Factorio Forums

I think I'm actively opposed to requiring categories. The vast majority of modders and recipes don't want anything other than the current default behavior (in my opinion).
I don't think modders currently even consider the category unless they specifically want something other than the default. As well as handling the default of {"crafting"} is dead simple.

And while turning the array of id's into a dictionary sounds really nice, I feel like that's the type of change you go all into (for every instance of id arrays). Meaning it would practically require a major version increase.
Like not even in my dreams do I really hope for it by 4.0...

That's more or less a fancy we're considering, not something we'll fight tooth and nail for.
Whereas I'm considering it for keeping the field optional.

Rseding91 wrote: Thu Oct 23, 2025 7:02 am Unified vs not isn’t really the question here, it’s *if unified* how should it work when it comes to the default value and the crafting category - that’s the more “no solid good option” question.

I am of the opinion that a default category (crafting) is the best option. Less overhead required for new modders to learn and it makes sense since most recipes will be of that cateogry.

Keeping it list is fine here in my opinion.
Setting the default to a list that just has "crafting" is a good option for backwards compatibility. I don't know if I'd want it to be "either a string, or an array" for full backwards compatibility.

front wrote: Sun Nov 09, 2025 8:50 pm Keeping it list is fine here in my opinion.
Setting the default to a list that just has "crafting" is a good option for backwards compatibility. I don't know if I'd want it to be "either a string, or an array" for full backwards compatibility.

It wouldn't be 'String or array[String]', the proposal is whether or not both properties should exist, and if they are conjoined such that 'categories = array[String]' is the only option, should it be a required field that is not autofilled by the engine or should an empty/nonexistant array be set to 'categories = {"crafting"}' by the engine when the game is loaded.