Topic: "SFCIII Editor" utility WIP

[Fedman NCC-3758]

Got one for ya ............ how about making the primary and heavy weapons different shades of the same color.   The heavies being a darker shade of course. 

For the HP Placer?  Naw, any HP can be used interchangeably between the primaries and heavies... I always found that annoying about D'deridex's HP Placer... to each their own preference I guess...

Aren't those accessible image files? if thats right, fedman you could alter those to you fancy

Thanks 006       

[Greenvalv]

Bleh, an error occurred when reading the Planet Terran file in the HP Placer causing an infinite loop... 'tis fixed now...

[Tus-XC]

Bleh, an error occurred when reading the Planet Terran file in the HP Placer causing an infinite loop... 'tis fixed now...

infinite loop... sounds like fun

[PigUp]

I hope you get the specs creator out soon, I'm confused as hell. I did everything I was supposed to do (made sure DefaultCore and DefaultLoadOut matched up), yet the ship I added caused my DN's to disappear . Is there some kind of limit to the number of ships per class that I missed reading somewhere (if there is you might need to include a pop up warning in the utility)? Though that might not be it at all because the really strange thing is I was adding a CA not a DN.

Edit: Seems I didn't look hard enough, only two ships are missing, a BC and a DN. Oh and this is with the RExpansion MiniDW mod in case that matters.

Edit2: Using this model (Akira MkII from http://www.battleclinic.com/docks/dock.php?r=federation&page=3) it seems the HP placer isn't showing the correct placement of HP's. Having left the HP's at their default position, according to the HP placer they are on parallel aft sides (I assigned HP16 to a arc of 0_240 and HP19 to 120_360), in game HP19 has moved right in front of HP16. However it could be the model or my own mistake (most likely), but you may want to check it out before you release version 1.

[Greenvalv]

Try opening it in D'deridex's hp placer and see if the problem persists... and if you could, show pics of the ship in the HP Placer and in-game... the info may prove valuable...
 
Edit:  And does the InvalidShips list say anything?
 
Edit2: Just added the Akira MkII, the HP19 isn't added to the TI by default... had to add it myself.  You did mean that the hp moved in front of the other on the TI screen, right?

[PigUp]

Crap... My brain jumped ahead and perm deleted the file (blasted shift+del shortcut, I use it to much) before I read your post, no way to reproduce what happened. I tried using the model again without any modifications (just copy and pasting Akira with name change only) it works fine, the HP's are correct in the ingame menus and while playing. And on top of that, your HP placer and D'deridex's sync up. I did something along the line somewhere in making this ship that caused everything to go to hell, I just can't figure out what it was. The lines in both DefaultCore and DefaultLoadout matched as well as they do with the test I just mentioned. Ah well... as for InvalidShips, AkiraMkII wasn't there, but a crap load of other ships were. And because I just love using shift+del, that is gone too...

P.S. If you want I will try to make the ship over again with the same specs as best as I can remember.

[Greenvalv]

Nah, no need... tested it myself, must have been something with the specs (as it usually is, ask me how I know )
 
Note: I just rewrote the way things are displayed... the HP Placer works even better now *kisses JLayeredPane*... minimize/resize the window without any problems (still keeping the resize function disabled as there's no point to resizing)...  jerry rigging it by using JDialogs is thrown out the window now...  since I didn't alter any of the base code and only modified the GUI, she still functions in the same manner.
 
If you guys give your approval , I shall release version 1.0!

[Greenvalv]

To ensure no more bugs as I am a perfectionist, here is v0.9.8 Beta of the HP Placer: ftp://www.dynaverse.net/sfc3/Utilities/HP%20Placer%20v0.9.8.rar

[Centurus]

Apparently the utility doesn't access the existing hardpoint placement information for ships already working in game.

I pulled up my Anubis and the hardpoints I had originally made for her aren't showing up.  The VL and TI images show up without any problems, but the hardpoint placements have all been reset. 

Also, I thought this utility would also create the specs for the defaultcore and default loadout files?  At least that was the first impression I got when you started this utility.

Other than that, she seems alright.  I'll try later on with another ship and making a new hardpoint layout.  Got just the ship in mind too.

[Greenvalv]

Apparently the utility doesn't access the existing hardpoint placement information for ships already working in game.

What the bloody heck... she was working just fine, which ships exactly are giving the problems?
 
I hate bugs... ack...

I pulled up my Anubis and the hardpoints I had originally made for her aren't showing up.  The VL and TI images show up without any problems, but the hardpoint placements have all been reset.

Post the gf file so I can debug the proggy...
 
Edit:  And screenshots of the program in action... the thing is working fine for me... have you ever manually altered the HPs?  I've found that throws off the formatting... perhaps I need to compensate for that as well... BLOODY HECK!!! 

Also, I thought this utility would also create the specs for the defaultcore and default loadout files?  At least that was the first impression I got when you started this utility.

This particular program is my take on D'deridex's HP Placer... I built it separately from the main program in order to better test it, as is being proved right now... *^%^$

[Centurus]

Apparently the utility doesn't access the existing hardpoint placement information for ships already working in game.

What the bloody heck... she was working just fine, which ships exactly are giving the problems?
 
I hate bugs... ack...

I pulled up my Anubis and the hardpoints I had originally made for her aren't showing up.  The VL and TI images show up without any problems, but the hardpoint placements have all been reset.

Post the gf file so I can debug the proggy...
 
Edit:  And screenshots of the program in action... the thing is working fine for me... have you ever manually altered the HPs?  I've found that throws off the formatting... perhaps I need to compensate for that as well... BLOODY HECK!!! 

Also, I thought this utility would also create the specs for the defaultcore and default loadout files?  At least that was the first impression I got when you started this utility.

This particular program is my take on D'deridex's HP Placer... I built it separately from the main program in order to better test it, as is being proved right now... *^%^$

I'm using your utility to access the ships I already have installed in my test install of SFC3.  The only models that seem to give the problem are those that weren't stock to begin with.  Any ships I've added, such as the ones I've either kitbashed or made specs for use in SFC3, and even WZ's ships, load up with no existing hardpoint information.

I don't know what you mean about manually altering the hardpoints.  I've hardpointed all the models themselves in 3DS Max, and then used D'deridex's HP Editor to set up the VL and TI screens for use in game.

Attached are screenshots of 4 of the ships, and the GF files for each ship screenshotted..  Practically every non-stock ship I have installed in the game is suffering from this same situation.

[Greenvalv]

Aw, that's nice....
 
[Specularity]

Power=64

Red=32

Green=32

Blue=32

Alpha=32

[HardPoints]

VLHull4=425,184

[GlowGroups]

[HardPoints]

VLPower1=177,120
VLPower2=177,208
VLPower3=73,104
VLBridge1=401,104
VLHull1=73,216
 
The repetition of "[HardPoints]" is what's throwing it off... I have that as the starter word, and it only looks for it once, then moves on... eesh, back to debugging...
 

 
Now that Galaxy EVO's just sexy... 

[Centurus]

She's got 17 type 11f phasers and 7 quantum torpedoes.  In an unmodded 534b install of the game, she really doesn't shine.  In a major mod where everything's been altered, she could potentially be a ship even battle hardened pilots would be afraid of.

LC sure did great work on her.

[Centurus]

And aren't ya glad ya have the next ruler of Hell and the self proclaimed D.net Constitution Whore around to help ya out??

:-D

*smacks himself with a rubber chicken and turns himself into Cousin Ernie from I Love Lucy, and grabs a guitar and has his rubber chickens grab some instruments and sings "Y'all Come!"

[Greenvalv]

Wait a second... VLHull4=425,184     er, there is no Hull4... how'd that get there?

[Centurus]

Wait a second... VLHull4=425,184     er, there is no Hull4... how'd that get there?

On which ship?

[Greenvalv]

Hopefully the last beta v0.9.9 of the HP Placer: ftp://www.dynaverse.net/sfc3/Utilities/HP%20Placer%20v0.9.9.rar
 

[PigUp]

I created a TI and VL image for a model which did not have them. At first they didn't show up in the HP placer, I thought it was because the size was off, so I resized both pics. I loaded it up again and still nothing, so I randomly placed HPs on it and saved it. Opened it one more time and it worked. Several tests later I figured it out. If there is no gf file, the HP placer will display the images. However, the second time you load it up the pics don't show. The reason being is that the HP placer creates a gf file for you and if you place no hardpoints on it, then nothing is saved to the gf file. A blank gf file causes the pics not to be shown, opening the gf file and typing in "[HardPoints]" (without quotes of course) and saving the gf file makes the pics show up in the HP placer (or placing HPs using the HP placer and saving, either way works).

[Greenvalv]

The reason being is that the HP placer creates a gf file for you and if you place no hardpoints on it, then nothing is saved to the gf file. A blank gf file causes the pics not to be shown, opening the gf file and typing in "[HardPoints]" (without quotes of course) and saving the gf file makes the pics show up in the HP placer (or placing HPs using the HP placer and saving, either way works).

Good observation... I'll have v1.0.0 write "[HardPoints]" to the newly created GF file regardless of whether you add HP's or not...
 
Note:  Work on the Utility as a whole will resume after the semester is over (Or if I ever get any free time which is unlikely).  However, I will debug the HP Placer as bugs are found.  Don't worry fellas, I ain't gonna abandon this project, it's mah baby. 
 
Note2:  I think I'll rewrite my Customization Guide after I finish this project.  I looked through it the other day, and all but the SFC3Files links were dead.  Shame, those were good sites too.   
 
Edit: Ok, instead of writing "[HardPoints]" to it, the Utility will now behave if given a blank GF file...

[Greenvalv]

Got one for ya ............ how about making the primary and heavy weapons different shades of the same color.   The heavies being a darker shade of course. 

Thanks.

I will implement this in the Editor as a whole... after reading the DefaultCore, the Utility will know which are primary and heavy and will color the HP's accordingly...