making a new program, need testers.

Ok so first off I've never been a part of the web board but i have been playing escape velocity almost as long as i can remember. I just recently got into to plug making and quickly realized i wasn't that good at it. I also realized how annoying it got trying to look up different weapon, govt, spob, syst, and other important numbers/names and so I am making a new program named Plug assistant. Obviously when you test your own work you often miss things so I'm looking for people who would be willing to test out my program for me once I am able to release it. I am building the program using Python and I am going to convert it to an .exe as soon as its finished so you don't need python to run it. My personal email is simfarm@live.com. the program should be finished within the next month. comments or advice? email me.

This post has been edited by HoboWear : 01 November 2008 - 01:15 PM

Welcome to the boards, HoboWear.

Your concept sounds quite ambitious, considering all of the coding that goes into a plugin (as you have already stated). What are your ideas for simplifying the process?

Also, would you consider developing a cross platform version of your application?

@kgb, on Nov 1 2008, 02:16 AM, said in help wanted:

Welcome to the boards, HoboWear.

Your concept sounds quite ambitious, considering all of the coding that goes into a plugin (as you have already stated). What are your ideas for simplifying the process?

Also, would you consider developing a cross platform version of your application?

My program is not as advanced as i may have made it out to be. its just a program designed to look up any resource you ask it to, for example if you type "govt_128" my program responds "federation" or visa versa. as for making a cross platform version i'm sure i can figure something out. the reason such a simple program is taking so long is because i am also fairly new to programming so i'm still picking up on some of the stuff. I could have a small demo version of my program ready in the next week or so if anyone wants to get an idea what the finished program is going to look like. like i said, the program is very very simple, im just too lazy to look up all the resources when I'm building a plug. any suggestions or words advice, post or email me. Also as a little side note, I am very interested in programming and plan to take it a long ways so i want to know what kind of programs other people want created, whether it be for helping in plug ins like mine or something completely unrelated to plug making or even escape velocity. (criticism welcomed)
-HoboWear (simfarm@live.com)

This post has been edited by HoboWear : 01 November 2008 - 01:20 PM

If it brings up linked resources (e.g. "ouft_128" brings up "Light Blaster" along with its respective PICT thumbnail, "b1" brings up all the missions it's used in and "Rush Delivery" brings up that mission and its linked descs) then I might use such a program, but for now most of us learn how the plug-ins we work with frequently are laid out and go by that. I remember how most of the resources in CTC-C, my own pet project, are organized and could figure out how the rest are laid out in a pinch. It depends on the functionality and how many people say they'd use it.

@jacabyte, on Nov 1 2008, 10:36 AM, said in help wanted:

If it brings up linked resources (e.g. "ouft_128" brings up "Light Blaster" along with its respective PICT thumbnail, "b1" brings up all the missions it's used in and "Rush Delivery" brings up that mission and its linked descs) then I might use such a program, but for now most of us learn how the plug-ins we work with frequently are laid out and go by that. I remember how most of the resources in CTC-C, my own pet project, are organized and could figure out how the rest are laid out in a pinch. It depends on the functionality and how many people say they'd use it.

Thats a great idea i never considered that. I'm going to stick with my current plan for v1 and when v2 comes around i might end up using that. thank you for your idea. all ideas welcomed for v2. criticism welcomed!
-HoboWear (simfarm@live.com)

It would be very simple to search a file for the name that followed an ID - all you'd need is a string-replacement table (so user needn't type the umlauts), then read the start of the header, jump, read again, jump again, find the 4-byte type corresponding to the string, jump and read the name. See my RezFile source. Ask if you need explanation.
Edit: in particular, in the load(ResourceData) method (which for your practical purposes only contains a filename (albeit indirectly), a type string and an ID), watch the code that logically surrounds

raf.seek(headerOffset - 13);

There is a lot of implementation-specific material in that file. Sorry if it's cluttered.
Also, here's my source on the .rez format.

Edit2: and a note about python: it'd be better to release just the script, since it'd not that hard to type

sudo apt-get install python

if it isn't already installed - and if you package it you can mark a dependency...
(maybe linux has spoiled me - I recall it's not so simple on those other Operating Systems)
Compiling to an executable just adds bloat.

Oh, and if you do that other stuff that requires checking the resource data (which would make it much more complicated), see Resource Data Offsets (currently incomplete)
Edit3: note that some test/set expression are 255 bytes and some are 256, but for read-only access you only care about what comes before the first 0x00, and there will always be one of those at or before the end.

This post has been edited by Nonconventionally Creative : 01 November 2008 - 02:56 PM

@nonconventionally-creative, on Nov 1 2008, 01:31 PM, said in help wanted:

(maybe linux has spoiled me - I recall it's not so simple on those other Operating Systems)

It might be this simple on OS X, but on Windows, if a program that isn't dependent on it hasn't already installed it, such as Blender or Civ IV, you have to install it manually using an executable file.

This post has been edited by JacaByte : 01 November 2008 - 03:51 PM

@jacabyte, on Nov 1 2008, 12:50 PM, said in help wanted:

It might be this simple on OS X, but on Windows, if a program that isn't dependent on it hasn't already installed it, such as Blender or Civ IV, you have to install it manually using an executable file.

We'll fortunately I use windows and linux, never was a big mac os fan though.

This is all very interesting but it probably belongs on the DC forums.

@of-doom, on Nov 1 2008, 03:26 PM, said in help wanted:

This is all very interesting but it probably belongs on the DC forums.

Indeed. I'm going to move this over to the Developer's Corner now.