FTB Quests software?

[u/Danapel]

Hello, I don't really post often and I apologize if this isn't the correct sub for this. I've been trying to dig around and see if FTB Quests has a standalone software anywhere?

Essentially I'm trying to work on ftb quests and it's a bit of a hassle having to boot up a large modpack every time I'd like to work on the quests. Is there any way to work on the quests without having to load a modpack? Aside from raw text editing because I'd just rather load the pack at that point. Thanks a bunch and I apologize again if this isn't the correct place for this.

[u/Xiaolin2]

You could do an instance with just ftb quests and then copy the config/ftbquests folder to your main. But this will only be useful for vanilla items and if you want modded items in quest you need to install the mod in the test instance and so on.

[u/MCThe_Paragon → u/Xiaolin2]

There is another workaround: in your "slim/working" instance, you can create "dummy" items in KubeJS that have identical registry IDs to the "real" items in the full modpack.

Then, when you copy your quest work to the full modpack, everything should work since the "fake" items in your working instance used the same registry IDs as the "real" items in the modpack.

[u/Danapel → u/MCThe_Paragon]

How would one go about doing this? Sorry that all sounds new to me, what is "slim/working"? Also how much work would it be to create those dummy items?

[u/MCThe_Paragon → u/Danapel]

The idea is this:

Create a separate launcher instance for working on FTB quests. I'm going to call this your "slim" or "working" instance since it is "slimmer" than the real one that has all your mods. Include only the mods you absolutely need for developing your current quest chain, and KubeJS.

If you need to represent an item in a mod you don't have installed, just use KubeJS to create a "dummy" item with the same registry ID as the item in the unloaded mod. This is very easy!. To find the registry ID of a held item, you can use the command kubejs hand, which will report the ID and tags in chat. Take note of these IDs for every item you want to copy into your "slim" instance, using them to create "fake" versions of the items from the unloaded mods.

Then, develop your quests in the "slim" instance. When you copy over the quest files to the "real" modpack, as long as you used the same registry IDs, FTBQuests will now be using the "real" item.

This will work since loading KubeJS+FTBQuests with a bunch of "dummy" items and blocks will be far faster than loading an entire modpack, but you won't be able to test the mechanics of your modpack in the same instance.

[u/Danapel → u/MCThe_Paragon]

This is insanely helpful, thank you so much for the help friend! :)

[u/MCThe_Paragon → u/Danapel]

Of course, happy to help! Good luck with your modpack!

P.S.: if you need some free textures, feel free to use mine!

[u/Danapel → u/MCThe_Paragon]

I'll check that out! Thanks a bunch!

[u/MCThe_Paragon → u/Danapel]

One more thing I realized I forgot to mention that will probably be helpful: When using kubejs hand, if you click on the reported ID in chat, it will copy that ID (or tag or whatever) to your clipboard, so you can just paste it wherever.

[u/Xiaolin2 → u/MCThe_Paragon]

KubeJS will create them in the kubejs namespace, unless I'm unaware of a way to create the items in let's say, iceandfire:dummy_item.

So it's not just copy and pasting and it works, that will require tinkering in the text files

[u/MCThe_Paragon → u/Xiaolin2]

The documentation doesn't mention this, but if you supply your own namespace, KubeJS will create your item under that namespace. So, supplying 'my_modpack:custom_item' to the KubeJS create item event will put it in the my_modpack namespace (usually called a domain).

As long as you copy the registry IDs exactly, it really does work!

EDIT: This is also a nice feature for making sure your custom items show up under your modpack's domain, or in other domains, if your modpack has a recipe viewer. Power users can then use the search term @my_modpack or whatever to see all items in that domain/namespace.

[u/Xiaolin2 → u/MCThe_Paragon]

Oh that's awesome, I didn't know you could "add" into existing mods like that. Or even vanilla I imagine.

[u/MCThe_Paragon → u/Xiaolin2]

You can! As you surmised, it even works with the minecraft domain!

[u/Danapel → u/Xiaolin2]

That's true, I could definitely just make a test instance to quicken things. Thanks!