What do you want documentation on?

Freeform discussion about anything related to modding Transcendence.
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Xephyr
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I've been scouring the engine's source code when I need clarification on something, but I started to notice that there's a ton of things that are in the code but are rarely, if ever, used or explained outside of it.

I'm going to start writing documentation pages on the wiki, so if there's anything you want documented then I'll give that priority.

And before you ask, "Everything" is not a valid (or very informative) answer.
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 For starters, undocumented XML options and values. We at least have some idea of what to do with most functions, but a lot of the XML side is either outdated or outright undocumented. That would be my suggestion on where to start.
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Agreed. There's really no way to figure that stuff out without source diving. I recall George was asked on stream about this and he suggested finding the functions that load types from XML and studying how they work to learn what options are available. I don't know what types to suggest focusing on first, though.

I'm sure we'd all appreciate you sharing what you learn very much. (Which reminds me, I should post some stuff I've learned about communications...)
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I've been scouring the engine's source code when I need clarification on something, but I started to notice that there's a ton of things that are in the code but are rarely, if ever, used or explained outside of it.

However, I do not have plans to write documentation because that would mean progress, and documentation hasn't had much progress in years.
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Function explanations like on xelerus, please, for the newer functions that aren't covered there. Including a realistic example would be great too. Some of the existing examples aren't very informative.
The xelerus functionlist is the most useful site related to modding IMO.

Also a condensed index of where and when you can use all the aThings like aOverlayObj, aScreenUNID, aEnemiesDestroyed, etc. There are some explanations scattered through the code of different game versions but nothing that is easy to find.
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Xephyr
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relanat wrote:Function explanations like on xelerus, please, for the newer functions that aren't covered there. Including a realistic example would be great too. Some of the existing examples aren't very informative.
The xelerus functionlist is the most useful site related to modding IMO.
I'll be updating the function list first. Unfortunately I can't do it on Xelerus - Adding in new entries apparently deletes older entries (and various other Xelerus related problems). So the documentation will have to be on the wiki, but I'll try and see if we can streamline searching through them a bit better.
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relanat wrote:Function explanations like on xelerus, please, for the newer functions that aren't covered there. Including a realistic example would be great too. Some of the existing examples aren't very informative.
The xelerus functionlist is the most useful site related to modding IMO.
Xephyr wrote:I'll be updating the function list first. Unfortunately I can't do it on Xelerus - Adding in new entries apparently deletes older entries (and various other Xelerus related problems). So the documentation will have to be on the wiki, but I'll try and see if we can streamline searching through them a bit better.
 We were actually just discussing doing exactly that on IRC about three hours ago or so.
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We might also need a tidy event list with all the populated variables .
And regarding the function list, probably priority should be given to the newish mission msnBbbb functions
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Xephyr wrote: And before you ask, "Everything" is not a valid (or very informative) answer.
......Almost everything? :P


Seriously speaking though, an updated function list would be a big one.
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A quick tutorial on the new(ish) missions code would be good. Or a topic running through the basic elements of a mission and how they are used. Or a few examples of how to use some of the more basic mission functions. I have no idea how the new stuff works but having them come up in the Missions screen is great.
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relanat wrote:
Thu Jun 22, 2017 4:22 pm
A quick tutorial on the new(ish) missions code would be good. Or a topic running through the basic elements of a mission and how they are used. Or a few examples of how to use some of the more basic mission functions. I have no idea how the new stuff works but having them come up in the Missions screen is great.
A while ago I did something like this; in this topic I posted a mission type in XML format that's commentated, so you can put it right in your editor and build off of it. I do still want to go back to this and make a proper tutorial - I've wanted to for a while.

In the meantime, I've documented most of the existing mission functions on this page here: http://wiki.kronosaur.com/modding/funct ... _functions
For events that can be used in a mission type, look here: http://wiki.kronosaur.com/modding/xml/missiontype
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 Y’all’re taking away my excuses to not work on TBR missions. Stop that. <.< >.> <.<;
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Awesome stuff, Xephyr. Many thanks for doing that. :D
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A forum tutorial or wiki page on the intro screen would be nice.
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