data files coding

[flyingwombat]

What is the difference between using

newmode(stats....)

and

stats(x|y)... mode(whack|bam)

?

I've seen both ways in the data files.

Thanks

[Armin]

The primary difference is that when you write up an item with modes the manual way, using tag(x|y), you have to carefully keep track of the modes and their separators, and if you miss some because some modes use tags that others don't, things can get messed up, with the wrong data in the various modes.

Newmode() is basically a form of command as a tag, handled when the trait is loaded from the data file.

Using newmode() automatically updates every mode-enabled tag for you, even those not used by the particular mode you may be adding. Given that there are about twenty mode-enabled tags, this can be very helpful. However, if you're just adding an item with a couple nearly identical modes, it may not be worth the effort.

Edit: I forgot that newmode() must always define a damage() tag for each new mode. Other tags are optional as needed.

Armin

[flyingwombat]

on older data files I've #newmode(tag). Shouldn't that be newmode(tag)?

[Armin]

Originally Posted by flyingwombat

on older data files I've #newmode(tag). Shouldn't that be newmode(tag)?

There are #newitem and #newmod commands for making new items or new modifiers in certain cases, so if what you saw is actually one of those, then they're probably correct.

If it actually was a #newmode, then that is wrong, yes.

Armin