modula-test

A test of the Modula Dual Universe scripting framework.

This example shows how to create a modula module, and how to create and build a construct script using it.

Introduction

To develop a script with Modula, you need the following:

• Modula must be installed in the game folder at Game/data/lua/samedicorp/modula. You can do this by downloading a zip from github, or by cloning it with git.
• A construct folder containing the code for your construct (like the one that this README file is in).
• A configure.lua file at the root level of the construct folder. This tells Modula which modules you want to use, and allows you to set parameters on them.
• (Optionally) one or more custom modules. These can live anywhere in your construct folder, but typically the root is fine.
• You also need to meet Modula's requirements.

Configuration

The module is configured in the configure.lua script.

This script must define a global table called modulaSettings. This is used by Modula to know which modules to load, and to set various other properties:

modulaSettings = { 
    name = "Test Construct",
    modules = {
        ["my.module"] = {}
    }
}

Configuring Modules

Each module in Modula is a Lua object that provides some functionality to the overall script. See the Modula docs for more information.

The modules property of the settings should be a table. The keys of this table are the names of the modules you want to use.

These key names should be written as if you were passing them into a require() call (e.g: if your module is located at lua/myconstruct/mymodule.lua, the key would be myconstruct.mymodule). Each of the values of the table should be another table containing settings for that module. Precisely what you put in each of these depends on the module in question.

Configuring Parameters

All the code in this file will be included in the unit.onStart handler.

In general you shouldn't put extra code here - it's better to put it into a module instead.

One exception to this is that you can define lua parameters here. Because they will be added to unit.onStart, DU will pick them up and allow the user to edit them with the Edit Lua parameters menu command. You can then pass these parameters into your modules to configure them:

local myParameter = false --export: This is a parameter for one of my modules.

modulaSettings = { 
    name = "Test Construct",
    logging = logging, 
    logElements = logElements, 
    useLocal = useLocal,
    modules = {
        ["my.module"] = { myParameter = myParameter }
    }
}

Building

If you are using Visual Studio Code, you should just be able to hit Ctrl-Shift-B.

This will run the pack script, and will write .conf and .json versions of the script into the game folder at Game/lua/autoconf/custom/. It will also copy the .json content into the clipboard.

You can then install the script in the game, either with the Run custom autoconfigure, or Paste Lua configuration from Clipboard menu commands.

Development

Having to pack and re-install scripts after every change is a massive pain in the arse.

Modula was designed to avoid this.

The packed script can be configured in a way that makes it standalone (so that other people can just use it, and it works on Geforce Now), but where it will automatically load a local version of the code and all modules at runtime (using require).

If you turn this mode on, then in most situations you will simply be able to edit module source code and re-run the script in game; no re-packing necessary.

Distribution

Once you are ready to release your script, you can simply pack it and distribute the .conf and/or .json versions. Users of these versions don't need to install anything on their machine.