View source for Packaging mods

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==Intro==

This guide outlines a scheme for packaging mods,
including directory structure, essential files, useful CON commands,
instructions on launching packaged and unpacked mods,
and tips for working with version control.

This guide assumes you are modding for EDuke32 on Windows;
you may need to make adjustments for other games
or operating systems.

==Unpackaged mods==

It's possible to test your mod without ever packaging it,
by placing your files in a subdirectory alongside the EDuke32 executable.

===Mod directory===

First, create a new subdirectory alongside the EDuke32 executable,
and name it ''mymod''.

All of your mod's files will live here, including
CON scripts, DEF files, maps, graphical and audio assets, and so on.
You can name and organize these in subdirectories as you please,
with only the following exception.

===CON entrypoint===

Next, create a CON script named ''eduke.con''
directly inside of the ''mymod'' directory
and add the following line:

 include game.con

The ''game.con'' here refers to a file in ''duke3d.grp'', not a part of your mod.
EDuke32 will automatically load ''eduke.con'' if present, or ''game.con'' if not.
Since ''eduke.con'' is loaded in this case, we must load ''game.con'' ourselves.

===DEF entrypoint===

Now, create a file called ''mymod.def'' and leave it blank for now.
This will contain any [[DEF_Language]] instructions your mod needs.
In ''eduke.con'', add the following line:

 setdefname mymod.def

The [setdefname] command tells Eduke32 where to find your DEF file.
Note that you could name it whatever you like or put it in a subdirectory
and adjust the line above as necessary.

===Episodes and levels===

Finally, fire up Mapster32, create a quick map,
and save it in ''mymod'' as ''mymap01.map''.
Add the following to ''eduke.con'':

 definevolumename 0 Episode One
 definelevelname 0 0 mymap01.map 01:02 02:03 My Map One

The [[definevolumename]] command
registers "Episode One" as the name of your first episode.
The [[definelevelname]] command registers
the path to the first map of the first episode,
as well as target completion times and the name of the map.

Again, you could name the map whatever you like,
or put it in a subdirectory,
and adjust the line above as necessary.

===Testing your mod===

To launch the mod in its unpackaged form,
simply run the following command:

 eduke32 -j mymod

If you're not comfortable working from the command line,
create a shortcut to eduke32.exe, right click it, select ''Properties'',
and edit the ''Target'' field to add ''-j'' at the end:

 C:\path\to\eduke32.exe -j

You can now drag your ''mymod'' folder onto the shortcut to launch it.
If you want the shortcut to be a dedicated launcher for your mod
instead of having to drag the folder onto it,
add ''mymod'' after the ''-j''.

==Packaging mods==

===The easy way===

To package your mod, simply zip up the contents of ''mymod''
using a tool like [https://www.7-zip.org/ 7-Zip].
Be sure to zip up the contents rather than the directory itself;
the zip file should not include a directory called ''mymod''.

To test the packaged mod, simply drag the zip file onto the EDuke32 executable.

===The Git way===

Explaining version control is outside the scope of this tutorial,
but if you're already using [https://git-scm.com/ Git], you can use
[https://git-scm.com/docs/git-archive git-archive] to package your mod:

 # after committing everything...
 git archive HEAD -o ../mymod.zip

This will keep Git's dotfiles from getting packaged,
as well as anything listed in ''.gitignore''
or having the ''export-ignore'' attribute.