XCOM Modding: Need of a centralized source of information?

[Amineri]

I put a small update on the wiki, showing the hex changes to unlock the developer console (I haven't used them, I just copied from the original forum post).

 

Johnnylump and I are getting close to adding generalized damage reduction and regeneration to units. By generalized, I mean that you can configure (via the "ini file") different amounts of DR and regen for each alien. JL is doing the final integration. Once it's been verified, I plan to post up the change-list to the wiki. I'll also post my working notes so if some crazy/desperate person wants to, they can re-trace the steps I took in creating it.

 

As to the patch 5 changes ... so far all I've noticed is 3 variables gone in XGUnit, which decreased a lot of the class variable references by 3.

[anUser]

This is good news. I'm still digesting most o the stuff here, and keep updating the hex edtiting tutorial on the wiki, though I structured it as a tutorial and the content is more fitting for a manual, I'll give it another go when I make sense of jumps and gotos and see then how to re-structure it. Nevertheless, if there's some bit of knowledge you consider 100% solid, no matter how small it is, don't hesitate posting it on the wiki, I'll keep an eye they get linked properly, just add the [[Category:XCOM Modding]] text by the end of the page.

 

I realize we'll have to wait until there's a critical mass of content on the wiki to judge it's usefulness, no hassle here, luckily I'll finish the tutorials by the time your research is done, but anyway I'd appreciate some tought, even theoretically speaking, of how to structure entries and their content, specially upk data, like functions, classes, etc.

 

I've posted above a standalone html/javascript app to get enum values, it crashes when loading tons of files at once but for the rest seems to work in modern browsers. If something like this but more elaboraed could be usefull I take requsts on this, it could even be ported to php to be integrated into the wiki, if that's possible.

[Amineri]

Should there be a separate category for wiki pages that are actually mods (descriptions of how a particular mod actually works) as contrasted with pages that describe how to mod in general?

[anUser]

That disctinction is already made by means of categories, there's the Tutorials XCOM Modding category which hopefully will eventualy host hundreds of useful documents :p and there's what I came to call "Modding Subjects", which are categories (each with a front page) to group any kind of knowledge from a specific subject all together, with the intention that, rather than posting and decoding whole mods in series of step-by-step tutorials we could have it all at once, and let the user/modder choose which bite of info s/he needs at the moment. Here's an example of what I mean: Abilities (XCOM modding subject), so here you get a front page for one specific modding subject (this one could be expanded with detailed explanations) and below you get the links to every related entry on the wiki. That's what I came to think it could be the most useful, not only for beginners that can just jump to the replacement codes section (once it's set up :() but also for modders because they can see what functions are involved, get a quick reference for enum values, etc.

 

But yeah, tutorials are essentials, and articles about how to implement all the changes from a mod won't hurt either; I'd just try to keep "procedural" info together, perhaps in the shape of a tutorial (the how-to info) while keeping those copy-my-mod-step-by-step tutorials as just a list of function names and hex codes changed, for the sake of not repeating the same in different places. But well, that's just my oppinion, let me know yours.

[anUser]

I think it's time to start discussing how to organize things in the wiki... there's already lots of mods that require several hex edits, and mods that are much linked together, and hopefuly many more mods will come out, and the wiki doesn't allow renaming a page, so we'd better reach an agreement, at least as for entry naming. Additionaly I think it would be of great use if we created a template page for a few "type" of entry (mod, function, goup of mods).

 

I'll try to be concise and sum up what I consider the most prioritary regarding this issue, and then give my opinion on each of them.

1) Main page, category grouping, navigation

2) page naming

3) Mods & page grouping, linking

4) Code entries

5) versioning & code updates

 

#1 - My idea was to consider XCom Modding (Category) as the main page. It has the advantadge over regular pages that it lists the sub-categories in the upper box, and all the files in the one below. My idea was that all the sub-categories there would represent the several TYPES of content (not content itself), so for example I'd expect there a category named "Mods" (see below for naming issues) but not a mod itself. This way it would require one additional step to navigate to the content, but for the sake of clarity I think that is absolutely necessary. On the other hand, as for the entries list in this main page, I think there EVERY page should be listed there, so right from accessing the wiki you can either browse the content through clear, neat categories or rather access directly to the page you're looking for. Another reason to list every page there is to make them all visible. Some page may be left unrelated or unlinked with other stuff, and thus having that could help keeping track of them as well.

 

#2 - If every page starts with "XCom" we're nullifying the alphabetical sorting system the wiki implements, but we must remind the wiki is the same for all the games on the nexus, so a reference to the game is in order. I suggest adding the word "XCom" or "XCom Modding" at the end of the page name. Thus the main page would be less chaotic.

 

#3 & 4 - I don't mind if therens't a consensum about how to put out tutorials and such, but I'd def. like if there were a clear differentiation between those pages that lists a series of hex edits, and that as such they require a bit of an explanation (such as mod pages) and those other pages containing "scientific knowledge", and that as such they're self-explanatory. The first time you implement a mod you may want the tutorial, but when you go for the second time to make another change you don't want the tutorial, you want clear, sorted links that bring you quickly where you want. It's hard to tell what should be the smallest unit that constitute an entry of it's own, I personally think that an entry per function would be ideal, with the code unchanged but cracked down (up to some extent, there's no need each page is a tutorial), and just a link to the mods that use it.

 

5 - If code is kept separated in independant entries, we could use the wiki categories system to tag each function according to the game version at the moment of creating the wiki entry. So let's say we create now a category named "XCOM Vx Patch X", and then we add that category to each entry we create. If later on a new patch comes out that changes the upk files, let's say we edit a function, go to the wiki and check that a) it hasn't changed. We wouldn't need to remove the old version tag (that'd be a reminder that function didn't changed from an update to another), we just add the new one. Or b) the function has changed. I wouldn't waste the work done, I'd just add the new function on top of that page, leaving the old code below, but clearly marked as deprecated (this in case the new code only needs to get the correct values for functions and variables, but has retained the exact same structure, it'd be unnecessary to re-writte the code break-down again).

 

Well, this is my opinion, I've also gotta say anything's better than nothing, so it doesn't matter that much if the wiki ends up being a chaotic mess, the important thing is that the discoveries we're making are kept available, but it'd be cool if we could make it nice.

 

Please anyone interested in seeing this wiki with a decent aspect and full of easy-to-implement mods and other useful content, throw your ideas in!

Edited April 27, 2013 by anUser

[Dark0ne]

Every XCOM article needs to be tagged with the game name "XCOM". That's the category that will be linked to from the front-page. What other categories you give your articles after that will then become sub-categories of the XCOM main category.

 

Makes things much easier :)

 

Once you think we're ready, I can setup the link on the main page to easily access the XCOM category.

[Amineri]

I've struggled with the page naming a bit. I ended up going with very long but descriptive names that have zero chance of colliding with any other pages created by users. Unfortunately, since they all start with the word XCOM, it does entirely nullify the category sorting by name, which I'm not pleased about.

 

I think instead I'll reverse the order of adding new information. So instead of

XCOM_Squadsight_Aim_Penalty_Mod ----> Squadsight_Aim_Penalty_Mod_XCOM

 

XCOM_Squadsight_Aim_Penalty_Adjust_To_Hit_Hex_Changes ----> Hex_Changes_Adjust_To_Hit_Squadsight_Aim_Penalty_XCOM

 

Since there aren't many pages I've made yet, I can always create new pages with the new names, and then deprecate and unlink the old pages (or delete, if that is possible).

 

I confess -- I always get made fun of when I code because my variable names read like novellas :D They are however, very descriptive, requiring almost no comments!

 

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Regarding the categories / organizing-- there is room for more than one link on the main page. I guess some brainstorming is in order to think about which things should be linked to from that sidebar. Looking at the other game categories for examples, there is generally one primary link first. Skyrim has only the basic Skyrim category and the "Creation Kit" link. To be kind to the front page, limiting it to 2 or 3 is probably kindest, to allow for more games to be added later.

 

I'd suggest the following pages be put in the general "XCOM" category:

1) XCOM Modding (has tutorials, tools and link to "XCOM Modding" category)

2) How to install XCOM mods (describes to a newcomer how to install mods)

3) XCOM Mod Details (describes general layout of mod pages, a link to the Mod template (to make creating new Mod pages easier/quicker/more consistent) and provides link to "XCOM Mods" category)

 

I'm sure that there will be more to follow, but these three would provide relatively quick access into these three main areas.

 

The XCOM main page can also link to "how to install mods", but would also have links to the tutorials, tools, and mods pages.

 

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I agree that the mod pages need to be tagged with game version. I hadn't considered that

[anUser]

Every XCOM article needs to be tagged with the game name "XCOM". That's the category that will be linked to from the front-page. What other categories you give your articles after that will then become sub-categories of the XCOM main category.

 

Makes things much easier :smile:

 

Once you think we're ready, I can setup the link on the main page to easily access the XCOM category.

Thanks for showing your interest.

 

Regarding the categories / organizing-- there is room for more than one link on the main page. I guess some brainstorming is in order to think about which things should be linked to from that sidebar. Looking at the other game categories for examples, there is generally one primary link first. Skyrim has only the basic Skyrim category and the "Creation Kit" link. To be kind to the front page, limiting it to 2 or 3 is probably kindest, to allow for more games to be added later.

 

 

I'd suggest the following pages be put in the general "XCOM" category:

1) XCOM Modding (has tutorials, tools and link to "XCOM Modding" category)

2) How to install XCOM mods (describes to a newcomer how to install mods)

3) XCOM Mod Details (describes general layout of mod pages, a link to the Mod template (to make creating new Mod pages easier/quicker/more consistent) and provides link to "XCOM Mods" category)

I second tthose.

 

Since the main category would be now "XCOM" that category page can be used to keep separated this three sub-categories, despite the links present in the left toolbar. This may add another small degree of difficulty planning categories and choosing wether to include a page under certain category... (ie the big "XCOM" category shouldn't list every entry including those in "XCom Modding" imo), but anyway that can be edited later. If just for politeness I'd made the big XCOM contains only aub-categories, and no entry, so all of the content entries fall into one of the relevant sub-categories (modding, mod install, mod details).

[Amineri]

It's always possible to go back and edit the categories (even on another person's page), like how DubiousIntent did with my first set of mod pages. He removed the XCOM Mods category from every page in the mod, and instead created a new category specific for that mod, leaving only the entry page in the XCOM Mods category. Stuff like that that improves navigation I fully approve of.

 

It's a wiki, so you can expect your pages to get changed :D

[dubiousintent]

Every XCOM article needs to be tagged with the game name "XCOM". That's the category that will be linked to from the front-page. What

I'm willing to help out with organizing the wiki. But I'm having to learn how MediaWiki markup functions, and the navigation capabilities seem limited and less than crystal clear.

 

Two clarifications and a request, please.

 

1. By 'tagged' I assume you mean adding 'Category:XCOM' to an article page? I found an 'XCOM' page, but that is separate from a 'Category:XCOM' page. If you are not talking about an 'XCOM Category', how do we 'tag'? (I don't see 'tags' in the MediaWiki docs.)

 

2. And by article you mean a separate subject from other subjects/articles? You don't really want every single page including those consisting of nothing by hex code changes that have no meaning outside of the correct context appearing at the very top level page, do you?

 

3. Would it be possible to have the page edit submission process for a page that doesn't already exist automatically add the page to a 'Pages' or '<namespace> Pages' navigation menu item, similar to how the 'Recent Changes' navigation link works now? That way we don't have to worry that a page becomes orphaned simply because the author or an editor forgot to add a category tag initially. I would think that would be helpful on any namespace.

 

I'm putting together a proposed 'Navigation RoadMap' document I think should go on the top level 'XCOM' page, based upon AnUser's suggestions. I believe that will help everyone use as well as create new pages and links in a consistent manner. I'll put it up here for discussion first.

 

-Dubious-

Edited April 28, 2013 by dubiousintent