Kind of an EVNEW for dummies,

Hello, I'm Rythan Blaze and I'll be your captain for the duration of this thread.

Let me introduce part one of the " AFT " by letting you know what it entails. If you have no clue as to how to start developing plug-ins this guide is being designed fit your needs, if you are experienced at all I do not see the early chapters of the guide as being of any help to you. Here I will explain, in as much detail as humanly possible, how to use EVNEW to Modify outfits and create your own. This is the first of three chapters that make up part one of the Beginners guide.

I know you want to make your own plug-ins, everyone does, so here is how you make your start. With the small stuff.

You'll need a registered copy of EVN, your free EVNEW software (you can just google the EVNEW if you can't find it on this site), and a decent amount of free time.

Your very first step, if you have not done so already, is to open up your Nova Files folder and copy its contents in their entirety. The Nova Files folder will be located in your EVN folder if you have registered your copy of EVN. If not, no Plug-Ins for you, sorry.

You will now open your EVNEW folder and paste the files in there. DO NOT CUT AND PASTE. I said copy, it is important that you do not actually remove the contents of your Nova Files folder at this early stage in the game. These steps are to 1) Make your life easier by having quick access to all the Nova Data, and 2) Ensure your original data's safety.

Now on to the Fun stuff. You will find every Outfit in the game located in Nova Data 4, but you will notice that you can not open it by yourself ( you get a bunch of crazy looking code if you try, broken sentences, about 3000 squares for no reason, it's odd ). But fear not, this is why you have the EVNEW. What EW does is basically translate the Data into a form you can easily understand and then it translates your input into the crazy code so that EVN can understand. Thus you have broken the language barrier.

To actually have a look inside Data 4 simply drag it and drop it on the EVNEW Icon ( it's a little square picture with a spaceship on it and the letters EVNEW to the right ). And now we are getting somewhere. A window should appear, very likely on the left side of you screen, labelled Nova Data 4,rez - EVNEW. You will see a list of abbreviations, under the heading Resource Types, on the left side. At this moment what you want is "outf (242)" 242 being the original number of outfits in the game.

After you click on outf you are given a list of every one of the games outfits, and now begins the fun I promised. At the bottom of the .rez window you'll see 3 buttons, New, Edit, and Delete. Click New. You have now been granted a brand spanking new window, let me walk you through:

ID - This is the ID # of the outfit you are making, after hitting new for the first time you are given the ID # 444 by default, this is perfectly fine, keep 444.

Name - Just write in whatever it is you want to call your new invention.

Display Weight - In game while you visit an Outfitter the items you choose from are ordered by their level of "Importance" we'll say. The higher the Display Weight, the more "Important" the item, and therefore the closer it is to the top of the menu. This has no real importance aside from where you'll see your item at the shop.

Mass - This is how much space the item takes up. Your ships Free Mass determines how much it can carry, you should decide the value of this one by asking yourself what the outfit actually is, i.e. Your Marines should probably take up less space than your new Destruction Cannon the "Ruiner of Worlds".

Tech lvl. - The lower the Tech level the more available the outfit is, higher means less. A high tech level means that only Technologically advanced stations will offer the outfit. Remember not to over do it too, if you set the Tech lvl to 99,999 then no one will have it.

Mod Type 1 - 4 : Your outfit can have up to four different effects, all at the same time. You only need the one, but hey it's your game.

Maximum - How many you can have.

Cost - That's straight forward.

Item Class - Ignore this for now, look for it in a later guide.

Scan Mask - Same as above.

Buy Random - This tells you how often the item will be around, mind you the number is out of 100%. 100 means it's always around, 5 means you have to be really lucky to find it.

Availability - Unnecessary for now, save for a Later Guide.
On Purchase - " "
On Sell - " "
Contribute - " "
Require - " "

Short Name - The outfit's name
Lowercase - The outfits name while listed in the Extras section of your player info ( press P in game )
Lowercase Plural - The outfit's name in extras if you have more than one.

Required Government - Necessary for now.

CHECK BOXES!!!
They go straight down the line so I'm assigning them numbers. The definition assumes you have checked the box.

1. If the outfit is a weapon it will fire from the Gun position(s) on your ship.
2. If a weapon will fire from Turret position(s).
3. It carries over to your next ship.
4. You can't sell it.
5. It replaces anything that does the same thing.
6. If the game takes away your ship you still keep the item.
7. Unnecessary for now.
8. The outfit gets more expensive the bigger your ship is.
9. Outfit takes up more room the bigger your ship is.
10. You can sell it anywhere.
11. Straight Forward.
12. Instead of showing up in extras it's in rank.
13. Not important right now.

Click OK

Go to File and "save as"... This will be the name of your new outfit plug-in, name it whatever you like. DO NOT SIMPLY HIT "SAVE". I said "save as" for a reason. This way your Nova Data file is uncorrupted by whatever you've done and you can use it again as a template later. Be sure to place this new file in the EVNEW folder for efficiency's sake.

Open your new rez file, lets call it "Outf 1", or "Bunny", what do you like better? Really? Me too. Ok drag and drop Bunny like you did Data 4, go to outf, scroll down to 444 and open it up.

You'll see all the info you placed in it before, and for a bare bones account you've actually finished making your outfit. But maybe you want it to be a little more official? You'll notice that under the Required Government field there are some values that you can't change at all. The Desc ID, and the PICT ID. They should be numbered 3316 and 6316 respectively if this is your first time. Don't worry if they aren't though.

The Outfitter Desc is simply the Description of the Outfit you've just made. You can choose to leave this blank and if you do there will be no descriptive text about the outfit in game. But here is how to do it if you want to have something there:

In the Resource Types list, above the Outf, you'll see the desc. After clicking on that hit the New button
and you will be prompted with a new window:

ID - The standard ID is 128, as it will be for most IDs so just consider 128 to be 1, because the ID #s start there and go higher. For your purposes you should also consider 128 to be wrong, as it is not the ID of your outfit. Do you remember your Outfitter ID? Well if this is your first time the ID will be 3316, so replace 128 with that number, or whatever number you had for your outfitter ID.

Name - The name of your Outfit which you will see at the Outfitter in game.

Text - Write a brief summary and or history of your outfit.

You can ignore the rest for now, after finishing the text click OK
Save again. Since you are in Bunny its ok to just save now, and I would recommend doing so so you don't clutter up your EVNEW folder with a thousand files that have a single change to them.

The PICT ID is the number of the picture that corresponds with your outfit. You don't NEED a picture, but its a lot cooler than a blank screen. You'll find the pictures for everyone of the games Outfits in the pict resource of "Nova Graphics 1", one of the other Nova Files I had you copy and paste into the EVNEW folder.

Browse through them until you find the one that best fits your outfit. When you've found the one you want, right click on the resource and "copy" it. Now go over to Bunny click the Edit button, at the TOP , and click paste. Your picture will now be in Bunny's pict resource. Click on the picture and then click the Edit button at the bottom. In the window that pops up there are only 2 values you will be concerned with, they're the ID and the Name.

ID - Do you remember the Outfitter PICT ID? If this is your first time making an outfit it will be 6316. If not it will be 3000 more than what ever your Desc ID was i.e. 3407 Desc is 6407 PICT.

Name - The name of your outfit.

Save Bunny one more time.

When ever you want to use any plug-in, open your EV Nova folder and drop your plug into the EVN plug-in folder. In this case you would open your EVNEW folder and your EVN folder side by side, grab bunny from EVNEW , drag it over to the EVN plug-in folder, and drop Bunny right in. Turn on Nova and feel your magic.

ALAKAZAM!! You've just made you're first Outfit.

Experiment with different outfits to get the hang of how they work in-game until you find what feels right for you. If you make something to powerful it can detract from the fun so just bring it back to EVNEW and tweak it.

Hope this was helpful, I had originally planned for much more but it's pretty late. I'll add the rest to the guide in regular installments, time permitting.

Next chapter:
Modding and creating weapons.
Chapter 3:
Modding and creating ships.

Soon to come... AFT Part 2 Stellars, Systems, Dudes, and Fleets.

This post has been edited by Ragnar0k : 12 June 2006 - 10:23 PM

Interesting... have you read these guides? In particular, I need one for EVNEW since I don't even have a PC to know how it works.

However, a few things. First, are you sure of what EVNEW does when you open (a copy of) Nova Data 4, then do save as...? It would presumably create a plug-in with all the contents of Nova Data 4, on top of your new outfit, and that's not a good thing. Then, the exit point of the weapon is determined by a flag of the wëap resource, very surprisingly; these two "gun" and "turret" checkboxes actually serve the purpose of flagging an outfit as a gun or a turret for the purpose of checking there are no more than the allowed number of guns and turrets than what the ship is allowed to have.

Then things that are more a matter of personal taste (but it would be best for a beginner's guide on EVNEW to observe these, to match the corresponding starting guides for Mac editors): I prefer to lock the data files than making a copy: it's just as safe if not safer, and saves on space; though perhaps EVNEW has trouble opening locked files, so in this case disregard this. Then, I think it's best and saves much trouble to start from a copy of an existing outfit, especially the beginner won't have to worry at that point about ModTypes, he just slightly modifies one aspect of an outfit he knows and thus can check the effect of each field and flag one by one, instead of having to figure everything at once even before getting to see the outfit. Plus at this point we're as much teaching him how to use the editor and fundamental plug-in concepts as actual outfit editing.

Other than that, screenshots would definitely help given the target audience. But this is a start, I think it has potential.

(This post has too many quote tags, meaning they don't display properly.)

I agree with Zacha - this is not a good way to make plugins. If I've understood your procedure, your Bunny.rez file is simply an exact copy of Nova Data 4 with an extra oütf resource. Since most of the non-graphics data files are around the 700-1000 kB mark, while a single resource is only around 3 kB, this is a ridiculous waste of space, and can cause Bad Things to happen if you use it with other plugins or total conversions.

(quote name='Ragnar0k' date='Jun 10 2006, 05:27 PM' post='1582935')your free EVNEW software (you can just google the EVNEW if you can't find it on this site)(/quote)

You could always provide a link yourself.

(quote)Your very first step, if you have not done so already, is to open up your Nova Files folder and copy its contents in their entirity.(/quote)

It's spelt "entirety", but that's a good first step. In my opinion, ZP, it's preferable to simply making the data files read-only, because it lets you have an extra copy to play with.

(quote)The Nova Files folder will be located in your EVN folder if you have registered your copy of EVN.(/quote)

Poor phrasing, here - the Nova Files folder is still in the EVN folder even when you haven't registered. (Incidentally, why are EVN and EVNEW in bold almost every time they appear?)

(quote)about 3000 squares for no reason(/quote)

The squares indicate that that particular ASCII character doesn't exist in that particular font.

(quote)What EW does...(/quote)

EW? Have we lost a couple of characters, here?

(quote)very likely on the left side of you screen, labelled Nova Data 4,rez(/quote)

Are you wanting spelling and/or grammar corrections? Because that should be your, not you, and Nova Data 4.rez, not a ,rez.

(quote)At the bottom of the .rez window you'll see 3 buttons, New, Edit, and Delete. Click New.(/quote)

Or you can simply double-click on the resource type in the left-hand column.

(quote)after hitting new for the first time you are given the ID # 444 by default(/quote)

You're not given 444 by default - you're given it because it's the first unused ID number. If you started a new file with no oütf resources, you'd be given ID 128, because it's the first free number in that file.

(quote) Tech lvl. - The lower the Tech level the more available the outfit is, higher means less.(/quote)

Though the explanation is sound, it could possibly be worded a little better - for example, WHY does a higher number mean it's less available? I also suggest you write "tech level" in full - it's only two extra letters, after all.

(quote)if you set the Tech lvl to 99,999 then no one will have it.(/quote)

If you set the tech level to 99,999, you'll break the game - the maximum is only 32,767. (Mind you, setting it to 32,767 will break the game as well, due to a bug.)

(quote) Mod Type 1 - 4 : Your outfit can have up to four different effects, all at the same time. You only need the one, but hey it's your game.(/quote)

Suggest that last sentence be reworded. Something like "for this example, you will only need the one".

(quote) Cost - That's straight forward.(/quote)

"Straightforward" is one word.

(quote)mind you the number is out of 100%.(/quote)

Alternately, "expressed as a percentage" might be a better phrasing.

(quote) 1. If the outfit is a weapon it will fire from the Gun position(s) on your ship.
2. If a weapon will fire from Turret position(s).(/quote)

As Zacha observed, these two fields only identify whether it takes up a gun slot or a turret slot - the weapon's exit port is defined in the wëap resource. If this guide is going to exist only on these boards, you can also do these fields using an ordered list rather than typing in the numbers by hand.

(quote) 8. The outfit gets more expensive the bigger your ship is.
9. Outfit takes up more room the bigger your ship is.(/quote)

That should be "more massive" rather than "bigger" - using the word bigger may cause confusion relating to the length field of the shďp resource, or the size of the ship sprite.

(quote) 11. Straight Forward.(/quote)

I'm not certain this one is entirely straightforward...

(quote)They should be numbered 3316 and 6316 respectively if this is your first time. Don't worry if they aren't though.(/quote)

This line is a little confusing - you just finished saying that the user couldn't change them. Suggest changing it to "if the oütf ID is 444 as above, then they will be numbered 3316 and 6316 respectively" or something similar.

(quote) ID - The standard ID is 128, as it will be for most IDs(/quote)

This should be the first ID is 128, and this is the case for all resource types.

(quote)so just consider 128 to be 1(/quote)

Strictly speaking, 128 is considered to be 0. Don't try introducing a new numbering system, here - we've already got the index number (which starts from 0) and the ID number (which starts from 128).

(quote)Do you remember your Outfitter ID? Well if this is your first time the ID will be 3316, so replace 128 with that number, or whatever number you had for your outfitter ID.(/quote)

Again, this is confusing - you should say "if the oütf resource was 444 above, then the ID for the dësc should be 3316. Otherwise, the dësc ID should be the oütf ID minus 128 plus 3000" or something similar. Or remind them that it's given in the oütf resource dialogue box.

(quote) Name - The name of your Outfit which you will see at the Outfitter in game.(/quote)

No, it's the Short Name of the oütf resource that appears in the outfitter - this name here is merely for convenience. It helps you identfy the correct dësc resource later. (If this is what you had meant, then I suggest a rephrasing, as it's a little confusing.)

(quote) Text - Write a brief summary and or history of your outfit.(/quote)

They can write whatever they like. However, the correct punctuation is "and/or".

(quote)Browse through them until you find the one that best fits your outfit.(/quote)

Alternately, they can import their own. The procedure is to open a PICT resource dialogue box, and select File > Import in the box's menu.

(quote)If not it will be 3000 more than what ever your Desc ID was i.e. 3407 Desc is 6407 PICT.(/quote)

Or 6000 more than the index of the oütf resource (i.e. ID no minus 128 plus 6000).

Quote

Availability - Unneccesary for now, save for a Later Guide.
On Purchase - " "
On Sell - " "
Contribute - " "
Require - " "

I'd think those are pretty nessisary, or at least a short explanation of what they are. Heres a way to do it...

Those you don't need to worry about these fields, heres a brief explanation for now. They'll be explained in detail in a later chapter.

On Purchase - Sets or unsets a specified bit(s) which can be used to control availability, mission apperances, etc. These are handled when the outfit is bought.
On Sell - Sets or unsets a specified bit(s) which can be used to control availability, mission apperances, etc. These are handled when the outfit is sold.
Contribute - This is an 8-bit hexadecimal field to determine whether the player can buy, or sometimes even see, other certain ships or outfits.
Require - This is an 8-bit hexadecimal field to determine whether the player can buy, or sometimes even see, the outfit. If any of the player's contribute bits matches this require bit, they player can buy the outfit.

First off I would just like to say a few things.

1. Any spelling and grammar mistakes were my fault, but I was very tired, it was very late, and I'm not a great speller on the best of days.

2. On file size. You're right, that's an obscene waist of space. Personally, after having created all the weapons and outfits I want at the time, I double click the EVNEW icon to open a completely empty resource list, and from there I copy all the new outfits from Bunny.rez and paste them into the new window, which I would save as say FinishedBunny.rez. I then delete the original Bunny.rez and am left with a plug-in containing only the new resources I've created. I had meant for that information to actually be in there and I am surprised by the fact that I forgot. I will amend the guide as soon as I have the time, probably while writting chapter 2 on Weapons.

3. I've read the other guides but they are generally not for EVNEW or they don't hold your hand the way someone who is completely lost would need them to. I also left out reading the EV Bible, which shold have been at the top of the guide.

4. I appreciate any and all help that has been offered in these replies, though some go above and beyond the call of duty, I thank you anyway.

Finally: I still, with good reason, consider myself a novice developer. I imagine most of the people who post in these boards far outstrip my own meager skill. But I had the gaul to create this guide simply because I could not find another. Everything I've learned thus far was something I had to search for only to find a small piece of the puzzle. I feel that a lot of people don't like to learn in this way, so the AFT is meant to put it all together for the novices out there.

I've seen many user created Guides that have virtually gone the way of Vaporware. I am determined not to let that happen here so if I must I will write the entire guide alone. If anyone feels strongly enough to contribute e-mail me and you can choose a chapter that has yet to be written to write yourself.

Thanks for reading, Rythan out.

This post has been edited by Ragnar0k : 10 June 2006 - 02:59 PM

@ragnar0k, on Jun 11 2006, 05:56 AM, said in The absolute first time developers guide Part 1.:

4. I appreciate any and all help that has been offered in these replies, though some go above and beyond the call of duty, I thank you anyway.

'Tis no problem - I'm an experienced nitpicker, after all.

In any case, I use a PC and EVNEW myself (although I've only written one plugin which has actually been released ). I'd be glad to help by giving corrections and stuff, but I don't have the time at the moment to actually write bits of the guide, what with uni exams coming up soon, and going on holidays shortly afterwards.