So I understand you don't want someone else taking over the game. but how do you feel about people modifying and sharing their changes publicly? If that's a hard no I understand, I just wanted to share some fun small changes I managed to make.
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Sadly it's a no about distributing modified copies (see this chain) :c If you want to distribute mods, you've gotta do it awkwardly by distributing all your edits with instructions of where to add them, or hack things together by using a patcher program and providing the patch (though you can only use one mod that way...).
It rather killed my enthusiasm for making further mods or any other contributions - I was totally prepared for making new content, as well as providing edits to the game to make it more modding friendly, and fixing any bugs I came across - but with the policy and waiting in limbo for a response, I moved on to other things Q_Q
Yeah, the modding bit isn't the problem, it's the distribution. A modded index file is still a game asset, and so can't be shared. Unless I'm misunderstanding what you're suggesting. If there is a way to make my mod easier to distribute (and use alongside other mods), I'd be happy to learn about it!
so idk how you apply your mods but for me its as simple as opening my game folder through the itch app and replacing index with the file i modded. Index holds the primary game code in it so i just threw it into and editor and replaced it afterwards. At that point you can just replace index with your new game file, though you will lose all your saves.
If I can ask you a favor, open up your index file in https://twinery.org and link me the file you make by going to Build -> Publish to file. I did that with my changes then just exchanged the index file in the itch folder
I've outlined the very basics in this post, though I'll add that if you want to be able to "cleanly" share your mods, you've got to keep track of every edit to every file that you edit/make, which is a bit of a pain ^_^;
If you have more questions you could ask them in that post, and I'll try my best to remember how things work...
Yeah I'm trying to modify the files the way you described but in both instances they create errors, i can see why you're having difficulty with this. If you could I'd love to see if my method works but until I can debug what's wrong with the code I have I can't fully test it (something in StoryInit is very unhappy, and the IPS patch introduces a lot of typos and swaps <<>> for various texts)
My mod should work fine, as it has before. I feel like there's been a bit of a misunderstanding here: I already know how to make and distribute mods and aren't having problems with that. My point is that not being able to distribute the modded files as-is is a pain.
I'd wager you're likely trying to install my mod on a non-vanilla setup, which as noted shouldn't work. If you are following the install instructions, you shouldn't run in to any problems. If both install methods have failed though, that's concerning (especially as it works for me :S).
So the long install works (copy pasting in code by hand) but the patch install using the ROM site introduces typos and bugs that destroy certain syntax markers. I don't have much else to suggest because I'm not too familiar with twine tools myself but I'll be on the lookout for patching methods that'll make things easier
That's odd, because the patcher definitely works for me (just tried it again in case I was going crazy). Just to make sure, you're definitely using the patcher on an unmodified version of the index file you get from the game's official download - FTAG 064a.zip from the Downloads section of the page?
Though yeah, if you find a better way - ideally something that can handle multiple mod installs while not requiring the user to download any programs - do let me know :3