EV-Edit is buggy, but it's still a useful tool if you actually want to release something rather than just argue endlessly on the boards about whose plugin will be the biggest ever (gripe off) (set no offence intended on) (set comment was not specifically addressed at above posters on).
There are some specific occasions when EV-Edit will mess up.
Here is how to avoid them 100% of the time.
First, the Mission section doesn't work at all. Don't use it. There are other tools available.
Second, if you reopen a system without altering it, it will reset your percentages to garbage, causing EVO to crash when you enter that system.
Third, EV-Edit crashes on large files. Split up your file into graphics, data 1, data 2 and working. Put the graphics etc stuff into the resources folder. Only ever work on the 'working'. After a session of writing, test what you've done by playing it. If it's ok, use resedit to copy these resources into your data file. If it doesn't track down the problem with plugchecker or by inspection, and then test, and finally copy. This way, if EV-Edit crashes, you can never lose more than one session of work. Also, the chance of it crashing is much reduced.
Finally, always make backups -- whatever programme you are using. Even if you are the demigod of resedit a power failure or coffee sloshed onto your keyboard can wreck your work.
A couple of other things you need to know -- EV Edit is non-standard in where it places graphics. This doesn't stop things working, but it does make for an untidy plugin. Use plugchecker and resedit to sort it all out when you've finished.
Also, a lot of resources can only be edited in ResEdit or its equivalent directly.
So, if I'm recommending tidying up so much in ResEdit, why use EV-Edit at all? Simply, because its the fastest way to flesh out a plugin and to organise your mind while you do it. The biggest problem of a big plug-in is not the coding but the creative consistency. I would (and will) use any programme, trick or technique that helps me express my creativity with fewer limitations.
(set old timer's boring story on) Just in case you think I'm 'soft', when I started programming (set Dilbert-style man with red braces and beard on) we had Z80 machine code (no, I didn't say assembler code). It took forever to programme anything, and if you got it wrong your code would probably delete your programme when you executed it. Today I pretty much only develop in Filemaker Dev edition. It's not that I've gone soft, it's just that I need the results fast, and the less opportunity there is for me to make errors on the way, the better my critical data is preserved. At the end of the day, PlugChecker can sort out all the machine errors that EV-Edit makes. It can't sort out the human 'creative' errors that I make when I work for too long in ResEdit -- as far as PlugChecker is concerned, they aren't errors. But they still mean my plugin doesn't do what I want it to do, and they are murder to track down.
(/Rant)(/man with red braces and beard)
(set conciliatory friendly face on)
Cheers
Martin
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M A R T I N Â T U R N E R
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