SE4 Modder Ver 1.76 (updated for ver 1.91)
 

Version 1.40 of my modding program is done now.
New features include

- editable Tech Areas
- editable Vehicle sizes
- Components / Facilities and Vehicle Size windows now show their total cost in research points
- more detailed help file (at least for component building) Thanks to Imperator Fyron for letting me use bits of his Modding 101 site for this.
- fixed bug were if a component had 1 or 2 techs required you could not delete them.
- other various bug fixes and enhncements I can't rembember.

As always comments, bug reports, etc are appreciated

[ March 27, 2004, 19:55: Message edited by: DavidG ]

Re: SE4 Modder Ver 1.76 (updated for ver 1.91)
 

Nice job. Couple of points:

1) how do you get it to read a different race other than that shown?

2) it looks as if it shows the cost to get to the tech step but not the total cost to get there. Am I looking at it wrongly? Case in point: resupply.

3) I have some experience with help files.

[ July 23, 2002, 06:11: Message edited by: Elowan ]

Re: SE4 Modder Ver 1.76 (updated for ver 1.91)
 

Add support for SystemTypes.txt and QuadrantTypes.txt. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif I am getting tired of copy-pasting the same long thing 40 times with only slight variations. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

Oh, and I hope you didn't include the part about setting ship targeting weapons to the Point Defense type, cause I think it is wrong. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif I need to get to removing that...

Re: SE4 Modder Ver 1.76 (updated for ver 1.91)
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">1- I assume you mean in the Vehicle Size screen which is the only part of the program that reads the races to display the ship pics?? There is a pulldown list that you can select the races from.

2- As far as I can see it is correctly showing the total cost. Resupply depot costs 50000 because it only needs level 1 tech. Emergency Resupply pod show 150000 at medium level. (50000 for lvl 1 and 100000 for lvl 2)

3- I think my only prob with the help files is using a freebie program with limited abilities to make it and the bordum of writing it.

Re: SE4 Modder Ver 1.76 (updated for ver 1.91)
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Are you referring to prerequisites? Showing the total cost including prerequisites would be quite a bit more complicated. You cannot just check for immediate prerequisites. You have to sort the whole tech tree and arrange it in order of dependencies, because any tech that is a prerequisite to the current field could also have prerequisites of its own. If he can just show the research costs of the immediately required techs (a component can have more than one of course) that is good enough.

Re: SE4 Modder Ver 1.76 (updated for ver 1.91)
 

The tech cost shown do include all the pre-requisites. There is actually a fairly easy way to program this. Get all the req techs (and levels) for a component and put them in a list. Then scroll through the list and check if each tech has any required techs. If so add them to the end of the list (if not already in it). By the time you get to the end of the list you have all the requirements.

Re: SE4 Modder Ver 1.76 (updated for ver 1.91)
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Damn I was looking forward to using that. But yea I just tested in with point-defense DUC's and they did not auto fire on other ships. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon9.gif
Will add SystemTypes.txt to the list of things to do.

Re: SE4 Modder Ver 1.76 (updated for ver 1.91)
 

Well this is typical. Day after I post a new Version I find a bug. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/blush.gif Well now Version 1.401 will correctly create a weapon of "Point-Defense" type (and not "Point - Defense" with the extra spaces)

Re: SE4 Modder Ver 1.76 (updated for ver 1.91)
 

I've tried to install the modder several time. Each time, it tells me that some files are out of date, and it will update them. So I hit ok. It wants to reboot the comp. I hit ok. Then, I can't install it, and it says the same files are out of date. What's going on?

Re: SE4 Modder Ver 1.76 (updated for ver 1.91)
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Hmmmm Does it tell you what files they are? I know the install program will sometimes give an acces violation when it finds a file in use. This you can just ignore/cancel and it still installs. I'd suggest you try download just the EXE part and try running it. If the program tells you it is missing files let me know what they are. It sounds like the setup.exe program which VB makes automatically is mesing up and maybe I'll have make my own setup program or provide manual install instructions.

Re: SE4 Modder Ver 1.76 (updated for ver 1.91)
 

d/l the EXE worked fine.

The program doesn't seem to do the tech req correctly. It doesn't parse the mod's techarea.txt, but instead looks at the default one (or so it seems).

Re: SE4 Modder Ver 1.76 (updated for ver 1.91)
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Do you mean the Total research points cost? I've done some testing with the P&N mod and proportions and can't seem to find a problem. It does look at the mods techarea.txt file so I don't think that's the problem. Can you give me some details?

Re: SE4 Modder Ver 1.76 (updated for ver 1.91)
 

Great program DavidG! Very refined. One feature I'd like to see, though, before I start using your program instead of just editing the text files, is the ability to add, delete, copy, and paste items in the various files.

Re: SE4 Modder Ver 1.76 (updated for ver 1.91)
 

No, not the tech costs. The actual tech req fields. I tried loading my current work on the Magic Mod into the program, and it didn't read the techarea.txt for the req from that mod folder.

Re: SE4 Modder Ver 1.76 (updated for ver 1.91)
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Ah I think I see what you mean. When you click Open to select your mod it does not reload the tech cmbo boxes in the Tech Req area. A work around would be to close the program and restart it, then select your mod from the File list it works OK. (I did notice while testing this on your Magic mod files that the program can get stuck in a loop if if it does not find certain file like racialtraits.txt in the mod directory) Will have to fix it so that it looks for all files in the base directory too.

[ July 28, 2002, 22:37: Message edited by: DavidG ]

Re: SE4 Modder Ver 1.76 (updated for ver 1.91)
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Add and Delete are in there?? Use the new button to clear the screen to default values. Or alternately if you edit the name of a component/facilitiy etc you will be asked if want to save it as a new item or you want to edit the old ones name.

Copy and paste: You mean like copying a component from one mod to another?

Re: SE4 Modder Ver 1.76 (updated for ver 1.91)
 

If you look at mines then switch say to satelites, some of the entries under mine abilities are still showing.

Re: SE4 Modder Ver 1.76 (updated for ver 1.91)
 

&lt;many curse words censored&gt; Thanks! Problem occured when swithing to an item with 0 abilities. Got it fixed now. I'll post a new Version soon.

Re: SE4 Modder Ver 1.76 (updated for ver 1.91)
 

Uploaded a minor update (ver 1.42) that fixes the bugs mentioned in this thread. Also a couple things I was working since Last update which is - editable mounts, expanded help file, and a status bar that provides help the current field or text box

Re: SE4 Modder Ver 1.76 (updated for ver 1.91)
 

Dave a defect for when i am creating abilities for facilities.

What I am doing is this

With Facilities with greater than 3 abilities ( i.e. the scroll bar appears on the right )...
I am going to another facility to copy the description of the ability. But if I have scrolled down on the scroll bar I am unable to view the ability of the other facility. Could you keep the scroll bar visible ?

Re: SE4 Modder Ver 1.76 (updated for ver 1.91)
 

boy did i bugger the program up.

it does not even load now....

I was opening up some data files on the desk top and it will not open at all any more....

What are the registry settings please... So I can remove the program..

I have noticed that you set them... And I would like to remove them...

or change the settings for the Last mod that was opened....

Help please

Re: SE4 Modder Ver 1.76 (updated for ver 1.91)
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Yup that's a bug alright. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon9.gif As a temporary workaround you could scroll up to the top before swithing to a new facility.

this is the registry key name
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\VB and VBA Program Settings\SE4Viewer

under that there is a Settings key that will have 2 entries. 'BaseDir' is the root SE4 directory and 'RootDir' is the directory of the Last selected mod.

P.S. Always glad to here the program is getting used. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

[ August 07, 2002, 01:02: Message edited by: DavidG ]

Re: SE4 Modder Ver 1.76 (updated for ver 1.91)
 

Found a another little bug while testing that abilites thing. If you component has 3 or more abilities or 3 or more techs required then deleting the Last one and then saving it still saves the Last one. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon9.gif Deleting one in the middle of the list or when there are 1 or 2 works ok.

Re: SE4 Modder Ver 1.76 (updated for ver 1.91)
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Oh, guess I didn't play around with it enough to note that! As for copying and pasting, copying between mods would be useful but what I was thinking of is, say you have Component I-III, and you want to extend the series to IV and V. So you copy Component III and rename it Component IV and change all its attributes to the appropriate values, and repeat for Component V. But I guess your program does that automatically, based on what you've described - just edit a component and save it as a new one!

Re: SE4 Modder Ver 1.76 (updated for ver 1.91)
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Yup. Also got a new feature that will be in next Version where if you create component I, you can click a button and automatically create level II, III, IV etc.

Re: SE4 Modder Ver 1.76 (updated for ver 1.91)
 

What are the technical requirements ... ? I can't get this thing to run, at ALL, under Win95. Double-click and ... nothing. Not even an error message.

8P

Re: SE4 Modder Ver 1.76 (updated for ver 1.91)
 

Another question... Hopefully it was not asked before...

How come the Armor Tech is not located under Applied Sciences where as everything else is...

It is located under components...

Re: SE4 Modder Ver 1.76 (updated for ver 1.91)
 

David G... Thanks for the program... It is great... Saves allot of time...

When is this new release coming out ???? That would be interesting.....

Re: SE4 Modder Ver 1.76 (updated for ver 1.91)
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Well to be honest I'm not really sure. I think some guys have got it to run under win95?? Next time the boss leaves early I'll test it out on a win95 computer at work. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif What .exe file are you trying to run that does nothing? Is it the setup.exe or se4modder.exe? If the latter did you already run the setup.exe? (note there are 2 download links in my sig. One is the full install and the other is just the exe which you can use just to get a new Version)

[ August 07, 2002, 23:00: Message edited by: DavidG ]

Re: SE4 Modder Ver 1.76 (updated for ver 1.91)
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">The short answer is it is another wee bug (One that I would have sworn I fixed already http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon9.gif )
The reason it happened is because armor is one of those few techs were the tech name is the same as the component name (well minus the roman numeral) Will be fixed in the next Version.

I'll probably upload a new Version hopefully within a week. I just want to finish up what I'm working on which is editing the SystemTypes.txt file.

Re: SE4 Modder Ver 1.76 (updated for ver 1.91)
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I tested the game to day on a Pentium 120 with Win95 and it seemed to work OK ( at least as far as it will work with no SE4 on the HD)
If you have succesfully run the setup.exe program and it is the se4Modder.exe that seem to do nothing there is one possiblity I can think of. That is if the game is installed in the default directory and some of the .txt files are missing it can get stuck in a loop. If you hit Ctr-Alt-Del does the program show as running? If so this could be the problem. Hope this helps.

Re: SE4 Modder Ver 1.76 (updated for ver 1.91)
 

I like this tool very much! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

However - there are 1 or 2 minor points:

1) - Master Computer. Damage resistance is shown to decrease from lvl1 - lvl3 (40-20). Shouldn't it be the other way 'round or as the others - the same for each lvl?

2)- Ion Engines. Movement bonus (none) is in red at the bottom of the list. The rest of the engine variants show the Movement bonus at the top of the list. For consistancy'e sake I think MB should be either at the top or bottom in all cases.

[ August 10, 2002, 17:39: Message edited by: Elowan ]

Re: SE4 Modder Ver 1.76 (updated for ver 1.91)
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Glad you like it. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif Both of those 2 points are really just based on the values in the components.txt file. That's just the way Master computers are. Beats me why. The same goes with the engines. The abilities are just listed in the order they are found in the file. The reason it is shown as red for the description is that the movment bonus for the Ion engine has no description in the components.txt file. The fact that it is shown red as opposed to just leaving it blank is really just some left over code from when the program was just a viewer and the desc was all you would see. I'll probably remove that from future Versions.

Re: SE4 Modder Ver 1.76 (updated for ver 1.91)
 

"That's just the way Master computers are. Beats me why."

Because the *size* goes down. The first one is 40kt, 40 damage resistance, and it goes down to 20/20.

Phoenix-D

Re: SE4 Modder Ver 1.76 (updated for ver 1.91)
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Ah! So! Silly me! Of course! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...s/rolleyes.gif

Re: SE4 Modder Ver 1.76 (updated for ver 1.91)
 

A little feature the utility could use... a selector to pick whether you want to use new sounds or classic sounds; also it doesn't play sounds that are in the mod directory...

Re: SE4 Modder Ver 1.76 (updated for ver 1.91)
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Huh? New and classic sounds?? The reason it does not read the sounds from the mod directory is because I though I'd read somewhere in this forum that the game did not read sounds from there?? If this is incorrect I will change it.

Re: SE4 Modder Ver 1.76 (updated for ver 1.91)
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">There's a toggle in the game options that controls whether classic or new sounds are used. No need to go editing the components every time you want to use one set or the other.

Re: SE4 Modder Ver 1.76 (updated for ver 1.91)
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Ahh Cool. thus explaining the 'new' directory in the sounds directory. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

OT - Does anyone remember the good old days when you could double click a .wav file and it would just play and whatever program played it would just go away or be invisible instead of bringing up a window demanding you register or poping an add in your face. (kind of like the play button in SE4 modder http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif ) Any tips on helping me recapture these glory days would be appreciated.

Re: SE4 Modder Ver 1.76 (updated for ver 1.91)
 

Yeah, I've stayed away from the latest Versions of both Windows Media Player and RealPlayer. They're both adware now. For now I'm happy with the 'old' WMP 6.4 and RealPlayer 8, but when formats get ahead of these relatively useful players' abilities I'm going to start migrating to the 'Open Source' replacement. It used to be called "FreeAmp" but they had some sort of trademark conflict and changed it to Zinf. Go to www.zinf.org and check it out. Not only does it do .MP3 and .WAV files, it also does the 'open' OGG VORBIS standard, which is unencumbered by patents and other commercial chains. It's not just a Linux program, either. Windows binaries are available. This is the wave of the future! And, most important for your request, NO ADS! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

[ August 15, 2002, 04:47: Message edited by: Baron Munchausen ]

Re: SE4 Modder Ver 1.76 (updated for ver 1.91)
 

Using new Modder - I found a glitch. If you look at modded components whose picture number is greater than 273, when you switch back to a component whose picture number is less - the pictures do not change.

Also - I thought you fixed the modder so as to be able to view your own ship pictures rather than the generics or default ones which are displayed now in VechicleSize.

Do I have to load a specific text file for that to occur? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...s/confused.gif

Re: SE4 Modder Ver 1.76 (updated for ver 1.91)
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I haven't been able to recreate the commponent pic problem. When you switch to the new component does the pic file exist? If the pic file does not exist in the mod or base directory then pic shown will remain the same as the previous one.

The vehicle pic thing is a bug. The program only looks for the pics in the base directory instead of checking the mod directory too.

Re: SE4 Modder Ver 1.76 (updated for ver 1.91)
 

Hmmm. I didn't think about possible missing pics. But how does that relate to earlier pic#'s?

Re: SE4 Modder Ver 1.76 (updated for ver 1.91)
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">That's the part I can't really figure out. The number 272 is significant because that is how many pics the unmodded games has. If the Comp_XXX.bmp pics are in the ..Pictures/Components directory of the mod or the base game then the program 'should' find them. Can you view a component pic with a number less than 273 then not after viewing a component with a higher pic number?

Re: SE4 Modder Ver 1.76 (updated for ver 1.91)
 

Hi Dave.... When are you releasing the next Version of your program... I am so excited... *cough* geek *cough*

http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

Re: SE4 Modder Ver 1.76 (updated for ver 1.91)
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">That's the part I can't really figure out. The number 272 is significant because that is how many pics the unmodded games has. If the Comp_XXX.bmp pics are in the ..Pictures/Components directory of the mod or the base game then the program 'should' find them. Can you view a component pic with a number less than 273 then not after viewing a component with a higher pic number?</font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">It seemed to be working well enough until I accessed a modded component with a higher number than 272 - 284 in fact.

I checked and the modified components.bmp was present.

I'm checking my components.txt to make sure all references are kosher. I'm off to the office - so I'll get back to you.

Re: SE4 Modder Ver 1.76 (updated for ver 1.91)
 

I did find a pic missing - seems to be working now but I still don't see the connection unless it fell through your error trapping.

Re: SE4 Modder Ver 1.76 (updated for ver 1.91)
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Hmmm if you can view components pics less the 273 and then not after after viewing a higher one there is some kind of bug. Do you have your modded pics in a mod directory and the unmodded ones in the base directroy? Not that this should matter (I've test it and it works on my comp) but might help me find out what is going on.

Re: SE4 Modder Ver 1.76 (updated for ver 1.91)
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Yea I guess my earlier estimate was a bit off http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...s/rolleyes.gif . I blame my sister and family who arrived in town earlier than I thought. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif Will definately have something complete before the end of August.

Re: SE4 Modder Ver 1.76 (updated for ver 1.91)
 

Dave will it have the updates for 1.78 and the mounts...