Modders - Need a Data Format Checker?

[JonMacLeod]

Wenin said:
JonMacLeod, I noticed that you have over 41,000 lines of data in your components file for your Imperium Verus Mod (Great Mod BTW). How did you make sure that all that data was in the proper format, that everything was properly referenced? I've found that the Component Editor .90 chokes on a Components file that is misformatted.

I did it manually in notepad for Imperium Verus 1.02. The component editor I tried screwed up my mod (badly, ) so I went back to doing it manually. I have someone helping me check Imperium Verus 1.03 for errors by playtesting it.

[Captain Kwok]

I also prefer to use notepad myself. However, Wenin's data checker was a useful program to find those little bugs like unused tech levels of additional requirements that were not being used. Unfortunately, the last version had a bug IIRC that reduced functionality.

[narf poit chez BOOM]

41,000 lines of data done manually...Fyron, I think you have a competitor.

[Fyron]

The B5 Mod has a 9.5 MB, 270976 line components file. Although, it was generated by a spreadsheet, not by hand.

[narf poit chez BOOM]

Who did that one, and was it done by hand?

(Grumbler, methinks?)

[Urendi Maleldil]

Imperator Fyron said:
The B5 Mod has a 9.5 MB, 270976 line components file. Although, it was generated by a spreadsheet, not by hand.

How do you generate a components.txt file from a spreadsheet? Do you use Mail Merge? I never could figure that function out.

Any tutorials out there?

[Strategia_In_Ultima]

I use the SE4Modder by DavidG for all my modding needs nowadays. You can use it to mod anything, with a GUI, as well as numerous other small but handy features. The only thing is that you have to edit everything manually, but I like the control

[Urendi Maleldil]

I use both DavidG's modder and Wordpad (better Find and Replace function than Notepad).

[Fyron]

I like the find/replace function in EditPlus because it allows regular expressions, including newline characters (which a lot of other advanced tech editors deny the existence of). Makes modding much faster once you get the hang of them.