How To Make a Tutorial (modders need to read!)

[LEMONAIDS]

I have looked at every damn custom unit tutorial and they are all very vague and not very comprehensive.
i know A LOT of people agree with me. it is the most frustrating thing in the world to re-read the same sentence over and over again in an attempt to interpret what the hell this modder is trying to convey. i used to reskin and mod units all the time with ETW but now NTW seems completely alien to me. i really appreciate the tutorials that are out there but they are confusing and dont explain anything about anything. I dont know if it is a language thing or a communication problem. so let me propose the perfect formula for making tutorials.

1. Make bullet points or number each step in the process. This consolidates the information into easy to read and easy to understand instructions. it also makes it easier for the modder to reference previously visited information.

2. use punctuation. its easy. see? (capitalization doesnt matter unless its necessary)

3. dont be smart. dont use obscure words that aren't relevant to the idea that your trying to communicate to people reading your tutorial. Just try to deliver the most basic form of your idea as possible. this will assure that even the most idiotic people will understand. and if you do use a big word make sure you know the meaning of that word. the most frequently asked questions in tutorials are usually "what did you mean by this?" which doesnt make it easy on the modder because he has to keep responding to questions about what parts of his tutorial didnt make sense.

3. keep typos to a minimum. accidentally typing "mesh" instead of "mask" is a tutorial killer.

4. pictures always help. i know they are a hassle but if you want your tutorial to be awesome then your going to have to do it. they supplement your idea with visual reinforcment. if you have a terrible vocabulary or if english isnt your first language then pictures are your best friend.

5. dont leave anything out. another tutorial killer is answering a bunch of questions about why everybody's mods are crashing after following your tutorial and then realizing that you skipped an important step and posting it 2 or 3 pages later. this is tutorial suicide.

6. be thorough. if you reach a complicated step in your process make sure you really emphasize this step by providing why, when, where, how, because too much information is never a bad thing.

7. use examples! people need scenarios to follow. it makes more sense when you use an example and it also satisfies the conceptual side of the brain.

8. include links. tutorialists are usually pretty good at doing this. it just sucks when you read a tutorial that references something that you have to search for because they didnt inlcude the damn link!

9. be prepared to answer questions regarless of how beautiful your tutorial is. some people will never get it.

10. be patient.

11. follow these steps if you want a comprehensive tutorial that everybody will rep.

i have a lot of great ideas for mods that i would love to bring into fruition and share with the modding community but i cant because i dont know how. And i dont know how because nobody has provided a tutorial that has made sense to me ill be the first to admit that im an idiot but even idiots want to learn how to mod. thanks guys. long live TWC!!!!!!!!


love,
lemonaids

[The Hedge Knight]

2. use punctuation. its easy. see? (capitalization doesnt matter unless its necessary)

Doesnt that need a capitol letter at the start of each sentance?

Is it grammaticly correct to have an entire sentance without a full stop or capitol letter within brackets?

[.Mitch.]

ill be the first to admit that im an idiot

So basically what you'v done is highlighted many possible flaws in tutorials, and then right at the death given us the real reason as to why you can't follow the tutorials.

I think you need to heed your own points tbh..

be patient.

But then inevitably realise..

some people will never get it.

[LEMONAIDS]

putting "I" when referring to yourself instead of "i" is more of a tedious formality then a grammatical necessity in regards to making tutorials. you know who i am talking about when i say i. the idea is to communicate an idea with minimal flaws without being bogged down with the wonderment of where one should capitolize a word. if in the game there is a file that is capitolized then you would capitolize it in your tutorial to prevent confusion and mistakes. and yes periods, commas, and even apostrophes are very important and should be used as much as possible where necessary.

[LEMONAIDS]

i appreciate your comment mitch but why would i take the time and "patience" to express this if i hadnt been patient in the first place when trying to read tutorials? hello? are you ok? the initial comment about me being an idiot was put there in the general sense. im sorry you took it literally and in the personal sense. welcome to the club of idiots, mitch. we missed you.

[.Mitch.]

I'm an Artifex with a modding award. I think it's fair to assume I have no trouble reading tutorials.

My main point was, if you can't understand the tutorial, modding probably isn't for you.

[LEMONAIDS]

congratulations, mitch. leave it up to a pompous Artifex to undermine your idea with ignorant scrutiny. are you aware of how much modding i have done in the past? do you know what things i have modded? no you dont. despite all your awards i have to say that assuming anything really isnt doing you much justice. i dont know why your resisting this so much, mitch. im not trying to invalidate every tutorial out there in the workshop. im just trying to help other people like me that have trouble reading tutorials that dont make any sense, though i do appreciate them. i even appreciate you, mitch, in all your glorious know-all be-all attitude. uh-oh, i feel another suspended account coming on.

[T.C.]

I taught myself to mod from tutorials. The pixels underneath my avatar prove they aren't too vague. Stop getting annoyed and put a little more effort in, it's what everyone else did.

Though I'll admit some of them take more effort than others.

[LEMONAIDS]

likewise. i think you guys are assuming that i have never modded before. i can and do mod napoleon. i learned how to mod every aspect of empire with great tutorials but for some strange reason when napoleon was released the quality of the tutorials decreased. if there are better tutorials then there will be more modders. if there are more modders then there will be more mods. does this make sense? Im not annoyed. im actually quite satisfied at the moment. i learn more about modding from private messaging then i do from some of these tutorials. and granted, there are some very good tutorials out there but then there are crappy ones. and its not like i glanced at the tutorials and was just like " this". i have had this game since the day it came out and have been modding things since i bought it. but some things never got re-learned because no matter how much time i spent re-reading a tutorial it never became anymore understandable. just because you read something until you have it ing memorized doesnt mean it makes sense.

[LEMONAIDS]

and by the way T.C. your "how to create a custom unit card(NTW)" is spot on. So good for you and anybody who wants to learn how to creat a custom unit card for NTW.

[T.C.]

just because you read something until you have it ing memorized doesnt mean it makes sense.

Maybe you should focus less on memorising and more on understanding then.

You clearly have little patience, perhaps you should slow down before saying " this" and giving up.

[LEMONAIDS]

i wish you would make a tutorial on how to create a completely new custom unit with new unit parts, for example: how to make a french fusilier have new stats and wear the the national guard's bicorne. this would be awesome. do it.

[LEMONAIDS]

i think you should read the message again, TC. I was emphasizing how i didnt say " this" and how i tried to understand the tutorial with great patience. read it again, chief.

[T.C.]

i wish you would make a tutorial on how to create a completely new custom unit with new unit parts, for example: how to make a french fusilier have new stats and wear the the national guard's bicorne. this would be awesome. do it.

No.

I have more important things (to me) to be doing, I'm not a walking library. I've given my advice, judging by the fact that I'm one of two people to do so I think it's fair to say I've already done more than most would do

Apologies for the misread.

[LEMONAIDS]

what a bummer. all these posts are people commenting on me rather then the content of the post itself. thanks anyways, fellas. this wasnt supposed to be a giant rant or complaint it was realistically supposed to be a benevolent stepping stone for modders who want to teach people how to mod napoleon total war.