plantlife_modpack/API.txt

This document describes the Plantlife API.

Last revision: 2013-01-30


=========
Functions
=========

There are three main functions defined by the main "plants_lib" mod:

spawn_on_surfaces()
generate_on_surfaces()
grow_plants()

There are also several internal, helper functions that can be called if so
desired, but they are not really intended for use by other mods and may change
at any time.  They are briefly described below these main functions, but see
init.lua for details.

All functions in plants lib are declared locally to avoid namespace collisions
with other mods.  They are accessible via the "plantslib" method, e.g.
plantslib:spawn_on_surfaces() and so forth.

=====
spawn_on_surfaces(biome)
spawn_on_surfaces(sdelay, splant, sradius, schance, ssurface, savoid)

This first function is an ABM-based spawner function originally created as
part of Ironzorg's flowers mod.  It has since been largely extended and
expanded.  There are two ways to call this function:  You can either pass it 
several individual string and number parameters to use the legacy interface,
or you can pass a single biome definition as a table, with all of your options
spelled out nicely.  This is the preferred method.

When used with the legacy interface, you must specify the parameters exactly
in order, with the first five being mandatory (even if some are set to nil),
and the last one being optional:

sdelay:		The value passed to the ABM's interval parameter, in seconds.
splant:		The node name of the item to spawn (e.g.
		"flowers:flower_rose").  A plant will of course only be
		spawned if the node about to be replaced is air.
sradius:	Don't spawn within this many nodes of the avoid items
		mentioned below.  If set to nil, this check is skipped.
schance:	The value passed to the ABM's chance parameter, normally in
		the 10-100 range (1-in-X chance of operating on a given node)
ssurface:	String with the name of the node on which to spawn the plant
		in question, such as "default:sand" or
		"default:dirt_with_grass".  It is not recommended to put air,
		stone, or plain dirt here if you can use some other node, as
		doing so will cause the engine to process potentially large
		numbers of such nodes when deciding when to execute the ABM
		and where it should operate.
savoid:		Table with a list of groups and/or node names to avoid when
		spawning the plant, such as {"group:flowers", "default:tree"}.

When passed a table as the argument, and thus using the modern calling method,
you must pass a number of arguments in the form of an ordinary keyed-value
table.  Below is a list of everything supported by this function:

biome = {
	spawn_plants = something, -- [*] String or table; see below.
	spawn_delay = number,	-- same as sdelay, above.
	spawn_chance = number,	-- same as schance, above.
	spawn_surfaces = {table}, -- List of node names on which the plants
				-- should be spawned.  As with the single-
				-- node "ssurface" option in the legacy API,
				-- you should not put stone, air, etc. here.

	---- From here down are a number of optional parameters.  You will
	---- most likely want to use at least some of these to limit how and
	---- where your objects are spawned.

	avoid_nodes = {table},	-- same meaning as savoid, above
	avoid_radius = num,	-- same as sradius
	seed_diff = num,	-- The Perlin seed difference value passed to
				-- the minetest.env:get_perlin() function.
				-- Used along with the global Perlin controls
				-- below to create the "biome" in which the
				-- plants will spawn.  Defaults to 0 if not
				-- provided.
	light_min = num,	-- Minimum amount of light necessary to make a
				-- plant spawn.  Defaults to 0.
	light_max = num,	-- Maximum amount of light needed to spawn. 
				-- Defaults to the engine's MAX_LIGHT value of
				-- 14.
	neighbors = {table},	-- List of neighboring nodes that need to be
				-- immediately next to the node the plant is
				-- about to spawn on. Can also be a string
				-- with a single node name.  It is both passed
				-- to the ABM as the "neighbors" parameter,
				-- and is used to manually check the 
				-- adjacent nodes.  It only takes one of these
				-- for the spawn routine to mark the target as
				-- spawnable.  Defaults to nil (ignored).
	ncount = num,		-- There must be at least this many of the
				-- above neighbors in the eight spaces
				-- immediately surrounding the node the plant
				-- is about to spawn on for it to happen.  If
				-- not provided, this check is disabled.
	facedir = num,		-- The value passed to the param2 variable
				-- when adding the node to the map.  Defaults
				-- to 0.  Be sure that the value you use here
				-- (and the range thereof) is appropriate for
				-- the type of node you're spawning.
	random_facedir = {table}, -- If set, the table should contain two
				-- values. If they're both provided, the
				-- spawned plant will be given a random
				-- facedir value in the range specified by
				-- these two numbers.  Overrides the facedir
				-- parameter above, if it exists.  Use {0,3}
				-- if you want the full range for wallmounted
				-- nodes, or {2,5} for most everything else,
				-- or any other pair of numbers in the 0 to 5 
				-- range, as appropriate for the node you want
				-- to spawn.
	verticals_list = {table}, -- List of nodes that should be considered
				-- to be natural walls.
	alt_wallnode = "string", -- If specified, this node will be 
				-- substituted in place of the plant(s)
				-- defined by spawn_plants above, if the spawn
				-- target has one or more adjacent walls.  In
				-- such a case, the two above facedir
				-- parameters will be ignored.
	depth_max = num,	-- If the object spawns on top of a water
				-- source, the water must be at most this
				-- deep.  Defaults to 1 node.
	min_elevation = num,	-- Surface must be at this altitude or higher
				-- to spawn at all.  Defaults to -31000...
	max_elevation = num,	-- ...but must be no higher than this
				-- altitude.  Defaults to +31000.
	near_nodes = {table},	-- List of nodes that must be somewhere in the
				-- vicinity in order for the plant to spawn.
				-- Can also be a string with a single node
				-- name.  If not provided, this check is
				-- disabled.
	near_nodes_size = num,	-- How large of an area to check for the above
				-- node.  Specifically, this checks a flat
				-- horizontal area centered on the node to be
				-- spawned on.  Defaults to 0, but is ignored
				-- if the above near_nodes value is not set.
	near_nodes_vertical = num, -- Used with the size value above, this
				-- extends the vertical range of the near 
				-- nodes search.  Basically, this turns the
				-- flat region described above into a cuboid
				-- region.  The area to be checked will extend
				-- this high AND this low above/below the
				-- target node, centered thereon.  Defaults to
				-- 1 (check only the layer above, the layer
				-- at, and the layer below the target node),
				-- but is ignored if near_nodes is not set.
	near_nodes_count = num,	-- How many of the above nodes must be within
				-- that radius.	Defaults to 1 but is ignored
				-- if near_nodes isn't set.  Bear in mind that
				-- the total area to be checked is equal to
				-- (near_nodes_size^2)*near_nodes_vertical*2.
				-- so for example, if size is 10 and vertical
				-- is 4 then the area is (10^2)*8 = 800 nodes
				-- in size, so you'll want to make sure you
				-- specify a value appropriate for the amount
				-- in question.
	air_size = num,		-- How large of an area to check for air
				-- above and around the target.  If omitted,
				-- only the space above the target is checked.
				-- This does not check for air at the sides or
				-- below the target.
	air_count = num,	-- How many of the surrounding nodes need to
				-- be air for the above check to return true.
				-- If omitted, only the space above the target
				-- is checked.
	plantlife_limit = num,	-- The value compared against the generic
				-- "plants can grow here" Perlin noise layer.
				-- Smaller numbers result in more abundant
				-- plants.  Range of -1 to +1, with values in 
				-- the range of about 0 to 0.5 being most
				-- useful.  Defaults to 0.1.
	temp_min = num,		-- Minimum temperature needed for the desired
				-- object to spawn.  This is a 2d Perlin
				-- value, which has an inverted range of +1 to
				-- -1.  Larger values represent *colder*
				-- temperatures, so this value is actually the
				-- upper end of the desired Perlin range.  See
				-- the temperature map section at the bottom
				-- of this document for details on how these
				-- values work.  Defaults to +1 (unlimited
				-- coldness).
	temp_max = num,		-- Maximum temperature/lower end of the Perlin
				-- range.  Defaults to -1 (unlimited heat).
	humidity_min = num,	-- Minimum humidity for the plant to spawn in.
				-- Like the temperature map, this is a Perlin
				-- value where lower numbers mean more
				-- humidity in the area.  Defaults to +1 (0%
				-- relative humidity).
	humidity_max = num,	-- Maximum humidity for the plant to spawn at.
				-- Defaults to -1 (100% humidity).
	spawn_on_side = bool,	-- Set this to true to spawn the node on one
				-- side of the target node rather than the
				-- top.  The code will search for an airspace
				-- to the side of the target, then spawn the
				-- plant at the first one found.  The above
				-- facedir and random_facedir parameters are
				-- ignored in this case.  If the above
				-- parameters for selecting generic wall nodes
				-- are provided, this option is ignored.
				-- Important note: the facedir values assigned
				-- by this option only make sense with
				-- wallmounted nodes (nodes which don't use
				-- facedir won't be affected).
	spawn_on_bottom = bool,	-- If set to true, spawn the object below the
				-- target node instead of above it.  The above
				-- spawn_on_side variable takes precedence
				-- over this one if both happen to be true.
				-- When using this option with the random
				-- facedir function above, the values given to
				-- the facedir parameter are for regular
				-- nodes, not wallmounted.
	spawn_replace_node = bool, -- If set to true, the target node itself
				-- is replaced by the spawned object.
				-- Overrides the spawn_on_bottom and
				-- spawn_on_side settings.
}

[*] spawn_plants must be either a table or a string.  If it's a table, the
values therein are treated as a list of nodenames to pick from randomly on 
each application of the ABM code. The more nodes you can pack into this
parameter to avoid making too many calls to this function, the lower the CPU
load will likely be.

You can also specify a string containing the name of a function to execute.
In this case, the function will be passed a single position parameter
indicating where the function should place the desired object, and the checks
for spawning on top vs. sides vs. bottom vs. replacing the target node will be
skipped.

By default, if a biome node, size, and count are not defined, the biome
checking is disabled.  Same holds true for the nneighbors bit above that.


=====
plantslib:register_generate_plant(biome, node_or_function_or_treedef)

To register an object to be spawned at mapgen time rather than via an ABM,
call this function with two parameters:  a table with your object's biome
information, and a string or table describing what to do if the engine finds a
suitable node (see below).

The biome table contains quite a number of options, though there are fewer 
here than are available in the ABM-based spawner, as some stuff doesn't make
sense at map-generation time.

biome = {
	surface = something,	-- What node(s).  May be a string such as
				-- "default:dirt_with_grass" or a table with
				-- multiple such entries.

	---- Everything else is optional, but you'll definitely want to use
	---- some of these other fields to limit where and under what
	---- conditions the objects are spawned.
	
	below_nodes = {table},	-- List of nodes that must be below the target
				-- node.  Useful in snow biomes to keep
				-- objects from spawning in snow that's on the
				-- wrong surface for that object.
	avoid_nodes = {table},	-- List of nodes or groups to avoid when
				-- spawning.
	avoid_radius = num,	-- how much distance to leave between the
				-- object to be added and the objects to be
				-- avoided.  If this or the avoid_nodes value
				-- is nil or omitted, this check is skipped.
				-- Avoid using excessively large radii or you
				-- will slow down the ABM.
	rarity = num,		-- how rare should this object be in its
				-- biome? Larger values make objects more
				-- rare, via:  math.random(1,100) > this
	max_count = num,	-- The absolute maximum number of your object
				-- that should be allowed to spwn in a 5x5x5
				-- mapblock area (80x80x80 nodes).  Defaults
				-- to 5, but be sure you set this to some 
				-- reasonable value depending on your object
				-- and its size if 5 is insufficient.
	seed_diff = num,	-- perlin seed-diff value.  Defaults to 0, 
				-- which causes the function to inherit the
				-- global value of 329.
	neighbors = {table},	-- What ground nodes must be right next to and
				-- at the same elevation as the node to be
				-- spawned on.
	ncount = num,		-- at least this many of the above nodes must
				-- be next to the node to spawn on.  Any value
				-- greater than 8 will probably cause the code
				-- to never spawn anything.  Defaults to 0.
	depth = num,		-- how deep/thick of a layer the spawned-on
				-- node must be.  Typically used for water.
	min_elevation = num,	-- minimum elevation in meters/nodes.
				-- Defaults to -31000 (unlimited).
	max_elevation = num,	-- maximum elevation.  Defaults to +31000
				-- (unlimited).
	near_nodes = {table},	-- what nodes must be in the general vicinity
				-- of the object being spawned.
	near_nodes_size = num,	-- how wide of a search area to look for 
				-- the nodes in that list.
	near_nodes_vertical = num, -- How high/low of an area to search from
				-- the target node.
	near_nodes_count = num,	-- at least this many of those nodes must be
				-- in the area.
	plantlife_limit = num,	-- The value compared against the generic
				-- "plants can grow here" Perlin noise layer.
				-- Smaller numbers result in more abundant
				-- plants.  Range of -1 to +1, with values in 
				-- the range of about 0 to 0.5 being most
				-- useful.  Defaults to 0.1.
	temp_min = num,		-- coldest allowable temperature for a plant
				-- to spawn (that is, the highest Perlin
				-- temperature map value).
	temp_max = num,		-- warmest allowable temperature to spawn a
				-- plant (lowest Perlin temperature value).
	verticals_list = {table}, -- Same as with the spawn_on_surfaces
				-- function.
	check_air = bool,	-- Flag to tell the mapgen code to check for
				-- air above the spawn target.  Defaults to
				-- true if not explicitly set to false.
	delete_above = bool,	-- Flag to tell the mapgen code to delete the
				-- two nodes directly above the spawn target
				-- just before adding the plant or tree.
				-- Useful when generating in snow biomes.
				-- Defaults to false.
	delete_above_surround = bool, -- Flag to tell the mapgen code to also
				-- delete the four nodes surrounding the above
				-- space, and the four nodes above those,
				-- resulting in a two-node-deep cross-shaped
				-- empty region above the spawn target.
				-- Useful when adding trees to snow biomes.
				-- Defaults to false.
	spawn_replace_node = bool -- same as with the ABM spawner.
}

Regarding node_or_function_or_treedef, this must either be table with an 
L-Systems tree definition, or a string with a node or function name.

If you specified a string, the code will attempt to determine, as needed, 
whether that string specifies a node name.  If it does, that node will be
placed on top of the target position directly.

If it wasn't a node, the code will assume you meant to specify a function
name, in which case  that function will be passed a single position parameter
(in the usual table format), indicating where the named function should place
the object.  It is called in the form of "somefunction(pos)", and behaves much
like a typical callback.

If you specified a table, the code assumes this table contains an L-Systems
tree definition, then that definition will be passed directly to the
spawn_tree() function along with the position to spawn the tree on.


=====
plantslib:grow_plants(options)

The third function, grow_plants() is used to turn the spawned nodes above
into something else over time.  This function has no return value, and accepts
a biome definition table as the only parameter.  These are defined like so:

options = {
	grow_plant = "string",	-- Name of the node to be grown into something
				-- else.  This value is passed to the ABM as
				-- the "nodenames" parameter, so it is the
				-- plants themselves that are the ABM trigger,
				-- rather than the ground they spawned on.  A
				-- plant will only grow if the node above it
				-- is air.  Can also be a table, but note that
				-- all nodes referenced therein will be grown
				-- into the same object.
	grow_delay = num,	-- Passed as the ABM "interval" parameter, as
				-- with spawning.
	grow_chance = num,	-- Passed as the ABM "chance" parameter.
	grow_result = "string",	-- Name of the node into which the grow_plant
				-- node(s) should transform when the ABM
				-- executes.

	---- Everything from here down is optional.

	dry_early_node = "string", -- This value is ignored except for jungle
				-- grass (a corner case needed by that mod),
				-- where it indicates which node the grass
				-- must be on in order for it to turn from
				-- the short size to "default:dry_shrub"
				-- instead of the medium size.
	grow_nodes = {table},	-- One of these nodes must be under the plant
				-- in order for it to grow at all.  Normally
				-- this should be the same as the list of 
				-- surfaces passed to the spawning ABM as the
				-- "nodenames" parameter.  This is so that the
				-- plant can be manually placed on something
				-- like a flower pot or something without it
				-- growing and eventually dieing.  Defaults to
				-- "default:dirt_with_grass".
	facedir = num,		-- Same as with spawning a plant.
	need_wall = bool,	-- Set this to true if you the plant needs to
				-- grow against a wall.  Defaults to false.
	verticals_list = {table}, -- List of nodes that should be considered
				-- to be wall surfaces when growing the plant
				-- vertically.  If not provided, the walls
				-- check is skipped.
	grow_vertically = bool,	-- Set this to true if the plant needs to grow
				-- vertically, as in climbing poison ivy.
				-- Defaults to false.
	height_limit = num,	-- Set this to limit how tall the desired node
				-- can grow.  The mod will search straight
				-- down from the position being spawned at to
				-- find a ground node, set via the parameter
				-- below. Defaults to 5 nodes.
	ground_nodes = {table},	-- What nodes should be treated as "the
				-- ground" below a vertically-growing plant.
				-- Usually this should be the same as the
				-- grow_nodes table, but might also include,
				-- for example, water or some other
				-- surrounding material.  Defaults to
				-- "default:dirt_with_grass".
	grow_function = something, -- [*] see below.
	seed_diff = num,	-- [*] see below.
}

[*] grow_function can take one of three possible settings:  it can be nil (or
    not provided), a string, or a table.

If it is not provided or it's set to nil, all of the regular growing code is
executed normally, the value of seed_diff, if any, is ignored, and the node to
be placed is assumed to be specified in the grow_result variable.

If this value is set to a simple string, this is treated as the name of the
function to use to grow the plant.  In this case, all of the usual growing
code is executeed, but then instead of a plant being simply added to the
world, grow_result is ignored and the named function is executed and passed a
few parmeters in the following general form: 

	somefunction(pos, perlin1, perlin2)

These values represent the current position (the usual table), the Perlin
noise value for that spot in the generic "plants can grow here" map for the
seed_diff value above, the Perlin value for that same spot from the
temperature map, and the detected neighboring wall face, if there was one (or
nil if not).  If seed_diff is not provided, it defaults to 0.

If this variable is instead set to a table, it is treated an an L-Systems tree
definition.  All of the growing code is executed in the usual manner, then the
tree described by that definition is spawned at the current position instead,
and grow_result is ignored.


=====
find_adjacent_wall(pos, verticals)

Of the few helper functions, this one expects a position parameter and a table
with the list of nodes that should be considered as walls.  The code will
search around the given position for a neighboring wall, returning the first
one it finds as a facedir value, or nil if there are no adjacent walls.


=====
is_node_loaded(pos)

This acts as a wrapper for the minetest.env:get_node_or_nil(node_pos)
function and accepts a single position parameter.  Returns true if the node in
question is already loaded, or false if not.


=====
dbg(string)

This is a simple debug output function which takes one string parameter.  It
just checks if DEBUG is true and outputs the phrase "[Plantlife] " followed by
the supplied string, via the print() function, if so.

=====
plantslib:generate_tree(pos, treemodel)
plantslib:grow_tree(pos, treemodel)

In the case of the growing code and the mapgen-based tree generator code, 
generating a tree is done via the above two calls, which in turn immediately
call the usual spawn_tree() functions.  This rerouting exists as a way for
other mods to hook into plants_lib's tree-growing functions in general,
perhaps to execute something extra whenever a tree is spawned.

plantslib:generate_tree(pos, treemodel) is called any time a
tree is spawned at map generation time.  'pos' is the position of the block on
which the tree is to be placed.  'treemodel' is the standard L-Systems tree
definition table expected by the spawn_tree() function.  Refer to the 'trunk'
field in that table to derive the name of the tree being spawned.

plantslib:grow_tree(pos, treemodel) does the same sort of thing whenever a 
tree is spawned within the abm-based growing code, for example when growing a
sapling into a tree.


=====
There are other, internal helper functions that are not meant for use by other
mods.  Don't rely on them, as they are subject to change without notice.


===============
Global Settings
===============

Set this to true if you want the mod to spam your console with debug info :-)

	plantlife_debug = false


======================
Fertile Ground Mapping
======================

The mod uses Perlin noise to create "biomes" of the various plants, via the
minetest.env:get_perlin() function.  At present, there are three layers of
Perlin noise used.

The first one is for a "fertile ground" layer, which I tend to refer to as the
generic "stuff can potentially grow here" layer.  Its values are hard-coded:

	plantslib.plantlife_seed_diff = 329
	perlin_octaves = 3
	perlin_persistence = 0.6
	perlin_scale = 100

For more information on how Perlin noise is generated, you will need to search
the web, as these default values were from that which is used by minetest_game
to spawn jungle grass at mapgen time, and I'm still learning how Perlin noise
works.  ;-)


===================
Temperature Mapping
===================

The second Perlin layer is a temperature map, with values taken from
SPlizard's Snow Biomes mod so that the two will be compatible, since that mod
appears to be the standard now.  Those values are:

	temperature_seeddiff = 112
	temperature_octaves = 3
	temperature_persistence = 0.5
	temperature_scale = 150

The way Perlin values are used by this mod, in keeping with the snow mod's 
apparent methods, larger values returned by the Perlin function represent
*colder* temperatures.  In this mod, the following table gives a rough
approximation of how temperature maps to these values, normalized to
0.53 = 0 °C and +1.0 = -25 °C.

Perlin		Approx. Temperature
-1.0		 81 °C	( 178 °F)
-0.75		 68 °C	( 155 °F)
-0.56		 58 °C	( 136 °F)
-0.5		 55 °C	( 131 °F)
-0.25		 41 °C	( 107 °F)
-0.18		 38 °C	( 100 °F)
 0		 28 °C	(  83 °F)
 0.13		 21 °C	(  70 °F)
 0.25		 15 °C	(  59 °F)
 0.5		  2 °C	(  35 °F)
 0.53		  0 °C	(  32 °F)
 0.75		-12 °C	(  11 °F)
 0.86		-18 °C	(   0 °F)
 1.0		-25 °C	(- 13 °F)

Included in this table are even 0.25 steps in Perlin values along with some
common temperatures on both the Centigrade and Fahrenheit scales.  Note that
unless you're trying to model the Moon or perhaps Mercury in your mods/maps, 
you probably won't need to bother with Perlin values of less than -0.56 or so.


================
Humidity Mapping
================

Last but not least is a moisture/humidity map.  Like the temperature map
above, Perlin values can be tested to determine the approximate humidity of
the *air* in the area.  This humidity map is basically the perlin layer used
for deserts.

A value of -1.0 is very moist (basically a thick fog, if it could be seen), a
value of +0.4 represents the edge of a desert as usually seen in the game, and
a value of +1.0 is as dry as a bone.

This does not check for nearby water, just general air humidity, and that
being the case, nearby ground does not affect the reported humidity of a
region (because this isn't yet possible to calculate yet).  Use the near_nodes
and avoid_nodes parameters and their related options to check for water and
such.

The Perlin values use for this layer are:

	humidity_seeddiff = 9130
	humidity_octaves = 3
	humidity_persistence = 0.5
	humidity_scale = 250

And this particular one is mapped slightly differently from the others:

	noise3 = perlin3:get2d({x=p_top.x+150, y=p_top.z+50})

(Note the +150 and +50 offsets)