Modding

Modding covers everything you can add to or change in DragonMineZ without writing Java code. Races, transformations, sagas, side quests, wishes, NPC conversations, Space Pod destinations, weapon movesets, models and textures are all read from JSON files and resource packs: you edit them with a text editor, reload them and test them in game.

If this is your first time, start with How to JSON and Locating Specific Folders. To write your own Forge mod that hooks into DragonMineZ, see Add-on Development instead.

Getting started

How to JSON

The JSON rules, the load report and how files are upgraded between versions.

Locating Specific Folders

Which folder holds which file: config, world save, Dragon Ball packs, datapacks and assets.

Characters and forms

Custom Races

Create a new playable race with its own look, classes and transformations.

Custom Forms

Every form field, and how to add stack forms that layer on top of race forms.

Custom Models and Assets

Point races and forms at your own models, body textures and faces.

Story and NPCs

Custom Quests

Write your own sagas, saga quests and side quests.

Custom Wishes

Change what a dragon grants, or ship a brand-new dragon.

NPC Placement and Alignment

Move master NPCs, place NPCs inside structures and decide how alignment affects them.

NPC Dialogue

Give masters branching conversations with conditions and actions.

Datapacks

Space Pod Destinations

Add worlds to the Space Pod menu and decide when they unlock.

Weapon Attributes

Define how a weapon swings, hits and combos in DragonMineZ combat.

Data or code

There are two ways to extend DragonMineZ. Everything in this section of the wiki is a data add-on; code add-ons are covered in Add-on Development.

Approach	What you need	Where to start
Data add-ons: configs, races, forms, quests, wishes, Dragon Ball packs and resource packs	A text editor and a DragonMineZ instance	How to JSON
Code add-ons: your own Forge mod that hooks DragonMineZ events and APIs	A Forge 1.20.1 development environment	Add-on Getting Started

DragonMineZ has no Java API to register new races, forms, skills or techniques: new races and forms are always added through JSON config files.

Where each kind of content lives

Main article: Locating Specific Folders

Tuning stats, damage or costs, or adding a race, form, entity or raid: config/dragonminez/
Adding or editing story content, wishes, dialogue or NPC placement for one world: <world save>/dragonminez/
Shipping a distributable Dragon Ball pack: <game dir>/dragonballs/
Space Pod destinations, weapon attributes and rhythm charts: a datapack
Adding a model, texture or animation: assets/dragonminez/... in a resource pack

Applying your changes

Main article: Reloading and Updating Changes

Each kind of file is applied in a different way. /dmzreload with no argument reloads everything it covers.

Content	How to apply it
Races, forms, NPC placements and NPC alignment rules	`/dmzreload config`
Sagas, quests, side quests and NPC dialogue	`/dmzreload story`
Per-world wish lists	`/dmzreload wishes`
Space Pod destinations, weapon attributes and structure NPCs	Vanilla `/reload`
Wish lists inside Dragon Ball packs	Vanilla `/reload`, then `/dmzreload wishes`
New dragons, ball sets and radars	Restart the game
Models, textures and animations	Resource reload (`F3` + `T`) or restart

Translating your content

All in-game text uses translation keys. Races, forms, sagas, quests, wishes and dialogue lines take a translation key wherever a name or a text is shown, and each page of this section lists the key pattern it uses. Add your keys to your en_us.json or to your own language file in a resource pack (assets/<namespace>/lang/<locale>.json). You don't need to add translation keys for anything else: DragonMineZ merges the translations already made on Crowdin with your own.