Can I modding with .txt files?
- Thread starter grilled_duck
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We've been able to mod .txt files since the original HOI, so I'm going to go out on a limb here and assume that we might possibly, could most likely, the odds are in our favor that we will be able to do the same with HOI4.
Don't worry. The odds that we will change away from .txt before release is small, and if we do we would still want to keep it moddable
If you did change from txt, what would you change to?Don't worry. The odds that we will change away from .txt before release is small, and if we do we would still want to keep it moddable
While I have only been here for six months my guess is that the risk of the script files not being txt readable at least (though possibly with a different postfix) is _extremely_ small. If any change was made i would wager that the decision would be based on making them easier to work with.
Even the few .csv files that PDS uses, I still use a text editor on them. I believe Notepad++ is usually the editor of choice, although I've been using EditPad since before I found Paradox games so I tend to use that one.
Just so long as there isn't much trouble for Steam Workshop, we should be OK.
Crap on a cracker! I keep forgetting about that annoying piece of cracker.
I'm guessing there's no chance of converting to e.g. XML, but any chance of lists being delimited by square brackets ('[', ']') instead of curly brackets ('{', '}')? Having both lists and "dictionaries" use the same bracket type is annoying for writing a parser since you can't tell which one you're in without significant lookahead, especially given that files have not always been consistent about including '=' everywhere that they are expected.
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The only thing i hate more than XML is clowns and animal abuse so the chances of that are not high.
I knew there was something about you I liked. Although I don't quite understand the clown hatred, I agree with the others.
Bah, I knew I should have gone with something else as an example. But how about the brackets at least?
(I'm not particularly fond of XML either, but the status of duplicate keys in JSON and YAML is ambiguous at best, and historically .txts have seen heavy use of duplicate keys. Though then again that could be solved with a little refactoring.)
A strict usage of json specifications would be very helpful to avoid the need to write "(quick &) dirty" tools...i'd be very pleased!
Not gonna buy hoi4 via steam most likely, steam has really shitty support for pdx games, i.e that gotterdamerung mod that was almost impossible to make work unless u had experience with pdx in the past...
I remember loving working with XML-files for data storage since they are so easy to parse. I used to write data editors for a minor game company many many years ago and grew very attached to XML then.
Still, when it comes to data storage in games we share the same philosophy I guess: All data should be stored externaly in files that are easy and comprehensible to read and edit in a standard text editor.
I can agree that XML isn't always so easy to work with in notepad, but it beats the hell out of hex-editing binary files
Well, if a group of clowns held cats hostage demanding we switch to XML perhaps it could happen? ;D
