qwrwed wrote:0gb.us wrote:By the way, I didn't know locked signs could be shared. That's pretty nifty. I might have to make a mod to add that to locked chests as well, if someone hasn't beaten me to it.
I meant locked signs AS IF they were shared. They don't actually exist yet, unfortunately; i just meant it could only be edited by a few people.
I've been mulling it over, and I don't think I have the skills to accomplish this in protect blocks. I will likely implement a whitelist locked chest and a blacklist locked chest though, as they would be much easier to build (I already have the method figured out, I just have to figure out how to do it in Lua), and some people would find them useful. I was going to call them applewood chests, and include an apple in the recipe. They would have a red-ish tint to them, and the whitelist (locked applewood chest) would have the iron ingot, while the blacklist (applewood chest) would not. But after using the words "whitelist" and "blacklist" in this post, I think coal and clay would be more appropriate crafting ingredients, resulting in black and white chests (both in color and in name).
Shared locked signs would be cool, but I'm not going to take the time to build them. I haven't seen much sign tempering, as there wouldn't be much point. The only time people would like to mess up signs is when they effect something else, for example shops and player detectors. But shops use locked signs already, and as far as I know, player detectors only react to default:sign, or whatever the sign is called. I'm too busy/lazy to look it up right now. In any case, shared locked signs wouldn't be as helpful as they sound, in my opinion, unless added to the default game, but I don't think they belong there. Even then, they would have limited use.
Josh wrote:Maybe we could use a tool and when you punch a block it automatically protects it.
A great idea in theory, but it would require adding meta data to every block (unless you have a better way) defining who owned it, with the default being nil. If every block in the game, including for example stone, has metadata, file size would go through the roof! In addition, if I understand correctly, the tool would only protect the block it hit, not the space around it, right? That means there would be no way to protect air. I came across this problem when I was deciding whether or not the new server I am putting up even needs protect blocks. Although not very good looking, you can build a house out of locked chests, each with a stack of cobble in them to prevent the chests from being moved. Essentially, this would give you an bizarre-looking house, with protected walls. However, someone else could come in and fill your house with their protected blocks (in this case locked chests). Instead of people giving you grief by ripping up your house, they could give you grief by filling your house completely, making it unusable. Also, if every block can be a protect block, what happens when you want to remove your protect blocks, but can't tell which ones even are protect blocks?
I am planning a second mod though. I wasn't going to say anything until I fixed it, but I realized my protection mod in its current state doesn't allow compatibility with other protect mods. Glomie's doesn't either, so there's nothing I can do to make mine compatible with his without mod-specific hacks (which I won't do), but I plan to re-implement my protection fields using groups (such as cracky and oddly_breakable_by_hand). By scanning for blocks in the protectblock group, my mod will be expandable by other mods adding different styles of protect block. For example, I might add protect stairs and blocks you can walk through (like papyrus and apples) and such, so protection can be added anywhere without interfering with the basic use of the area. Most people are good about embedding them in walls, but in some circumstances, having more options would be better. As I said though, these extra styles of protect block would be in a second mod, so they don't need to be installed for the main functionality. I know I probably won't be installing three of my four planned mods, just because I want a server that is as close to being like default Minetest as is feasible without allowing trolls to mess things up for everyone.
-=-
By the way, I finished drawing the protect block and cleaning up the code. Although as I said, I'm going to need to rework some of the code again, now that I know how to implement it better. I started out trying to recolor the bottom of the chest, but it's just too colorful. I thought it had about eight colors on it, but it actually has a lot more. So I drew it from scratch, and based it off the chest bottom, but it only has four or five colors, making it easier to draw. Sixteen by sixteen isn't a very big image though, so I was unable to make a good-looking flag. I also tried drawing a keyhole and a padlock, but neither came out well. So I went with a key instead. Although it still doesn't look amazing or anything, at least it doesn't look stupid.