Re: Modding tools: Access vs. Excel
 

Yes please Gryhin, if it's not too much trouble. That does sound slick.

Re: Modding tools: Access vs. Excel
 

Ok, I'll try to clean it up by Jan 8, 03. It won't be a lot of troulbe, I just have to apply myself. It should only take about 4 Mid game SEIV turns. (that is how I measure time).

Re: Modding tools: Access vs. Excel
 

OK, here's the spreadsheet... currently I only have a worksheet for the weapon mounts, but if you change the column headings and the name of the file being read in the macro then you can read any SE4 data file...

www.geocities.com/edwardkolis/se4/SE4ModderWorkbook.zip (11 KB)

Don't forget to set cell A1 in the "Path" worksheet to the path of your data files, otherwise you'll probably get bunches of errors http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

I'm probably going to rework this, though, since I realized it won't work for things like the weapon damages where there are really 20 entries in one, and the way I handled the "array" entries (like tech requirements and such) is not optimal - if there are more than 10 (or however many you make headings for) it just ignores the rest...

Re: Modding tools: Access vs. Excel
 

I use Access to store just about everything so I can look it up. I use Word for composing and then transfere it.
I am only in one PBW game. In my sew low games I try to be in the habbit of recording anything I will want to retrieve. This requires a lot of dicipline. Not my forte.
I have tryed to store "Tip, Tricks, and Traps" along with ideas for mods and such.
I try to dessige it so I can look up:
Strategy > Expansion > Build >
How To > Planet > Capture
How To > Drones > Use

I guess I could clean it up so others could use it. I'm pretty bad at getting projects done. Quite a few of my ideas don't work so it would be a use at your own risk thing.

My background is:
I do Desktop Support for about 120 people. I spent 2 years of my life supporting Word for Micro$ponge. I spent another year supporting various other MS products.

Re: Modding tools: Access vs. Excel
 

Don't forget about the optional lines in CompEnhancement.txt. It shouldn't be too hard to make allowances for them when reading/writing the file, though.

Re: Modding tools: Access vs. Excel
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Would it be possible to make this file available again?

Re: Modding tools: Access vs. Excel
 

Oops, I forgot about Geocities' no remote linking rule... I'm trying to find another free hosting service, one where I can upload via FTP so I don't have to manually select every single file I upload...

Anyway, try this: www.geocities.com/edwardkolis/modder.htm

Re: Modding tools: Access vs. Excel
 

I use Excel and Word to mailmerge into se4 data files.

Re: Modding tools: Access vs. Excel
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I'm wondering how you go about getting the data from Excel into the data source for the mail merger? I've got a whole bunch of components designed in Excel and it would be great to be able to keep their relationships automatically adjusted whenever I make a change to the base component.

Re: Modding tools: Access vs. Excel
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I tried to retreve the spreadsheet but I get <font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">