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tutorial:modding_tips

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Modding Tips

Here's a collection of assorted Fabric-related modding tips gleaned from experiences on advising users of the API.

Basics (API)

  • Due to the injection-based approach of Fabric's API development, we don't tend to patch classes outright in a way visible to the end user. As such, you may occasionally find Fabric extensions of vanilla classes when you run into something you cannot do. For example:
    • Block.Settings → FabricBlockSettings
    • EntityType.Builder → FabricEntityTypeBuilder
  • While an official configuration system is being worked on, one replacement for now is to use Java .properties or JSON.
  • For a built-in resource pack or data pack, please ensure that an “assets/[mod id]” or “data/[mod id]” directory path is present, respectively! IDEA users might find themselves accidentally creating an “assets.[mod id]” directory - this won't work.

Mixins

  • To cast a class to an interface it doesn't implement, or cast a final class, or cast the mixin to your target class, you can use the “(TargetClass) (Object) sourceClassObject” trick.
  • To modify a constructor, use “<init>” (or “<clinit>” for static constructors) as the method name. Please note that @Inject on constructors only works with @At(“RETURN”) - no other forms of injection are officially supported!
  • @Redirect and @ModifyConstant mixins cannot currently be nested (applied by more than one mod in the same area at the same time). This might change later in development - however, for now, alongside @Overwrite, please avoid them if possible (or discuss bringing the hook over to Fabric's API, or - for more niche things - consider putting it in a JAR-in-JAR once that's out).
  • If you're adding custom fields or methods, especially if they're not attached to an interface - prefix them with “[modid]_” or another unique string. Essentially, “mymod_secretValue” instead of “secretValue”. This is to avoid conflicts between mods adding a field or method named the same way!

Networking

  • Packets always begin execution on the network thread, however accesses to most Minecraft things are not thread-safe. In general, if you're not exactly sure what you're doing, you want to parse the packet on the network thread (read all the values out), then use the task queue to perform additional operations on the main server/client thread.

Pitfalls

  • Avoid using the java.awt package and its subpackages. AWT does not work well on all systems. Several users have reported that it tends to hang Minecraft.
tutorial/modding_tips.1568652365.txt.gz · Last modified: 2019/09/16 16:46 by manxboy