trying to add a ship

I am trying to add a new ship and an associated weapon. The idea is a small ship which uses a powerful tractor beam to irritate opponents. The graphics are the flare from the EVC port.
Upon opening Nova and watching the red bar go nearly to completion I was presented with this:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v59/Klep.../FirstError.jpg
Okay resulted in this:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v59/Klep...SecondError.jpg
I can eliminate the startup problem by deleting the shän resource for the ship. But then the game freezes once I launch it.
If anyone would be willing to look at the plug-in and tell me what I did wrong or am missing, I would be very appreciative. I had some trouble attaching the plug-in, but it is small, so I can e-mail it to anyone willing to help.
When I release the plug-in which includes the resulting ship, you will get credit. Great yea? :mellow:
Please help, thank you.

It seems to me that one of your new resources makes reference to a resource which does not exist. Perhaps you could try posting a debuglog? You can send the plugin to me if you like - jva2006@yahoo.com

Ooh, fancy. I had never heard of a debuglog before, this looks useful. Now I can see what I've forgotten to add to my plug-in. For example, I can now see that I've forgotten the base sprite from PICT, hm. :huh:

EV Nova debug log

Output on 12/17/2004 at 10:29 PM

game engine was compiled Nov 30 2003
game engine version is 1.0.7 Carbon

opening data files & loading prefs
initializing monitor
getting available window positioning bounds
opening RezLib
main display at startup was 1440x900 / 16 bits / 0 Hz
system software version is 1036
initializing QuickTime
building trig table
opening platform tool
opening file tool
opening draw tool
opening interface tool
opening registration tool
initializing arrays
opening data files
opening files in Nova Files folder:
Nova Data 1
Nova Data 2
Nova Data 3
Nova Data 4
Nova Data 5
Nova Data 6
Nova Graphics 1
Nova Graphics 2
Nova Graphics 3
Nova Music
Nova Ships 1
Nova Ships 2
Nova Ships 3
Nova Ships 4
Nova Ships 5
Nova Ships 6
Nova Ships 7
Nova Ships 8
Nova Sounds
Nova Titles 1
Nova Titles 2
Nova Titles 3
Nova Titles 4
Race 1.mov
Race 2.mov
Race 3.mov
Race 4.mov
opening files in Nova Plug-Ins folder:
Slower Test
loading sounds
creating window
main window rect: (3900, 302, -1808, -16385)
initializing sprite world
creating scratch frames
creating offscreen buffers
starting music
initializing strings
initializing status bar
initializing objects
initializing buttons
loading object data
warning: Slower (620) lacks description
warning: Slower Launcher (621) lacks description
warning: Slower (415) lacks purchase description
warning: weapon ID 340 on ship type 415 lacks corresponding oütf resource
warning: Slower (415) lacks hiring description
loading mission data
propagating mission bit effects
showing splash screen
loading sprites
checking memory
loading ship sprites
error loading ship base sprite from PICT, shän ID 415

I don't know whether the EVC port uses PICT graphics or the rles that Nova uses. Either way, the shan isn't enough----you need to have the rles or PICTs (as specified in the shan) copied to your plug as well.

The shan isn't the graphic itself, it merely tells Nova how to interpret the graphic.

This post has been edited by Lindley : 18 December 2004 - 01:00 AM

Also, the weapon mentioned needs a corresponding oütf resource, otherwise the engine doesn't know how to behave. The oütf resource tells the engine things like what to call the weapon in the player info dialogue box, how much the thing costs (and hence the trade-in value), what its mass is, whether it is a gun or turret as well as various other things which may or may not relate to the weapon itself.

I gave up trying to fix the ship. But I did find the problem. It seems that when I created the shän for the ship, it was misdirecting the ship sprites. I was suspicious when it failed to show the rlë8 for the ship despite it being in the plug-in. Finally I copied a existing ship including its graphics, then switched them. So it works now.
On a side note, the ship has such a high speed, aceleration, and manuverability that it seems unable to stay in one place for long. Even launching them causing an odd blurring as they bounce around.
Thank you all.

This post has been edited by Klepsacovic : 18 December 2004 - 04:03 PM