The Ultimate Dink Smallwood Module Author Guide in development

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Author Topic:   The Ultimate Dink Smallwood Module Author Guide in development

redink1 posted 07-26- 01:12 PM CT (US)
I've decided to right the end-all be-all guide to writing D-Mods (after all I've written the most D-Mods, 11 as of now). However, I need your help on what this Uber-Tutorial should cover. I've come up with a rough outline here:
Chapter 1 - Things to Download First
꼑 Dedicated C Editor
꼑 Mapnuke
꼑 Other Tutorials
꼑 Skeleton_B
Chapter 2 좻 DinkEdit, Your New Enemy
꼑 Getting started with DinkEdit
꼑 Sprites, learn to love them
꼑 Tiles, the background
꼑 Hardness, and why you…ll hate it
꼑 Miscellaneous commands
Chapter 3 좻 DinkC, Your New Friend
꼑 Getting started with DinkC
꼑 Common DinkC Procedures
꼑 If-Then-Else, learn your variables
꼑 People like to talk
꼑 Create your own monster
꼑 Create a new weapon/spell
Chapter 4 좻 DinkEdit and DinkC, a perfect match
Chapter 5 좻 Dink.ini, and Graphics and Sounds
Chapter 6 좻 The Leftovers
Appendix A 좻 DinkEdit Keyboard Commands Reference
Appendix B 좻 DinkC Command Reference
If anyone can think of a better order than this, or of topics that should be added under chapters, please reply.
The final version (which I have no idea when it is going to be released, probably after my current D-Mod FIAT is done) will be in PDF format, so it will be printer-optimized. I've found it much easier (like with Mike's FAQ) to print it out than to Alt-Tabbing out of DinkEdit or changing windows in your script editor every couple seconds.
redink1 posted 07-26- 01:14 PM CT (US)
Of course, the 'right' in the first sentence should be write, and the bullets didn't show up (and are instead replaced by ,,h). Also ignore the iV before every chapter title.
Nexis posted 07-26- 04:03 PM CT (US)
Mapnuke? People still use that even though it doesn't really work? It doesn't completely destroy a square and leaves wasted space.
Visions and warps would be a good thing to cover under dinkedit though. I like that title though.
What does If-Then-Else mean? I've heard of If-Else but never the THEN.
redink1 posted 07-26- 05:28 PM CT (US)
As for Mapnuke, if you have a screen that has a ton of sprites and has numerous visions that lays right in the middle of an island, it works. Also, in Lost in Dink 3 and below there was one map square that crashes the editor whenever trying to view it (I have no idea why). Mapnuke fixed it. Mapnuke's dis-advantages will be detailed as well though.
Visions and Warps, doh. I'll add those.
And yeah, it should be If-Else. I think in Texas Instruments Graphing Calculators Basic (like for my TI 83+) you have to write a Then after If (and maybe in some older Basic languages as well), and I put Then in because, well, I dunno. That'll be fixed.
redink1 posted 07-26- 05:31 PM CT (US)
Argh, I hate messing up on this board. When I saw "it works" for deleting the map square with lotsa crap in the previous message, I meant that it was simpler than going through and deleting all the stuff manually.
joshriot posted 07-26- 06:47 PM CT (US)
you need to put some rubbish about part 3 in the dinkc.txt cause it dosnt explain it very well, like that part about &vars and crap
dark wolf shadow hunter posted 07-26- 08:47 PM CT (US)
Well if you're gonna point out all the typos you saw it should be "Dink.ini, graphics, and sound" not "dink.ini and, graphics and sound"
=]
Oh and you should deffinitly cover creating your own tiles, and how to get that god damn dink template to work (i still havent personally gotten that one figured out, if i had there would be some pretty bad a** images in Tal's upcoming demo for the chosen ones which i've been helping him with... (which should be out VERY soon)
Gerben posted 07-27- 01:30 AM CT (US)
The title Hardness, and why you will hate it. I don't understand what all the fuss is about. I have never had any problems with my hardness. Please explain.
joshriot posted 07-28- 04:34 PM CT (US)
the alternatice tile selecter for hardness crap is pretty frustrating somtimes.
Gerben posted 07-31- 01:21 AM CT (US)
Don't use it then. I use round table sprites. Then I Crap away the bit of the building that appears in front of the table sprites and replace it withs the same building bit only with a lower depth que. Then I cycle through the visible tablesprites and make them invisible.
joshriot posted 08-07- 08:54 PM CT (US)
i personally use the fence method for hardness. hey you should put crap about globals and making, buying, and selling items.
joshriot posted 08-07- 08:56 PM CT (US)
okay you have making items, then just selling and buying them. you should also make somthing about debug mode cause i dont really understand how you can use that to find what part of a script dosnt work.
piroflyer posted 08-21- 08:08 PM CT (US)
Well is there any way any of us could get a rough draft version of it?
redink1 posted 08-22- 09:11 AM CT (US)
As of right now, there isn't much. All there is is a cover page, a slightly modified Table of Contents, and an Intro page. Nothing that would be useful. When I start adding useful things, I'll probably post a rough draft up and post a comment announcing that on this board.
piroflyer posted 08-22- 10:59 AM CT (US)
kewl, I am very interested in taking a look at it.
by the way, do you have any new D-MOD's that you would mind sharing?

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Author	Topic: The Ultimate Dink Smallwood Module Author Guide in development
redink1	posted 07-26- 01:12 PM CT (US) I've decided to right the end-all be-all guide to writing D-Mods (after all I've written the most D-Mods, 11 as of now). However, I need your help on what this Uber-Tutorial should cover. I've come up with a rough outline here: Chapter 1 - Things to Download First 꼑 Dedicated C Editor 꼑 Mapnuke 꼑 Other Tutorials 꼑 Skeleton_B Chapter 2 좻 DinkEdit, Your New Enemy 꼑 Getting started with DinkEdit 꼑 Sprites, learn to love them 꼑 Tiles, the background 꼑 Hardness, and why you…ll hate it 꼑 Miscellaneous commands Chapter 3 좻 DinkC, Your New Friend 꼑 Getting started with DinkC 꼑 Common DinkC Procedures 꼑 If-Then-Else, learn your variables 꼑 People like to talk 꼑 Create your own monster 꼑 Create a new weapon/spell Chapter 4 좻 DinkEdit and DinkC, a perfect match Chapter 5 좻 Dink.ini, and Graphics and Sounds Chapter 6 좻 The Leftovers Appendix A 좻 DinkEdit Keyboard Commands Reference Appendix B 좻 DinkC Command Reference If anyone can think of a better order than this, or of topics that should be added under chapters, please reply. The final version (which I have no idea when it is going to be released, probably after my current D-Mod FIAT is done) will be in PDF format, so it will be printer-optimized. I've found it much easier (like with Mike's FAQ) to print it out than to Alt-Tabbing out of DinkEdit or changing windows in your script editor every couple seconds.
redink1	posted 07-26- 01:14 PM CT (US) Of course, the 'right' in the first sentence should be write, and the bullets didn't show up (and are instead replaced by ,,h). Also ignore the iV before every chapter title.
Nexis	posted 07-26- 04:03 PM CT (US) Mapnuke? People still use that even though it doesn't really work? It doesn't completely destroy a square and leaves wasted space. Visions and warps would be a good thing to cover under dinkedit though. I like that title though. What does If-Then-Else mean? I've heard of If-Else but never the THEN.
redink1	posted 07-26- 05:28 PM CT (US) As for Mapnuke, if you have a screen that has a ton of sprites and has numerous visions that lays right in the middle of an island, it works. Also, in Lost in Dink 3 and below there was one map square that crashes the editor whenever trying to view it (I have no idea why). Mapnuke fixed it. Mapnuke's dis-advantages will be detailed as well though. Visions and Warps, doh. I'll add those. And yeah, it should be If-Else. I think in Texas Instruments Graphing Calculators Basic (like for my TI 83+) you have to write a Then after If (and maybe in some older Basic languages as well), and I put Then in because, well, I dunno. That'll be fixed.
redink1	posted 07-26- 05:31 PM CT (US) Argh, I hate messing up on this board. When I saw "it works" for deleting the map square with lotsa crap in the previous message, I meant that it was simpler than going through and deleting all the stuff manually.
joshriot	posted 07-26- 06:47 PM CT (US) you need to put some rubbish about part 3 in the dinkc.txt cause it dosnt explain it very well, like that part about &vars and crap
dark wolf shadow hunter	posted 07-26- 08:47 PM CT (US) Well if you're gonna point out all the typos you saw it should be "Dink.ini, graphics, and sound" not "dink.ini and, graphics and sound" =] Oh and you should deffinitly cover creating your own tiles, and how to get that god damn dink template to work (i still havent personally gotten that one figured out, if i had there would be some pretty bad a** images in Tal's upcoming demo for the chosen ones which i've been helping him with... (which should be out VERY soon)
Gerben	posted 07-27- 01:30 AM CT (US) The title Hardness, and why you will hate it. I don't understand what all the fuss is about. I have never had any problems with my hardness. Please explain.
joshriot	posted 07-28- 04:34 PM CT (US) the alternatice tile selecter for hardness crap is pretty frustrating somtimes.
Gerben	posted 07-31- 01:21 AM CT (US) Don't use it then. I use round table sprites. Then I Crap away the bit of the building that appears in front of the table sprites and replace it withs the same building bit only with a lower depth que. Then I cycle through the visible tablesprites and make them invisible.
joshriot	posted 08-07- 08:54 PM CT (US) i personally use the fence method for hardness. hey you should put crap about globals and making, buying, and selling items.
joshriot	posted 08-07- 08:56 PM CT (US) okay you have making items, then just selling and buying them. you should also make somthing about debug mode cause i dont really understand how you can use that to find what part of a script dosnt work.
piroflyer	posted 08-21- 08:08 PM CT (US) Well is there any way any of us could get a rough draft version of it?
redink1	posted 08-22- 09:11 AM CT (US) As of right now, there isn't much. All there is is a cover page, a slightly modified Table of Contents, and an Intro page. Nothing that would be useful. When I start adding useful things, I'll probably post a rough draft up and post a comment announcing that on this board.
piroflyer	posted 08-22- 10:59 AM CT (US) kewl, I am very interested in taking a look at it. by the way, do you have any new D-MOD's that you would mind sharing?