let me explain...
First of all, without a high speed internet connection, tutorials with lots of pictures will take forever to load, and if mappers in general had a high speed internet connection, they would be playing rather than mapping (at least I know I would).
Second, I have seen very few explanations on the wiki that include lots of pictures, and to be blunt.... no pictures is like reading a manual or textbook, which is quite frankly boring. If the wiki included the 1400+ pictures that I included, it would take 6 days for each page to load.. Kind of pointless when you want to just quick reference the RBG values to find a neon purple light color.
In general, from what I have read, there are very few step by step by step tutorials on the wiki. More or less it seems to be a technical reference as to the functions class structures etc. The help file I am compiling is much much different:
It is for offline use (because quite frankly if I am going to be mapping, I'm NOT going to be online and you all know what a gamble it is to minimize the editor like you would need to do to reference the wiki online...you are about to add pathnodes and want to reference what exactly is the best way to do it ... minimize UED, log onto the net... find the wiki.... find the topic... cross your fingers and pray that someone with half a brain has posted under that subject and that it isn't just a "Pathnoding is what allows
bots to move through the
level. Related info
Navigation Points ...Navigation points, Navigation Points are what compels a bot to perform a specific function at a specific place within a level... Related Topics.... special events... aggh" then, after all that you go back to your task bar, click on UED and....blam "critical error" )
If I am trying to find info on pathnoding, I want specifics:
EXCERPT from BB_Drac's Pathnode tutorial "...Even though you place navigation points you need to select
"Show paths" to see how your network is connected.
To do this you press the right mouse button on the titlebar for any
viewport, select "View" and then "Show Paths".
A single pathnode is a single point in which the network is built
from. By adding nodes at strategic positions, corners, hallways, stairs
and so on, bots are able to navigate from one position to another.
As stated a "PathNode" is just a simple node. To make bots understand
tricky situations other types of nodes are used.
This includes defense points, control points, inventory spots and so on.
It is important to know that most nodes from the category "NavigationPoint"
works as a navigation node (pathnode) but with specific properties.
A good example of this is playerstarts. Its only function is to tell
the engine where it can spawn bots and players.
While playing the playerstart do not have any useful function.
However, bots will still treat this node as a pathnode and it will be
a fully functional part of the network.
This also applies to the node "InventorySpot" which is placed at all
items you place in the level, by the engine when you define paths.
This means that you do not need to place pathnodes above items, weapons and
pickups to let bots understand that they are able to walk there.
In theory you could use weapons, items and pickups placed all around the level
and not use one single pathnode and still have a fully functional network
for bots to use.
When you select define paths the engine will calculate all possible
connections between the nodes.
A connection is shown with a blue or red line between two nodes and this
is a path that bots will consider using.
To succesfully connect two nodes with each other they MUST be in visible range of
each other and not too far apart.
They should not be too close either or bots might get stuck...."
Like I said...
specifics damnit!!! anything else is just someone showing off what they believe they know about the editor to impress others , usually using big words to sound as 'leet' as possible and usually doing nothing to explain
HOW to implement the function that they are defining.
Second, the html helpfile will be able to link to the help tab in the editor w/o leaving the editor to reference it.
Third, as much as I am impressed with some peoples tutorials and prefer to use them, someone else may like the way another author describes a process... for example:
BB_Drac, David M, Dylan, Maverick, Lode, and about 10 other authors have put out very specific, step by step lighting tutorials. I may prefer tutorials by Lode( very specific and technical w/o a lot of side comments and humor) whereas someone else might like David M's lighting tutorials because they are less 'formal' and are fun to read as well as informative. The html help file will allow you to search topics by keywords or authors, so if you like tutorials by Maverick, you can pull up
all of his tutorials on every subject; whereas, if you want to simple search under 'dynamic lighting' you can pull up 20+ tutorials by different authors and use information from some or all of their perspectives as they suit your needs in a specific situation.
I would go on with simple stuff like..."why retype something somebody has already addressed so that it can be placed on the wiki... but hey , if it floats your boat, do it... I haven't bashed the wiki or degraded it's value (till now, and actually Tarquin, I am not meaning to bash it, though it is probably coming across that way) In fact, I have helped Tarquin with that project by putting him in touch with a perl coder. The way I see it the more resources, the better since 50% of the tutorials for the editor that once existed are gone now, their knowledge lost forever (due to weaning interest, site closings...etc) Some people will prefer the wiki and going online, others will prefer the help file hooked to the UED help tab... what I prefer may be entirely different than what you prefer. Like I said... if I am doing a report on 'aerodynamics' I don't want to go to the library, or look it up online, I'd much rather have a program on my desktop that I can click on once and reference every aspect of aerodynamics written by the experts in the field.
Lastly, to say "why compile the tutorials when there are people putting together a website that should cover the same topics" is like asking Lode why he wrote a lighting tutorial when Millennium already wrote one
<--- oshadowo