FAQ Truncation?!

[Pooka]

I went to re-read the FAQ since I'm hoping to introduce nearly a dozen new players to the wonderful PBW. Lo, the FAQ seems to cut off in mid discussion around item 4.something! It was extremely helpful to me Last year during my own introduction to the game. I'd like to know if anyone knows how to get one's hands on a complete copy of the FAQ so that I can direct the Horde of Newbs(tm) towards it.

Apologies if this has been covered, but when I searched I couldn't come up with anything useful.

-Pooka

[Fyron]

You can find a somewhat older Version of the FAQ that has had hyperlinks added to it by Ragnarok at this location:

http://newbiefaq.spaceempires.net/

[Slick]

I'm working with the Moderators to fix this. I have the latest Version safely saved at home. Stay tuned.

Slick.

[Ragnarok]

One of these days I will update that Version of the FAQ to the latest.

I also have an idea to set it up using a MySQL database content management system so that anyone (or those with proper permissions) can go in and add to the FAQ and it will automatically insert the data into the correct catagories. But that will be a while before I can get it that advanced with all I have to do at work and home right now.

[Atrocities]

I am also working on a Game Guide update that will hopefully help new players gain a better understanding of the game. I finsihed the Game Guide Part 1 demo, (Pending revisions) www.astmod.com/GGD.zip (http://www.astmod.com/GGD.zip) in PDF format.

And I am hard at work on Part 2: Game Set Up and Walk Thru.

Also direct all new players to play the Tutorial in SEIV. This is one of the better ways to gain an understanding of the game and how things work.

[Loser]

My technobabble thread got it's first post truncated as well. I look forward to hearing how this will be worked out.

[Gandalf Parker]

Loser said:
My technobabble thread got it's first post truncated as well. I look forward to hearing how this will be worked out.



This may be a limit of having the threads in a MySQL database. There are probably some settings that can be changed but Im not sure if that wouldnt affect things like the fast search we have now.

It might be best to shift to linking to a web-based file for really long things like FAQ's. I havent looked at the upload/download we got with this new forum software but if it allows overwriting a previously uploaded Version then that might work best.

Or I can offer a home for things like FAQ files so they can be easily uploaded/changed/linked-to

[Loser]

Well, if the limit is not lifted, in the case of my own truncation, I'll just be editing the later Posts to include the mising information, cramming as much as can be crammed into each one and moving the rest down to the next.

I just want to know what to expect.

[Mephisto]

How about making the FAQ into a HTML-File, upload it in the scenario section and link to the download? When you click the link wouldn't it open a new browser window with the FAQ?

[Richard]

How about making the FAQ into a HTML-File, upload it in the scenario section and link to the download? When you click the link wouldn't it open a new browser window with the FAQ?



That could work. Here is the gist of the problem. I checked the database and the post is in the database exactly how it appears, cut off. I can re-import some of the Posts from the old system to see if that would work. My guess is either a strange character cut off the import or there was a timeout on a specific post.

My goal would be to get the post back to normal, I hate having lose ends like that.

[Fyron]

The Posts may have exceeded the maximum size for the database variable that stores the post text. What is the maximum size for the post variables?

[Richard]

The Posts may have exceeded the maximum size for the database variable that stores the post text. What is the maximum size for the post variables?



I checked it is a TEXT type in the database and it has a larger limit. No I figure the import script has a limit or it hit php's timeout value.

[Mephisto]

I think Slick still has the whole FAQ and could update it. We just have to wait until he can catch up with this link.

[Slick]

Mephisto said:
I think Slick still has the whole FAQ and could update it. We just have to wait until he can catch up with this link.



I posted a reply to the FAQ thread which had the latest Version of the FAQ. It was truncated again and it appears this new UBB can't handle the length.

Mephisto, short of breaking it up into several Posts, do you have any suggestions?

Slick. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/confused.gif

[Richard]

Try updating it now....

[geoschmo]

Slick, since the forum allows uploads now why not make the FAQ in an HTML file which is indexed and all with links to the different sections in the body of the FAQ and upload that to the FAQ thread.

[Slick]

Richard said:
Try updating it now....




Thanks Richard, whatever you did seemed to have worked!

Slick.

[Slick]

geoschmo said:
Slick, since the forum allows uploads now why not make the FAQ in an HTML file which is indexed and all with links to the different sections in the body of the FAQ and upload that to the FAQ thread.




This has been brought up before. Unfortunately as of now, RL has too much of a hold on my time. Perhaps in a few months, I'll work on this.

Slick.

[Ruatha]

Keeping it on the forum makes it easier to handle updates from several different Users.
Now Slick has made all the updates for a long time but he might have to leave again sometime and then it's much easier to just "Quote", remove quotes, "edit" and "save".
And it saves us the problem of several different Faq's being saved.

I know all these issues are easily solved but it is conveniant the way it is.