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       EV Developer's Corner
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      Start-up guide for creating plugs for EVN? I mean one that explains all the techno babble. This seems like somehtign that really should exist, but doesnt.

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      skeptic

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      Well it isn't all that bad as far as techno babble. I have seen much worse. The best guide is the EVNova Bible and while it may be a bit much to swallow in a single setting it isn't to bad if you take it one portion at a time. Typically start small and add things as you learn them. Make a weapon or outfit, open other plugs to see how things are done and go from there. If you really get stuck then check the search feature here or if it hasn't been asked then make a post and see if someone can help you get unstuck.

      I am new to editing EVN as well and can say that the people here can be quite helpful if you are stuck.

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      Nothing like the smell of burnt rubber in the morning. - Now let's see some Tiresmoke!
      (url="http://"http://www.rsdg.net")www.rsdg.net(/url)

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      Nope. There is no such guide besides the bible. Tiresmoke haas it right on here - Start small, and read the Bible like, well, like it was the Bible 😛 almost all of the basic things you can make the engine do are described there.
      You can also open up the nova data files to see how they did things, but dont change the datafiles themselves - copy and paste the thing you want to change into a new plugin to modify it, so that if you screw up you can get the game to act normal again. Infact, for good measure, make a backup of all the data. My backups have saved me a few times. The datafiles and the Bible go together very well and give you all you need inorder to know the basics - The Bible is the instructions, and the datafiles the examples.
      Dissecting plugins for examples is also very useful particularly as you get to more complicated stuff, but be aware that some of them have strange workarounds in them that no sane person can make sense of.
      Check out the guides section of the addons page for the following things:
      Ultimate Nova Reference
      EVN Bits Bible (if modifying missions for EVN)

      If you have a question you cant find the answer to in the bible or the datafiles, try searching this board, and if that turns up nothing, well, post your question here.
      Welcome to the Developers Corner.
      -Az, who reads the Bible every day.

      By the way, if you are on windows using EVNEW to edit plugs, you can hover the mouse over a field to get the relevant bible quote describing that field. VERY helpful, even to me.

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      It is here. EVNEW Public Beta (url="http://"http://www.aznt.com/EVN/EVNEW")www.aznt.com/EVN/EVNEW(/url)
      Stuffit is a piece of .sit.

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      Due to complicated reasons long ago I had the templates (i.e. the data that makes the ressources more human-readable) for EV but I did not have the Bible (remember: capitalise this Holy Book) even though I had limited internet. I have been able to understand how much things are being done by simply opening the data file (only one in EV... man, we've come a long way) and little plugs in an editor, without touching anything. I think the Bible should be studied after you get the fundamentals. The first thing to get you started is to know what each particular kind of ressource does: the shďp (oh, and remember, to post those odd dots on a letter, write & i uml;, replacing the i by the letter you want to be dotted) ressource stores the technical info on the ships but not anthing appearance-related, for instance. Well, here's a complete list:

      • spďn: this ressource stores some simple information for simple turning objects (size of the frames, how to interpret the pict of the frames and the ID of the pict and the corresponding mask from which to take the frames), more often than now weapons, asteroids, stuff like that but not ships.

      • shän: this one stores the complicated info on how the image of the ship should behave (have running lights, how it blinks, where are the weapons exit points, etc...)

      • bööm: this one stores info for explosions (thus boom), mainly where to find the sound and the graphics for it.

      • chär: Beware! multiple-choice chärs are said not to work with Win EVN! it tells the properties of the player when he starts out (how much money he has, which ship, where, when, etc...). you can have more than one to offer you the possibility when you create a pilot to start at various starting conditions.

      • cölr: it allows you to specify game-wide interface constants; only one is needed and used at a time, you can't make what it specifies change mid-game.

      • crön: this very nifty ressource allows you to make "events", that the player can see or not, that happens if certain conditions are met and/or a certain time has elapsed. I can when active make news to be displayed and activate other events/make the universe change a bit (some system appear, a new item to be available at outfitting/shipyard, etc...)

      • dësc: It simply is where most descriptions are placed, such as planet, ship buy/hire, outfitting, mission texts, etc... edit these ones to make Nova say funny/offensive/whatever you like comments where you want it to be, it's fun! 😉 You can specify these descriptions to be accompanied by an image and/or a movie (if shown in a mission).

      • düde: this one is pretty much the main way to make AI ships appear in space and as mission ships: in it you specify the ships that may appear in this collection of ships and their probability; it's usually a group of ships that is coherent (independant traders that can contain terrapins, shuttles, etc... for instance). The s˙st and mďsn ressources refers to this ressource when they want ships to appear.

      • flët: This is a particular way to make ships appear: they will do as a fleet with a lead ship that commands accompanied with (usually) smaller escort ships. They appear much less often than düdes, though.

      • gövt: Ah, the ressource that tells how a government behaves (mainly toward you, but also between each other). Here you have mostly flags telling if a government is xenophobic or not, for instance, and the various penalties for doing what they deem evil deeds, as well as with who the government is allied/in war.

      • jünk: The junks are goods (not all of them are crap, mind you) that are not the 6 main cargo types: food, industrial, equipment, medical, luxuries and metal. You can set where you want it to be found, its name, how much it does cost, etc...

      • ďntf: These are some custom in-flight interfaces that can change depending on your ship: various text and and bar colors, positions of the shield/energy/armor bars, sizes of the radar/status/weapon/target/cargo compartiment, and so on...

      • mďsn: The Holy Grail of Nova. The problem is to understand how those ressource (which specifies what the mission actually is made of) work. I think you should see this one later, and begin by simple cargo missions to one specified planet to another.

      • nëbu: Allows you to place custom images behind the starmap, usually nebulaes and asteroids belts; this one doesn't do much more than add a picture behind the starmap, you'll need to modify the settings of the systems that appear to be in the picture to make the player feel there's definitely way too much asteroids there, for instance.

      • öops: These ressources are just random events that can happen at a system and change the price of a commodity according to the event, nothing more (but a hailed trader ship can inform you about those, for instance).

      • oütf: Here is what you find in the outfitting, it specifies its price, what it does, how easily you can find it, if you need to have done or currently have something to buy it, how often it appears, etc... Note that weapons outfits need some more info, which is stored in the wëap ressource the outfit refers to.

      • përs: Specific people, similar to you in the extent they are unique: they may get killed, have a special name, have -ahem- slightly modified from the standard models ships, carry over grudges, offer missions, etc... Overused by authors to be in their own game/plug.

      • ränk: Special "honors", offered by governments, to make you feel this government actually cares about you. Once granted through a mission, a rank can allow you to obtain some new outfits/ships, get a salary, free assistance, have outfits at a better price, etc... Neat 🙂

      • röid: Data regarding different kinds of asteroids: their resistance, the cargo they contain, their sub-asteroids, etc... The appearance of the asteroid number x (with x from 0 to 15) is specified by the spďn ressource ID 800+x.

      • shďp: This ressource, surprisingly, tells the different kind of ships and their statistics: speed, shields, armor, built-in weapons, mass, buy info (such as price), and many other information (see! 3 sets of flags!) Notice that, since Nova contain many ship variants, there are quite a number of similar yet different ships that you can't buy most of the time, making an impressive number of ships.

      • spöb: The least obvious name stands for space object, it can be either a planet or a station (or even a sun, if you want it to be that), it tells what you can find when landing on it, its appearance, where it is in which system, what technological level of ships and outfits you can find there, domination information, some animation information, etc...

      • s˙st: The all-important systems, it tells for each system where it is on the starmap, with which systems it is connected to, which düdes can be found in it, which government rules this system, if there are any navigation hazard in it (asteroids, interference, murkiness, and which asteroids) and reinforcement fleet info.

      • wëap: The all-powerful weapons, not only it tells how it is launched, how smart it chases you, how fast it goes towards your ship, how deadly it is, how fast the ennemy ship launches another one, but also if it uses ammunition, which sound it does when fired and what it looks like, and many other deadly caracteristics.

      • err, well that's all.

      Now there are some non-Nova specific ressources:

      • PICT: It stores part of the actual images you see in-game

      • rleD/rle8: this compressed format stores many multible-frame images to save space.

      • str/str#: These two stores short text strings, str one each, str# as many as you want each.

      • snd: it stores the sound you may hear.

      Notice the intro music is stored as a separate mp3 file, as well as movies are stored as separate files too.

      Ask us if you don't understand something in particular.

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      The (url="http://"https://secure.ambrosiasw.com/cgi-bin/store/hazel.cgi?action=serve&item;=breakdown.html&BREAKDOWN;_SKUID=1480")Ambrosia Mac CD(/url) with other registrations - 5$. Paying for (url="http://"http://www.ambrosiasw.com/games/evn/")EV Nova(/url) as it's such a great game - 30$.
      The (url="http://"http://www.ambrosiasw.com/games/evn/tshirts.html")1337 EV Nova T-shirt(/url) - 22$. The (url="http://"http://w00tware.ev-nova.net/")NovaTools(/url) by wOOtWare to tinker with your Nova - FREE!
      The feeling you're a Nova geek - priceless.
      There are things you can't buy or that are free, for everything else, there's indeed Eurocard Mastercard.

      (This message has been edited by Zacha Pedro (edited 01-12-2004).)

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      Thanks for the qelcome guys.
      I actually got started doing plugs on the original ev, but none ever got off the ground, so soe of this is very faintly familiar.

      Man, to be in elementary school again.
      (only semi kidding actually)

      Anyways.

      Thanks especially to zacha, that was very useful.

      So, about the second part of my question: How come it doesn't exist/Shouldn't someone do it? I think that if it existed it would/could encourage a lot of new plug development. If it's well written, we might even get, you know, better plugs 😉 😄

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      skeptic

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      Here's a nice rule of thumb for beginning developers like you: ignore topics from Jonathan Boyd. 😄

      Seriously, though. Those topics are by someone who (and I quote) spent too long in Physics (unquote) and is very advanced at plug-in development. Don't worry, someday you'll be that good.

      Anyway: actually, a quick start-up guide would be a pretty good idea. I was sick this morning and have the day off, so I might write one. You're the first person to request a feasible guide while I've been on here (which isn't that long :p).

      But, if you come here regularly, there are little tidbits of inpormant information you can get. When I came in here, I was still stuck back in Override. Now, I can edit Nova with ease.

      Anyhow, welcome to the EVDC!

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      The programmer's code of entomology: there's always another bug.
      Windows users: stop asking for plugins. (url="http://"http://www.aznt.com/EVN/EVNEW/")Make one yourself.(/url)
      (url="http://"http://www.cwssoftware.com")Sephil Saga Website(/url)

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      Knowing what I do now, it would seem pretty much impractical to make a basic guide that was less technical as all you would gleem from it is the most primative stuff. The engine is so wide open in what it can do that no matter how you try you will be required to learn the tech end of things.

      As I stated before it is not that hard. It looks far worse than it is. Just start small and build on that. Don't worry about the stuff that looks technical until you need to. Start simple and work your way into it. You will be OK

      Oh and welcome to the fray. 😄

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      Nothing like the smell of burnt rubber in the morning. - Now let's see some Tiresmoke!
      (url="http://"http://www.rsdg.net")www.rsdg.net(/url)

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      Well, as they said, no such guide exists, and I doubt that it ever will (it makes people here feel special, that they can do it, and you can't)

      The folks here are especially helpful, and almost every question that you have, they will have an aswer (my "All Black Sprites" problem was unsavable)

      Welcome to the Boards, we hope you enjoy your stay

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      ATTs Official Newb.
      Dammit. (url="http://"mailto:lotsofblackflags@yahoo.com")mailto:lotsofblackflags@yahoo.com(/url)lotsofblackflags@yahoo.com

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      I think there should be an holy path for people to start with:
      -firstly, tinker with prices and descs for fun
      -then, make things more available with tech levels (cheat)... to a point now there are require fields
      -modify a spob
      -add a spob in a system... and be forced to modify the system you want to add the spob in
      -modify a system
      -add a system with a spob
      -modify a pers
      -add a pers
      -modify an outfit (say, with a super-speedy shield recharger, you're invincible!)
      -make a new outfit
      -etc...

      You should always begin by modifying existing ressources to see what you do, then even if you want to create a new one you should duplicate an existing one and modify until it is what you want it to be.

      ------------------
      The (url="http://"https://secure.ambrosiasw.com/cgi-bin/store/hazel.cgi?action=serve&item;=breakdown.html&BREAKDOWN;_SKUID=1480")Ambrosia Mac CD(/url) with other registrations - 5$. Paying for (url="http://"http://www.ambrosiasw.com/games/evn/")EV Nova(/url) as it's such a great game - 30$.
      The (url="http://"http://www.ambrosiasw.com/games/evn/tshirts.html")1337 EV Nova T-shirt(/url) - 22$. The (url="http://"http://w00tware.ev-nova.net/")NovaTools(/url) by wOOtWare to tinker with your Nova - FREE!
      The feeling you're a Nova geek - priceless.
      There are things you can't buy or that are free, for everything else, there's indeed Eurocard Mastercard.

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      You know, I see all this about how to start and realize how strange an approach I took to plug-in development. Although I do believe my very first (for EVC) wasmodifying the data file to create a Kestrel that had two bays, one with 15 Confederate Cruisers, one with 15 Rebel Cruisers. I also gave it 10 Proton Turrets and 10 Proton Cannons tomatch. Fun, fun, fun.

      EV is too easy to cheat on. 🙂

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      The programmer's code of entomology: there's always another bug.
      Windows users: stop asking for plugins. (url="http://"http://www.aznt.com/EVN/EVNEW/")Make one yourself.(/url)
      (url="http://"http://www.cwssoftware.com")Sephil Saga Website(/url)

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      Quote

      Originally posted by Kame:
      Also, I found this and this helpful when I started making plugs. The sad thing is that the latter can be found instantly by doing a Google search for evn tutorial Both are for NovaTools but I figure if you can't understand how the fields work in NovaTools and adapt them to whatever program you're using you're gonna have a hard time making plugs.

      (edit)too many boards with different UBB standards 😛
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      ((Ż'ˇ.¸(Ż'ˇ.¸Ť•-KAME-•ť¸.ˇ'´Ż)¸.ˇ'´Ż))
      I used to jog but the ice kept falling out of my glass.
      (url="http://"http://www.0three0.net/l-1551/")L 1551(/url) - The official site of RONIN and The Way and the ten thousand things

      (This message has been edited by Kame (edited 01-12-2004).)

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      Welcome to the boards!
      Bit of a rushed post, so here's a quick tip. Hang around here as often as you can even if you don't post. Just by reading all theposts I can I have picked up a lot. I've been hanging around long before this account was registered. I believe since about 2000-2001, I'm not sure.
      Just keep reading. Read all the materials you can! 🙂
      Golden Rule: Have Fun!

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      (url="http://"http://blog.evula.net/Ephialtes")The Blog of Ephialtes(/url)

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      Quote

      Originally posted by Zacha Pedro:
      **
      -add a pers

      **

      Er, you forgot about the pers activation issue. If one adds a pers, they would have to start a new pilot to see it. Besides, pers's arnt all that useful. I havnt made a single pers in EVN. Ever. Never had a need to.
      Also, why do you have outfits so far down on the list? Once you understand techlevels, they are a snap to create!

      Orca: Hehe. I was thinking of saying something like "If you are a beginning plugin maker, and you see me or Jonathan Boyd talking about something you dont understand, ignore it - chances are nobody else understands it either"
      -Az

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      It is here. EVNEW Public Beta (url="http://"http://www.aznt.com/EVN/EVNEW")www.aznt.com/EVN/EVNEW(/url)
      Stuffit is a piece of .sit.

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      Like everyone else who comes here frequently already said, Welcome to Developer's Corner.
      I'm actually pretty new here myself (check my number of posts). I only have a PC and couldn't emulate a mac effectively. I did use Executor for a while, but that could only handle EVC, so I could only tinker with that. Now that EVNEW is out, though, I too have joined the fray.

      Always come here to have all of your questions answered, but as one rule, try to search for topics concerning your problem (it's at the top of the forum page) before posting a new topic.
      People around here tend to throw hissy fits if a question starts getting asked too much. (for example: don't ask about how to create pictures and sprites of your ships and stuff. search)

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      "You can't catch Jesus, he's the gingerbread man."

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