I am trying to make a TC for Nova, but I can't get it to work.

I option-dragged the Nova Files folder to the desktop and then renamed that folder to "Originals" and put it away. I then modified the Nova Titles files in the Nova Files folder, and replaced the Nova Data, Nova Ships, and Nova Graphics files with my own, so that I have the same number of files and the same file names that were in the folder originally.

However, Nova runs into a sprite error when I try to start it. The debuglog indicates that Nova is loading systems and other resources which are not in the files in the Nova Files folder, although they were in the original files.

Can someone explain how and where Nova finds the resource files it reads in? Or are some of these resources being loaded from the application?

Thanks in advance for any help you can give me.

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The problem is, you can't save a TC as a nova file. You must convert it into a plugin, and put it in the plugins folder. Firstly, create a new resedit file. Create all the necessary resources (pict, maybe shän and RLE etc). Once this has been done, save the file. Use the get file/folder info option in the file menu (in resedit) and modify the file type to be Npďf and the creator to be Növä. Place the plugin in the plugin folder, and test it that way. it didn't work because you didn't delete all the files. Because ceratin files are in different nova data files, some had missing resourced, so the game couldn't run. Put the originals back in the nova data, you won't be modifying them.

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"Foolish is he who plays twister on the stairs"
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But where is Nova finding shďps, mďsns, etc. when they don't exist in the files in the Nova Files folder.

Incidentally, I thought I had made a boo-boo, since I forgot to clear out my pilot files, so I got rid of them and deleted "last pilot". But when I tryed to start, it is still finding shďps, spöbs, s˙sts, and mďsns that aren't in the Files folder.

A "by-the-way", since it is not mentioned in the bible. Do you know what the default ID numbers are for landing pics when you add new planets? With 2048 spöbs available, you would have to go from 10000 - 12047, but Nova appears to use a mix in the 10000, 11000, and 12000 series of PICT IDs, none of which appear to match a sequence of spöb ID additives.

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10 000+ Planet spďn

Let me tell you that I have the same problem as you... i think... do you get Error loading PICT from spďn, ID = 133? I have yet to get around this problem, but if I find a way I'll tell you. I got around it by making a chär with you're plugin title as the name, starting at one of you're planets. Just never connect you're planets to one from Nova's, and you'll be fine. The only thing you will ever see different in you're plug are përss and flëts.

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Please understand that its nothing personal...
...I attack everyone!
(url="http://"http://www.geocities.com/infernomsh")Inferno Studios (under reconstruction)(/url)

Quote

Originally posted by JohnnyAndrews:
**But where is Nova finding shďps, mďsns, etc. when they don't exist in the files in the Nova Files folder.
**

EVN loads all resources it finds in the Nova Files directory. It then looks in the Plugins directory and loads all resources it finds in there, overwriting any identically-numbered resources it might have already loaded from the Nova Files. That is my understanding of how resources get loaded.

If an essential resource is missing from the Nova Files directory, I don't know what happens; EVN may try and load the resource from the Plugins directory or it may simply choke. AFAIK, this is undefined. Therefore, you should not alter anything in the Nova Files directory. Instead, replace the resources you need to in plugin files in the Plugins directory. I hope this clarifies things for you.

(Various edits for clarity)

(This message has been edited by Earthling (edited 05-29-2002).)

Thanks, Earthling.

I deserve to be kicked! I forgot to clean out the Plug-ins folder, so the fixes and ActivatesHypergates were still there.

So apparently you CAN replace the Nova files in the Nova Files folder. I still have to see if you need the same file names.

But the TC is also still not getting to startup. The current error is harder to find. The first error message says
Resource ID 0
Code 104

Then
Assertion Failure
SpriteLayer.c 104 N/A

The debuglog stops at the following point:
Configuring sprites
Error cloning ship base sprite, #63

This is not the resource number of a ship, an rle, or a shan resource. Is it the index for a ship or shan, starting from 128? Aside from the fact that it is something to do with the ship sprites, I don't know where to look to try and find the problem. I think that Nova has loaded the sprites, which means that the shan-rle links were all right. But I don't have any idea what the cloning is trying to do.

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Edited by JohnnyAndrews for clarity?

(This message has been edited by JohnnyAndrews (edited 05-29-2002).)

*kick

You never would have guessed it, but you NEED to copy the escape pod data.
Shan 895, rle 1126.

SpacePirate

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Please understand that its nothing personal...
...I attack everyone!
(url="http://"http://www.geocities.com/infernomsh")Inferno Studios (under reconstruction)(/url)

SpacePirate,
Its not that one. I copied them over, but I still get the same error.

There shouldn't be any problem with 2 shans using the same rle, should there?

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Quote

Originally posted by JohnnyAndrews:
**So apparently you CAN replace the Nova files in the Nova Files folder. I still have to see if you need the same file names.
**

Filenames are no longer important in Nova; it opens all files in the directory.

mcb

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"If it's not on fire, it's a software problem."

Incidently, I had that same problem a few months ago. I forgot what I did to fix it though. :frown:

Quote

Originally posted by mburch:
**Filenames are no longer important in Nova; it opens all files in the directory.

mcb

**

Wow. I'm so glad I'm using a mac, because that would be impossable on a windows computer.

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What exactly is recorded in the rlë? For instance, if you use EnRLE to encode sprites from a shän and PICTs, does it make a difference if you later change the shďp and shän IDs?

Sprite #63 could be ship ID #191. That was the original ID for the Escape Pod in EVC. I changed the ship and shan IDs after I had made the rles.

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Quote

Originally posted by Mantaray:
**

because that would be impossable on a windows computer.

**

I doubt it...
.
mcb

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"If it's not on fire, it's a software problem."

Quote

Originally posted by Mantaray:
Wow. I'm so glad I'm using a mac, because that would be impossable on a windows computer.

A little harder, maybe, but by no means impossible.

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David Arthur
(url="http://"http://davidarthur.evula.net/")davidarthur.evula.net(/url): MissionComputer and the Talon plug-in
(url="http://"http://www.ev-nova.net/")EV-Nova.net(/url): Forums / Classifieds / Upcoming Plug-ins / More

Quote

Originally posted by JohnnyAndrews:
**What exactly is recorded in the rlë? For instance, if you use EnRLE to encode sprites from a shän and PICTs, does it make a difference if you later change the shďp and shän IDs?

Sprite #63 could be ship ID #191. That was the original ID for the Escape Pod in EVC. I changed the ship and shan IDs after I had made the rles.

**

In my somewhat limited recent experience, the answer is, yes, you need to re-encode the sprites into a new rlë file. If I'm wrong, I'd like to know how you go about it.

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It is, infact, very easy to get a program to access all the files in a directory on a windows computer, regardless of name or name length, evrn regardless of file type...
Joe

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