metamod-r/doc/txt/faq.txt

Metamod FAQ
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Please add support for (some) mod.

    Please see game support requirements in the documentation.

How do I use bots with Metamod?

    If the bot is not a Metamod plugin, then you will need to tell Metamod
    to use your bot as the gamedll, by specifying it on the hlds command
    line with the "+localinfo mm_gamedll" option. See the Metamod docs.
    See also the AdminMod docs (www.adminmod.org/help/online/Configuration
    /How_to_Use_Bots_with_MetaMod_AM_2.50_and_up.htm).

The download links give corrupt files.

    I think what you're observing is that your web client is quietly
    uncompressing the file, but not updating the name of the downloaded
    file to reflect this. In particular, some web clients will silently
    decompress (gunzip) files _without_ removing the ".gz" from the
    filename, so you'll end up with a file "metamod_i386.so.gz" which is
    _really_ "metamod_i386.so", and so trying to gunzip it will produce an
    error ("not in gzip format"). Try running "file" on the resulting file
    to see what the OS thinks it is. Or, where you don't have "file" (ie
    windows), just look at the file size - it should be pretty indicative
    of whether the file is still compressed or not.

How do I install Metamod?

    This is covered briefly in the Metamod docs. Typically, though,
    Metamod is installed as part of some major plugin, like AdminMod
    (www.adminmod.org/). There is also some discussion of installing
    Metamod by hand in the AdminMod docs (www.adminmod.org/help/online/
    Installing/Manual_Installation_-_Walk-Through.htm). If you already
    have Metamod installed and merely want to update it, this requires
    only replacing the .so/.dll with the latest version from the webpage
    (metamod.org/).

I'm having trouble with AdminMod.

    You'll need to ask your AdminMod questions on the AdminMod forums
    (www.ozforums.com/forumdisplay.php?forumid=143).

How do I do (something) in a Metamod plugin?

    Generally speaking, a Metamod plugin works very much like an Half-Life
    Game Mod, since all it's doing is making the same calls to the same
    SDK that the Game Mod does. So, the question typically isn't "how do I
    do this in Metamod?" but instead "how do I do this in an Half-Life
    Mod?", and is best asked in a HL SDK Programming forum/mailinglist
    (see related links and especially Botman's MOD FAQ (planethalflife.com
    /botman/MOD_FAQ.shtml)). Once you figure out how it would normally be
    done in a Game Mod, figuring out how to do it in Metamod is relatively
    straightforward.
   
    However, if you have questions on how to convert a piece of code from
    HLmod to Metamod plugin, then I can provide some pointers, or you can
    ask on the Metamod mailing list (groups.yahoo.com/group/metamod/). And
    of course, if you have questions about things in the code specific to
    Metamod (ie things mentioned in the Metamod Coding docs) feel free to
    ask me or on the mailing list.

Is there a tutorial or example of how to write a Metamod plugin?

    The sourcecode includes a couple of plugins that can be used as
    examples. The "stub" plugin is the bare basics of what a plugin needs.
    The "trace" plugin provides an example of hooking _every_ SDK
    function. The "wdmisc" plugin provides a couple of basic useful
    features. You can also look at several of the other plugins out there
    for more examples.
   
    Note that the example plugins in the Metamod sourcecode show how to
    use Metamod to interface with Half-Life code, but they mostly assume
    you already know how to write Half-Life code. If you need examples or
    info on how to write Half-Life code itself, you'll need to go look
    through the HL SDK programming websites (see related links and
    Botman's MOD FAQ (planethalflife.com/botman/MOD_FAQ.shtml)).

I have (or know of) a Metamod plugin not listed on the webpage.

    Send me the information about the plugin (name, author, description,
    URL), and I'd be happy to provide a link from the webpage.

I'm having trouble compiling under MSVC.

    Please note that I do not use MSVC, so I can't help a lot with using
    that compiler. I do all my development under linux, using gcc for
    linux binaries and mingw32 (www.mingw.org/) for windows binaries. The
    sourcecode does include an MSVC project file for Metamod, as well as a
    project file for the stub plugin, both mostly as examples. They should
    work, and indeed did work the last time I dug up MSVC to test them.
    That said, there are a few folks on the Metamod mailing list
    (groups.yahoo.com/group/metamod/) that do use MSVC, so you might find
    some assistance there.

If I create a Metamod plugin, does it have to be open source?

    Generally speaking, yes. The way the GPL is interpreted, plugins of a
    GPL program need to be also GPL. See also the FAQ entry on the GNU
    site about plugins of a GPL program (www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html
    #GPLAndPlugins).

How about a port of Metamod to other engines like Q3, Unreal, etc?

    I haven't looked into it myself, but several folks on the AdminMod
    team (from which Metamod was derived) had looked at porting to other
    games like Q3 and UT, and determined that those engines either didn't
    provide the necessary API hooks, or that they already provided a
    suitable method for extending functionality. So, I wouldn't expect to
    see a version of Metamod for those. Perhaps for some other future
    engines, although I believe most modern engines are now providing
    their own method for extensions or plugins, so that a third-party
    solution like Metamod wouldn't be necessary.
   
    If Half-Life 2 ever sees the light of day, I expect I'd look seriously
    at porting to that - unless, of course, Valve ends up providing their 
    own plugin framework themselves. :)

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