Definitive editing + scripting guides..

[veston pants]

Any chance of seeing something like this here on this site, where every aspect of editing is covered alongside downloadable missions just covering the points involved in the editing tute it's linked with.
I know peeps are spoilt for choice when it comes to the choices in tutes available, but even that can cause a little confusion (especially with all the dead links involved with some)
So for any future refernce a tute will allways be onhand with a working mission to show exactly how its done (with exception to placing units and waypoints, as this is very basic)
There would be a lot of work involved, but it would be top draw for us noobs who find it difficult moving from basic to more advanced mission building. It would also put an end to the same simple questions being asked over and over, and save on the regulars patience bein worn out  ;D

[macguba]

I've already done this to some extent.    macguba's guide to mission editing for beginners includes a list of suggested tutorials in reading order.     I wrote the Tutorial Mission to demonstrate many of the points mentioned in those tutorials.

The Editors Depot has always encouraged script and tutorial submitters to include example missions.

The underlying problem is that mission editing is a big subject and everything interlinks with everything else.   The way forward is to pick up a bit here, a bit there, and gradually it makes more an more sense.

[veston pants]

Yeah Mac, your tutes have been very helpfull, the thing is peeps (like myself) can get bogged down in the amount of info. available, some of it ez to unnerstand , some not so ez.
Clearing the clutter would be a start to making the mission building skills easier to acquire, along with probably the most important resource not being fully utilised to its potential which is the command ref.
If the command ref had each command laid out in detail with a working example of how it's incorporated into mission building, it would save a lot of headaches.

Just an idea to make things a little simpler for us...err...simpler peeps

[macguba]

The command ref does have examples.    If you need more look at the online version, which has helpful Comments added for many commands, and also the Unofficial comref.   A little old now but it still has a different angle on many commands and is extremely useful.

The clutter has already been cleared to some extent, in that the tutes and scripts are categorised.    The subcategory system for the tutorials helped even more, but it only worked briefly.   We should try and get it going again.

Getting really stuck into mission editing is hard because there is a lot to take in.      When I started mission editing *leans back in chair, lights pipe* there were only a couple of dozen tutes.   If you wanted to learn you unpboed a BIS mission (a multi-stage process in those days, involving a DOS programme: no fancy GUIs then) and studied it in the mission editor.

If you're moving from rookie to advanced the answer to your question is almost certainly on OFPEC already.   The various search functions are your friends.

Can you give some examples of the clutter to which you refer?

[veston pants]

The command ref has examples, but not working examples of how you would use commands in missions, it's nice that it explains to me that using = assigns a value to a variable, the syntax is variable = value, the return is etc. etc.

But at the end of the day thats pretty much double dutch to me, if it were to explain specifically where when and how it is incorporated into mission design, with a working example, then it becomes alot clearer, and as the command ref. is the cornerstone for mission design I believe it would make sense to elaborate and expand on the detail involved in it.

Of course the = is just an example, you get my drift.

As far as clutter goes well there is an awful lot of info. on every aspect of mission design, reproduced in tutes many times over, some good and informative, some old with dead links, some totally bewildering. LOL. Just removing some of the 1's that are actually marked for deletion and the older 1's with dead links would probably help.

[macguba]

but not working examples of how you would use commands in missions

"Thanks for showing me how do to brushstrokes, Leonardo, but could you show me an example of how you combine the brushstrokes?   Say, in a painting of a woman?"

[veston pants]

LOL.
I'm not attempting to make a work of art fella
I just wanna know how to use all the frickin' commands correctly.
Obviously it would mean alot of work involved on someone elses behalf, and it would probably be a waste of time as most peeps who are into mission building have already been doing it for a while and know the score about how to use all the command lines, any new converts'll just have to lump it like all yous fellas did when youse 1st started out.
Ahh well, just a thought about how mission designing could be made a little easier for us few noobs.
Why was the topic moved?, i thought it covered the criteria of suggestions for improving the site?..

[General Barron]

I just wanna know how to use all the frickin' commands correctly.

Like macguba said, the command reference tells you how to use all the commands correctly. The commented one on OFPEC is best because it has some more info on many of the commands. The unofficial command reference is also good because it usually describes what the commands do in easier language to understand.

Personally, I started out using the unofficial reference, because I found it more understandable. At first I didn't know or want to know how to script, so all I needed was a few commands here and there from the com ref (like "move", "setcaptive", "setbehavior", "land", etc etc). If you are fairly new to editing, you don't yet need to know how to write scripts, so you don't need to know all of the scripting commands that well yet. You should be focusing on building missions using waypoints and triggers, pre-written scripts (there are tons of good ones in the ed depot), and just a few scripting commands here and there in your triggers and waypoints. As you go on, look in the smaller scripts that you are using, and see how the author wrote it. In time you will get more and more comfortable with scripting commands. At this point you should read a few scripting tuts, and you will be able to write your own small scripts for your missions. As I started learning more and more about scripting, I started needing more precise detail on the commands, and I moved on the official reference, which you would want to do as well.

Anyway, that's how I got good at scripting and editing. At first you shouldn't worry at all about writing your own scripts; just focus on waypoints and triggers, and using a few scripting commands in their activation fields. Only a few of the scripting commands will be useful to you; if you can't understand what a command does, then don't worry about it, because you don't need to use it. .

[veston pants]

Thanks for the advice.
It's muchly appreciated that the likes of you and Mac and everyone else is willing to give up so much of the free time to help us noobs out.
Thanx very much.