Generating CEs

Zomis · Post by **Zomis** » Fri Nov 18, 2005 10:17 am

Tomi wrote:and it looks like that I'll need some very advanced tool for more comfortable CE editing, so I have to learn some multiplatform GUI lib, so I... etc etc etc...

Well... I have actually been thinking of making some CE-programming possible within RNDTool so you could use some Delphi code (unfortunately not other languages, since I already have a Delphi-script-component for Delphi) to change some CEs, for example like this:
for I:=1 to 256 do CE.Indestructible:=True; (which will make all CEs indestructible)
or like this:
for I:=1 to 256 do CE.Change[2].ChangeTo:=elRock; (which will make all CEs change to Rock on the 2nd change-page.

It would be possible to implement this into RNDTool, but I haven't worked with RNDTool for ages it feels like, so my motivation for doing it isn't the best. (This is where you should shout: "Please, do it! It would be great!!" etc..) But as I said, I can't make it with C-script language, only Delphi.

Tomi · Post by **Tomi** » Fri Nov 18, 2005 1:23 pm

(note: I think this is getting a bit off topic, could you split it to new thread, probably in Programmers Corner?)

Well, actually, my tool is a bit more complicated... It will read some text file containing precisely defined CEs, and the file is generated with bash script, but that's multi-platform enough, so I have to improve it somehow...
About language and GUI: Because I want it to run both in Linux and Win32, I can't use Delphi, but instead GTK+, GTK--, MASkinG etc. I think I'll choose MASkinG, because I know it _much_ more than GTK libs. (But almost nobody else knows about MASkinG..:)

Alan · Post by **Alan** » Fri Nov 18, 2005 2:50 pm

Well... I have actually been thinking of making some CE-programming possible within RNDTool so you could use some Delphi code (unfortunately not other languages, since I already have a Delphi-script-component for Delphi) to change some CEs, for example like this:

It's funny that Zomis. I have just finished writing my own version of BASIC for ConfEdit! I have never written my own language before, and was surprised how easy it is!

Tomi · Post by **Tomi** » Fri Nov 18, 2005 4:07 pm

> you could use some Delphi code
> It will read some text file
> I have just finished writing my own version of BASIC
*Just great*, it looks like there will be three RnD "programming languages". Maybe it wouldn't be a bad idea to make something unified?

Zomis · Post by **Zomis** » Fri Nov 18, 2005 5:15 pm

Tomi wrote:(note: I think this is getting a bit off topic, could you split it to new thread, probably in Programmers Corner?)

Done! I had the exact same idea in mind a bit earlier...

Tomi wrote:> you could use some Delphi code
> It will read some text file
> I have just finished writing my own version of BASIC
*Just great*, it looks like there will be three RnD "programming languages". Maybe it wouldn't be a bad idea to make something unified?

Heh

Well, I was actually wondered if Alan had something like this in mind too, and I thought that he is much better at putting a nice GUI to the stuff than I am, that's also one of the reasons why I haven't done anything on it yet.

Yeah, running stuff in both Linux and Win32 would be great, I have planning this for RNDTool, but haven't found a good solution yet (haven't had the time to test either, actually...). But if I get RNDTool to work in Linux (which I might do some day), then the script-system will also work in Linux.

Alan: Like I said, I was wondered if you had the same thing in mind...

I'm looking forward to see ConfEdit... or maybe ConfEdit won't include a CE-script system? Well, looking forward to see it anyways

Any news about release date?

Alan · Post by **Alan** » Fri Nov 18, 2005 11:21 pm

Maybe it wouldn't be a bad idea to make something unified?

Good idea, although mine is mostly about text manipulation, it has recently branched into file\registry and zip management though

Well, I was actually wondered if Alan had something like this in mind too, and I thought that he is much better at putting a nice GUI to the stuff than I am, that's also one of the reasons why I haven't done anything on it yet.

Yeah, but I spend hours tweaking button positions etc.....very sad!

Alan: Like I said, I was wondered if you had the same thing in mind... I'm looking forward to see ConfEdit... or maybe ConfEdit won't include a CE-script system? Well, looking forward to see it anyways Any news about release date?

The CE-script system is finished......kind of. The problem with writing a language is the more commands you add the more error checking you have to put in. At the moment there's about 100 commands and 120 statics, but with infinite user variables. Not bad speeds either (considering it's interpreted). It has originally changed from a text based style basic to a full plug-in system! You can for example embed images and even other EXEs inside each Basic program, then extract and run them when you want. This is great for making prefab elements,or even user controls. I'm thinking of making a R&Ds based sprite editor soon and if it all works out OK it will be a plug-in for Confedit.

As for ConfEdit, it's pretty much done.....ironing out some bugs and writing the help system (every R&Ds command is documented with examples

)

Tomi · Post by **Tomi** » Sat Nov 19, 2005 8:36 am

I wonder why do you need zip management

Alan · Post by **Alan** » Sun Nov 20, 2005 2:43 pm

I wonder why do you need zip management?

I don't..... but somebody might!, and that's the whole point isn't it?

Confedit already has zip support for it's own uses.......so why not make it a command in the Basic? It only took a couple of lines of code to add it in, and anyway as I said it's more a plug-in system then a language, so full file suport is expected:-

Code: Select all

DIM $ZipGame
SET $ZipGame =[RNDPath] +"BD2K3\" 
ZIP $ZipGame "C:\temp\BD2K3_Sleep.zip" 
DIRKILL $ZipGame

This puts the game BD2K3 in a zip and deletes its folder afterwards...

Code: Select all

SET $UnzipGame ="C:\temp\BD2K3_Sleep.zip" 
UNZIP "level.001" $UnzipGame "C:\temp\"

This unzips a single file from the archive to temp...

Tomi · Post by **Tomi** » Sun Nov 20, 2005 5:23 pm

Well my tool was planned to be some RnD editor with the support of dynamic CE scripting (actually, that's the main reason why I need it), combined with features of "RNDLaunch" (mentioned somewhere else on this forum, use search), and I also planned some limited leveldir + artwork support, but as I can see, looks like there will be better tools for that...
Or... Maybe I could make the whole thing a plugin for ConfEdit and everything would fit in only one tool. But I'm not sure if *that* is possible with the plugins...

HerzAusGold wrote:(from Level Designers/Sokoban thread)
btw: I prefer QT on Windows. Is available at Linux too.

QT for Windows is finally free? Great... QT looks to have more features and widgets than MASkinG, I'll test it.