Is EVNEW the only PC Plug-In application out there? Or is it the only good one? Just wondering, cause it's apparently still in beta for a few years.

There's a few things I'm stuck on, and I tried looking them over through several tutorials and guides, but apparently they all seem to be based upon Macs, or I just wasn't really reading correctly. Can someone post the most recent guide for overall plug-in stuff (guides/etc) for PC.

Thanks, this has probably been asked a lot, but the search wasn't searching :blink:

This post has been edited by HELLARISES : 15 October 2006 - 07:41 PM

EVNEW is the ONLY known EVN plug-in editor. The only everything-guide is the nova bible, or whatever help files may come with EVNEW (if it even has them). I don't know, I'm a Mac user. If you have specific-ish questions, ask them here and we will be able to help.

Yes, EVNEW is the only Plug-in editor/maker for Windows. The only help guides you'll recieve thus far are the EVNEW readme and the Nova Bible.

And the latest version of EVNEW is 1.0.4 in case you're wondering.

Bomb's Plug-in Guide* (which has now been taken over by Zacha Pedro) is a good resource. Also use the "All the Important Links You'll Ever Need" topic pinned at the top of the Developer's Corner page.

*Be sure to change the filters to "Show All" or you won't see all of the topics.

This post has been edited by dr neverhood : 15 October 2006 - 08:32 PM

EVNEW is a really good program, but some things aren't quite mentioned properly in the read-me, but I'll try to figure them out first myself.

Though there is one quick question-

After I create all the nescessary .rez files, how should I set them up to be plug-in-usable? Like should I put them in certain folders, etc.

@jacabyte, on Oct 15 2006, 08:18 PM, said in Few EVN Plug-In PC Questions:

And the latest version of EVNEW is 1.0.4 in case you're wondering.

Eh, I went to EVNEW's site and apparently I got 1.0.3 as the latest, or was it released elsewhere?

This post has been edited by HELLARISES : 15 October 2006 - 08:35 PM

I don't know about where to get th latest version.

You can save plug-in files anywhere, but to get Nova to load them, you need to put them in your Nova Plug-ins folder inside your Nova folder.

@lnsu, on Oct 15 2006, 08:42 PM, said in Few EVN Plug-In PC Questions:

You can save plug-in files anywhere, but to get Nova to load them, you need to put them in your Nova Plug-ins folder inside your Nova folder.

Well I meant was like do I have to put all the .rez files together in one folder within Nova Plug-Ins folder or just leave them hanging in the Plug-Ins folder? Or is there sometype of compressor for the .rez files.

Why do you have multiple .rez files? If it's just one plugin you're working on then unless it is very large (greater than about 15MB) you should keep all the resources in one .rez file. But if you do have more than one then just put them all in the plugins folder - they will not work if they are in sub folders.

This post has been edited by Guy : 15 October 2006 - 09:16 PM

@guy, on Oct 15 2006, 09:15 PM, said in Few EVN Plug-In PC Questions:

Why do you have multiple .rez files? If it's just one plugin you're working on then unless it is very large (greater than about 15MB) you should keep all the resources in one .rez file. But if you do have more than one then just put them all in the plugins folder - they will not work if they are in sub folders.

Okay just figured that out too.

On the main screen you know how the tabs such as New Pilot/Load/etc pop-up? I can't find the .rez file that contains it.

Nova Graphics 3, pict IDs 8030-8065.

Ugh. In the beginning (on the menu) I replaced the NOVA that shakes a little in the beginning menu, with my plug-in's title, but it comes out like crap, so is there a way I can either completely remove it plug-in wise or make it transparent? My methods of transparency aren't working.

EDIT Well actually I figured out if I just place a new 8010 with no imported picture that removes it.

But still wondering on transperacy.

This post has been edited by HELLARISES : 16 October 2006 - 01:48 AM

Hey, I thought double posting had been avoided.

This post has been edited by Guy : 16 October 2006 - 05:39 AM

Ah, now there's a couple of important points about the main menu animation. Firstly, it doesn't use a mask so don't bother making an RLE, you can just use a single PICT. Secondly, it requires at least two frames - if there's less it will crash.
Now the way I suggest to "remove" it is to set the spin sprite ID to 8000 (the main menu background) the mask ID to -1 (since it doesn't use one), x and y size to 1, x tiles to 1 and y tiles to 2. Then position it at 0,0 in the colr resource. The result of this is the pixel in the top-left corner of the main menu will flicker between the pixel which would normally be there and the pixel just to the right of that. Provided both those pixels are the same colour there will be nothing visible.
If they are different colours the alternative method is to set the x and y size to 0 so that it doesn't display any pixels. If you do this though you will need to position it near the center of the screen else win Nova will crash in windowed mode.

Hope that all made sense

This post has been edited by Guy : 16 October 2006 - 05:40 AM

The latest version of EVNEW can be found here:

http://www.geocities.com/aprosenf/

(from the "All the important links you'll ever need" topic)

@dr-neverhood, on Oct 16 2006, 03:31 AM, said in Few EVN Plug-In PC Questions:

Bomb's Plug-in Guide* (which has now been taken over by Zacha Pedro) is a good resource. Also use the "All the Important Links You'll Ever Need" topic pinned at the top of the Developer's Corner page.

*Be sure to change the filters to "Show All" or you won't see all of the topics.

Ah, you're warming my heart :wub: ^_^ At least people know about it and advise it, even though it is currently on the back burner due to more pressing things.

By the way, material related to making plug-ins applies equally as well on Mac and PC (the exceptions are obvious, such as file format or plug-in compression instructions)

This post has been edited by Zacha Pedro : 16 October 2006 - 02:12 PM

@guy, on Oct 16 2006, 05:38 AM, said in Few EVN Plug-In PC Questions:

Ah, now there's a couple of important points about the main menu animation. Firstly, it doesn't use a mask so don't bother making an RLE, you can just use a single PICT. Secondly, it requires at least two frames - if there's less it will crash.
Now the way I suggest to "remove" it is to set the spin sprite ID to 8000 (the main menu background) the mask ID to -1 (since it doesn't use one), x and y size to 1, x tiles to 1 and y tiles to 2. Then position it at 0,0 in the colr resource. The result of this is the pixel in the top-left corner of the main menu will flicker between the pixel which would normally be there and the pixel just to the right of that. Provided both those pixels are the same colour there will be nothing visible.
If they are different colours the alternative method is to set the x and y size to 0 so that it doesn't display any pixels. If you do this though you will need to position it near the center of the screen else win Nova will crash in windowed mode.

Hope that all made sense

Is there a way to make the title backround transparent instead? So that only the Logo comes up without any backround.

Yes, don't include a pic for it (ID 8000).

Er, that's not what I meant.

You know how in the original EVN, Nova comes up? Well if you take a look at the picture for the Nova Logo, it actually comes with the top of the flames, and partial sides of the dashboard of the ship. What I'm asking is, is it possible to remove those extra stuff and keep the Logo, but make the sides around it transparent so you can see the real backround behind it.

Ah I see, no. Mask = transparency. No mask = no transparency. You'll have to modify each frame to show the background that you want.

Is this a Total Conversion or are you just adding stuff to the existing Nova scenario? If it's a TC then you probably don't want NOVA logos around the place.

This is a TC. I was just referring to the Nova logos, not actually using them.

Is there a recent/good guide on learning how to mask? I'm kind of clueless on this.