Posted by Data in Cortex Command - May 15th, 2008

Console KillContinuing the feature series.. Next up is something really powerful that will open whole new worlds of possibilities for you tinkerers and modders out there: There is now an in-game console that enables so much control of the engine that it’s almost scary.

Thanks to the Swedish geniuses at Rasterbar (recommended to us by Klei), we have managed to expose almost all of our internal classes and interfaces to the Lua environment now running in the system. This will eventually mean that some of you will literally be able to create entire new games with the Cortex Command engine by writing elaborate Lua scripts in addition to the content mods and addons you have been limited to so far.

Even if you’re not so ambitious, it’s still fun to play around in the console. Like making a guy instantly fly at 100 m/s to the right –>>

Documentation of all the commands and interfaces will eventually appear in the Data Realms Wiki, so you can easily harness this new power that has been unleashed!

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181 Responses to “In-game Lua Console”

  1. Omni - # May 19th, 2008 at 11:07 am

    @147
    That’s what Lua is for. 🙂

    I do hope it’ll be easy to add new resources. Then again, all you have to do is say “On touch, add resource” and add a counter in the corner. If the buy menu is at all dynamic, bam, good to go.

    Just waiting for the next build. Just… drooling thinking about the next build. Innovating in NWN2 modding can only minimize my desire to murder on a large scale for a short time. I want to crush some wetware!

  2. Tomaster - # May 19th, 2008 at 2:57 pm

    Please Data, update the front page, it’s no longer game of the month.

  3. The Adviser - # May 19th, 2008 at 4:10 pm

    @150
    I agree, but i did think you had made it automatically update itself but I guess not.

  4. Omni - # May 19th, 2008 at 8:58 pm

    @150
    Actually, go check their website. It still is. XD

  5. Anonymous - # May 20th, 2008 at 5:29 pm

    @ 146 He hinted at something that includes debris…

  6. Matt - # May 20th, 2008 at 5:34 pm

    Can’t wait for next update! I can think of a whole list of things I could make with lua. Homing missiles, teleporters, catapults, fireworks, fighterjets etc…

  7. Anonymous - # May 20th, 2008 at 7:25 pm

    @ 154, speaking of jets, air strikes would be very feasible…

  8. Foaboegik - # May 20th, 2008 at 8:15 pm

    Airstrikes have been feasable in this game for a long time!
    Though it’d be easier if you can use the Lua console in-game and be allot more fun!
    Heh, calling down an army of free Crabs 🙂

  9. Anonymous - # May 20th, 2008 at 9:03 pm

    You can use it ingame…

    And I mean like an actual jet coming in and dropping bombs, firing guns+missles ect, not just muzzle offsets in the sky…

  10. Foaboegik - # May 20th, 2008 at 11:54 pm

    Muzzle Flash spawns a hovering Body with a lifespan of # time and has an emitter that drops bombs on it’s underside.

  11. Meloen - # May 21st, 2008 at 12:55 am

    data, can you make regrowing grass and plants with this?

  12. Creed - # May 21st, 2008 at 3:17 am

    @ 154,

    homing missles have been made already as well as fireworks and fighterjets. Catapults would be fun put a clone in it and fire! Teleporters have never really worked.

  13. robolee - # May 21st, 2008 at 5:57 am

    yeah creed, but they weren’t that good due to limitations in .ini modifications, with lua hopefully someone can create actually good homing missiles.

    fireworks are probably as good as it’s going to get at the minute. I don’t really see how you could improve upon them, it’s just no one has made very good and sparkly explosion effects for them yet… I bet capnbubs would make an awesome explosion effect :).

  14. robolee - # May 21st, 2008 at 5:59 am

    Also I got really hyped up today, thinking a new update was going to be up, but then I realized it was the 21st and not the 22nd 🙁

  15. Omni - # May 21st, 2008 at 10:19 am

    Just one day off. Just hold your horses for 24 more hours. 🙂

    Also, I’d love to see some fireworks. Lua fireworks will be 300x sexier than what we have now.

  16. Kallemort - # May 21st, 2008 at 10:52 am

    Waaaaaaaiiiittt…
    When did Data say that the new build will be out at the 22nd?

  17. Tea - # May 21st, 2008 at 10:56 am

    So what kind of things exactly will Lua allow modders to do?

  18. STone - # May 21st, 2008 at 11:16 am

    Hello, I buy Cortex Command since a long time now but didn’t play with it a lot because the game wasn’t very complete.

    Can you tell me please if i can expect a much complete version before the end of summer time ?
    Maybe a quick status of it’s development ?

    Thanks

  19. Sheezy - # May 21st, 2008 at 11:36 am

    Kallemort, probably in the chat

  20. Tomaster - # May 21st, 2008 at 2:56 pm

    I don’t think it’s a new build, just one of the feature updates.

  21. The Adviser - # May 21st, 2008 at 3:22 pm

    Just a little more… god… give… me.. strength…………

  22. Anonymous - # May 21st, 2008 at 3:40 pm

    @ 159

    Would it spawn a gibbable “body” with health? Would the “body” be able to move? Would it be able to do more than “spawn bombs on its underside” as in fire missles or shoot cannons/.50 cals/lasers?

  23. Anonymous - # May 21st, 2008 at 3:44 pm

    Woops meant comment 158…

    Could you also have flying/moving bunkers? The only thing that would be hard would be transferring the inertia to the actors but still allowing them to move around. I also see more complex traps and doors. Speaking of flying bunkers, what would be cool is the ability to switch between subscenes in a single game, like maybe an air battle raging above a ground war.

  24. Aspect - # May 21st, 2008 at 6:32 pm

    @170

    That totally would be cool, or even just 2 ground wars on separate sides of a mountain or something. A lot like Tim’s Endurantism but not being able to see between them

  25. whitty - # May 21st, 2008 at 8:03 pm

    i expect an update tomorrow.

  26. Lord Tim - # May 21st, 2008 at 9:11 pm

    You can expect all you want. It’s Data’s choice.

    [11:44:09] No B21 ETA’s?
    [11:44:23] when it’s done! dun dun dun
    [11:44:36] I’ll take that as a tomorrow.
    [11:44:46] Don’t disappoint me.
    [11:44:57] you’ll disappoint yourself

  27. Xera - # May 24th, 2008 at 8:40 am

    Holy crap. I remember when I asked for Lua support and got flamed into the ground.

    Thank you data. 🙂

  28. Billi999 - # May 27th, 2008 at 11:18 pm

    Hehe, its like every once in a while Data does an amazing magic trick and now they will be less frequent but better and he is giving us little hints about it.

    And I’m typing this from an internet terminal from my room in a hotel on a school trip on a bike ride from somewhere north of Austria to Vienna, about 300km :<

  29. custom lego guns - # July 9th, 2008 at 3:07 am

    custom lego guns…

    Do you have a newsletter to sign up to?…

  30. Anonymous - # July 15th, 2008 at 11:17 am

    Problem here
    when i press the slash or neither the tilde button…the console doesnt pop out for some reason. i need help on this
    thanks

  31. George - # April 6th, 2009 at 7:35 pm

    This is right here, in the present, not the future.