Modding:Race Modding Guide

LT's modding system has the ability to add new races and subspecies to the game, or to add new subspecies to existing races. A race mod is composed of XML files defining things such as body parts, subspecies and coverings, SVG images for icons and items, arranged in structured folders. In addition to defining a race and subspecies, these mods also often will include associated racial items to make transformative potions, combat moves, or custom text colors for names and descriptions.

Since the mod is made entirely of XML text files and SVG images, creating a race mod requires at least a text editor and a SVG image editor. [User:Sightglass: For the text editor, I recommend something like Notepad++ with some more-than-basic features like regex-based search/find/replace. Just anything that you're comfortable with and can use efficiently. For the SVG editor, I HIGHLY recommend Inkscape. Importantly, it seems to produce SVGs that are the most compatible with LT, as well as being relatively easy to pick up.]

General Guide

General Process

It is much easier to start a new race mod using an existing race as a template. An annotated example is the Hyena-morph species, found from the game's res/mods/innoxia/race/hyena folder. Each of the XML files in the hyena race explains the file and each element of the XML.

A folder named after the mod's author should be directly under the res/mods folder. Within that folder, there will be subfolders each designating what they contain. Copying an entire race's folder helps keep the structure together and provides you with the XML files with the structure already in place. For example, "someone" might start a new race mod by first creating a folder res/mods/someone, then copying the res/mods/innoxia/race/hyena folder into it, then renaming the hyena folder into res/mods/someone/race/giraffe. Then, it is easy to just go through the files and change them from defining a hyena to defining a giraffe. Other parts of the mod, such as items and combat moves, will go in different folders and will be discussed in the sections below.

I generally follow this order when planning a race mod. This isn't strictly necessary, but I find this order to be helpful when working to help ideas come together.

1. Race and subspecies - What kinds of (usually anthro) creature do you want to add to the game (and have people bang)? What discrete varieties are there, and how are they differentiated from each other? For a real creature how can you anthropomorphize and adapt their real-world behavior into lewdness? For a fictional creature, how do you lewd their depiction?
2. Body Parts - What unique features do they have? Can these be used to distinguish different subspecies?
3. Items - For a race, it's practically necessary for there to be at least one item (usually a food) that can be used to create a transformative potion. Otherwise, the race would be difficult for the player to make themselves into. There is also usually a drink item, that enchants into a buff/restoration potion. I usually choose a food that's thematically associated with the creature, or a from the cuisine of the area that the creature is from.
4. Other Things - Unique combat moves usually. Can exhibit a special ability that the race has, such as a snake's venomous bite, or a kangaroo kicking the shit out of someone.

It may be helpful to keep some browser tabs open for "research" (like a wiki page, and furry porn) as you write, for inspiration or to add details when actually making the mod.

Then it's on to actually editing the files. I follow this order generally. Again, not strictly necessary, but helpful it avoiding having to backtrack and change things back. However, all of these parts are very interconnected, and unless you have EVERYTHING entirely planned out from the outset, you'll need leave placeholder values in, and go back and change things later. Keep in mind that whatever you have planned might change entirely, depending on what strikes you as you write, and what you may discover during "research".

1. Race definition
2. Colors (for description text, icons, etc.)
3. Body parts
4. Coverings
5. Racial body
6. Subspecies
7. Subspecies icons
8. Lore book
9. Potion Items
10. Combat moves (if any)
11. Name lists (if using)
12. TESTING TO MAKE SURE EVERYTHING WORKS

These parts are explained further in the #Mod Structure and Files section and the individual sections for each part.

Mod Structure and Files

"File Path" is the folder and file names for each part. If the filename is a placeholder, it means that there are multiple files, one for each definition for body parts, coverings, etc.

"Internal Name" is the name assigned when the LT modding engine loads in the file. These are generally generated from the file path.

"Requires" means that this part must reference another part. "May Require" means that this reference is optional, or can use existing items as a placeholder.

"Icon" specifies if a part uses an SVG icon.

For the file paths in the following table <an> is the author name (for example, "sightglass" or "dsg"), <rn> is the race name, and the other placeholders are self-explanatory.

Part	File Path	Internal Name	Requires	May Reference	Icon	Description
Race Definition	<an>/race/<rn>/race.xml	<an>_<rn>	Racial Body			The definition for a grouping of subspecies, and some basic info like litter sizes and disposition. If adding subspecies to an existing race, Don't Add This
Racial Body	<an>/race/<rn>/racialBody.xml		Body Parts			Template of body parts, and sizes, and other parameters the game uses when making a new character's body.
Body Parts	<an>/race/<rn>/bodyParts/<bp>.xml	<an>_<rn>_<bp>	Coverings	Race		One file for each body part type definition. May have multiple types for a slot (such as multiple tail varieties).
Coverings	<an>/race/<rn>/coveringTypes/<ct>.xml	<an>_<rn>_<ct>		Color		A covering such as skin, fur, scales, chitin, etc. Sets colors, patterns and modifiers that can spawn
Subspecies	<an>/race/<rn>/subspecies/<subsp>.xml	<an>_<rn>_subspecies_<subsp>	Race, Book Entries	Body Parts, Items, Color	Icon	Defines a subspecies of the main race. Needs at least 1 "main" subspecies. One file per subspecies.
Book Entries	<an>/race/<rn>/subspecies/bookEntries.xml	Uses a "tag" attribute				Lore text that appears in the encyclopedia.
Items	<an>/items/items/race/<item>.xml	<an>_race_<item>		Race	Icon	Item definitions for potion base items. Generally need at least 1 TF base item (usually food).
Combat Move	<an>/combatMove/<move>.xml				Icon	(Optional) A special combat move. One file per combat move.
Color	<an>/colours/<color>.xml	<an>_<color>				(Optional) A custom color. Can be used in entries above. One file per color.
Names	<an>/race/<rn>/names.xml			Subspecies		(Optional) Custom name triplets for a race and/or subspecies.

Specific File Guides

Race Definition

This file defines a new Race. The file itself does not contain very much, with most of the other race mod files defining the actual content, just referencing the race. For subspecies mods (defining new subspecies for an existing race), this file is left out and the rest of the mod uses that existing race.

Element	Description	Type	Options	Values
racialBody	Points to the racialBody.xml file located in the same folder. The contents reference the racialBody named as <an>_<rn>, similarly to how the race is named.	Text	Required
applyRaceChanges	Applies body changes to a character of the race during creation.	CDATA	Required, Can be Blank
name, namePlural	Non-gendered, anthro (singular,plural) name of the race, used for general use such as in the encyclopedia and crowd descriptions.	CDATA	Required
nameSillyMode, namePluralSillyMode	Same as "name" and "namePlural", but used in Silly Mode. Defaults to those if not present.	CDATA	Optional
nameFeral, nameFeralPlural	Two mappings for (legConfiguration,affinity) pairs and names for a feral with that leg configuration and affinity. Each element of the contents is a "name" tag with a "legConfiguration" and/or "affinity" attribute giving the leg configuration and the text contents giving the name. The "legConfiguration" attribute is required. If the "affinity" attribute is left out, the game will fill in pairs with the legConfiguration and all affinities. Ex: <name legConfiguration="QUADRUPEDAL"><![CDATA[hyena]]></name> Unspecified affinities/legConfigurations default to using the first loaded. This is probably the most complicated part, so see the example below the table.	Element, CDATA	Optional
defaultTransformName	The name that will be used when referring to transformations related to this race. Used in the self-TF menu, and in the enchantment menu for potions.	CDATA	Required
colour	Text color for the race, used in places like the encyclopedia or crowd descriptions. Can be custom or preset. See: #Colors	Text	Required
disposition	"How this race will typically treat strangers." Not used for much currently. See: Disposition	Text	Required	CIVILIZED NEUTRAL UNPREDICATABLE SAVAGE
racialClass	A vague taxonomic category for this race. Some settings control things like whether scalies generate with scale-hair, whether furries are bald, etc. "OTHER" is used for slimes, elementals and similarly-nonbiological races. Not used for much currently. See: RacialClass	Text	Required	MAMMAL BIRD REPTILE AMPHIBIAN FISH INSECT OTHER
combatBehavior	Combat strategy used by NPCs. Defaults to "BALANCED" See: CombatBehavior	Text	Optional	BALANCED ATTACK DEFEND SEDUCE SPELLS SUPPORT
chanceForMaleOffspring	Sex ratio for this race during litter generation as a decimal 0.0-1.0, giving the chance that any offspring of that race generates as masculine. Will usually just be 0.5	Float	Required
numberOfOffspringLow, numberOfOffspringHigh	Upper and lower bounds for a litter size, before modifiers. The upper bound should be greater than or equal to the lower bound. For reference, humans are (1,2), many furry species are (2-4) and rabbit/snake are the highest at (2,8).	Int	Required
defaultFemininePreference, defaultMasculinePreference	The default "furryness" preference, of how furry characters of this race are generated. Only sets the starting value of the preference, and the player can change it in their settings. Androgynous characters are lumped into the feminine preference. There's not much point to using the "HUMAN" value, since it essentially converts them all to humans. See: FurryPreference	Text	Required	HUMAN MINIMUM REDUCED NORMAL MAXIMUM
affectedByFurryPreference	Whether or not the furry preferences in (defaultFemininePreference, defaultMasculinePreference) can be modified by the player. When true, effectively locks the race to generate at the specified level Recommended to keep this "false" unless the race specifically needs to spawn at a certain level for some reason.	Boolean	Required	true false
racialFetishModifiers	Mappings for modifying how likely this race will spawn with certain fetishes. Each element is a "fetish" tag. The text content is the fetish. The attributes "love", "like", "dislike" and "hate" are the weights for that fetish spawning as a like or dislike. Omitted attributes have a weight of 1.	Element, Text	Optional
feralPartsAvailable	Whether or not the race can have feral parts to turn them into a taur or something. Usually should be "true" for most furry races.	Boolean	Required	true false
ableToSelfTransform	Whether the race is allowed to use the self-TF menu, like slimes or demons. Usually should be "false".	Boolean	Required	true false
flyingRace	Whether the race is usually considered winged and flying. If "false" and not demonic, a character with wings will be described as such (ex: "winged pig-morph"). If "true", having wings won't appear in the race name (ex: "dragon-morph") Usually should be "false".	Boolean	Required	true false

Todo: explainations of the feral names and fetish maps, race changes