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[highmax28]

I have been playing normal df for quite some time and I hear alot about the LAzy Newb/noob (forgot which one) pack. Whats so special about it except graphics? What differences then main game?

[FuzzyZergling]

I think it comes with some other mods all bundled together.

[GreatWyrmGold]

It comes with a bunch of utilities that make DF easier and, unless I'm mistaken, some kind of tutorial.

[malimbar04]

It comes with a bunch of utilities that make DF easier and, unless I'm mistaken, some kind of tutorial.

by "easier", I think you mean "it has a bunch of extra utilities you can play around with, and if you bother to learn them, then some tasks may or may not be faster."

Some people swear by these utilities, some do not. since it's not default, I'd assume most don't. it's not a huge deal either way though.

[WealthyRadish]

When starting DF, the first thing most players do is (understandably) derp out from seeing the graphics. From there, they can either quit and go play something else, never going on to experience the warm fuzzy sensation of exploding goblins with minecarts, or they can poke around looking for a graphics pack. It's easy to take for granted basic knowledge of a game and forum, when a new player most likely doesn't know what any of the popular graphics packs are called, where to look for them, where to dump the files, what the balls a 'raw' is, or why they should even continue bothering when they haven't experienced anything beyond world gen at this point. The lazy newb pack solves this by bundling it all easily for the player, so they don't need to spend an hour doing it themselves with no direction in an unfamiliar setting. That's the most important thing, is giving the player direction at a time when everything about DF is new and unkown.

[i2amroy]

The main point of the Lazy Newb pack is to allow people who have recently picked up the game the ability to easily add graphics to their game and gain access to a variety of useful tools (such as DF Therapist and DFHack) without needing to dig through the forum and find them, as well as allowing easy customization and changing of init options. It basically lets us as people trying to help new players be able to say "Go and get the Lazy Newb Pack and you can get access to pretty much everything you need" rather then saying:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

"First go to this thread and download the graphics pack they have there. Unless you prefer this one instead. Now that second one doesn't have a current prepackaged version for the latest game version, so you will need to manually install that. Instructions how to do that should be found in the thread, where you can get further information about how to install them. God help you if you are on a mac or linux though, since those use a slightly different graphics pack install method. Then go to this thread and download Dwarf Therapist, which is a amazing tool for managing large fortresses. Sadly it hasn't updated to the latest version yet, but if you read through the last 8 or so pages of that thread then hopefully you will be able to find the memory layouts for the latest version. These can then be hand installed through a semi-confusing method which somebody in that thread can probably outline for you, as it varies from OS to OS. After that you will probably want to change some of your init settings. These can be found in the DF 34.11/data/init/init.txt and data/init/d_init.txt files. Lastly you might want to pick up DFHack from this thread, which can be used to fix a variety of bugs and other problems that might occur during your gameplay of dwarf fortress. It also includes a large number of advanced commands that can be used to check everything from the healthiness of a dwarf to the weather. Then if you want a cool sound addition to your fortress you might also want to download Soundsense, which adds all sorts of neat sounds to your fortress and makes it easier to keep track of what is happening. It has a bit of a confusing install method though, and you will need to download all of the various sounds differently, as well as you might want to download some extra sounds, but they should be able to help you over in that thread with any problems you have with that."

Wait! Why are you running away from this awesome game? If only you would stick with it a little longer then you might have a bunch of fun!

To put it simply, it allows for a variety of utilities and things that make learning the game faster and easier to be accessed with a single download rather then a person needing to tromp all over the forum and through their game files, potentially spending hours, to set everything up.

[Sus]

Also, the Lazy N00b Pack GUI gives you a handy-dandy bunch of launch options from sound volume and DF process priority to aquifers y/n and installing graphics packs without having to poke around in the esoteric init files with notepad. And it provides direct launch links for the bunch of nifty utilities as well.
(I, personally, think managing dorf skills and professions without Dwarf Therapist is a pain in the behind.)

[Rtyh-C]

For me, it's easier to download everything in one big package than downloading DF, Ironhand's graphics pack (which is the one I use, depends on your preference), removing aquifers manually (I'm a noob ), downloading utilities, changing init settings, etc. So I guess I fall into the 'lazy' category.

[wuphonsreach]

It also gives you the ability to easily switch a save from one tileset to another.  Which you can do by hand, but this makes it easier.

[ManaUser]

Just out of curiosity, does this use one of those horrible graphics packs that change normal text punctuation marks into random bits of dirt and things?

[highmax28]

Just out of curiosity, does this use one of those horrible graphics packs that change normal text punctuation marks into random bits of dirt and things?

I think ironhand fixed that after a couple updates, but if they did it and looks pretty damn good, I'm assuming Lazy noob got it figured out (I refuse to use it, although I use Dwarf Therepist already)

[i2amroy]

Assuming you are on windows, really the only other utility I would strongly suggest you grab is DFHack, not to cheat in your fortresses, but because it has a couple of commands that can be used to fix various bugs in the game (such as unslab-able ghosts).

[Azated]

Assuming you are on windows, really the only other utility I would strongly suggest you grab is DFHack, not to cheat in your fortresses, but because it has a couple of commands that can be used to fix various bugs in the game (such as unslab-able ghosts).

Therapist is the only mod I use, because the built-in labor assignment can go suck a tree stump.

[LucasUP]

Everyone's already given an excellent explanation and answer to your question (Thanks Guys )

I'm hardly offended by anyone who doesn't want to use the pack, its just an offer of convenience. There's nothing changed about the base game in the pack, btw. Just makes it easier to get started with, change settings/graphics and launch utilities with, and get the latest version of almost everything you'd want to play DF with.
But you should also look at and use the Lazy Newb Pack thread instead of creating a new one.

That being said, If you just download your favourite graphics pack and then Dwarf Therapist, are probably 80% of the way there in terms of fundamentally important additions.

[Sutremaine]

I think it'd be nice if it offered the default ASCII as an option instead of a graphics pack, but anyone who'd prefer the ASCII would probably be willing to go and do all the stuff in i2amroy's block paragraph of doom...