Suggestion: prop/flexbody changes in skinzips

[willmichals]

Hi all, I was thinking of the idea of incorporating prop or flexbody changes into skinzips. I thought of two ways to do this; replace a props/flexbody that has already been placed (similar to replacing textures) or adding props that do not exist in the props/flexbody section of the truck but in the skinzip instead.

AddPropSkin
{
    addProp = 1, 2, 3, .5, .5, .5, 0, 90, 90, bumper.mesh
    preview          = preview.png
    description      = livery replacement
    authorName       = John Doe
    AuthorID         = 12345
    GUID             = xxx
}

or

ReplacePropSkin
{
    replaceProp = spoiler1.mesh, spoiler2.mesh
    preview          = preview.png
    description      = livery replacement
    authorName       = John Doe
    AuthorID         = 12345
    GUID             = xxx
}

[ohlidalp]

Thanks for the bump in Discord#development, this deserves a brief thought:

• replaceProp the way you suggest it is trivial to code and introduces no duplicities.
• addProp is easy to code but needs either hacking the truckfile parser to parse prop-line from external source, or duplicate logic to parse propline. It's still minimal code though so no biggie, just saying.
• But then what?
• Since we have https://github.com/RigsOfRods/rigs-of-rods/pull/3003, modders would probably stop defining props in truckfiles altogether and rely on bundled skins to do it.
• Until now prop customizations were done by sectionconfig, which is a powerful feature when working correctly, but presently it's reduced to mutually exclusive sections, so for the purpose of props/flexbodies it's essentially the same.

UPDATE: I've just had a fruitful chat with @CuriousMike56 about new approach to addon parts: https://discord.com/channels/136544456244461568/189904947649708032/1165031365327212635 - So I'll go about it that way.

[CuriousMike56]

Now that we have the addon parts system, skins could receive an option to load .addonpart files. Selecting a police skin would automatically equip lightbars for example.

[ohlidalp]

@CuriousMike56

Now that we have the addon parts system, skins could receive an option to load .addonpart files. Selecting a police skin would automatically equip lightbars for example.

I'd rather do it the other way around - give the .tuneup format ability to apply a skin, and then distribute the .tuneup file as an one-click police customization package (skin + addonparts) for example.

I'm going to close this as resolved; this needs further debate (i.e. addonparts vs. sectionconfig) and deserves a fresh ticket.