The Almanac: Illuminated

Press Alt+J and a bound book comes out into your hands. It holds a chapter for every mod you have loaded, and nothing at all for the ones you do not. The pages turn, the tabs are paper slips you can see, and you can leave a scrap in it to keep your place.

Every chapter is written by whoever knows that mod best, in plain JSON, with no code and no dependency on this mod's internals. The Almanac only binds them together and hands you the right ones.

It reads as a bound object: a modelled cover and spine, tilted pages, slips down the edges for the tabs, and a sheet that turns when you page. It draws out when you open it and stows when you close it.

Underneath it is one book with one layout. The bound view presents the same page the flat view does, so nothing is drawn twice and the two can never drift apart.

A chapter is one JSON file in assets/yourmod/almanac/guides/. The Almanac finds it, and it appears only for players who have your mod. You never reference this mod or compile against it.

i.  Gate on your modid, so your chapter arrives with your mod and leaves with it.

ii.  Reveal as it is earned. A section, or a whole chapter, can stay dark until the player has done the thing. You report the key; the book does the hiding.

iii.  Set a page properly. Headings, drop caps, callouts, ordered steps, tables, figures, checklists, dividers, and recipe grids drawn live from the real registry.

iv.  Link into it from anywhere. almanac://chapter/yourmod:yourchapter resolves wherever rich text renders, chat included.

v.  Translate it. Language keys are accepted anywhere a string is.

vi.  Or do not hand-write it at all. There is an editor, below.

The book works and is in daily use, and the format is settled enough to write against. It is still young: chapters, tabs and the page furniture will keep growing. Feedback from anyone authoring a guide is worth more to me right now than anything else.