[WIKI] A comprehensive guide to editing the BTW wiki

[gaga654]

(also what the hell is with the Usage crafting recipes? do people actually like those?[ie: What the item/block can be used to make])

I think it's quite useful to have a list of things an item can be used to make, so that you can see what it's useful for and why you might want to collect/create it. Including the recipe isn't strictly necessary, but still nice to have so you can see at a glance how much you'll need and what other items are required.

[Egger3rd]

Hey, guys and ladies. I've been trying to update some of the pages on the wiki. Mostly just the ones steering new players in the wrong direction during the early game. I'm coming across a problem with the new "stone" item. The smooth stone block is currently called Stone and is referenced in many of the recipes across the wiki. So as not to create more problems, how should we proceed on the naming of these two?

[dawnraider]

Probably just call the item Stone (Item) and have a disambiguation page for searches is the simplest and most practical.

[magikeh]

Please, please please don't remove the category tags from the pages. As well if you're going to pull stuff from a page be sure it's completely irrelevant. I'm going to pick on the stone block page for this one.
Info like how stone is quicker to mine than cobblestone, while seemingly trivial is exactly what the blocks page of the wiki is for. It's little facts like these that help min maxers (as I am one) play the game.
While it's easy to paint in broad strokes, please use a fine tooth comb on information existing in the pages and don't just pull it because "that's just vanilla behavior" we have to remember that vanilla has changed quite a lot since it's 1.5.2 days, hence the reasoning to copy over the old wiki.

[Gilberreke]

I was looking at recent changes to the wiki and saw that. Didn't realize you already knew about it. I reverted the change, it's very unhelpful to remove all the content to replace it with "same as in vanilla".

[Egger3rd]

Please, please please don't remove the category tags from the pages. As well if you're going to pull stuff from a page be sure it's completely irrelevant. I'm going to pick on the stone block page for this one.
Info like how stone is quicker to mine than cobblestone, while seemingly trivial is exactly what the blocks page of the wiki is for. It's little facts like these that help min maxers (as I am one) play the game.
While it's easy to paint in broad strokes, please use a fine tooth comb on information existing in the pages and don't just pull it because "that's just vanilla behavior" we have to remember that vanilla has changed quite a lot since it's 1.5.2 days, hence the reasoning to copy over the old wiki.

Will do. I had modified that page before finding this forum topic and seeing that the copypasta was on purpose. I've already been chastised privately about it, and it won't happen again.

[magikeh]

Will do. I had modified that page before finding this forum topic and seeing that the copypasta was on purpose. I've already been chastised privately about it, and it won't happen again.

:) Hey bud, no need to apologize! Also I'm sorry man, half the blame oughta rest on my shoulders, I've been making an insane mess of the wiki and it's good to see so many people PMing me asking how they can pitch in, just I have no real set in stone standard yet. Definitely something I'll be needing help setting up as mentioned a few posts up.

[CrimsonStorm]

That seems perfectly acceptable. I think it'd help if we categorize a wee bit as well. Currently, the wiki has 3 different styles of pages: (in my eyes)
-Items/Blocks/Entities/Thingies
-Guides
-Encompassing Information

Yeah, that breakdown makes sense to me. One ambiguous area, I think, is the current "Hardcore Modes" page (and various related pages in that category). In general, those pages are pretty messy and I think suffer from being hard to navigate if you don't know what you're looking for. That's at least somewhat an effect of more updates lately being considered hardcore modes.

But, for example, Hardcore Hunger has pretty precise explanations of the mechanics, where Hardcore Nothing To Worry About is quite vague. More consistency (and maybe a more defined place for 'spoilers' around those mechanics) would be good.



The rest of what you said also sounds good, magikeh!

[Epsilon]

Yeah, that breakdown makes sense to me. One ambiguous area, I think, is the current "Hardcore Modes" page (and various related pages in that category). In general, those pages are pretty messy and I think suffer from being hard to navigate if you don't know what you're looking for. That's at least somewhat an effect of more updates lately being considered hardcore modes.

On the "Hardcore Modes" I'm thinking if we should treat BTW still as a Mod or if we rather go down another path and embrace the 'total conversion' theme and explain everything from the beginning, ignoring everything one might know about vanilla MC. As BTW runs on MC 1.5.2 (and feature wise more of 1.3.?) most new (BTW) players won't even know how different 1.3.? was to the curent 1.12.?
So what I'm saying is: don't bother explaining how BTW differs from vanilla, just treat is as a new game with some elements similar or equivalent to vanilla.

Also if I'm allowed to make another suggestion for the wiki: Include one of the beatufull tech trees we find over here on the starting page.

[Gilberreke]

Also if I'm allowed to make another suggestion for the wiki: Include one of the beatufull tech trees we find over here on the starting page.

Unless it's an SVG image (as in, easily editable), I don't think linking a tech tree image is a good idea. Someone will need to maintain it.

[SterlingRed]

I just added a template for the personal 2x2 crafting grid. Works the same as the others, just with A1, A2, B1, B2. I added the Chisel page that calls it as an example. Not much info there, just mostly making sure it works.

template:grid/crafting

I'm playing again and realized I can make updates where I can to missing recipes and such as I go through the game.

[Egger3rd]

I just updated the Planks and Shafts pages to be more accurate. There's still work to be done on them like including blood wood, other tools and features. Before I go any further though, please let me know if I'm dropping the ball on something. I'm relatively new to editing wikis, so I'm trying to parse the code and use the same kind of structure when I make changes. I appreciate any constructive criticism and will try to improve over time.

I just added a template for the personal 2x2 crafting grid. Works the same as the others, just with A1, A2, B1, B2. I added the Chisel page that calls it as an example. Not much info there, just mostly making sure it works.

template:grid/crafting

Super thanks for this. I was wondering about doing so now that the workbench is farther down the tech tree. If there are no objections, I look forward to implementing this in applicable recipes.

[will_holmes]

Yeah, that breakdown makes sense to me. One ambiguous area, I think, is the current "Hardcore Modes" page (and various related pages in that category). In general, those pages are pretty messy and I think suffer from being hard to navigate if you don't know what you're looking for. That's at least somewhat an effect of more updates lately being considered hardcore modes.

On the "Hardcore Modes" I'm thinking if we should treat BTW still as a Mod or if we rather go down another path and embrace the 'total conversion' theme and explain everything from the beginning, ignoring everything one might know about vanilla MC. As BTW runs on MC 1.5.2 (and feature wise more of 1.3.?) most new (BTW) players won't even know how different 1.3.? was to the curent 1.12.?
So what I'm saying is: don't bother explaining how BTW differs from vanilla, just treat is as a new game with some elements similar or equivalent to vanilla.

Also if I'm allowed to make another suggestion for the wiki: Include one of the beatufull tech trees we find over here on the starting page.

I think that's the way to go. Treating the whole thing as "vanilla but these changes" doesn't work any more, it should just be treated as if it was its own game.

I'd like to help out with the wiki, is there a place I could apply for a log in to make some edits?

[sargunv]

I'd like to help out with the wiki, is there a place I could apply for a log in to make some edits?

I've just created a wiki account for you with the same username/email as your forum account. Check your email for a link to create your password.

[will_holmes]

Thanks!

I'm starting at Shafts and working my way up the tech tree making pages as I go, it's strangely therapeutic.

[CrimsonStorm]

Just wanted to say kudos to Will, he's been doing a lot of good editing for the new early game on the wiki.

[Veracity]

Whenever I attempt to log in to my wiki account I get the following message

There seems to be a problem with your login session; this action has been canceled as a precaution against session hijacking. Go back to the previous page, reload that page and then try again.

Any idea what's going on?

[sargunv]

Whenever I attempt to log in to my wiki account I get the following message

There seems to be a problem with your login session; this action has been canceled as a precaution against session hijacking. Go back to the previous page, reload that page and then try again.

Any idea what's going on?

I can log in just fine. Is this still happening for you?

[will_holmes]

I've decided that I will be making a page for each item but if they're best referred together as one page, then the individual items will be a stub with the recipe for use as a reference. For example, while there's a "pickaxe" page that has complete info about what each can mine, there will be a page for each type of pickaxe (stone, iron, gold, diamond, refined, mattock) that just says the recipe, with no further information, barring maybe a "See: Pickaxe" page or whatever's the most relevant, outside the <onlyinclude> tags.

Hopefully this will create a consistent structure for future recipe changes, and be faster to edit.

[magikeh]

Winter break is almost upon us, Will_Holmes and I had a chat about the prospects for the wiki moving forward. Three major things that we are looking to work on for the new year are as follow:

1) Continue the VMC wiki integration
-Will has been slaying this monstrosity, if you want to lend a hand check out what is yet to be completed on this page. If you're not too confident on what needs to be updated, what style to follow or how to edit the wiki, feel free to drop by the discord and we can help guide you :).

2) Remove all old guides, progressions and other like pages and build a single guided system to help new players
-The basic idea will be to strip the current guides down to their bare instructions, combine all the guides into a single document then pull irrelevant/old information, and then split them up appropriately into ages/tiers/progressions
-We will need to talk about whether or not we (as a community) want to have 2 styles of guides, a quick-start and a more detailed style.
-For this one, I'd like to call on any members in the community that have made it to the nether in progression (that seems to be about the point that FC has worked hard at balancing up to as of yet) for help editing the early game guide.

3) Create a tree/subclass structure for all single items, blocks, entities and mechanics. ie:
Items:{Weapons:(Swords, Clubs), Tools:(Pick, Axe, Hoe), Food(...), dyes, ...}
Blocks:{Stone:(Strata[1,2,3]), Dirt, Farmland, Wood:(Jungle, Oak, Spruce, Birch), ...}
Mechanics:{Weather:(Rain, Thunderstorms, Lightning), Chunk Loading, Nothing to worry about, ...}
I think I can tackle this one for now. There was a basic system in the old VMC wiki that I can rip for this, I'll post my progress later and seek input for proper classification when I get to that point.

[gaga654]

Whenever I attempt to log in to my wiki account I get the following message

There seems to be a problem with your login session; this action has been canceled as a precaution against session hijacking. Go back to the previous page, reload that page and then try again.

Any idea what's going on?

This has happened to me a couple times, and I've found that I can solve it by adding "www." to the beginning of the URL. (e.g. if I go to http://sargunster.com/btw/index.php?title=Nethercoal then it looks like I'm not logged in, but if I go to http://www.sargunster.com/btw/index.php ... Nethercoal then I am logged in.) Leaving this here in case anyone else encounters the same problem.

[SterlingRed]

You may have figured out how to structure this already but here's a stab at organizing the progression for early game guidelines.
My thought here was to organize things based on milestones that drastically change game play or open up a large portion of the tech tree. Characteristics are sort of like "you might be in this stage if..." Milestones are things achieved during that stage.

Camping You have been born into a harsh and unforgiving world! Make the most of the resources around you and try not to die!
- Characteristics:

• You have nothing!
• You are experiencing Hardcore Spawn.

- Milestones:

• You Exist

Settlement You have figured out how to build an oven to come back to and the area around you is beginning to look lived in. You're making iron and beginning to farm!
- Characteristics:

• You have a brick oven.
• Many trees nearby are stumpy.
• Few to no passive animals nearby remain.
• You are exploring caves and producing iron.
• You are growing some crops!

- Milestones:

• Brick Oven
• Workbench
• Hemp Farm

Mechanical Power That's a fancy windmill you got there. Don't forget to turn it off in the rain! Also important, dye it!
- Characteristics:

• Access to Mechanical Power
• Your home is starting to look like a real place.

-Milestones:

• Windmill
• Millstone
• Saw
• Cauldron

Into the Breach (this needs a better name) The screaming has started, along with an erie purple glow, and lakes of fire! Run? Yeah you should probably run. That's not a marshmallow chasing you!
- Characteristics

• Access to the nether
• Permanent torches
• Some system for mining new resources established
• More farms going, establishing sustainable food

- Milestones

• Diamonds
• Nether Portal
• Sustainable Food
• Safe Base

Discovery You've found signs of life! Long journeys yield cool loot and you've learned to build new things! You have probably experienced death in many unique ways resulting in many camping sites!
- Characteristics

• Well established base
• Several mini bases help with hardcore spawn
• Farms well established and you're producing extra products
• Lots of exploring!

- Milestones

• Nether Fortress
• Kiln
• Stoked Cauldron
• Crucible
• Populated Village
• Semi-automation

[dawnraider]

One thing I'd adjust with that is that the cauldron milestone should be moved to the next tier. While technically possible, a cauldron (and subsequently a saw also) aren't particularly feasible without netherrack.

[FlowerChild]

While technically possible, a cauldron (and subsequently a saw also) aren't particularly feasible without netherrack.

Not sure if that would be considered true anymore with the campfire.

[SterlingRed]

While technically possible, a cauldron (and subsequently a saw also) aren't particularly feasible without netherrack.

Not sure if that would be considered true anymore with the campfire.

I've also always used a cauldron as soon as I can spare the iron in order to collect millstone outputs. It's a pre saw way of getting a hopper. But yeah, some detail would be good in the wording over its use. There's overlap in a few other places like that too.