How to make my mod FAF compatible ?

[Franck75]

Hi, i'm working on my mod since several month and i'm thinking about to make if FAF compatible.

I saw on this forum that lots of mods broke when new FAF patches are released.

I have latest FAF installed on my computer, does it mean that if my mod is working it will be ok with FAF ?

Thanks for your help.

[Uveso]

Hello Franck75,

theoretical yes.

But you could also post a link to your mod, an we can have a look at it.
Then we can say yes or no. (We need to see the error log)

[nine2]

You need to host a game through FAF, enable your mod, and play it, to see if it's compatible.

ie: if you aren't hosting through FAF then no, your test doesn't prove anything

[Franck75]

Thanks a lot Uveso and Ani for your answer.

My mod is working properly on orginal FA.

I did some test on FAF, and it crashed but i may be fixed i think. I need to make my code more readable in order requesting your help. I'm currently in dev and i'm not paying attention to make it easy.
I'm on 3k new lines of code now. I will take a little time.

But may i try by myself if i understand the FAF constraints.

I think i need to make my code hooking properly and editing not directly the full lua files. I suppose that lua files from original FA and from FAF are different.
I will try to do this.

But i need an answer : What lua files are modded by FAF ?

Thanks for you help.

[speed2]

But i need an answer : What lua files are modded by FAF ?

Thanks for you help.

These files https://github.com/FAForever/fa

[Franck75]

Ty Speed. Very usefull link for any modder.

There are a lot of files. I go back working ^^

[Franck75]

Ok, after some tests, i've got a matter to be solved :

By hooking, it supposes that the original function is called before or after the moded code.

Code: Select all

local OldModFunction = ModFunction
function ModFunction()
OldModFunctions()
-- my added code
end


or

Code: Select all

local OldModFunction = ModFunction
function ModFunction()
-- my added code
OldModFunctions()
end


or

Code: Select all

local OldModFunction = ModFunction
function ModFunction()
-- my added code
OldModFunctions()
-- my added code
end


This add a constraint if some of my code need to be called into the original function.

So if i want to solve this matter i'm seeing 2 solutions :

1. I try to solve this by architectural modification on my mod in order to make my code called before or after the original code.

2. If it can't be possible, i need to do some destructive hooking by modifying the function.

Code: Select all

function ModFunction()
-- modifiying and adding my code
end

With Destructive Hooking, if i understand well, i may need to make 2 versions of my mod (if FAF changed the original FA modded file) : FA friendly and FAF friendly. Destructive Hooking will modify FA and FAF different files.

Am i wrong ? thanks for your help.

[Uveso]

You are right

if you need a destructive hook (Overwriting the original function) then you need 2 versions of your function.

You could ask for the gameversion and decide then what function you will have to use.

Code: Select all

local version = string.gsub(GetVersion(), '1.5.', '')
version = string.gsub(version, '1.6.', '') -- steam
if version > '3649' then
    LOG('Gameversion '..GetVersion()..' detected. hooking for FAF will follow')
else
    LOG('Gameversion '..GetVersion()..' detected. hooking for vanilla/steam will follow')
end

[nine2]

That's pretty smart way of selective hooking.

However, just don't support non-FAF. No one plays it

[Franck75]

Thanks a lot for Uveso for theses very usefull informations.

Selective solution from game version is a good option for me. I think it's always a good idea to make the mod compatible with original FA since this version is carved in stone and because it's already functionnal for me.