Startup plugins allow you to enable by drag and drop Python scripts adding low-level features to FFvsTTR. Startup plugins will be run once or more (see the Python files for details) when the game starts.
IMPORTANT: Startup plugins are not specific to any given mod (such as FFX3), contrary to mission plugins (which run when a mod's mission starts). They will be called everytime any mod (or the default game) starts.
Startup plugins are located under the "Freedom Force vs The 3rd Reich\StartupPlugins\active" folder.
The following startup plugins are installed by default with FFX:
This is the major immediate reason for creating the Startup Plugins architecture in the first place: This plugin fixes an issue with the FF engine, where the game looked for a file in the "Data" folder first instead of the mod's.
This plugin allows files such as cshelper.py to be mod-specific.
This plugin records the game's approximate startup time and the mod loaded to gamesessions.txt. While this plugin brings no direct benefits in itself, it is hoped it will be useful for possible future utilities, such as a mod-friendly savegame management utility.
To install a startup plugin, add your plugin folder and all its files to the "Freedom Force vs The 3rd Reich\StartupPlugins\active" folder. Please be certain the plugin you are installing there is indeed a "startup plugin" and not a "mission plugin".
To disable a startup plugin, move its folder from the "active" folder to the "Freedom Force vs The 3rd Reich\StartupPlugins\inactive" folder. Vice-versa to enable it again.
The startup plugins are called by "Freedom Force vs The 3rd Reich\System\startupplugins.py" (added by the FFX 3.2 installer), a file which is itself called on startup by the existing localinit.py (updated to include the needed code by the installer). To update the file manually, open "Freedom Force vs The 3rd Reich\System\localinit.py" in Notepad and add the following lines at the end:
# Startup Plugins Importer; info in the StartupPlugins folder
try:
import startupplugins
except:
pass
You're welcome to it! However, there's no documentation, sorry… please read the code. Anyway, since startup plugins are only used for rather boring stuff and are a bit of a pain to develop, I suggest you try your hands at mission plugins first (see under ffx3\missions\scripts\ffxplugins\).
Also keep in mind that a startup plugin has to be compatible with every possible mod (including the default game without the -log parameter), not just FFX.