User:FooBar/Generic NewGRF Readme

This is an attempt at a generic layout for NewGRF readmes. It provides you with a layout to use, has several sections pre-filled and suggestions on what to put in the other. It is aimed to serve as:

• a template that you can modify for your own NewGRF;
• an optimized order of sections for used with the OpenTTD readme viewer (i.e. gameplay related stuff first);
• a checklist to see if you have all important bits covered in your readme;
• inspiration in case you want to write your own readme.

Feel free to use this as basis for the readme of your NewGRF. The only thing I ask is that your NewGRF is released under the GNU General Public Licence 2.0 or 3.0 or higher (your choice which one/combination exactly). This example itself is licensed GNU GPL v2+.

What you have to do yourself is of course fill in the missing pieces. Don't forget to set the correct game version requirements and update the urls in the contact information section. Many predefined bits are aimed at hosting your NewGRF at the #openttdcoop DevZone, but you can just modify that if you're not hosting your grf there.

Readme.txt

{{GRF_TITLE}}
===================================
<one-line description of what the grf does>

----------
0 Contents
----------

1   About
2   General information
    2.1  Requirements
    2.2  Installation
    2.3  Parameter settings
    2.4  Usage
3   Known issues
4   Background information
5   Frequently Asked Questions
6   Credits
7   Contact information
    7.1  Bug reports
    7.2  Other problems
    7.3  General enquiries
8   License
9   Obtaining the source



-------
1 About
-------

<one or two paragraphs what this grf is about, what it contains and what it does>

{{GRF_TITLE}}
MD5Hash:  {{GRF_MD5}}
Version:  {{REPO_REVISION}}
GRF ID:   {{GRF_ID}}



---------------------
2 General information
---------------------

2.1 Requirements
----------------
- OpenTTD <1.2.0> or nightly r<22723>
- TTDPatch nightly r<2200>


2.2 Installation
----------------
OpenTTD:
  see http://wiki.openttd.org/NewGRF
  This NewGRF is available from the ingame Online Content

TTDPatch:
  see http://www.tt-wiki.net/wiki/NewGraphicsInstallation


2.3 Parameter settings
----------------------
<some notes on what settings are available>

Set the parameters before starting a new game. Once started they 
cannot be changed any longer.

Useful details if you need to set the parameters manually in the
configuration file:

  1st parameter: <description>
  0: <what this value does>
  1: <what this value does>
  2: <what this value does>
  
  2nd parameter: <description>
  0: <what this value does>
  1: <what this value does>


2.4 Usage
---------
<some notes on how to use this NewGRF>



--------------
3 Known issues
--------------

<list of known issues in this release>


------------------------
4 Background information
------------------------

<in this section you can give some background information on the
contents of this NewGRF>



----------------------------
5 Frequently Asked Questions
----------------------------

Q: Why is it that...?
A: No reason.



---------
6 Credits
---------

Graphics:
- <artist 1>
- <artist 2>
- <artist 3>

Code:
- <coder 1>
- <coder 2>

Translations:
- <translator 1>
- <translator 2>

Makefile system:
- <usually planetmaker>



---------------------
7 Contact information
---------------------

7.1 Bug reports
---------------
Please report any bugs you find at
  bug tracker: http://dev.openttdcoop.org/projects/<projectname>/issues
  or forum topic: http://www.tt-forums.net/viewtopic.php?t=<00000>

Always included a detailed description of the bug, preferrably with
screenshot and savegame. Also state the exact game version you're using, 
as well as the version of this NewGRF.

If you have a savegame that includes NewGRFs not available on OpenTTD's 
Online Content, then please try to reproduce the bug in a new game 
which has all NewGRFs easily accessible.

If you're using a patched version of the game, please try to reproduce
the bug on an official game build. If you can't reproduce the bug, then
don't report it here but in the forum topic of the patch(pack) instead.


7.2 Other problems
------------------
If you have any problems using this NewGRF that are not covered in the 
Frequently Asked Questions above, then you can ask your questions in the
forum topic: http://www.tt-forums.net/viewtopic.php?t=<00000>


7.3 General enquiries
---------------------

If you have any queries that cannot be asked in the forum topic, then
contact <username> via Private Message at www.tt-forums.net or send
an email to <name> at <email address>.



---------
8 License
---------

<name of the NewGRF> - <short description>
Copyright (C) <year> <list of authors or team name>

This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
(at your option) any later version.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
GNU General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along
with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc.,
51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA.



----------------------
9 Obtaining the source
----------------------

The source code can be obtained from the #openttdcoop DevZone
via source browser:
    http://dev.openttdcoop.org/projects/<projectname>/repository
or via mercurial checkout:
    hg clone http://hg.openttdcoop.org/<projectname>
or via a source bundle download (releases only):
    http://bundles.openttdcoop.org/<projectname>/

How to build from source and the requirements for that are included 
with the source in the file /docs/building_from_source.txt.