Custom logic proposal

[jerethk]

The aim is to give people a simple way to define custom enemy/AI logics in an external JSON file

• An actor setup method that creates an ActorDispatch logic from custom values
• A data structure that holds custom logic values (VOC file names, hitpoints, projectile, drop item, attack range, etc.)
• Code which parses JSON and loads the custom logic data into settings
• Code which will search for a matching custom logic from a list and then call the setup method if found
• Amendments have been made to support custom logic use with generators
• Amendments to the attack function (in Actor.cpp) allowing mortars fired by AI to behave like thermal detonators (fired upwards in an arc)
• Custom logics will also be loaded from inside mod ZIPs

[luciusDXL]

Do we need to write log spam for each logic? It might be better to write at the top of the loop. You can write the number parsed at the end if desired.

[jerethk]

Ah, yes, thanks for picking this up, I agree.
(originally put that there when it was only loading a single JSON, rather than many)

[luciusDXL]

Once you move this out of the loop, I will squash and push the changes. :)

Thanks for adding this feature!

[jerethk]

I have squashed all my existing commits into a single commit, rebased on master, and fixed up the merge conflicts.

[jerethk]

@luciusDXL this is ready for another review
I've made the amendments you requested, plus a few other minor tweaks
Also decided to move all the new custom logic stuff out of TFE_Settings and into a new directory & namespace called TFE_ExternalData

I will be using TFE_ExternalData when I externalise the projectile & weapon data (the next project!!)

I think it would be better to have all this related code live together rather than piling it into Settings.

Thanks

[mlauss2]

This crashes with gcc-14/15; changing it to "generator->logicName = logicName" fixes it.

[jerethk]

@mlauss2 thanks for picking this up - are you able to raise a fix?

const char* will implicitly cast to string?

[mlauss2]

I think you should change this member from "string logicName" to "char logicName[16]" and do "strncpy(generator->logicName, logicName, 15);" (or whatever the max length of a logic name is).

[mlauss2]

Add something like this on top of this patchset, it survived a few hours of playtesting.
Don't use std::string since the only place you use this member you do ".c_str()" on it anyway.

index e5b9878b..83b47218 100644
--- a/TheForceEngine/TFE_DarkForces/generator.cpp
+++ b/TheForceEngine/TFE_DarkForces/generator.cpp
@@ -40,8 +40,7 @@ namespace TFE_DarkForces
                Tick       wanderTime;
                Wax*       wax;
                JBool      active;
-
-               string          logicName;              // JK: added to store a custom logic name
+               char       logicName[32];               // JK: added to store a custom logic name
        };
 
        void generatorTaskFunc(MessageType msg)
@@ -118,7 +117,7 @@ namespace TFE_DarkForces
 
                                        // Search the externally defined logics for a match
                                        TFE_ExternalData::CustomActorLogic* customLogic;
-                                       customLogic = tryFindCustomActorLogic(gen->logicName.c_str());
+                                       customLogic = tryFindCustomActorLogic(gen->logicName);
                                        if (customLogic && gameSettings->df_jsonAiLogics)
                                        {
                                                obj_setCustomActorLogic(spawn, customLogic);
@@ -236,7 +235,8 @@ namespace TFE_DarkForces
                memset(generator, 0, sizeof(Generator));
 
                generator->type   = genType;
-               generator->logicName = string(logicName);
+               memset(generator->logicName, 0, 32);
+               strncpy(generator->logicName, logicName, 31);
                generator->active = 1;
                generator->delay  = 0;
 

[jerethk]

@mlauss2 thanks for that recommendation -- I've got a couple other PRs waiting review, I'll look at this as soon as those have gone through.