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.

XML File Format Primer

Lilith's Throne modding system loads in content as Extensible Markup Language (XML) text files. It's just text formatted to fit a certain structure, and they can be opened and edited by any text editor, though some will have tools like syntax highlighting and XML-checking tools to help catch mistakes.

Here's a dummy example, to show how things are structured:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="no"?>

<tag>

   <element>text content</element>

   <emptyTag/>

   <cdataElement><![CDATA[CData Stuff]]></cdataElement>

<elementWithAttribute attribute="attribute value" secondAttribute="second value">this is also content</elementWithAttribute>

<emptyTagWithAttribue attribute="this is also an attribute value"/>

   <outerElement>

       <nestedElement attribute="yet another attribute">this is content too</nestedElement>

<nestedElement attribute="yet another attribute">contented for a second</nestedElement>

   </outerElement>

</tag>

An XML file is arranged as elements, each having an opening tag <tag> and a closing tag </tag>.

The name of an element (which goes in the tag) follows a few simple rules:

1. Must start with a letter or underscore ( _ )
2. Cannot start with xml
3. Are case sensitive!
4. Cannot contain spaces!
5. Can also have digits, hyphens, and periods, in addition to letters and underscores, but can't start with those (rule 1)

(Note: Most tag names used for LT are only letters with occasional numbers, and are usually in camelCase)

The stuff between the tags of an element, there may be content: <element>text content</element>. An element without content is usually entered as a self-closing tag ending in a slash: <emptyTag/>, or otherwise entered as tags with nothing between them: <tag></tag>. An element's content may be text or another element, which is called a child element: <element><childElement/></element>. Child elements can open with the same tag as others nested in the same parent.

Content for a tag in the form of <![CDATA[CData Stuff]]> is "character data", used to encapsulate text that may otherwise be interfere with the syntax of an XML document. For LT, it usually marks something that is sent to through a parser to perform scripting commands and/or displayed on screen as text.

Tags can also have attributes, which are key-value pairs included in the opening tag and formatted like: <tag key1="value1" key2="value2"></tag>. Each attribute in a tag must be unique.

The order in which elements appear usually does not matter. When the game is looking for an element with a specific name, it will find the first matching one within the scope. If the game is looking for multiple elements with a name, it will generally iterate through all of them in a certain scope.

applyRaceChanges, applySubspeciesChanges, and subspeciesWeighting

TODO

Specific File Guides

Table Format

For each file guide, the table lists the elements that can be included in the XML file. Refer to the XML primer if you are unfamiliar with the terminology of this section or in the file guides.

The columns of the table are:

• Element - What goes in as the name of the tag
• Description - Describes what goes in the contents/attributes, and how it is used in the game.
• Type - What kind of content is expected in the content for the element. All content is either raw text or CData, but may be interpreted differently when loaded in by the game
  • Text - Simple text content. For LT, it often is used to call up a particular value in an enumeration, like a particular body part type or an item. For this, use the internal name for the object.
  • CData - Character data, usually things that get passed through a parser for displaying things on screen and/or doing scripting stuff
  • Float, Int - The game will need a numerical value for the content. Make sure it's a number!
  • Element - The game expects a nested element here. The description should include what that child element is named and what content/attributes it has.
  • Boolean - A true/false value. The content should be literally the text true or false.
• Options - Whether this element needs to be in the file (Required), can be left out (Optional), or needs to be in but can be left blank (Required, Can Be Blank). Missing a Required element may cause the loading the file to fail, since the game needs that element to properly define a type.
• Values - For Text-type contents, some will have a handful of valid options. For smallish numbers, the possible accepted contents are listed. Usually CAPITALIZED, may HAVE_UNDERSCORES.

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

Feral Names

As an example of how the feral name system works, here's an example from DSG's Dragon-morph race:

   <nameFeral>

       <name legConfiguration="QUADRUPEDAL"><![CDATA[dragon]]></name>

       <name legConfiguration="TAIL_LONG"><![CDATA[wyrm]]></name>

       <name legConfiguration="TAIL_LONG" affinity="AQUATIC"><![CDATA[sea serpent]]></name>

       <name legConfiguration="TAIL"><![CDATA[sea serpent]]></name>

   </nameFeral>

   <nameFeralPlural>

       <name legConfiguration="QUADRUPEDAL"><![CDATA[dragons]]></name>

       <name legConfiguration="TAIL_LONG"><![CDATA[wyrms]]></name>

       <name legConfiguration="TAIL_LONG" affinity="AQUATIC"><![CDATA[sea serpents]]></name>

       <name legConfiguration="TAIL"><![CDATA[sea serpents]]></name>

   </nameFeralPlural>

In this example, all quadrupedal feral dragons are called "dragons", while those with fish-tails (TAIL) are called "sea serpents". For ones with snake-like tails (TAIL_LONG), it depends on Affinity. The first one, <name legConfiguration="TAIL_LONG"><![CDATA[wyrm]]></name> will fill all affinities with "wyrm", and the second specifically overwrites the AQUATIC affinity to be "sea serpent".

Fetish Maps

As an example for how the fetish maps work, here's an example from Innoxia's Hyena-morph race:

   <racialFetishModifiers>

       <!-- You can define the attributes 'love', 'like', 'dislike', and 'hate' to have weightings, with those omitted having a default weighting of 1. In this example, hyenas are more likely to like or love the dominant fetish than dislike or hate it. -->

       <fetish love="3" like="5" dislike="2" hate="1">FETISH_DOMINANT</fetish>

   </racialFetishModifiers>

These weights are multiplied with a player's fetish settings, meaning that they can still influence whether or not characters will spawn with a like/dislike of a fetish.