NOT FOR NOOBS: Reading involved
Hehe, couldnt resist it.
I just posted in that noobs fl expansion thread, the twat hehe but it did raise a point about unanswered questions in here. I think i understand why people avoid the questions.
Firstly:
We get lots of these types of posts.
1) "I need a team to make a mod."
2)"I want to form a team to make a mod. Sign up here."
3)"how do i make a ship/system/bacon sarny."
4)"This mod suxs because it doesnt work for me".
I think some advice is in order to clear some stuff up and get more answers to good questions posted.
Lets take item 1 first.
1) "I need a team to make a mod".
Before asking this question, always check the mod announce forum for news of other mods. Most ideas are already available in mods so asking for an existing feature just shows everybody how little you have done to actually find the feature you confess to wanting before posting about it.
2)"I want to form a team to make a mod. Sign up here."
If you cannot make ships, make systems or editing anything your self then why would anybody want to join your team. You first have to make a small mod, prove your skills before others will listen to you. After that you will find people are much more willing to listen and sign up. Nobody will sign up with a person with no skills because they know they will be doing all the work and not the guy who had the idea in the first place. So get some experience before posting questions like this. If you cannot texture, learn, if you cannot make ships learn. Its a very rewarding hobby and worth learning. I didnt know how to do either of those until i started making my mod. Its not hard, so dont rule it out before trying it first. If you mess up you will find lots of mod makers jumping to your aid when you ask questions on specific subjects.
3)"how do i make a ship/system/bacon sarny."
Guess how many times I have seen these questions posted and guess where i learnt to make ships. Yup in a tutorial like most mod makers. So where do you suppose the person who replies is going to send you after 2 days waiting for answer ? Yup to the tutorial forum. You could save your self 2 days by going there in the first place then coming back with specific questions and you will get quick answers.
4)"This mod suxs because it doesnt work for me".
My favourite, work done for free is cause for complaint. I think most makers would say, give me £30 and i'll listen to your complaints for few minutes before ignoring you like most official devteams do in other forums. Honestly, your not going to get people responding in a nice way to posts like that, even if they agree, in this forum they will take the mod makers side. Because guess what, they are all mod makers. Funny i know but it is the odd thing about this forum.
Conclusion.
The first thing any good mod maker needs is a little common sense and initative. If your posts lack either of those then your showing others you simply dont have what it takes to go through with an idea. So they wont reply. So knuckle down. Dig up the bits you need, ask specific questions and you will get good answers in return.
I hope you noobs see my point and see the reasoning behind it.
ALL mod makers have spent a great deal of time digging through these forums for stupid details they have need at some point. So we all know anybody who cannot check the tutorial forum or do a simple search is going know where as a mod maker in this community because hes unwilling to do what all mod makers must do to get started.
EG research.
So the fact that you didnt look simply tells everybody youve not got the right stuff to make a mod. They know it the instant they see a question thats been asked thousands of times already.
So they dont reply because they know searching the forums is a fact of life for established mod makers and you couldnt even find a common question your self so how can they expect you to find the answer to weapon damage later or camera rotation values.
The stuffs right under your nose and you have closed your eyes whilst shouting, wheres the info i need.
What would think of a person who did that in front of you on a subject you where familar with ?
Exactly my point.
This is why noobs have problems getting answers. Show willing and so will the old hands in this forum.
Edit: Search functions, what to search for.
General Searches, applies to most aspects of FL, ships, bases, systems etc.
Search words = Infocards, id_name, id_info, utf_edit.exe, reshack, FLEd-ids.exe, BiniQDU.exe, = true (solution to an error in the arch files that makes the bases job case off no missions).
Ship searches, all things ships.
Search words = shiparch.ini, goods.ini, market_ships
System Searches = All things systems.
Search words = Universe.ini, market_commodites, market_misc, market_ships, mbases.ini, news.ini, solararch, encounters,
Also see the Freelancer\DATA\UNIVERSE\SYSTEMS folder
AI Searches = AI ships and alignments.
Search words = loudouts.ini, loadouts_special.ini, loadouts_utility.ini, npcships.ini, shiparch.ini, faction_prop.ini, shipclasses.ini, mshipprops.ini, empathy.ini, initialworld.ini, mpnewcharacter.fl, encounters
Everything else touches one of those search words. Including commodities, base news, rumours and lot of other things. The names are pretty descriptive so common sense will be enough to find the word you need. Faction prop is probably the only name thats not very descriptive but it is a good name for what it does. It means faction props, in this case, what ships the factions fly, what they scan for and what formations they use.
Giskard
Edited by - giskard on 20-06-2003 10:03:48
Edited by - Stinger on 2/12/2004 3:20:26 PM