Archipelago/worlds/generic/docs/advanced_settings_en.md

Advanced YAML Guide

This guide covers more the more advanced options available in YAML files. This guide is intended for the user who plans to edit their YAML file manually. This guide should take about 10 minutes to read.

If you would like to generate a basic, fully playable YAML without editing a file, then visit the options page for the game you intend to play.

The options page can be found on the supported games page, just click the "Options Page" link under the name of the game you would like.

• Supported games page: Archipelago Games List

Clicking on the "Export Options" button at the bottom-left will provide you with a pre-filled YAML with your options. The player options page also has a link to download a full template file for that game which will have every option possible for the game including some that don't display correctly on the site.

YAML Overview

The Archipelago system generates games using player configuration files as input. These are going to be YAML files and each world will have one of these containing their custom options for the game that world will play.

YAML Formatting

YAML files are a format of human-readable config files. The basic syntax of a yaml file will have a root node and then different levels of nested nodes that the generator reads in order to determine your options.

To nest text, the correct syntax is to indent two spaces over from its root option. A YAML file can be edited with whatever text editor you choose to use though I personally recommend that you use Sublime Text. Sublime text website: SublimeText Website

This program out of the box supports the correct formatting for the YAML file, so you will be able to use the tab key and get proper highlighting for any potential errors made while editing the file. If using any other text editor you should ensure your indentation is done correctly with two spaces. After editing your YAML file, you can validate it at the website's validation page.

A typical YAML file will look like:

root_option:
  nested_option_one:
    option_one_setting_one: 1
    option_one_setting_two: 0
  nested_option_two:
    option_two_setting_one: 14
    option_two_setting_two: 43

In Archipelago, YAML options are always written out in full lowercase with underscores separating any words. The numbers following the colons here are weights. The generator will read the weight of every option, then roll that option that many times, the next option as many times as its numbered and so forth.

For the above example nested_option_one will have option_one_setting_one 1 time and option_one_setting_two 0 times so option_one_setting_one is guaranteed to occur.

For nested_option_two, option_two_setting_one will be rolled 14 times and option_two_setting_two will be rolled 43 times against each other. This means option_two_setting_two will be more likely to occur, but it isn't guaranteed, adding more randomness and "mystery" to your options. Every configurable setting supports weights.

Root Options

Currently, there are only a few options that are root options. Everything else should be nested within one of these root options or in some cases nested within other nested options. The only options that should exist in root are description, name, game, requires, and the name of the games you want options for.

• description is ignored by the generator and is simply a good way for you to organize if you have multiple files using this to detail the intention of the file.

• name is the player name you would like to use and is used for your slot data to connect with most games. This can also be filled with multiple names each having a weight to it. Names can also contain certain keywords, surrounded by curly-braces, which will be replaced on generation with a number:

  • {player} will be replaced with the player's slot number.
  • {PLAYER} will be replaced with the player's slot number if that slot number is greater than 1, otherwise blank.
  • {number} will be replaced with the counter value of the name.
  • {NUMBER} will be replaced with the counter value of the name if the counter value is greater than 1, otherwise blank.

• game is where either your chosen game goes or, if you would like, can be filled with multiple games each with different weights.

• requires details different requirements from the generator for the YAML to work as you expect it to. Generally this is good for detailing the version of Archipelago this YAML was prepared for. If it is rolled on an older version, options may be missing and as such it will not work as expected. If any plando is used in the file then requiring it here to ensure it will be used is good practice.

Game Options

One of your root options will be the name of the game you would like to populate with options. Since it is possible to give a weight to any option, it is possible to have one file that can generate a seed for you where you don't know which game you'll play. For these cases you'll want to fill the game options for every game that can be rolled by these settings. If a game can be rolled it must have an options section even if it is empty.

Universal Game Options

Some options in Archipelago can be used by every game but must still be placed within the relevant game's section.

Currently, these options are accessibility, progression_balancing, triggers, local_items, non_local_items, start_inventory, start_hints, start_location_hints, exclude_locations, priority_locations, item_links, and various plando options.

See the plando guide for more info on plando options. Plando guide: Archipelago Plando Guide

• accessibility determines the level of access to the game the generation will expect you to have in order to reach your completion goal. This supports full, items, and minimal and is set to full by default.
  • full will guarantee all locations are accessible in your world.
  • items will guarantee you can acquire all logically relevant items in your world. Some items, such as keys, may be self-locking. This value only exists in and affects some worlds.
  • minimal will only guarantee that the seed is beatable. You will be guaranteed able to finish the seed logically but may not be able to access all locations or acquire all items. A good example of this is having a big key in the big chest in a dungeon in ALTTP making it impossible to get and finish the dungeon.
• progression_balancing is a system the Archipelago generator uses to try and reduce "BK mode" as much as possible. This primarily involves moving necessary progression items into earlier logic spheres to make the games more accessible so that players almost always have something to do. This can be in a range from 0 to 99, and is 50 by default. This number represents a percentage of the furthest progressible player.
  • For example: With the default of 50%, if the furthest player can access 40% of their items, the randomizer tries to let you access at least 20% of your items. 50% of 40% is 20%.
  • Note that it is not always guaranteed that it will be able to bring you up to this threshold.
• triggers is one of the more advanced options that allows you to create conditional adjustments. You can read more triggers in the triggers guide. Triggers guide: Archipelago Triggers Guide
• local_items will force any items you want to be in your world instead of being in another world.
• non_local_items is the inverse of local_items, forcing any items you want to be in another world instead of your own.
• start_inventory will give any items defined here to you at the beginning of your game. The format for this must be the name as it appears in the game files and the amount you would like to start with. For example Rupees(5): 6 which will give you 30 rupees.
• start_hints gives you free server hints for the defined items at the beginning of the game, allowing you to hint for the location without using any hint points.
• start_location_hints is the same as start_hints but for locations, allowing you to hint for the item contained there without using any hint points.
• exclude_locations lets you define any locations that you don't want to do and forces a filler or trap item which isn't necessary for progression into these locations.
• priority_locations lets you define any locations that you want to do and forces a progression item into these locations.
• item_links allows players to link their items into a group with the same item link name and game. The items declared in item_pool get combined and when an item is found for the group, all players in the group receive it. Item links can also have local and non-local items, forcing the items to either be placed within the worlds of the group or in worlds outside the group. If players have a varying amount of a specific item in the link, the lowest amount from the players will be the amount put into the group.

Random numbers

Options taking a choice of a number can also use a variety of random options to choose a number randomly.

• random will choose a number allowed for the setting at random
• random-low will choose a number allowed for the setting at random, but will be weighted towards lower numbers
• random-middle will choose a number allowed for the setting at random, but will be weighted towards the middle of the range
• random-high will choose a number allowed for the setting at random, but will be weighted towards higher numbers
• random-range-#-# will choose a number at random from between the specified numbers. For example random-range-40-60 will choose a number between 40 and 60
• random-range-low-#-#, random-range-middle-#-#, and random-range-high-#-# will choose a number at random from the specified numbers, but with the specified weights

Example

description: An example using various advanced options
name: Example Player
game: 
  A Link to the Past: 10
  Timespinner: 10
requires: 
  version: 0.4.1
A Link to the Past:
  accessibility: minimal
  progression_balancing: 50
  smallkey_shuffle:
    original_dungeon: 1
    any_world: 1
  crystals_needed_for_gt:
    random-low: 1
  crystals_needed_for_ganon:
    random-range-high-1-7: 1
  local_items:
    - Bombos
    - Ether
    - Quake
  non_local_items:
    - Moon Pearl
  start_inventory:
    Pegasus Boots: 1
    Bombs (3): 2
  start_hints:
    - Hammer
  start_location_hints:
    - Spike Cave
  exclude_locations:
    - Cave 45
  priority_locations:
    - Link's House
  item_links:
    - name: rods
      item_pool:
        - Fire Rod
        - Ice Rod
      replacement_item: "Rupee (1)"
      link_replacement: true
  triggers:
    - option_category: A Link to the Past
      option_name: smallkey_shuffle
      option_result: any_world
      options:
        A Link to the Past:
          bigkey_shuffle: any_world
          map_shuffle: any_world
          compass_shuffle: any_world
Timespinner:
  accessibility: minimal
  progression_balancing: 50
  item_links: # Share part of your item pool with other players.
    - name: TSAll
      item_pool: 
        - Everything
      local_items:
        - Twin Pyramid Key
        - Timespinner Wheel
      replacement_item: null

This is a fully functional yaml file that will do all the following things:

• description gives us a general overview so if we pull up this file later we can understand the intent.
• name is Example Player and this will be used in the server console when sending and receiving items.
• game has an equal chance of being either A Link to the Past or Timespinner with a 10/20 chance for each. This is because each game has a weight of 10 and the total of all weights is 20.
• requires is set to required release version 0.3.2 or higher.
• accessibility for both games is set to minimal which will set this seed to beatable only, so some locations and items may be completely inaccessible but the seed will still be completable.
• progression_balancing for both games is set to 50, the default value, meaning we will likely receive important items earlier, increasing the chance of having things to do.
• A Link to the Past defines a location for us to nest all the game options we would like to use for our game A Link to the Past.
• smallkey_shuffle is an option for A Link to the Past which determines how dungeon small keys are shuffled. In this example we have a 1/2 chance for them to either be placed in their original dungeon and a 1/2 chance for them to be placed anywhere amongst the multiworld.
• crystals_needed_for_gt determines the number of crystals required to enter the Ganon's Tower entrance. In this example a random number will be chosen from the allowed range for this setting (0 through 7) but will be weighted towards a lower number.
• crystals_needed_for_ganon determines the number of crystals required to beat Ganon. In this example a number between 1 and 7 will be chosen at random, weighted towards a high number.
• local_items forces the Bombos, Ether, and Quake medallions to all be placed within our own world, meaning we have to find it ourselves.
• non_local_items forces the Moon Pearl to be placed in someone else's world, meaning we won't be able to find it.
• start_inventory defines an area for us to determine what items we would like to start the seed with. For this example we have:
  • Pegasus Boots: 1 which gives us 1 copy of the Pegasus Boots
  • Bombs (3): 2 gives us 2 packs of 3 bombs or 6 total bombs
• start_hints gives us a starting hint for the hammer available at the beginning of the multiworld which we can use with no cost.
• start_location_hints gives us a starting hint for the Spike Cave location available at the beginning of the multiworld that can be used for no cost.
• exclude_locations forces a not important item to be placed on the Cave 45 location.
• priority_locations forces a progression item to be placed on the Link's House location.
• item_links
  • For A Link to the Past all players in the rods item link group will share their fire and ice rods and the player items will be replaced with single rupees. The rupee will also be shared among those players.
  • For Timespinner all players in the TSAll item link group will share their entire item pool and the Twin Pyramid Key and Timespinner Wheel will be forced among the worlds of those in the group. The null replacement item will, instead of forcing a specific chosen item, allow the generator to randomly pick a filler item to replace the player items.
• triggers allows us to define a trigger such that if our smallkey_shuffle option happens to roll the any_world result it will also ensure that bigkey_shuffle, map_shuffle, and compass_shuffle are also forced to the any_world result. More information on triggers can be found in the triggers guide.

Generating Multiple Worlds

YAML files can be configured to generate multiple worlds using only one file. This is mostly useful if you are playing an asynchronous multiworld (shortened to async) and are wanting to submit multiple worlds as they can be condensed into one file, removing the need to manage separate files if one chooses to do so.

As a precautionary measure, before submitting a multi-game yaml like this one in a synchronous/sync multiworld, please confirm that the other players in the multi are OK with what you are submitting, and please be fairly reasonable about the submission. (i.e. Multiple long games (SMZ3, OoT, HK, etc.) for a game intended to be <2 hrs is not likely considered reasonable, but submitting a ChecksFinder alongside another game OR submitting multiple Slay the Spire runs is likely OK)

To configure your file to generate multiple worlds, use 3 dashes --- on an empty line to separate the ending of one world and the beginning of another world. You can also combine multiple files by uploading them to the validation page.

Example

description: Example of generating multiple worlds. World 1 of 3
name: Mario
game: Super Mario 64
requires:
  version: 0.3.2
Super Mario 64:
  progression_balancing: 50
  accessibility: items
  EnableCoinStars: false
  StrictCapRequirements: true
  StrictCannonRequirements: true
  StarsToFinish: 70
  AmountOfStars: 70
  DeathLink: true
  BuddyChecks: true
  AreaRandomizer: true
  ProgressiveKeys:
    true: 1
    false: 1

---

description: Example of generating multiple worlds. World 2 of 3
name: Minecraft
game: Minecraft
Minecraft:
  progression_balancing: 50
  accessibility: items
  advancement_goal: 40
  combat_difficulty: hard
  include_hard_advancements: false
  include_unreasonable_advancements: false
  include_postgame_advancements: false
  shuffle_structures: true
  structure_compasses: true
  send_defeated_mobs: true
  bee_traps: 15
  egg_shards_required: 7
  egg_shards_available: 10
  required_bosses:
    none: 0
    ender_dragon: 1
    wither: 0
    both: 0

---

description: Example of generating multiple worlds. World 3 of 3
name: ExampleFinder
game: ChecksFinder

ChecksFinder: 
  progression_balancing: 50
  accessibility: items

The above example will generate 3 worlds - one Super Mario 64, one Minecraft, and one ChecksFinder.