Modding The Underside

This document is incomplete! For further help, or to discuss modding the Underside, visit the Insignificant Studios forums (http://www.insignificantstudios.com/forums).

M...M...Modding?!

What is it?

The Underside engine now features modding abilities, which allows people to create their own levels/stories/etc. in the Underside engine.

The Almighty Paintbrush is an editor which allows you to create your own The Underside levels.

Other aspects of the game (such as dialogue, graphics, etc.) cannot be edited directly within The Almighty Paintbrush, but can be edited using other tools.

What can be modified?

- Levels
- Level tile-sets
- Sounds
- Music
- NPC graphics
- Dialogue/Scripting

What cannot be modified?

- Enemies in general (AI, graphics, etc.)
- Weapons

How does it work?

Basically, The Underside engine will give file precedence to files within a Mod's folder before loading them from the main Underside assets (located in the TU subdirectory). For example, if you wanted to replace the sound effect for the Stun Gun, you could create a mod by making a subdirectory of the base Underside folder, and then creating a folder inside of that folder called "sounds", and then placing a file called "firegun.wav" within it.

Since the file stungun.wav exists within the mod's directory, the engine will load that file instead of the one loacted in TU/sounds.

Starting your Mod

First, create a directory in The Underside's base directory. This is the directory with The Underside.exe in it. Mod names must not have spaces.

Next, copy mod_info.cfg from the directory called "TU" and modify the parameters.

Now you can begin creating the files for your new mod. To run your mod, run The Underside.exe with the commandline parameter /mod[your_mod_directory]. Note that there is no space between /mod and the directory name.

The Almighty Paintbrush

Basic Controls

Global Keys

Key	Function
1-4	Switch Layers
5	Entity Editing Mode
Ctrl+S	Save
Ctrl+O	Open
Ctrl+A	Save As
Ctrl+T	Test Level

Level Editing (Layers 1-4, 6)

Key	Function
No modifier
Ctrl	Tile palette
Mouse 1	Place Tile
Mouse 2	Delete Tile
Mouse 3	Eyedrop tool if pressed, Level scroll if held.
Shift held
Mouse 1	Paste
Mouse 2	Delete Box
Mouse 3	Hold and drag to select a box, which will then be copied.

Before you begin...

Before you start making levels, be sure to change the Mod directory name under Properties by clicking the Select Mod menu option. Type in the directory name of your mod.

Next, click Level Properties, and give your level a name (This is the name that shows up at the start of the level), select music (if no files appear when you hit the browse button, you may want to copy the files in the "music" folder in the "TU" directory to a folder called "music" in your mod's directory). Lastly, choose a tileset for your level, and then hit Accept.

About Levels

The Underside's levels consist of 6 layers: 2 background layers, 1 obstacle layer, 1 foreground layer, and 1 tile properties layer. The obstacle layer is the layer in which all collisions are tested, so things like the ground, or walls must be placed in the obstacle layer. The background and foreground layers are just for decoration. The tile properties layer contains information for whether that specific tile is to be considered a water tile or a lava tile. The tile properties layer cannot be edited in this version.

Levels also contain a list of entities -- the different objects, such as enemies, players, etc. that make up the level. Entities contain two parameters, which do different things depending on what entity it is.

Editing Levels

Just draw stuff, ffffffff.

Editing Entities

The hardest part... I'LL WRITE ABOUT IT LATER...