NMS Index Page Dev

[TechAngel85]

I added some basic descriptions to the table on the page: https://stepmodifications.org/wiki/NoMansSky:IndexDevelopment#Top-level_Cats

[z929669]

9 minutes ago, TechAngel85 said:

I added some basic descriptions to the table on the page: https://stepmodifications.org/wiki/NoMansSky:IndexDevelopment#Top-level_Cats

Ok, so the 'Index' really just looks like a way to organize (Categorize) information. This seems unnecessary, since MW already lets you do this in any number of ways via Categories and Category Tree extension ... see: https://stepmodifications.org/wiki/Category:Games. So they want a nav method it seems like, because they don't like the options available on the wiki. The same goes for the top nav bar.

Why are we reinventing the wheel? This is a novel website design just for them and that game. The wiki provides the means to navigate, and we can expose that a bit more for that namespace, I think. Seems like a ton of unnecessary maintenance being created.

So Index, NMSPage, and the NPS navbar are all unnecessary overhead that we are now committed to maintaining. It would be sooooo much simpler if they used the wiki natively so that we can dispense with all the extra work maintaining a completely unique paradigm for a single game. I have mentioned all of this before, so probably won't make a diff.

Now, the GameFiles, Reference, and Tutorial stuff are all data org, so that's valid for providing the game info needed for modding that game; however, I think we should use our existing cat structure for this game as we do all others ... drilling down from Games: https://stepmodifications.org/wiki/Category:SkyrimSE

All of our games have this exact structure, and so can NMS. The following don't fit in the general structure and most of these could go under "NonMansSky General Guides" ... or we can use Properties.

We already have a Reference Category. Tutorials are Guides ... we have a Category for that too.

I do really hate the idea of maintaining the NMS website if they are not going to adopt standard Step wiki practice within our org structure. The direction we are going adds both maintenance and performance overheads unnecessarily. It was one thing if they were going to maintain it, but now it seems to be on us ... so it should be OUR way (which will give them all the info they have now but in standard Step and wiki formats).

If you insist that we MUST continue doing it the way THEY want it, then we at least need to make it work within the structure we have, which means continuing this conversation but not by creating an entirely unique Category structure that stands apart from all other games and a SMW structure solely to support the concept of their unique navigation preference. Very frustrating ...

[z929669]

OK, just nevermind all that^ ... I already know the answer. All I ask is that we STOP creating hundreds of Cats in our live wiki. Let's do all such work in DEV going forward as I explained previously. Each one of those pages just adds data that will never go away, increasing the size and complexity of our live wiki DB.

Let me think about how we can do this stuff in the simplest way possible and using as much of the existing org as possible. If we need to create a few added NMS-specific cats, then so be it, but I'd like to see how best to use what we have and apply the NMS stuff to that. Index is definitely a property. GameFile seems more like a Category. As I mentioned, Tutorial = Guide and Reference = Reference unless I am missing something.

 

[z929669]

So let's work out what you are calling "GameFile". According to Game Structure, the game directory path has the following folder structure:

Game Files

• root
• AUDIO
• BANKS_INTERMEDIATE
• FONTS
• INPUT
• LANGUAGE
• MATERIALS
• METADATA
• MODELS
• MUSIC
• PIPELINES
• PLAYTOGETHER
• PROMO
• SCENES
• SHADERS
• TEXTURES
• TPFSDICT
• UI

Is this the content of ..\Steam\steamapps\common\No Man's Sky\ ?

Configuration Files

Where are the config files located? That page says here:

• ../Binaries/SETTINGS
• ../Binaries/SETTINGS/HDR

... but I don't see a Binaries folder above

Save Files

What is a 'recluded' folder?

Saves appear to be included under: %LOCALAPPDATA%\Roaming\HelloGames\NMS\

with related data under: ..\Steam\steamapps\common\No Man's Sky\Binaries\SETTINGS\ ... so this is same dir as Config files?

Game File SubCats

• Biome
• Global
• Texture
• XML

How do these fit into the above?

[TechAngel85]

You're creeping into thing you don't need to creep into...focus. Index...index...index. Ignore everything else and lets focus on the Index. The rest can come later.

[TechAngel85]

And, yes, I insist to do it their way. We brought them onboard, we need to continue to support what they were doing on their other wiki, else, the offer should have never been made. So, yeah, we may have some specific things for NMS. I've said it many times, it's a different game and they do things a different way. We need to stop trying to cram it into the "Bethesda box" that everything else is built around.

I agree that we can reuse were it makes since so tutorials are just Guides (but even our Guides are subcategorized into tools, etc). Keep in mind that all this which is reused will have to be able to be drilled down into just NMS-specific "guides" or "references". See those pages now for examples.

[z929669]

26 minutes ago, TechAngel85 said:

You're creeping into thing you don't need to creep into...focus. Index...index...index. Ignore everything else and lets focus on the Index. The rest can come later.

OK, first the index ... but I wanted to understand the other pieces to see if anything can be consolidated.

For example, you proposed "Entity" as the 'thing' common to all of the 'Index' names. Are all headings in the Index really 'entities' or are they just names listing many different concepts that warrant their own 'chapters' or 'topics'?

If they are all game eitities, then I would propose Property:Entity

If they are all 'topics', I would go with Property:WhateverTheyAre

Looks like they are all really just 'topics' listed in what we are calling an 'index'. If true, It may be best to go with Property:NMS_Topic. Once we have this down, you can create that Property in DEV and add the "Allows Values" table just as we have for Property:Game, adding any other info to the table you want. The only specs that matter on this page are the [[Allows value::]] strings and [[Has type::Text]] declaration.

EDIT: Actually, forget all of that. I am now thinking that Property may not be the best way to do this. Let me mock something up in DEV that we can work on. I may not be making all the right assumptions.

[TechAngel85]

19 minutes ago, z929669 said:

For example, you proposed "Entity" as the 'thing' common to all of the 'Index' names. Are all headings in the Index really 'entities' or are they just names listing many different concepts that warrant their own 'chapters' or 'topics'?

If they are all game eitities, then I would propose Property:Entity

If they are all 'topics', I would go with Property:WhateverTheyAre

Looks like they are all really just 'topics' listed in what we are calling an 'index'. If true, It may be best to go with Property:NMS_Topic. Once we have this down, you can create that Property in DEV and add the "Allows Values" table just as we have for Property:Game, adding any other info to the table you want. The only specs that matter on this page are the [[Allows value::]] strings and [[Has type::Text]] declaration.

EDIT: Actually, forget all of that. I am now thinking that Property may not be the best way to do this. Let me mock something up in DEV that we can work on. I may not be making all the right assumptions.

No idea where you got that idea. Entity is a header on the Index page; they're related to GameFiles. The headings on the Index page were arbitrarily decided upon. They're simply how the content was decided to be arranged for the Index.

How is this confusing you? It's an Index...

Quote

A back-of-the-book index is a list of words with corresponding page references that point readers to the locations of various topics within a book. Indexes are generally an alphabetical list of topics with subheadings appearing below multi-faceted topics that appear numerous times throughout a book

...why are you trying to reinvent names? It's an Index, call it an index...

Ugh...I have a bad feeling you still don't get how it's all put together, but I'll see what you mock up.

[z929669]

9 minutes ago, TechAngel85 said:

No idea where you got that idea. Entity is a header on the Index page; they're related to GameFiles. The headings on the Index page were arbitrarily decided upon. They're simply how the content was decided to be arranged for the Index.

How is this confusing you? It's an Index...

...why are you trying to reinvent names? It's an Index, call it an index...

OK, working on a demo in DEV

[TechAngel85]

@z929669
Brought some of the information I already stated onto the wiki: https://stepmodifications.org/wiki/NoMansSky:IndexDevelopment#How_it_works