Collection of links to editing tutorials

[RJFerret]

...advanced stim/response features...

 

The others already have (sometimes excessive) wiki pages.

 

But I've love even a basic stim/response tutorial (beyond damage/kill responses, pretty much the only ones I've managed to use successfully). http://wiki.thedarkmod.com/index.php?title=Stim/Response seems to apply to an older method of implementation, without any explanation of usage. I haven't found anywhere that explains how any of the myriad other should be setup, or even what they apply to (like touch versus frob versus visual versus shield, and what the heck "player" might be as a stim or response, or when these might activate).

 

It's also not clear when to use stim/response instead of triggers, or vice-versa.

 

Speaking of triggers, although they are more self explanatory, it seems there's even less info for them. Whenever I search for trigger info, it ends up being forum results instead of wiki. But I've been able to implement triggers far more successfully and use them a lot. I don't know if that just means there's plenty of forum info, or they make more sense to me.

[Obsttorte]

Not all stims are working in every situation.

 

The main difference between S&R and triggers is, that the first one basically simulates an information system, where single entities inform other ones about there presence.

 

Taking the visual stim for example: Lights (torches, electrical etc.) are sending out a visual stim, and the ai responds to it if in range. The name of the stim does not really play a role, it's just so you can think of what their purpose is. If the ai now receives the stim, it can start it's response (check whether the light needs relighting etc.).

 

You can use the S&R system if you are looking for such a behaviour. The guards automatically picking up torches from the wall I've made a while ago are using this system for example.

 

Triggers are a more direct way of implementing a specific behaviour. For example, the player walks into a specific area and a light goes on. I've used triggers in my last mission.

 

Anything you can do with S&R should basically be doable with triggers, but the latter approach can get very messy and complicated for more advanced setups. So triggers are the way to go for easy things, especially if the game should react to the player, and S&R is for more advanced features.

 

However, if one wants to use the S&R system, it is always adviceable to define a custom stim, as one can control its behaviour this way.

 

The others already have (sometimes excessive) wiki pages.

I was more thinking of a tutorial in the matter of Fidcal's beginner guide, where specific elements are described in reference to map creation (so with examples etc.).

 

A great lack is the scripting part, though. There are often people around here asking for things that can be easely done using scripts, which are a very easyfied programming language. So I guess with a good tutorial everyone could learn at least the basics.

 

A while ago I've also brought up the question if it would be good to translate the wiki articles into different languages or add threads to give the people the possibility to ask questions in their native language, as it can be very hard to read a tutorial or understand a response in a language that is not your mother tongue. That idea wasn'T very welcome, though