Hidden fireflies don't work outside vanilla biomes

[CowboyLva]

Tested on 5.5.1 Arch release(includes mtg in the package) and before that self compiled 5.5.0 with a stable branch of mtg.

Both have same results, fireflies work on vanilla biomes, but once used outside those the hide/unhide fuctions seem not to work.

I can get permanent fireflies by changing hidden fireflies to fireflies. Said fireflies will not change to their hidden variant.

Tested mods: Extra Biomes(ebiomes), Ethereal(ethereal).

[appgurueu]

Relevant code:

minetest_game/mods/fireflies/init.lua

Lines 186 to 262 in 79d3807

	-- register fireflies as decorations
	if minetest.get_mapgen_setting("mg_name") == "v6" then
	minetest.register_decoration({
	name = "fireflies:firefly_low",
	deco_type = "simple",
	place_on = "default:dirt_with_grass",
	place_offset_y = 2,
	sidelen = 80,
	fill_ratio = 0.0002,
	y_max = 31000,
	y_min = 1,
	decoration = "fireflies:hidden_firefly",
	})
	minetest.register_decoration({
	name = "fireflies:firefly_high",
	deco_type = "simple",
	place_on = "default:dirt_with_grass",
	place_offset_y = 3,
	sidelen = 80,
	fill_ratio = 0.0002,
	y_max = 31000,
	y_min = 1,
	decoration = "fireflies:hidden_firefly",
	})
	else
	minetest.register_decoration({
	name = "fireflies:firefly_low",
	deco_type = "simple",
	place_on = {
	"default:dirt_with_grass",
	"default:dirt_with_coniferous_litter",
	"default:dirt_with_rainforest_litter",
	"default:dirt"
	},
	place_offset_y = 2,
	sidelen = 80,
	fill_ratio = 0.0005,
	biomes = {
	"deciduous_forest",
	"coniferous_forest",
	"rainforest",
	"rainforest_swamp"
	},
	y_max = 31000,
	y_min = -1,
	decoration = "fireflies:hidden_firefly",
	})
	minetest.register_decoration({
	name = "fireflies:firefly_high",
	deco_type = "simple",
	place_on = {
	"default:dirt_with_grass",
	"default:dirt_with_coniferous_litter",
	"default:dirt_with_rainforest_litter",
	"default:dirt"
	},
	place_offset_y = 3,
	sidelen = 80,
	fill_ratio = 0.0005,
	biomes = {
	"deciduous_forest",
	"coniferous_forest",
	"rainforest",
	"rainforest_swamp"
	},
	y_max = 31000,
	y_min = -1,
	decoration = "fireflies:hidden_firefly",
	})
	end

and

minetest_game/mods/fireflies/init.lua

Lines 271 to 291 in 79d3807

	-- start nodetimers
	minetest.register_on_generated(function(minp, maxp, blockseed)
	local gennotify = minetest.get_mapgen_object("gennotify")
	local poslist = {}
	for _, pos in ipairs(gennotify["decoration#"..firefly_low] or {}) do
	local firefly_low_pos = {x = pos.x, y = pos.y + 3, z = pos.z}
	table.insert(poslist, firefly_low_pos)
	end
	for _, pos in ipairs(gennotify["decoration#"..firefly_high] or {}) do
	local firefly_high_pos = {x = pos.x, y = pos.y + 4, z = pos.z}
	table.insert(poslist, firefly_high_pos)
	end
	if #poslist ~= 0 then
	for i = 1, #poslist do
	local pos = poslist[i]
	minetest.get_node_timer(pos):start(1)
	end
	end
	end)

Fireflies aren't supposed to be generated in those biomes, ergo no node timer loop can possibly be started, thus fireflies won't turn into hidden fireflies based on the light level.

I'm kinda surprised fireflies use node timers started in on_generated rather than an ABM for this...

[sfan5]

I'm kinda surprised fireflies use node timers started in on_generated rather than an ABM for this...

Don't you mean an LBM? You don't want an ABM to happen constantly when node timers are already running.

Regardless, what would the fix here be?

[appgurueu]

I'm kinda surprised fireflies use node timers started in on_generated rather than an ABM for this...

Don't you mean an LBM? You don't want an ABM to happen constantly when node timers are already running.

I had intended replacing the node timers with the ABM entirely?

[JoseDouglas26]

Would it be possible to resolve this issue by creating an API for fireflies? A function of this API could be something like fireflies.register_fireflies_decoration(param1, param2, ..., biomes), where the biomes parameter is a list of biomes to register the decorations. Mods (Ethereal, Extra Biomes, etc) could use this API to add firefly decoration.

[appgurueu]

After reconsideration, I think we should probably fix this by replacing the on_generated with an LBM as suggested by sfan5, and possibly also starting the node timer in on_construct for manually placed fireflies; I believe an ABM would probably add quite some unnecessary overhead for the relatively sparse fireflies (though I don't know the ABM implementation details too well), and also require larger changes. Thoughts?