Over the years I have collected just about every tutorial there is, admittedly not all of them, but lots, mostly on NPC making.
Something I have noticed about the people who Write these (Helpful!) tutos up (And I mean this most respectfully) In every case I have noticed that the authors leave out tiny little nuggets of info that might help newbes (or idiots such as myself) who are just getting started and have Zero idea of modding. I think the reason for this Might be that, without exception, these tutorials and guids are written by people that really know their stuff and have done a mod or five and done them well.
Sometimes people who get Really good at things tend to forget (take for granted) the teeny-tiny lil things that make things work.
Fer instance... I read in these forums once about a "rule" (Not something that Must be done to make an NPC Work, but a standard of practice) that was called (I think, I don't have the thread in front of me) The Rule of Seven - Meaning that banters should only have about seven parts, MAX. Great info (Considering that I once wrote a banter between <CHARNAME and an NPC that had, oh, thirty possibles...
) Yet, in all the tutorials/guides to NPC's and banters I have never read one where this lil nugget was addressed. A little thing perhaps, but it could have saved me (and those Like me) several pages worth of typing and retyping for dialog.
Just as an example you understand.
So, my idea for modding is that someone either write up a guide to modding that includes even the stuff a dumb puppy (who's Succesfully modded once or twice) - leaving in even the tiniest details that many would know yet someone Completely new might not.
Either that or, there are programs out there that allow one to make of movie, or whatever, of everything that happens on the desktop - if someone were to Do an NPC mod, listing the items needed on a blue screen and then taking the viewer "In" step by step and explaining what they are doing and why As they do it...
I know that either to write all this out or to do the movie thing would be a lot of work, but consider a whole generation of (would be) modders out there who could bring much to the game.
Me, I am a Writer, been one for twenty yrs, everything from eroitica to childrens books (Oookay, bad segway that, not to mention without my spellcheck I am often amusing) but when it comes to computers... Well, on a GOOD day I can get my media player AND my browser running At Once.
I continue to work my way up the evolutionary ladder, working my mod and doing what I can to learn through the kind indulgences of others who Do know, but anything to make life easier for others like me is worth considering.
Just a thot.
MiM - Resident Modding Joke.
