@starbridge21, on Apr 9 2007, 04:18 PM, said in Escape Velocity: Collision:

I don't even know what 'shan' or 'rleD' are. I just need the basics.

The RleD and Rle8 resources store sprites for weapons ships asteroids and the like. The RleD resource stores sprites using 65,536 colors. The Rle8 resource stores sprites using 256 colors for use in Macs that use the 256 color screen mode. You'd mine as well ignore the Rle8 resource as most computers running Nova now a days are capable of displaying 65,536 or more colors.

To make a RleD resource in EVNEW:

• Make a new RleD resource.

• Open the file menu in the upper left corner of the window that appears and click "Import".

• Browse around for the sprite you want to import.

• Fill in the X and Y frames fields with the number of frames your sprite has. Where X equals the number of frames going vertically and Y equals the number of frames going horizontally.

• Fill in width and height fields. The field are for the size of the individual frames, so divide the total width and height of the image by the amount of x and y frames you have respectively.

• Fill in the Number of Frames field. It's equal to X frames multiplied by Y frames.

• Hit OK and you should be done.

The Nova Bible explains the shan resource pretty well.

@zacha-pedro, on Apr 10 2007, 08:50 AM, said in Escape Velocity: Collision:

Allume's policy regarding its Stuffit product is most unfortunate, and Zacha Pedro shall soon smite them for making their users suffer and be confused. Basically, the trial applies to Stuffit Standard, which allows one to make archives, while the expander function (which only allows to expand archives) is free, but they decided to have only one distribution and only one app for Standard and Expander, which confuses everyone (in fact, Zacha Pedro wrote about that in a related guide: "Remember, for this you don’t need to pay anything, ignore the shareware nagging, as the expander function is free, but Aladdin decided to make only one distribution for Stuffit expander (free) and Stuffit standard (not free).").

Funny, I was just editing the page to explain that. Well I was actually editing it because the website has changed a bit since the guide was written and thought it best just to throw in the direct download link rather than instructions on how to navigate the site, but thought I'd explain that bit while I was at it. (And because who knows where Belthazar is these days)

Okay, I know for sure now that I don't need a tutorial for EVNew. What I need is "Plug-ins Made Easy," "So You Want to Make a Plug-in" and/or "EVNew for Dummies," because that's exactly what I am when it comes to plugs: a dummy. You think I know what a sprite or a resource is? Think again. I don't have a clue what I'm doing and I can admit it. I try to read your posts, but it's like you're speaking another language that I've never even heard of. :unsure: I'm desperate. What I really need is for people to just flat-out tell me these thing...like a tutor or something.

This post has been edited by Starbridge21 : 09 April 2007 - 09:38 PM

Alright, its probably best to learn by trial and error. Start by tinkering with COPIES of the data files, change some values and see how things work. Start by making something pretty simple. Say, open a copy of Data File 4 (which has all the weapons and outfits) and do something pretty simple, like making all the weapons shoot twice as far or make them turreted or something. Once you got the hang of things, then start trying to make things on your own. Also, EVNew has relevant excepts from the data files if you hover your mouse over a field for a moment, which is quite useful if you have no idea what the field/checkbox does.

I've learned almost entirely through trial and error, the rest of it was asking how to do something specific. I've never even looked at Zacha's guides, or any other for that matter. My early plugs are really simply, such as making all the weapon sprites spin, doubling shield and armor values of all the ships, stuff like that. Then they got more complicated, making variants of in-game ships, porting the Azdara from the EVO TC, etc. Now, after quite a bit of experience, I can do far more complicated tasks, such as all the weirdness in The Best Plug or make a whole total conversion aka Colosseum TC.

You're trying to start way too big for someone new to development. Even if you don't intend to release them, just make some plugs toying with various things in copies of the data files. Once you got a general idea of at least how some of the resources work, figuring out the others becomes much easier. (For example, when I started, a cron confused me to no end. A couple months ago when I needed to make some for degrading armor, I was able to just look at the ones in Nova and make my own within ten minutes that worked on the first shot. This is from one-half to two years of experience making plugs, however.)

Edit: Couple quick defintions.

Sprite: Pretty much any in-game graphic. The visual representation of your ship on the screen, for example, is a sprite. The things that come out in front whenever you hold down the spacebar are sprites (unless they're beams). The representation of the planet you land at is a sprite.

Resource: Basically, everything you can edit. You see all those words like "spob", "weap", "sys", "misn", etc. that you can select in EVNew? All in one column by themselves? Those are all of the various resource types you can edit. Each item in the category is its own resource, denoted by an I.D., the number next to it. If a "128" appears next the resource, then its I.D. is 128.

This post has been edited by JoshTigerheart : 09 April 2007 - 10:52 PM

@starbridge21, on Apr 10 2007, 04:33 AM, said in Escape Velocity: Collision:

Okay, I know for sure now that I don't need a tutorial for EVNew. What I need is "Plug-ins Made Easy," "So You Want to Make a Plug-in" and/or "EVNew for Dummies," because that's exactly what I am when it comes to plugs: a dummy. You think I know what a sprite or a resource is? Think again. I don't have a clue what I'm doing and I can admit it. I try to read your posts, but it's like you're speaking another language that I've never even heard of. :unsure: I'm desperate. What I really need is for people to just flat-out tell me these thing...like a tutor or something.

If you read my Introduction tutorial to NovaTools (go ahead, check it out, it's helpful even if you use EVNEW, if only for the concepts), you'll see I precisely explain these kind of things, starting from scratch. There is no fundamental difference between the editors, they all do the same thing conceptually, but some have with more features or are more user-friendly. The only reasons these introduction tutorials are editor-specific are to help you get acquainted with the editor (and some of its conventions) at the same time, and because at this point it's better for the reader to have specific instructions matched for the editor he is using.

Then, The Bible Explained to Dummies is probably what you are looking for.

(and yes, the absence of Belthy is most unfortunate, I would have liked more PC-ness ruling this place, on top of more XX chromosomes doing so)

@zacha-pedro, on Apr 10 2007, 11:09 AM, said in Escape Velocity: Collision:

on top of more XX chromosomes, I would have liked more PC-ness ruling this place

Attention ŕ la formulation, Pierre. They might think you wish you were called Pierrette

Enfin, Peter, je crois que tu es le seul ŕ avoir l'esprit aussi mal tourné pour comprendre la phrase ainsi! Comment pourrait-elle ętre ainsi mésinterprétée enfin quoique peut-ętre :unsure:

Well, yeah, perhaps make this clearer.

I learned something today, the French word "enfin" can mean either "lastly" or "finally" in the English language.

Thanks a bunch for all that! I'll definitely take your advice, JTH.

@joshtigerheart, on Apr 9 2007, 11:38 PM, said in Escape Velocity: Collision:

My early plugs are really simply, such as making all the weapon sprites spin, doubling shield and armor values of all the ships, stuff like that.

How does a laser spin...? :huh:

@joshtigerheart, on Apr 9 2007, 11:38 PM, said in Escape Velocity: Collision:

The things that come out in front whenever you hold down the spacebar are sprites (unless they're beams).

What's a beam then?

@joshtigerheart, on Apr 9 2007, 11:38 PM, said in Escape Velocity: Collision:

Each item in the category is its own resource, denoted by an I.D., the number next to it. If a "128" appears next the resource, then its I.D. is 128.

How do you know which I.D. number is assigned to which resource? For example, I made a weapon and gave it the I.D. number 128 and it just ended up being a light blaster; I changed it to 228 and it was a solar panel. What I.D. number do I give a new resource? :wacko:

@zacha-pedro, on Apr 10 2007, 05:09 AM, said in Escape Velocity: Collision:

(and yes, the absence of Belthy is most unfortunate,

Who's Belthy?

@zacha-pedro, on Apr 10 2007, 05:09 AM, said in Escape Velocity: Collision:

I would have liked more PC-ness ruling this place, on top of more XX chromosomes doing so)

Amen.

This post has been edited by Starbridge21 : 10 April 2007 - 02:37 PM

@starbridge21, on Apr 10 2007, 03:32 PM, said in Escape Velocity: Collision:

How do you know which I.D. number is assigned to which resource? For example, I made a weapon and gave it the I.D. number 128 and it just ended up being a light blaster; I changed it to 228 and it was a solar panel. What I.D. number do I give a new resource? :wacko:

One which isn’t already used by one of the resources in the original data files; if you use the same ID as an existing resource, your resource will overwrite the old item rather than adding a new one.

You also need to keep in mind the difference between weapons (wëap resources) and outfits (oütf resources), which you seem to be equating here. wëap resources contain the actual data that makes up a weapon. oütf resources are the actual items that you buy in the outfitter; some of them package a weapon or its ammunition by referring to a wëap resource, while others (like the solar panel) create an item on their own. Any weapon that can be used by the player will need both a wëap resource and an oütf resource (two oütf resources if it uses ammunition).

@starbridge21, on Apr 10 2007, 02:32 PM, said in Escape Velocity: Collision:

How does a laser spin...? :huh:

Well, in reality it wouldn't. In a plug, it does because I checked the "Spin Continuously" flag on all the weapons.

Quote

What's a beam then?

Not a sprite. I don't know the technical term, but EVN draws them on the screen.

Quote

How do you know which I.D. number is assigned to which resource? For example, I made a weapon and gave it the I.D. number 128 and it just ended up being a light blaster; I changed it to 228 and it was a solar panel. What I.D. number do I give a new resource? :wacko:

Lemme use a visual aid. Unfortunately, its not EVNew, I can't show you that. But it shouldn't be to dissimiliar on this screen.

Under the column type, these are all the different kinds of resources in Nova. As you can see in this file (Nova Data 4), it has outfits, picts, pers, weapons, which Mission Computer conviently bolds. Now, I have the section for weapons opened up, which now displays all of the weapon resources in this file. Below the column ID is the resource's, well, ID. These always start at 128 and go to rather high numbers. Next to it is the resource name, which isn't required by really dang convient, and fortunately Nova names almost all of its resources in the Data Files.

Now, the I.D. you give a new resource is usually whichever one is next open. In the stock scenario, that is 235. Weapons do not correspond to specific outfit IDs. The next available outfit is 444, in which that resource you'll want to point to the new weapon, 235. The outfit resource isn't actually required, but that means you can't buy it and if you do aqquire the weapon, it'll vanish if you visit the outfitters, so it makes sense to use it for anything you want the player to use.

If you're changing an existing resource, there is no need to make a new one to have the changed occur. Also, keep in mind Nova loads in a specific fashion. It first loads everything in the Data Files folder in alphabetical order, followed by the plug-ins folder in alphabetical order. Whatever is loaded last will take precedence. So a plug altering the Light Blaster (128) will always take precedence over Data File 4. Assuming the plug is called Light Blaster, a plug called Zeta Beam that replaces 128 with a new weapon will always take priority over the others that load before it, which means now you'll have Zeta Beams instead of modified Light Blasters.

Disclaimer: All plug names are used for examples and, to the best of my knowledge, do not exist. Any existance of plugs by said names is purely coincidental.

Its really much less confusing once you figure out that basics.

Quote

Who's Belthy?

Belthazar, guru of asteroid mining and probably the most knowledgable about all things related to Win EVN.

@jacabyte, on Apr 10 2007, 08:30 PM, said in Escape Velocity: Collision:

I learned something today, the French word "enfin" can mean either "lastly" or "finally" in the English language.

It can also mean "Now/Come on" as in "Now, Jaca, that is preposterous!"

@starbridge21, on Apr 10 2007, 09:32 PM, said in Escape Velocity: Collision:

How do you know which I.D. number is assigned to which resource? For example, I made a weapon and gave it the I.D. number 128 and it just ended up being a light blaster; I changed it to 228 and it was a solar panel. What I.D. number do I give a new resource? :wacko:

It does not end up being a light blaster or solar panel, what it is depends on the data you put in that resource. However, it did end up having the image of a light blaster or solar panel in the outfitter depending on the ID, because the outfitter picture is in fact another resource (of type PICT), whose ID depends on the oütf ID, so depending on the ID, the outfitting PICT of the outfit with the same ID in the main game (PICT which is in the main data files so is still there and is used) shows up for your new outfit (which by the way overrides the outfit for the main game with the same ID).

@zacha-pedro, on Apr 10 2007, 03:57 PM, said in Escape Velocity: Collision:

It does not end up being a light blaster or solar panel, what it is depends on the data you put in that resource. However, it did end up having the image of a light blaster or solar panel in the outfitter depending on the ID, because the outfitter picture is in fact another resource (of type PICT), whose ID depends on the oütf ID, so depending on the ID, the outfitting PICT of the outfit with the same ID in the main game (PICT which is in the main data files so is still there and is used) shows up for your new outfit (which by the way overrides the outfit for the main game with the same ID).

The desc of the outfit is also reliant on the ID of the outfit in question, no? So this is just a case of misdiagnoses.

This post has been edited by JacaByte : 10 April 2007 - 05:01 PM

Speaking of powers, I'm thinking that it might be worth moving this topic over to the Developer's Corner as well. More exposure to the people who know what's what with plugin development issues and utilities, that way.

iMove.

Thanks for everything, guys. I was looking through those copied data files you mentioned and I think I get the I.D. part. But, unfortunately, seeing all those features really confused me and I don't know how I'll ever figure out what they all do just through trial and error. Especially if I want to add my own planets and systems; I'll have to figure out the coordinate thing! Waaay over my head. :wacko: :wacko:

*Please, for the luvva Pete, do not try to explain the coordinate thing to me just yet! I assure you I'm not ready for it and it'll only confuse me more.

This post has been edited by Starbridge21 : 10 April 2007 - 06:45 PM

Okay okay, just take it easy and try to figure out one resource at a time. Take your time and don't rush it.

As for the syst/spob coordinate thingy, I still have trouble visualizing it. It's probably the most confusing thing any plug-in developer will face.

Sorry guys. Any more updates (from me) after this post will have to wait a few days; I'll be kind of busy in real life. No EV time for me 'til...I'm guessing Thursday or Friday. Maybe tomorrow though, if I'm lucky.

Most recent update: I've changed some things around with light blasters and shuttles/heavy shuttles as an experiment. I've yet to test these edits.

My horoscope today was 'Coordinate your desires with someone you consider to be a good colleague.' :blink: I almost never check my horoscope, and the one time I do, it seems to give me advice on how to make this plug-in? I don't usually care about horoscopes and fortunes and what-not, but if that's not some kind of sign, I don't know what is. I think I'm definitely going to need some help with this anyway. <_<

Any volunteers for a plug-in partner? (don't expect to be starting up any time soon, though )

This post has been edited by Starbridge21 : 10 April 2007 - 09:49 PM

@starbridge21, on Apr 10 2007, 08:45 PM, said in Escape Velocity: Collision:

Sorry guys. Any more updates (from me) after this post will have to wait a few days; I'll be kind of busy in real life. No EV time for me 'til...I'm guessing Thursday or Friday. Maybe tomorrow though, if I'm lucky.

No need to apologize, real life (And sleep. yawn) happens to everyone.

@starbridge21, on Apr 10 2007, 08:45 PM, said in Escape Velocity: Collision:

My horoscope today was 'Coordinate your desires with someone you consider to be a good colleague.' :blink: I almost never check my horoscope, and the one time I do, it seems to give me advice on how to make this plug-in? I don't usually care about horoscopes and fortunes and what-not, but if that's not some kind of sign, I don't know what is. I think I'm definitely going to need some help with this anyway. <_<

Personally, I believe that there's a bunch of chimpanzees randomly typing away to formulate something that's called a "horoscope". I don't believe they have any sort relevance in the universe at all.

@starbridge21, on Apr 10 2007, 08:45 PM, said in Escape Velocity: Collision:

Any volunteers for a plug-in partner? (don't expect to be starting up any time soon, though )

What's wrong with the EVDC?

@jacabyte, on Apr 10 2007, 08:06 PM, said in Escape Velocity: Collision:

Personally, I believe that there's a bunch of chimpanzees randomly typing away to formulate something that's called a "horoscope". I don't believe they have any sort relevance in the universe at all.

Win. I am adding this to my sig.

EDIT: It appears I don't have the space. Never mind.

This post has been edited by Warlord Mike : 10 April 2007 - 10:32 PM