Tycoon Modes

Easy, Hard, Insane - one pack, any number of modes.

Tycoon Modes lets a modpack offer game modes that are picked once, when a world is created. A mode can change everything: the config values of any mod in the pack, recipes, loot and every other data file, and the difficulty. Cheaper land and more starting money in Easy, dearer recipes in Insane - without a second pack and without touching a single config file.

This is a framework for pack makers. On its own the mod does nothing: it brings no modes. The modes come from the pack, one folder each.

For players

• "Create New World" asks for the mode first - one button per mode, with a short description. The world keeps its mode for good.
• /mode shows which mode the world plays in.
• Operators can switch with /mode set <mode> confirm: settings, recipes and difficulty change at once, money and land stay. Without cheats the choice made at creation is final.

A mode is a folder

config/tycoonmodes/modes/
  easy/
    mode.json         name, description, order, difficulty
    settings.json     config values of any mod
    pack.mcmeta       optional: the folder is a data pack too ...
    data/...          ... with this mode's recipes, loot, tags and data files
  hard/
  insane/

The folder name is the mode's id. mode.json - names and descriptions per language (en_us is the fallback, a plain string works too), the position on the screen and a vanilla difficulty (peaceful, easy, normal, hard):

{
  "order": 1,
  "difficulty": "easy",
  "name": { "en_us": "Easy", "de_de": "Easy" },
  "description": { "en_us": "To relax: cheap chunks, good prices, $200 to start." }
}

settings.json - config values of any mod, by config file name and the value's path in it (sections joined with a dot):

{
  "chunkmarket-common.toml": { "basePrice": 50.0, "priceIncreasePercent": 5.0 },
  "tycoonmarket-common.toml": { "prices.multiplier": 4.0, "starter.giveTerminal": true },
  "money-common.toml": { "startingBalanceDollars": 200 }
}

How it works

• Config values are set in memory only. Before the world loads, the mode's values go into the loaded configs and each mod is told, as if its file had been edited - so even the starting money on the first login follows the mode. The files on disk are never written, and the old values come back when the world closes. This works for every mod that uses NeoForge's config system, without that mod knowing about modes. Numbers, true/false, text, choices and lists are all fine; a value that does not fit, or a file or path that does not exist, is skipped with a line in the log.
• One data pack per world. Every mode folder with a pack.mcmeta becomes the data pack tycoonmodes/<id>; a world switches on its own mode's pack and leaves the others off. Use it to replace recipes, loot tables, tags, or the data files of other mods - a skill tree or a price list per mode.
• The difficulty of the mode is set every time the world starts, also on a dedicated server, whose server.properties would otherwise put its own back.

For servers

The config tycoonmodes-common.toml has newWorldMode - the mode a dedicated server's new world starts in - and askOnCreate to switch the question in singleplayer off. The world's mode is kept in tycoonmodes.json next to level.dat.

For mod developers

ModesAPI.mode() tells which mode the running world plays in, ModesAPI.modes() lists the modes of the pack. Numbers belong in settings.json; the API is for mods that have to behave differently.

Requirements

• Minecraft 1.21.1, NeoForge
• Nothing else - it works with any mod that has a config.

Works in singleplayer and multiplayer; the mode belongs to the world.

A note on how this was made

This mod was built with substantial help from AI. The design decisions, the playtesting and the direction are mine; a large share of the code, the textures and this text was written with an AI assistant. I would rather say that plainly than have you wonder.

Discord

Questions, bug reports, ideas, or just want to show what you built? Join the Discord - that is where I answer fastest, and where the next version gets shaped.