Mod Books

[Bruigaar]

Now that I have played with ArsMagica2, Thaumcraft, and Tinkers Construct. I have to wonder why every mod doesn't have some form of in-game "Manual". I believe they should all have one even if there is no real progression in the mod. I know there are wiki's and what not out there. But most of those are fan populated and don't carry the mod creators views or usages of the items that they created.
I suggest as a community we reach out to all the modders and ask them for something like a "Manual" with at least basic info. Heck the more a modder puts into the manual (or has a team to do it) the more usage people would get out of their mods.
So people please if you think this a good idea please reach out to your favorite modders, let them know that you approve this message. And please leave a reply here so that others can see the demand.


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[kaiomann]

I think Rotarycraft also features an ingame manual, but I agree, every mod should have one!

 

[Yusunoha]

the thing is, it requires exta work for a mod developer to document all the items and blocks of their mods.
some mod developers don't mind the extra work it brings, while others probably don't see the point of doing that because there already are wiki's

I myself also like to have ingame documentation, but I've also noticed that sometimes these ingame documentations were not the best choice for information about the mod, and I could find better documentation on wiki's

 

[KhrFreak]

yea i gotta agree with Yusunoha, it is a lot of work to write up those ingame manuals, and then they also have to write all of the code (not a coder no idea how much it actually is) for the interface in game because from what I've heard none of the books in game are actually books. They're just GUI's designed to look like books. I'm sure if you wrote up all of the documentation for the book and told the mod author about it they'd probably agree to put it in if they don't already have some sort of in-game documentation. (no promises)

 

[hiroshi42]

It's a nice thought but it would be a lot of work to maintain or even start. Do you really really want a developer who may or may not be the best at actually explaining what the heck is going on in the mod taking time away from their modding/eating/living to organize and write up nice in game documentation for their mod? Don't get me wrong, documentation is very nice (try to find which mod adds the charged enchant, I'll wait) but in game stuff is a lot of work.
And every time you change something you have to not only push a changelog (well you don't have to, but people get a little skittish if your new version has a log of: changed some stuff and did some bug fixing) but you also have to update the in game documentation or face bug reports gone wild.

All in all, in game documentation is nice, but not necessary and I certainly would not demand or even request it from mod developers.

 

[SynfulChaot]

Maybe someone should make a mod *of* mod books.

 

[MrJims]

Maybe someone should make a mod *of* mod books.

I was thinking about this the other day, maybe some kind of kindle that way you wouldn't need so many books on your hotbar.

 

[SynfulChaot]

Nah. Seperate books. Let me fill my BiblioCraft bookshelves with useful books! Plus if they were separate then it'd be easier to manage I think. Maybe a 'eBook' version craftable for high cost?

 

[Revemohl]

Maybe someone should make a mod *of* mod books.

I was about to suggest this. Gather some decent good wiki-tier info, organize it all in a way that makes more sense than topic links like a Wiki (preferably like the TCon book, which is indeed amazing), and put it in books, or some kind of computer (possible a "second tier" for extra organization). Give a book to new players when they spawn telling them about the mod and how to get the mod books, make sure they're as simple as possible, and you're done. And the best thing is that only one person in the whole team making this really needs to know how to code, the rest can just provide them with what should go into the books.

 

[Bruigaar]

Making a mod of Mod books would be awesome. And I would join that team in a heartbeat. But even if it does happen wiki I do is alright ,but a modders input would be even better as the person who created the blocks probably knows more about it than anyone else.



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[Arkandos]

ComputerCraft-program anyone?

 

[casilleroatr]

Maybe the mod book mod could have an API that would allow modders to write some in game info and register it with the mod book mod. All of the hard work could be done by the API that way.

 

[MrJims]

Maybe the mod book mod could have an API that would allow modders to write some in game info and register it with the mod book mod. All of the hard work could be done by the API that way.

I like your thinking, but this is getting very meta.

 

[Tristam Izumi]

I like your thinking, but this is getting very meta.

Welcome to Minecraft.

 

[Odovbold]

Joshie of Mariculture did mention in IRC he has a solution to easily load contents into books from mods zip file, he might make a small mod out of that.
I guess this might help if anyone here want to start a community support mods manual project

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[Yusunoha]

I believe there was a mod out there who was doing ingame wiki's for mods. it'd allow you to search for a wiki for a specific mod, and would open up a link to that wiki.
but for some reason... I can't find it anywhere... I know it was there, but I've no idea where it is anymore. I know for sure it participated in Modjam 3 under the name "In-Game Wiki"

but it'd be awesome if a mod would be able to access a wiki outside the game, and show the information ingame. so it'd take the information from the wiki page, and show it inside the game
though there should be an official wiki to use for this, perhaps the FTB wiki?

 

[SynfulChaot]

I think a book form would perhaps be more useful. The full details of a wiki aren't necessary, I don't think.

 

[Yusunoha]

I think a book form would perhaps be more useful. The full details of a wiki aren't necessary, I don't think.

not completely true. some players may not be looking for full detailed information about a mod, but other players are looking for exactly that kind of information.
perhaps have an option to show a small detailed summary ingame, with a link to a page with more detailed information. this way the ingame book stays rather small, but the players are still able to get the full detailed information that they're looking for

 

[SynfulChaot]

not completely true. some players may not be looking for full detailed information about a mod, but other players are looking for exactly that kind of information.
perhaps have an option to show a small detailed summary ingame, with a link to a page with more detailed information. this way the ingame book stays rather small, but the players are still able to get the full detailed information that they're looking for

Love the idea. Short and concise within with a link for the everything. That way it's clean yet fully detailed.

 

[Shadowclaimer]

Playing a ton of Tinker's has me wanting to do proper books for our mods..

The main issue is that a lot of mods having books means that you start spawning into servers with like 32 books in your inventory..

Maybe a central book API that all book using mods share, that each mod could add 'pages' to would work.