BEEmod
User-defined seed for randomly-generated assets
A lot of Bee items implement some form of randomization. While that's useful, it makes the design of a map often unpredictable: every time it is compiled, the map's changed. This is especially noticeable with cutout tiles or Portal 1 light holes (the latter can be the difference between a well-lit or unlit area). If we had an option to predetermine a seed, we'd have a finer control over how the map's randomly-generated assets come to place. In an ideal setup, this would translate into specific setups for each rng item you place in order, but merely having the same outcome on recompiling would suffice.
There is already a seed that these items use, based on their position and a global map seed computed from the map layout. If recompiling twice gives a different result, that's a bug I need to fix.
Also how do the light holes change lighting? They shouldn't affect it significantly, since it's just slid from side to side.
Depending on how you lay out the geometry, you might want it to be in a corner that also contains some partial blocks.
Also, it might be a good idea to still give the option for manually setting the seed, just in case the existing one doesn't give the best results. Might even want to add it to the Options window, since it's a more "advanced" setting that most users wouldn't need to tackle.
One problem is of course is that since it's a random seed, it'd be just about impossible to intentionally create one that does what you want without trial and error. But you could do it by making empty rooms outside the map to adjust the seed.
Another advantage of a preset seed that can't be fixed by empty rooms is with the random entrance direction and random elevator video
Well the elevator videos are another thing entirely. They change each time you start the map, and aren't preset. The entrance should probably be an itemvar to allow choosing if it's random.
I don't think the user should generate the seed but you should be allowed to view and copy/replace it. If the seed is invalid beemod could just ignore it.