DynModLib

BattleTech mod (using BTML) that provides C# scripting abilities for ModTek mods.

Features

• can compile whole mods when loading BattleTech, an example can be seen with SpeedMod
• allows mod users to change code without installing Visual Studio or equivalent software
• allows modders to quickly change code without having to start Visual Studio

Limitations and Known Bugs

• All files under mods\mymod\source\ are compiled into the assembly DLL specified in the mods mod.json file. No selective compilation possible.
• C# 5.0 language features only, so nothing you see here can be used
• Mono.CSharp version used for compiling is buggy, it can compile code that crashes e.g. using SelectMany and string[][]. It's usually good enough though. It can't be helped, modern compiler versions don't have those bugs but require 20MB of compiler libraries/exes instead of only 1MB.

Future Features

• provide modders the ability to selectively compile and use C# scripts

Requirements and Installation

• install ModTek using instructions here
• install DynModLib by putting it into the \BATTLETECH\Mods\ folder

How to use

Before doing modding, make yourself familiar with dnSpy. You need this to know what to mod.

See an example project, e.g. SpeedMod.

Checklist of things to do:

• Download the example project
• Make sure not to overwrite any existing mod, extract it to another folder under \BATTLETECH\mods\
• The folder should be named after your mod and contain the source directory, \BATTLETECH\mods\MyMod\source
• Remove all *Patch.cs files from the example mod, you probably want to write your own.
• Open Control.cs and change the namespace used to your mods name.
• Open mod.json and change the DLL name to your mods name.
• Use dnSpy to find out what code you want to overwrite.
• Add harmony patches, see the example project for how that is done.
• Go through all .cs files and make sure to use your mods name as the namespace.
• Adjust the readme.

How to use Visual Studio

Once your project becomes more complicated you might want to switch to Visual Studio (VS) for developing mods.

Checklist of things to do:

• Install the latest Visual Studio Community Edition, it's free.
• Open the .sln files you also copied when copying the example project.
• Rename the solution and the project to your mods name.
• Go into project properties and change the default namespace and assembly name to your mods name.
• Fix the files VS can't find by removing them from the project.
• Add your new files to VS using "Add Exiting Item".
• Make sure to leave C# language support to 5.0 and always add all .cs file, that way your mod can stay dynamically compiled (all my bt mods work both ways)

How to publish a mod

Checklist of things to do:

• Make an account on GitHub.
• Create a repository with your mods name.
• Install git, use that to upload your mod sources to GitHub.
• Create a new release version on github
• Link to the sources download for the release, that should be enough for other people to install and run your mod.

Development of DynModLib

Checkout the folder DnyModLib directly under \BATTLETECH\Mods\ and start developing.

Downloads

Downloads can be found on github.