Minecraft Modding Book Review

[TheTechBrony]

I’m not the publisher for this, so I’m not going to be a Grammar Nazi.

Chapter 1: Introduction

I’d suggest putting vocabulary in boldface. Makes them easier to see.

Usually, names of Minecraft entities are capitalized.

When providing the link to Notch’s Twitter account, I’d suggest putting the name of the social media website by it for clarification.

In the instructions for downloading Forge, I would suggest saying that the link entitled “src” takes you to a place called adf.ly, where you should wait five seconds before clicking “Skip Ad” in the top corner. Otherwise, people will probably wonder if they did something wrong.

When I downloaded Forge for 1.7.10, I did not get a zip file. I got a folder entitled ‘forge-1’. Mistake in the instructions or mistake in the website?

You may want to revise the Forge setup instructions, at least for Macs. Terminal does not register the command “gradlew”.

A better website for Forge installation problems would probably http://www.minecraftforge.net/wiki/Installation/Source .

I set the Eclipse IDE workspace to the eclipse file in my forge directory. I got the Minecraft file, but it had no content, so there's nothing I can do with it. Am I missing something?

Ok. That’s about it for Chapter 1. There are a few issues to be taken care of. I’m not sure if these issues are just isolated to Macs, or if it goes for Windows computers as well.

Unfortunately, I don’t think I’ll be able to continue with the review until these issues are fixed due to the fact that this book would be a little bit mystifying if you don’t work with it (which it should be because it is a teaching book :+1: ).

By the way, there is still a way to get the modkits. However, they are only for Minecraft 1.6.4, so we can't use them with this book.

[AdityaGupta1]

This is great feedback, thanks for it. However, I see a few problems:

I clicked on all of the links for Forge downloads, and none of them were called "forge-1". Are you sure you clicked on the right link?

Also, the Forge folder contains should contain a "gradlew" command. Maybe this was because you downloaded the wrong Forge.

Same thing for the empty Minecraft folder, could have been the incorrect download or an invalid download.

I incorporated the rest of the feedback, except for the website for Forge installation instructions, which I will discuss with my dad.

[arun-gupta]

Thanks for the link to installation instructions, we added a note in the chapter.

Let us know what link did you click to download the forge folder. What are the contents of "forge-1" ?

Modkits are illegal and strongly discouraged by the Forge team. Where did you see it ?

[TheTechBrony]

"I clicked on all of the links for Forge downloads, and none of them were called "forge-1". Are you sure you clicked on the right link?" I clicked on the 1.7.10-Latest "src" link, which was what was in the instructions in the book. I even did it twice to make sure it wasn't a one time error. Both times, I got no zip file.

"Also, the Forge folder contains should contain a "gradlew" command. Maybe this was because you downloaded the wrong Forge." "Same thing for the empty Minecraft folder, could have been the incorrect download or an invalid download." I'm 100% sure I downloaded the correct Forge. I double-checked, and my father watched me do it. I downloaded 1.7.10-Latest "src". I went into Terminal at least 3 times to try the gradlew command, and every time, I got a "-bash: gradlew: command not found" error. And when I tried just skipping the Terminal steps, I got an empty folder entitled "Minecraft". I do know that if you try Java commands in the Terminal, such as java -version, when you don't have the JDK, then you'll get a "-bash: java: command not found error". Perhaps there's an application related to Gradle that I'm missing that one or both of you have?

"What are the contents of 'forge-1'?" A file called "build.gradle". A .txt file called "CREDITS-fml.txt". An empty folder called "eclipse". A .txt file called "forge-1.7.10-10.13.2.1258-changelog.txt". A folder entitled "gradle" which contains another folder entitled "wrapper", which contains two files, "gradle-wrapper.jar" and "gradle-wrapper.properties". A Unix Executable File called "gradlew". A batch file called "gradlew.bat". A .txt file called "LICENSE-fml.txt". A .txt file called "MinecraftForge-Credits.txt". A .txt file called "MinecraftForge-License.txt". A .txt file called "README.txt" A folder called "src". "src" contains the folder "main", which contains the folder "java", which contains the folder "com", which contains the folder "example", which contains the folder "examplemod", which contains the file "ExampleMod.java". "src" has another folder called "resources", which contains the document file "mcmod.info".

"Modkits are illegal and strongly discouraged by the Forge team. Where did you see it ?" It was relatively easy. Just go to the GitHub page that used to have the modkits on them. The most recent edits are near the top, yes? Between the column with all the "readme" files and the column for the dates, there is a column of links that will show what the edit was. If you click on the edit link at the top, it shows you a previous version of the page. The links that were used to bring the modkits to GitHub are still there. Just copy-paste them into you search bar to get the appropriate one. Someone might want to get an employee to remove those if they're illegal and/or discouraged.

Do you mind e-mailing me the latest version of the book? Thanks.

[arun-gupta]

You have downloaded the correct folder.

The fact that you are getting no zip file could be a Mac specific setting where you've informed your browser to automatically open any zip file that is downloaded. We'll try to add some clarification for the same in this chapter.

'A Unix Executable File called "gradlew".' is what you need and very well there. One of the tips in the book is to use ./gradlew instead of gradlew on Mac. Have you tried that ?

I reminded the person again who is hosting those bundles to bring them down. Glad that they are not visible on the main page and only in the history. After the downloads are removed, those links would be invalid as well.

The edits are made only in the first chapter so there are no significant changes.

[arun-gupta]

Modkits have been removed, can you confirm ?

[TheTechBrony]

"The fact that you are getting no zip file could be a Mac specific setting where you've informed your browser to automatically open any zip file that is downloaded. We'll try to add some clarification for the same in this chapter." I'm not aware of any setting like that. In other cases, my laptop leaves zips as they are and only extracts them when I open them up.

"'A Unix Executable File called "gradlew".' is what you need and very well there. One of the tips in the book is to use ./gradlew instead of gradlew on Mac. Have you tried that ?" I used both. Both times, it said that it was a directory. "Modkits have been removed, can you confirm ?" They are gone. The box link is invalid and provides a 404 whenever it is searched.

[TheTechBrony]

Also, as a suggestion, tell the readers they have to navigate to the correct directory in order to issue the correct command(s) using 'cd' in Terminal or Command Prompt.

EDIT: I finally got Forge working. Here's what I did:

1. Go to files.minecraftforge.net
2. Click the src link in Forge 1.7.10.
3. Click "Skip Ad" on the adf.ly page.
4. After download, click on the Unix Executable File entitled "gradlew". This will begin the Gradle install.
5. Navigate to the folder by typing "cd" in Terminal, followed by where you want to navigate.
6. After Gradle has been installed, open a new Terminal window and type "./gradlew setupDecompWorkspace --refresh-dependencies" without the quotes.
7. Upon the display of the message BUILD SUCCESSFUL, type in "./gradlew eclipse" without the quotes. This sets the Forge IDE to Eclipse.
8. Open Eclipse and set the workspace to the Eclipse folder in the forge directory.

As it turns out, you don't need the zip file. It comes pre-extracted so you don't have to sit around. If this is a Mac specific thing, I'd like to see it in Windows, too.

[TheTechBrony]

Chapter 2: Block Break Message

I'm noticing that you are telling the reader to use the Cmd-Shift-O Eclipse shortcut a lot. Why don't you create a list of Eclipse keyboard shortcuts used in the book and place the list at the beginning of the chapter?

It's probably good to define and bold "case-sensitive language." Remember, it's good to pretend that the reader is an absolute beginner, so all lingo should be defined. Or create a glossary for all the words and direct the readers there!

Other than that, I think this is a good chapter to release.

[arun-gupta]

Can you please file a new issue for each chapter?

[TheTechBrony]

Ok.

[arun-gupta]

Can we consider this issue closed then?

[TheTechBrony]

Yes.

[arun-gupta]

Can you file an issue for Chapter 2 and then close this?

[TheTechBrony]

Ok.