New forums and code help - at last! news

After a few weeks work, the brand spanking new Mod DB forums have just been rolled out along with plenty of other changes which should benefit many of the sites visitors. Here is a quick rundown of the new forum features:

• New categories. We have opened a number of new forums covering coding, modelling, mapping, 2d art etc - so you can discuss detailed development stuff and show off your work
• In-place searching. Don't jump back and forth finding threads and posts. The Mod DB forums allow you to search where you are and what you want
• Favorites. In a few weeks Mod DB forums will be available to all mod teams, games, groups and more for them to include in their profiles and their own site should they wish. Best of all you can favorite the boards which interest you and quickly access them when browsing any forum on the site
• Track threads read. Mod DB now lets you know exactly which threads you have and haven't read, how many new posts their are and takes you straight to them.
• WYSIWYG editor. You can now quickly format your posts, adding quotes, the all new spoiler tag, code, images and videos (from your Mod DB galleries) and tons more quickly and easily
• AJAX features. Edit your post without leaving the page, preview your post - everything is quick and AJAXified
• New design. It's simple, its easy, its hot

There is plenty more to come, but the key change which we hope will make a massive difference on this site as we focus more on assisting mod teams with the development process, is the introduction of the new [-code-] tag, which supports 39 programming languages from html and c++ right through to unrealscript. I have included an unrealscript demo below:

//=============================================================================
// TriggerLight.
// A lightsource which can be triggered on or off.
//=============================================================================
class TriggerLight expands Light;
 
//-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
// Variables.
 
var() float ChangeTime; // Time light takes to change from on to off.
var() bool bInitiallyOn; // Whether it's initially on.
var() bool bDelayFullOn; // Delay then go full-on.
 
var ELightType InitialType; // Initial type of light.
var float InitialBrightness; // Initial brightness.
var float Alpha, Direction;
var actor Trigger;
 
//-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
// Engine functions.
 
// Called at start of gameplay.
function BeginPlay()
{
	// Remember initial light type and set new one.
	Disable( 'Tick' );
	InitialType = LightType;
	InitialBrightness = LightBrightness;
	if( bInitiallyOn )
	{
		Alpha = 1.0;
		Direction = 1.0;
	}
	else
	{
		LightType = LT_None;
		Alpha = 0.0;
		Direction = -1.0;
	}
}

We hope the introduction of the code tag leads to far more detailed tutorials and coding development on the site, as you can guarantee it will be highlighted, indented and easy to read. So if you were thinking of adding a tutorial, nows the time.