[Mod] Minetest Game item help [0.10.0] [doc_minetest_game]

[Wuzzy]

Adds help texts for the Help modpack with information about Minetest Game.

This mod depends on some of the mods in the Help modpack to improve the item help entries for Minetest Game, namely:

• General hand-written item descriptions
• Item usage help
• Group definitions
• Factoids (little automatically generated pieces of information) like flammability, Flora spread, etc.

The included help texts are relevant for Minetest Game version 0.4.14.

Example entry:

+ 2 larger screenshots (old)

https://i.imgur.com/qes5QJ5.png


https://i.imgur.com/2bd8zKj.png

Current status: The help texts are (probably) complete. But there are some nasty bugs relating to doors and similar things.

I want to hear feedback on how well I wrote the help entries. In this thread, please focus on the fields “Description” and “Usage help” of each entry, as those are the main texts which are provided by this mod.

Download (and stuff)
Download current version 0.10.0 (for Minetest 0.4.15): http://repo.or.cz/minetest_doc_minetest ... e23c44.zip
Download old version 0.8.0 (for Minetest 0.4.14): http://repo.or.cz/minetest_doc_minetest ... 80b1d1.zip

Git project page: http://repo.or.cz/minetest_doc_minetest_game.git
Mandatory dependency:

• doc_items (Version 0.11.0 or later) (part of the Help modpack)

Optional dependencies:

• doc_identifier (part of Help)
• doc_basics (part of Help)
• intllib

License of everything: MIT License

[Wuzzy]

Version 0.2.0 released!

This version comes with a huge number of string updates, simply too much to list fully. Biggest changes:
- Blocks with special drops (e.g. Gravel) now show what they drop, including probabilities (example: “This block drops one of the following: Flint (ca. 6%), Gravel (ca. 94%).”)
- Tool damage and digging properties are now displayed more systematically
- Blocks display their digging group and level more systematically as well
- Group memberships displayed in a more readable form
- Selected additional groups are listed for all items
- Better explanation of light behaviour for blocks
- New or updated descriptions for many items
- New minimal descriptions for all craft-only items
- Various other small and big text changes

Other addition, just for fun:
- An experimental achievement for the Achievements [awards] mod by rubenwardy has been added. Read all block entries to win it. This achievement is likely to change later to something more practical.

I guess the next big step for this mod will be to split this mod into two mod: One part to handle the items in a neutral manner, and one part specific to Minetest Game only.

[Wuzzy]

Version 0.3.0 released!

This is an important release since major structural changes have been made. I have forked this mod to create a generic API for adding item help without adding any Minetest Game-specific cruft; this mod can now be found under Item Documentation [doc_items].
All generic functionality in this mod is not part of the aforementioned mod and has been removed in this mod. What remains are only a couple of help texts for Minetest Game and some automatically generated texts and other minor things.
This step was important to make it much more easy for modders to add their own item help.
These changes mean that the dependencies of this mod have changed! Read the first post.

Apart from that, I have again updated the help texts of many items and I think the help texts are now pretty much complete. If you want to give feedback, please do by telling me how well you understand the item entries, especially the description and usage help of each entry.

[Wuzzy]

Updates for version 0.4.0 of this mod:

- Allow Lookup Tool to correctly identify placed boats
- Make Lookup work properly on a variety of blocks where it didn't work previously: Doors, glass panes, iron bars, burning furnace, ignited TNT
- Update screwdriver text
- Update TNT texts
- Fix incorrect information regarding obsidian and how it is created
- More detailed bucket texts
- Move door entries to Blocks section
- Other text changes

[azekill_DIABLO]

+1 this is awesome! is it aded to tutorial?

[Wuzzy]

No, certainly not. This is the Minetest Game item help and the tutorial has not much to do with Minetest Game, apart from using some of its textures and a very few nodes as examples.

I would have to add custom help texts for tutorial. Maybe I'll even do it (and also add doc and doc_identifier) but first the tutorial has some bigger issues which need to be solved (like, finally making major version 2 official because I have problems with item spawning again).

[Wuzzy]

Version 0.5.0 released!

Changelog:
- Compability with doc_items 0.5.0
- Expose tnt_radius setting into TNT description (explosion range of TNT)
- Ore descriptions now include the height in which they can be found
- Add hoe usage count
- Turn leaf decay into an automatically generated text, rather than putting it into the long description
- Customize descriptions for leaves and trees (more infos about the trees themselves)
- Add entry for unused dirt with grass and footsteps node
- Fix incorrect item images for doors
- Fix incorrect description of Flora behaviour
- Fix dropped doors being unidentifiable
- Fix mostly incorrect xpanes factoids (glass pane, iron bar)
- Add alias for burning gunpowder and active furnace so they can be properly identified by doc_identifier
- Compability with doc_items 0.5.0
- Two blocks are now marked as “hidden” (these are unused blocks and unimportant for gameplay, but the entries are still there in case they end up in a world for some reason)
- Many other smaller text changes
- Many minor spelling, grammar and factual fixes

[Wuzzy]

Version 0.6.0 released!

Changes:
- Mention the height at which lava appears
- Bugfix: Fire burning speed was mentioned but Minetest Game only supports one burning speed
- Rename the screwdriver description/tooltip to “Screwdriver” (indead of “Screwdriver (Left click (…))”)
- Declare dirt with grass and footsteps, and dirt with snow as soil for hoe
- Remove the experimental achievement for reading all entries. It might be added later in a slightly different manner, when everything works out fine

Version 0.6.1 released!
Change:
- Remove optional dependency on awards mod

[Wuzzy]

Version 0.7.0 released!
If you updated the Documentation System recently to version 0.7.0, you also need to update this mod, otherwise, it won't work.

Changes:

- Compatiblity with version 0.7.0 of doc_items (now part of the Documentation System modpack)
- Add some compability with development version of Minetest Game (but incomplete compability, the main documentation goal is still Minetest Game version 0.4.14)
- Add support for a few more group names
- Add intllib support (but no translation yet)
- Some spell-checking
- Screenshot changed

EDIT:
Version 0.7.1 released!
Change:
Fix mod crash with both intllib and mod security enabled.

[Wuzzy]

Version 0.8.0 released! With lots of new help texts for the coming next version of Minetest Game. Perfect if you want to understand how the new items work.

Changelog:

• Add support and help texts for new items in the next Minetest Game version:
  
  • Cart
  • Powered rail, brake rai
  • Key and skeleton key
  • Orange coral, brown coral
  • Coral skeleton
  • Bush leaves, bush stem, acacia bush leaves, acacia bush stem
  • Silver sand
• Add a short note to blocks which support the new keys (e.g. locked chest, steel door, steel trapdoor)
• Add support for upcoming new torch
• More copy-editing
• Specify the number of uses for hoes differently
• Add support for the upcoming cools_lava group (mentions all blocks which turn lava into obsidian nearby)
• Add bonus recipe for the encyclopedia from doc_encyclopedia: 3 books vertically.
• Some other refactoring

Note: Minetest Game 0.4.14 is still supported and the primary target of this mod. Some help texts of this mod might be slightly outdated for the current developer version.

[Wuzzy]

Version 0.9.1 released!
This version is the second update for the new Minetest Game version 0.4.15. This update contains help text updates for the more subtle gameplay changes. The help texts have been updated for the following items:
Mossy cobblestone, mossy cobblestone stair, mossy cobblestone slab, mossy cobblestone wall, dirt, dirt with grass, dirt with dry grass, dirt with snow, snow block, snow, mese crystal fragment, basic flame, permanent flame, coal block, flint and steel, TNT, gun powder, torch.

From now on, this mod will only work with Minetest Game 0.4.15. I will continue to offer version 0.8.0 for Minetest Game 0.4.14, at least for a while.

Full changelog:

• Glass pane, iron bar (and other panes): Fix broken lookup tool support
• Mossy cobblestone, mossy cobblestone stair, mossy cobblestone slab, mossy cobblestone wall: Update help regarding mossy blocks with explanation how to generate these
• Dirt with grass, dirt with dry grass, dirt with snow: Dirt cover spreading is now presented differently in help pages
• Mese crystal fragment: Now considered a normal craftitem
• Explain that flammable items get destroyed by igniter blocks such as fire and lava
• Update many fire and ignition-related texts (especially that flint and steel can be used to ignite things like TNT)
• Coal block: Explain that it creates a permanent flame when a flint and steel is used on it
• Mention other ways to create dirt with snow
• Fix incorrect fire entry if fire is disabled (setting “disable_fire” changed name to “enable_fire”)
• Removed the encyclopedia recipe with 3 books (it will be moved to doc_encyclopedia)
• Fix outdated mod dependencies for Minetest Game 0.4.15
• Minor copy-editing (as usual)

Note: The mod has one major remaining bug which definitely needs fixing: You can't use the lookup tool on doors, it will make Minetest crash.

Note: Version 0.9.0 was released in error, so I quickly went to version 0.9.1.

[echosa]

Edit: oops - wrong forum post

[Wuzzy]

Version 0.10.0 released!

Changelog:

- Compability with Help modpack 1.0.0 (IMPORTANT)
- Update help entries: pine sapling, powered rail
- Almost complete rewrite of cart entry, now mentions how to turn the cart around
- TNT entry now optionally mentions mesecons support
- Automatically generate help texts for farming soil
- Replace deprecated function call
- Door entries now finally work with the lookup tool

[ManElevation]

nice I like this mod

[DS-minetest]

Will you add optional information for doors if mesecons_doors is enabled?

[Wuzzy]

I'd rather not. The responsibility for this lies in Mesecons.
My rule of thumb is this: The responsibility for adding help texts for a feature lies in the mod which adds the feature, unless it is a basic Minetest feature (like stack size of an item).

Theoretically. If I'd add support for any external mod which modifies a Minetest Game item, the amount of help texts in this mod would explode and they would also become outdated for sure. Maintaining Minetest Game help texts is enough.

But the real problem is, doors are very messy in Minetest Game and I used really bad trickery to add somewhat useful door help pages, which makes it hard to modify them. I really gotta clean up the code. But it won't be easy. I also might consider an exception for Mesecons because doors are so messy. But this has the downside that I now have to watch another mod for updates.

Frankly, this entire mod is a giant hack because it overwrites the item definitions of basically everything in Minetest Game. It works (more or less), but it's still a hack.

If I would apply my rule of thumb consequently, this mod should not even exist.
Because according to my rule, the responsibility for Minetest Game help texts should lie in Minetest Game itself. This would be the easiest solution, because that's what the Help is designed for. But this would also mean the Help modpack must become a native part of Minetest Game. It would not be bad, I just fear the Help modpack just doesn't have good chances into getting into Minetest Game because it would improve usability. xD (Yes, I'm cynical.)
That's why I created this mod in the first place, also because Minetest Game is still so dominant.

But well, I might one day try to convince Minetest Game devs to adopt the Help modpack, when it has more features. But not now.

That having said, I hope the help is still useful for you. :-)