Minetest Lua Modding API Reference 0.4.4 ========================================== More information at http://c55.me/minetest/ Introduction ------------- Content and functionality can be added to Minetest 0.4 by using Lua scripting in run-time loaded mods. A mod is a self-contained bunch of scripts, textures and other related things that is loaded by and interfaces with Minetest. Mods are contained and ran solely on the server side. Definitions and media files are automatically transferred to the client. If you see a deficiency in the API, feel free to attempt to add the functionality in the engine and API. You can send such improvements as source code patches to . Programming in Lua ------------------- If you have any difficulty in understanding this, please read: http://www.lua.org/pil/ Startup -------- Mods are loaded during server startup from the mod load paths by running the init.lua scripts in a shared environment. Mod load path ------------- Generic: $path_share/games/gameid/mods/ $path_share/mods/gameid/ $path_user/games/gameid/mods/ $path_user/mods/gameid/ <-- User-installed mods $worldpath/worldmods/ In a run-in-place version (eg. the distributed windows version): minetest-0.4.x/games/gameid/mods/ minetest-0.4.x/mods/gameid/ <-- User-installed mods minetest-0.4.x/worlds/worldname/worldmods/ On an installed version on linux: /usr/share/minetest/games/gameid/mods/ ~/.minetest/mods/gameid/ <-- User-installed mods ~/.minetest/worlds/worldname/worldmods Mod load path for world-specific games -------------------------------------- It is possible to include a game in a world; in this case, no mods or games are loaded or checked from anywhere else. This is useful for eg. adventure worlds. This happens if the following directory exists: $world/game/ Mods should be then be placed in: $world/game/mods/ Modpack support ---------------- Mods can be put in a subdirectory, if the parent directory, which otherwise should be a mod, contains a file named modpack.txt. This file shall be empty, except for lines starting with #, which are comments. Mod directory structure ------------------------ mods |-- modname | |-- depends.txt | |-- init.lua | |-- textures | | |-- modname_stuff.png | | `-- modname_something_else.png | |-- sounds | |-- media | `-- `-- another modname: The location of this directory can be fetched by using minetest.get_modpath(modname) depends.txt: List of mods that have to be loaded before loading this mod. A single line contains a single modname. init.lua: The main Lua script. Running this script should register everything it wants to register. Subsequent execution depends on minetest calling the registered callbacks. minetest.setting_get(name) and minetest.setting_getbool(name) can be used to read custom or existing settings at load time, if necessary. textures, sounds, media: Media files (textures, sounds, whatever) that will be transferred to the client and will be available for use by the mod. Naming convention for registered textual names ---------------------------------------------- Registered names should generally be in this format: "modname:" ( can have characters a-zA-Z0-9_) This is to prevent conflicting names from corrupting maps and is enforced by the mod loader. Example: mod "experimental", ideal item/node/entity name "tnt": -> the name should be "experimental:tnt". Enforcement can be overridden by prefixing the name with ":". This can be used for overriding the registrations of some other mod. Example: Any mod can redefine experimental:tnt by using the name ":experimental:tnt" when registering it. (also that mod is required to have "experimental" as a dependency) The ":" prefix can also be used for maintaining backwards compatibility. Aliases ------- Aliases can be added by using minetest.register_alias(name, convert_to) This will make Minetest to convert things called name to things called convert_to. This can be used for maintaining backwards compatibility. This can be also used for setting quick access names for things, eg. if you have an item called epiclylongmodname:stuff, you could do minetest.register_alias("stuff", "epiclylongmodname:stuff") and be able to use "/giveme stuff". Textures -------- Mods should generally prefix their textures with modname_, eg. given the mod name "foomod", a texture could be called "foomod_foothing.png" Textures are referred to by their complete name, or alternatively by stripping out the file extension: eg. foomod_foothing.png eg. foomod_foothing Sounds ------- Only OGG files are supported. For positional playing of sounds, only single-channel (mono) files are supported. Otherwise OpenAL will play them non-positionally. Mods should generally prefix their sounds with modname_, eg. given the mod name "foomod", a sound could be called "foomod_foosound.ogg" Sounds are referred to by their name with a dot, a single digit and the file extension stripped out. When a sound is played, the actual sound file is chosen randomly from the matching sounds. When playing the sound "foomod_foosound", the sound is chosen randomly from the available ones of the following files: foomod_foosound.ogg foomod_foosound.0.ogg foomod_foosound.1.ogg ... foomod_foosound.9.ogg Examples of sound parameter tables: -- Play locationless on all clients { gain = 1.0, -- default } -- Play locationless to a player { to_player = name, gain = 1.0, -- default } -- Play in a location { pos = {x=1,y=2,z=3}, gain = 1.0, -- default max_hear_distance = 32, -- default } -- Play connected to an object, looped { object = , gain = 1.0, -- default max_hear_distance = 32, -- default loop = true, -- only sounds connected to objects can be looped } SimpleSoundSpec: eg. "" eg. "default_place_node" eg. {} eg. {name="default_place_node"} eg. {name="default_place_node", gain=1.0} Registered definitions of stuff -------------------------------- Anything added using certain minetest.register_* functions get added to the global minetest.registered_* tables. minetest.register_entity(name, prototype table) -> minetest.registered_entities[name] minetest.register_node(name, node definition) -> minetest.registered_items[name] -> minetest.registered_nodes[name] minetest.register_tool(name, item definition) -> minetest.registered_items[name] minetest.register_craftitem(name, item definition) -> minetest.registered_items[name] Note that in some cases you will stumble upon things that are not contained in these tables (eg. when a mod has been removed). Always check for existence before trying to access the fields. Example: If you want to check the drawtype of a node, you could do: local function get_nodedef_field(nodename, fieldname) if not minetest.registered_nodes[nodename] then return nil end return minetest.registered_nodes[nodename][fieldname] end local drawtype = get_nodedef_field(nodename, "drawtype") Example: minetest.get_item_group(name, group) has been implemented as: function minetest.get_item_group(name, group) if not minetest.registered_items[name] or not minetest.registered_items[name].groups[group] then return 0 end return minetest.registered_items[name].groups[group] end Nodes ------ Nodes are the bulk data of the world: cubes and other things that take the space of a cube. Huge amounts of them are handled efficiently, but they are quite static. The definition of a node is stored and can be accessed by name in minetest.registered_nodes[node.name] See "Registered definitions of stuff". Nodes are passed by value between Lua and the engine. They are represented by a table: {name="name", param1=num, param2=num} param1 and param2 are 8 bit integers. The engine uses them for certain automated functions. If you don't use these functions, you can use them to store arbitrary values. The functions of param1 and param2 are determined by certain fields in the node definition: param1 is reserved for the engine when paramtype != "none": paramtype = "light" ^ The value stores light with and without sun in it's upper and lower 4 bits. param2 is reserved for the engine when any of these are used: liquidtype == "flowing" ^ The level and some flags of the liquid is stored in param2 drawtype == "flowingliquid" ^ The drawn liquid level is read from param2 drawtype == "torchlike" drawtype == "signlike" paramtype2 == "wallmounted" ^ The rotation of the node is stored in param2. You can make this value by using minetest.dir_to_wallmounted(). paramtype2 == "facedir" ^ The rotation of the node is stored in param2. Furnaces and chests are rotated this way. Can be made by using minetest.dir_to_facedir(). Nodes can also contain extra data. See "Node Metadata". Node drawtypes --------------- There are a bunch of different looking node types. These are mostly just copied from Minetest 0.3; more may be made in the future. Look for examples in games/minimal or games/minetest_game. - normal - airlike - liquid - flowingliquid - glasslike - allfaces - allfaces_optional - torchlike - signlike - plantlike - fencelike - raillike - nodebox -- See below. EXPERIMENTAL Node boxes ----------- Node selection boxes are defined using "node boxes" The "nodebox" node drawtype allows defining visual of nodes consisting of arbitrary number of boxes. It allows defining stuff like stairs. Only the "fixed" box type is supported for these. ^ Please note that this is still experimental, and may be incompatibly changed in the future. A nodebox is defined as any of: { -- A normal cube; the default in most things type = "regular" } { -- A fixed box (facedir param2 is used, if applicable) type = "fixed", fixed = box OR {box1, box2, ...} } { -- A box like the selection box for torches -- (wallmounted param2 is used, if applicable) type = "wallmounted", wall_top = box, wall_bottom = box, wall_side = box } A box is defined as: {x1, y1, z1, x2, y2, z2} A box of a regular node would look like: {-0.5, -0.5, -0.5, 0.5, 0.5, 0.5}, Representations of simple things -------------------------------- Position/vector: {x=num, y=num, z=num} Currently the API does not provide any helper functions for addition, subtraction and whatever; you can define those that you need yourself. pointed_thing: {type="nothing"} {type="node", under=pos, above=pos} {type="object", ref=ObjectRef} Items ------ Node (register_node): A node from the world Tool (register_tool): A tool/weapon that can dig and damage things according to tool_capabilities Craftitem (register_craftitem): A miscellaneous item Items and item stacks can exist in three formats: Serialized; This is called stackstring or itemstring: eg. 'default:dirt 5' eg. 'default:pick_wood 21323' eg. 'default:apple' Table format: eg. {name="default:dirt", count=5, wear=0, metadata=""} ^ 5 dirt nodes eg. {name="default:pick_wood", count=1, wear=21323, metadata=""} ^ a wooden pick about 1/3 weared out eg. {name="default:apple", count=1, wear=0, metadata=""} ^ an apple. ItemStack: C++ native format with many helper methods. Useful for converting between formats. See the Class reference section for details. When an item must be passed to a function, it can usually be in any of these formats. Groups ------- In a number of places, there is a group table. Groups define the properties of a thing (item, node, armor of entity, capabilities of tool) in such a way that the engine and other mods can can interact with the thing without actually knowing what the thing is. Usage: - Groups are stored in a table, having the group names with keys and the group ratings as values. For example: groups = {crumbly=3, soil=1} ^ Default dirt (soil group actually currently not defined; TODO) groups = {crumbly=2, soil=1, level=2, outerspace=1} ^ A more special dirt-kind of thing - Groups always have a rating associated with them. If there is no useful meaning for a rating for an enabled group, it shall be 1. - When not defined, the rating of a group defaults to 0. Thus when you read groups, you must interpret nil and 0 as the same value, 0. You can read the rating of a group for an item or a node by using minetest.get_item_group(itemname, groupname) Groups of items ---------------- Groups of items can define what kind of an item it is (eg. wool). Groups of nodes ---------------- In addition to the general item things, groups are used to define whether a node is destroyable and how long it takes to destroy by a tool. Groups of entities ------------------- For entities, groups are, as of now, used only for calculating damage. object.get_armor_groups() -> a group-rating table (eg. {fleshy=3}) object.set_armor_groups({level=2, fleshy=2, cracky=2}) Groups of tools ---------------- Groups in tools define which groups of nodes and entities they are effective towards. Groups in crafting recipes --------------------------- An example: Make meat soup from any meat, any water and any bowl { output = 'food:meat_soup_raw', recipe = { {'group:meat'}, {'group:water'}, {'group:bowl'}, }, -- preserve = {'group:bowl'}, -- Not implemented yet (TODO) } An another example: Make red wool from white wool and red dye { type = 'shapeless', output = 'wool:red', recipe = {'wool:white', 'group:dye,basecolor_red'}, } Special groups --------------- - immortal: Disables the group damage system for an entity - level: Can be used to give an additional sense of progression in the game. - A larger level will cause eg. a weapon of a lower level make much less damage, and get weared out much faster, or not be able to get drops from destroyed nodes. - 0 is something that is directly accessible at the start of gameplay - There is no upper limit - dig_immediate: (player can always pick up node without tool wear) - 2: node is removed without tool wear after 0.5 seconds or so (rail, sign) - 3: node is removed without tool wear immediately (torch) - disable_jump: Player (and possibly other things) cannot jump from node - fall_damage_add_percent: damage speed = speed * (1 + value/100) - bouncy: value is bounce speed in percent - falling_node: if there is no walkable block under the node it will fall - attached_node: if the node under it is not a walkable block the node will be dropped as an item. If the node is wallmounted the wallmounted direction is checked. Known damage and digging time defining groups ---------------------------------------------- Valid ratings for these are 0, 1, 2 and 3, unless otherwise stated. - crumbly: dirt, sand - cracky: tough but crackable stuff like stone. - snappy: something that can be cut using fine tools; eg. leaves, small plants, wire, sheets of metal - choppy: something that can be cut using force; eg. trees, wooden planks - fleshy: Living things like animals and the player. This could imply some blood effects when hitting. - explody: Especially prone to explosions - oddly_breakable_by_hand: Can be added to nodes that shouldn't logically be breakable by the hand but are. Somewhat similar to dig_immediate, but times are more like {[1]=3.50,[2]=2.00,[3]=0.70} and this does not override the speed of a tool if the tool can dig at a faster speed than this suggests for the hand. Examples of custom groups -------------------------- Item groups are often used for defining, well, //groups of items//. - meat: any meat-kind of a thing (rating might define the size or healing ability or be irrelevant - it is not defined as of yet) - eatable: anything that can be eaten. Rating might define HP gain in half hearts. - flammable: can be set on fire. Rating might define the intensity of the fire, affecting eg. the speed of the spreading of an open fire. - wool: any wool (any origin, any color) - metal: any metal - weapon: any weapon - heavy: anything considerably heavy Digging time calculation specifics ----------------------------------- Groups such as **crumbly**, **cracky** and **snappy** are used for this purpose. Rating is 1, 2 or 3. A higher rating for such a group implies faster digging time. The **level** group is used to limit the toughness of nodes a tool can dig and to scale the digging times / damage to a greater extent. ^ PLEASE DO UNDERSTAND THIS, otherwise you cannot use the system to it's full potential. Tools define their properties by a list of parameters for groups. They cannot dig other groups; thus it is important to use a standard bunch of groups to enable interaction with tools. **Tools define:** * Full punch interval * Maximum drop level * For an arbitrary list of groups: * Uses (until the tool breaks) * Maximum level (usually 0, 1, 2 or 3) * Digging times **Full punch interval**: When used as a weapon, the tool will do full damage if this time is spent between punches. If eg. half the time is spent, the tool will do half damage. **Maximum drop level** Suggests the maximum level of node, when dug with the tool, that will drop it's useful item. (eg. iron ore to drop a lump of iron). - This is not automated; it is the responsibility of the node definition to implement this **Uses** Determines how many uses the tool has when it is used for digging a node, of this group, of the maximum level. For lower leveled nodes, the use count is multiplied by 3^leveldiff. - uses=10, leveldiff=0 -> actual uses: 10 - uses=10, leveldiff=1 -> actual uses: 30 - uses=10, leveldiff=2 -> actual uses: 90 **Maximum level** Tells what is the maximum level of a node of this group that the tool will be able to dig. **Digging times** List of digging times for different ratings of the group, for nodes of the maximum level. * For example, as a lua table, ''times={2=2.00, 3=0.70}''. This would result in the tool to be able to dig nodes that have a rating of 2 or 3 for this group, and unable to dig the rating 1, which is the toughest. Unless there is a matching group that enables digging otherwise. * For entities, damage equals the amount of nodes dug in the time spent between hits, with a maximum time of ''full_punch_interval''. Example definition of the capabilities of a tool ------------------------------------------------- tool_capabilities = { full_punch_interval=1.5, max_drop_level=1, groupcaps={ crumbly={maxlevel=2, uses=20, times={[1]=1.60, [2]=1.20, [3]=0.80}} } } This makes the tool be able to dig nodes that fullfill both of these: - Have the **crumbly** group - Have a **level** group less or equal to 2 Table of resulting digging times: crumbly 0 1 2 3 4 <- level -> 0 - - - - - 1 0.80 1.60 1.60 - - 2 0.60 1.20 1.20 - - 3 0.40 0.80 0.80 - - level diff: 2 1 0 -1 -2 Table of resulting tool uses: -> 0 - - - - - 1 180 60 20 - - 2 180 60 20 - - 3 180 60 20 - - Notes: - At crumbly=0, the node is not diggable. - At crumbly=3, the level difference digging time divider kicks in and makes easy nodes to be quickly breakable. - At level > 2, the node is not diggable, because it's level > maxlevel Entity damage mechanism ------------------------ Damage calculation: - Take the time spent after the last hit - Limit time to full_punch_interval - Take the damage groups and imagine a bunch of nodes that have them - Damage in HP is the amount of nodes destroyed in this time. Client predicts damage based on damage groups. Because of this, it is able to give an immediate response when an entity is damaged or dies; the response is pre-defined somehow (eg. by defining a sprite animation) (not implemented; TODO). - Currently a smoke puff will appear when an entity dies. The group **immortal** completely disables normal damage. Entities can define a special armor group, which is **punch_operable**. This group disables the regular damage mechanism for players punching it by hand or a non-tool item, so that it can do something else than take damage. On the Lua side, every punch calls ''entity:on_punch(puncher, time_from_last_punch, tool_capabilities, direction)''. This should never be called directly, because damage is usually not handled by the entity itself. * ''puncher'' is the object performing the punch. Can be nil. Should never be accessed unless absolutely required, to encourage interoperability. * ''time_from_last_punch'' is time from last punch (by puncher) or nil. * ''tool_capabilities'' can be nil. * ''direction'' is a unit vector, pointing from the source of the punch to the punched object. To punch an entity/object in Lua, call ''object:punch(puncher, time_from_last_punch, tool_capabilities, direction)''. * Return value is tool wear. * Parameters are equal to the above callback. * If ''direction'' is nil and ''puncher'' is not nil, ''direction'' will be automatically filled in based on the location of ''puncher''. Node Metadata ------------- The instance of a node in the world normally only contains the three values mentioned in "Nodes". However, it is possible to insert extra data into a node. It is called "node metadata"; See "NodeMetaRef". Metadata contains two things: - A key-value store - An inventory Some of the values in the key-value store are handled specially: - formspec: Defines a right-click inventory menu. See "Formspec". - infotext: Text shown on the screen when the node is pointed at Example stuff: local meta = minetest.env:get_meta(pos) meta:set_string("formspec", "invsize[8,9;]".. "list[context;main;0,0;8,4;]".. "list[current_player;main;0,5;8,4;]") meta:set_string("infotext", "Chest"); local inv = meta:get_inventory() inv:set_size("main", 8*4) print(dump(meta:to_table())) meta:from_table({ inventory = { main = {[1] = "default:dirt", [2] = "", [3] = "", [4] = "", [5] = "", [6] = "", [7] = "", [8] = "", [9] = "", [10] = "", [11] = "", [12] = "", [13] = "", [14] = "default:cobble", [15] = "", [16] = "", [17] = "", [18] = "", [19] = "", [20] = "default:cobble", [21] = "", [22] = "", [23] = "", [24] = "", [25] = "", [26] = "", [27] = "", [28] = "", [29] = "", [30] = "", [31] = "", [32] = ""} }, fields = { formspec = "invsize[8,9;]list[context;main;0,0;8,4;]list[current_player;main;0,5;8,4;]", infotext = "Chest" } }) Formspec -------- Formspec defines a menu. Currently not much else than inventories are supported. It is a string, with a somewhat strange format. Spaces and newlines can be inserted between the blocks, as is used in the examples. Examples: - Chest: invsize[8,9;] list[context;main;0,0;8,4;] list[current_player;main;0,5;8,4;] - Furnace: invsize[8,9;] list[context;fuel;2,3;1,1;] list[context;src;2,1;1,1;] list[context;dst;5,1;2,2;] list[current_player;main;0,5;8,4;] - Minecraft-like player inventory invsize[8,7.5;] image[1,0.6;1,2;player.png] list[current_player;main;0,3.5;8,4;] list[current_player;craft;3,0;3,3;] list[current_player;craftpreview;7,1;1,1;] Elements: size[,] ^ Define the size of the menu in inventory slots ^ deprecated: invsize[,;] list[;;,;,;] list[;;,;,;] ^ Show an inventory list image[,;,;] ^ Show an image ^ Position and size units are inventory slots item_image[,;,;] ^ Show an inventory image of registered item/node ^ Position and size units are inventory slots background[,;,;] ^ Use a background. Inventory rectangles are not drawn then. ^ Position and size units are inventory slots ^ Example for formspec 8x4 in 16x resolution: image shall be sized 8*16px x 4*16px field[,;,;;