Tiny bootstrapper

Why tiny bootstrapper

Some mods need to run code every time the player enters the game. You may solve this problem by adding a new line in the Player class, but if every mod does it your users would end up with many unnecessary merges. The solution is to use a bootstrapper, this results in a single line to merge and as many mods as you want.

Alternative

There is a known alternative to tiny bootstrapper, it is Bootstrap. However the mod requires mod authors to create a .w2ent file and bundle it. But the tools we have to edit w2ent file are unstable and may render the whole process frustrating.

The tiny bootstrap on the other hand only requires you to write a .xml file which can be edited with basic text editors.

At the moment tiny bootstrap does not have all the features bootstrap offers. Features like persistent storage for example. You will need another mod if you need this, a sharedutils module is in the work and should come soon.

Using it

If you wish to get code to run at launch, refer to the example.ws file to learn how to add a state to the TinyBootstrap statemachine.

Once you have added your state, create a mod/dlc bundle with an xml file, copy this content and edit the name="MyBoostrappedMod" attribute so that it corresponds with your new state:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-16"?>
<redxml>
  <definitions>
    <items>

      <!--
        the fake item whose name is the name of the state you created.
       -->
      <item name="MyBoostrappedMod">
        <!-- make sure to add this tag or else the item won't be detected -->
        <tags>SU_TinyBootstrapperManager</tags>
      </item>
      
    </items>
  </definitions>
</redxml>

Bundle the mod/dlc and make a script mod with your state, launch the game, load a save and confirm the log entry in the log file.

Persistence

If you wish to store data in between sessions or loading screens, the bootstrapped class that you create and which extends SU_BaseBootstrappedMod supports saved variables. Meaning that you can mark any of its properties as saved and it will persist through reloads. This works for primitive types as well as complex ones like structs and classes. If a class is marked as saved then everything in it will be saved, no need to mark its properties as saved.