The SE4 companion - Why the long wait?.

[Captain Kwok]

I agree that the new GUI is much better. I could hardly navigate the previous one!

[Ruatha]

Originally posted by dogscoff:
Once again, thanks and congrats on the se4 companion. I still get some wierd errors and crashes from time to time and I haven't quite figured out how to drive it, but by luck more than judgement I think it's all properly configured now -I have managed to get it to automatically download & decompress a turn for me, launch the game, then after I play the turn it automatically sent it off to PBW for processing. A complete success.

And I get a little smile every time I get the "new turn has arrived" message as well (and some of the error Messages are worth getting an error for too :-)

I missed this post before DS, made me smile reading it

In the next Version I hope that luck won't be considered a necessary subitem to the program
I hadn't planned on releasing it before it was finished, but I had announced it too much to keep it hanging until the autumn, and I've gotten alot of input from the beta Versions, so it was well worth it.
Now I know how all functions should be coded, just need to put them together in an easy understandable way and finetune them.
I belive 0.8 will be released in late summer early autumn (August?).

Ragnarok and CK > Yes, it did tend to get a bit confusing after everything was added on it bit by bit without any concious thought of making things easy, but then my motto always are:
-Why make things easy when you can make them so wonderful complicated?

Edit: Download for current beta 0.76 will be up over the weekend, after that it'll be down, so if you want it you'll have to grab it now or wait for 0.8 after the summer.

Another screenshot.. Critique and ideas on UI are welcome



[ June 19, 2004, 21:26: Message edited by: Ruatha ]

[Ruatha]

Ok, I'm taking the server down tonight.
If you want to edit your eventfiles I'd recommend the History Editor 1.4 that can propably be found at SJ's toolpage.
The companion 0.8, a new beast, will be released in the fall.

Se Ya
Ruatha

[Ruatha]

Q:So what's up with 0.8, whats taking so long time??
A: It's been totally reprogramed again, from the foundation and up.
The GUI has nothing in common with v 0.76.
I'm currently doing the individual game companions, then I'll make the settings screen and the set-up wizard.
Enhance the alert screen and add some sound alerts and make the help and readme file.
Then I'll playtest it for a week before I release it.

Q: That seems like a lot, when do you expect to release 0.8, next year?
A: Nah, in 4 weeks at most.

Q:What are these new features I've heard about?
A:Not very many. Those that existed has been improved, it now alerts for PBW game news, nag mails and other PBW type mails.
It can warn for deadline approaching and has quick links to the games PBW game forum.
And, it got a function that easily enables IRC contact with the SE4 channel, that works really good.
But above all else, it's easier to use, less clutter and more logic in the UI.

Q: 0.76 sucked bigtime, should I really try 0.8?
A:Yes, it's a completely different program, try it when it's released, you'll like it!

[ July 21, 2004, 06:26: Message edited by: Ruatha ]

[Slynky]

I'm still interested. 'Ppreciate your hard work!

[Ruatha]

Originally posted by dogscoff:
OK, just figured out how to get it working- fantastic! I can't wait for my PBW turns to be readt so I can play with it some more!

Are you still looking for more features to add to this beast? If so, I have one:

Could yo link it somehow to the game forum at PBW for the games listed in the PBWfavourites list? I hate going through all the clicks needed to access a game forum, especially when you go to all that trouble and there are no new Messages.
Wouldn't necessarily need the ability to post there, but just to see what's new and then a direct link to open the forum in my preferred browser.

I have more sugestions too, but they would probably belong in another prgram.

Now it (v 0.8) can access the individual game forums on PBW, with a click.
No need to enter username or password or browse through several pages.
What where those other suggestions you had??


-------------
These are the features of the SE4 Companion:

Easy starting of modded games, simply dubbelclick on the game in the gamelist.

No need to enter game passwords, enter it once and start the games in the future with one click.

Use for PBW games or single player games.

Use several different Versions of SE4.

Scan PBW on-line for new turns, new game news, see how many players are left to upload.

Easy access to the PBW game forum for your individual games.

Automatic download of PBW turns.

Easy upload to the PBW site on-line.

Scan your POP3 mail box for new turns, nag mails or other PBW related mails.

Be alerted when you've got new mails. (General mail alerter)

Automatic download and unpack of mailed turns.

Automatic deletion of Turn mails, nag mails other PBW mails.

Autostart games when they are downloaded.

Automatic upload of finished games to the PBW site, or by mail.

Set your own deadline alert time. (hours before deadline)

A easy to use specialized notepad, called sidenotes, that can be autostarted each time the game is started.

Easy insertion of turn number, game date, players and empires in the sidenotes.

A easy to use history event editor, copy incoming and outgoing game diplomacy from SE4 to the event editor, and you will be able to see these Messages in the coming turns, in-game!

Copy history file to HTML or Excel format or print it.

Launch any external file or program by a single click, or have it automaticly launched when your game is started.

Make individual music lists with mp3, midi or wave songs to any of your games, have it autoplay when the game is started.

Run games as host by a single click, see it execute and finish without further input from you!

Easy access to the #SE4 channel on IRC, with a handy alert if anyone has posted there the Last minutes.

Work through a firewall by setting up a proxy.

Be alerted for new turns either by audio and or by a pop-up, flashing keyboard leds, on-screen text or a discreet change of application icon.

Password protect the entire application, or have it hide all passwords, or run it totally open.

Easy set-up through a set-up wizard.

Just about everything is user changable, new PBW adress? Change it in the settings screen!

Autosearch for mods and games when a new se4 Version is choosen.

Autoscan the harddrives for se4 Versions, games and mods and autoinstall them.

[ July 22, 2004, 06:14: Message edited by: Ruatha ]

[dogscoff]

Wow... love that feature list... just beautiful. Ruatha I owe you many many pints.

Other suggestions? OK, you asked for it, but remember I did say they probably belong in an other program:

-Scan through All race AI files automatically and either flag up or fix all those missing lines that generate annoying error Messages in-game. I imagine this would be a pain to implement in a program that supports several Versions of SE4.

-Option to scan pictures/races and subfolders and delete any superfluous copies of the styletester program: It's easy to end up with many redundant copies of this eating up your HD space. Some ppl might want a copy in each and every race folder, so there should be an option to copy it in, too.

-Option to create empty race folders in mod directory - ie I have a shipset in pictures/races/vikings but in order to use the shipset in adamant mod I need an empty adamant/pictures/races/vikings folder.

-Some kind of support for the modinfo files for Maryx's modlauncher.

-scan all the general.txt AI files and look for missing dsgnname files, then copy them to mod subfolders where appropriate, and create a list of files that need to be found and downloaded.

-Race-style browser. (including an option to spit out a list of which installed mods and races are fully or partially neo-standard compliant or neo++ compliant, perhaps with some kind of races/mod compatibility table spit out at the bottom, so you can see which shipsets will look best under which mods.)

-(Not sure if this is possible) Option to look at your PBW games (either from the website or the saegame files) and determine what race styles you need to download. This ties in quite nicely with the following sugestion:

-(This one is really way out, and would probably require some kind of server somewhere, I think) Option to somehow scan the readme.txt, credits.txt and modlancher files of races and mods to determine what Version is currently installed. Then it either connects to a central server (and/or the SotAS site) or it searches for a URL in the local readme files and tries to determine whether a more up to date Version is available, then downloads, unzips and installs it.

If I think of any more i'll let you know.

[ July 22, 2004, 10:56: Message edited by: dogscoff ]