Hi! I need help to come up with a good way to handle item-properties in my VC++ rpg. An item (an armour for example) can have a list of several mods. Like it gives +10 to Hp, +1 strength, 30% faster running speed and so on. These should be red in from a text file, maybe in chunks of WHAT it mods, HOW it mods it(add/mul) and the AMOUNT it mods. These should be applied on the GameObject equipping the item. Im not sure how to map these item-properties to my game-object hierarchy, toghether with file-loading, and enums. How i ever concieve it it seems like i will have to hardcode alot of enums against switch-cases and so on. Can anyone point me in a direction of a smart way of doing this? Dont know if I make any sense at all. Thanks, /T!

You could store the data in XML format and use or create a XML loader to parse the file and then apply the mod. I was looking over this recently and I know the Boost library has an archive class that can parse XML data -> here.

Alternatively, just create your own format and use a dedicated load function to read and apply the mod.
A custom format like the follwing might be suitable:

#item descriptor - this is a comment line>item "Heavy Armour">img_src "images/shiny_shield.jpg">desc "Made from a tryoaxylete alloy, protects against standard bullet rounds, arrows and strong blows.Warning: Will hinder the wearers agility, not recomended for extended use.Shipment id: #066537.6"#item attributes - this is a comment line>health add 10>agility mul 0.75>strength add 2>stamina add -3

a quick and easy way do do it could be done by creating simple arrays of values for example:

4; //4 items in the list
0x0001, -10; //attribute number 1 (could be hp) -10 means -10hp
0x0002, 15; //attribute number 2 (could be str) 10 means +10str
0x0003, 3; //attribute #3 (could mean dmg %) 3 could mean +3% more dmg
0x0004, 7; //attribute #4 (could mean defence%) 7 means 7% more defence

something simple like this can also be aligned to fit a 32bit word, use bitshifts to get the data out of the 32bit words and takes a small amount of space.

to load it just do something like this:



~guyaton

Thanks all of you!
I will have a look at that boost library.

I guess my question was a bit unclear though. My problem wasn't the actual file-handling, but rather than how to best connect my in-code variables to those in the textfile, without getting a whole mess out of it.
Especially when i have a deep gameobject hierarchy. Maybe boost provides this for me.

T :)