Sun May 18, 2003 10:37 pm
Forum Structure
This is a little on the long side, but bare with me folks. If you’re new to the forums, I suggest you read the whole post. If you’ve been around once or twice, at least read the last half.
TLR modding forums are a very nebulous place. Is this a bad thing? To each his own, I suppose. I like it this way. Something about it needs to be addressed, though. You see, way up there at the top of the thread listings are four special posts. They're known as "sticky" topics, and always remain at the top of the forum. "But we know this, Ut! Do you take us to be dumb?" you all collectively ask. Well, no. Blind, maybe, but not dumb. For if you look carefully, you'll most certainly notice one of these sticky topics is titled "Read Before Posting". Please, please, PLEASE read it over and follow some of the suggestions.
The current modification area of TLR is divided up into six forums. This is to make finding and sharing knowledge more efficient. These forums are as follows:
1. Freelancer General Editing Forum
2. Freelancer Editing Tutorial Forum
3. Freelancer Editing Utilities Forum
4. Freelancer MOD Announcement Forum
5. Freelancer Using MODs Help Forum
6. Freelancer Babylon 5 MOD Forum
1. Freelancer General Editing Forum
This is where you currently are. Whether you are planning to modify your Freelancer gaming experience, or you have run into problems while attempting, this is the place for you. Currently, it also acts as the modification request forum. It is filled with friendly, experienced Freelancer modders who take joy in helping others learn their craft. It also includes a few kooks, like myself
.
If you have a question to ask, it is highly recommended that you search the forums first. Use CTRL+F if you're a Windows user, or Command+F if you're a fancy-pants Mac operator. Be sure to search for key words, not full questions. Also make sure to set the "Show topics from last..." menu to "Year" first. If this doesn't answer your question, make your way to the Search Forums link near the top-centre of the page. Again search for key words, and be sure to search ALL FORUMS, not just the Freelancer Discussion forum. If your searching turns up nothing, or your questions are not fully answered, please ask away.
2. Freelancer Editing Tutorials Forum
A quick look through this forum will show you what can be done with little thought or effort. A quick copy-paste routine can get you a wide variety of new ships or effects in game. It also contains more in-depth tutorials which teach you the finer points of Freelancer modding. If you're having trouble getting one of these tutorial mods to work, ask your question in the appropriate thread. Also take a quick look through the General Editing forum, and post your question there. It's not really appropriate to ask questions in new threads in this forum, as it's designed as a home for tutorials.
3. Freelancer Editing Utilities Forum
FLMM not doing what it should? You want to know what programs to use to de/compress the ini files? Look here, ask here. This forum houses a wealth of information on all the most popular programs used to modify Freelancer today. From spreadsheets to system creators, if it exists it's probably been talked about in the Editing Utilities Forum.
4. Freelancer MOD Announcement Forum
This one's a no brainer. Starting a mod? Looking for a team? Or maybe you're about to release one. This is the place to tell the world. If you have feedback on a particular mod, find it here and let your voice be heard! Mod authors comb this place to see what people want in the next version of their mod, and mod users use it to keep up to date on their progress.
5. Freelancer Using MODs Help Forum
Strangely enough, this forum has less than 200 posts as of the time of this writing. If you can't get a particular mod to work, here's where you find out why. A lot of the questions that belong here get asked in the MOD Announcement Forum, so you may want to scroll through that first if you've encountered a problem.
6. Freelancer Babylon 5 MOD Forum
Babawhatsits? *shrug* You're on your own, kiddo.
Ok, with that said, let us get down to the tasty bits. It’s becoming quite obvious, both from reading peoples questions and scouring the boards myself, that finding information is not as easy as it should be. Here I propose a solution: Think carefully about your thread’s title.
Questions:
Questions should have a title that conveys what you want to know. Topics like “How do you…?”, “A quick question…”, or “Help me!!!” are vague and most likely to be overlooked. Also, the information contained within them is hidden to people who do CTRL+F searches. More appropriate formats include:
”Question: Concerning Engine Trails.”
“How do you edit Skins?”
or
“I Need Help Installing MODs.”
The general rule of thumb to follow is to include the subject of your post in the subject. Crazy, no? But it works!
New Discoveries:
Think you’ve stumbled upon something new? Before you start a shiny new thread about it, perform a quick search of the forum to see if there are any similar topics. If there are, consider posting in one of those. The less spread out the information is, the easier it is to find. Even if you find your discovery has already been made, post it anyway! Use it to bump previous topics. Limiting the number of repeated threads makes the forums easier to navigate.
Suggestions or Requests:
It’s in everyone’s best interest for you to heed the advice of the previous two topics. Make sure you indicate you’re suggesting or requesting something, for a modder scorned may become a modder silent. Instead of posting a new thread titled “Idea – for a new ship”, consider naming it “Suggestion: Nietzschean Cruiser Model” or “Request: Nietzschean Cruiser Model”. An even more sound approach is to tag this onto the end of one of the other Andromeda ship request threads, bumping it in the process.
At just over 1000 words, this may have been a little long winded, but hopefully it was also useful. Keep in mind that these are only suggestions from a concerned fan of these forums who wants to see them remain informative, effective, and efficient. Also keep in mind that anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of slaws.
TLR modding forums are a very nebulous place. Is this a bad thing? To each his own, I suppose. I like it this way. Something about it needs to be addressed, though. You see, way up there at the top of the thread listings are four special posts. They're known as "sticky" topics, and always remain at the top of the forum. "But we know this, Ut! Do you take us to be dumb?" you all collectively ask. Well, no. Blind, maybe, but not dumb. For if you look carefully, you'll most certainly notice one of these sticky topics is titled "Read Before Posting". Please, please, PLEASE read it over and follow some of the suggestions.
The current modification area of TLR is divided up into six forums. This is to make finding and sharing knowledge more efficient. These forums are as follows:
1. Freelancer General Editing Forum
2. Freelancer Editing Tutorial Forum
3. Freelancer Editing Utilities Forum
4. Freelancer MOD Announcement Forum
5. Freelancer Using MODs Help Forum
6. Freelancer Babylon 5 MOD Forum
1. Freelancer General Editing Forum
This is where you currently are. Whether you are planning to modify your Freelancer gaming experience, or you have run into problems while attempting, this is the place for you. Currently, it also acts as the modification request forum. It is filled with friendly, experienced Freelancer modders who take joy in helping others learn their craft. It also includes a few kooks, like myself
.
If you have a question to ask, it is highly recommended that you search the forums first. Use CTRL+F if you're a Windows user, or Command+F if you're a fancy-pants Mac operator. Be sure to search for key words, not full questions. Also make sure to set the "Show topics from last..." menu to "Year" first. If this doesn't answer your question, make your way to the Search Forums link near the top-centre of the page. Again search for key words, and be sure to search ALL FORUMS, not just the Freelancer Discussion forum. If your searching turns up nothing, or your questions are not fully answered, please ask away.
2. Freelancer Editing Tutorials Forum
A quick look through this forum will show you what can be done with little thought or effort. A quick copy-paste routine can get you a wide variety of new ships or effects in game. It also contains more in-depth tutorials which teach you the finer points of Freelancer modding. If you're having trouble getting one of these tutorial mods to work, ask your question in the appropriate thread. Also take a quick look through the General Editing forum, and post your question there. It's not really appropriate to ask questions in new threads in this forum, as it's designed as a home for tutorials.
3. Freelancer Editing Utilities Forum
FLMM not doing what it should? You want to know what programs to use to de/compress the ini files? Look here, ask here. This forum houses a wealth of information on all the most popular programs used to modify Freelancer today. From spreadsheets to system creators, if it exists it's probably been talked about in the Editing Utilities Forum.
4. Freelancer MOD Announcement Forum
This one's a no brainer. Starting a mod? Looking for a team? Or maybe you're about to release one. This is the place to tell the world. If you have feedback on a particular mod, find it here and let your voice be heard! Mod authors comb this place to see what people want in the next version of their mod, and mod users use it to keep up to date on their progress.
5. Freelancer Using MODs Help Forum
Strangely enough, this forum has less than 200 posts as of the time of this writing. If you can't get a particular mod to work, here's where you find out why. A lot of the questions that belong here get asked in the MOD Announcement Forum, so you may want to scroll through that first if you've encountered a problem.
6. Freelancer Babylon 5 MOD Forum
Babawhatsits? *shrug* You're on your own, kiddo.
Ok, with that said, let us get down to the tasty bits. It’s becoming quite obvious, both from reading peoples questions and scouring the boards myself, that finding information is not as easy as it should be. Here I propose a solution: Think carefully about your thread’s title.
Questions:
Questions should have a title that conveys what you want to know. Topics like “How do you…?”, “A quick question…”, or “Help me!!!” are vague and most likely to be overlooked. Also, the information contained within them is hidden to people who do CTRL+F searches. More appropriate formats include:
”Question: Concerning Engine Trails.”
“How do you edit Skins?”
or
“I Need Help Installing MODs.”
The general rule of thumb to follow is to include the subject of your post in the subject. Crazy, no? But it works!
New Discoveries:
Think you’ve stumbled upon something new? Before you start a shiny new thread about it, perform a quick search of the forum to see if there are any similar topics. If there are, consider posting in one of those. The less spread out the information is, the easier it is to find. Even if you find your discovery has already been made, post it anyway! Use it to bump previous topics. Limiting the number of repeated threads makes the forums easier to navigate.
Suggestions or Requests:
It’s in everyone’s best interest for you to heed the advice of the previous two topics. Make sure you indicate you’re suggesting or requesting something, for a modder scorned may become a modder silent. Instead of posting a new thread titled “Idea – for a new ship”, consider naming it “Suggestion: Nietzschean Cruiser Model” or “Request: Nietzschean Cruiser Model”. An even more sound approach is to tag this onto the end of one of the other Andromeda ship request threads, bumping it in the process.
At just over 1000 words, this may have been a little long winded, but hopefully it was also useful. Keep in mind that these are only suggestions from a concerned fan of these forums who wants to see them remain informative, effective, and efficient. Also keep in mind that anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of slaws.