Game Manual

[Falkland]

That was OSP or alike.

No , I guess OSP displays ^8 as orange too.

The blinking text is/was available in the x-battle mod.

[Gig]

RMF, I was thinking to add the download link to your help file from the wiki (linking easy-upload server). I found a couple of small errors (giving only a quick see):
- An "interrested" (too many r?) in the end of /HELP main section
- /HELPCMD2 and some other are sections are not yellow like the others.

[RMF]

i'll edit it tomorrow and reupload. Thanks for spotting the errors and for adding (or going to add to) the wiki

[Gig]

i'll edit it tomorrow and reupload. Thanks for spotting the errors and for adding (or going to add to) the wiki

No problem. Adding a link to a wiki site is very easy, easier than in a forum... ^_^
Anyway, I (or maybe also other people, because "four eyes are better than two", as we say in Italy) should give a better look to that file, searching for more errors.

Another thing, in HELPABOUT section... you already wrote that anyone can modify it, mentioning the original author... okay.. but what about writing inside it that you release it under GPLv2 and CC-BY-SA licenses? The first, for better integration with OpenArena (maybe someday fromhell may decide to put it inside an official package...); the second, to allow people to export text from there, for example adding it to a wiki site (many wiki sites use CC-BY-SA license)...
I see you talked about 0.8.1, right... what about indicating also "help version" or "help date" there, to specify what's the version of the help file?

Let's see...
- In the main "HELP" section: "For help with modes (CTF/DM/insta) type HELPMODES"... I suggest LIKE CTF/DM/insta, because there are many more modes.
- In the same section: "about this helpfunction" (space needed)
- HELPBTN section: I don't understand what do you mean with "A B C 1 2 3 F1 F2 F3". I suggest also to add "To customize your settings, use Setup -> Controls menu". Maybe also explaining to beginners what "bind" is would be nice.
- HELPCMD section: "If you want to know howto do something (example bind 'say' on T to another key), use '/bind T' to view what the setting is, and then retype that in /bind Y." (apart of the missing space between how ad to) is not so clear: bind <key> tells the command binded to that key, you can't know what key has assigned a certain command, right? I suggest to reword the whole sentence.
- HELPCMD2 section: I suggest "to execute custom pre-set configuration files (previously edited with a plain text editor outside the game)....".
- HELPCMD2 section. Say "example" instead of "exa", and tell what that example does: it changes the weapon to gauntlet (right?), waits 74 frames and then suicides your own character.
- HELPGUIDE section. Maybe we could add something like "Visit www.openarena.exe or openarena.wikia.com for more informations".
- HELPGEN section: "To look which maps you have, type /dir maps"... I would add also "or simply type /map and press TAB key"....
- HELPGEN section. It says how to switch to another window in Microsoft windows. I suggest also to tell how to switch from fullscreen to window mode (ALT+ENTER or from Setup -> System -> Graphics menu)... and to say how to do those things under Linux (or maybe also MacOS)
- HELPVAR section: "when something contains spaces always use ' ' around the text"... only ' ' or also " "? Would it be a techinical problem adding such characters to the help string?
- HELPVAR section: cg_drawgun is not only 0 or 1... if I'm not wrong, it can be also 2 (left) or 3 (center)...
- HELPVAR section: I would change the last sentence with "You can also execute previously set variables with /vstr VARNAME (you can store a specific command inside a variable and then execute that command this way)."
- HELPG section: I suggest to say what are default values.
- HELPVOTE section seems unfinished ("... will give..."?). You could also say that usually one can vote yes or no with F1 or F2.
- HELPMODES section, I suggest: DM --> Free For All (aka DeathMatch, DM or FFA)... Tourney --> Tournament... TDM --> Team TeathMatch (TDM)... obelisk --> Overload (aka Obelisk)...
- HELPMODES section: "For allweaps set insta and rockets to 0" --> "To restore normal weapon behavior (all weapons available), set \g_instantgib and \g_rockets to 0."
- HELPSETTINGS: again, cg_drawgun is not only 0 or 1.
- HELPSETTINGS: What's "sinde"? Did you mean "since"?
- HELPSETTINGS: "/name RMF"... why don't "/name yourname"?
- HELPSETTINGS: "crosshaid" --> "crosshair"
- HELPGFX: what about telling default gamma value? r_picmip max is 16.
- HELPABBR2: the F*ck word isn't with "u" instead of "a"?
- HELPPWD: Maybe a user could have a little problem with password ad Rconpassword difference. "When you haven't joined the server and someone changed your servers password and you want to change it back, you can use rconAddress." maybe talking about two different password here could be a little confusing.. what about talking about the case you can't connect to the server simply because all slots are busy? Just an idea...
- HELPFILE section. What about saying also about %APPDATA%/OpenArena shortcut? And about DO NOT LINK[/b]) h t t p s : / / openarena . wikia . com/wiki/FAQ#Where_are_the_configuration_files_saved.3F]data place in other OS? And about mentioning that also autodownloaded files go there? And what about writing "There is a separate sufbolder for each mod you played" instead of "There are all mods you have"?

I hope this will help.
PS: I find your guide nice. :-)

[RMF]

i'll edit it tomorrow and reupload. Thanks for spotting the errors and for adding (or going to add to) the wiki

Another thing, in HELPABOUT section... you already wrote that anyone can modify it, mentioning the original author... okay.. but what about writing inside it that you release it under GPLv2 and CC-BY-SA licenses? The first, for better integration with OpenArena (maybe someday fromhell may decide to put it inside an official package...); the second, to allow people to export text from there, for example adding it to a wiki site (many wiki sites use CC-BY-SA license)...

I hate licence crap, for hours of hard coding work you could add a licence but this isn't worth it. I trust the small community here is nice enough not to just get my work and release it as being their own

- In the main "HELP" section: "For help with modes (CTF/DM/insta) type HELPMODES"... I suggest LIKE CTF/DM/insta, because there are many more modes.

It were just examples, I already had to shorten the first "help" command but ofc i can make a continued (HELP2) or something too.

- In the same section: "about this helpfunction" (space needed)

oh yep, i typed most on my craptop (w2k laptop) and it's space is half broken

- HELPBTN section: I don't understand what do you mean with "A B C 1 2 3 F1 F2 F3". I suggest also to add "To customize your settings, use Setup -> Controls menu". Maybe also explaining to beginners what "bind" is would be nice.

Well it are examples of keys.. But guess I can improve that
Every noob can use the setup so I disagree taking a whole sentence to explain what doesn't need to be explained. And the examples pretty much explain what bind does so.

- HELPCMD section: "If you want to know howto do something (example bind 'say' on T to another key), use '/bind T' to view what the setting is, and then retype that in /bind Y." (apart of the missing space between how ad to) is not so clear: bind <key> tells the command binded to that key, you can't know what key has assigned a certain command, right? I suggest to reword the whole sentence.

hmm no you can't know that without just opening the config, but I think it's clear enough (or do you have some suggestion for a replacing sentence?).

- HELPCMD2 section: I suggest "to execute custom pre-set configuration files (previously edited with a plain text editor outside the game)....".

Will do

- HELPCMD2 section. Say "example" instead of "exa", and tell what that example does: it changes the weapon to gauntlet (right?), waits 74 frames and then suicides your own character.

kk

- HELPGEN section: "To look which maps you have, type /dir maps"... I would add also "or simply type /map and press TAB key"....

Ok will add something similar to that (first gotta test myself how it exactly works, never use it).

- HELPGUIDE section. Maybe we could add something like "Visit www.openarena.exe or openarena.wikia.com for more informations".

yeah the help was created just as reference not meant to be build-in. But if it's gonna be ofc i should add some link.

- HELPGEN section. It says how to switch to another window in Microsoft windows. I suggest also to tell how to switch from fullscreen to window mode (ALT+ENTER or from Setup -> System -> Graphics menu)... and to say how to do those things under Linux (or maybe also MacOS)

hm ye I'll ask some others for lin/osx and add the Win part

- HELPVAR section: "when something contains spaces always use ' ' around the text"... only ' ' or also " "? Would it be a techinical problem adding such characters to the help string?

Yeah discovered lately that the single quotes don't work - but not sure if it displays them. Will test

- HELPVAR section: cg_drawgun is not only 0 or 1... if I'm not wrong, it can be also 2 (left) or 3 (center)...

oh didn't know (only heard about it for oau), will test and add.

- HELPG section: I suggest to say what are default values.

Rather in HELPVAR I think

- HELPVOTE section seems unfinished ("... will give..."?). You could also say that usually one can vote yes or no with F1 or F2.

hm gotta look at that (don't have the file now - am at school and too lazy to dl it ^^)

- HELPSETTINGS: "/name RMF"... why don't "/name yourname"?

Again I didn't expect ppl would really like it, that's why i only released on our forum but didn't here till someone brought up the topic. Will change

- HELPMODES section, I suggest: DM --> Free For All (aka DeathMatch, DM or FFA)... Tourney --> Tournament... TDM --> Team TeathMatch (TDM)... obelisk --> Overload (aka Obelisk)...

will have a look, not so familiar with other gametype synonyms than dm/ffa

- HELPSETTINGS: What's "sinde"? Did you mean "since"?

prolly

- HELPGFX: what about telling default gamma value? r_picmip max is 16.

I thought it was max 10.. oh well will try if picmip16 does something and note the gamma val

- HELPABBR2: the F*ck word isn't with "u" instead of "a"?

same, w/e

- HELPPWD: Maybe a user could have a little problem with password ad Rconpassword difference. "When you haven't joined the server and someone changed your servers password and you want to change it back, you can use rconAddress." maybe talking about two different password here could be a little confusing.. what about talking about the case you can't connect to the server simply because all slots are busy? Just an idea...

will have a look

- HELPFILE section. What about saying also about %APPDATA%/OpenArena shortcut? And about data place in other OS? And about mentioning that also autodownloaded files go there? And what about writing "There is a separate sufbolder for each mod you played" instead of "There are all mods you have"?

%appdata% takes too long to explain and many users do it wrong (press some wrong keys or something).
And I don't see the use of changing that sentence but will reread it when im home and see if i change it.
For other os's I'll add it (was too lazy to lookup the location on lin/osx at the time of writing the original lol)

I hope this will help.
PS: I find your guide nice. :-)

Sure it helps, and thanks


edit: hmm i'll release it today, didn't have enough time for all improvements yesterday (i test everything before i write it so that takes time - for example cg_drawgun doesn't do anything but show or noshow, no other position).

[Gig]

I hate licence crap, for hours of hard coding work you could add a licence but this isn't worth it. I trust the small community here is nice enough not to just get my work and release it as being their own

I am used to work on Wikipedia, and respecting text license is very important there...

It were just examples, I already had to shorten the first "help" command but ofc i can make a continued (HELP2) or something too.

You think there isn't enough space for adding a single word ("like")?

- HELPCMD section: "If you want to know howto do something (example bind 'say' on T to another key), use '/bind T' to view what the setting is, and then retype that in /bind Y." (apart of the missing space between how ad to) is not so clear: bind <key> tells the command binded to that key, you can't know what key has assigned a certain command, right? I suggest to reword the whole sentence.

hmm no you can't know that without just opening the config, but I think it's clear enough (or do you have some suggestion for a replacing sentence?).

I suggest something like "If you want to know what command is assigned to a specific key, just type /bind KEY. To create/modify a key binding, use /bind KEY COMMAND." If you want, you could even add "you can view your q3config.cfg file, that contains your settings, (see /HELPFILE) with an external plain text editor, or make backup copies of it"... but maybe it is not strictly necessary for a beginner's guide. Decide yourself.

Yeah discovered lately that the single quotes don't work - but not sure if it displays them. Will test

I don't know if there is a way to use double quotes without "ending" the cvar where the help is stored (some programming languages require double double quotes to know it is not the end of the field).

- HELPG section: I suggest to say what are default values.

Rather in HELPVAR I think.

I was talking about the two or three cvars you mention there (I'm not in front of the file now)

I thought it was max 10.. oh well will try if picmip16 does something

Not sure if it really changes something, but if you try to set a value higher than 16, an error informs you that 16 is the max value allowed.

- HELPFILE section. %appdata% takes too long to explain and many users do it wrong (press some wrong keys or something).

Writing %appdata%\OpenArena seems more quick. Maybe you can just say that "a shortcut for going there is typing %appdata%\OpenArena". Newbies may not find even "Application data", because of it is an hidden folder.

Bye! 

[RMF]

crap still didn't finish it Only gotta do this one yet

- HELPFILE section. What about saying also about %APPDATA%/OpenArena shortcut? And about data place in other OS? And about mentioning that also autodownloaded files go there? And what about writing "There is a separate sufbolder for each mod you played" instead of "There are all mods you have"?

and read your last post.
Anyway what i've got so far (didn't test for errors, will do when i finish it) is here: http://easy-upload.nl/f/FkdkrdaX

[Gig]

crap still didn't finish it

Don't worry. Take your time.

[RMF]

Okay should work (can't test, but it's within the max line length of notepad which seems to be the same as OA's max string-variable length): http://easy-upload.nl/f/tV8ZX6gj

[Gig]

HELPCMD2: missing space between "75" and "frames". And are you sure about that "so" before pre-set?

I really must go now.... I don't think I'll be able to check the file today...

PS: I suggest you again to insert a "version number" or "date" to distinguish various versions of this guide....

[Gig]

HELPVAR section: when you write "Try for example with varname=g_speed and value=450", I suggest to add also ", so type \g_speed 450. To go back to standard speed, write \g_speed 320".

I see that HELPVAR section still talks about cg_drawgun as boolean (but it does not accept only 0 and 1)... so you haven't yet applied all the corrections I told you before. Can you update the file and upload the new version, so I could check it again? Thank you! :-)

[RMF]

well for me any value not 0 does the same as 1

[Gig]

well for me any value not 0 does the same as 1

What? Do you mean that 2 and 3 have been inserted only since 0.8.5? I thought that also Q3A allowed to change the weapon location... I will check this...

[Gig]

well for me any value not 0 does the same as 1

What? Do you mean that 2 and 3 have been inserted only since 0.8.5? I thought that also Q3A allowed to change the weapon location... I will check this...

I checked, and both OA 0.8.1 and Q3A 1.32c it works only with 0 and 1. It seems 2 and 3 have been added in recent versions of ioquake3 engine.

Anyway, since from OA 0.8.5 this variable is not more boolean, I think we should use another one in the help to talk about boolean variables...

[Falkland]

It seems 2 and 3 have been added in recent versions of ioquake3 engine.

Yes , it was added to have the possibility to have gun centered or left-handed too .

It was boolean in quake 3 engine simply because it was possible to change gun position through cg_gunX , cg_gunY , cg_gunZ which were declared as cheat protected in ioquake3 , leaving gun position only right-handed.

[fromhell]

cg_gun# adjusting for handedness is a bad idea

it should really be done by mirroring the _hand model, like quake2, and having a new hand model supported for center so we don't have 'recoil to the side effect', and this should be done in cgame not engine

[Falkland]

cg_gun# adjusting for handedness is a bad idea

Actually it was removed from ioquake3 for security reasons , mainly because of strange behaviours when set with negative values.

I've reported _ONLY_ the reason for which cg_drawgun was a boolean value.

The ioquake3 solution ( adding also 2 or 3 ) was an elegant solution for 2 problems : gun position and a potentially security hole removal.

[RMF]

well i use 081 and as it states the manual was written for 081. If we're gonna use 085 things we should create another version and add more things to that (like physics on server, changename limits, etc).

[Gig]

well i use 081 and as it states the manual was written for 081. If we're gonna use 085 things we should create another version and add more things to that (like physics on server, changename limits, etc).

Yes, you are right.... but of sure there are many more variables that are boolean in both versions... why have we to use that one to explain what a boolean variable is?

[Gig]

Let's continue checking the guide...
- HELPCMD2 section: does not end with ^7, like the others
- HELPG: I suggest "^3For speed change use g_speed (default 320), gravity g_gravity (default 800), framerate independent physics on is pmove_fixed 1 and off is that variable to 0.^7"
- HELPCOL: it does not say that you have to use \name command to change name, and that you can still use black when talking. There are extra "^" before the 8 numbers (it should be ^ 8, not ^ ^ 8). The help section should end with ^7 like the others, I suppose.

And please, add some version number to that guide! :)

[Gig]

RMF, are you still there?

[RMF]

oh ye lol, only read new posts but forgot about this one. I'm inthe bus to school now so can't do anything the next hours but will do when back home

[RMF]

http://easy-upload.nl/f/ptg6eipF
Can be some flaws in though, it appeared i had two different versions lol. Checked all till HELPSETTINGS, no time to check more now mom's waiting for me =)

edit: expanded the weapons part a lot (there are almost no resources on some weapons though, i couldn't find the exact nailgun speed anywhere for example so tried a little myself).
http://easy-upload.nl/f/nHwGiCls
Didn't re-read all yet though, only till HELPWEAPINFO2.

[Gig]

What about the two different versions? Did you re-downloaded the last version you uploaded here before (to have the same version I was talking about), and continued from there?

[RMF]

uhm not sure, did I miss something in the last version you said before?