Modding Tutorial Book (new: Privileges)

[rubenwardy]

Added Inventories chapter.

Download

[rubenwardy]

Added loads more anchor links to lua_api.html

Commit 47880

[Evergreen]

The link to the online version of the book no longer works.

[rubenwardy]

http://rubenwardy.com/minetest_modding_book/ does work,
but http://rubenwardy.com/minetest_doc/ doesn't.

[rubenwardy]

It may also be because I moved to www.rubenwardy.com from rubenwardy.com

[rubenwardy]

Fixed, I think.

[Arcelmi]

Thank you for this tutorial!

[KCoombes]

Typo:

Wear
ItemStacks also have wear on them. Wear is a number out of 65535, the higher is more warn.

worn, not warn

[TheReaperKing]

Thank so much for your tutorial! I plan to use at school with the kiddos!

[TumeniNodes]

It has definitely been a really big help for me as well. Thank you very much.

[rubenwardy]

You're welcome.
Also, I forgot to announce:

New chapter available, "privileges": http://rubenwardy.com/minetest_modding_ ... leges.html

[ExeterDad]

Funny this topic came up today. My ten year old son wanted me to teach him how to make a mod to add new blocks to Minetest. I referred him to your book this afternoon to learn a thing or two before I just coded it for him. He read for quite awhile. The fact it held his interest for that long tells me things were sinking in, and not too boring.
Well done... and Thank you.

[Godo]

Hi, rubenwardy. First of all thank you for all the hard work that went into writing the modding book, I have found it quite interesting and useful. Unfortunately, I haven't got the time to pursue it to its farthest limits, but it has helped me understand a lot about how textures work within Minetest.

One thing I miss is an explanation of how you make the background transparent using the Gimp. I use a different program to edit the pixels in .gif, then open it with the Gimp and save it as .png, but although I managed to adjust the paintbrush and eraser sizes following your instructions I haven't been able to figure out how to do the transparency bit (the help section in the Gimp was not very helpful: I managed to add an alpha channel and select the background in the image, then I tried all four options in the transparency menu option, but I couldn't see any changes to the background with any of them).

In the end I managed to do it using another program (a litlle freeware jewel called Giffy whose main function is basically to set a transparent background to a .gif image), then saving it as .png with the Gimp. But all the same, could anyone tell me how to make the background transparent using the Gimp?

One more thing: I have come across some language mistakes which you might want to correct. They are detailed below.

README.html
... which is understandably
---> ... which is understandable.

chapters/folders.html
a good mod name can describes what the mod does.
---> a good mod name should describe what the mod does.

chapters/lua.html
Nil means not initalised. The variable hasn’t been assigned a variable yet
---> ...hasn’t been assigned a value yet

chapters/nodes_items_crafting.html
or they can be used be the player
---> or they can be used by the player
Item definitions like seen above...
---> Item definitions like the one seen above...
... are usually made up of an unique item string
... are usually made up of a unique item string

[rubenwardy]

Most of those typos have already been fixed, where are you reading the book from?
Added "explanation of how you make the background transparent using the Gimp" to the todo list.
The answer is to right click the layer and select "add alpha channel" or something like that, then use the rubber to erase.

[Godo]

I have been reading the "offline" version of your book, which I downloaded two days ago.

[rubenwardy]

I forgot to upload a newer version of that, but I've just uploaded one now. (the one you downloaded is from november)

[Godo]

Thank you so much, rubenwardy.

I see you have added a section about privileges, I'm going to read that (not now, thought, it's bedtime). When you have nothing better to do, could you finish the section about signlike nodes in the chapter about Node Drawtypes? When I started reading your book I was hoping to find a way to craft wooden arrow signs, to avoid getting lost as I explore (as a newbie, that was one of the first problems I encountered). I know I can use /sethome and all that, but it feels like cheating, doesn't it?

I'm uploading the signpost I was working on before deciding it was out of my depth, in case someone out there learning to do mods wants a challenge.

What I am doing in the meantime is this: I've changed the texture of the wooden sign to give it the shape of an arrow pointing left. When I want to point the way to an interesting feature in my world, I put two blocks of stone one of top of the other, then I nail the sign on the top one with the arrow facing in the direction I want to indicate. Sometimes I use several signs on different sides of the stone signpost, because they all point to the left. Instead of stone blocks you can use three pieces of wooden fence one on top of another, they look nicer, but if you don't put a sign in each of the four sides there is a problem: the sign points in opposite directions when seen from opposite sides. I am also uploading the texture I have changed. It would be nice to have another one pointing right, but I would need to sacrifice the iron sign for that.

[Godo]

Hi, rubenwardy, it's me again. In the end I couldn't resist putting your wonderful tutorial to the test. I have managed to write a couple of mini-mods (for a washing-machine and a bedside table) and I am trying for a slanted straw roof (having a bit of a hard time with that, but it's fun).

(By the way, I came across another couple of typos in your tutorial (chapters/node_drawtypes.html):

Each row is a cubiod... --->
Each row is a cuboid...

... which are joined to make a single node. --->
... which is joined to the others to make a single node.

[KCoombes]

Chapter suggestion: Biomes and how to create them. I'm currently dissecting TenPlus1's Ethereal mod for his biome generation code, which is marvelously commented, but explanations of each definition entry would be helpful.

[TumeniNodes]

Maybe more info regarding "meshes"?
I am not sure if you have updated it, but if so I have not found it. I think it is one of the area under types of nodes which is yet to be finished?

I had received a pm from a new user a week ago asking if I knew of any info regarding graphics (how to make changes to the UI, etc.
I would like to offer any help I could give toward this if needed? In regards to textures, UI graphics and even how to make changes to the interface (as I dig into it to see what is what and how to) etc.

[KCoombes]

Chapter 12 Formspecs: Other Elements

You should look in lua_api.txt for a list of all possible elements, just search for “Formspec”. It is near line 1019, at time of writing.

It is now at line 1376.

[TumeniNodes]

Chapter 12 Formspecs: Other Elements

You should look in lua_api.txt for a list of all possible elements, just search for “Formspec”. It is near line 1019, at time of writing.

It is now at line 1376.

Thank you.

[KCoombes]

Help please?

In the Lua Modding API Reference page, you have this:

drop = {
max_items = 1, -- Maximum number of items to drop.
items = { -- Choose max_items randomly from this list.
{
items = {"foo:bar", "baz:frob"}, -- Choose one item randomly from this list.
rarity = 1, -- Probability of getting is 1 / rarity.
},
},
},

As this is written, my node is dropping 1 of each item, not 1 single item. Any advice?

[rubenwardy]

I did not write that, as the page says at the top. It's just a nicely formated version of the official docs. I'm not sure how it works, please seek support through normal means

[Wuzzy]

In your guide, can you please also link to http://dev.minetest.net/Mod_interoperability and http://dev.minetest.net/Groups in the appropriate places?

The first page is written to improve interoperability and general collaboration between mods in the hope to reduce redundancy and confusion. It mostly lists API mods. The second page lists known groups.

You are also invited to improve said pages by yourselves. ;-)

[MineYoshi]

Somebody talked about translating this Modding Tutorial Book?

Because i would like to translate this to spanish...
(Now that I have the idea)

[DraggonFantasy]

Because i would like to translate this to spanish...

I can also translate it to russian :) if I'll not be lazy
But the only bad thing in translations is that they often get outdated very quickly. When there's only 1 version of book (english) - it's needed to maintain only 1 version. But when there are spanish, french, russian etc, then you need to maintain 100500 versions.

Btw, I noticed a little mistake in "Inventories" chapter, "List sizes" part in example code:

Your phone or window isn't wide enough to display the code box. If it's a phone, try rotating it to landscape mode.

Code: Select all

print("size:  " .. inv.get_size("main"))

But AFAIK, it should be:

Your phone or window isn't wide enough to display the code box. If it's a phone, try rotating it to landscape mode.

Code: Select all

print("size:  " .. inv:get_size("main"))

[MineYoshi]

I can maintain the version updating it every week...

Isn't that hard when one person has to care only about one translation!