A Beginner Guide to DECORATE?

[TripleGear]

HELLO, I am new to modding Doom, and interested in learning DECORATE, to make weapon mods and such. Especially for games like Heretic and Strife because they are not paid much attention to by modders! I went to the zdoom wiki like some have said to, but, it seems more like a dictionary for those who already know how to use DECORATE and are not just starting out. I open up other peoples mods & try to figure out how to code DECORATE, but that is not helpful

So I have 2 questions:

1.
Is DECORATE the first thing I should learn to do for Doom modding, or should I learning something else first?

2.
Is thare anything like a Beginner Guide to DECORATE, that explains what walks you through making different stuffs?
Hopefully something I can use offline, so I do not have to bother you guys every time I have a simple question or problem and then figure it out on my own.

Also, I see people talking about how modders do not use PK3 properly, and that makes inefficient archive? Where would I go to learn to do it right?

Apologies if this is not the right section, I thought that a Guide to DECORATE would be a type of Resource.

[ChronoSeth]

The first thing I can suggest is DECORATE on the ZDoom wiki. The wiki is essentially ZDoom's manual.

[XutaWoo]

There really is no true first step to DOOM modding. However, for ZDoom DECORATE is pretty easy to learn so it is a good starting point for this port.

[wildweasel]

Yet more self-promotion: Try the tutorials at GunLabs. Let me know what you think of them. I intend to expand them greatly.

[Gez]

Here's a beginner's guide to all things ZDoom: look at the ZDoom wiki. Read the FAQ. Browse through the categories. Look at the glossary.

At the very least, you should at least glance through each of the items on the main page under the "Using ZDoom", "Room 101" and "Modding for ZDoom" headers, just to get a rough idea of what is available, both from the engine itself and from its documentation.

[amv2k9]

Yet more self-promotion: Try the tutorials at GunLabs. Let me know what you think of them. I intend to expand them greatly.

Those tuts are helping me a lot. Still not anywhere near releasing something good but at least I'm starting to get a hang on it.

Some suggestions on future tuts:

1)Using more advanced states. I've looked at SMWG/T's DECORATE in an attempt to figure out how the dual-wielding is pulled off, but I'm pretty lost.

2)Fire modes. Not like altfires, which there's already a section for. I'm trying to think of a mod that uses them; only GZDoom Advanced comes to mind.

[phi108]

...1)Using more advanced states. I've looked at SMWG/T's DECORATE in an attempt to figure out how the dual-wielding is pulled off, but I'm pretty lost.

I don't blame you, there is too much disorganization in there, I'd have to change my writing habits to make it comrehendable...

But I can just write a simple set of states that do it like that, if I can remember.

[ReX]

HELLO, I am new to modding Doom, and interested in learning DECORATE, to make weapon mods and such..... Is thare anything like a Beginner Guide to DECORATE, that explains what walks you through making different stuffs?

Use this reference for step-by-step instructions for creating three different tyes of custom items. It also contains links to other useful tutorials on DECORATE.

[Amuscaria]

How I learned was copypasta another's code, or from the wiki, and just mess with it to get the feel for it. This is pretty much how I learn all programming/scripting.

[amv2k9]

But I can just write a simple set of states that do it like that, if I can remember.

If you could do that, and/or maybe put a tut on GunLabs, it'd be much appreciated!

It'd be neat to see GunLabs turn into more of a collaborative effort, with authors who do really unique things in their weapon mods putting up tuts showing how to do it.