Player rules and creative mode

Some things the game decides for itself: where a player may fly and build, what building costs, how fast tools dig, how long the Shroud timer lasts. A mod changes them with rule sets: rules for one player, for everyone, or for an area, for a while or until stopped. Kiln combines every rule set that applies to a player. /creative is one preset of these rules.

Creative mode

/creative in chat toggles creative mode for yourself; /creative on|off <player> sets it for someone else; /creative status lists who has it. Admins only. In a world you host, you’re the admin.

It works on a dedicated server, in a co-op world a game hosts, and in a world played offline (offline has no chat: put the line in a console file, kiln/control/console/<name>.cmd in the game folder).

What it gives:

• the game’s building fly mode anywhere; you land where the flight ends
• building outside bases, in no-build zones, near enemies and in the Shroud
• free building (dismantling gives nothing back); tools that break blocks and terrain in one hit
• no damage; health, stamina, mana and water containers kept full
• the Shroud timer frozen
• a steered glider (new in dev.24): no stamina and no gravity; S raises the glider’s nose (up to 85 degrees), letting go holds the pitch, W lowers it as in the game, and Shift speeds it up along the nose (up to 35 m/s). An analog stick steers in proportion. A player whose Kiln is older, or whose controls use the game’s other pitch mode, glides as before: like a plane, S climbs and W dives along a path, and letting go settles into a normal glide

It grants no levels, experience, skill points or unlocks, and other players’ bases stay theirs. It ends with /creative off, when the player leaves or when the world closes; builds placed outside bases stay in the save. The player needs Kiln on their game. To change what it gives on a server, edit rules/creative.json in the server’s Kiln config folder.

The steered glider’s rule. It is glideSteer in rules/creative.json; the file’s header says how to switch it off ("glideSteer": null, or delete its glideSteer block: the glide is then the plane-like one). "allowGlideSteer": false in the server’s rules.json switches it off for every player. /creative tells a player when their game cannot steer. The steered glider with an analog stick, with the game’s other pitch mode, and another player’s steered glider seen from a second game are not checked in a game yet.

Rules from a mod

Add <KilnServices>Rules</KilnServices> to the project.

// one player, until disposed (or the mod unloads, or the player leaves)
RuleSet fly = Rules.Apply(player, new PlayerRules { FlyAnywhere = true });
fly.Dispose();

// everyone, for a weekend: half-cost building
Rules.Apply(RuleScope.Everyone, new PlayerRules { BuildCost = 0.5, BuildRefund = 0.5 }, TimeSpan.FromDays(2), "half-cost weekend");

// an area: no stamina drain in your base
Rules.Apply(RuleScope.Cylinder(baseCenter, 40, baseCenter.Y - 20, baseCenter.Y + 60), new PlayerRules { MinStamina = 1 });

// a potion: 60 seconds of flight for whoever drinks it
[Subscribe] void OnDrink(PlayerConsumedEvent e)
{
    if (e.Item.Id == FlightPotion) Rules.Apply(e.Player.Entity, new PlayerRules { FlyAnywhere = true }, TimeSpan.FromSeconds(60));
}

// creative mode from code
Creative.Set(player, true);

Rule	What
FlyAnywhere	the building fly mode outside bases, without its unlock
BuildOutsideBases, IgnoreNoBuildZones, IgnoreEnemiesNearby, BuildInShroud	lift that building refusal
IgnoreBasePermissions	build in other players’ bases; only if the server allows it
BuildCost, BuildRefund	multipliers: 0 is free
DigDamage	multiplier for tools on terrain and blocks
Invulnerable	no damage from hits
MinHealth, MinStamina, MinMana	kept at least this full, 0 to 1
FreezeShroudTimer, MinShroudTime	the Shroud timer held, or kept above a share
UnlimitedGliding, GlideSink, GlideBoost	gliding with no stamina, a slower sink, plane-like flight
GlideSteer	the glider’s nose follows the movement keys: S raises it (up to MaxClimbAngle degrees, 85), a centred stick holds the pitch, W dives as in the game. Only for a player whose game confirms it steers too; others glide as before
Water	water containers refilled: WaterRule.KeepFull(items) or WaterRule.Rate(chargesPerSecond, items)

How rule sets combine. A switch is on if any rule set turns it on, unless one says false: a denial wins, so an arena that bans flight beats creative mode. Multipliers multiply. Floors take the highest. Then the server’s limits apply.

A rule set belongs to the mod that applied it and ends when that mod unloads. Rules aren’t saved: a restart starts from the game’s rules. Rules.Of(player) says what applies now; PlayerRulesChangedEvent says when it changes.

Presets are rules as JSON in the server’s rules/ config folder; Rules.Apply(player, Rules.Preset("easy-farming")!).

// rules/easy-farming.json
{ "water": { "chargesPerSecond": 2, "items": ["Tool_T1_WateringCan"] }, "digDamage": 3, "minStamina": 0.5 }

Server limits

rules.json in the server’s Kiln config folder caps what any mod may give: allowFlyAnywhere, allowBuildOutsideBases, allowInvulnerable, allowIgnoreBasePermissions (off by default), minBuildCost, maxDigDamage, maxGlideSpeed, allowGlideSteer (on by default), maxGlideSteerAngle (0 to 85 degrees) and more. Edits apply within a second.

Who needs what

Costs, digging, vitals, the Shroud timer and water are the server’s: they work for every player. Flying, building outside bases and gliding need Kiln on the player’s game too, because the game predicts them there; a player without it isn’t given those rules.

Water in containers

Items.Fuel (service Items) reads and changes the water in cans, pouches, barrels and wells, through the game’s own write, so the save keeps it:

FuelLevel? w = Items.Fuel.Read(can);                        // units and charges, or null: it holds no water
await Items.Fuel.Fill(barrel);
using FuelKeep keep = Items.Fuel.KeepFull(player, canItem); // full every step, until disposed

Watering cans and pouches of your own: Building blocks.