Utility: Mod & Map Manual Feedback

[Edi]

UPDATE! The 3.20b patch for Linux included the wrong manuals. The correct ones have been attached to this thread and will be removed once the new patch is ready. These manuals are newer than the ones in the Windows patch, but not up to date on the upcoming mod commands.


Now that patch 3.20 is out, the old modding and mapedit PDF guides are gone, replaced by new versions. This thread is specifically for feedback on the new manuals. It is important that the people who use them give feedback so that if there are errors, omissions or unclear things in the manuals, they can be corrected.

The v3.18 Modding Manual is probably already familiar to most modders, since it is an upgraded version of the v3.17 UnOfficial Reorganized Modding Manual (UORMM). Feedback is once more welcome, because there have been some changes (some of the reordering for editorial reasons, for example), but the document should be free of most big booboos.

The v3.18 Mapmaking Manual is another story entirely. It is completely new, significantly expanded and totally reorganized. It contains a fair bit of original new text as well. More importantly, only a very few people have seen it before the patch came out. Therefore feedback on the Mapmaking Manual is essential for its continued improvement.

It should be noted that the latest draft of the Mapmaking Manual did not make it into the 3.20 patch. The v3.20 draft has had all the typos and spelling errors corrected out of it, so it is not necessary to report those, the most glaring one of which is the "manipulatiopn" typo in section 6.

I need your opinions on the new manuals. I want to know it all, what's good, what's bad and what's ugly. So let me have it.

[Edratman]

I thought I had demonstrated that you could create linked magic using #custommagic.

Here are 2 mages from my in-process mod:
#newmonster 2908
#copystats 1111
#spr1 "./daemons/Blue Lady1.tga"
#spr2 "./daemons/Blue Lady2.tga"
#clearmagic
#name "Blue Sorceress"
#descr "A pure sorecery enchantress."
#female
#hp 11
#mapmove 2
#ap 10
#mr 8
#mor 16
#str 10
#att 8
#def 8
#prec 14
#enc 2
#ethereal
#mountainsurvival
#researchbonus 5
#custommagic 14336 100
#magicboost 4 5
#magicboost 5 5
#magicboost 6 5
#magicskill 8 1
#gcost 390
#rcost 1
#holy
#poorleader
#okmagicleader
#expertundeadleader
#maxage 100
#startage 75
#awe 3
#supplybonus 10
#nametype 103
#end

#newmonster 2909
#copystats 1111
#spr1 "./daemons/Green Maam1.tga"
#spr2 "./daemons/Green Maam2.tga"
#clearmagic
#name "Green Sorceress"
#descr "A sorecery and elemental enchantress."
#hp 11
#mapmove 2
#ap 10
#mr 8
#mor 16
#str 10
#att 8
#def 8
#prec 14
#enc 2
#mountainsurvival
#researchbonus 5
#custommagic 14336 100
#magicboost 4 3
#magicboost 5 3
#magicboost 6 3
#magicskill 51 2
#magicskill 8 1
#custommagic 32768 66
#custommagic 32768 33
#gcost 390
#rcost 1
#holy
#poorleader
#okmagicleader
#expertundeadleader
#maxage 100
#startage 75
#awe 3
#supplybonus 10
#nametype 102
#end

[Foodstamp]

Excellent, I love the new manuals. My thanks to the people who helped create it .

[Edi]

Thanks, Foodstamp.

Edratman, yes, you did demonstrate that. As I said, unfortunately the latest 3.20 drafts did not make it to this patch, but will be added to the next one. The magic modding section for units is correct in the 3.20 draft and explains how to make linked custom randoms.

[Edratman]

Thank you.

[Amos]

I'm sorry but I don't like the new manual. It is much harder to find commands now. I prefer the old version.

[Edi]

Originally Posted by Amos

I'm sorry but I don't like the new manual. It is much harder to find commands now. I prefer the old version.

I suppose you were so used to the old manual that you know where to find everything by heart? If your old manual got overwritten, I can send you the old one, but it won't have the new commands in it. I'm not going to keep updating the old document. The new format is here to stay.

But thank you for the feedback. It is important to know this sort of thing.

On second thought, it might not be a very great task to do an approximation of the old manual by just removing the internal organization from the advanced monster modding section and then organizing everything alphabetically. Such a version could be provided as an attachment on the forums and would be an unofficial one. I expect that it is the monster modding section which is causing you the most trouble, Amos. Is that correct?

[Edratman]

Amos, you have given me heart. You are the most prolific mod maker and if you still have to use the mod manual, that I will no longer feel so bad if I have to use it to look up most every thing I do.

[Amos]

Thank you Edi. You are correct. There is no index of monster commands, so I have to go through the whole list every time I need to find one. Alphabetic arrangement was much easier to search through.

Edratman, I use the mod manual to copy/paste commands. That way I eliminate spelling errors. Which means I use the manual a lot.

[Edi]

Originally Posted by Amos

Thank you Edi. You are correct. There is no index of monster commands, so I have to go through the whole list every time I need to find one. Alphabetic arrangement was much easier to search through.

Edratman, I use the mod manual to copy/paste commands. That way I eliminate spelling errors. Which means I use the manual a lot.

You can use the find function to find the commands, because this PDF is text-based, not image based. Even using partial matches it should be relatively easy. The reason each command is not indexed is that the table of contents would be far too unwieldy. Adding a second TOC to the end might be workable, but I don't know yet. The main links are active, so if you need resistances, check that. Some of the organization is based on how stuff is grouped in the Dom3 DB, but not all of it.

I'll look into this sometime next week.