Yesterday I continued my development EVN Omega, concentrating on the outfits section. I completed a chunk of various outfits (non-weapons), dumped the updated plug into Nova, and they still didn't show up. I figured at first, that I forgot something or something is negating them from showing.

As a test, I changed one of the resources I just made, to have no availability arguments, and a 100% chance of showing. Yet still, it would not show.

I created a new pilot file, in case there was something there. Still nothing. I changed a one of the new resources to identical data from another resource that does show. Still nothing.

The affected resources are oütf 152-181 (which are only ones I created or modified since 1.0.6). Does anyone know of this problem, and any workarounds?

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Captain Z - Mobile Operations Commander of the (url="http://"http://www.literatureclassics.com/68kmla")68K Macintosh Liberation Army(/url)
32 68K Macintoshes Liberated
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(url="http://"http://homepage.mac.com/captainz")Captain Z's New and Improved Starbase of EV Stuff(/url)

(list=1)
()Do you have any other plugins installed? If so, try taking them out.
()Is your plugin file locked? Some versions of EVN have problems with locked files.
(*)Does the plugin look like the little puzzle piece icon? If it is a document icon or a ResEdit file, you need to change the Type/Creator fields with ResEdit to Npďf and Növä, respectively.(/list=a)

That's all I can think of right now, unless you are unregistered or something (which you obviously aren't if you have been working on this plug for a while).

-Vaumnou

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Did you know that 63.8% of quoted statistics are made up on the spot?
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(This message has been edited by Vaumnou (edited 07-05-2003).)

The locked file problem only exists in pre-1.0.6 game-engines. Here are some other simple things that have bitten me in the past:

• Is the TechLevel set to a viable non-zero positive number?
• Is the "Show only if require bits are met" flag bit cleared?
(or if the flag-bit is not cleared, are the require bits correctly set?)
• Is the "RequireGovt" set to -1 or a viable selection?

And then there's the really obvious things that you've probably already checked, but I'll state them anyway for completeness:

• Is there a PICT with the correct RID for each oütf?
• Is there a dësc with the correct RID for each oütf?

Please let us know what you find is causing the problem when you solve it.

Oh, and out of curiosity, what resource editor are you using?

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"There are no bugs in my code, ... only undocumented features." - corollary #3
Please use the (url="http://"http://www.AmbrosiaSW.com/cgi-bin/ubb/search.cgi?action=intro&default;=9")SEARCH(/url) feature before posting a new question. For EV:Nova development questions, please read the (url="http://"http://www.ambrosiasw.com/cgi-bin/vftp/show.pl?product=evn&category;=guides&display;=name&file;=bible_and_tmpls.sit.bin")EV Nova Resource Bible(/url) first.
Provided by bit-banger Arturo: a (url="http://"http://www.ambrosiasw.com/cgi-bin/vftp/show.pl?product=evn&category;=utilities&display;=name&file;=ResourceInterdependence.hqx")Resource Interdependence table(/url) and the (url="http://"http://www.ambrosiasw.com/cgi-bin/vftp/show.pl?product=evn&category;=plugins&display;=name&file;=ShieldBubbles1.0.hqx")Shield Bubbles 1.0 plug(/url)

Quote

Originally posted by Vaumnou:
**

• Do you have any other plugins installed? If so, try taking them out.

• Is your plugin file locked? Some versions of EVN have problems with locked files.

• Does the plugin look like the little puzzle piece icon? If it is a document icon or a ResEdit file, you need to change the Type/Creator fields with ResEdit to Npďf and Növä, respectively.(/list=a)

That's all I can think of right now, unless you are unregistered or something (which you obviously aren't if you have been working on this plug for a while).

-Vaumnou

**

(list)

OK - I have two suggestions:

1. Perform a reality check by looking at the outfit resources using ResEdit Templates and verify that the values entered in your editors are indeed making their way into the correct resource fields. This will validate the functionality of your editors.

2. Move the v1.0.6 game-engine out of the Nova folder and put the v1.0.5 game-engine in the folder and try running again. This will help you ascertain if it's an anomaly caused by the 1.0.6 update.

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-Persistance is the key to solving any technical problem-

...any information you guys can glean about this would be valuable for future updates. I'll keep checking this thread to see what happens!

all the best,

Dave

I've just run an v1.0.6 experiment to see if I could replicate your problem, but everything worked as expected. I copied outfits 152-181 from the Nova Scenario and ran them through a ConText->spreadsheet->ResStore loop making the following modifications:

• all resource names changed to "TestOutfitXXX", where XXX is the RID

• all Flags bits set to 0x0000

• all Require0 & 1 bits set to 0x00000000

• all TechLevels set to 5

• all Availability(test) cleared

• all ShortName, LCname, LCplural set to an appropriate version of 'test outfit xxx'

• all buy probabilities set to 100

All other resource parameters were left as-is.
All 30 outfits showed up in the outfitters as one would expect.

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"There are no bugs in my code, ... only undocumented features." - corollary #3
Please use the (url="http://"http://www.AmbrosiaSW.com/cgi-bin/ubb/search.cgi?action=intro&default;=9")SEARCH(/url) feature before posting a new question. For EV:Nova development questions, please read the (url="http://"http://www.ambrosiasw.com/cgi-bin/vftp/show.pl?product=evn&category;=guides&display;=name&file;=bible_and_tmpls.sit.bin")EV Nova Resource Bible(/url) first.
Provided by bit-banger Arturo: a (url="http://"http://www.ambrosiasw.com/cgi-bin/vftp/show.pl?product=evn&category;=utilities&display;=name&file;=ResourceInterdependence.hqx")Resource Interdependence table(/url) and the (url="http://"http://www.ambrosiasw.com/cgi-bin/vftp/show.pl?product=evn&category;=plugins&display;=name&file;=ShieldBubbles1.0.hqx")Shield Bubbles 1.0 plug(/url)

(This message has been edited by Arturo (edited 07-06-2003).)

Quote

Originally posted by Arturo:
**OK - I have two suggestions:

1. Perform a reality check by looking at the outfit resources using ResEdit Templates and verify that the values entered in your editors are indeed making their way into the correct resource fields. This will validate the functionality of your editors.

2. Move the v1.0.6 game-engine out of the Nova folder and put the v1.0.5 game-engine in the folder and try running again. This will help you ascertain if it's an anomaly caused by the 1.0.6 update.
**

1. Well, I reimported the ResEdit template for outfits to my plug. It still appeared the same in Resourcer. I am unable to run it through ResEdit, because I no longer have OS 9.

2. I already deleted 1.0.5, and I can't seem to find it again to revert to.

Quote

Originally posted by Arturo:
**I've just run an v1.0.6 experiment to see if I could replicate your problem, but everything worked as expected. I copied outfits 152-181 from the Nova Scenario and ran them through a ConText- >spreadsheet->ResStore loop making the following modifications:

• all resource names changed to "TestOutfitXXX", where XXX is the RID

• all Flags bits set to 0x0000

• all Require0 & 1 bits set to 0x00000000

• all TechLevels set to 5

• all Availability(test) cleared

• all ShortName, LCname, LCplural set to an appropriate version of 'test outfit xxx'

• all buy probabilities set to 100

All other resource parameters were left as-is.
All 30 outfits showed up in the outfitters as one would expect.**

Because of this experiment, I'm thinking this is most likely a bug within my plug, not the game engine.

I've exported the outfit resources using ConText to a text file, (url="http://"http://homepage.mac.com/captainz/ConText.txt")available here(/url). In anyone wants to download it and see if they find an error. (Note: any item with a DisplayWeight of -1 is incomplete and not expected to work yet)

The things I looked at and saw the problems:

1. Rocket (ID 152) has it's Availability set to not show without ownership of the Rocket Launcher (ID 151). It shows regardless.

2. Rocket also has a DisplayWeight of 47, same as the Rocket Launcher. In-game, it displays below the licenses (which are all DisplayWeight 38)

3. All items between the Photon Cannon (ID 128) and the Antimatter Reactor (ID 169) were created and showing pre-1.0.6. Any modifications made to these resources under 1.0.6 don't stick within Nova, yet appear as if it did in Resourcer.

4. All items between the Acceleration Thruster (ID 170) and the Fake ID (ID 181) do not show at all, regardless of it's Availability and BuyRandom. These were modified post-1.0.6.

5. All the fighters (ID 534-544), Licenses (ID 628-640), and Miscellaneous stuff (ID 256-384), show correctly. These were modified or created post-1.0.6.

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Captain Z - Mobile Operations Commander of the (url="http://"http://www.literatureclassics.com/68kmla")68K Macintosh Liberation Army(/url)
32 68K Macintoshes Liberated
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(url="http://"http://homepage.mac.com/captainz")Captain Z's New and Improved Starbase of EV Stuff(/url)

Quote

Originally posted by Captain Z:
**
3) All items between the Photon Cannon (ID 128) and the Antimatter Reactor (ID 169) were created and showing pre-1.0.6. Any modifications made to these resources under 1.0.6 don't stick within Nova, yet appear as if it did in Resourcer.

4. All items between the Acceleration Thruster (ID 170) and the Fake ID (ID 181) do not show at all, regardless of it's Availability and BuyRandom. These were modified post-1.0.6.
   **

I downloaded the text file and created a plug with just outfits 152-181 (staying with the original problem). Many (if not all) of them appeared at the outfitter. I'll look into the other problems in your list this afternoon.

One thing I noticed that concerned me was the large number of debuglog.txt file warning messages generated due to your modifications. While one could easily argue that they don't matter because of a variety of reasons, I'm quite sure that the warning messsages are displayed for a reason. One very good reason to eliminate the warnings is that the Nova game-engine is not guaranteed to operate correctly when presented with bad data (from its perspective), hence the generation of error/warning messages. The game-engine is very similar to a software compiler, in that you write a program in the form of Nova resources and then compile the program into a game scenario by running Nova. Any kind of compiler, including the Nova game-engine, is developed based on a set of specifications. Among those specifications is the definition of the "language" that the compiler/game-engine understands. Since it is impractical/impossible to specify, and implement, everything that the compiler/game-engine cannot do, the pragmatic approach is taken of specifying and implementing only those actions that the compiler/game-engine CAN do. The bottom line is that if you present the Nova game-engine with bad or incomplete data, then it will very likely not function as expected.

If your developing a TC that replaces (virtually) everything from the ATMOS Nova scenario, then it would be best to eliminate all of those Nova scenario resources from the "Nova Files" folder and work with a clean slate, as it were.

Simply stated: I strongly suggest that you eliminate all of the causes of the debuglog.txt file warning messages and I'll bet you a Crispy Creme that your problems will be solved.

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"There are no bugs in my code, ... only undocumented features." - corollary #3
Please use the (url="http://"http://www.AmbrosiaSW.com/cgi-bin/ubb/search.cgi?action=intro&default;=9")SEARCH(/url) feature before posting a new question. For EV:Nova development questions, please read the (url="http://"http://www.ambrosiasw.com/cgi-bin/vftp/show.pl?product=evn&category;=guides&display;=name&file;=bible_and_tmpls.sit.bin")EV Nova Resource Bible(/url) first.
Provided by bit-banger Arturo: a (url="http://"http://www.ambrosiasw.com/cgi-bin/vftp/show.pl?product=evn&category;=utilities&display;=name&file;=ResourceInterdependence.hqx")Resource Interdependence table(/url) and the (url="http://"http://www.ambrosiasw.com/cgi-bin/vftp/show.pl?product=evn&category;=plugins&display;=name&file;=ShieldBubbles1.0.hqx")Shield Bubbles 1.0 plug(/url)

OK, I've been busy filling in missing information to force out this bug. I've noticed that this same problem is not just affecting outfit resources, but ship and spöbs as well. Any changes to any of these type resources don't reflect changes in the plug. I am also fairly sure I am not the only person with this problem.
(url="http://"http://www.ambrosiasw.com/webboard/Forum9/HTML/004203.html")http://www.ambrosias...TML/004203.html(/url)

In his thread, he changed a setting in all fighters to not use swarming. Yet the engine did not recognize the change. This is the same deal in my plug, thus bringing me to the conclusion that there is a bug in the engine causing this.

Strangely, the only type of resource I have changed where the change does take is system resources.

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Captain Z - Mobile Operations Commander of the (url="http://"http://www.literatureclassics.com/68kmla")68K Macintosh Liberation Army(/url)
32 68K Macintoshes Liberated
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(url="http://"http://homepage.mac.com/captainz")Captain Z's New and Improved Starbase of EV Stuff(/url)

I too am having this problem... I'm using EVN 1.0.6. I tried building a plug to modify the Medium Blaster among other outfits and nothing shows up when i start the game up. I've even tried building a mďsn resource that was 100% available everywhere and it didn't show up anywhere.

I'm using ResEdit with the EVN editor plugins and Mac OS X 10.2.2. I'm beginning to get the feeling that the 1.0.6 engine doesn't allow plugins period.

Quote

Originally posted by Rushing:
**I too am having this problem... I'm using EVN 1.0.6. I tried building a plug to modify the Medium Blaster among other outfits and nothing shows up when i start the game up. I've even tried building a mďsn resource that was 100% available everywhere and it didn't show up anywhere.

I'm using ResEdit with the EVN editor plugins and Mac OS X 10.2.2. I'm beginning to get the feeling that the 1.0.6 engine doesn't allow plugins period.**

Im running 1.0.6 on OS9 and it handles plugs fine. Im even developing one on it.

Captain Z: Ill check out your problem asap. I wonder if its just a few games that are doing this. If it could be a bug that only effects a few games.

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-Unreal Centipede
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Need a minor plugin made? Email me! (url="http://"mailto:Unrealcentipede@yahoo.com")mailto:Unrealcentipede@yahoo.com(/url)Unrealcentipede@yahoo.com

I booted into OS 9, re-registered EVN and tried again... it still wouldn't load plugins... This occurred on both a G4 400 MHz grey-icebox mini-tower, and a G3 266 MHz beige desktop PowerMac.

The only thing I found to work around this problem was dropping the plugins into the "Nova Files" folder instead of the "Nova Plug-ins" folder. That should allow Cap Z to debug his plugin... even if it isn't the "right" way to do things...

I tried the "dump plugs in Nova Files" fix, and yes, it did load the plug, but it did not correct the problem I'm having. What's wrong in mine is it isn't loading the changes I made in the files.

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Captain Z - Mobile Operations Commander of the (url="http://"http://www.literatureclassics.com/68kmla")68K Macintosh Liberation Army(/url)
32 68K Macintoshes Liberated
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(url="http://"http://homepage.mac.com/captainz")Captain Z's New and Improved Starbase of EV Stuff(/url)

Here's one that's bitten me on occassions: if your plug-in is still open in ResEdit, Resourcerer or other editing tool, and you try and run Nova, odd things will happen.

Dave