Beta 1 of MissionComputer 4.0 picked up a few lingering bugs and issues, so here's a second one for your perusal. The changes in this version are:

• dësc and PICT resources created from other editors (i.e. shďp, oütf, etc.) are once again named to reflect their associated resource (thanks, Lindley).

• Make RLE once again stores the colours in rlë8 resources correctly (thanks, IT 000).

• The Quit command now works when an editor window is in the foreground (thanks, Guy).

• Clearer labelling and help tags in the spöb editor.

• All file types now have 512x512 icons for Mac OS 10.5.

• New, improved easter egg.

• Updated help content.

For those of you new to the project, MissionComputer 4.0 adds a number of new features to my scenario editor for the Escape Velocity games, the most prominent of which are the ability to open multiple resources at a time, shďp and wëap editors, and Intel-native code.

MissionComputer 4.0b2 requires Mac OS 10.3 or higher, and is available as a 14 MB download. As usual, keep backups, and don't operate this beta while under the influence of cold medication or Conservative Party advertisements.

Also: If you've been participating in the alpha/beta programme and would like to be listed in the About box, please tell me your name as you would like it to appear.

Downloading.

@geek, on Sep 13 2008, 05:27 PM, said in MissionComputer 4.0b2 now available:

Downloading.

I second it

Thank you for keeping MC compatible with 10.3!

This post has been edited by asriel : 14 September 2008 - 10:17 AM

I'd like to be included in the "about" credits as a beta tester. Real name PMed.

@asriel, on Sep 14 2008, 11:17 AM, said in MissionComputer 4.0b2 now available:

Thank you for keeping MC compatible with 10.3!

You're quite welcome. In fact, I haven't done anything specific to prevent it from running on even older systems; I did have some trouble once when I tried running it on 10.2, but that was an early (and less stable) development version, and may have had as much to do with the elderly computer on which I was running it as with MissionComputer. For the most part, people seem to keep their systems reasonably up to date, so I think a 10.3 recommendation is quite sufficient.

No problems. It works fine. Cool!

David, (or anyone else for that matter)

So this question comes from the stable versions (3.3 etc). I find the Welcome window annoying when I am working with multiple files. It will pop to the front when I close one. Is there a way to turn it off, say, in the plist or something?

A future suggestion: Add a check box in the Welcome Window to turn it off with some text to go to the Preferences to turn it back on.

Hey, programs like Photoshop have it, why not Mission Computer?

@vast-deathmaster, on Sep 15 2008, 01:08 AM, said in MissionComputer 4.0b2 now available:

So this question comes from the stable versions (3.3 etc). I find the Welcome window annoying when I am working with multiple files. It will pop to the front when I close one. Is there a way to turn it off, say, in the plist or something?

Yes, that would be perfectly do-able, though it never occurred to me that it would be necessary - it goes away the moment you open another window, after all. Does it bother anyone else?

(My long-term plans include replacing the Welcome screen with a more conventional empty document, like most applications use.)

I would like some way to turn off the Welcome window as well. I never use it - I either use the Open Special command (which is awesome) or keyboard commands.

Now I probably would guess that the following has either already been implemented, or is impossible (perhaps at this moment) or too overwhelming, but I've just come up with a wishlists to think about for future developments:

• Give open dialog box a checkbox to allow selected plugins to be opened up as a duplicate for extra secure measure

• Allow the resource copier to access plugins that are already opened and that changes can happen on the fly

• Add a preference to change the color of the background when working on the galactic map editor

• Develop simulators utilizing animations, graphics, and sounds for various resources (i.e. weapon test firing, spinning ships and destruction, booms, etc.)

• Add a legend somewhere in the galactic map editor to indicate things such as what empty circles and full circles indicate when representing a system

• Develop a search engine that looks for any resources MC makes connections to based on inquired bits typed in a search box for now (but imagine the possibility)

• Alphabetize resource names when prompting the "open special" of Nova files

• Include all EV apps in the "open special" menu list

• Include the following in the "open special" menu list:

  • EV Music

  • EV Graphics

  • EV Titles

  • EV Sounds

• Allow developers to directly import movies (if formatted properly) into the RL editor

• When browsing RLs, have the option to view them as list instead of just previewing graphics

• When previewing RLs of ships, include an option to toggle secondary weapon spins and engine glows

• Develop a graphical shän editor dialog box that includes spinning previews to allow editing of gun ports to be easy

• Export sounds off from plugins and data files

• Add a preference to allow MC to bring up resource from other involved data file and plugins to view and/or hear previews, and at the sametime, have the option to do so on various resource being currently worked on to happen on the fly (drawback will be that it will take longer to load up referenced resource in MC)

That's all I have for now, I might update it another time.

This post has been edited by Coraxus : 15 September 2008 - 07:25 PM

@coraxus, on Sep 15 2008, 08:13 PM, said in MissionComputer 4.0b2 now available:

Allow the resource copier to access plugins that are already opened and that changes can happen on the fly

Perhaps - the Resource Copier is due for a bit of an overhaul, since it doesn't support .rez, but I've never been sure how much people actually use it.

@coraxus, on Sep 15 2008, 08:13 PM, said in MissionComputer 4.0b2 now available:

Add a preference to change the color of the background when working on the galactic map editor

Since the game itself can't do this, what would the benefit be?

@coraxus, on Sep 15 2008, 08:13 PM, said in MissionComputer 4.0b2 now available:

Develop simulators utilizing animations, graphics, and sounds for various resources (i.e. weapon test firing, spinning ships and destruction, booms, etc.)
...Develop a graphical shän editor dialog box that includes spinning previews to allow editing of gun ports to be easy
...When previewing RLs of ships, include an option to toggle secondary weapon spins and engine glows

Developing a NovaTools-style shän editor is definitely on the list (since shän is the only EV Nova resource type still handled using templates). Depending on how much work it proves, it may be a basic editor in 4.1 and a graphical one in 4.2. Engine glows and weapon sprites are part of the shän, not the RLE graphic; there's no way the RLE viewer can determine which frames belong to which.

@coraxus, on Sep 15 2008, 08:13 PM, said in MissionComputer 4.0b2 now available:

When browsing RLs, have the option to view them as list instead of just previewing graphics

Already there - turn off 'Use graphical picker where appropriate' in Preferences. It's been suggested that I move this into the regular menu bar, which seems appropriate to me (that's where it is in ResEdit).

@coraxus, on Sep 15 2008, 08:13 PM, said in MissionComputer 4.0b2 now available:

Add a legend somewhere in the galactic map editor to indicate things such as what empty circles and full circles indicate when representing a system

You should be able to tell by clicking on the systems themselves. Full blue circle means independent; full green means unknown government. Anything else uses the government's map colours.

@coraxus, on Sep 15 2008, 08:13 PM, said in MissionComputer 4.0b2 now available:

Develop a search engine that looks for any resources MC makes connections to based on inquired bits typed in a search box for now (but imagine the possibility)

This isn't practical, because resources aren't interpreted until you open them in an editor.

@coraxus, on Sep 15 2008, 08:13 PM, said in MissionComputer 4.0b2 now available:

Alphabetize resource names when prompting the "open special" of Nova files

Fixed, thanks.

@coraxus, on Sep 15 2008, 08:13 PM, said in MissionComputer 4.0b2 now available:

Include all EV apps in the "open special" menu list
Include the following in the "open special" menu list:

Support for the first two games is 'end of life' as of 4.0: I'm not removing any of what's there, but new features (such as the shďp and wëap editors) are for EV Nova only.

@coraxus, on Sep 15 2008, 08:13 PM, said in MissionComputer 4.0b2 now available:

Allow developers to directly import movies (if formatted properly) into the RL editor

Make RLE requires a properly formatted sprite grid. I have considered a Sprite Maker utility that would turn a movie or set of frames into such a grid, but it would be a separate utility, and it isn't a high priority since DrRalph's utilities already do the job and are Mac OS X native.

@coraxus, on Sep 15 2008, 08:13 PM, said in MissionComputer 4.0b2 now available:

Export sounds off from plugins and data files

Sound import/export will require some new technology, but I am exploring it.

@coraxus, on Sep 15 2008, 08:13 PM, said in MissionComputer 4.0b2 now available:

Add a preference to allow MC to bring up resource from other involved data file and plugins to view and/or hear previews, and at the sametime, have the option to do so on various resource being currently worked on to happen on the fly (drawback will be that it will take longer to load up referenced resource in MC)

I've considered greater integration with other data files on various occasions, but the increase in complexity it would involve is horrendous. This bogged down basically every other EV editor I've seen, and I don't yet have a convincing paradigm that's any better than that of EV-Edit or Schmelta-V.

@david-arthur, on Sep 16 2008, 09:08 AM, said in MissionComputer 4.0b2 now available:

Perhaps - the Resource Copier is due for a bit of an overhaul, since it doesn't support .rez, but I've never been sure how much people actually use it.

I use it.

Thanks for an absolutely brilliant program.

The only thing it's useful for now is copying resources that MC doesn't support. Nothing relevant to Nova.

Does Mission Computer support bulk copy/paste now?

Sure does

Brilliant!

I no longer use Resource Copier!

@david-arthur, on Sep 15 2008, 08:08 PM, said in MissionComputer 4.0b2 now available:

Perhaps - the Resource Copier is due for a bit of an overhaul, since it doesn't support .rez, but I've never been sure how much people actually use it.

I suppose it's possible that Resource Copier might drop out eventually because we now have support for bulk copying.

Quote

Since the game itself can't do this, what would the benefit be?

No, it's just that if a person decided to work on making a gövt color and by chance these colors happen to end up blending too much into the black background, it might be hard to tell on the fly whether or not that system is a full or an empty circle. Changing background color is merely to help the developer see color codes of systems better, nothing more.

Quote

Engine glows and weapon sprites are part of the shän, not the RLE graphic; there's no way the RLE viewer can determine which frames belong to which.

So then it can it be possible to make it viewable in the shän editor just as it is in NovaTools? But what about the idea to include simulation previews for other resources in the game?

Quote

Already there - turn off 'Use graphical picker where appropriate' in Preferences. It's been suggested that I move this into the regular menu bar, which seems appropriate to me (that's where it is in ResEdit).

Yeah, I think I agree it might be more appropriate to have easy access to such a preference. Also it will tell developers that this option does exist.

Quote

This isn't practical, because resources aren't interpreted until you open them in an editor.

Doesn't EVN Mission Viewer does such as thing? I was thinking that the concept it provides could be integrated into MC but expand beyond it, unless it's copyright infringement.

Quote

Support for the first two games is 'end of life' as of 4.0: I'm not removing any of what's there, but new features (such as the shďp and wëap editors) are for EV Nova only.

Well, it wasn't like I was expecting many people to develop plugins and such for the original Escape Velocity game nowadays. I just thought that having the other EV Classic data files in the menu would make it convenient for those wanting to develop expansions and/or TC for the EV Classic port, or merely to port EV classic plugins to Nova.

Quote

I've considered greater integration with other data files on various occasions, but the increase in complexity it would involve is horrendous. This bogged down basically every other EV editor I've seen, and I don't yet have a convincing paradigm that's any better than that of EV-Edit or Schmelta-V.

That's why I considered it should be an option , but if this turns out to be way more difficult, then it's not worth the trouble unless a solution comes up. I was thinking that MC could have the option of perhaps copying data files and plugins to be integrate it into the app itself? You could also delete them out of the MC app at anytime too. Or would that again become too problematic for MC to function well?

This post has been edited by Coraxus : 16 September 2008 - 03:36 PM

@coraxus, on Sep 16 2008, 04:35 PM, said in MissionComputer 4.0b2 now available:

But what about the idea to include simulation previews for other resources in the game?

No one's suggested anything like that for anything other than the shän editor before, so I'll have to give it some thought before I can decide whether it's practical or not. For the shän editor, the goal is definitely to produce something that matches the capabilities of NovaTools.

@coraxus, on Sep 16 2008, 04:35 PM, said in MissionComputer 4.0b2 now available:

Doesn't EVN Mission Viewer does such as thing?

It may well, but if it does, it's using an underlying paradigm that's dramatically different from MissionComputer's. If I did create something like this, it would be for all practical purposes an entirely separate programme that happened to be within the same application file.

@coraxus, on Sep 16 2008, 04:35 PM, said in MissionComputer 4.0b2 now available:

That's why I considered it should be an option , but if this turns out to be way more difficult, then it's not worth the trouble unless a solution comes up.

If I did anything like this, it would have to be very deeply integrated in order to be of any use - it isn't something that you could just bolt on when the need arose. As I said, I've never seen it done elegantly, and I don't have any solutions that I'm convinced would fix this.

@coraxus, on Sep 16 2008, 04:35 PM, said in MissionComputer 4.0b2 now available:

I was thinking that MC could have the option of perhaps copying data files and plugins to be integrate it into the app itself? You could also delete them out of the MC app at anytime too.

To what purpose? I can't think of anything that you could achieve by copying data files into the application that you can't already accomplish by adding the relevant files or folders to the list in the Preferences window of files to include in the Open Special menu and Resource Selector.

@david-arthur, on Sep 17 2008, 09:55 AM, said in MissionComputer 4.0b2 now available:

No one's suggested anything like that for anything other than the shän editor before, so I'll have to give it some thought before I can decide whether it's practical or not.

Actually, I have thought about such things before. Booms, for instance. The simulator would let you see how the sprite, sound and frameadvance work together. Another one that would be really useful is a preview of the main menu for the colr resource.

Whoops, stack overflow error. I opened an intf resource and clicked Edit next to the status bar picture. Reproducible with any intf. Btw, the text on the preview doesn't look right. Is it bold? (It shouldn't be)