Any adaptations or works derived from the Factorio assets are permitted to be included and distributed as part of your mod. However Wube Software Ltd. still retains all rights and license to these assets and the work derived from them, and reserves the right to request removal of these assets from your mod.

You are already permitted to redistribute (modified) assets in your Mod, with no runtime require necessary. This is slightly less efficient than referencing the already-present files, but it is guaranteed to work.

Good Luck!

[protocol_1903]

According to the Terms of Service:

Any adaptations or works derived from the Factorio assets are permitted to be included and distributed as part of your mod. However Wube Software Ltd. still retains all rights and license to these assets and the work derived from them, and reserves the right to request removal of these assets from your mod.

You are already permitted to redistribute (modified) assets in your Mod, with no runtime require necessary. This is slightly less efficient than referencing the already-present files, but it is guaranteed to work.

Good Luck!

Not quite. The "unofficial" statement (made by officials, but not through official channels) has been that any Space Age content (graphics, code, or otherwise) must require the user to own the DLC before it can be used. With regards to content like space platforms and railguns this is only natural, as the game will not load those prototypes without the DLC feature flag turned on. For other content though, particularly graphics and basic machines like the foundry or tubo belts, there is no hard requirement on DLC feature flags. The basic expansion_required feature flag is the best option to force DLC ownership, as it is the simplest and does not require any extra work for the mod developer other than turning on that flag. Using one of the feature flags permits the developer to package space age resources in the mod files, since only users with the DLC can download the mod.

[eugenekay]

Not quite. The "unofficial" statement (made by officials, but not through official channels) has been that any Space Age content (graphics, code, or otherwise) must require the user to own the DLC before it can be used. With regards to content like space platforms and railguns this is only natural, as the game will not load those prototypes without the DLC feature flag turned on. For other content though, particularly graphics and basic machines like the foundry or tubo belts, there is no hard requirement on DLC feature flags. The basic expansion_required feature flag is the best option to force DLC ownership, as it is the simplest and does not require any extra work for the mod developer other than turning on that flag. Using one of the feature flags permits the developer to package space age resources in the mod files, since only users with the DLC can download the mod.

Previous discussion on this request where the Mod author mentioned that they are working to update xkyouchoux's family of Space Exploration - Space Age integration mods; all of which are already tagged as Space Age mods using the feature flag metadata if they use Space Age assets.

This post appears to be a strictly-technical request because of the change in 2.1.10 which Fixed that lua paths with explict 'this folder' relative sections didn't get deduplicated correctly.. It may be considered a bug that 'parent folder' no longer works; but as I do not use this path-inclusion feature in any Mod myself I have not filed one. I do not think that it is necessary or wise to abuse __base__ in this manner, as assets may be removed from the game at any time which leads to issues with mod loading. There are also (possible) security implications if the Parent Folder path is allowed to access arbitrary filesystem paths...

In an case, you are correct: this was asked and answered two years ago in more detail:

You're not allowed to distribute Space Age assets to non-expansion Factorio.

You can add one of these feature flags to your mods info.json

Code: Select all

  "quality_required": true,
  "space_travel_required": true,
  "spoiling_required": true,
  "freezing_required": true,
  "segmented_units_required": true,
  "expansion_shaders_required": true

Awesome, I was planning to use spoilage anyway, would I be able to use assets if the feature flags are on? I'm just making sure because I do not want to get in trouble for copyright

Yes you can use Space Age assets when you enable a Space Age feature flag for your mod.

[protocol_1903]

Ah, that makes sense. It's unfortunate that there isn't a better solution right now.

[Osmo]

+1, i have mods that depended on saplib, and its not possible in 2.1 anymore.
On discord, there were suggestions about using __data__ as a valid path, for example __data__/space-age/graphics/whatever.png

[Shemp]

On discord, there were suggestions about using __data__ as a valid path, for example __data__/space-age/graphics/whatever.png

Looking at the FileName documentation, I feel like having

• __quality__
• __recycler__
• __elevated-rails__
• __space-age__

work when expansion_required is true would be more straightforward (so they would be a special case like __core__).
I don't know that there's anything else in the game's "data" directory which is interesting.

Having these paths work with require under the same condition is something I'm unsure about.

[Osmo]

Having these paths work with require under the same condition is something I'm unsure about.

Require isn't required (pun intended), as lua files can be repackaged much more easily.
But graphics and sounds take up lots of space.