I'd like to announce MissionComputer 3.3.1 , the latest version of my scenario editor for the three Escape Velocity games, which now supports spďn and vers resources, features a new system for warning you about improper resource IDs, re-arranges a number of editors for easier accessibility, and includes a number of enhancements and bug fixes for existing features.

MissionComputer features editors for a wide range of resources for the Escape Velocity games, including bööm, chär, cölr, crön, dësc, dëqt, DITL, DLOG, düde, flët, gövt, ďntf, jünk, mďsn, nëbu, öops, oütf, përs, PICT, ränk, röid, snd, spďn, spďt, spöb, STR, STR#, s˙st, vers, and yëäŽ. Resource Selector buttons make it easy to link resources without referring to ID tables, and editors offers excerpts from the official developer documentation within their interfaces. Also integrated into the MissionComputer application are an encoder for rlëD/rlë8 sprites, a graphical tool for generating target graphics in the style used by EV Nova , a Resource Copier utility for moving resources between files in bulk, and a convertor that can move EV Nova plug-ins between the Npďf and .rez plug-in formats.

Beyond those for which it offers graphical editors, MissionComputer can, thanks to its RDL template scripting system, provide ResEdit-style editors for every resource used in the Escape Velocity games along with added MissionComputer-style features such as popup menus, automatic flag calculation, and Resource Selector buttons. It supports the Macintosh resource fork-based formats used by all three games, and the .rez format used by the Windows version of EV Nova.

I first released MissionComputer in December of 2001 after several months of development and testing. Originally a simple mission editor for EV Override , it has grown to become a wide-ranging editor covering most aspects of all three Escape Velocity games.

MissionComputer 3.3.1 is available in two separate editions: a Mac OS X version, and a Classic version for Mac OS 9 and earlier (on both PowerPC- and 68K-based computers). The new version is immediately available as a free download from my web site at davidarthur.evula.net. Also now available from the same site is version 2.0 of my Mac Plug-in Convertor , which now converts between the Macintosh and .rez plug-in formats in both directions.

(Those of you keeping track may have noticed that MissionComputer seems to have gone directly from 3.2.0 to 3.3.1; I did in fact release 3.3.0 near the end of October, but with the add-ons page temporarily going without updates, it hasn't yet appeared, and I chose to delay re-releasing since 3.3.1 was close to completion.)

Nice, I do like the new layouts
Just a little feature request: Finding a particular resource in a list of hundreds can sometimes be difficult. In ResEdit you can just start typing the name of the resource and it will jump to the first one starting with those letters. This would be a very nice and easy solution.

And, um, what is the point of the "Image Type" radio buttons in the spin editor? :huh:

As far as feature requests go, I would have one suggestion.
Being able to graphically copying systems would be a major plus, as in all of the EV games, systems are seldom created in one place. So if you need to copy certain specific systems en-masse, you have to write down all of their names, and go through the resource editor and select each and every one and copy them over. The idea here is that you could select multiple systems, using the mouse (one other qualm-it seems that you can't modify multiple system's general characteristics; dragging doesn't do anything), and copy them into another plugin. Useful for universe crossovers (Voinians meet the Escape Velocity universe, for instance) and total conversion creators.

-Bob

David, are you still using RB 3.5? The last version of RB I upgraded to before I ditched it for good was 3.2 and changes made in Tiger have broken the graphics code in carbon apps that make use of the canvas component. Apps that run fine in Panther, now have weird vertical lines across all of the windows which contain drawing code.

This is just a warning - I would upgrade to a later version if I were you. Being PEF-based, RB-made executables are particularly fragile to changes in OSX.

Guy, on Dec 4 2005, 04:21 PM, said:

And, um, what is the point of the "Image Type" radio buttons in the spin editor? :huh:
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They tell MissionComputer which type of resource to search for when you click the ... buttons.