Ambrosia Garden Archive
    • Can someone Get ships out of a plugin?


      Alright so here is the deal, I found a TC that has been abandoned, It has some AMAZING graphics, planets, stations and ships.

      First off, here is the link to the TC. The creator has stated, he abandonded it, and it's free for use, and if someone wants to use his work, give him credit.

      http://www.ambrosiasw.com/cgi-bin/vftp/sho...omplete_TC.sitx

      So what I am asking is, Can someone take all the ships that he has made in this plug-in and make it so I could buy them on say, sol. without using his TC. I am pretty sure it wouldn't take alot of time if you knew how to do it.

      It would be really cool if someone made a few new systems with a government with his station graphics that are in the TC. (I am not really asking, but it would be cool, I mainly want the ships out of this)

      If someone decides to take this task, I thank them greatly and please post all progress here.

      - Blocko a low key long time fan of EV NOVA

    • QUOTE

      So what I am asking is, Can someone take all the ships that he has made in this plug-in and make it so I could buy them on say, sol. without using his TC.

      This is where you run into a copyright issue. You need to ask the creator for permission before one can publicly set up a modification to be downloaded.

    • QUOTE (IT 000 @ Apr 4 2009, 07:15 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

      This is where you run into a copyright issue. You need to ask the creator for permission before one can publicly set up a modification to be downloaded.

      " - Incomplete TC.sitx - 7.53 mb
      Very Incomplete but playable TC, did this a while back. Unlikely to do more work on it, most of graphics is own work. Please feel free to use graphics/ideas etc. (NOTE FROM pipeline) -- I uploaded this one (even though it had no email address) because it looked like it might be of some use to some of you. --
      "

      On a side note, did you download the plugin?

    • You could do it yourself without too much trouble.

      Download either Mission Computer (if you're on a Mac,) or EVNEW, if you're on a PC. These are the two most widely used resource editors for the game. You'll also need Stuffit to decompress the .sitx file. Writing ship and outf resources are not that intensive, and you could learn that easily by reading over the Nova Bible and playing with it a bit. More or less all you'll need to do is copy over the rle resource, the shan resource, the ship resource, and any associated outfits or weapons to a blank resource. Make sure that the resources in your plug start at a high enough number so as not to conflict with Nova's resources.

      While this sounds like a lot of work, both resource editors make it very easy to learn. I'd say you could do this in a good afternoon's work if you were totally inexperienced at making plug-ins, and for a person with lots of experience, maybe a half-hour's work. I would tell you that because most of the resources are premade for you that this would actually be a good learning project for you.

    • QUOTE (krugeruwsp @ Apr 6 2009, 12:43 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

      You could do it yourself without too much trouble.

      Download either Mission Computer (if you're on a Mac,) or EVNEW, if you're on a PC. These are the two most widely used resource editors for the game. You'll also need Stuffit to decompress the .sitx file. Writing ship and outf resources are not that intensive, and you could learn that easily by reading over the Nova Bible and playing with it a bit. More or less all you'll need to do is copy over the rle resource, the shan resource, the ship resource, and any associated outfits or weapons to a blank resource. Make sure that the resources in your plug start at a high enough number so as not to conflict with Nova's resources.

      While this sounds like a lot of work, both resource editors make it very easy to learn. I'd say you could do this in a good afternoon's work if you were totally inexperienced at making plug-ins, and for a person with lots of experience, maybe a half-hour's work. I would tell you that because most of the resources are premade for you that this would actually be a good learning project for you.

      That does sound intense, like alot of work. and I am curious to do it. But i'd probably mess something up. How good are you? 😛

    • Depends on who you talk to. I've published a handful of plugs, some with original graphics and some with rehashed Nova graphics. I've been doing a lot of work for the Firefly TC, and I have a few irons in the fire right now that might see the light of day at some point, including a plug that adds the Defiant-class warship to the game. I've got it more or less done, actually, but I still have final balancing to do, a little graphics work with the interface, and some play-testing to do with it.

      Plug-making sounds pretty intense, and it can be, especially at first, or if you have no experience with computer programming. However, the resource editors that are available are also quite easy to use, extremely helpful, and have exceedingly good help built into them. For example, in EVNEW, hovering over any resource flag or field gives you a description of what the resource flag does, and even some helpful tips and tricks with the resource flags. If you download the resource editor appropriate for your platform (Mission Computer for Mac, EVNEW for Windows,) and the Nova Bible, which can be obtained on the Add-ons page, you should be in pretty good shape. The bible can seem pretty technical at first, but if you play with a few of the resources, you can probably pick it up fairly quickly.

      I'd offer to help you out with this personally, but I have quite literally no time these days. As I'm writing this, I'm on my prep period from teaching, and should be grading the dozen or so outstanding assignments that I have to have into the system by Friday. Taking resources out of one plug and making your own out of it is a good opportunity for you to learn how to do plug-making, and I think you'll find the process educational and rewarding.

    • I'll take a shot at extracting the ships for you i need something to do with my time. I wont be able to upload it to the addons page but i will try to use some file sharing website to give it directly to you. I am confident I wont mess anything (except my spelling) up.

    • QUOTE (of doom @ Apr 9 2009, 10:12 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

      I'll take a shot at extracting the ships for you i need something to do with my time. I wont be able to upload it to the addons page but i will try to use some file sharing website to give it directly to you. I am confident I wont mess anything (except my spelling) up.

      Hey man, thanks, that would be amazing, i'd really appreciate it. Have you checked out the plug? it has some cool graphics hey?

    • yes i have seen the plugin previously. I can't promise anything within a couple of days but I should be finished sometime soon. (meaning "soon")

    • QUOTE (of doom @ Apr 11 2009, 03:37 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

      yes i have seen the plugin previously. I can't promise anything within a couple of days but I should be finished sometime soon. (meaning "soon")

      Ahaha, it's not Delphi "soon" is it. 😛

    • no just soon being indefinite time period probably a week or two.

    • QUOTE (of doom @ Apr 11 2009, 07:46 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

      no just soon being indefinite time period probably a week or two.

      Aha alright, sounds cool, how's it lookin'?

    • fine fine.

    • QUOTE (of doom @ Apr 16 2009, 08:02 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

      fine fine.

      So..when you're done is it going to be compatible with say..Aripa?

    • blocko,

      I've remained silent on this matter because others have been assisting, but I now feel it's high time to speak up. As you've no doubt surmised, "extracting" ships and graphics from a plug-in is a non-trivial exercise. It speaks volumes that anyone is doing this for you at all.

      You will get, I would wager, a plug full of ships that have ID numbers that don't interfere with stock Nova. If you can buy them by default in the plug, you'll also consider yourself fortunate.

      Beyond that, I doubt you'll get support for any other TC.