Noob Modder Seeks Aid

[Zenyatta]

I love AssaultCube. I love it like the child-me ago loved Asteroids 30 years ago. I could play it all damned day. Heck, I may have even have come close a few times.

I've played the game enough to get some of my own ideas stirring: A Teamkill/Teamhit scorer, return of the frag ratio, etc. Mostly the ideas involve numerical computations such as this that display for myself only. I'm assuming these sort of mod is "okay with AC gurus," but I admit my complete ignorance in such matters. (Side note: I do wonder how to get crosshairs for my unzoomed sniper screen...Again, Legal?)

Thus, I need to send this request out to the more code-abled souls amongst us Cubeheads.

With the goal of being able to design my own mods for AC, where should a noob like myself begin his programming studies?

My impulse is to learn C++. Or should I start with Cubescript? Would learning to map help?? Is there a D-??? [/font]You see my level of noobness.

Thanks for your consideration! I appreciate any feedback you could offer.

Zenyatta

[font=Courier]The Cube Rules!

[Mael]

Please only start one thread.

[Felix-The-Ghost]

Well, although C knowledge helps, I'd start with Cube Script first.

My impulse is to learn C++

I think you'd have trouble learning it, if only deciding to on impulse :P
There will be blood and tears :)

[Z3R0]

Hello

Im not exactly an "AC guru" but i can tell you that adding a crosshair to you sniper is definitely illegal :) Anything that gives you an unfair advantage against other players will not be allowed resulting in ban. Though I'm not meaning to deter you, there's many more cool things you can do with mods :P

I've never done any scripting in depth. I was able to create a script that helped me ragequit and that stretched my capabilities, but I do think learning Cubescript Is somewhat the way to go (not too sure).

Learning to map will not help you with anything really modding related as they are two quite different things, but I do map myself and it is a very fun way to waste time :D

[Lantry]

Like Z3RO said, the current rule about modding is that anything is allowed as long as it doesn't give you an unfair advantage over an unmodded client. That said, all of the interpretation of this rule is up to the devs, so something that you might think doesn't help you can still get you banned.
As for scoreboard mods, there has already been one done that computed the k/d ratio and displayed it on the scoreboard, and I would imagine that any sort of display mod like that would be fine. If you would like to do something like that, the best way would be to learn C++, as this is what the game is written in.

[Ronald_Reagan]

Cubescript is limited, but will give you a good handel about how AC works. A good (slightly outdated) starting place is here: http://pbclan.tk/Cubescripts/

[D1551D3N7]

If you are at that level of noobishness learning C++ might be a big endeavour. Cubescript is quite easy to get a grip on (IMO). Just read a tutorial or two then go through the cubescript files in AC. I recommend getting Notepad++ for viewing and typing scripts or any text document as Notepad sucks (presuming you using windows :L). Theres usually someone on the IRC to help out too (irc.gamesurge.net #cubescript)

[Zenyatta]

Thanks so much for the replies. You all rock.

Looks like the opinions are split down the middle, but the gist I have taken is that Cubescript and C++ would help me modify the code, but Cubescript is a simpler version. So I assume that the scope of what one could modify using Cubescript is limited compared to C++. Correct?

I've started these C++ tutorials someone posted elsewhere on the forum. I'll check out the Cubescript tutorials next.

Thanks again!

See you on the Cube.

~ Zenyatta ~

[Ronald_Reagan]

"but the gist I have taken is that Cubescript and C++ would help me modify the code"

That is the only wrong part. Technically. Cubescript is written into the code as a coding language. C++ is what was used to code cubescript. Make sense?

[Zenyatta]

You're blowin my mind, Ronnie.

Ok, so if that is the case, then learning cubescript would help with modding AC, whereas learning C++ wouldn't directly do so. No?

The fact that C++ is useful elsewhere in the computing world is still appealing, though.

[Andrez]

You're blowin my mind, Ronnie.

Ok, so if that is the case, then learning cubescript would help with modding AC, whereas learning C++ wouldn't directly do so. No?

The fact that C++ is useful elsewhere in the computing world is still appealing, though.

Cubescript is for 'internal' use in AC, meaning that it's used to create scripts that can be used in the game itself.
C++ is used to manipulate AC's source, I mean for editing the whole game itself. I hope it's clear!

[Ronald_Reagan]

One thing to note: From what I hear, people who start programming on C++ dont get very far easily. You should start with a softer language. If you want an AC related one, cubescript is good for that (kinda :>). Else try python, I really enjoyed (and still do) learning it.