Mostly Harmless
Legacy:Project FAQ
Frequently asked questions about the project. Feel free to:
- post questions about the project
- post answers to new questions
- add multiple answers to questions
- I want to write about the next generation Unreal engine? How am I to organise it, and where to put it?
- Start at UT2003. You'll find the current page creation and editing policy on UT2003 specifics.
- What is this site? Aren't there enough Unreal Editing sites already?
- Yes! But this site is not "just another tute site." This site began with the aim to consolidate a fractured knowledge base: It's now two years since Unreal Tournament has been released, and editing info is still hard to find on the web. I think we can change that.
I also think that when the next generation of Unreal games is released it would be better for the mapping community if everyone's titbits of information about the new engine were grouped together, instead of scattered around. – Tarquin
- Why are so many pages unfinished?
- Articles don't have a single author. If a page seems unfinished to you, add to it. – Tarquin
- How do I search the site?
- There is a search box at the top and bottom of every page on this site. Just enter some terms (separated by blanks) and hit Enter. The Wiki will show you the pages that match your query best. (Enclose terms that contain blanks of their own in double quotes.)
- How does it work?
- This is a completely open project. Everybody & anybody can contribute. You are an editor: you can edit any page by clicking the link at the bottom and you can add new pages. You have as much say the content of the site as I do.
The site grows quickly because anyone can add or change material straight away. To get started, see New Contributors Quick Start. Wiki markup is very simple to learn. Go and see Wikipedia for an idea of what can be accomplished with the Wiki system. – Tarquin
- What are all the ? links?
- Those are links that people have made to pages that don't yet exist on the system. When you type text [[Legacy:Like This|like this]] in a page, Wiki creates a link. If the text in the double square brackets isn't the name of an existing page, the new link will lead to a form where the new page can be created. Once the page has been created, the text will become normal link. See also Wiki FAQ – Tarquin
- Anyone can edit my text? Ewwww!
- Weird, isn't it? The first article I submitted to Wikipedia was edited within a day or so, and even though I knew it would happen, it was very strange seeing pieces of my text embedded in somebody else's. you get used to it. Changes or additions to the wiki become part of a whole that is bigger than any single writer. – Tarquin
- Isn't it all going to turn into one big horrible mess?
- Probably. But it's fairly easy to re-organize pages or move material from one to another.
For example, at the time of writing (only two days into the project) we have pages called "Brush" and "Brushes". We also seem to be tending towards encyclopaedia-style article headers, rather than titles like "how to apply lighting". Neither of these things is a problem. It's also fine to have articles that don't belong in a strict hierarchy. We can organize material later – if you see a link which you think would be better off in a different place, you can move it. – Tarquin
- I'm not l33t enough to contribute.
- Anyone can help. If you've ever opened UnrealEd, you're bound to know something. If you've only opened it once, you have the beginner's perspective – if the articles aimed at beginners don't make sense to you, change them so they do! – Tarquin
- Would you like an article on (topic)? Could you add a link to (site)?
- If you think it's relevant to the content of this Wiki, then yes we probably do, but the real answer to the first question is: it's up to you. The answer to the second question is: No. You can add it yourself. :D
- What if idiots damage the site?
- Other Wiki sites say that this isn't a problem. And, actually, we have a full-time Idiot-Proofer on Staff. Admittedly, gaming communities do seem to have their share of idiots. The server keeps past versions of articles, so while anyone can damage the site, anyone who spots damage can immediately fix it – look for the "View Other Revisions" link. Editing and saving a past revision over-writes the current version of a page.
Admins keep zipped backups of the entire site as an extra precaution. IPs are publicly logged on the Recent Changes pages, and if necessary they can be blocked. Admins can also lock the entire site, making it read-only. – Tarquin - see also Wiki Protection for info on how you can help
- Do I need to register?
- No. Registration is optional. All it will do is show your user name on the Recent Changes list instead of your IP, and save your preferences for viewing the site. Click on preferences and enter a name and password to register.
You're also invited to create a personal page for yourself. If you like, you can make your name in the list a wiki link and create a page for your contact details, biog, and guestbook. – Tarquin
- Who invented Wiki? Who wrote this script?
- The very first Wiki is the Portland Pattern Repository. It's usually called WikiWiki, or Ward's Wiki after its creator. This site runs on a perl script called UseModWiki created by Clifford Adams, with various nifty patches and Mychaeel's markup parser, Wookee.
- Who runs this site?
- You do. There's a list of people working on the site at Category:Legacy Personal Page, you're free to add your name to the list. The content of the site is decided by people who decide to contribute. The topics list on the main page is gradually being shaped by individual additions. If you want to add something that doesn't fall under one of the headings, add a new heading.
(The site is hosted by BeyondUnreal, current Wiki admins are Tarquin and Mychaeel.)
- I have an idea for a radical new organization of the site
- Try it! We can always switch back if it doesn't work.
- What do admins do?
- As little as possible. The only things wiki admins can do that you can't are:
- * Rename pages (anyone can port content to a new page, but this function renames all the links throughout the site too)
- * Delete pages (same again)
- * Ban IPs
- * Lock the entire site (see Wiki Protection)
- How do I become an admin?
- Technically, by being told the admin password by another admin.
- But – why do you want to be one, in the first place? There's no special honor to it and there's little an admin can do that a "normal user" can't (see the question above). Admin privileges are a technical necessity, and they come with a responsibility; so if you want to be an Unreal Wiki admin, you'll be only likely to convince one of the current admins if there's an actual need for another admin and if they have the impression that you're trustworthy (in Unreal Wiki terms). →Mychaeel
- I don't think there's a need for new admins. I use my admin powers maybe once a week or even less, for the occasional page renaming. Editorial control is something everyone already has. →Tarquin
UT2007
- What is the wiki doing to prepare for UT2007? Is any preparation on the part of the wiki even neccessary?
Tarquin: This would be better suited to Project Discussion. I've not given UT2007 much thought, but I imagine the change will be the same as for UT -> UT200x. We add a suffix to all old pages and make sure everything is tagged.
SuperApe: I'm not so sure. While there were huge changes between UT -> UT200x, from what I have heard, the new Unreal engine version in UT2007 will be completely different; a top-down restructuring. We might have to get a little more information on it's structure before we commit to a scheme of integration to this site.
Sweavo: from the point of view of this relative noober, I think it would be best to really stamp the difference on it. Maybe go so far as to have a whole separate wiki with, say, a green skin instead of blue for pages that apply to UT2007. Coming to this wiki last year, I had (and continue to have) a lot of trouble figuring out what stuff applies to what version of unreal.
Alternatively, It's kind of getting away from the wiki ethos, but I think it could be great to have a series of checkboxes on the edit form that let you say whether the page you're submitting applies to UT2007, UT2004, UT2003, UT...
On the one hand that looks too structured for a wiki, on the other, structure seems to be the biggest bugbear here. The tiny amount of editorial input that such a checkbox system would have, would really help keep the wiki organised. Then from the reader's point of view it should always be possible to indicate what version the information applied to.
The way I'd see it progressing from there is that the checkboxes could show up on the reader's interface too, and irrelevant pages simply aren't returned, or are sorted to the end of search results. Whether done by checkboxes or by a whole separate wiki, over time, there would be a UT2007 wiki plus a bunch of older material that could be used to draw from when the UT2007 wiki draws a blank.
Feel free to add questions, or add new answers to existing questions.
