...and version 4.0 in development

I have now posted the final release of MissionComputer 3.3.3. This version includes a number of minor new features and fixes, many of them suggested by members of the Escape Velocity community during the recent public beta, but its most significant new features are first, that it allows users to pick between two methods of loading and saving files (one of which is significantly faster than version 3.3.2), and second, a revised Open Special menu, to which you can add your own custom items, and which tells you which resource types are present in each of the EV Nova data files.

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 3.3.3 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 linked from my web site at davidarthur.evula.net.

Is the bug that sometimes prevents you from directly using copy and paste on individual resources fixed? Its a pain when it decides it won't let me copy like that and I have to close both plugs and open the resource copier for a single resource. <_<

@joshtigerheart, on Feb 25 2007, 04:06 PM, said in [ANN] MissionComputer 3.3.3 Now Released:

Is the bug that sometimes prevents you from directly using copy and paste on individual resources fixed? Its a pain when it decides it won't let me copy like that and I have to close both plugs and open the resource copier for a single resource. <_<

I’ve never had any trouble with copy and paste — is this in Mac OS X or Mac OS <=9? It probably doesn’t matter much, since I’ve completely replaced the copy/paste system for MissionComputer 4, but it would be nice to track it down.

Check the dmg file for the 333 for OSX, I just had a problem, it says it failed to mount up and cannot recognize it.

(EDIT)
Okay, I downloaded it again, and it seems to be working now.

This post has been edited by Coraxus : 26 February 2007 - 02:17 PM

Very nice.

So just making sure I understand, as I can be a bit slow: can I create a windows plug-in on my Mac? Save it, edit it, and all? I guess that's what those confusing creator codes meant in the dialog of the Beta version. I never thought to ask...

This post has been edited by Bubbles : 27 February 2007 - 01:10 AM

Yes, and you have been able to for a while now, although it was previously only in the File menu and not on the intro screen.

@david-arthur, on Feb 25 2007, 08:14 PM, said in [ANN] MissionComputer 3.3.3 Now Released:

I’ve never had any trouble with copy and paste — is this in Mac OS X or Mac OS <=9? It probably doesn’t matter much, since I’ve completely replaced the copy/paste system for MissionComputer 4, but it would be nice to track it down.

The last version of MC on OS X. So far, I haven't had any problems with it on the current version. Then again, I haven't really used it much yet either, but so far copy/paste has worked fine.

Just an idea I had (for MC 4). Not sure how feasible it would be but anyway...
First, have the resource name and ID editable directly from within the resource list, in the same way that (eg.) iTunes allows you to edit fields from within the list just by clicking on the field you want to edit. Next, allow a column setup preference where can choose to not only display name and ID but any other field for that resource type. Now we have easy viewing, sorting and even editing of all resources in a similar manner to a spreadsheet :). This would also allow you to see and edit the raw data for those fields which MC otherwise hides with nice GUIs but can be useful sometimes.

This post has been edited by Guy : 28 February 2007 - 05:11 PM

Yeah, that would be cool. Something similar to iTunes' Get Info window would be useful too, i.e. you can open multiple items at a time and batch change certain fields for those items.

Bubbles said in [ANN] MissionComputer 3.3.3 Now Released:

So just making sure I understand, as I can be a bit slow: can I create a windows plug-in on my Mac? Save it, edit it, and all? I guess that's what those confusing creator codes meant in the dialog of the Beta version. I never thought to ask...

The use of Npďf and .rez rather than Mac and Windows in earlier versions of MissionComputer comes from the time when I was trying to get them to support .rez plug-ins on Macintosh, so that everyone could use the same format; since that doesn’t seem likely now, I’ve started referring to the formats by who uses them rather than by what they are.

@guy, on Feb 28 2007, 05:08 PM, said:

First, have the resource name and ID editable directly from within the resource list, in the same way that (eg.) iTunes allows you to edit fields from within the list just by clicking on the field you want to edit. Next, allow a column setup preference where can choose to not only display name and ID but any other field for that resource type. Now we have easy viewing, sorting and even editing of all resources in a similar manner to a spreadsheet :). This would also allow you to see and edit the raw data for those fields which MC otherwise hides with nice GUIs but can be useful sometimes.

I’ll take a look at the first idea, but the second would be impractical; it would require that the parsing of the resources be done at the resource-browser stage rather than by the editor, which would be impossibly complicated (not to mention slow) unless I first converted the entire file to some sort of spreadsheet- or XML-based format.

But did I mention that MissionComputer 4 can open more than one resource at a time?

Attached File(s)

• multires.jpg (96.85K)
  Number of downloads: 34

This post has been edited by David Arthur : 02 March 2007 - 02:16 PM

@david-arthur, on Mar 3 2007, 06:09 AM, said in [ANN] MissionComputer 3.3.3 Now Released:

I’ll take a look at the first idea, but the second would be impractical; it would require that the parsing of the resources be done at the resource-browser stage rather than by the editor, which would be impossibly complicated (not to mention slow) unless I first converted the entire file to some sort of spreadsheet- or XML-based format.

Really? I didn't think it would be much different from template (RDL) editing except that you're loading all the resources at once.

@david-arthur, on Mar 3 2007, 06:09 AM, said in [ANN] MissionComputer 3.3.3 Now Released:

But did I mention that MissionComputer 4 can open more than one resource at a time?

Fancy :). What does G2 mean?

Cool, a lot like the EVNEW setup. I like.

@guy, on Mar 2 2007, 03:16 PM, said in [ANN] MissionComputer 3.3.3 Now Released:

Really? I didn't think it would be much different from template (RDL) editing except that you're loading all the resources at once.

I suppose that’s one way of approaching it — it would have to work differently than the resource browser in significant ways, and I would probably use XML rather than RDL, but it might be worth exploring somewhere 4.1ish or beyond.

@guy, on Mar 2 2007, 03:16 PM, said in [ANN] MissionComputer 3.3.3 Now Released:

What does G2 mean?

Ever since MissionComputer was first able to edit multiple games, I’ve tracked the game being edited internally by passing the ‘GameType’ variable around to every piece of code; GameType 0 is Escape Velocity , 1 is EV Override , and 2 is EV Nova. At one point I was having trouble with editors mistaking the game they were meant to be editing, so debug builds display the GameType in the editor's title bar; if it’s different than it should be, I know something’s wrong.

@jacabyte, on Mar 2 2007, 04:03 PM, said in [ANN] MissionComputer 3.3.3 Now Released:

Cool, a lot like the EVNEW setup. I like.

I haven’t used EVNEW, but this seemed the logical way to work — it’s influenced primarily by ResEdit, with a touch of Schmelta-V (the Escape Velocity editor which originally inspired MissionComputer). I also experimented with having the editors pop up as tabs within the resource browser window, but while that was nice and tidy, it was also harder to make stable, and I’m not sure it would have been ideal from an interface-design point of view anyway.

@jacabyte, on Mar 2 2007, 04:03 PM, said in [ANN] MissionComputer 3.3.3 Now Released:

Cool, a lot like the EVNEW setup. I like.

For the record, MC had that style long before EVNEW. I remember it being described as "MissionComputer style" when Aprosenf made the announcement.

Ahhh, I see.

What would be nice for MC4 would be some sort of mass-id-change option. Say you've been making a lot of systems (going from 128 to 228, hyperlinks and all) and then decide, for some reason, that you want to skip about 200 systems(id 429). You go on to about id 528, and then decide, for another inane reason, that you want to change 429 to 229, 430 to 230, and so on till you get to 528 again, (now 328). It would be nice if you didn't have to go thru 100 systems at once, change the id, and go on to the next one, (not to mention going thru the first 100 systems and changing corresponding hyperlinks).
What I have in mind is a sort of Move Up/Down for systems (that would also compensate for the hyperlinks).

What would also be nice would be to be able to select multiple systems (drag'n'drop style) in the galaxy editor, and some sort of Flip x/y values button, but I think these lines have already been thought along.

If any of this is feasible for MC4, it would be nice to know. If any of this is not feasible, it would be nice to know anyway, because then I'm not foolishly depending on it to come along.

I hope no one is confused by this.

@orcaloverbri9, on Mar 3 2007, 03:23 AM, said in [ANN] MissionComputer 3.3.3 Now Released:

For the record, MC had that style long before EVNEW. I remember it being described as "MissionComputer style" when Aprosenf made the announcement.

When there’s a logical way of handling a problem, it’s hard to say anyone owns it — after all, ResEdit was really just imitating the Finder, which got it from the Lisa Desktop System.

That’s right, MissionComputer and EVNEW are both using Lisa style!

@scratskinner, on Mar 3 2007, 12:48 PM, said in [ANN] MissionComputer 3.3.3 Now Released:

What would be nice for MC4 would be some sort of mass-id-change option. Say you've been making a lot of systems (going from 128 to 228, hyperlinks and all) and then decide, for some reason, that you want to skip about 200 systems(id 429). You go on to about id 528, and then decide, for another inane reason, that you want to change 429 to 229, 430 to 230, and so on till you get to 528 again, (now 328). It would be nice if you didn't have to go thru 100 systems at once, change the id, and go on to the next one, (not to mention going thru the first 100 systems and changing corresponding hyperlinks).
What I have in mind is a sort of Move Up/Down for systems (that would also compensate for the hyperlinks).

This doesn’t really sound practical — apart from the question of how you would tell MissionComputer what you wanted it to do, a resource’s ID is one of its most fundamental concepts, and can’t be changed lightly.

It sounds like what you really want is the ability to script MissionComputer which, while it’s not absolutely impossible, is well beyond the scope of MissionComputer 4.

@scratskinner, on Mar 3 2007, 12:48 PM, said in [ANN] MissionComputer 3.3.3 Now Released:

What would also be nice would be to be able to select multiple systems (drag'n'drop style) in the galaxy editor...

Once you had selected multiple systems, what would you do with them?

@scratskinner, on Mar 3 2007, 12:48 PM, said in [ANN] MissionComputer 3.3.3 Now Released:

...and some sort of Flip x/y values button...

Flip X/Y values? Can you elaborate on what you mean?

So that a Y value of -50 would move the system down 50 pixels, instead of up 50 pixels like it would normally. At least that's how I understand it. (Flip X/Y values)

@david-arthur, on Mar 3 2007, 02:11 PM, said in [ANN] MissionComputer 3.3.3 Now Released:

Once you had selected multiple systems, what would you do with them?

Maybe rotate them, drag them somewhere else, flip x/y values. That sort of thing.

@david-arthur, on Mar 3 2007, 02:11 PM, said in [ANN] MissionComputer 3.3.3 Now Released:

Flip X/Y values? Can you elaborate on what you mean?

Say the y of system id 128 equals -500. Flipping would mean getting rid of that minus sign, thus changing it from 500 up to 500 down and vice versa (putting the minus sign in) would be from 500 down to 500 up. (I don't get why negative values would be upwards). Same sort of thing with x. I hope flip is the right kind of word.

When I read "flip x/y values", I thought you were talking about maxing the X be the Y and vice versa. This would allow you to rotate your galaxy 90°, turning, say, a flat galaxy into a tall one. Don't know why you'd want to do this, mind.