Tools Addons

[garrynewman]

I started coding a tools addon framework, which you can find in tools/*.

There are two things to note with this right now:

1. The only place it's exposed is in the About box in the Asset Browser.
2. There is no whitelist, and no sandbox - tool addons can do anything - it's like running an exe.

I'm mulling over whether 2 will change. Whether it's worth sandboxing and having an addon downloader for tools addons, or whether people are going to prefer to manage them manually.

[xezno]

I thought I'd weigh in with my opinions/views on 2: I think it makes sense to sandbox tools and, additionally, have them bundled with addons - rather than being separate.

• If they're bundled with addons, then teams don't have to worry about making sure they have all the necessary tooling or the right versions or whatever - it'd just get included with the addon itself.
• Sandboxing it means one less attack vector; I'd rather have to request for something to be whitelisted than risk being hit with malicious code (even if it's unlikely)
• Having a separate system for tools feels like it'd be more hassle and more work - at least from my perspective. Would love to hear everyone's opinions on this though

[garrynewman]

What are you imagining tools would be in this scenario?

[xezno]

Maybe I have the wrong idea - I was thinking they were more like Unity's custom editors/inspectors where you'd tailor them to your needs, or find existing ones that fit your project, just to speed up the dev process

[JoeEffect]

I personally want cool custom hummers, such as a ule4 style landscape where you could easily make mountains/plains/roads with a path tool etc.
also a path tool for models so that you can say make roads and fences easily.
I would also like to have a tool for procedural generation
something like a nod-based one where you make generation algorithms + stick your mesh in to fill the world

[JoeEffect]

I think someone in the community would do it if addons tools work that way.

[JoeEffect]

Will we be able to make add-ons for hammer and other tools, such as adding tools from unity/UE to hammer/sbox? Does it work like this?

[SupinePandora43]

Will it be possible for them to communicate with game c# code and vice-versa?
It will open a lot of new possibilities restricted by c# whitelists.