Feature suggestion: importing maps as scenes

[RisingThumb]

As it's been something I've used for the last year and a bit, I'd like to suggest bringing the additions from this repo upstream: https://github.com/RisingThumb/func_godot_scene_import

This would not replace the current default Quake map import, nor does it remove the FuncGodotMap or replace any current workflows with FuncGodotMap. This should be a fairly easy addition(only 60 lines of code, and a bunch of them are boiler plate that func_godot already does). Additionally it's very useful for the following usecases:

• Procedural generation. WIth procgen you don't want to be generating each map at runtime as that is costly in runtime performance. Additionally if you have a lot of level tiles, you don't want to be building each one manually in the editor each time. With importing, you can select a bunch of .map files in the file viewer, right click and reimport.
• 3D Modelling. Admittedly there's not loads of people using Trenchbroom like a 3D modelling software, but for people more comfortable with Trenchbroom, having your maps as scenes you can drag in like you can with .glb/.gltf files already are, is very beneficial. Additionally means you can make entities that are relevant for your 3D models with the same entities as your main maps(like rotating, scaling and moving bits) as well as possibly making them easier to interact with.
• Automatically importing changes. The Godot importer detects changes to the .map file, and automatically reimports the scene, which can be useful as a development aid.
• Some use cases in code where a packed scene is nicer to work with than a String path to a map file. If you have exports for changing map by the map string, you can then change these to an export of PackedScenes. Would additionally work nice with code such as get_tree().change_scene_to_packed()

Additionally this already supports all the build flags currently available for a FuncGodotMap. I can only really see the code for this getting modified when either FuncGodotMap receives new build flags or properties that need to be exposed in the importer, or the build() function changes. Additionally this change would not break compatibility.

Limitations:
The only limitation I'm aware of is that a scene tree is not available when importing a .map file as a packed scene during the import process. This means anything relying on get_tree() in _func_godot_apply_properties(), _func_godot_build_complete() and functions called from these, have to use alternative approaches to get_tree(). In my current procedural generation project, this is relevant for finding all nodes in a group only in that map file so I can connect a signal(as I don't want to get everything in that group as it may be used in duplicates of that tile placed by the procgen algorithm), so I had to write a way to search the nodes in a map for what groups they are in. This is a limitation with Godot's Scene Format Importer I think...

I recall there being a discussion about this idea... I think on the Discord? A bit over a year ago? Opening that discussion up here to see what folks think. If not brought in upstream, it's no biggie as it can remain a small extension to func_godot. I'm happy to handle making a PR for this change if it is something that would be nice to have upstream

[RhapsodyInGeek]

Haven't tried it out and probably won't get an opportunity to for a few days, but if I'm understanding this correctly, the reason it's compatible is because it becomes just another import option you can select under Quake Map in Project Settings > Import Defaults?

[RisingThumb]

Yes, that's correct. Basically it lets you pick the right way to import maps for your project. Basically when you click a .map file and go to the import tab you can import it either as a quake map or as a scene.

I think you can set it in the import defaults section of project settings too but I'll double check later on

[HeadClot]

Hey - made a fork of Func_Godot with the hot_reloading changes. Keep in mind that the code is a bit messy at the moment.

Let me know if I should make a PR or not.

https://github.com/HeadClot/func_godot_plugin