see topic title how to?

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Something blowing in my head/Winter's ice will spread/got to sieze my very soul/Makes me happy, makes me cold!
-System of a Down

To MAKE planets:

1. Somehow download a trial version of Photoshop, or if you have it already, bravo.
2. Download (url="http://"http://www.flamingpear.com")Flaming Pear(/url)'s LunarCell.
3. Dump the plugin into Photoshop's Plugin folder and fiddle around with the settings. (The LunarCell plugin will be located in the Filters menu)

Now click on the magic wand tool, set it so it has a tolerence of 0, and click on the black outline. Copy. Create a new document, set it so it's a bitmap, paste your mask in, and save both images.

LunarCell is what ATMOS used to create the planets into Nova.

But anyway, once you have a picture of what planet you have, follow these steps:

1. Create a new file in ResEdit
2. Create a PICT resource (Command+k, type in PICT in the little box and click okay)
3. set PICT ID 128 to have the planet piccie, and set PICT 129 to use the mask piccie.
4. Create a spďn resource (command + k, sp option+u i n in the little box, click okay)
5. set it so it has 1 frame, have the xsize and ysize boxes use the pixel size of your photoshop images, and make it use PICT IDs 128 and 129.
6. Close the spin window and open it again to see if it worked.

For stations, you need a 3d graphics app (ATMOS used (url="http://"http://www.lightwave3d.com")Lightwave(/url))

1. Make your station somehow.
2. follow the above steps for making the mask and puting it in.

Now you need to plop your ResEdit file into EnRLE (w00tware's, their site is no longer up, get it (url="http://"http://www.ambrosiasw.com/games/evn/addons/html")here(/url).) Plop your file onto EnRLE, click okay, and it'll make an RleD and Rle8 resource (RleD is 16 bit graphics, Rle8 is 8 bit graphics)

Copy these Rle resources into your plugin.

To create a plugin:

1. create a new ResEdit file
2. Choose File > Get info on "Untitled"
3. set the Creator feild to "Növä" and the Type to "Npďf"
4. Save.

To get the wonky vowels (umlauts) hit option + u, let go, then type in the letter. so ä, ë, ď, ö, ü. Ü is a nice smilie, no?

Edit:

To create systems:

1. Create a s˙st resource.
2. fiddle around with the settings found there. Read the Nova resource bible for more info.

To make your planet graphics appear, you need to creat a spöb resource, using your pict.

Oh yes, your planets should each have their own spďn,b ecause that's what the spöb resource uses. You can set a spöb to use your planet by typing in the spďn ID in your spöb resource.

Systems are connected via the "Con" fields found in their resources, and planets are in systems using the "Nav" fields. Type in your spöb ID in one of your system's Nav fields.

Also, if you are new to this, you will probably only have guessed two words of what I've said, so I encourage you to experiment as much as possible. Download someone else's plugin and edit that. That will help you the most. READ THAT LAST SENTENCE. Thank you.

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(This message has been edited by Mantaray (edited 10-22-2002).)

(This message has been edited by Mantaray (edited 10-22-2002).)

I know about the lëttërs, but im not looking to make any new graphics, but to use existing ones to create a new spöb without replacing an old one and how to plae it in a s˙st that you created.

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Something blowing in my head/Winter's ice will spread/got to sieze my very soul/Makes me happy, makes me cold!
-System of a Down

I think what you're asking is how do you get a specific planet to appear at a specific point in a specific system. (I'm working from memory here, so this might not be 100%)

In ResEdit, open up the spob resource. Find a planet that's pretty close to what you want, and select it. Hit apple+d (I think) or Duplicate in the menu. It will copy the resource with a new ID. Press apple+k to change the name. Open it up and change any of the setting you want.
There are two fields called xpos and ypos which are the x and y coordinates. These (strangly enough) control where the 'stellar object' appears in the system (0,0 being dead centre). Play with these numbers until you have it in the right place.
To edit the planet's graphic (this is the bit I'm a little hazy on), there is a field called something like 'graphic' or 'pic'. The number entered here links to the planet's graphic.

To make the planet (or station, etc) appear in a system is just as easy. Open up the syst resource, find your specific system, and open it up. There are 16 nav fields. These are the planets which appear in that system. Simply enter the ID number of the planet from before into one of these. If there isn't a planet in one field, it should be set to -1.

Save your plug, drop it into EVN's plugin folder, open up Nova and fly to the system. Your planet should be sitting there!

If any of this is still confusing, sit down with the EVN Bible and open up the Nova datafile (copies!) or some else's plugin and work through the syst and spob sections.

Hope this helps!

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PCs have users, Macs have fanatics.

(This message has been edited by simon (edited 10-25-2002).)