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Help:Contents
This page includes basic help for adding content to Data Crystal pages. Additional help articles are available. General information about editing and formatting Wiki articles can be found at the Meta-Wiki help page.
Additional Help
Starting a new page
When To Start A New Page
If you want to add information about a game and the game does not have a page on Data Crystal, you can add the page yourself. If circumstances warrant, you may also create a new sub-page for a game. The following would be good candidates for a new page.
- Adding a game to Data Crystal
- Lengthy explanations of data structures or formats
- Long lists, data tables, or enumerations
There are also certain types of pages that fall outside the scope of this wiki or should not be created without consulting staff.
- Trivia/fun facts
- Different revisions and dumps of the same game on the same console
- Game review, opinion, or discussion
- Non-hacking related content
Some additional tips when deciding whether to create a new page:
- Can the new content go into the RAM map, ROM map, or notes page? Instead of creating an article with little content, it is often better to add a section to the game's standard Notes page, with a link from the game's main page if appropriate. The RAM map, ROM map, and notes pages are all linked to from a game's main page on Data Crystal, as well as the game's page on romhacking.net.
- Can the new content be merged with an existing page? (Instead of creating separate pages for "spell values", "item values", "enemy values", etc. these lists can all go into a single page.)
- Is it better to link to offsite content? This especially applies to content tangentially related to ROM-hacking, such as articles on game- or series-specific wikis, or The Cutting Room Floor, for
example.
Tips On Creating A New Page
Use these guidelines for naming your articles. To create the page, type the desired page name into the search box, click "Go", and then click on the link to create the page.
- For game pages, use the simplest, most obvious name possible; you can always create a redirect and/or disambiguation page later if needed.
- Sub-pages regarding a single game or system should use name of the game or console as a prefix, separated by a colon. For example, the item properties table for EarthBound is found at EarthBound:Item Properties Table, and the article explaining colors for Super Nintendo is found at Super Nintendo:Color.
When creating a new page, try to follow conventions and use wiki templates as appropriate.
- For a game's main page, try using an existing page for a different game as a starting point.
- For RAM maps, ROM maps, Notes pages and table files, use the appropriate templates.
- For other sub-pages, provide a link to the game's or system's main page.
Content And Conventions
Data Crystal strives for a uniform style across all pages. Please adhere to the following guidelines when writing articles of your own. All Data Crystal articles should be written in Standard English. If you are unfamiliar with the English language, please contact an administrator before posting any articles. Refrain from using leetspeak or other non-standard forms of English on Data Crystal.
Since English is the primary language of this Wiki, game consoles will be referred to by the name they were released in the United States. For example, the Nintendo Famicom will be referred to as the Nintendo Entertainment System. Regarding games, the same rule applies and exceptions should be made in the case of games that were not released in the United States; however, an English name should be provided under Miscellaneous.
- Third-person point of view.
- Data Crystal aims for an encyclopedic method of writing so please phrase all articles in the third person. This includes Wikipedia's idea of Neutral point of view.
- ROM Hacking Content.
- Data Crystal is a repository of ROM Hacking information. Please limit the scope of articles to ROM Hacking and related topics. Many tangentially related topics already have thorough articles on Wikipedia, and we encourage inter-wiki linking. In fact, a template exists to make this as easy as possible.
- Game pages
- Please create separate pages for each game. In creating these pages, please see the respective template game page.
- Wiki networking
- Please create links to newly created articles, and avoid creating orphaned pages.
Basic Wiki syntax
| Description | You type | You get |
| Applies anywhere | ||
| Italic text |
''italic'' |
italic |
| Bold text |
'''bold''' |
bold |
| Bold and italic text |
'''''bold & italic''''' |
bold & italic |
| Internal link (within Data Crystal) |
[[name of page]] |
|
| Redirect to another page |
#redirect [[Target page]] |
1. redirect Target page |
| External link (to other websites) |
[http://www.example.com] |
|
| Don't interpret text |
<!--an embedded comment--> |
|
|
Sign your posts |
~~~~ |
Username 13:11, |
| Applies only at the beginning of the line | ||
| Headings of different sizes |
==level 1== |
Headings of different levels. |
| Horizontal rule |
---- |
|
| Bulleted list |
* list item a |
|
| Numbered list |
# first list item |
|
| Mixture of bulleted and numbered lists |
* list item X |
|
| Definition |
; Technical Term |
|
| Indentation |
: normal text (indented) |
|
| Preformatted text (boxed text) |
add a space at the beginning of the line to create preformatted text in a box |
add a space at the beginning of the line |
| Thumbnail image |
[[Image:Wiki.png|thumb|Caption text]] |
|
Namespaces
Pages on Data Crystal are grouped into collections called namespaces, which differentiate between the purpose of the pages at a high level. Namespaces are indicated in page titles by prefixing the page name with namespace:, so the prefix Help: in this page's title (Help:Contents) indicates that this page is in the Help namespace. Note, however, that colons and prefixes can also appear in page titles without indicating a namespace. For instance, the page Foo:Namespaces is a page located in the mainspace because the namespace Foo does not exist. Similarly the page Help:Foo:Namespaces is in the Help namespace.
There are several defined namespaces, for a complete list please refer to the MediaWiki help page.
Main
This is the null namespace, commonly called the main namespace or mainspace. This namespace typically contains the bulk of the content pages in Data Crystal.
User
Each user has a corresponding page in the User namespace. This page and respective subpages, can be used by users to record information about themselves or to test and draft new content. For example, pages of the form User:UserName/Sandbox or User:UserName/TestPage can only be edited by the user themselves or by administrators.
File
The File namespace is used to store images, videos or sound files. Each file has a corresponding page in the File namespace which should be used to hold licensing data as well.
Template
The Template namespace is used to hold templates, blocks of text or wikicode that are intended to be embedded in several other pages.
Help
The Help namespace is usually used to hold help files, instructions and 'how-to' guides.
Templates
As mentioned above, Data Crystal includes a Template namespace which holds pages designed specifically to be embedded on other pages. Therefore, a page within the Template: namespace is called a template and this special page is meant to reduce the need for writing the same thing multiple times. Also, a page in the template namespace can be linked to like any other page:
| You type | Where Template:Example1 contains | You get |
[[Template:Example1]]
|
Hello World!
|
Template:Example1 |
{{Template:Example1}}
|
Hello World! | |
{{Example1}}
|
Hello World! | |
abc{{Example1}}def
|
abcHello World!def |
One important feature of templates is their ability to take arguments. As shown in the previous table, a template with no arguments is called as {{template_name}}. Parameters are defined inside triple braces and when the template is embedded to a page, the contents of the parameter name will also be embedded:
| You type | Where Template:Example2 contains | You get |
{{Example2|1=Angus}}
|
Hello {{{1}}}!
|
Hello Angus! |
{{Example2|Jimmy}}
|
Hello Jimmy! | |
{{Example2|2=Kirk}}
|
Hello {{{1}}}! | |
{{Example2||David}}
|
Hello ! |
By default, the parameters are numbered in order, starting from 1; there is no practical limit to the number of parameters that can be defined (at least 65536). However, named parameters may be added at any point without interrupting the numbering:
| You type | Where Template:Example3 contains | You get |
{{Example3|Super|Mario|Brothers}}
|
{{{1}}} {{{2}}} {{{x}}}!
|
Super Mario {{{x}}}! |
{{Example3|Super|Mario|x=Brothers}}
|
Super Mario Brothers! | |
{{Example3|Super|x=Mario|Brothers}}
|
Super Brothers Mario! | |
{{Example3|Super|x=Mario|x=Brothers}}
|
Super {{{2}}} Brothers! | |
{{Example3|1=Super|2=Mario|=Brothers}}
|
Super Mario {{{x}}}! |
Please refer to the Templates Help page for a list of existing templates and their usage.