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add Modding section to Getting Started in web app

master
poikilos 6 years ago
committed by Jacob Gustafson
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9be8ca5160
  1. 79
      webapp/views/pages/getting-started.ejs

79
webapp/views/pages/getting-started.ejs

@ -222,6 +222,85 @@ project. Otherwise, contact a moderator of your server (you can still
visit the link to get an idea of what mods are available for Minetest visit the link to get an idea of what mods are available for Minetest
servers). servers).
<h3>Modding</h3>
<p>Modding is easy in Minetest, because it is designed to be modded.
The Minetest client downloads the "game" (collection of mods and
modpacks) each time you connect to a server, so you don't have to
install anything yourself. Automatic "game" downloading also means that
each server can be very different, but load quickly, offering you many
experiences to try easily.</p>
<p>Examples are the best way to get started. Since mods are scripted in
Lua, every mod is open source. Almost every one is released under
some sort of public license as well, which usually allows you to modify,
reuse, and redistribute the code (usually under the condition that you
credit the original author). The license file sometimes has no file
extension, so you may have to pick a program to open it in Windows.
You can open it (or any other text file) in Notepad. However, Notepad++
is recommended since there is more than one undo step. For Lua
programming, you can install ZeroBrane Studio (which is free) then
install
"<a href="https://github.com/poikilos/MinetestIDE">MinetestIDE</a>"
which patches ZeroBrane Studio to provide code completion
(a form of autocomplete with API usage tips for coding).
</p>
<p>
API means application programming interface. It is just the set of
classes and/or functions you use to change the behavior of an existing
program such as Minetest. Mods that add significant features, such as
Mobs Redo or codermobs, usually have their own API. You can see all of
the functions in the api.lua file if the author has followed naming
conventions and placed public features there. In addition, many mods
have a api.txt or similarly named files. You can start by opening up
your minetest directory on your computer (after installing or otherwise
installing Minetest) and doing a search for api, or just open the
following files depending on what you want to do:<br/>
<ul>
<li>minetest/doc/menu_lua_api.txt</li>
<li>minetest/doc/fst_api.txt</li>
<li>minetest/doc/lua_api.txt</li>
<li>minetest/doc/client_lua_api.txt</li>
<li>minetest/games/Bucket_Game/mods/codercore/areas/api.md</li>
<li>minetest/games/Bucket_Game/mods/codercore/craft_guide/api_craft_guide.lua</li>
<li>minetest/games/Bucket_Game/mods/codermobs/mobs/api_new.txt</li>
<li>minetest/games/Bucket_Game/mods/codermobs/mobs/api.txt</li>
<li>minetest/games/Bucket_Game/mods/coderbuild/hopper/api.txt</li>
<li>minetest/games/Bucket_Game/mods/coderbuild/magmatools/textures/magmatools_tool_magmapick.png</li>
<li>minetest/games/Bucket_Game/mods/coderbuild/castle/castle_gates/api.txt</li>
<li>minetest/games/Bucket_Game/mods/coderbuild/ambience/api.txt</li>
<li>minetest/games/Bucket_Game/mods/coderbuild/bonemeal/api.txt</li>
<li>minetest/games/Bucket_Game/mods/coderbuild/flowerpot/api.md</li>
<li>minetest/games/Bucket_Game/mods/coderfood/farming/api.txt</li>
</ul>
Remember, you can always look at examples as well. You can find a mod
that does something similar to what you want, looking at all of the .lua
files in a mod like that may help.
</p>
<h4>Changing Existing Mods</h4>
<p>A public license allows you to change and rerelease the mod,
in addition to just being "open source." Many
mods are on GitHub, GitLab, or notabug.org to allow easy
forking. Forking is when someone other than the original author
makes improvements or fixes (often forking implies keeping it separate
and not having your changes pulled in to the author's version). If the
changes
are applicable to everyone, you would usually fork it by clicking "fork"
which allows you to download your own copy of the mod with "GitHub
Desktop" for GitHub on Windows or a public licensed program like "Git
Cola." Then you would make or paste in your changes, go back to the
program and stage all tracked and untracked changes (not required on
GitHub Desktop), name the commit, click commit, then click push. Then
you can go back to the repository online where you got the mod and click
"pull request" comparing across forks to the "head" from your
repository, allowing the owner to "accept" the request or comment on
changes you need to make or regretfully decline. If the owner declines,
you can always keep your repository and use and distribute your version
of the mod if the license allows that. In some cases, you can instead
just make a mod that overrides an existing mod--that would require
putting the mod in depends.txt, clearing crafting recipes, and other
similar steps--see <a href="https://github.com/poikilos/homedecor_ua">
github.com/poikilos/homedecor_ua</a> for an example.
</p>
</main> </main>
<footer> <footer>

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