Underrail Wiki:Community portal

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Revision as of 09:52, 28 July 2019 by Wikiman (talk | contribs) (some improvements/updates to documentation, link to Underrail Wiki: Project Expedition for expansion work)
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In the meantime, please email admin@underrail.com, PM Styg on the forums, or DM him on the Underrail Discord for a wiki account. New editors are welcome, everyone (except spambots) are accepted!

Welcome to Underrail Wiki! The Community Portal hosts a simple style guide and "state of the wiki" list for the base game. See Underrail Wiki: Project Expedition for the state of Expedition articles.

Style guide

We don't have strict style policies. Generally, editors should follow common sense. When in doubt, Wikipedia Manual of Style is a good resource for all things wiki style.

Core elements of articles are usually right-side infobox or image, short introductory text, main body text under headings common for that type of article, navbox for easy access to related articles, and finally categories. Editors are encouraged to follow style set by existing articles of same type; It is often the easiest way to get things done, particularly if one is not familiar with mediawiki in general and/or local templates.

All templates have documentation explaining their parameters and typical use cases. Template pages are easily accessible when previewing an article you're editing - links to all templates used on that article appear on the bottom of the edit page. There's also Category:Templates and its subcategories.

Here are few oddities that markedly differ from wikipedia's encyclopediac nature:

Naming

The basis for article naming is what you see in the game. Every notable object in the game (Items, characters and such) should have corresponding page in the wiki, even if it's just a redirect to the main article. (As is the case with most craftable item variations.) In case of name conflict, use disambigation with no preference given to any one page over others sharing the name. (eg. Guard for the feat and various generic NPCs.)

Quick note on file naming.

  • Icons: Every item name has File:<Item name>.png file redirect pointing to its icon to make creating new infoboxes easy. Other icons: File:<Feat name> icon.png, File:<Status effect name> effect.png, File:<Ability name>.png.
  • Common character sprites (with transparent background) and character screenshots with in-game surroundings both generally use File:<Character name>.png.
  • Screenshots of Zones are named after their internal name, since most zones share their in-game name with many others. For zones consisting of multiple screens, the additional screens have a running number suffix. Their order is arbitrary.
  • Portraits and their backgrounds are directly ripped from the game as is. Filenames are original, unless that would lead to naming conflict.
  • Others files may use whatever conventions are established; Look at how other files in the same category are named.

Spoiler policy

We try to avoid spoiling surprises and secrets, but spoilers are not explicitly marked where they are to be expected. (Eg. lore and quest pages can contain unmarked spoilers pertaining to the topic.)

Templates:

  • {{spoiler warning}} for adding a large spoiler warning on top of articles that are basically full of spoilers.
  • {{spoiler}} for short inline spoiler text for use anywhere - middle of body text, infobox parameters, etc.
  • {{hiddensection}} for larger sections, full paragraphs or more. Starts hidden with a toggle to show/hide.

A good rule of thumb is to keep spoilers proportional to what a reader would reasonably expect. On a character or faction article having background information should not be a problem, but for bits that are treated as secrets in the game, or for those that are not but are not revealed until much later, it is better to use inline spoiler or hiddensection. And when the spoiler is too big to take the risk or its presence is in itself a spoiler, it is best to split. Conversely on pure lore articles – such as Biocorp projects, historical events, obscure mentioned-only characters, articles in general you would be unlikely to visit by accident – do not worry too much about marking spoilers, if at all. That said, it's best decided on a case by case basis.

Sources and references

This wiki does not have the standard mediawiki Cite extension installed, so <ref> tags can't be used. References are normally not required as the main source for nearly everything in this wiki should be the game itself. When necessary (citing developer posts or such), unnamed external link wrapped in <sup> tags will create an inline reference link that looks like a familiar mediawiki reference.

Prefer primary sources: information directly from the developers and the game itself. Information from secondary sources is acceptable, but confirm its validity if possible. Let's try to keep this wiki authoritative.

Notable exception: This wiki started hosting player-made maps as a stopgap measure to help players before the Global Map was introduced. Given enough interest, we could also host guides, player builds, or other such content. But given the wiki's small contributor base, such projects seem very unlikely at this time.

State of the wiki

There are many ways in which you can help. Don't be afraid to edit and create articles!

Note: The below concerns progress of wikifying the base game! See Underrail Wiki: Project Expedition for the state of Expedition articles.

Existing articles

Loosely ordered by overall status; from good to bad.

Major page group Progress Things to do
navboxes / lists ☑ Good
  • Add anything that's missing. Navboxes can be edited via the v-d-e links in their upper left corner.
Feats ☑ Good
  • Additional detailed explanations should be added if game mechanics are ambiguous, or if the feat description omits some information.
Items ☑ Ok
  • Major item pages like the main weapon and armor variations need more comprehensive example sets and more detailed write-up.
  • Oddity locations need to be checked and detailed
  • Pages in Category:Components with example stats need to be updated with their stat ranges. Tabbed item infoboxes be edited via the v-d-e links in their upper right corner.
  • Few quality-scaling components lack Template:Quality table.
Psi abilities, Abilities, Status effects ☑ Ok
  • Explain ambiguous game mechanics
  • Add scaling information if necessary
  • Check if relevant lists include everything they should
Quests ☐ Basics
  • Some walkthroughs miss entire quest paths or are outdated.
  • Walkthrus may also need different routes for different character skillsets.
  • Pages with long walkthrus should be split into tldr and detailed version; see Old man Nosek.
Locations ☐ Basics
  • Detail pages; many have short sections or are stubs/redirects.
  • Body text for most locations could use additional write-up.
Skills, Base Abilities, Combat Stats ☐ Basics
  • Many of the pages for individual skills have lists that need expansion.
  • Game mechanics research: precision
Characters, Enemies ☐ Basics
  • Many pages lack minimal level of body text.
  • For enemies: rewrite or at least improve fluff text and fighting tips.
  • Pages in Category:Characters without health probably lack most infobox data.
Factions ☒ Bad
  • Detail individual pages; these are really lacking in story/lore details.
  • The main factions page needs to be improved too.

New pages

Overall status: Practically 100% of base game content up to version 1.0.2.4 has pages the wiki!

Check out the Special:WantedPages for a list of frequently linked-to pages that don't yet exist. Feel free to create any of them!

Major article group Progress Infobox and documention Navboxes (should link to all pages) Notes / other resources
Quests ☑ Good Quest Infobox Missions navbox Existing quest pages can be used as references, though there is much room for improvement in walkthroughs.
Items ☑ Good Infobox item Most of Category:Navbox templates Use existing item pages for reference, but longer body text is welcome.
Characters, Enemies ☑ Good Character Infobox NPCs, mentioned characters, minor NPCs and enemies Existing pages can be used as references, though many are stubs.
Locations ☑ Good Location Infobox Locations navbox
  • Zones lists every zone file, its article and map screenshot
  • Every zone should have its own detailed article later on, for now locations only have larger common pages
Feats ☑ Good Feat Infobox Feats navbox Use existing pages for reference.
Abilities ☑ Good Ability Infobox Abilities navbox, Psi abilities navbox Use existing pages for reference. Feat abilities should go to relevant feat page; no need for two pages and disambiguation.
Status effects ☑ Good Ability Infobox Status effect navbox Use existing pages for reference. Status effects should be added to relevant main article when they share name (e.g. Irongut medicine item and status effect)
Random events ☑ Good Depends on the event; usually standalone event page or noted on relevant character page(s) Given their random nature and other factors, documenting these will be an ongoing long-term process.

Uploading images

Screenshots and editing!
  • Icons should be 33x33px PNG, with transparent background and correct transparency
  • NPC/mob models should be minimum 100x100px or taller as required, similar in size with the portrait next to it in the infobox
    • Unique NPCs can use cropped screenshots to illustrate their surroundings
    • Mobs and generic NPCs are better off with generic sprite, transparent background
  • Quests infobox supports 300x200px images (or larger with same aspect ratio), can be a key event or point of interest in the quest
  • Location infobox looks best with 1.5:1 or higher aspect ratio image, width is limited to 300px.
Image categories

Quality assurance

This wiki uses MediaWiki File cache, which serves pages to anonymous visitors directly from file cache instead of generating them on every page load. This has the downside that category listings are updated to anonymous visitors only when the category page is edited (practically never) or its cache is purged manually. Thus, category pages should be manually purged after adding content to said category.

And the usual wiki cleanup stuff:

Want to discuss something?

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