This is possibly a stupid question but..

Kuchiki

considering eveyone uses OSX im sure this is a stupid question, but how am i supposed to develop plugins for EVN on osx? Ive been working on plugs on OS9 but after getting OSX i have no idea, i havent been able to find a RESEDIT for 0SX, nor have i found a way to use NovaTools on any resource editing program i found online. Please some info on this issue?

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zhouj

Quote

Originally posted by Kuchiki:
**considering eveyone uses OSX im sure this is a stupid question, but how am i supposed to develop plugins for EVN on osx? Ive been working on plugs on OS9 but after getting OSX i have no idea, i havent been able to find a RESEDIT for 0SX, nor have i found a way to use NovaTools on any resource editing program i found online. Please some info on this issue?

**

I'm writing a guide on the plug-in development process and I've completed the section on development tools. Posted here is a review of the programs useful for plug-in development.

Part II: The Tools, Recommendations, and Requirements

A. Development Tools

For the development of Nova plug-ins, there are several different types that are involved. The first type of tool is a specialized editor for data entry. Examples would be Mission Computer, EVONE, EVNEW, and ResEdit with NovaTools. ResEdit will not be considered as a standalone editor since you can easily surpass its features by installing NovaTools as well. Each of these has their own strengths and weaknesses.

Mission Computer is a free program and also features a full-fledged editing system. It calculates the hex flags, various formulas, and also has a handy resource copier. However, its map function is quite lacking. You cant zoom in or out and also, you cant do one-click placement of systems, or system to system links. It however is also quite stable, OS X-native and is free. Its installation is quite easy also but there have been reports that its system editor has some data loss issues in certain situations. It is available from the ASW EV Nova add-ons page under the Utilities category. Additionally, you can download it directly from David Arthurs site at (url="http://"http://davidarthur.evula.net/")http://davidarthur.evula.net/(/url).
Overall Grade for Mission Computer: A-

Next, we have the shareware editor, EVONE, a product of Arios Software. It is available at this site: (url="http://"http://www.ariossoftware.com/")http://www.ariossoftware.com/(/url). My experiences with this software have been poor. It refuses to open plug-ins half the time, and when I use my workaround to trick it into working and opening a plug-in, it then proceeds to crash midway through some work. However, that is my personal experience and Ive had many reports where people dont have that problem. Aside from the instability, the program does have a very nice systems editor which allows the map to be created easily and quickly. Aside from that, most of its editors are comparable to those of Mission Computer. Its primary disadvantage is that it costs $10 though and one may consider Mission Computer a better value.
Overall Grade for EVONE: B+

The final editor specialized for EVN development is ResEdit modified with the NovaTools templates set. It is your basic editor with most of the features needed to develop a plug-in. However, it only runs under Classic, where it is rather unstable, or under OS 9, which is rather inconvenient for most Mac users. Additionally, there is no graphical systems editor and if you dont install the TMPLs or parts of NovaTools, youll have some issues including having to edit the resources while they are still pure hexadecimal. Finally, unlike the other programs, installation of NovaTools requires a bit of work, which may be difficult for new users or those not very savvy with Macs. To add to the problems, there is an known bug involving junk resources. Overall, even with this set up, the editor is only sufficiently and both Mission Computer and EVONE are superior to it in features and in value. However, Resedit does have a superior spin and shan editor but those do not make up for its other deficiencies. I would recommend against the use of this program unless youre still using Mac OS 9 or the other two editors do not work well for you. If you do use ResEdit, be sure to save often and regularly as it has been known to be unstable.
Overall Grade for ResEdit with NovaTools: C-

There is another option for data entry and it is, by far, the best editor out there for large scale creation or editing of resources. This option is the ConText-Excel-REStore combination. Essentially, one uses ConText to export a spreadsheet with the data resources of the plug-in, and the proceed to use Excel, AppleWorks, or most editors capable of editing Tab-delimited text files to mass process the data or create new resources. After that is completed, one can proceed to process the data file in REStore and convert it back into plug-in form. The downside to this process is that it requires a separate spreadsheet editor to work, can allow mistakes to be easily made, and is fairly complex so I would only recommend it to those who are already comfortably working in the spreadsheet program of their choice. In other words, if youre new to plug-in development, you should use the more traditional methods.

The most important item in your repertoire should be your copy of the Nova Bible. It contains all the information necessary to make plug-in work in-game. It provides the listings of what sort of outfits there are, options for missions, descriptions of what certain fields do, and many other important items. If you havent read it through at least once, you shouldnt be developing plug-ins. I cannot emphasize this enough: READ THE NOVA BIBLE. It will only help you in the long run with your plug-in development skills. A copy of the Nova Bible is included with the normal install of Nova. Otherwise, use the annotated copy accompanying this guide.

Something else that is quite important is a word processor and MishMash. That combination will allow you to export all your descs from the data files into a word processor where you can easily edit it and run spelling and grammar check. After that is complete, converting it back into a plug-in is just as easy. One of the biggest issues with plug-ins is the lack of polish in regards to language and diction. This process will help you prevent that sort of problem in your plug-in. Many people can testify to its beneficial nature and it does not require much time, especially in comparison to the time spent on the plug-in.

EnRLE and DeRLE are very important tools in that they allow you to convert your sprites from PICT to RLE. While this may seem trivial, the fact is that RLE enables far better performance from Nova and improves loading times. As an additional benefit is that the RLE format is more stable than the traditional PICT format.
Aside from those development tools, there are a many other ones such as:

LaSEr: which creates sprites automatically with the LASIK method. Be warned about the stability of this given that there have been reports of it not working.
EVNCX: which allows one to calculate all the formulas required for development. This is not necessary with MC or EVONEs graphical editors but it can be useful to the beginning user.
EVN Mission Viewer: which enables one to play through a storyline for testing.
BlitZen: which allows one to modify the depth and compression of an image.
Duped: which checks a file for duplicate resources.
Nova Paint: which allows the calculation of hex values for colors. Quite useful but especially useful when youre creating paint outfits.

Finally, there are guides like Add Ships 2.0 and sprite conversion resources like m2s or p2s. All of these and the previous programs are available from the ASW EV Nova Add-ons page, mostly under the Utilities category. (url="http://"http://www.AmbrosiaSW.com/games/evn/addons.html")http://www.AmbrosiaS...evn/addons.html(/url)

An area of concern to many is the conversion of plug-ins to and from each platform on which Nova is available on. To convert from the Mac format to the PC one is relatively simple. The tutorial (not written by me) is available completely from this website: (url="http://"http://homepage.ntlworld.com/charles.tosh/convert/")http://homepage.ntlw...s.tosh/convert/(/url) . Simply follow the instructions and you are done. Unfortunately, there are no reliable converters to the PC format for the Macintosh platform. However, there is a PC to Mac converter that works and is stable. The tool I am talking about is MacPlugin Converter, again by David Arthur. It is currently available from the ASW EV Nova Add-ons page. Simply unstuff the file, open the application, and follow the on-screen instructions. At this time, there are no PC programs that can convert from PC to Mac especially because PC file systems do not keep resource forks.

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(url="http://"http://www.zhouj.net/days/")Days of Glory(/url), Upcoming TC for EV: Nova

(This message has been edited by zhouj (edited 03-21-2004).)

Dr. Trowel

Quote

Originally posted by Kuchiki:
**considering eveyone uses OSX im sure this is a stupid question, but how am i supposed to develop plugins for EVN on osx? Ive been working on plugs on OS9 but after getting OSX i have no idea, i havent been able to find a RESEDIT for 0SX, nor have i found a way to use NovaTools on any resource editing program i found online. Please some info on this issue?

**

Won't ResEdit run under Classic? If you are trying to be a an OS X "purist" and not install Classic, I'd recommend changing your ways -- not only will OS X's Classic mode let you keep using the plug-making tools you already know, it will also save you $$ by letting you run the other well-developed but aging OS 9 programs that are now available cheap -- Strata 3 is free, for instance, and other 3D programs can be had for a (relative) song if you don't need the latest version.

zhouj

Quote

Originally posted by Dr. Trowel:
**Won't ResEdit run under Classic? If you are trying to be a an OS X "purist" and not install Classic, I'd recommend changing your ways -- not only will OS X's Classic mode let you keep using the plug-making tools you already know, it will also save you $$ by letting you run the other well-developed but aging OS 9 programs that are now available cheap -- Strata 3 is free, for instance, and other 3D programs can be had for a (relative) song if you don't need the latest version.

**

ResEdit runs under Classic, but has been known to be rather unstable, more so than under OS 9. It wasn't designed to run stably after many years of new developments in OSes without an update.

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(url="http://"http://www.zhouj.net/days/")Days of Glory(/url), Upcoming TC for EV: Nova

Kuchiki

Hmm.. thanks. I didnt realise that it would be that limited so i didnt specifiy before, but which one would you suggest for mostly outfit making, ship editing without using new images (reuse game images and give new stats), NoMissions, and possibly a little system editing ( optional ). With a little info i can use some of the more complex stuff, or should i just stick with novatools on os9 for these sort of things?

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JuKe

Quote

Originally posted by Kuchiki:
should i just stick with novatools on os9 for these sort of things?

Running on classic or the OS9 computer may be a pain, but it works doesn't it?
I don't see a reason for not using it until somthing "grand" happens..

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Two Lefts Don't Make A Right, But Three Do
(url="http://"http://www.geocities.com/evethrall/index.htm")JuKe's Malevolence(/url)
Try (url="http://"http://froogle.google.com/")Froogle(/url)
"Forever in your debt." - Deaths-Witness

(This message has been edited by JuKe (edited 03-21-2004).)

mrxak

In the future, please try to name topics more appropriately so that people have a better idea about what they're looking at. It can only help you if more people know what you need and can respond quicker.

(This message has been edited by mrxak (edited 03-22-2004).)

Kuchiki

sorry about the topic name, btw thanks for the info

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orcaloverbri9

Well, for starters, your first sentence is wrong. Not everyone runs OS X. Few are purely OS X. Generally, only people who have problems running Classic will need to be.

There is no ResEdit for OS X, so stop looking.

There are two OS X tools: (url="http://"http://davidarthur.evula.net/mc.php")MissionComputer(/url) and (url="http://"http://www.ariossoftware.com/products/evone/")EVONE(/url).

EVONE costs $10; MC is free.

MC is far more developed than EVONE, as Jeff hasn't finished it yet.

MC does what you want from it. Go ahead and use it. Get EVONE if you want.

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This is possibly a stupid question but..