Cosmoteer Wiki:Creating pages

This page is a guide on how to create new pages: in general and with relation to specific pages.

Creating a new page

For basics on creating pages, see https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Help:Starting_a_new_page

Preload pages

This wiki makes use of preload pages.

They are to be used instead of copy-pasting existing pages, which often leads to more work adapting things for a new page. They work by "pre-filling" the page for you to fill out.

Preload pages are defined as part of the system message notice when creating a new page: MediaWiki:Newarticletext.

New preload pages must be defined under MediaWiki:Preloads-<your preload page>. Do not use slashes in their names.

To use a preload, simply navigate to a non-existing page and start editing. A banner will appear either above or to upper right with links to preload pages.

Once clicked, the page will update and auto-fill.

Game Update

Uses a preload page

New pages of this type are created using a a preload page ^{(about preload pages)}.
The preload pages used: MediaWiki:Preloads-Update, MediaWiki:Preloads-Update checklist

Game updates are a huge and fun part of the Cosmoteer experience due to the excitement of new content and changes. For many, the wiki is a 'first port of call' to learn about the new content, so the sooner the wiki is updated, the better.

This section describes what a contributor should do when a new game version releases, and said contributor wishes to document the new release on the wiki.

Notify other contributors

Go to Cosmoteer Discord #wiki channel and notify the members that you are documenting a new release.

Once you've done that, an actual work can begin.

Create the update page

Create a new page, using the new version number as its address. For instance, the version 0.26.0 should reside at https://cosmoteer.wiki.gg/wiki/0.26.0. If the page already exists, you can go straight to editing.

Pick the Update preload to pre-fill the page.

Tip

You don't need to follow the layout of changelog sections strictly. If update has added a brand new shiny gun, show it off with a separate section if needs be!

Examples of well documented update pages:

• 0.26.0 (major)
• 0.25.2 (minor)
• 0.25.1b (hotfix)
• 0.25.2a (bugfix)

Time zones

Use GMT, aka UTC+0/WET.

Uploading screenshots to the wiki

An example of what images to upload to the wiki.

Open the update article in your browser — it will be much easier to work with it this way, instead of in the Steam client. It can easily be found in the News section of the game's Community Hub page.

If the article has any screenshots, upload all of them to the wiki. This also includes the article's thumbnail image. If there are multiple images, use Special:BatchUpload.

FIlenames should follow this pattern: Version-<major>.<minor>.<patch>-image-<sequence number>

Examples:

• Version-0.26.0-image-thumb - thumb image (the image on top of the article) for update 0.26.0. Link.

• Version-0.26.1-image-1 - first image for update 0.26.1.
• Version-0.26.1-image-2 - second image for update 0.26.1.

All images must be in the same category. It is based off the update version: [[Version Images: <major>.<minor>.<patch>]]

Examples:

• Category:Version Images: 0.26.0 - images for 0.26.0 version. Example link.

The category must be a subcategory of Category:Version Images.

Fill out the update page

Copy and paste from the update's news page, the whole changelog if it's more convenient.

Update Type

First, you need to figure out the type of the update:

• Major: Large game updates that increment the version number, e.g: 0.23.0, 0.25.0.
• Minor: Smaller updates that still add new content or makes changes other than bugfixes, e.g: 0.25.1, 0.25.2.
• Hotfix: Like minor updates, but even smaller. These updates have letters at the end and labeled as hotfixes in the Steam newsfeed, e.g: 0.25.1a, 0.25.1b

Infobox

The infobox should be the first thing added into the editor. Fill out all required fields, fill optional ones where it makes sense (look at descriptions of the fields) and get rid of those unused.

Description

The initial description paragraph should contain:

• Version number in bold text
• Update type.
• Release date.
• And a brief summary of what the update adds. This summary can be as simple as "fixes a few bugs".

Changelog

The changelog should be copy-pasted from the official release notes into corresponding sections outlined in the starter page. Each entry should then be bullet-pointed.

If a section is missing from the starter page, add it. No strict rules here.

Categories

All version history articles should be added to the Versions category. This should be the last thing added to the page source.

Add links

Add links to make the page interactive.

These include links, but not limited to: parts, ships, resources, game modes, modding articles, etc.

Add links where it makes sense. Do not overuse them.

Link to the update page

After the update page is created and fully filled out, it does need to be added to a few places on the wiki, so others can see it.

Version history

Find the section with the major version you need (or create it, if it's a new major version release), and click edit source.

Look at how other versions are added, and do the same. In Highlights & Notes a brief summary can be added, if there's something special to mention.

Home page

Change the update and news widgets on the home page:

• Template:Home/Updates
• Template:Home/News

This requires admin editing rights. If you are not an admin and want to change these, edit them and post updated version in the Discord /wiki channel for the admins to update.

For Home/Updates, change:

• Current Version.
• Latest Major Version only if it's a new major version, for example: 0.25.0 → 0.26.0, but not 0.25.0 → 0.25.1.

And for Template:Home/News - only change it on minor updates, for example: 0.26.1 → 0.26.2, but not 0.26.2 → 0.26.2a.

After this is all done, go to the home page → hover over More on the navbar → click Purge Cache and update the page. This will refresh the page fully and show the new changes.

Update other version pages to point to new version

At minimum, make sure that the previous version points to the new version.

If the new version is a major one, make sure ALL of the versions within the previous major version point to the new major version.

Make an update checklist

This step can be skipped if an update is relatively small and can be easily reflected on the wiki.

A checklist page is a copy of the update page used to track which changes are yet to be reflected on the wiki.

Make a checklist page under the version page by adding /checklist to the end of the page address, like this: https://cosmoteer.wiki.gg/wiki/0.27.0/checklist

Select the update checklist preload to pre-fill the page. Follow instructions that appear.

Add changes from the update to the wiki

Edit and create articles, bring changes from the update to the wiki, remove completed entries.

Tip

If a change entry potentially requires a lot of manual work, don't be shy to ask in the #wiki for help! Maybe someone can even automate that change to the wiki.

When all changes are were reflected, add [[Category:Versions relfected on the wiki]] to the version page and delete the checklist page.

Notes

• If an update mentions something about upcoming updates, add it to the upcoming content page.

Ship or Station

Uses a preload page

New pages of this type are created using a a preload page ^{(about preload pages)}.
The preload page used: MediaWiki:Preloads-Ship

Uses page component templates

This type of page uses content-generating templates (other than infobox/navbox).

Infobox

{{Ship infobox}} template is used for all ships and stations.

Stations are technically ships, which is also expressed in how categories are structured.

Uploading ship images

The ship infobox should contain 3 images of a ship: exterior, interior and blueprint. All of these are taken in-game.

Taking screenshots

How to take screenshots

Take screenshots in sandbox mode. Pause your game, add a ship and then take screenshots. Do not unpause to not run any animations.

Then, press on the bottom-left panel → Screenshot → and choose the desired type. Repeat for all 3: exterior, interior and blueprint.

IMPORTANT: use Save As option and save images in png-only. Otherwise, the background won't be transparent and will appear as a black square once uploaded to the wiki.

After all images are saved, convert them to webp format with 90 quality.

Alternative way to screenshot

A mod exists by Aliser that helps take screenshots by reducing the process to pressing a single button and auto-generating filenames.
See: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3430202913

Make sure that screenshot filenames follow these naming conventions:

• The filename must not contain any spaces.
• The filename must follow pascal case, i.e. all letters are lowercase except the first letter of each word, e.g: ThisIsPascalCase.
• The filename must start with Ship.
• Followed by faction (the shortened version); use one of these:
  • Cabal for Cabal of Sol.
  • Fringe for Fringe Systems Resistance.
  • Imperium for Centauri Imperium.
  • Monolith for Monolith Cooperative.
• Followed by type (e.g: Combat, Station, Civilian).
• Followed by the ship's name (e.g. Crimsonbrace, BlindingLight).
• Followed by the image type: omitted for exterior, Interior for interior, Blueprint for blueprint.

Examples:

• ShipCabalCombatAtlas - a Cabal of Sol combat ship, exterior image.
• ShipCabalCombatBlindingLightInterior - a Cabal of Sol combat ship, interior image.

Make sure that each image is no more than 10MB/64 MP (8000x8000 pixels for a square image). If an image is larger than the MB limit, try saving it with a worse quality but same resolution.

Automatic image processing

A script written by Aliser can help with shrinking images, as well as removing extra whitespace (you may have noticed it around exported images).

Using it requires some knowledge of command-line and Python.

See: https://github.com/murolem/cosmoteer-webp-image-converter

Uploading screenshots

Use Special:BatchUpload to upload all the images at once. Please note that the upload will start as soon as you pick the images, so fill out the description first.

In Description specify the categories that all uploaded ships will have. Because the most specific category is a type for a faction (e.g. Cabal of Sol Civilian Ship Images), you should upload ships of different type and factions separately.

Categories to specify:

• Ship/station images: [[Category:Ships]] or [[Category:Stations]]
• Faction ship/station images: [[<faction> Ship Images]] or [[<faction> Station Images]].
• Faction ship images of type//station images with classification: [[<faction> <type> Ship Images]] or [[<faction> <classification> Station Images]]

If you are uploading a starter ship, then there's no factions. Skip faction categories only leaving [[Category:Ships]] and add [[Category:Starter Ship Images]]

Examples:

• Missionary - Cabal of Sol civilian ship - will have these categories:

[[Category:Ship Images]]
[[Category:Cabal of Sol Ship Images]]
[[Category:Cabal of Sol Civilian Ship Images]]

• Med Monolith Trade Station II - Monolith Cooperative civilian station - will have these categories:

[[Category:Station Images]]
[[Category:Monolith Cooperative Station Images]]
[[Category:Monolith Cooperative Civilian Station Images]]

Breadcrumbs

Filled with a page component

This section is filled automatically using page components. Just make sure it looks okay.

{{Breadcrumbs}} template generates a row of links. It contains (in that order):

• Category:Ships (even for stations)
• Faction ships category - faction name + "ships", e.g. Category:Fringe Systems Resistance Ships.
• Faction ships category of type - faction name + ship type, e.g. Category:Fringe Systems Resistance Combat Ships.

The "remove category from name" option should be enabled.

Example for Toothpick ship:

Quote

Some ships include some 'flavor text' as their in-game description, which should be added to the page using the {{Quote}} template. Usage of break-line tags <br/> is required to add spacing between sentences.

The following is how the description for Crusher is formatted:

{{Quote|"Big and Mean"
<br/>
The brutes of the scrapyard, they keep the place clean and well secured of any other would be pirates.}}

If a ship doesn't have a description, put —.

First paragraph

Filled with a page component

This section is filled automatically using page components. Just make sure it looks okay.

The first sentence should be a brief description, containing:

• Name in bold.
• Tier.
• Type (e.g. combat).
• Role (e.g. scout).
• Faction (must be linked).

Examples:

• Backburner is a tier 2 combat scout ship used by the Fringe Systems Resistance.
• Impending Lawsuit is a tier 7 civilian trade ship used by the Fringe Systems Resistance.
• Roko's Vengeance is a tier 11 combat frigate used by the Fringe Systems Resistance.

Tactics section

Should contain tactics that can be used by the player against the ship.

Trivia section

Should contain various trivia about the ship, if any.

History section

Should contain History templates that should have:

• A version of the game when the ship was introduced.
• Any other changes to the ship that happened in updates thereafter.

Categories

Filled with a page component

This section is filled automatically using page components. Just make sure it looks okay.

A list of categories.

Must contain one of each:

• Category:Ships (even for stations)
• Ship type: Category:Civilian Ships, Category:Combat Ships, Category:Defense Ships, Category:Stations.
• Faction - see Category:Factions.
• Faction ships - faction name + "ships", e.g. Category:Fringe Systems Resistance Ships.
• Faction ships of type - faction name + ship type, e.g. Category:Fringe Systems Resistance Combat Ships.
  

For stations, the ship type will be "stations", e.g. Category:Fringe Systems Resistance Stations.

• Ship designer - a category for the ships by a particular designer. Filled automatically by the ship designer template when filling out the infobox.
  

For ships without a designer, use Category:Unattributed Ships.

Navbox

Filled with a page component

This section is filled automatically using page components. Just make sure it looks okay.

Insert a navbox template for the ships of the ship's faction.

You can find navbox templates here: Category:Navigational templates.

Part

Work in Progress

This section is currently work-in-progress. Some things may not be up-to-date or documented at all.

Feel free to contribute to make it better!

Resource

Work in Progress

This section is currently work-in-progress. Some things may not be up-to-date or documented at all.

Feel free to contribute to make it better!