Resources Nova absolutely needs to load properly

Artanis

I'm trying to build a series of files that contain just the resources Nova neads in order to load and play properly.
Some of them are pretty obvious:
At least one syst
At least one ship
At least one char
a colr
at least one intf
These are required for play (fly around in an empty system)

But the less obvious are the various picts and spins and cicns that Nova wants for the loading and menu screens and menu and game buttons.

I have searched multiple times for this and checked the Add-on files for a files with a similar intent, but nothing looked like it would do this.

Thank you in advance

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orcaloverbri9

Quote

Originally posted by Artanis:
**I'm trying to build a series of files that contain just the resources Nova neads in order to load and play properly.
Some of them are pretty obvious:
At least one syst
At least one ship
At least one char
a colr
at least one intf
These are required for play (fly around in an empty system)

But the less obvious are the various picts and spins and cicns that Nova wants for the loading and menu screens and menu and game buttons.

I have searched multiple times for this and checked the Add-on files for a files with a similar intent, but nothing looked like it would do this.

Thank you in advance**

What are you asking? If you're asking what it uses, it works as follows:
- PICT 8100 stores the very first image seen when the game is started (ATMOS/Ambrosia in the default scenario)
- PICT 131 stores the startup screen image(the one the progress bar is placed on top of)
- PICT 8000 stores the background of the main menu
- Typically, PICT 8010 stores the sprites for the logo
- spïn 606 stores the sprite info (no mask) for the logo
- PICTs 8020 and 8021 typically store the sprites and masks for the rollovers on the main menu
- spïn 607 stores the sprite info (mask required) for the rollovers
- Typically, PICTs 8030-8032 store the sprites for the menu button animations (what happens before you can click on them)
- spïns 608-610 store the sprite info (no mask) for the menu button animations pre clicking
- Typically, PICTs 8050-8055 store the sprites for the menu buttons ( NOTE: These are two frames. The first frame is the button unclicked, the second the button when clicked) and 8060-8065 typically store the corresponding masks
- spïns 600-605 store the sprite info for the menu buttons (mask required); remember to set it to two frames!
- PICTs 7500-7502 store the in-game buttons unclicked, the first the left, the second the middle (middle is duplicated a good deal of times and should be two pixels wide ), the third the right; 7503-7505 the buttons clicked; 7506-7508 the buttons disabled; 7600-7608 the corresponding masks

No cicns are implemented in these. Hope this helps!

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The programmer's code of entomology: there's always another bug.
Windows users: stop asking for plugins. (url="http://"http://www.aznt.com/EVN/EVNEW/")Make one yourself.(/url)
(url="http://"http://www.cwssoftware.com")Sephil Saga Website(/url)

Azratax2

Um, you need Cicns.
EDIT: Now to make it useful:
CICNs 10000 to 10023 are the little target braces (that appear around a planet you target).
15000 and 15001 for active mission and mission preview arrows on the map.
18000 and 18001 for red-alert icons
20000 for 2x mode icon

You may also need a spob.
-Az

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It is here. EVNEW Public Beta (url="http://"http://www.aznt.com/EVN/EVNEW")www.aznt.com/EVN/EVNEW(/url)

(This message has been edited by Azratax2 (edited 12-26-2003).)

orcaloverbri9

Quote

Originally posted by Azratax2:
**Um, you need Cicns.
EDIT: Now to make it useful:
CICNs 10000 to 10023 are the little target braces (that appear around a planet you target).
15000 and 15001 for active mission and mission preview arrows on the map.
18000 and 18001 for red-alert icons
20000 for 2x mode icon

You may also need a spob.
-Az**

Oh, right. Oops. Forgot about those. Do you need the mission braces? If you don't have a mission, what use are they? Or does Nova bitch about it anyway?

You don't need a spöb, I know that much. You can fly around aimlessly if you wish.

------------------
The programmer's code of entomology: there's always another bug.
Windows users: stop asking for plugins. (url="http://"http://www.aznt.com/EVN/EVNEW/")Make one yourself.(/url)
(url="http://"http://www.cwssoftware.com")Sephil Saga Website(/url)

Masamune

You sure you don't need a spob? I haven't tested it, but I will bet $5 that Nova will bitch about not having a planet for your new character to begin around. It doesn't have any alternate text for beginning a new pilot if you don't start next to a planet. Of course, this is linked to your Char resource, so maybe it's simply built in? Hmm.

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~Charlie
Sephil Saga Homepage: (url="http://"http://www.cwssoftware.com")www.cwssoftware.com(/url)

orcaloverbri9

Quote

Originally posted by Masamune:
You sure you don't need a spob? I haven't tested it, but I will bet $5 that Nova will bitch about not having a planet for your new character to begin around. It doesn't have any alternate text for beginning a new pilot if you don't start next to a planet. Of course, this is linked to your Char resource, so maybe it's simply built in? Hmm.

No, if you think about it, you could set the start system to be uninhabited. Unless it bitches about that. I'll check.
</heavy use of the word "bitch">

Just tried the starting system being uninhabited. It didn't complain. You don't need a spob.

------------------
The programmer's code of entomology: there's always another bug.
Windows users: stop asking for plugins. (url="http://"http://www.aznt.com/EVN/EVNEW/")Make one yourself.(/url)
(url="http://"http://www.cwssoftware.com")Sephil Saga Website(/url)

(This message has been edited by orcaloverbri9 (edited 12-26-2003).)

Artanis

Sorry 'bout diggin this up, and sorry for not responding at all before now.

Shortly after I started trying to make Nova run with the smallest number of resources possible, I discovered that EVNew had a bug with cicns. Just today I discovered that while I downloaded the new version, I failed to update the copy I was referencing with my shortcut. Oops.

So, I've got the resources you have so kindly listed collated into one file aptly named (url="http://"http://www.ambrosiasw.com/cgi-bin/vftp/show.pl?product=evn&category;=utilities&display;=date&file;=AbsoluteMinimum.zip")Absolute Minimum(/url) and had Nova load on it.
Debuglog gave me a few missed resources and after adding them, I tried again. All Nova did is crash on the load bar. Debuglog says nothing as to the reason.

196 resources. Nova wanted roids, and I added a bunch of str# resources for good measure.
No change.

I've posted the file I'm using above (I don't feel like listing 193 resources.)

Quote

Nova Debug Log
**Output on 1/20/2004 at 9:55 PM

game engine was compiled Jul 10 2003
game engine version is 1.0.6

opening data files & loading prefs
initializing monitor
initializing QuickTime
building trig table
opening platform tool
opening file tool
opening draw tool
opening interface tool
opening registration tool
initializing arrays
opening data files
opening files in 9:Nova Files folder:
Absolute Minimum.rez
loading sounds
creating window
main window rect: (0, 0, 1024, 768)
initializing sprite world
creating scratch frames
creating offscreen buffers
starting music
initializing strings
initializing status bar
initializing objects
initializing buttons
loading object data
loading mission data
propagating mission bit effects
showing splash screen
loading sprites
checking memory
loading ship sprites
configuring sprites
**

This time I will make a better effort to respond to your posts.

(edit: UBB woes)
(edit: filename change: .zip extension)
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(This message has been edited by Artanis (edited 01-21-2004).)

(This message has been edited by Artanis (edited 07-30-2004).)

Azratax2

Okay...
I just did some testing.

1. You need the sprite for earth
2. No way is it gonna do anything if you dont leave nova.rez in the nova files folder (that contains all the stuff from the Nova application resource fork from the mac version, which couldnt be stuck in the app itself on a PC because of the whole lack of resource fork thing)
3. You dont need roids.
4. You need spin 400 and graphics (explosion 0)
5. You need spin 3000 and graphics (shot 0)
6. You dont need planet landing picts or ship picts or descs.
7. You dont need a sidebar pict, just an intf
8. You need spin 800 and graphics (roid 128) but thats all (and you dont need the roid)
9. You need spin 500-504 (boxes and micro-roids), and you do need spin 700 (stars).
10. You need shan and graphics for the escape pod.
11. You dont need the Nova splash screen or ATMOS/Ambrosia logo (though in a final TC, you really should include the Ambrosia logo, for dev theres no reason you need to)

In this way i have cut it down to 136 resources and 4.5mb
You could chop off another 8 by making all the microroids refer to the box RLE*s (leaving you with 128 resources total - a fitting number)
You are missing the landing screen graphics, but you dont need them (its just black without them.)
With some more testing and slicing, you could chop out some more, i'm sure.

No reason why you cant replace some of the eye-candy on the main screen (background, animated logo, etc) with 1x1 black picts. That should cut down on the size of AbsoluteMinimum. Small mainscreen buttons would also reduce the size. Course, you may not mind the filesize much, and only care about resourse count.
-Az
EDIT: Kill the running lights on the shuttle, that takes off two more resources.
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It is here. EVNEW Public Beta (url="http://"http://www.aznt.com/EVN/EVNEW")www.aznt.com/EVN/EVNEW(/url)
Stuffit is a piece of .sit.

(This message has been edited by Azratax2 (edited 01-21-2004).)

Artanis

Thanks. I'll try that.

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mrxak

Quote

Originally posted by Artanis:
**Sorry 'bout diggin this up, and sorry for not responding at all before now.
**

Not a problem. I'm looking forward to the completed version.

Artanis

It still isn't working.

Nova.rez has been in the EV Nova Folder since install, so I copied it into Nova Files just in case. There are very few resources that I'm actually changing. The way I'm planning on having this used demands that placeholders exist. Some of the larger images I'm going to put back in before the whole thing gets compressed.

(url="http://"http://www.ambrosiasw.com/cgi-bin/vftp/show.pl?product=evn&category;=utilities&display;=date&file;=AbsoluteMinimum.zip")Here(/url) it is again. 128 resources, 4.67 mb.

Note: While I'm using the shuttle as the ship, I removed the blaster.

(edit: filename change)

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(url="http://"http://www.evula.org/artanis")www.evula.org/artanis(/url) | (url="http://"http://www.evula.org/artanis/EVNOdds.html")My EVN Capture Odds Calculator(/url) (flash 7 required) | (url="http://"http://www.ferryhalim.com/orisinal")Orisinal(/url) | (url="http://"http://happytreefriends.com")Happy Tree Friends(/url) | (url="http://"http://www.deviantart.com")Deviant Art(/url) | (url="http://"http://www.evula.org/artanis/Captaintripps10000.jpg")Oops.(/url)

(This message has been edited by Artanis (edited 01-21-2004).)

(This message has been edited by Artanis (edited 07-30-2004).)

SpacePirate

(url="http://"http://www.evula.org/infernostudios/downloads/EV_Basics.zip")Here(/url) is a more updated copy of my old EV Basics file from my SpacePort versions of EV and EVO. It's relatively small, at a mere 2.7 MB zipped binary file (5.6 MB decompressed, macintosh format). Quite minimalist, though if I would have decompiled and recompiled two-color RLEs, the filesize may have gotten down to about 2.3... Rough estimate.

This will load everything needed to enter the game, fly around, blow stuff up, land, etc. It has a dude for the system, blah, blah... I still use this while testing out new concepts, quite useful. I probably should have released it sooner, come to think of it...

Regardless, do with it what you will. Aside from the graphics, our two plugins should theoretically do the same thing, though I designed mine with the intent of making it quick and easy to develop a TC or test a concept.

~ SpacePirate

(edit: Whoa. Almost at the same time. Freaky. :p)

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Eat blazing electric death!

(This message has been edited by SpacePirate (edited 01-21-2004).)

Azratax2

Quote

Originally posted by Artanis:
**It still isn't working.

Nova.rez has been in the EV Nova Folder since install, so I copied it into Nova Files just in case. There are very few resources that I'm actually changing. The way I'm planning on having this used demands that placeholders exist. Some of the larger images I'm going to put back in before the whole thing gets compressed.

Here it is again. 128 resources, 4.67 mb.

Note: While I'm using the shuttle as the ship, I removed the blaster.

**

You forgot the spin for earth.
Also
You dont need the boom - just spin 400 and graphics.
You dont need the trader quotes or the system bouys either.
I didnt examine the other str#'s
-Az

------------------
It is here. EVNEW Public Beta (url="http://"http://www.aznt.com/EVN/EVNEW")www.aznt.com/EVN/EVNEW(/url)
Stuffit is a piece of .sit.

(This message has been edited by Azratax2 (edited 01-21-2004).)

Artanis

Quote

Originally posted by Azratax2:
You forgot the spin for earth.
(/B)

Kicks self
Should have seen that...

Really disorienting without any support images. Only things that show are buttons and the stuff Nova draws.

I'll probably have this in a presentable form soon.

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Artanis

(url="http://"http://www.ambrosiasw.com/cgi-bin/vftp/show.pl?product=evn&category;=utilities&display;=date&file;=AbsoluteMinimum.zip")AbsoluteMinimum.zip(/url) 3.86 MB, 190 resources.
Thanks for all your help!

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(url="http://"http://www.evula.org/artanis")www.evula.org/artanis(/url) | (url="http://"http://www.evula.org/artanis/EVNOdds.html")My EVN Capture Odds Calculator(/url) (flash 7 required) | (url="http://"http://www.ferryhalim.com/orisinal")Orisinal(/url) | (url="http://"http://happytreefriends.com")Happy Tree Friends(/url) | (url="http://"http://www.deviantart.com")Deviant Art(/url) | (url="http://"http://www.evula.org/artanis/Captaintripps10000.jpg")Oops.(/url)

(This message has been edited by Artanis (edited 07-30-2004).)

SpacePirate

Hrm. The last post entry has a link to that file. I forgot you posted more links before then. And I posted mine, but that too has since been removed.

~ SP

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Fear the SpacePirate,
He made a (url="http://"http://www.evula.org/infernostudios/search.html")plug-in search page(/url)...
And he'll board your ship! -mrxak
*** (url="http://"http://www.evula.org/infernostudios/")InfernoStudios(/url) was last updated 06 June, 2004. ***

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Resources Nova absolutely needs to load properly