OFPEC Forum

OFPEC The Editing Center => Comments & Suggestions => Topic started by: Nixer6 on 17 Sep 2006, 03:48:42

Title: Scripting School
Post by: Nixer6 on 17 Sep 2006, 03:48:42
Heck I know I need to attend!

Lot's of new people here, and probably lots more coming with Armd Assault. I'm not really sure what I am proposing, except some type of Lesson Plan oriented scripting tasks and/or examples.

ie;

1. How to find scripting examples in the boards and tutorials, with links
2. How to De-PBO missions you like and analyze existing scripts
3. How OFP (AA) scripting works!
4. Etc

Then, using the resources Grouped and Cataloged all in one place, assignments could be given, such as,
A. Create a group, arm them,  load them into a vehicle/helo and move them from point A to Point B.

Different "Lessons or tasks", with solutions provided. Maybe even have people post their scripts for critiques.

I know it has been very hard for me to pick up what little I have learned. (but I'm old , and don't have the math background alot here do)

I would just like to see it made easier on newcomers to the game to learn.

Does this make sense to anyone?  ???
Title: Re: Scripting School
Post by: bedges on 17 Sep 2006, 08:10:14
it does, yes indeed. before the crash we had an entire section on "getting started", all those tutorials noobs would need to begin getting an understanding of the basics. some of them are in the ed depot, but are not categorised into "noob", "intermediate" and "advanced". we're also working on an extensive FAQ which should take new users through the journey you describe.

of course, with armed assault on the horizon there will be new stuff to learn, but from what we've seen a lot of the basics still apply. we'll be taking that into account when we update the site for arma content.

meantime, know that we're working on catering to all levels of expertise. watch this space  :cool2:
Title: Re: Scripting School
Post by: macguba on 17 Sep 2006, 11:02:44
Quote
Why do I have to be a Rocket Scientist to make a good mission?
Because making a good mission is difficult.     (Making a bad one is easy.)

Fortunately, it's worth the effort.   :)
Title: Re: Scripting School
Post by: PetriHonka on 17 Sep 2006, 17:04:02
Quote
working on an extensive FAQ
Great. Any idea as to when it's likely to be finished?
Title: Re: Scripting School
Post by: bedges on 17 Sep 2006, 17:23:44
patience, grasshopper. i can only type so fast.
Title: Re: Scripting School
Post by: JasonO on 17 Sep 2006, 18:39:59
Poor bedges :P

It will be finished when its ready  :yes:
Title: Re: Scripting School
Post by: Nixer6 on 18 Sep 2006, 05:00:32
Quote
Why do I have to be a Rocket Scientist to make a good mission?
Because making a good mission is difficult.     (Making a bad one is easy.)

Fortunately, it's worth the effort.   :)

My point is it shouldn't be a major undertaking to do simple things. Thinking back to when I started making "fun" missions for myself I had to read all kinds of tutorials, forum posts etc just to figure out how to  get a group to load into a vehicle, go somewhere and disembark! :banghead:

And that was with just waypoints, no scripts. Toooooo hard for the average gamer, IMHO.

If BIS wants to open up the market it should be easier to do simple tasks,  again IMHO.


The sripting "school" idea stems from my learning experiences with OFP. The info is out there, it's just spread all over the place. Gustafsen's tut is a help, but a little dated. A more advanced version would be nice, with "exercises" as you go along. Just a thought.

BTW, things are starting to shape up here, looking better all the time.  :)
Title: Re: Scripting School
Post by: dmakatra on 18 Sep 2006, 15:44:41
I first got into mission making because of one of these Scripting Schools, made by Swedish PC Gamer and published in four issues. All including lessons and all that. I thought this was a great idea.

Until I noticed OFPEC. I've read some of the beginner tutes and they are far much better than what that PCG-crap was. It just isn't available at the time due to the OFPEC crash.
Title: Re: Scripting School
Post by: Chris Death on 18 Sep 2006, 17:09:14
Nixer, as i can see here you failed in your first duty when starting a new
program on your computer.

First duty: read the readme file

In there you should have found exactly what took you to read: 'all kinds of tutorials, forum posts etc'

A scripting school is not a bad idea but i see some problems too in there.

You can be lead into wrong direction easily because A != A if things change.

What i want say is: if you did not go through the learn by doing process yourself, you
will find yourself more than often without a clue why something is not working like
it's supposed to do.

There's no short way to learn scripting or mission making, the best thing is to read/read/read and read again.

The ingame editor is in my opinion no secret to anybody who is willing to spend some time
on trying and looking the results. Everything i know in ingame editor i've learned on
my own, and if i've read something new about it, i also tried it out under various
circumstances to see if it's really like that.

A good editing/scripting school in my opinion already exists in the game aswell.

Just open your wizzard and create a coop misison with the template.

Then open it in editor and look what has been made there.
It helped me alot too in finding out possibilities of the mission editor (ingame).

~S~ CD
Title: Re: Scripting School
Post by: PetriHonka on 20 Sep 2006, 17:26:37
Quote
Just open your wizzard and create a coop misison with the template.
All very well. But the wizard doesn't cover EVERYTHING and you can't ask the wizard if you don't understand can you?
Title: Re: Scripting School
Post by: macguba on 20 Sep 2006, 17:59:24
Scripting School syllabus

or

How to make a misson in 10 easy lessons.



Lesson 1: read macguba's Beginner's Guide to Mission Editing.

Lesson 2: read snYpir's OFPEC Guide: Making Missions

Lesson 3: read the basic tutes recommended in my Beginner's Guide

Lesson 4: play macguba's Tutorial Mission

Lesson 5: take the Tutorial Mission to pieces and figure out how it works.  Use the files as templates.

Lesson 6: read the rest of the tutes recommended in the Beginner's Guide

Lesson 7: make your own mission

Lesson 8: read the sticky topics at the top of the Missions Beta testing board

Lesson 9: post your mission on the beta board

Lesson 10: take the advice of the beta testers



Ta-da!  You've made your first mission.

When you need to ask a question, well that's that this forum is for.    Both of my resources are on the Editors Depot Accepted Resources Board.   snYpir's one may be temporarily lost, I'm not sure.
Title: Re: Scripting School
Post by: bedges on 20 Sep 2006, 18:49:29
Quote
snYpir's one may be temporarily lost

not so (http://www.armaeditingcenter.com/ed_depot/tutes.htm). ;)
Title: Re: Scripting School
Post by: Chris Death on 20 Sep 2006, 19:04:30
Quote
Just open your wizzard and create a coop misison with the template.
All very well. But the wizard doesn't cover EVERYTHING and you can't ask the wizard if you don't understand can you?

Did i ever say it covers 'EVERYTHING'?

You know how many people i've seen start working on an 'all-in-one tutorial'?

You know how many 'all-in-one tutorials' are available yet after 5 years?

Point is: you cannot cover EVERYTHING anywhere than in a forum and lots of posts
to read through.

The way from A to C leads over B only - you cannot jump directly there in no way,
or you will not have a clue why C is not looking like A anymore.

~S~ CD
Title: Re: Scripting School
Post by: Nixer6 on 21 Sep 2006, 02:53:36
How to make a misson in 10 easy lessons.



Lesson 1: read macguba's Beginner's Guide to Mission Editing.

Lesson 2: read snYpir's OFPEC Guide: Making Missions

Lesson 3: read the basic tutes recommended in my Beginner's Guide

Lesson 4: play macguba's Tutorial Mission

Lesson 5: take the Tutorial Mission to pieces and figure out how it works.  Use the files as templates.

Lesson 6: read the rest of the tutes recommended in the Beginner's Guide

Lesson 7: make your own mission

Lesson 8: read the sticky topics at the top of the Missions Beta testing board

Lesson 9: post your mission on the beta board

Lesson 10: take the advice of the beta testers


Good one MacGuba  :clap:

More like mission making school than scripting school, though.  :dunno:
Title: Re: Scripting School
Post by: nominesine on 21 Sep 2006, 13:58:07
The best way to learn scripting is: Learn how to make a good mission. The best way to become a good rocket scientist is to build a rocket.
Title: Re: Scripting School
Post by: macguba on 21 Sep 2006, 14:52:22
Nixer6, scripting should not be considered in isolation.   :no:   You end up writing convoluted scripts to do something that can be achieved with a simple trigger or waypoint, or better unit placement, or more playtesting, or ....

If you wish to consider the OFP scripting language as something worthy of intellectual study in its own right, then all you really need is the comref - it's all in there.   :yes:   

My Beginner's tute lists several scripting tutorials.   ;)  I also recommend that you read the comref from start to finish, like a book.   Don't get bogged down trying to understand every command, just get a feel for what's in there.
Title: Re: Scripting School
Post by: Nixer6 on 21 Sep 2006, 21:06:31
Nixer6, scripting should not be considered in isolation.      You end up writing convoluted scripts to do something that can be achieved with a simple trigger or waypoint, or better unit placement, or more playtesting, or ....

Excellent point. Thanks for that.

I brought this "scripting School" up as I started making fun missions to practice up for Armd Assault.

I personally learned alot about scripting from

1. SnYpir's Collections, especially disecting his support pack

2. Naqual's BAS missions

3. A couple of others including Skumball, for his OnMapSingleClick stuff.

It's still hard for me....but like I said, I'm Old 

I've got alot of the "old" references form here and other places. If you are missing anything let me know. I might have it.  :good:
Title: Re: Scripting School
Post by: macguba on 21 Sep 2006, 23:38:42
Thanks for the offer Nixer6.    We still have a lot of stuff to sift throught that was recovered in one way or another.    When we get to the end of that we'll see where we stand.