Open-Ended Tech Levels?

Phoenix-D · #1 February 5th, 2002, 07:52 AM

"You can't enter alpha family numbers or damage amounts, for example, but you're not prevented from crashing the game with extravagantly large values."

Why not? IIRC the value that kills SE4 is pretty well-defined. I'm having a hard time figuring out why Users wanting to have SE4 friendly files precludes preventing values that crash SE4

Values that don't DO anything are another story, since they can have usefullness in their own way..

Phoenix-D

Shyrka · #2 February 5th, 2002, 10:58 AM

quote:
Originally posted by Krsqk:
P.S. I'm programming this in Python with the wxPython extension...

Wow, Python, I programmed some little things in Python for a game called Blade whose 3D engine interface was in that language. But why Python here? I think Delphi or VB would be easier (But not free

) I had very good experience with that language.

BTW, I'm very interested in your program

Suicide Junkie · #3 February 5th, 2002, 04:09 PM

If writing text to a file in that language is reasonably simple, then do both.
Since you have the "save raw data" thing, AND the display SE4-readable code on the screen as the other option, I'm assuming you can do it fairly easily.

If you want, you could create a separate compiler program, which would turn a raw data file into a components.txt.

[ 05 February 2002: Message edited by: suicide_junkie ]

Krsqk · #4 February 6th, 2002, 03:53 AM

"Values that don't DO anything are another story, since they can have usefullness in their own way." --Phoenix-D

Yep, like Ancient Ruins on components. All abilities are available for use.

"But why Python here? I think Delphi or VB would be easier (But not free

)"--Shyrka

Free--that's right. My whole idea was to find an easy language and a free compiler. I was going to do this in BASIC, but then I thought that maybe it would be nice to make it portable and post it here.

"I had very good experience with that language."--Shyrka

Me, too.

Very easy, very intuitive, and very powerful, not to mention extendable.

"If writing text to a file in that language is reasonably simple, then do both."--SJ

Very simple. The on-screen display will probably be the most practical for the end-user; but, hey, who am I to decide?

I think later Versions will have the option to combine all files into a Components.txt, but not this time. Just don't expect me to process all data files and keep track of the maximum levels used for each tech area.

I'm in final bug testing, and I'll try to have it in EXE form by Wed. night. If it's not done by then, it will probably be Sat. before it's done.

Instar · #5 February 7th, 2002, 03:04 AM

Well, you could mod the files so it would seem like there were infinite levels...

[ 07 February 2002: Message edited by: Instar ]

Krsqk · #6 February 15th, 2002, 02:48 AM

Good news/bad news.

Good news first: After months (ok, parts of a couple of weeks) of hard labor (fiddling), the Component Creator is officially finished! Well, at least Version 0.75 of it is. I wanted to post it and get some feedback from modders\modders-to-be\players who want to be modders but haven't had time.

Bad news: The initial download is a hefty 2.05MB. (Sorry to all dial-up Users like me.) This is due to the size of the DLL I'm using. I haven't figured out yet how to extract only the functions I need from it and link to them in a smaller DLL. However, the good news is that future updates will be in the 300KB range; so added features won't mean another 10 minute download.

The entire package is included in a self-extracting RAR file; just extract to your SEIV directory. It will create a "Component Creator" directory with the required files and two sub-directories. If, for some reason, you would rather have a different archive format, post and let me know; the RAR just saved 400KB over ZIP, which modem Users appreciate.

Anyway, enough jabber; here it is:

Component Creator.exe

Please comment--this is definitely a work-in-progress. If you have questions, please see the included readme first.

[ 15 February 2002: Message edited by: Krsqk ]

Phoenix-D · #7 February 15th, 2002, 03:13 AM

"However, the good news is that future updates will be in the 300KB range; so added features won't mean another 10 minute download."

hehheheheh, try three seconds.

Damn I love broadband. Anyway, the download thread you posted it to- there IS a thread for Modding Tools/Information, you probably couldn't see it because it's been inactive for a long while. Check the upper left (IIRC) of the forum when you're there to change the number of threads displayed.

Phoenix-D