Table of Contents

Lua Plugins

Moongate can load gameplay extensions from a dedicated plugins/ directory without modifying the core moongate_data/scripts tree.

This first version is intentionally simple:

  • plugins are Lua-only
  • metadata lives in plugin.lua
  • the entry script is init.lua
  • plugins load after the core scripts
  • .reload_scripts reloads core scripts and plugins together
  • no single-plugin unload or dependency graph exists yet

Plugin Layout

Each plugin lives under:

plugins/<plugin-id>/
  plugin.lua
  init.lua

Optional folders:

  • gumps/
  • commands/
  • ai/
  • items/

Example:

plugins/helpplus/
  plugin.lua
  init.lua
  gumps/
    helpplus.lua
  commands/
    helpplus.lua

Manifest

plugin.lua must return a Lua table:

return {
  id = "helpplus",
  name = "Help Plus",
  version = "0.1.0",
  entry = "init.lua",
}

Required fields:

  • id
  • entry

If the manifest is invalid, or if another plugin already uses the same id, the plugin is skipped.

Namespaced Requires

Plugin modules use the namespace:

plugin.<plugin-id>.*

Examples:

local help_gump = require("plugin.helpplus.gumps.helpplus")
local help_command = require("plugin.helpplus.commands.helpplus")

This avoids collisions with core modules such as gumps.*, items.*, and ai.*.

Entry Script

init.lua is the plugin entry point. It should require the modules it needs and register behavior using the existing script APIs.

Example:

local help_gump = require("plugin.helpplus.gumps.helpplus")

command.register("helpplus", function(ctx)
    if ctx.session_id ~= nil and ctx.character_id ~= nil then
        help_gump.open(ctx.session_id, ctx.character_id)
    end
end, {
    description = "Open the Help Plus gump.",
    minimum_account_type = "GameMaster"
})

Supported Extension Types

Plugins can officially register:

  • GM commands
  • custom gumps and gump callbacks
  • event hook functions
  • NPC behaviors / brains
  • item scripts

They use the same Lua modules and game-facing APIs as core scripts.

Current Limitations

Not supported in v1:

  • single-plugin unload
  • per-plugin dependency ordering
  • sandboxing or capability restrictions
  • remote installation or version negotiation

Operational Note

Lua plugins live under the same centralized script watcher as the core script tree. Changing a plugin Lua file invalidates that file's compiled chunk, but there is still no single-plugin unload lifecycle or dependency-aware plugin reload.

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