I use an alias to the Resources folder inside the bundle, but I find that saving the Nova Files as a default to look for folders causes the MC prefs to corrupt and give me a bad error on launch.

@david-arthur, on Jan 22 2009, 12:57 PM, said in MissionComputer: The Saga Continues:

That would be difficult, since the Open dialogue is supplied by the operating system, and not all that receptive to changed instructions. Fortunately, I’ve already got a solution that’s even better… <cryptic grin>

Yes, but even in AppleScript I can tell the dialog to show package contents
Let me guess, your better solution is to simply locate the app?

I think I've encountered a serious problem with the mïsn resource in 4.0.4. When the sÿst ID for mission ships or auxiliary ships get up into the low thousands (can't pinpoint a number, but it seems to be somewhere between 1100 and 1150), MC seems to freak out and revert the ship system first to "initial sÿst" with a value of -1, then upon re-entering the system, it goes to "initial sÿst" with no input box. Since the system in question for these particular missions is 1175, and since the max systems in Nova is 2048, it seems more like a MC problem than an engine limitation.

Other than that, the only other problem I've noticed is that sometimes MC won't save on the first try (this usually happens when you save with a resource open). I only noticed because sometimes I'll save, see the file menu flash, and still be prompted to save when closing without having changed anything since the save.

Still though, this is a wonderful tool. I can't tell you how many hours it's saved me! Thanks for all the hard work!

@geek, on Jan 21 2009, 07:00 PM, said in MissionComputer: The Saga Continues:

. . . I find that saving the Nova Files as a default to look for folders causes the MC prefs to corrupt and give me a bad error on launch.

I think this may be another instance of a 4.0.4 bug that I’ve already fixed, but can you give me the exact error message?

@archon, on Jan 21 2009, 10:01 PM, said in MissionComputer: The Saga Continues:

I think I've encountered a serious problem with the mïsn resource in 4.0.4. When the sÿst ID for mission ships or auxiliary ships get up into the low thousands (can't pinpoint a number, but it seems to be somewhere between 1100 and 1150), MC seems to freak out and revert the ship system first to "initial sÿst" with a value of -1, then upon re-entering the system, it goes to "initial sÿst" with no input box. Since the system in question for these particular missions is 1175, and since the max systems in Nova is 2048, it seems more like a MC problem than an engine limitation.

Fixed, thanks. It was just a matter of a few outdated maximum values, and the data was actually being saved correctly: it only went wrong when MissionComputer tried to reload it. The mïsn editor is literally the oldest in the programme, as the name ‘MissionComputer’ suggests, and was designed around EV Override ’s formats.

@archon, on Jan 21 2009, 10:01 PM, said in MissionComputer: The Saga Continues:

Other than that, the only other problem I've noticed is that sometimes MC won't save on the first try (this usually happens when you save with a resource open). I only noticed because sometimes I'll save, see the file menu flash, and still be prompted to save when closing without having changed anything since the save.

It’s possible that MissionComputer is saving without properly flagging the file as ‘saved’ (which is much better than the reverse), but it’s also possible that you’ve done something that caused it to be marked ‘changed’ again without realising it. If you edit a field, for example, the change sometimes isn’t recorded until you click out of it, so if you save before clicking out, the resource isn’t flagged as ‘changed’ until after you save. There are also some fields for which it’s difficult to know whether you actually changed their contents or not, so MissionComputer marks the resource as ‘changed’ whenever you click on them, no matter what.

The next time it happens, can you let me know which resource type it affected?

Sure thing!

@david-arthur, on Dec 31 2008, 03:08 PM, said in MissionComputer: The Saga Continues:

Good afternoon, everyone!

I first released MissionComputer at the end of 2001, having been working on it since that September. At the time it supported only a few resource types for EV Override (with the original Escape Velocity joining it in version 1.3). The number of editors gradually increased; version 2 added support for EV Nova , which had been released in March 2002, and version 3 added the map editors, the first to edit whole groups of resources at once. Most recently, MissionComputer 4 made the jump to Intel, allowed multiple editors to stay open at the same time, and added support for new resource types. Development remains underway: at the moment I'm working towards giving Mac OS X users back the cicn editor that they lost when new computers stopped running ResEdit, and the recent upgrade to the game itself has raised some interesting new possibilities.

This morning I posted MissionComputer 4.0.4, which adds support for the new NDAT format that appeared yesterday in EV Nova 1.1. It also improves the Open Recent menu, and fixes bugs in the shïp editor and graphical picker. The Welcome screen is also graced by an entirely pointless 'Seventh Anniversary Edition' badge.

MissionComputer 4.0.4 is a 14.5 MB archive, available for free, exclusively from davidarthur.evula.net. It requires Mac OS 10.3 or higher, on Intel or PowerPC.

Um i sorta new to the whole Mission Computer thing but i just have one Question that need answering badly
ok you rdy here it is:
Q) How do you get Planet Graphic's to show up in the game?
( i have made a System and Planets and chosen the planet type and all other stuff BUT STILL NO PLANET GRAPHIC WHEN IM PLAYING AND TRAVEL TO THAT SYSTEM!!!!!!!!
please help.....

Welcome to the forums Franky, your question is valid and probably warrants a topic of its own.

What resource ID is the planet?
What resource ID is the system?
What format of graphic did you use (PICT, RLED, RLE8)?
What resource ID is the graphic?
What planet type did you give the planet?
Are there any other systems which contain the same planet (same resource ID) and if so, what are their resource IDs and which ones are visible?

I ask the last question because a planet that exists in multiple systems which are all visible at once will appear in every one of them, but it will only have a graphic (and I believe only be landable, but I could be wrong on that) in the system with the lowest resource ID containing it which is visible.

@qaanol, on Jan 23 2009, 11:40 PM, said in MissionComputer: The Saga Continues:

Welcome to the forums Franky, your question is valid and probably warrants a topic of its own.

What resource ID is the planet?
What resource ID is the system?
What format of graphic did you use (PICT, RLED, RLE8)?
What resource ID is the graphic?
What planet type did you give the planet?
Are there any other systems which contain the same planet (same resource ID) and if so, what are their resource IDs and which ones are visible?

I ask the last question because a planet that exists in multiple systems which are all visible at once will appear in every one of them, but it will only have a graphic (and I believe only be landable, but I could be wrong on that) in the system with the lowest resource ID containing it which is visible.

The System Id : 500
Planet Id : 499
Planet Type : 30
No there are no planets with the same ID
the Resource Id is : Ev Nova Data files
i Don't under stand you see this is the first time i have ever used Mission Computer and the Manual wasn't very helpful on this subject

The way the Manual was set out was like for Someone who knew Coding and not for people like me who just wanted plain simple instruction on how to do thing the make Planets just so we can have fun and enjoy our (Kinda overpriced) game......

View PostFranky, on Jan 24 2009, 05:24 AM, said:

The System Id : 500
Planet Id : 499
Planet Type : 30
No there are no planets with the same ID
the Resource Id is : Ev Nova Data files
i Don't under stand you see this is the first time i have ever used Mission Computer and the Manual wasn't very helpful on this subject

The way the Manual was set out was like for Someone who knew Coding and not for people like me who just wanted plain simple instruction on how to do thing the make Planets just so we can have fun and enjoy our (Kinda overpriced) game......

@franky, on Jan 24 2009, 04:26 AM, said in MissionComputer: The Saga Continues:

Planet Id : 499

Hi, Franky, and welcome to the boards.

spöb (planet) ID 499 is already used by the Nil'kemorya hypergate. By using that ID for your planet, you’ve replaced HG-Nil'kemorya, and your planet is therefore appearing in both your system and the Nil'kemorya system, as Qaanol anticipated. For that matter, by giving your sÿst (system) ID 500, you've also replaced the NGC-1317 system.

In order to develop EV Nova plug-ins, you need to understand (among other things) the principles of the resource hierarchy. (MissionComputer, as you have already noticed, does not attempt the impossible task of allowing you to develop without understanding the relevant theory. To be fair, it’s something that far fewer people know than it was at the time Escape Velocity was first introduced.) If there are two resources of the same type and ID, the one loaded last will take precedence; this is how it’s possible to change existing parts of the game, as well as adding new ones. If you do want to add something, you have to make sure to give it an ID that isn’t already used. The sÿst and spöb resources are stored in Nova Data 2, so you can check your IDs against the list there.

Just discovered that the plugin converter included with win Nova will scramble resource names after 32KB, half the actual limit outlined by Zacha (you can download the converter for Mac from here). MC and the stand-alone converter work fine but would it be feasible to add warnings/safeguards against this? Also the resource limit of 2727.

Regarding names though, an idea to reduce the amount of name data: Rather than filling in default names for resources with hardcoded IDs (many descs and PICTs among other things), instead generate equivalent placeholder names for unnamed resources when displaying the resource list. Sort of like how unnamed descs currently show a snippet of the desc content (except the placeholder name should be in grey to indicate that it's only a placeholder).

This post has been edited by Guy : 10 February 2009 - 07:54 PM

@guy, on Feb 10 2009, 07:52 PM, said in MissionComputer: The Saga Continues:

Just discovered that the plugin converter included with win Nova will scramble resource names after 32KB, half the actual limit outlined by Zacha (you can download the converter for Mac from here). MC and the stand-alone converter work fine but would it be feasible to add warnings/safeguards against this? Also the resource limit of 2727.

Thanks for the information. Unfortunately, MissionComputer would have to work with resource files at a much lower level than it does in order to be able to measure either of these, and that would bring a whole realm of new problems.

@guy, on Feb 10 2009, 07:52 PM, said in MissionComputer: The Saga Continues:

Rather than filling in default names for resources with hardcoded IDs (many descs and PICTs among other things), instead generate equivalent placeholder names for unnamed resources when displaying the resource list.

This makes sense in theory, but it would take some work to get MissionComputer able to locate the relevant resources – I'll give it some thought, though. It would also mean that the explanatory names would no longer be available to other editors, though this is much less of an issue nowadays.

@guy, on Feb 10 2009, 07:52 PM, said in MissionComputer: The Saga Continues:

Sort of like how unnamed descs currently show a snippet of the desc content (except the placeholder name should be in grey to indicate that it's only a placeholder).

That one I can do. Well, actually, I'm using italics, but the principle is the same.

Okay, thanks. I just said grey because that's what Cocoa's placeholder names look like but I guess italics would be more appropriate in this case.

Now some requests for the snd player. Can you show information about the sound, like duration, sample rate, bits, compression, mono/stereo? And probably more work than it's worth but is there any chance of playback controls?

@guy, on Feb 11 2009, 03:41 PM, said in MissionComputer: The Saga Continues:

Okay, thanks. I just said grey because that's what Cocoa's placeholder names look like but I guess italics would be more appropriate in this case.

Not to mention easier.

@guy, on Feb 11 2009, 03:41 PM, said in MissionComputer: The Saga Continues:

Now some requests for the snd player. Can you show information about the sound, like duration, sample rate, bits, compression, mono/stereo? And probably more work than it's worth but is there any chance of playback controls?

I too am utterly unsatisfied by the sound player, but to do anything better would require replacing it from the ground up with something utterly unlike any part of MissionComputer as it exists now. I'll certainly keep it in mind, but for the moment I'm focusing on the features I actually know how I'll implement.

Going back a bit, I think I've narrowed down the not-saving bug. It seems to happen most frequently (or perhaps only) when I save with a dësc open from another resource (so like bringing up a mission dësc from the mïsn resource). I know earlier versions didn't let you save at all under these circumstances, so even if it's a bit buggy, the feature is greatly appreciated by at least one compulsive saver.

@archon, on Feb 12 2009, 02:51 AM, said in MissionComputer: The Saga Continues:

It seems to happen most frequently (or perhaps only) when I save with a dësc open from another resource (so like bringing up a mission dësc from the mïsn resource).

Okay, that sounds plausible, given the multi-layered connexions involved. I'll explore them a little, and perhaps be able to track down what's happening.

When you first mentioned this, you talked about MissionComputer asking to save twice. Have you been able to determine whether any information is actually lost if you say no?

Nope, but I'll give it a shot next time I'm editing.

Whenever I move a planet in the system editor, it doesn't save the new location. The planet reverts back to the old location and the only way I can change it then is by hitting the 'Edit planet' button and changing the numbers that way.

I am currently having a little trouble with the spöb resource. I have a bunch of stations that are not supposed to trade "metal" but when ever I close the window and re-open it the metal field is set to "high prices" again. It only happens if the "food" field is set to "high prices".

EDIT: If the "food" field is set to "high prices" the "metal" field mimics it, if it is set to anything other than that the metal field will set to "not traded".

This post has been edited by Sp3cies : 16 February 2009 - 06:42 AM

@it-000, on Feb 15 2009, 05:36 PM, said in MissionComputer: The Saga Continues:

Whenever I move a planet in the system editor, it doesn't save the new location. The planet reverts back to the old location and the only way I can change it then is by hitting the 'Edit planet' button and changing the numbers that way.

When you drag a planet, the new location isn't written until you either de-select it or click 'Apply'. (You can tell when a change is recorded, because an 'unsaved' dot appears in the editor's close box.) This made sense in the original version of the system editor, but I'll change it to write immediately.

@sp3cies, on Feb 16 2009, 06:12 AM, said in MissionComputer: The Saga Continues:

I am currently having a little trouble with the spöb resource. ... If the "food" field is set to "high prices" the "metal" field mimics it ...

Fixed, thanks.

Very minor, but when you roll the mouse over Prox. radius in the wëap resource it says the same as it does for the Blast radius.