Purpose

This mod eliminates the "energy" cost for Refining, Smelting, and Smithing so these actions can be taken as long as materials are available. It is a simple example to demonstrate loading mod code.

Class overrides:

SmithingModel

Installation

During post build, the SmithForever directory will be mirrored to the Bannerlord module directory (C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Mount & Blade II Bannerlord\Modules\SmithForever). It may be necessary to set the property GameFolder if Bannerlord is installed at a non-standard path.

Development

Until TaleWorlds releases mod tools, development is a bit hacky and involves inspection of decompiled code.

Some tools

Workflows that may prove useful

Adding all of the DLLs in the game directory as references makes searching the entire code base possible (C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Mount & Blade II Bannerlord\bin\Win64_Shipping_Client\TaleWorlds.*.dll)
Adding all DLLs for the sandbox module is also useful for single-player mods (C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Mount & Blade II Bannerlord\Modules\SandBox\bin\Win64_Shipping_Client\*.dll)
Once a promising class is found, the 'source' can be recovered by opening the DLL in dotPeek
- Decompiled code will not have comments and will include compiler-generated code like empty constructors that can be deleted
- The paid JetBrains ReSharper integrates with VisualStudio for easy browsing of DLLs

Where to start looking

Like Warband, Bannerlord is not very data-driven. There are a minimal number of XML files within each Module\*\ModuleData\. For very limited cases, like changing party sizes or campanion skills, it is possible to make a text-only mod. The vast majority of modding will require coding in C#.

Taleworlds followed a behavior-model paradigm with the achitecture. This separates the responsibilties of the code more-or-less into mechanism and policy, respectively.

Behaviors are responsible for doing things, like starting and stopping tournaments or unlocking new crafting parts, for example
Models are responsible for deciding when, how frequently, how fast, etc. to do things

For light modding of balance and to affect existing behaviors, it is probably best to start with modding models.

For single-player, lots of logic of interest is compiled in TaleWorlds.CampaignSystem.dll
Specifically, TaleWorlds.CampaignSystem.Sandbox.GameComponents and TaleWorlds.CampaignSystem.Sandbox.GameComponents.Map contain lots of classes that permit changing balance

To foundationally change what can happen in the game, behaviors must be changed. The behaviors for each game mode are loaded by that module, so the fastest way to get started finding what behaviors to modify may be to look at the submodule class for a game mode.

For the sandbox campaign the module class is specified as Sandbox.SandBoxSubModule in Modules\SandBox\SubModule.xml and can be found in Modules\SandBox\bin\Win64_Shipping_Client\Sandbox.dll

How modules work

XML

XML data is hooked into the game using nodes such as <XmlName id="NPCCharacters" path="companions"/>. These are emumerated in Modules\*\Submodule.xml. See Modules\Sandbox\SubModule.xml for many examples.

The id attribute determines the required schema of the data and in what context it is loaded. The effect is similar to what a folder location would indicate in a directory-based data scheme.
The path attribute specifies the path to the xml file relative to ModuleData\ and excludes the .xml extension.

Class Inheritance

TaleWorlds has structured most game code using abstract classes and default implementations
One example of this paradigm is the SmithingModel and DefaultSmithingModel, respectively
Standard inheritance + override development flow allows changing game behavior

Loading code

To hook a module into the game a SubModule class is specified in SubModule.xml
The SubModule class is responsible for loading all other modded classes
See MBSubModuleBase for all of the hooks available for loading classes
See SandBoxManager for an example of concrete code for loading classes

Loading order and override

The game maintains a big list of models and this is searched when inserting new models
Load order is determined by module depencies
If dependencies are accurate, loading models is automagic
- By simply adding a subclass of a default model after the default model the game will find the subclass and overriden behaviors will be used in game

Mod conflicts

Class-level override is the finest-grained mod multiplexing the game supports, so any two mods that change the same class must have a module dependency + class inheritance relationship or will conflict
- An example of a coarser-grained model is SmithingModel, where time costs, skill effects, and material requirements are defined in the same model, so a compilation mod or mod dependency is required to mod all of these
- A example of finer-grained models is hero progression, where age, skill, and renown are handled independently in AgeModel, CharacterDevelopmentModel, and ClanTierModel, respectively
Given the inconsistent granularity of classes, it is advisable to list the classes overridden in a mod description so users can know definitively what mods conflict
- This can also aid creation of compilation mods

calsev / bannerlord_smith_forever