Now with sound import/export

So David very kindly supplied me with the source for MissionComputer which allowed me to build it with a (slightly) newer version of RealBasic. The main point of this is to avoid malware warnings triggered by the previous version of RealBasic, however I believe David has fixed some bugs since v4.2.1 as well (not sure what exactly).
Updating build tools comes with all sorts of potential problems though and while I have fixed every issue I encountered there may still be some bugs in this build, so please test it out thoroughly and let me know of any problems you encounter.
It's possible I may be making other changes in future, such as adding sound importing. Stay tuned.

MissionComputer 4.3.0

Update: Sound import/export now implemented in v4.3.0.

This post has been edited by Guy : 24 July 2017 - 08:10 PM

Is this just for Mac, or is there a possible Windows build?

@guy, on 18 June 2017 - 07:58 PM, said in New MissionComputer build:

. . . however I believe David has fixed some bugs since v4.2.1 as well (not sure what exactly).

According to my notes:

• The Open Special window has been redesigned for improved legibility, and supports the scroll wheel.

• The document window now uses larger type.

• MissionComputer now gives a better error message if you attempt to open a folder or package.

• The obsolete Check for Updates command has been removed.

@pkrug539, on 18 June 2017 - 11:14 PM, said in New MissionComputer build:

Is this just for Mac, or is there a possible Windows build?

Duessa 4.2.2 (Not sure why it's called Duessa. David?)
I haven't tested this so have no idea how/if it functions or differs from previous windows build.

@guy, on 20 June 2017 - 12:03 AM, said in New MissionComputer build:

Duessa 4.2.2 (Not sure why it's called Duessa. David?)

It’s a reference to The Faerie Queene.

Awesome! I'll try to play around with it once I'm done with the bar exam in late July.

Nice to see you still at it!

I'm slowly working on this TC idea. No idea when/if it'll be done. But I'm going to try out this build of Mission Computer.

Sound-importing would def be appreciated! It's been ages since I was using MakeSnd and one of my projects atm is to get that going again.

Well, looks promising so far. No problems yet on my old Mac Mini running Snow Leopard. I wonder if Guy's sound converter app will one day be incorporated in MC, preferably a two-way conversion if possible as it might be ideal and such. Also, what are the chances that existing RLE's can one day be edited directly instead of having to resort to a roundabout way?

Addendum

I noticed the new version lacks any help document so I thought I'd drag a copy of the help files from the previous version into the new one and lo and behold! It actually works.

This post has been edited by Coraxus : 07 July 2017 - 05:10 AM

(Very minor) bug report for you! On OS X 10.7.5, when I go to create an RLED, if I import the mask before the sprite, Mission Computer crashes. Easily worked around by always importing sprites before importing masks.

Thanks for the responses guys. I still hope to add the sound import/export, just a matter of getting around to doing it. Working with someone else's code always takes time to figure out how it works before you can start making changes of your own.

Yeah, I missed out the documentation sorry. I'll try to remember to add that in the next build

@Mag, did that crash occur in the previous version of MC as well?

@coraxus, on 06 July 2017 - 04:39 PM, said in New MissionComputer build:

Also, what are the chances that existing RLE's can one day be edited directly instead of having to resort to a roundabout way?

Eek, I have trouble thinking what that would even look like! I don’t think it would be possible by a simple expansion of the RLE logic I already have.

@guy, on 14 July 2017 - 05:53 PM, said in New MissionComputer build:

@Mag, did that crash occur in the previous version of MC as well?

It wouldn’t surprise me at all — I’m sure I never tried loading a mask before the sprite. I think at one stage Make RLE was even organised with numbered steps.

Well, this is embarrassing.

I just messed around with it some more, and it appears that my machine was still launching the older version of Mission Computer by default, rather than 4.2.2. In order to successfully change the file association I had to actually put the older one in the trash.

In any case, I just tried loading a couple of masks before their sprites in 4.2.2, and it worked fine.

I hope you didn't spend too much time going down that rabbit-hole!

shuffles out of the room sheepishly

Just an update: I've got it importing sounds now. Still to implement exporting but with any luck I should have a new build out this week.

I've just published v4.3.0 with sound import and export. This version also adds back the docs and the correct icon files that I omitted from the previous build.

So are the upgrades Mac-specific, or is this applicable to the Windows version as well?

@scratskinner, on 25 July 2017 - 07:20 PM, said in New MissionComputer build:

So are the upgrades Mac-specific, or is this applicable to the Windows version as well?

I refer you to Guy's earlier post in this thread:

@guy, on 20 June 2017 - 12:03 AM, said in New MissionComputer build:

Duessa 4.2.2 (Not sure why it's called Duessa. David?)
I haven't tested this so have no idea how/if it functions or differs from previous windows build.

Here’s something I came across again recently. In 2011, I considered redesigning the main document window, to replace the list of resource types with icons, like in ResEdit.

These are a few of the icons I designed for some of the resource types:

demonstrator.png (40.01K)
Number of downloads: 19

That's an interesting icon for the shïp resource. Like a hot rod and a Manta had a baby. Also your wëap icon looks suspiciously like a redressed phaser rifle from TOS.

What is the l33t resource though? I don't remember seeing that one. Old joke I'm not aware of?

@darthkev, on 20 August 2017 - 12:23 PM, said in New MissionComputer build:

What is the l33t resource though? I don't remember seeing that one. Old joke I'm not aware of?

If there’s a l33t resource in any of the installed plug-ins, the engine automatically converts all text into that ironic ‘l33t h4X0r sp33k’ which was so strangely fashionable in the early 2000s.

My favourite is the gövt icon, which effectively summarises the concept of government, but in a way which is ludicrously inappropriate to space opera. As icons, though, the classically-styled ones for the top row and sÿst are probably the most effective.

Gotta love the sound import feature. It saves all that convenience of having to enter the Olympics to do all sorts of acrobatic trick just to import the sounds into MC through the conventional manners. However, I did notice the app lags a bit as it imports the file. I assume this is probably were you could install a progress bar so devs don't think MC froze and crashed or something like that.

Say, anything we could do about the mission-based cargo? Even though I have TC's and plug-ins linked to MC, the dropdown menu will only show all cargo items and such related only to the Nova game. BTW, I think the icon designs could be made simpler in design IMO. Personally I would've imagine the gövt icon would take on more of a flag than a crest, but that's just my 2¢.