Thought I may as well make one, since its important.
It has two sections, the website and the game.
If you've written tutorials, post them underneath and ill add them in, as this is an effort to make a permanent help source. More as I can.
====================thebettermod.org===================

New Thread:
To post a new thread, go to the main forum view, click the tab headed "categories" above and pick one, then hit the button.

Using Fonts and Colors:
Simply place the writing prompt before the word you want to be bold, italic or underlined or coloured, select a function from above. This will place a 'tag' on your page, just after your cursor, and it will look like this:Now, simply place the desired text you wanted colored, or modified between the 'tags' ie:To get: I am a walrus, and this text is BOLD

Quotes:
Simply put your cursor where you want the quote, and hit the "quote" button, then put your quote inside the 'tags' ie:to get:Note that bold, italics and underlines and colors work inside quotes.
To get a tailored quote, use:to get:Elrunethe2nd wrote:

Code:
Same method as the "quote" tool, except for the tailored function.
Also, no scripts are done from inside a 'code' box, so if Hi is in a code box, it will appear like:and not like Hi

The Image Tool:
Hit the "Img" button above the area where you write, after your cursor is where you want the image. This will appear:In the space between:and...Place the web location your image is on. In this instance I am putting the thumb's up from the karma tool on this page. The thumb is at:...so I am putting it:...between the two image brackets. Do the same with your image, after hosting it. You will get something like:

========================The Game=========================
To download The Orange Block, you must first be a member of this forum. This is new policy, but enforced because of recent occurrences of spam, and we are trying to prevent this.
If you are not a new member, hit the register button under the navigator on the left.
You will be accepted within a day, at most.
Once this is processed, you can download the game client at the files section, under "TBM Client", the latest is 1.9, but others are available.
Once this downloads, you should have a .zip file with the client on your desktop (or wherever your browser downloads to). Put this zip file in your desired location, and right click it and click "unzip".
To play, simply open "Click to Play.bat" or "Quick Start".
If you want The Orange Block in your start menu, first, go to your Orange Block folder, and right click on the "Click to Play.bat" file. hit the "Create Shortcut" option.
Now, go to My Computer, Users, All Users, Start Menu, Programs, and add a new folder called The Orange Block.
Drag your shortcut into this folder, and voila, you have a shortcut from the menu.

Once playing, go to "Settings" and then "Player Options" to customise your name and look ingame, be sure to adjust your graphics settings also. Leave the Network Settings.
Once you are happy with your look, go back to the main menu.
If you want to start playing by yourself, hit "Start Server".
If you want to play with others, hit "Join Server".
When starting a server, select a map, change your server name and BE SURE to change your admin password. Then simply start the server.
When joining, hit "Query Master" to check the servers that are up. "Query IRC" will find the servers that are open to chat, but not necessarily open for players. Select a server and hit join.

More soon.

If you don't want to wait for your account to be approved, you can just as easily go to thebettermod.org/ftp and manually download whatever the latest version is from there. You might also find beta patches and such I've stored for others to test.

Beginners Guide

Once you have the game up and running, and you have a server up, either through joining someone else's or making your own, you want to start building, right?
Bricks are always in your inventory, unlike Blockland or other games you don't have to select them, they are always there.
The bricks are divided into 10 columns by style and function.
Column one is the building blocks, from 1x1's to 32x32 bases, these are just square bricks.
Column two is regular slopes, these are a collection of sloping downward bricks.
Column three is inverted slopes, which are mostly the same as column two, except slope up instead.
Column four is arches, and contains a lot of different sizes and styles.
Column five is windows, allsorts.
Column six is wings and variated plane & boat parts.
There is hulls for boat building, as well as the traditional wings from lego planes. Also cones.
Column seven is Miscellanea #1, it contains things that range from grills, to flagpoles and transparent bricks.
Column eight is Miscellanea #2, and contains the same stuff, and castle wall bricks and spaceship parts.
Column nine is decals, and works in conjunction with alt+D, the decal menu. More on how to use these later.
Column ten is bases and roads, and is just a collection of things to build on.

These brick columns are accessible through the 1-10 keys above your a-z keys. Note that this is NOT the number pad.
Brick Columns can be cycled through by hitting the corresponding brick column's number repeatedly, or by selecting the column with its number and then using the scroll wheel to browse.

Once you have found your brick, click in the direction of a baseplate to put down the placing tool.
This shows where you will put your brick, and can be manipulated before placing using the Number Pad on the right of your keyboard. Laptop users will need to configure this (use alt+o, controls, keyboard mapping). Bricks can be anchored and placed permanently with the Enter button.

To paint bricks, you must use the "Q" button. This brings up the spraycan.

By default it is set to a boring grey, but this can be changed by hitting alt+Q, which brings up the paint palette.
To delete bricks placed, you can use the "Z" key, which brings up a hammer, or the edit staff (E key). More on the edit staff later.

To Port-forward your computer... (for windows users only)

First click on your start menu, then click run.
After that type in command.
When the command prompt opens the type in ipconfig.
after that you will have to look for a set of numbers like this... WARNING THIS IS AN EXAMPLE [000.00.000.0] or something like that. when you find it. pull up you internet browser. then go to the web adress and put your IP adress on it. (note: do not put in the [ and ].) then you will find your internet configuration. (NOTE: NOT FINISHED)

I've been asked how to turn invisible, so here it is:

There are two ways to turn invisible:

a) The faster way
1) Pull out an editor tool (alt-e or e)
2) Go to Special Options (middle mouse button)
3) Go to the Editor tab, if you're not there already
4) Hit "Select Self"
5) Hit "Cloak"
6) Remove your name (clear "name" box and hit the "Name" button)


b) The more invisible way
1) Pull out an editor tool (alt-e or e)
2) Go to Special Options (middle mouse button)
3) Go to the Editor tab, if you're not there already
4) Hit "Select Self"
5) Remove your name (clear "name" box and hit the "Name" button)
6) Go to the Switches tab
7) Choose the "Fader" switch type
8) Choose a doorset number and hit the "Assign Doorset" button
9) Hit numpad 0 to unselect yourself, and hit "Create Switch"
10) Remove your edit tool
11) Step on the switch

First, spawn what brick you would like to be a turret.
Next, select it, using the edit wand and go to the Special Options Menu (Middle Mouse Button) and click the "switches" tab. Got to the drop down menu and select turret.
You will now be faced with several fields for data which will control your turret. One is Doorset, which is what links a switch to a brick. Another is Rate of Fire, this is in milliseconds, so around 1000 is a pretty average firing rate. Another is the range, and this is best to experiment with, although 1000 is a good sample size for a large range. Another is the image, ie: the gun you will be mounting on the turret brick.
Now, pick a number for yout doorset (random, doesn't matter, just don't overlap doorsets or switches will affect many bricks.) then click assign doorset. That will bind your selected object to the switch and give it a doorset.
Now, click on the image field and choose your image, (some common images will be listed below this tutorial) type in the image name. Now, enter the range (between 100-1000 usually fine) then enter the firing rate.
Now press zero on the numpad to deselect your current brick and click create switch.
Now press zero again, and put away the wand and walk on the switch. This will turn it on, and as you are probably closest to the turret, make the turret start firing at you, so either shift the switch a good way away (depending on range) or run after you hit the switch. The rate of fire will affect how fast the turret follows a player when firing, so, it should be avoidable easily over 500ms.

First off, the host is about the only one who can do fun stuff in the console. This is because most of this stuff is server-based.

I'll alphabetize it later, maybe.

First off, the most important one, in my opinion:
Getting a Client's ID
This is an important part of many other functions. This gets a player's ID so you can mess with people.

Usage:
plist();
This returns everyone's name and ID. If you are planning to use a function on someone, be sure to remember their ID.


HellRain
Hell Rain, rain any kind of hell!
To use, put the name of a projectile first, then the desired x y z velocity, then the time in 1/100ths of a second you want it to last.

Usage:
RainHell(%obj,%velX,%velY,%velZ);
%obj is the type of projectile - flame1projectile for meteors, and godprojectile for god gun things
%velX and %velY are the X and Y velocities respectively. Use 0 for each to shoot straight down. Use
%velZ is the downward speed. I use -1024.


Message All
Use this to send everyone on your server a message. This is useful for communicating to everyone on your server without other servers hearing you.

Usage:
messageall(' ','Blah blah blah.') ;
Replace Blah blah blah with whatever you want to say.


Mimic someone else
Because the format that server commands are in, you can make it appear someone else has done something. The most common example is making it look like someone else is talking.

Usage:
serverCmdMessageSent(%client, %text)
%client is the victim's ID. See "Getting a Client's ID" at the top of this post to see how to get a client's ID.
%text is what you want to make the victim say, for instance "La la la."


Give someone a weapon
This doesn't actually give someone a weapon, it just makes them pull it out. It's mostly used with super weapons, i.e. the God Gun, to make it appear they are attempting to use a destructive weapon.

Usage:
%victim.player.mountImage(nametoid(%item),0);
%victim is the victim's ID
%item is the name of the image, i.e. godimage


Change someone's team
No one uses team DMs anymore, so this isn't very useful. However, if you use team DMs, this is a valuable tool. Note that you must respawn the target after changing their team.

Usage:
%client.team = "green";
%client is the victim's ID
Replace "green" with the desired team, i.e. "blue"


Make someone invincible
This makes someone invincible. Something of a hack, it is not without its glitches (they stay invincible until you make them vincible, or they pick up a DM-Shield).

Usage:
%target.DMShield = 1;
%target is the target's ID


Prevent someone from committing suicide
This is a useful function when trying to trap people. Have you ever tried to trap someone in a box, whether for fun or for punishment, only to have them suicide and escape? This command blocks the target from using suicide.

Usage:
%target.poon = 1;
%target is the target's ID


Shut someone up
I rather enjoy this command. Made by MCP himself, instead of muting people like conventional methods (and my own), this makes the target proclaim his stupidity whenever he tries to talk.

Usage:
%target.shutup = 1;
%target is the target's ID


Change someone's name
Also by MCP, this changes someone's name to a name of you choosing.

Usage:
chgn(%target,%name);
%target is the target's ID
%name is the desired name, i.e. "Bob"


Remove Last Ban
Another useful function by MCP, this removes the last person banned from your server. This is useful because right now we have no ban management.

Usage:
removelastban();


Find and/or explode someone's bricks
Another goodie by MCP, this allows you to find all of someone's bricks and either blow them up or tell you where they are.
MCP wrote a lot more useful stuff than this, I'm just writing what I remember. If you want to see more, check tbm/server/mcptools.cs

Usage:
findbrick(%ip,%x);
%IP is the target's IP
%X is the function:
If X is 1, the target's bricks will explode.
If X is 2, instead use the alternate usage. This will tell you how many bricks that target has out right now.
If X is anything else, it will tell you where each of the target's bricks are.
Alternate Usage (for X=2):
echo(findbrick(%ip,2));


Kill someone
This, uh... kills someone.

Usage:
%target.player,kill()
%target is the target's ID

Alternate:
You can make it appear someone has committed suicide instead of just killing them. To do so, use this instead:

Usage:
%target.player,kill("Suicide")
%target is the target's ID


Find someone's money
If you're running an RPG, you can use this tool to find out someone's money(...or ask me for my easier-to-use patch...)

Usage:
echo(%target.studmoney);
%target is the target's ID


Change someone's money
If you're running an RPG, you can use this tool to change someone's money(...or ask me for my easier-to-use patch...)

Usage:
%target.studmoney = %money;
commandToClient(%target, 'SetStudCounter', %money);
%target is the target's ID
%money is the amount of money you think they should have


Kick everyone who is not an admin
Use this to kick everyone who is not at least an admin. Useful when your server gets crowded.

Usage:
clearout();


Make TOB run slower
This is a client-based effect, so you can do it on anyone's server.

Usage:
$timescale = 1;
Replace the 1 with the appropriate time scale. 1 is normal, 0.5 is slow enough to be cool, and 0.1 is slow enough to make you fall asleep while jumping.

Ehhh, that's all I can think of. If anyone else thinks of one I forgot tell me so I can update this.

What can I say? Im a forum ninja.

Matter cleared, ill delete when Wiggy does.

First off,if you have a question, hit f1 to call up the built-in Help Files. These files, believe it or not, actually have the answer to your question sometimes.

Making something bigger

1) Go into Edit mode (e or alt-e)
2) Select a brick
3) Go to Special Options (middle mouse button)
4) Go to the middle tab
5) Type three numbers into the "Scale" box - i.e., to make a brick twice as big, type 2 2 2
6) Hit the "Scale" button and close the window


Spawning a weapon/vehicle
1) Go into Edit mode (e or alt-e)
2) Go to Special Options (middle mouse button)
3) Go to the middle tab
4) Click on the "Spawn" box
5) Scroll down and click on the desired weapon or vehicle
6) Close the window


Equipping a weapon
1) Press I to display your weapons inventory
2) Press the corresponding button for the weapon of your choice.


Change your editor color
1) Go to Special Options (middle mouse button)
2) Go to the leftmost tab
3) Click on the button marked "Ghost Color"
4) Select a color
5) Close the window


Set up teams
1) Open the Cemetech AI menu (alt-middle mouse button)
2) Click on the box marked "teams"
3) Choose the desired amount of teams
4) Close the window

The only problem is you won't get updates to your in-game news and the clock function won't work right(your irc logs won't be timestamped correctly.

Okay, here I will teach you how to make decals for a use ingame.

Step 1. Open your favorite image Editing software as long as it supports transpert background and PNG exporting (Like Photoshop,the Gimp)

Step 2. Open a file in the size of 512 X 512 and notice the size is pixels The background is Transpert(Important) and color mode is RGB color. the advanced options are for later.



Step 3. (You don't have to do this one, but just incase you want a perfect decal size instead of messing around with it) Open up a decal from TBM/data/shapes/player/chest or face and Copy it to your new decal file, I suggest one of the closed ones.
(if it isn't closed enough, use brush or lines to close it up as you need.



Step 4. Open up the decal you drew/copied/anything else into the file, on a different layer which will be below the first decal.



Steo 5. You see the stuff coming out of the "Frame"? It will look strange ingame so we need to get rid of them.

Press alt a on the first decal layer and then press the layer again to select only the stuff we need, then press on the second layer,our decal layer WHEN the first decal selection box still there, and press the little grey square with the white circle in it that says "Mask"




After you did that, you can get rid of the first decal.
Also, when the mask is activated, you might want to press the little chain button between the layer and the mask layer.

Okay now what you have should look like this:



-Notice that if you followed my last direction on step 5 you can move it freely around without worrying about it's limits.

-Final Step 6- Exporting

Now open the File tab, press save as, and select png. remember, it is important that you will call your decal (Name here).decal.png else it wont show up ingame.




And now you can open the game and enjoy your own decal.





Remember! Incase you are making a face decal call it (name).face.png and insert it to tbm/data/shapes/player/face instead of chest.

Some useful folders and files:

Files:

Client-end spawn menu
dtb/client/init.cs

Server-end spawn menu
dtb/server/scripts/game.cs

Client Prefs:
tbm/client/prefs.cs

Saved characters:
tbm/client/savedcharacters.cs

Folders:

Weapon Scripts folder:
dtb/server/scripts/weapons

Igob folder:
tbm/client/igob

Saves folder:
tbm/tbmzips

Screenshots folder:
tbm/screenshots

Decals folder
tbm/data/shapes/decal

Other folders you'll never need:

Weapon Shapes folder:
dtb/data/shapes/weapons

Weapon Sounds folder
dtb/data/sounds

Vehicle scripts folders (apparently):
dtb/server/scripts/cemetechai
tbm/server/scripts/vehicles

GUI folder (except for CAIGUI):
tbm/client/ui

GUI scripts folder, and the every-script-known-to-man folder:
tbm/client/scripts

Brick datafiles folder:
tbm/data/shapes/bricks

EDIT: Before 2.2, this was like a ten-step process.

Note that we're kind of running out of datablocks right now, so currently modifying weapons no one uses is preferable to adding in more weapons.

Also note that in the examples I am using, I am using a file called gun.cs, with an item name of genericGun. You will need to modify the names to fit your weapon.

1) Open up dtb/server/scripts/weapons/gun.cs

2) Scroll down about (usually) ten or twenty lines until it looks like this:

3) Make sure the following line is located under it:
4) Save and close gun.cs.

5) Close TOB if it's already open, then open it up and start a server.

There are two types of script files used by the Torque Game Engine:

1) .cs: These are the 'source code' files. These are the files one opens up, modifies, and generally changes.

2) .dso: These are the compiled forms of the .cs's. These are not used by the user. Torque Game Engine, when asked to exec a file, uses the compiled .dso file, because that is what it reads. If there is no .dso file, TGE compiles the .cs file into a .dso and uses that.

Anyways, to properly exec a script:

1) First confirm you have made the proper changes to the .cs file. Confirm that you have made all the necessary changes, and check it for any syntax errors or missing semicolons.

2) Now, to exec the file. There are two methods to do so:
a) The simpler method: Restart TOB. When the engine opens it compiles everything the game uses. This has its downsides (i.e., when running a server, doing this closes the server), but it is certainly easier.
b) The faster method: Manually exec the file. Go to the console and type:Replace filelocation with the file's location, such asThis is definitely faster, and thus is the recommended method. It's also easier to find errors using the console.

3) If something goes wrong, open the console. It should give you an error location. Use that to locate and fix the error and re-exec the file.

emperorwiggy wrote:

Does this still work? cuz i might wanna try this again. =D

Generally, altering or modifying a weapon is easier than creating a new one. However, if, for instance, you want to release it as an add-on, making a new weapon is almost necessary.

First, create the file. Go to the folder dtb/server/scripts/weapons, and make a new text file called "file.cs"(This is an example). Unless you want to code in everything by hand, you would probably want to copy everything in another weapon file and stick it in file.cs for good measure.

Second, if you copied code from another file, give everything new names. For instance, rename the ItemData (the thing you see rotating on the ground) something, and then rename the image (the thing you see in your hands) something else.

Third, tell the game to execute it and to add it to the spawn list. Just do everything this post says.

By logging onto the IRC channels that The Orange Block uses, you can easily see who is currently online, as well as talk with them.

1) Go to irctoo.net.

2) Fill your name in the Nickname box, and #tbmirc in the Channel box, as illustrated below:



3) Click the launch button.

To change your name later, type /nick (new name).

To join a new channel, type /join (channel).

Need to delete this post.

So you're worried that you have not forwarded your ports, and therefore cannot host, correct?
You also are unable to click links and therefore cannot find Portforward.com.
This is not a problem.

Your router should be some kind of box that your computer is connected to. The box might have a cable TV or phone line coming out of it. It probably has serveral flashing lights on the front of it. The cable that will run from your computer to this box is called a network cable. The ends of this cable look like the ends of a large phone cable. When you find this box, it will probably have a maker and model number on it. If you can't find the make and model number check the stickers on the bottom of the router.
Once you have identified it, all you have to do is to select your router from this list:
portforward.com/ (There is a list on this webpage.)

Once you do this, you will then be taken to a page with a giant list of games and programs which may require ports to be opened for full functionality.
Kindly enough, Blockland and The Better Mod (Both under those names) are in this list, and both will have customized tutorials with pictures to help you with the configuration of your router settings to open ports.