The Dink Network

These tutorials will teach you Dmod creation.

If you have watched a tutorial and you still don't fully understand something, send me a private message, make a post below, or make a thread on the forum asking for help.

I'll be updating the list below whenever I make a new tutorial.

Link to the full youtube playlist: Dmod Creation Tutorials playlist

Along with these tutorials, you should use the DinkC Reference to further your understanding of Dmod creation.

Structured Tutorial List: For all skill levels - learn to start creating dmods with no prior experience

Chapter 1: Windinkedit Plus Basics
-Tutorial #0 - Installing Dink Smallwood
-Tutorial #1 - Installing and brief runover of Windinkedit
-Tutorial #2 - Creating a new Dmod and placing tiles
-Tutorial #3 - Placing Sprites: Basics
-Tutorial #4 - Placing Sprites: People
-Tutorial #5 - Placing Sprites: Depth Que
-Tutorial #6 - Rooms
-Tutorial #7 - Warps
-Tutorial #8 - Clipping and Screenmatch
-Tutorial #9 - Hardness
-Tutorial #10 - Hardness Again
-Tutorial #11 - Sprite Library
-Tutorial #12 - Midi # and 'Inside' screens

Chapter 2: Graphics and Dink ini
-Tutorial #13 - Depth dot and Hard box
-Tutorial #14 - Set Sprite Info
-Tutorial #15 - Adding Graphics
-Tutorial #16 - Extra Parameters
-Tutorial #17 - 'Set Frame' Lines

Chapter 3:Introduction to scripting
-Tutorial #18 - Introduction and Getting Ready for Scripting
-Tutorial #19 - Attaching a Script to a Sprite
-Tutorial #20 - Basic Scripting: Simple Conversation Part 1
-Tutorial #21 - Basic Scripting: Simple Conversation Part 2
-Tutorial #22 - Basic Scripting: Another Conversation Example
-Tutorial #23 - Basic Scripting: Color Codes
-Tutorial #24 - Basic Scripting: Choice Menus
-Tutorial #25 - Basic Scripting: Procedures
-Tutorial #26 - Basic Scripting: Comments

Chapter 4:Variables
-Tutorial #27 - Global Variables
-Tutorial #28 - More On Global Variables
-Tutorial #29 - Retrieving Values
-Tutorial #30 - Local Variables
-Tutorial #31 - Setting Editor Type Values
-Tutorial #32 - Required Globals
-Tutorial #33 - Pseudo Variables
-Tutorial #34 - Special Variables

Chapter 5:Sounds & Midis
-Tutorial #35 - Playing and Modifying Sounds
-Tutorial #36 - Attack Hit Sound
-Tutorial #37 - Custom Sounds
-Tutorial #38 - Scripting midis

Chapter 6:Default 'start' Scripts
-Tutorial #39 - 'Start.c' Script
-Tutorial #40 - 'Start-#' Scripts

Chapter 7:Common in Dmodding
-Tutorial #41 - Fixing Some Bugs(the importance of testing)
-Tutorial #42 - Visions
-Tutorial #43 - Script For Easier Testing
-Tutorial #44 - Borders and Surroundings

///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Other dmodding tutorials
-Dmod Tutorial: Editor Sprite Numbers [1/2] - Basics
-Dmod Tutorial: Editor Sprite Numbers [2/2] - Advanced and global use

great introduction to windinkedit. though i haven't learned anything now yet. but in the next tutorial i think i will(i'm not that used to WDE yet )

Three new tutorials added.

great introduction to windinkedit. though i haven't learned anything now yet. but in the next tutorial i think i will
Thanks, I am starting with the very basic stuff first. The reason for this is I want these tutorials to be very clear and so that a beginner could simply watch them and learn straight away.

Doing great man, keep it up

With Dink for the iPhone I expect a ridiculous explosion in people coming here, even though dmods won't be supported.

Actually Kyle, it will!

Omg I hope this site will be prepared for the influx of people flocking here when it's released. This series of video tutorials might end up one of the most popular teaching resources available for the new generation

The full Dink ressurection on its way? Hell yes

YEAAAAH! LET'S PARTY, BOYS!

It has only been lately when Dink has started getting the reputation it deserves.

Two more tutorials added

And thanks guys, I appreciate the positive feedback.

Until Rob announces it himself and adds it to the top post, tutorial 7 is available (warps) on his youtube channel

"Until Rob announces it himself and adds it to the top post, tutorial 7 is available (warps) on his youtube channel"
Yeh, two new tutorials added now(Tutorial 7, and 8). Links at the top.

ROBJ!! stop impressing me sethdammit!!

I like them, easy going and informative.

Tutorials 9, 10 & 11 are also available on the channel, go watch them now!

And may we never see a thread about map 1 losing hardness again now!

And may we never see a thread about map 1 losing hardness again now!

To quote a quote from the Dink Chat...

Ex-Deathevn said: "As for my hardness problem, maybe you can fix what mess I've made." October, 2009.

Tutorials 9, 10 & 11 are also available on the channel, go watch them now!

Yep. Links added to top post.

Edit: Lol, I just noticed something quite freaky about the floor tiles. If you open a Dmod or something and actually look closely at the darker stripes of the floor tiles, you can see a bunch of eyes looking at you, it's the way the pattern is on the floor tiles. Lol! It's more noticeable in a recording for some reason.
Watch tutorial #10, pause it at 0:30 seconds. Look at the dark parts closely. It's one of those things that you can't see at first, but once you see it, you won't stop seeing it whenever you look at another floor tile.
Haha, random I know.

... Well, to conserve my own sanity while looking at floor tiles, I'm not going to do that

am i ever glad i only used screen 1 for intro purposes(the kind without tiles )
now i finally know what to use the sprite library for(i imagine that quite useful for placing monsters.

and when you do the music tutorial might i suggest showing some good midi sources(i usually "borrow" from dmods and search vgmusic.com).

but i think the real tutorriffic moments will be the scripting tutorials(though i'm a decent scripter there i have a lot to learn).

I think this should be stickied.

I think this should be stickied.

+1

Yeah, sure.

I apologise for the delay in getting the next tutorial out for those who are waiting, but I'm trying to plan it out as best I can and come up with a good way to do it. Since I'm just about done with teaching the editor, I'm moving onto scripting, and since these tutorials are meant for beginners who don't have any previous knowledge of this stuff, I want to make sure the tutorials are clear.

I'm planning the order of the scripting tutorials and what will be learned in each one, at the moment. It's taking a while, but they are coming.

Just thought I'd post this so those who are waiting for the tutorials know what's going on.

New tutorials coming, about Thursday next week (8th of April).

Edit: New tutorials are made, but I can't upload them yet. -_-

They will be uploaded later.

Can't wait to see them

By the way, I'm playing Dink Smallwood again since a few weeks ago. Started playing this game something like 5 years earlier, and since I've played the main story and the top 20 Dmods again like the old times, I wanted to create my own.

Without your very good tutorials Robj, I think I didn't even start thinking about making Dmods myself, so like the other people here, I really appreciate your work so far

It's the 8th! Get the pitchforks!!

Tutorial #12 and #13 have been uploaded and added to the top post.

Hey Robj,

I really like your tutorial movies, when do you think your next one will come? I like to know so I can look foward to it

Bas

I really like your tutorial movies, when do you think your next one will come? I like to know so I can look foward to it
It'll be out today or tomorrow.

EDIT: I have recorded the next tutorial, can't upload it yet though. It'll be uploaded soon.

It'll be uploaded soon.

Cool

Tutorial 14, 15, 16, and 17 have been uploaded and added to the top post.

Dang you are on a roll now RobJ keep up the good work

You're still avoiding script tutorials.

"You're still avoiding script tutorials"
Next video will be introduction to scripting.

Tutorial 15, that was where I was looking for, and I'm sure the rest will also be very helpfull.

"You're still avoiding script tutorials"
^+1

Cut the guy some slack, he's already producing top notch tutorials at a phenomenal rate. I'm sure the scripting tutorials won't be too far off.

i agree

sorry
(but i was being sarcastic)

Your tutorials are awesome. Thanks for making them. Every video has taught me something I didn't know. I'm looking forward to more. Robj is my hero!

"Your tutorials are awesome. Thanks for making them. Every video has taught me something I didn't know. I'm looking forward to more. Robj is my hero!"
Thanks. I appreciate it.

Hmm.. I suppose I should release some scripting tutorials soon, lol. I'll try and get the first scripting tutorial done by the end of next week. No promises though, I have a lot of other stuff to do. Such as work, Let's Plays, Dmodding, Stealing Cookies, life, and being lazy. (And no! I won't sacrifice my lazy-time.. well, not unless it's a sacrifice to DDC.. )

I'll try though!

Guess who's back, back again, Rob is back, and on crack.

"Guess who's back, back again, Rob is back, and on crack."
I was like 'lolwut?' When I read that, hehe... My weirdness actually comes from lack of sleep. Speaking of which, it's 4:00AM right now, so I suppose I should actually get some sleep, or I'll become even weirder.. lol.

4 am wtf that is in no way late
i am normally sleeping at 5 30 am

Wow, you're cool.

Sleep? Introduction book, anyone?

Reliable sources say the next Tutorial's coming out tomorrow

...Ans so is Necromancer

GREAT JOB on creating those videos, Robj!!

I watched them all last night in a row and although I knew nothing about making video games, I understood everything you said. Well, I'm not too clear on why you stuck a bench just inside the inside room by the door opening... Other than that I understood it all, which I think is pretty good for someone who knew nothing before.

You also made it look very easy. And that it would be something a beginner could actually try and possibly be successful at.

I am also curious to see the videos on scripting, as I have no idea what that is. Do you mean scripting as in "movie script" and "dialogue" - which makes sense as the characters need to talk .... or do you mean scripting as in "codes" (HTML or that DOS stuff or some other weird code)???

I hope you meant dialogue and not code stuff! But then, I guess there must be lots of codes in a game as well....

He means scripting in codes (aka DinkC when creating D-Mods). He placed the bench in front of the doorway, cause he needed for Dink to come in contact with a sprite for him to be warped back outside, and the sprite in that case was the bench. He made the bench invisible so it wouldn't show up in the game itself.

err... echope(did i spell it right) have you ever seen one of the dink smallwood scripts

To make a dialoge you have to use scripts which tell the computer what to do,
say("blah blah", 1);
Will for example make dink say blah blah...

Can someone Link her to meta's tutorial, I'm too lazy ^^

Yes, I figured out what the bench was for. Apparently you need 2 warps for each room/building... I didn't realize last night they only work opneway.

Anyway, I was playing with the editor and so far I got up to cliping & screenmatch OK....

It's pretrty easy so far... not having any real problems except I'm not too clear on how to delete a sprite I dont want on the screen. Like the tutorial used a table and steak that we put on the grass. How do I delete the table if I dont want it there? I have clicked on all sorts of things and can't figure that out. I can pick it ip and move it or change its properties. I think that would be useful to know.

And thanks for explaining what scripts do. I was thinking that might be it. Hopefully they are not too hard, as I'm not very good with that HTML stuff... Anyway, placing rocks, houses and grass on the squares is fun (should I flunk at script writing).

This is another great tutorial you might like to try, and The Rudiments of Scripting is another good scripting tutorial, though parts of that one are a little out of date and it talks about DinkEdit rather than WinDinkEdit... the basics are still good!

To delete a sprite, just select it and press delete on the keyboard

I'm glad you're picking it up so quickly, looking forward to seeing what you can do with it

Sometimes sprites will be under other sprites and not easily picked up to delete them. Unfortunately, I don't think there's a way to cycle through the sprites on the screen in WinDinkEdit. However, this function does exist in the regular DinkEdit so if you really must get a sprite and don't want to first move aside the sprites covering the one you want to delete, you can always run DinkEdit and cycle through the sprites until you get to the unwanted one and just press delete

... I should really actually try this in WinDinkEdit before giving advice but I'm not at my development PC

Thanks to the people that posted comments both here and on youtube, especially the ones letting me know that the tutorials are actually helping, I really appreciate it. It's really awesome to know that my tutorials are actually helping people. Comments like these give me motivation to make more tutorials.

I have started the next tutorial, I guess you could say it's half done, I've got some more clips to film for it and then I have to edit it and upload it.

Just checked out the first one. Dude, these are very clear, well done.

EDIT: made a comment about a slight unclearness in the first video.

Lots of new people joining, they'll be the ones that your tutorials will truly help and inspire. Looking forward to the next one^^

"Just checked out the first one. Dude, these are very clear, well done.
made a comment about a slight unclearness in the first video."
Thanks, and I replied to your comment. Thanks for the feedback, I take it all into account when making my videos.

"Lots of new people joining, they'll be the ones that your tutorials will truly help and inspire."
Yeh, it's good knowing beginners are learning from my tutorials. It's great that other dinkers are checking them out as well.

Cool! I'm looking forward for this one. Woot!

"Cool! I'm looking forward for this one"
It's basically done now, but unfortunately I'm gonna have to wait 8 days before I can upload it. My internet is capped and it won't upload to youtube, (it stops shortly after starting). I Have to wait 8 days for my internet to be uncapped.
So... over the next 8 days I will be visiting every employee of my Internet Service Provider to steal their cookies, take their donuts hostage, and blow up their coffee machines and kettles with HE Cookie Grenades.

8 whole days! oh well I'm excited anyway.

My internet is uncapped now, yay!
I have three more tutorials done now. I'll render them tonight and try to get them uploaded tomorrow morning.

oooh, new goodies!

4 new tutorials have been added.

A cat... interesting.

Really good scripting tutorials! I wish they had been around 9 months ago when I started scripting.

lol
ha
i was online when you made an "introduction to scripting"

these tutorials are really great, I just discovered Dink and like the fact that you can create your own D-mods. This tutorial is really helpful for me since I have absolutly no experience with scripting or anything.

Since I am a perfectionist I want to make everything look just the way I want it. Now I want to add a new sequence of graphics (like you did with the red table). only it has a black background since one of the colors is white. So I need the load_graphics line to make the black background disapear, but where can I put the framedelay now since it does not go in the set_sprite_info line?

Hello

I think that if black is set to be transparent instead of white then you can't make it animated very easily...

What you can do though is use white as the background (as normal) and for the visible white make it slightly off-white, for example 254/254/254 RGB instead of 255/255/255.
The D-Mod will have to be played in true-colour mode if you do that though, because otherwise it will still appear transparent.

Thanks for the answer! Thought of that aswell after I posted it, guess that will have to do than.

If you do that, it's also good to add something to force people to use true-colour when playing it otherwise your fancy new graphics will have bits missing

Stick something like this at the beginning of start.c:

int &tc = get_truecolor();
if (&tc == 0)
{
  choice_start();
  title_start();
  Sorry, true-colour mode is required for this D-Mod!
  title_end();
  "Exit"
  choice_end();
  kill_game();
}

I just copy pasted that code into my start.c, thanks Sparrow Could have written it myself, but copy/paste + crediting you was faster

I will make more tutorials soon. I'm also now taking requests, so if there is something I have already made a tutorial on that you didn't fully understand, or something you just want help with, go ahead and request it and I'll make a vid.

why the dinkedit doesn't work on windows 7?
somebody has a solution?

thanks!

Yo. As in the above tutorials, Robj used WinDinkEdit+, a DinkEdit with a Windows interface and tons o' cool features. It's available for grabbing in the files section. Lazy link

Tutorial #22 added. Another conversation example.

watched the new part and though not using spaces myself i know it is a useful method to keep track of those brackets. And randomdude is a little harsh for Dink asking that about cookies but i know why so give him back his cookies. Wait i sec i bet you already ate them. Robj you really should do something about that cookie addiction of yours. It is getting expensive for us.

Good example for a conversation. Even with this basic knowledge beginners can mess around with fun stuff, which is what the early steps are all about

I felt maybe color coding could have fit in here without complicating it too much though, if only because color coding will be hard to fit into other non-conversation related topics

"I felt maybe color coding could have fit in here without complicating it too much though, if only because color coding will be hard to fit into other non-conversation related topics"

Yeh, I could have put it in there... but I'm probably going to be making a tutorial just to explain the choice command, and I'll include the colour codes in there, or I'll just make it a separate video... either way will work.

Oh right, choice commands could be a good fit for color coding too

Carry on.

started my first d-mod thanks robj I will get around to post in a thread when I am ready or it is ready we will see. Probaly not gonna impress you guys but we will see if every thing goes ok It will have new graphics yipee. :/\

started my first d-mod thanks robj I will get around to post in a thread when I am ready or it is ready we will see. Probaly not gonna impress you guys but we will see if every thing goes ok It will have new graphics yipee

Glad I could help.. I should get around to posting some more tutorials sometime, and I will, eventually. I'm just busy with The Dark Avilan. The tutorials currently available are enough to get someone started with Dmodding, but I want to get some more tutorials out later, that are focused more on scripting.

HElp,when i try to press R then A, it wont do anything!

try r then e (if you are trying to place sprites )

Tutorial 23 added.

Starting on tutorial 24 soon.

Coolios!

nice and can't wait till were going to the more advanced scripting(basic i already know and well when you get to the more advanced stuff you could show some useful tricks(like dunno having more then one counter work together(that i already know how to but i know that is beyond basic scripting(and math is required to do so(more advanced then a calculator can handle yet still is easy math)

You know what the DN needs? A D-Mod creation cookbook! It could be part of the Dink Wiki. People could post their code recipes for things like the examples you gave.

Could you post like every script code you know, maybe that's asking for too much, maybe the the essentials for a dmod, so people could do some trial and error?

After reading metas tutorial and watching those videos you should look stuff up in the dinkC reference. It's amazing.

I love this, becouse of you I started to make my own d-mod. Well I need a lot more training, and see more scripting tutorials but I'm getting a hang of it slowly. Can't wait to learn more

"I love this, becouse of you I started to make my own d-mod. Well I need a lot more training, and see more scripting tutorials but I'm getting a hang of it slowly. Can't wait to learn more"

Thanks, glad They're helping you.
New tutorial will be up in about 8 hours.
It's gonna take a while to upload with my internet connection, because it's about 25 minutes long.

Awesome.

New tutorial is now up (Tutorial #24 - choice Menus).

See top post for link.

Absolutely awesome RobJ - superb job!!

Good work.

Tutorial # 25 has now been added as well.

watched both nice vids still nothing new for me but that'll come when you get to the more complex stuff.

Really well explained!

Yohoo... My post is excatly the number 100.

Now... Should we think about reengineering fairy Dmod and then creating an online version of it... I mean, quests to be played by 2 players at the same time?

If we only could do that, we could create tutorials about how to multiplayer your DMOD. Thsi would be a good tutorial in the D-Mod Creation section.

It's just an idea, though.

Many have tried it - and failed.

I wish you best of luck, Nexus.

@ethernexus mapro is right though it could be possible as there probably are things we don't know. That goes both ways though I'm a very inexperienced D-Mod creator.

@Rob-J you've waked the monster within for lack of a better term. I had watched up to about 23 quite awhile ago. I never actualy got to the point of starting my own D-Mod (technically). But I had recently got morrowind and with it the construction set. From this curiosity I've started my very first Morrowind Modular. It's coming along smoothly it's nothing big just a POH in Seyda Neen. I guess I should thank you or my construction set would be collecting dust.

See children that's why you should watched you they'll make you go crazy! And on this site that's pretty good. So go make me a D-Mod to play!

Just letting everyone know, I am going to make a quick video explaining comment lines, and the use of comment lines in scripts... because I just noticed I hadn't mentioned that yet, which is quite strange... but then I realised that I hardly use it myself, so I probably just forgot to. Anyway, I'm gonna do that, so that will be a quick video, and then I will move on to tutorials about variables.

Are internet connections still that bad in Australia? Or just in your region?

Anyway, I like the way you divided the subjects. And you should really use comment lines all the time It's a golden rule of programming, comment rules save the say when you come back to a project or especially when someone else tries to make sense of what you've written

are there going to be more and can we have a video of you flushing a toilet since Ive never been to Austraila.Also how does that work?

The water does flush the other way in the southern hemisphere. I really don't think you need a video of him flushing his toilet for you to watch.

ok but how does it work or does it flush the same way but looks different?And what about new videos

Google "The Coriolis Effect".

what is that sounds a little like something of space.

why must you lot do this in dev threads start your own there millions of them so I know u can

</bossyboots>

Wow, intresting tutorials here. Looks like it needs more though

Delays and procrastination are fun.
But so are more tutorials.

EDIT @ Marpro below: Nop. But my college tutor wants to get the class into Dmodding when we start looking at C# for some reason XD

You stuck, ExDeath?! : D

But my college tutor wants to get the class into Dmodding when we start looking at C# for some reason

The reason being that your tutor is a sadist?

I just recorded another one today. I'll edit it soon. Should be up tomorrow or the next day.
It's a short one, but it concludes the 'introduction to scripting' section.
Next section is on variables.

Most awesome. College tutor. Ever.

"Most awesome. College tutor. Ever."

Because he likes Dink or because he's a sadist?

Both, of course. It's like an IRL Bishop Nelson.

The college probably has Dead Cat Carcasses lying about somewhere, too. (or the furs, anyway)

I am sure they're sheep carcasses after all it IS NZ

Every carcass is a waterfall.

I'll be sure to share your thoughts with him this morning XD

Can't wait for the next part hope you show some uses of standard globals i haven't thought of yet

Tutorial #26 is up.

This concludes the introduction to scripting section.
Next tutorial will introduce global variables.

Tutorial #27 added. This one is on global variables. I made it as simple and concise as I possibly could, to benefit beginners.
Enjoy.

Yes, this is on track to cover just about everything a beginning d-mod author might need. If only this existed 7 years ago, things might have been different with some new members

"Yes, this is on track to cover just about everything a beginning d-mod author might need. If only this existed 7 years ago, things might have been different with some new members"

Indeed. There isn't many new dmod developers these days unfortunately... but my goal is to make sure that when we do get the occasional new developer, everything they need to know to start making their dmod, is laid out in front of them.

EDIT: I know what it can be like trying to keep updated with a thread that sometimes goes a few months without updates and then sometimes gets a lot of updates in a short amount of time... such as this one with the tutorials.. sometimes someone following these might not even think to check it when the post count has changed, or the 'last updated' time has changed, as it can be someone just asking a question or posting a comment, and not actually a new tutorial being added. So to make it clear to those who follow this line up of videos as to when new tutorials are added, I am going to update the subject line of the top post, with the time since the last video was added to the list, so it displays on the main forum page.

Tutorial #28 added. "More On Global Variables"

For those who are following along, and wish to make sure that your instance of the mod so far is exactly the same as the one I am working on in the tutorial. You can download my ootr folder, as of Tutorial #28, from this link: OOTR Folder

Also added the link in the video description of tutorial 28.

Tutorial 29 added.

ily robj.

Tutorial #30 added.
In this one we will learn how to use Local Variables!
Enjoy.

Nice but really hope you show us next time
*10 tuts later*
Robj: Gonna fix the reappearing bug next tutorial see you than.
*100 tuts later*
Robj: gonna fix the bug next tutorial i really will.
*1000000 tuts later*
Robj: Give me all your cookies or the bug will never be fixed.
*100000000000000000000000000000 Tuts later*
Robj: Cookies i must have cookies or else i can't fix the bug.

sorry couldn't resist

I sort of keep realising... I need to teach other stuff first... but I'm definitely showing how in the next one, because I've already recorded it, just gotta render and upload... which will happen in the next couple of days.

K looking forward to it

Record another one and upload it first, just to mess with merder.

Even experienced Dmodders can still reflect on forgotten knowledge with these.
Glad to see you're still making them.

In regards to my Tutor, he said he's a sadist. I still think he's Bishop Nelson.

Next tutorial added, for those interested.
#31 - In this tutorial I go over how to store an 'editor sprite number' in a variable, and then set its 'editor type' value.

DSPT Activity += 10 //times more activity

Tutorials continuing to be extremely useful, keep it up!

Tutorial #32 added.
This time we are taking a look at some of the required global variables, and deleting a couple that aren't actually required.

Tutorial 33, and 34 added.
We take a quick look at pseudo variables in preparation for using them in a later tutorial.. and we also learn about the few special variables and demonstrate the use of active sprite number 1000.

Tutorial #35 added

EDIT: Tutorial #36 added.
EDIT2: Tutorial #37 added.

Moar, MOAR!!

Tutorial #38 added.. even tough it was recorded a month ago.. lol

Snail much?

Tutorial 39 is now up, and all further tutorials will be recorded and rendered in HD. This will make it easier to read the text in scripts.

Awesome to see these are definitely still going (which I already knew).
Looking forward to the next one.

Hiya Rob, I have downloaded 38 tutorials *phew shattered* but i can't seem to download 39 and 40. I am really excited as although I have been playing Dink for years,I have only recently joined the forum. Any advice on how to get these last two would be so good. Thank you in advance. Awesome amount of work gone into making the tutorials, thank you.

"Hiya Rob, I have downloaded 38 tutorials *phew shattered* but i can't seem to download 39 and 40. I am really excited as although I have been playing Dink for years,I have only recently joined the forum. Any advice on how to get these last two would be so good. Thank you in advance. Awesome amount of work gone into making the tutorials, thank you."

Erm... if you're trying to download them to your computer, you could always use a browser extension.. both firefox and chrome have them for free, just google search "youtube video downloader extension" or something like that, in google.

New tutorial added

Enjoy I guess.

Hey, I'm watching your tutorials and I wanted to let you know they're very helpful, clear and thorough. I've watched even the ones on subjects I already knew pretty well and have found out a few extra things (I didn't, for example, know that you could change the color of the title in choice statements).

"Hey, I'm watching your tutorials and I wanted to let you know they're very helpful, clear and thorough. I've watched even the ones on subjects I already knew pretty well and have found out a few extra things (I didn't, for example, know that you could change the color of the title in choice statements)."

Late reply but anyway.. Glad these helped you.

I'll make the next tutorial soemtime this week.. for anyone that still watches these

EDIT: Next tutorial complete, just gotta upload it, and then I'll make another one.

EDIT 2: Tutorial #43 added.

hmm will keep the cheat in mind for testing(till now used item giving or variable changesrs writtne manually

I think I got the idea of using the cheat in D-Mod testing from one of the other many tutorials I would be looking through on a daily basis while scripting. You know...because I suck at it. Not sure which one though. (I was already using it before this tutorial so it wasn't from this)

So I was thinking about creation tutorials and how cool it would be to do joint tutorials where you discussed the approaches another dmod author makes when they're making a dmod. Like how an author decides on how they want design an area, their strategy to detailing their screens, the steps they take in planning a story, etc. I just think it'd be interesting to look at the different styles each author has. I also believe it would be a great learning experience for both those who have and have not made dmods.

Perhaps this doesn't really belong in here, but I still think having an "inside an author's mind" would be a really interesting segment for the DSPT to try out.

That's a good idea.. I've gotta get the motivation to finish the basic list first.. not many left to make now. I've also got a few more joint LP's I'm currently doing, and then after that I'll look into starting on something like that.

i'd love to discuss that stuff even if not the most experienced author

Creative process? What's that?

Seriously though, I make everything up as I go. Don't bother contacting me

I have Dink for Android ! I can now make my own dmod and show it to everyone I meet!

So apparently I can't update the top post anymore without recieving the error: "This post contains too much content, please trim it down a bit" :/
Can't even change the subject line to say Tutorial #44 is out lol...

Oh well, Tutorial #44 is out. Roughly 11 more tutorials to go, give or take a few, and the basic Dmodding Tutorial list will be complete.

Link: Tutorial #44 - Borders and Surroundings

Hey, ask our king to do something about it!

When are you going finish The Dark Avilian

Tomorrow

Stop that.

This is awesome! I haven't been on DN since 2009 and recently my flatmate brought up Dink Smallwood. We'll watch them and start working on a d-mod right away!

Godley is vanquished.

Robj's voice is like a baby's.
<3

Thanks for these tutorials.
After about a decade (I'm now approaching my 50's; just a few short years, these damn hips might start a'craggin'!), I, at long last, decided I might want to start a d-mod. There's an epic mythological-base story in my head that I may want to turn into a playable shtuff.

Just my pleasant update, since I haven't been here in ages. Missed everyoone. =) *group hug*

p. s. Actually, I'm not going to be 50 for another 7 years. I just feel like it. You know, every second now, you're 1 second closer to decomposition. =\

that's interesting. i am a composit. t

*chuckles* =D

(@ LolitaChix) Go to it! Make a dmod! Let me know if you need any help.

Is there still a demand for these?

Oh well, either way. I'm working on Tutorial 45 now.

Shouldn't be too far off.

I think that there are (very few) of us who are still coming on board nowadays. So that means there are therefore a rather low supply of Dink "newbies". That being said, I admit that I found your various tutorials quite helpful and entertaining.

But, I bet that most of us would rather see that great and grand dmod you have been working on come to the light of day so that we could all play it instead.

Can someone tell me what fonts are being used at the beginning of each tutorial, where it says Dink SmallwoodPT presents? The ones used in the last four or five videos.

Hi Toof,

The font is called "Fire of Ysgard".

Found them. Tank ya

BEEP BOOP: Incoming

Top post has been updated, as ExDeathevn foreshadowed above.

At the bottom of the first post I have added a list of extra standalone tutorials.

These are any tutorials that were not planned/created as part of the original basic tutorial list, but were created afterwards, with no numerical order in mind - they will either compliment the dmod creation process, be a requested tutorial, or more advanced scripting concepts/techniques.

If anyone makes a tutorial that is of quality and helpful, I'll add it to the list, this way everything can be found in one place, instead having to search everywhere.

To kick it off, ExDeathevn has made a tutorial I probably should have covered early on: Installing Dink Smallwood, FreeDink and Dfarc 3. See top post for link.

All I showed in my list was howto install windinkedit.

Enjoy.

This game is almost as old as me, and your tutorial on breaking it is exactly what I need rn mg ngl
Learning requires interest, and interest requires context. I suppose there's a lot that could be said, but thanking you for steamrolling this fatty is probably what's important <3

Moved ExDeathevns tutorial for installing Dink Smallwood, FreeDink and Dfarc 3 to the main tutorial list as the very first tutorial (Tutorial #0).
Also added it to the main youtube playlist as well.

@Robj:
Moved ExDeathevns tutorial for installing Dink Smallwood, FreeDink and Dfarc 3 to the main tutorial list as the very first tutorial (Tutorial #0).
Also added it to the main youtube playlist as well.

Good idea!

Part 1 of a two-part tutorial on Editor Sprite Numbers.
This video covers the basics of exactly how editor sprite numbers are assigned and how they behave. Next part will go over editor sprite/editor frame values used as free per-screen variables, and also using them as free globals.

See the top post of this thread for the link, bottom of the post under "Other random dmodding tutorials"

Double post for notfying part 2 is now up - Advanced and global use of editor sprite numbers. See top post.

By the way, I think you should probably link to the new version of the online DinkC reference site somewhere in the first post.

https://dinkcreference.netlify.app/

It's not exactly a tutorial but it's a very important resource for D-Mod development nowadays (You should know, since you made it haha)

@drone

Good idea. Done.

I'm having problems with getting sound working, everything else in these tutorials have worked flawlessly except for the sound. I have it enabled but still no sound!

Also when I try to run the mod directly from WindinkeditPlus with both sound and window enabled it just goes to normal Dink Smallwood(That has sound). Only way I can actually play my mod is to launch DFarc 3 and run my mod from there, however I still don't get any sound when I do that but atleast my DMOD works and I can run it lol. Super strange.

EDIT: I have resolved the issue with the sound, I just copied my dmod to the dmods folder and ran the game normally and could play my dmod with sound finally. However trying to run the dmod through WinDinkEditPlus dosn't seem to work, oh well no matter. I can still quickly test my dmod, just drop it in dmods folder and play it

Is 768 Screens really the limit? You can't have more? It's far too little! Is there any work around for that? I want to create an absolutely gigantic map!

It is possible to use multiple Map files but is rarely done. I believe Friends Beyond 3 is the only example I can think of where a 2nd map is actually used in this way.

There's also load_map() for "easily" loading supplementary map files in 1.08 and later, which FB3 predates. I'm sure drone could hack together creating/loading extra map/dink.dats in WDED at some point if someone nagged enough .

That would be amazing, maybe a new tutorial to load supplementary map files?

So can you go back and forth with multiple map files?

For example I create a map that uses all 768 screens, have a second map file that takes the player to a snowy area lets say and if I want I can go back to the first map for whatever reasons

If you read that link I posted to the DinkC reference, it explicitly states that it is a very bad idea due to the highly likely potential mismatch of sprite override data between the two map.dat files. This means that unless your map files use absolutely no sprite overrides (barrels or burnt pine trees etc.) it would be a veritable nightmare to switch between the two. FB3 only ever allowed you to go in one direction for this reason. If your second map is almost identical to the first, except with different tiling, it might work okay, however.

Sorry I didn't know it was a link lmao

Alright good to know. Just switching over to the new map without going back is more than fine too. It will just have to act like the Stone of Balance dmod, once you're finished you go to the new map and never look back again basicly

There is a way to switch back and forth and save unique barrel/tree/chest info.

However, it's very complex. I'll release a tutorial at some point in future.

I just want to take a moment out to tell you that you have done another great job with these latest tutorials. I knew that you were using some method to store editor_seq() and editor_frame() "variables" on a screen that was not part of the screen that Dink was on at that moment. But, it seemed like such a risky proposition to do it, that I hesitated to try it.

Your last tutorial proved that the method was surprisingly simple, safe and easy to implement due to the fact that it seems the Dink engine pretty much ignores the &player_map variable value unless the load_screen() and/or draw_screen() functions are used. Amazing! What a handy hack this technique is!

Thanks very much.

Would be nice to have a tutorial for creating cave hole and stair warps, in your warp tutorial you only show how to make door warps.

@SlipDink.

Thanks.

Yes, I think people are hesitant to try the technique of remotely storing/retrieving editor info on other screens out of worry it will break things. But absolutely, if done the way shown in the video, it never will. You could do it literally every 2 seconds during battle and it won't affect the current screen info or visuals at all. Quite handy indeed!

loading this thread is really taxing

I updated Tutorial #0 at the top of the list to show the best way to install Dink Smallwood as of 2024 using the Martridge Launcher.

Damn this thread is long. It needs to be collapsed or something lol.