From 23ae10b0705c5667857f52cf3b6222ae8f8c2401 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Phil Bajsicki <phil@bajsicki.com>
Date: Fri, 25 Aug 2023 16:16:46 +0200
Subject: [PATCH] Added a new idea for the process (bottom of file).

---
 README.org | 24 ++++++++++++++++++++++++
 1 file changed, 24 insertions(+)

diff --git a/README.org b/README.org
index fed40f8..a324f48 100644
--- a/README.org
+++ b/README.org
@@ -427,3 +427,27 @@ close $out or die "$out: $!";
 #+end_src
 
 #+RESULTS:
+
+* New Idea (parsing lua files directly):
+https://wiki.factorio.com/Console#Access_a_mod's_data
+
+- It may be possible to access lua directly and pull data from there.
+- It may be more effective and accurate than pulling data from an exported CSV.
+- Further investigation needed.
+- *The key problem:* it would be very challenging for a human/ person to make modifications to this export as-is. It's then necessary to create another layer of processing to make the output human-readable.
+- ON the other hand, we don't yet have a system for importing recipes, items, and tech levels from a csv into Factorio mods...
+- That may be something to explore to better define the constraints on this project.
+
+  E.g. If it were possible to build the Lua files programmatically from user-created CSVs... Factorio modding would become significantly more accessible and easy for a ton of people. Of course, this would not be as powerful as diving into the code, however... I do see potential here with regards to large overhaul mods.
+
+  Imagine:
+  1. Export factorio base to csv.
+  2. Change csv however you like, adding items, changing values, adding recipes, technologies, etc.
+  3. Run a script which compiles your csv into a mod
+  4. Have your mod running.
+
+  There are several issues which bear addressing:
+  1. Icons - in the case of a lack of icons, the script should default to something, so the GUI isn't broken.
+  2. The script would have to dynamically generate a lot of lua code, or at least wrap the contents of the CSV in lua code. This may create licensing issues? Maybe?
+  3. The item descriptions could be generated (partially) automatically, but they would still require someone to write large parts of them.
+  4. Localization; it may be possible to also do with the script (eg hooking into google translate, deepl or sth), at least for the item names.