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Arnox Tree Puncher

Arnox

Posted
Posted

I seem to be at a loss for making 1.16.x mods in general since there doesn't seem to be a lot of documentation at all. Now, I do understand that Forge for 1.16.x is still early days, but even for 1.15.x, the official documentation seems content to only go over broad concepts with no examples and what seems like key pieces of information left out. Further, many of the tutorials you find for modding only seem to tell you WHAT to do, but not, most importantly, how things are working under the hood for Forge and Minecraft. Would the main Forge contributors be open to discussion about sitting down and expanding the documentation? I am willing to contribute here in this regard.

DaemonUmbra Reality Controller

DaemonUmbra

Posted
Posted

The Docs are open source on GitHub like everything else Forge-related.

This conversation has been had many times with many people and it usually boils down to the devs preferring to continue working on Forge itself rather than writing pretty docs.

Given that we're dealing with undocumented, decompiled Minecraft code anyway folks are expected to have at least some ability to understand how code works by reading it.

This is my Forum Signature, I am currently attempting to transform it into a small guide for fixing easier issues using spoiler blocks to keep things tidy.

 

As the most common issue I feel I should put this outside the main bulk:

The only official source for Forge is https://files.minecraftforge.net, and the only site I trust for getting mods is CurseForge.

If you use any site other than these, please take a look at the StopModReposts project and install their browser extension, I would also advise running a virus scan.

 

For players asking for assistance with Forge please expand the spoiler below and read the appropriate section(s) in its/their entirety.

Spoiler

Logs (Most issues require logs to diagnose):

Spoiler

Please post logs using one of the following sites (Thank you Lumber Wizard for the list):

https://gist.github.com/: 100MB Requires member (Free)

https://pastebin.com/: 512KB as guest, 10MB as Pro ($$$)

https://hastebin.com/: 400KB

Do NOT use sites like Mediafire, Dropbox, OneDrive, Google Drive, or a site that has a countdown before offering downloads.

 

What to provide:

...for Crashes and Runtime issues:

Minecraft 1.14.4 and newer:

Post debug.log

Older versions:

Please update...

 

...for Installer Issues:

Post your installer log, found in the same place you ran the installer

This log will be called either installer.log or named the same as the installer but with .log on the end

Note for Windows users:

Windows hides file extensions by default so the installer may appear without the .jar extension then when the .log is added the log will appear with the .jar extension

 

Where to get it:

Mojang Launcher: When using the Mojang launcher debug.log is found in .minecraft\logs.

 

Curse/Overwolf: If you are using the Curse Launcher, their configurations break Forge's log settings, fortunately there is an easier workaround than I originally thought, this works even with Curse's installation of the Minecraft launcher as long as it is not launched THROUGH Twitch:

Spoiler
  1. Make sure you have the correct version of Forge installed (some packs are heavily dependent on one specific build of Forge)
  2. Make a launcher profile targeting this version of Forge.
  3. Set the launcher profile's GameDir property to the pack's instance folder (not the instances folder, the folder that has the pack's name on it).
  4. Now launch the pack through that profile and follow the "Mojang Launcher" instructions above.

Video:

Spoiler

 

 

 

or alternately, 

 

Fallback ("No logs are generated"):

If you don't see logs generated in the usual place, provide the launcher_log.txt from .minecraft

 

Server Not Starting:

Spoiler

If your server does not start or a command window appears and immediately goes away, run the jar manually and provide the output.

 

Reporting Illegal/Inappropriate Adfocus Ads:

Spoiler

Get a screenshot of the URL bar or copy/paste the whole URL into a thread on the General Discussion board with a description of the Ad.

Lex will need the Ad ID contained in that URL to report it to Adfocus' support team.

 

Posting your mod as a GitHub Repo:

Spoiler

When you have an issue with your mod the most helpful thing you can do when asking for help is to provide your code to those helping you. The most convenient way to do this is via GitHub or another source control hub.

When setting up a GitHub Repo it might seem easy to just upload everything, however this method has the potential for mistakes that could lead to trouble later on, it is recommended to use a Git client or to get comfortable with the Git command line. The following instructions will use the Git Command Line and as such they assume you already have it installed and that you have created a repository.

 

  1. Open a command prompt (CMD, Powershell, Terminal, etc).
  2. Navigate to the folder you extracted Forge’s MDK to (the one that had all the licenses in).
  3. Run the following commands:
    1. git init
    2. git remote add origin [Your Repository's URL]
      • In the case of GitHub it should look like: https://GitHub.com/[Your Username]/[Repo Name].git
    3. git fetch
    4. git checkout --track origin/master
    5. git stage *
    6. git commit -m "[Your commit message]"
    7. git push
  4. Navigate to GitHub and you should now see most of the files.
    • note that it is intentional that some are not synced with GitHub and this is done with the (hidden) .gitignore file that Forge’s MDK has provided (hence the strictness on which folder git init is run from)
  5. Now you can share your GitHub link with those who you are asking for help.

[Workaround line, please ignore]

 

Arnox Tree Puncher

Arnox

Posted
  • Author
Posted (edited)
59 minutes ago, DaemonUmbra said:

The Docs are open source on GitHub like everything else Forge-related.

This conversation has been had many times with many people and it usually boils down to the devs preferring to continue working on Forge itself rather than writing pretty docs.

Given that we're dealing with undocumented, decompiled Minecraft code anyway folks are expected to have at least some ability to understand how code works by reading it.

 

And those "pretty docs" are what attract people to make content for Forge in the first place. I can't write anything to the github pages myself because obviously I'm not sure what to put down. I like to think I know how to write technical documents, but I also need to know what the hell I'm talking about. I (or someone) need to sit down with at least one dev and go through at least some basics with them. Like, for example, what does Forge always expect a mod to have? What file structure does Forge expect? What are some examples of very simple mods, and how would they all work under the hood basically? Although, of course, you should be able to understand what a function does by looking at it, it doesn't answer other more pressing questions about the Forge API as a whole.

 

Hell, if I just had a week with a dev where we just devoted a few hours to hammering out the documentation, then I'm sure we could make a huge dent, if not entirely complete it. I absolutely get that Forge is a big project and it needs a lot of time, but if these documentation needs aren't met, then many people are just gonna get frustrated and go work on something else. And you don't want that. You obviously want more people to use your API.

 

I also get that documentation isn't exactly a glamorous job. It's a very underappreciated part of making an API. But I think it will absolutely pay off in the end. It would address a lot of threads that are constantly getting made in the Modding Support sub-forum asking things that good documentation could easily answer. It saves your users time and it saves you time as well. Everyone's happy.

Edited by Arnox
  • Like 1
  • 1 month later...

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