StrategyWiki:Staff lounge/2007/May

Template:Castlevania
Could somebody with a fresh pair of eyes (well, hopefully a pair) who is familiar with the Castlevania series please look over this for me? I don't think I have every game listed under it and at the moment it's in a rather messy layout, but I can't really think of anything better. Any improvements appreciated. Thanks!--Froglet 03:54, 7 May 2007 (CDT)
 * From what I can see in wikipedia, Dracula_X:_Rondo_of_Blood is Demon Castle Dracula X: Reincarnation of Blood so I've redirected it, i'm fairly sure because of the date but please check.--Rocky http://media.strategywiki.org/images/thumb/7/78/Rally-X_Rock.png/25px-Rally-X_Rock.png (Talk - Contributions) 06:47, 7 May 2007 (CDT)
 * I believe it is, I'm none too familiar with the earlier entries in the series, but I reckon it's the same. Hopefully.--Froglet 06:56, 7 May 2007 (CDT)
 * I'm not familiar with the series at all :P.--Rocky http://media.strategywiki.org/images/thumb/7/78/Rally-X_Rock.png/25px-Rally-X_Rock.png (Talk - Contributions) 07:58, 7 May 2007 (CDT)

Import and Export
I want to export a page from this Wiki and import it in with a different name, is there a way to do this, I want it to transfer all of the pages from Pokémon Red and Blue to Pokémon Gold, Silver and Crystal while keeping the original pages (Obviously), how do I change the destination name or is there a simpler way to do this?Rocky http://media.strategywiki.org/images/thumb/7/78/Rally-X_Rock.png/25px-Rally-X_Rock.png (Talk - Contributions) 13:53, 7 May 2007 (CDT)
 * Sorry for the delayed response, but there is a much simpler way of doing it. On the GSC page, simply type (or whatever page you want in place of Pallet Town) and click "Save." Then, click on edit again and you'll be able to modify the content (since it is keeping the content inside the wiki, we don't need to keep the edit history to satisfy GFDL). Hope that helps, and make sure there are two colons after subst instead of one! --Ryan SchmidtTalk - Contribs 16:53, 9 May 2007 (CDT)
 * Thanks, I am such an idiot for not thinking about that.--Rocky http://media.strategywiki.org/images/thumb/7/78/Rally-X_Rock.png/25px-Rally-X_Rock.png (Talk - Contributions) 00:50, 10 May 2007 (CDT)

The Legend of Zelda (Game)
Why is The Legend of Zelda (Game) protected? And why is it on the Broken redirects page? --Notmyhandle (talk • contribs) 20:28, 9 May 2007 (CDT)
 * It was a link from Zelda wiki to here, it's not needed now and it's on the broken redirects because the delete tag points to the talk page, I don't want to delete it in case it is still needed.--Rocky http://media.strategywiki.org/images/thumb/7/78/Rally-X_Rock.png/25px-Rally-X_Rock.png (Talk - Contributions) 00:49, 10 May 2007 (CDT)
 * Should it redirect to the Zelda series category? --Notmyhandle (talk • contribs) 16:43, 10 May 2007 (CDT)
 * No. The redirect is not necessary, and the page shouldn't really be created again (it was temporary until Zelda Wiki fixed their link). --Ryan SchmidtTalk - Contribs 18:31, 10 May 2007 (CDT)

Uploading Images
I was trying to upload the A button for Wii, but I couldn't get it to look right, until I realized that I needed to clear the cache (and then it looked right). So, is there any way to make it automatically clear your cache whenever you upload an image? (I was seriously getting a headache) --Ryan SchmidtTalk - Contribs 14:19, 13 May 2007 (CDT)
 * Refreshing just works for me, but we could always change the system message to say you need to refresh, probably in big red bold writing. .--Rocky http://media.strategywiki.org/images/thumb/7/78/Rally-X_Rock.png/25px-Rally-X_Rock.png (Talk - Contributions) 14:34, 13 May 2007 (CDT)

Spectrobes Strategy Guide Sparse??
Why is the Spectrobes strategy guide considered sparse? The only sparse part is the Planets section (it has one complete planet, one sparse planet, and five empty planets). I think it is way more of a maturing article than a sparse one. Could one of you change its placing?? Sincerely and Gratefully, Myth 15:57, 20 May 2007 (CDT)
 * This classification is given by the num parameter in the Header Nav on the main Spectrobes page. Change it to whatever you believe is appropriate, taking into account that it's a value for how well it helps the player get through the game, not how much of the game it describes. -- Prod (Talk) 16:10, 20 May 2007 (CDT)

Oh, it's rated on how well it helps players beat the game? That exlains why it's considered Sparse. It does describe a lot about the game, but the actual strategy part is lacking. thanks for clearing that up. Sincerely, Myth 14:47, 21 May 2007 (CDT)

Stylus picture?
How do you add a picture of a DS Stylus Tap onto an article?? Sincerely, Myth 11:56, 24 May 2007 (CDT)(User talk: Myth)


 * Add this code to the page, also if you want a link to your talk page there's an easier way to do it, make your sig like you want it in wikimarkup then copy it into signature in the preferences and tick raw signature--Rocky http://media.strategywiki.org/images/thumb/7/78/Rally-X_Rock.png/25px-Rally-X_Rock.png (Talk - Contributions) 12:02, 24 May 2007 (CDT)
 * Additionally on sigs, Rocky I think you should make the "Rocky" of your sig linkable, most people wouldn't realize the rock links to your user page. --Notmyhandle (talk • contribs) 12:39, 24 May 2007 (CDT)
 * Thanks for that, I forgot completely.--Rocky http://media.strategywiki.org/images/thumb/7/78/Rally-X_Rock.png/25px-Rally-X_Rock.png (Talk - Contributions) 13:55, 24 May 2007 (CDT)

Contributor of The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess?
I would like to give major thanks to whoever created and contributed to the Twilight Princess walkthrough!! I just got a Wii and some games (including that one) about a week ago, and the walkthrough helped me beat the forest temple! Thanks a ton! Myth 23:46, 25 May 2007 (CDT)

Bunch'a changes that I'm making/going to make.
Hi all. I just wanted to let everyone know, if they see a flood of edits from me, what I'm up to. When I started at StrategyWiki, I thought I knew better as to how to set up the guides, using page names like Elements and Strategy, and redirecting the Walkthrough links. Well, I realize now that this convention doesn't fit the site well, and it adds to confusion, so I'm doing the following:

All pages called "Elements" (and named "Control & Characters") will now be renamed "How to play". All pages named "Strategy" that were previously redirected from "Walkthrough" will now officially move to the "Walkthrough" page. I believe that these changes will lend themselves better to the organization of the site, and add to their consistency with other guides. If anyone has any thoughts, feel free to post them. Procyon (Talk) 21:15, 28 May 2007 (CDT)
 * Now that I've done a few pages, it has occurred to me that perhaps "How to play" should be officially adopted into the Continue Nav. It would be such that if you didn't provide any nextpage at all, you automatically got "How to play" and "Walkthrough" as the two links.  Any thoughts? Procyon (Talk) 22:22, 28 May 2007 (CDT)
 * Ugh, I didn't realize that "Getting started" was already chosen as the first default parameter. Nevermind.  Procyon (Talk) 22:25, 28 May 2007 (CDT)
 * Actually, the more I think about it, the more it concerns me. I'll move this discussion to Community Issues. Procyon (Talk) 09:24, 29 May 2007 (CDT)

Cell Shading
Can anyone tell me how to grey (more so than usual) in a cell in prettytables to indicate that it's a perameter not used in that particular area of the table? It's more visible than a simple '-', and there's a bit of light-greyspace that makes the Critical Hits and Combos table look like it's incomplete. It's just aesthetic, but I'm a bit of a completionist like that. :-P --Froglet 09:04, 30 May 2007 (CDT)


 * The same CSS style formats apply to a prettytable, they are just applied over them. So if you wanted, you could add bgcolor tag to the start of particular cells.  Have a look at the tables in this page of the Pokémon Red and Blue guide for examples on how to change the colors of the cells. Procyon (Talk) 10:05, 30 May 2007 (CDT)
 * You can always use n/a if you want.--Rocky http://media.strategywiki.org/images/thumb/7/78/Rally-X_Rock.png/25px-Rally-X_Rock.png (Talk - Contributions) 11:24, 30 May 2007 (CDT)

Upload Warning
Why is it recommended that file sizes not exceed 150KB? The one StarCraft screenshot I just uploaded was 237KB; is it okay for me to keep uploading these kinds of images? Baejung92 22:46, 31 May 2007 (CDT)
 * That's just one of MediaWiki's ways of discouraging people from uploading unnecessarily bloated images. Since you'll be reducing the screenshot when you insert it in the page that's not going to be a problem. GarrettTalk 00:12, 1 June 2007 (CDT)
 * Yeah, we probably need to compress a few of these, some are over 1GB.--Rocky http://media.strategywiki.org/images/thumb/7/78/Rally-X_Rock.png/25px-Rally-X_Rock.png (Talk - Contributions) 03:04, 1 June 2007 (CDT)
 * omfg, we absolutely need to shrink those. (Not compress them, they're already jpgs and pngs).  I'll see what I can do if I find some time today. Procyon (Talk) 09:13, 1 June 2007 (CDT)
 * Shoot, sorry, it's 1MB, I could have sword it was 1GB.--Rocky http://media.strategywiki.org/images/thumb/7/78/Rally-X_Rock.png/25px-Rally-X_Rock.png (Talk - Contributions) 09:34, 1 June 2007 (CDT)
 * Even so. Almost none of the pictures are shown full size, so many images that are wider than 320px are just taking up space in the DB. Procyon (Talk) 09:56, 1 June 2007 (CDT)
 * True, but sometimes it can be interesting to have bigger sized pictures, for example ingame maps. But the best solution for those would be to have two pictures, one that is smaller on the page and a bigger one that is bigger. Then everybody will load the small one when they look at the wikipage instead of loading the bigger one, which means saved bandwith. Is this easiest done by a textlink to the bigger picture? Foppe 10:05, 1 June 2007 (CDT)
 * Yeah, just put a : before the image part like this Image:Pokébuck.png.--Rocky http://media.strategywiki.org/images/thumb/7/78/Rally-X_Rock.png/25px-Rally-X_Rock.png (Talk - Contributions) 10:29, 1 June 2007 (CDT)
 * You just had to find the smallest picture on the site in that link :P Foppe 10:42, 1 June 2007 (CDT)
 * Actually that's the one that I type the most, this is the smallest picture.--Rocky http://media.strategywiki.org/images/thumb/7/78/Rally-X_Rock.png/25px-Rally-X_Rock.png (Talk - Contributions) 11:41, 1 June 2007 (CDT)

No no no no... Do not upload both a small and a large image to SW. The server that is running MediaWiki dynamically resizes images upon request, which is a fairly unintensive process, so the code is already designed to optimize bandwidth. You'll only be wasting space if you upload two image. I complete agree that some images should be big, and maps are a perfect example. But screenshots and photos should not. Procyon (Talk) 11:37, 1 June 2007 (CDT)

Achievement Campaign
Like them or loath them achievements have really taken the 360 by storm. Many people are now constantly trying to up their gamerscore. But lately I've seen very few guides with achievement lists. I think that alot of visitors to this site will come primarily for a list of the achievement for a game they have. Games that have alot of "Secret Achievements" will be requested even more so.

So I've decided to organise a little campaign to get achievement lists onto StrategyWiki. Especially on games like Viva Pinata, Final Fantasy XI and Lost Planet where the achievements don't all tie in with the main quest.

But I posted this up here to try and get one or two people too help me. But I also would like some advice on how these lists should be formatted. Like whether they should be in a table or just in a list, and whether there should be explanations. Post below if you're interested, you don't need to own alot of games but I think owning a 360 would help because then you should alot more about achievements. Thanks. Poiuytre 09:51, 15 May 2007 (CDT)


 * Great idea, I don't have a 360 but you could put it as a collaboration here and it then might get on the main page as the collaboration of the month.--Rocky http://media.strategywiki.org/images/thumb/7/78/Rally-X_Rock.png/25px-Rally-X_Rock.png (Talk - Contributions) 10:15, 15 May 2007 (CDT)


 * I agree with Rocky. I also don't have a 360, but this would make a terrific collaboration concept, that I would fully support.  Most of the classic arcade games that I have covered have achievement lists.  I'll try to mock one up for Pac-Man if I find some time.  (edit: I like the format that they use on this website.) Procyon (Talk) 10:24, 15 May 2007 (CDT)
 * For the overall achievements list a table will be the best way. For achievements earned during a specific quest or mission or whatever use Achievement beside the appropriate text (see Call of Duty 2/The Winter War for an example). GarrettTalk 15:41, 15 May 2007 (CDT)


 * Great idea; don't have a 360 but I love playing Geometry Wars at my buddies' place. I'll help where possible.  --Notmyhandle (talk • contribs) 17:15, 15 May 2007 (CDT)


 * Update: I've managed to complete the achievement section for Call of Duty 2. See here: http://strategywiki.org/wiki/Call_of_Duty_2/Achievements I think it looks good and if everyone can use that template for their achievement section in their guide then it'll look more consistent and neater throughout the site. One thing I would like for their to be added is an image category added for achievement pictures as I had no idea where to put them once uploaded. Something like Category:Achievements . Thanks Poiuytre 14:39, 21 May 2007 (CDT)


 * Has this been created yet????? Nobody has replied. Poiuytre 08:15, 28 May 2007 (CDT)
 * Add an entry here and people can vote on it. -- Prod (Talk) 08:24, 28 May 2007 (CDT)


 * I´m ready to change all pictures to a Category:Achievements, if somebody creates that category. Foppe 11:55, 30 May 2007 (CDT)
 * Done--Rocky http://media.strategywiki.org/images/thumb/7/78/Rally-X_Rock.png/25px-Rally-X_Rock.png (Talk - Contributions) 12:27, 30 May 2007 (CDT)

Games with their own Wikis
I was wondering if it might be a good idea to encourage those contributors who want to make a page about a game which has a dedicated Wiki of a significant size to contribute there rather than here. For example, ParagonWiki is an excellent Wiki for City of Heroes/Villains and WoWWiki is a large World of Warcraft Wiki. The main reason I suggest this is to A: prevent duplication of effort and B: those sites will be likely to get more thorough error checking. What do you think? MichaelAB 23:17, 22 May 2007 (CDT)
 * The thing is, one day we could just have that all here. If you look at both wikis, they are under GFDL; thus we are legally able to copy all of their content anyways, so why not have it here as well?  We do need the traffic, and if we had the contributors come here instead they might help with other stuff beyond just City of Heroes/Villains.  --Notmyhandle (talk • contribs) 02:09, 23 May 2007 (CDT)
 * Except, a lot of people will just decide not to use this wiki rather than bring their content here. If you share traffic with them by sending stuff their way, you can get the same in return, especially since many of them are hosted on Wikia as well. MichaelAB 19:09, 24 June 2007 (CDT)
 * We are trying to attract as many editors to our guides as possible, so we can be highly comprehensive. We are not going to encourage our editors to edit at other wikis, however, we can not stop them (and we wouldn't want to if that is their choice).  We also don't mind linking to them if they have a lot of info that is outside of our scope. Prime examples are bulbapedia and AliceSoft (which we have essentially outsourced the Sengoku Rance guide to). Our future hope is that we will host all the walkthroughs (so we make our own version of that rance walkthrough, but keep a link to their site), but anything too far beyond our scope stays with those websites (ie. bulbapedia). -- Prod (Talk) 19:24, 24 June 2007 (CDT)

Database error
I got this error while searching, is there a problem:

Database error

A database query syntax error has occurred. This may indicate a bug in the software. The last attempted database query was:

(SQL query hidden)

from within function "". MySQL returned error "1194: Table 'stratw_searchindex' is marked as crashed and should be repaired (localhost)".

--Rocky http://media.strategywiki.org/images/thumb/7/78/Rally-X_Rock.png/25px-Rally-X_Rock.png (Talk - Contributions) 11:43, 27 May 2007 (CDT)
 * Must've been a temporary glitch. I tried a few searches and everything worked smoothly.  ech elon  17:49, 28 May 2007 (CDT)

How do you make this symbol?
How do you make the "e" in Pokemon? The Pokemon pages won't link correctly if you don't have the letter. Sincerely, Myth 18:44, 27 May 2007 (CDT)
 * Personally, I use Alt+130, but Alt+0489 works, and if you have an international keyboard (the one with Alt Gr), using that and e should work as well. Alternatively, just copy é and paste it whenever you need it. --Ryan SchmidtTalk - Contribs 20:10, 27 May 2007 (CDT)
 * I'm not sure Myth will understand the method you first spoke of. It's the same method that I use.  You press and hold the Alt button, and then on the number pad (and not on the numbers above the letters), enter 1, 3, and 0.  Then release the Alt key.  Procyon (Talk) 22:18, 27 May 2007 (CDT)
 * Below the edit box (scroll down a bit), there's a whole bunch of funny symbols that come in handy (along with a few useful codes and templates). -- Prod (Talk) 21:12, 27 May 2007 (CDT)
 * Does anyone mind if I put ♀ and ♂ in those symbols, it'd be helpful for nidoran.--Rocky http://media.strategywiki.org/images/thumb/7/78/Rally-X_Rock.png/25px-Rally-X_Rock.png (Talk - Contributions) 02:07, 28 May 2007 (CDT)
 * Go right ahead, it would be useful for other things too. --Ryan SchmidtTalk - Contribs 09:39, 28 May 2007 (CDT)
 * Done, just to note, the toolbar is here--Rocky http://media.strategywiki.org/images/thumb/7/78/Rally-X_Rock.png/25px-Rally-X_Rock.png (Talk - Contributions) 10:06, 28 May 2007 (CDT)

Thanks for the tip, Ryan. But I think my computer is different, because when I hit Alt+130, I got this. Yeah, nothing. I don't get it, but I found a great way to get any symbol you want quickly. To see that go to number 37 on the table of contents. Sincerely, Myth 11:28, 1 June 2007 (CDT)
 * Myth, on my system, you have to use the keys on the number pad. That works when I hit alt + 130, but only on the num pad. MichaelAB 19:11, 24 June 2007 (CDT)

Archiving?
How do you archive your talk page? Mine is getting rather large and many of the things previously discussed are over a week old and have been resolved. Please tell me how you do it. Thanks. Myth 19:49, 27 May 2007 (CDT)
 * There are two ways to archive a page.
 * One way is to go into your history and click the date of the page revision you want to archive. Then copy the URL and put it into the archive template (on your current talk page, not the old one) via.
 * Another way is to go into that old revision, click "edit," and copy the wiki code. Then, create a new page like User_talk:Myth/1 or User_talk:Myth/Archive/1 and paste the code in there (and save). Afterwards, go into your current talk page and put.
 * Either of those two ways work (the "some text" should somehow describe the archive, like the date of the archive or what it goes through). If you want to add more, simply add another pipe between the ] and the }} and follow the same procedure. Hope that helped!--Ryan SchmidtTalk - Contribs 20:10, 27 May 2007 (CDT)

An example of #1 can be found here. -- Prod (Talk) 21:11, 27 May 2007 (CDT)
 * Or you can make a custom one like I did. --Notmyhandle (talk • contribs) 22:28, 27 May 2007 (CDT)

MediaWiki Namespace
How come MediaWiki:editinginterface doesn't show up on pages in the MediaWiki namespace? It did a few months ago.--Rocky http://media.strategywiki.org/images/thumb/7/78/Rally-X_Rock.png/25px-Rally-X_Rock.png (Talk - Contributions) 10:12, 28 May 2007 (CDT)
 * No idea. Maybe the message was disabled or the software is trying to specify a nonexistant message instead of that one. It had it about a week ago when I was modifying MediaWiki:BlueCloud.css and MediaWiki:Common.css, but it's gone now. --Ryan SchmidtTalk - Contribs 10:20, 28 May 2007 (CDT)
 * When we updated to the latest version of mediawiki, it deleted all the "message" pages which were still defaults. -- Prod (Talk) 10:22, 28 May 2007 (CDT)
 * I know, but it should still appear despite that. Maybe if it was created it would work... Should I? --Ryan SchmidtTalk - Contribs 10:36, 28 May 2007 (CDT)
 * (conflict)But it was after the upgrade when I saw the message, I was only made a sysop last month and the upgrade happened in march, also is there a way to stop the Javascript prompt for a summary for redirects, there is an auto summary.--Rocky http://media.strategywiki.org/images/thumb/7/78/Rally-X_Rock.png/25px-Rally-X_Rock.png (Talk - Contributions) 10:45, 28 May 2007 (CDT)
 * Somehow I have never recieved a summary javascript prompt; I use IE7, Spybot S&D and SpywareBlaster. Other than that I don't know why I'm immune.  --Notmyhandle (talk • contribs) 15:53, 28 May 2007 (CDT)
 * I never got one in IE6 either, in FireFox you get a prompt when not having a category in your images (Annoying when re-uploading) and a red message about the summary when it has only a few characters, the code in a (slightly more) readable format is here, it's about halfway down and it says at the top something about firefox.--Rocky http://media.strategywiki.org/images/thumb/7/78/Rally-X_Rock.png/25px-Rally-X_Rock.png (Talk - Contributions) 16:12, 28 May 2007 (CDT)
 * I use FireFox 2.0.0.3, and I don't get the stupid message telling me to put in a summary anymore. Categories on images is still a problem, though. --Ryan SchmidtTalk - Contribs 16:35, 28 May 2007 (CDT)
 * It still happens for me but only with redirects, try getting User talk:Rocky/test to redirect to my talk, for me, I get a red message when I click save.--Rocky http://media.strategywiki.org/images/thumb/7/78/Rally-X_Rock.png/25px-Rally-X_Rock.png (Talk - Contributions) 16:52, 28 May 2007 (CDT)
 * Done and annoying-red-message free :P --Ryan SchmidtTalk - Contribs 17:00, 28 May 2007 (CDT)

(reset indent) Oh well, my computer's strange :P P.S I'm using FF 2.0.0.3 as well --Rocky http://media.strategywiki.org/images/thumb/7/78/Rally-X_Rock.png/25px-Rally-X_Rock.png (Talk - Contributions) 17:06, 28 May 2007 (CDT)