Town Format

From VCMI Project Wiki
Revision as of 21:39, 27 January 2016 by SXX (talk | contribs)
Jump to: navigation, search

Required data

In order to make functional town you also need:

Images

  • Creature backgrounds images, 120x100 and 130x100 versions (2 images)
  • Set of puzzle map pieces (48 images)
  • Background scenery (1 image)
  • Mage guild window view (1 image)
  • Town hall background (1 image)


  • Set of town icons, consists from all possible combinations of: (8 images total)
    • small and big icons
    • village and fort icons
    • built and normal icons


  • Set for castle siege screen, consists from:
    • Background (1 image)
    • Destructible towers (3 parts, 3 images each)
    • Destructible walls (4 parts, 3 images each)
    • Static walls (3 images)
    • Town gates (5 images)
    • Moat (2 images)

Animation

  • Adventure map images for village, town and capitol (3 def files)

Music

  • Town theme music track (1 music file)

Buildings

Each town requires a set of buildings (Around 30-45 buildings)

  • Town animation file (1 animation file)
  • Selection highlight (1 image)
  • Selection area (1 image)
  • Town hall icon (1 image)

Faction node (root entry for town configuration)

// Unique faction identifier. Should be unique.
"myTown" :
{
	// Main part of town description, see below
	// Optional but it should be present for playable faction
	"town" : { ... },

	// Native terrain for this town. See config/terrains.json for identifiers
	"nativeTerrain" : "grass",

	// Localizable town name, e.g. "Rampart"
	"name" : "", 

	// Faction alignment. Can be good, neutral (default) or evil.
	"alignment" : "",

	// Backgrounds for creature screen, two versions: 120px-height and 130-px height
	"creatureBackground"
	{
		// Paths to background images
		"120px" : "",
		"130px" : ""
	}

	// Town puzzle map
	"puzzleMap" :
	{
		// Prefix for image names, e.g. "PUZCAS" for name "PUZCAS12.png"
		"prefix" : "", 
		// List of map pieces. First image will have name <prefix>00, second - <prefix>01 and so on
		"pieces" :
		[
			{
				// Position of image on screen
				"x" : 0
				"y" : 0

				//indicates order in which this image will be opened
				"index" : 0 
			},
			...
		]
	]
}

Town node

{
	// DEPRECATED, see "mapObject" field below | Path to images of object on adventure map
	"adventureMap" : 
	{
		"village": "", // village without built fort
		"castle" : "", // town with built fort
		"capitol": ""  // town with capitol (usually have some additional flags)
	},

	// field that describes behavior of map object part of town. Town-specific part of object format
	"mapObject" : 
	{
		// Optional, controls what template will be used to display this object.
		// Whenever player builds a building in town game will test all applicable templates using
		// tests with matching name and on success - set such template as active.
		// There are 3 predefined filters: "village", "fort" and "capitol" that emulate H3 behavior
		"filter" : {
			"capitol" : [ "anyOf", [ "capitol" ], [ "castle" ] ]
		},

		// List of templates that represent this object. For towns only animation is required
		// See object template description for other fields that can be used.
		"templates" : {
			"village" : { "animation" : "" },
			"castle"  : { "animation" : "" },
			"capitol" : { "animation" : "" }
		}
	},

	//icons, small and big. Built versions indicate constructed during this turn building.
	"icons" : 
	{
		"village" : {
			"normal" : {
				"small" : "modname/icons/hall-small.bmp",
				"large" : "modname/icons/hall-big.bmp"
			},
			"built" : {
				"small" : "modname/icons/hall-builded-small.bmp",
				"large" : "modname/icons/hall-builded-big.bmp"
			}
		},
		"fort" : {
			"normal" : {
				"small" : "modname/icons/fort-small.bmp",
				"large" : "modname/icons/fort-big.bmp"
			},
			"built" : {
				"small" : "modname/icons/fort-builded-small.bmp",
				"large" : "modname/icons/fort-builded-big.bmp"
			}
		}
	},
	// Path to town music theme, e.g. "music/castleTheme"
	"musicTheme" : "",

	// List of structures which represents visible graphical objects on town screen.
	// See detailed description below
	"structures" : 
	{
		"building1" : { ... },
		         ...
		"building9" : { ... } 
	},

	// List of names for towns on adventure map e.g. "Dunwall", "Whitestone"
	// Does not have any size limitations
	"names" : [ "", ""],

	// Background scenery for town screen, size must be 800x374
	"townBackground": "",

	// Small scenery for window in mage guild screen
	"guildWindow": "",

	// Background image for window in mage guild screen - since 0.95b
	"guildBackground" : "",

	// Video for tavern window - since 0.95b
	"tavernVideo" : "",
	
	// Building icons for town hall
	"buildingsIcons": "HALLCSTL.DEF", 

	// Background image for town hall window
	"hallBackground": "",

	// List of buildings available in each slot of town hall window
	// As in most cases there is no hard limit on number of columns, rows
	// or items in any of them, but size of gui is limited to 5 rows and 4 columns
	"hallSlots": 
	[
		[ [ "buildingID1" ], [ "buildingID2", "buildingID3" ] ],
		   ...
	],
	// List of creatures available on each tier. Number of creatures on each tier
	// is not hardcoded but it should match with number of dwelling for each level.
	// For example structure below would need buildings with these id's:
	// first tier: 30 and 37, second tier: 31, third tier: 32, 39, 46
	"creatures" :
	[
		["centaur", "captainCentaur"],
		["dwarf"],
		["elf", "grandElf", "sharpshooter"],
		...
	 ],

	// Buildings, objects in town that affect mechanics. See detailed description below
	"buildings" : 
	{
		"building1" : { ... },
		         ...
		"building9" : { ... } 
	},
	// Description of siege screen, see below
	"siege" : { ... },

	// Chance for a hero class to appear in this town, creates pair with same field in class format 
	// Used for situations where chance was not set in "tavern" field, chance will be determined as:
	// square root( town tavern chance * hero class tavern chance )
	"defaultTavern" : 5,

	// Chance of specific hero class to appear in this town
	// Mirrored version of field "tavern" from hero class format
	"tavern" :
	{
		"knight" : 5,
		"druid"  : 6
	},

	// Chance of specific spell to appear in mages guild of this town
	// If spell is missing or set to 0 it will not appear unless set as "always present" in editor
	// Spells from unavailable levels are not required to be in this list
	// TODO: Mirrored version of field "guildSpells" from spell format
	"guildSpells" :
	{
		"magicArrow" : 30,
		"bless"  : 10
	},

	// TODO: Entries below should be replaced with autodetection

	// Which tiers in this town have creature hordes. Set to -1 to disable horde(s)
	"horde" : [ 2, -1 ], 

	// Resource given by starting bonus, if not set silo will produce wood + ore
	"primaryResource" : "gems", 

	// maximum level of mage guild
	"mageGuild" : 4,

	// war machine produced in town
	"warMachine" : "ballista"
}

Siege node

// Describes town siege screen
// Comments in the end of each graphic position indicate specify required suffix for image
// Note: one not included image is battlefield background with suffix "BACK"
{
	// shooter creature name
	"shooter" : "archer",

	// prefix for all siege images. Final name will be composed as <prefix><suffix>
	"imagePrefix" : "SGCS",

	// Descriptions for towers. Each tower consist from 3 parts:
	// tower itself - two images with untouched and destroyed towers
	// battlement or creature cover - section displayed on top of creature
	// creature using type from "shooter" field above
	"towers":
	{
		// Top tower description
		"top" :
		{
			"tower" :      { "x": 0, "y": 0}, // "TW21" ... "TW22"
			"battlement" : { "x": 0, "y": 0}, // "TW2C"
			"creature" :   { "x": 0, "y": 0}
		},
		// Central keep description
		"keep" :
		{
			"tower" :      { "x": 0, "y": 0}, // "MAN1" ... "MAN2"
			"battlement" : { "x": 0, "y": 0}, // "MANC"
			"creature" :   { "x": 0, "y": 0}
		},
		// Bottom tower description
		"bottom" :
		{
			"tower" :      { "x": 0, "y": 0}, // "TW11" ... "TW12"
			"battlement" : { "x": 0, "y": 0}, // "TW1C"
			"creature" :   { "x": 0, "y": 0}
		},
	},
	//Two parts of gate: gate itself and arch above it
	"gate" :
	{
		"gate" : { "x": 0, "y": 0}, // "DRW1" ... "DRW3" and "DRWC" (rope)
		"arch" : { "x": 0, "y": 0}  // "ARCH"
	},
	// Destructible walls. In this example they are ordered from top to bottom
	// Each of them consist from 3 files: undestroyed, damaged, destroyed
	"walls" : 
	{
		"upper"     : { "x": 0, "y": 0}, // "WA61" ... "WA63"
		"upperMid"  : { "x": 0, "y": 0}, // "WA41" ... "WA43"
		"bottomMid" : { "x": 0, "y": 0}, // "WA31" ... "WA33"
		"bottom"    : { "x": 0, "y": 0}  // "WA11" ... "WA13"
	},
	// Two pieces for moat: moat itself and shore
	"moat" : { "x": 0, "y": 0}, // moat: "MOAT", shore: "MLIP"

	// Static non-destructible walls. All of them have only one piece
	"static" : 
	{
		// Section between two bottom destructible walls
		"bottom" : { "x": 0, "y": 0}, // "WA2"

		// Section between two top destructible walls
		"top" : { "x": 0, "y": 0}, // "WA5"

		// Topmost wall located behind hero
		"background" : { "x": 0, "y": 0} // "TPWL"
	}
}

Building node

{
	"id" : 0,
	"name" : "",
	"description" : "",
	"upgrades" : "baseBuilding", // optional, which building can be upgraded by this one
	"requires" : [ "allOf", [ "mageGuild1" ], [ "tavern" ] ], // building requirements, H3-style. See below for full format.
	"cost" : { ... }, //resources needed to buy building
	"produce" : { ... }, //resources produced each day by building - since 0.95b

	//determine how this building can be built. Possible values are:
	// normal  - default value. Fulfill requirements, use resources, spend one day
	// auto    - building appears when all requirements are built
	// special - building can not be built manually
	// grail   - building reqires grail to be built
	"mode" : "auto"
}

Building requirements can be described using logical expressions:

"requires" :
[
    "allOf", // Normal H3 "build all" mode
    [ "mageGuild1" ],
    [
        "noneOf",  // available only when none of these building are built
        [ "dwelling5A" ],
        [ "dwelling5AUpgrade" ]
    ],
    [
        "anyOf", // any non-zero number of these buildings must be built
        [ "tavern" ],
        [ "blacksmith" ]
    ]
]

Structure node

{
	"animation" : "", // def file with animation
	"x" : 0,
	"y" : 0,
	"z" : 0, // used for blit order. Higher value places structure close to screen
	"border" : "", // selection highlight
	"area" : "" // used to detect building selection
}


Modding related articles

Main articles
Modding changelog Modding guidelines Mod Handler


Formats
Mod file Format
Town Format Creature Format Hero Classes Format
Artifact Format Animation Format Hero Format
Bonus Format Object Format Spell Format


Work-in-progress formats
Building bonuses Map format
Bonus Type Format Random map template


Outdated pages
Mod system proposal