Nice looking tool.
There is a problem with the Race Biases screen which on my screen at least does not have the Main Menu icon top right corner.
This means I cannot get back to the Main Menu and have to cancel the tool through Task Manager.
Otherwise...excellent work there.
Modding Tool [1.1.0 Released!]
RE: Modding Tool
Thanks for that rjord1, I've just pushed revision 24 to deal with it so give that a go. The button is actually there, but the form was big enough that on smaller resolutions if you had enough races to stretch the form the button could end up being hidden on the right hand side.
I've shrunk the form a fair bit and the controls now get added to a panel (I didn't know panels existed when I made that form), so it should expand nicely.
I've shrunk the form a fair bit and the controls now get added to a panel (I didn't know panels existed when I made that form), so it should expand nicely.
RE: Modding Tool
Revision 25 fixes a bug reported via the log tool, if you tried to load in a race that has an invalid "additional data" value set in its victory conditions it basically stopped the race form working. Now it should intelligently report the error and set the value to "None".
I don't know the username for the person who reported this but their mod name initials were "SW" (don't want to give away the title if you're not ready to go public), so if you're reading this thanks for reporting it!
I don't know the username for the person who reported this but their mod name initials were "SW" (don't want to give away the title if you're not ready to go public), so if you're reading this thanks for reporting it!
RE: Modding Tool
This tool is awesome. It removes a ton of the tedium and headache of modding this game.
Thanks a lot!
Thanks a lot!
RE: Modding Tool
Thanks Ghost73!
For revision 26 the detail viewer on the tech tree shows component improvement values and how they differ from the original unimproved components.
It also includes an icon for the batch tasks as well as a better icon for the fighters form.
For revision 26 the detail viewer on the tech tree shows component improvement values and how they differ from the original unimproved components.
It also includes an icon for the batch tasks as well as a better icon for the fighters form.
RE: Modding Tool
Revision 27 is up and has a new batch tasks subform for the resources. This allows you to change the various resource values (including the location info) en-mass, it works much like the one for the components works.
It also has the tech tree viewer completed; now showing details about any abilities or changes to plagues. Along with the previous revisions that means all the possible research lines are now showing in the detail view.
I’ll be spending the next few days just going through everything and making sure it’s doing what it’s supposed to do. I’m no longer finding glaring bugs, the project looks good and it covers everything I set out to do. So unless I find or anyone reports anything that needs fixing urgently revision 27 will likely be the last one before release as 1.0.0!
It also has the tech tree viewer completed; now showing details about any abilities or changes to plagues. Along with the previous revisions that means all the possible research lines are now showing in the detail view.
I’ll be spending the next few days just going through everything and making sure it’s doing what it’s supposed to do. I’m no longer finding glaring bugs, the project looks good and it covers everything I set out to do. So unless I find or anyone reports anything that needs fixing urgently revision 27 will likely be the last one before release as 1.0.0!
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NegativeZ3R0
- Posts: 2
- Joined: Mon Feb 13, 2017 7:55 pm
RE: Modding Tool
I registered for an account just to tell you how much I love you for making this. Thank you for your hard work.
RE: Modding Tool
One suggestion.....
Would you be able to add a minimize and maximize buttons to top right of the main screen as there is no way to minimize the modding tool.
Would you be able to add a minimize and maximize buttons to top right of the main screen as there is no way to minimize the modding tool.
RE: Modding Tool
Thank you very much NegativeZ3R0!
rjord, I can't add a maximise button because maximising it would corrupt the view of the form (none of the controls would resize).
Minimise I can do though, you'd just restore it by hitting the program icon in the task bar.
rjord, I can't add a maximise button because maximising it would corrupt the view of the form (none of the controls would resize).
Minimise I can do though, you'd just restore it by hitting the program icon in the task bar.
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NegativeZ3R0
- Posts: 2
- Joined: Mon Feb 13, 2017 7:55 pm
RE: Modding Tool
I am actually learning to program myself, and so seeing you make a tool like this is really inspirational.
That aside, thanks to your tool, most of the tedium and easily made mistakes are now basically taken out of the modding process.
A long time ago I made a personal mod for myself, but lost it to a burnt out HDD. Now what took me a few days, could easily take me an half an hour.
When Distant Worlds II comes out, I hope that you, or someone like you, is around to make a tool like this for the game when it is released.
That aside, thanks to your tool, most of the tedium and easily made mistakes are now basically taken out of the modding process.
A long time ago I made a personal mod for myself, but lost it to a burnt out HDD. Now what took me a few days, could easily take me an half an hour.
When Distant Worlds II comes out, I hope that you, or someone like you, is around to make a tool like this for the game when it is released.
RE: Modding Tool
At long last…
It’s been just under a year since I started on this tool. I did consider waiting until the 24th so I could say it’s been exactly a year, but I figured why make people wait 10 more days for no good reason? Back then, another MatrixGames user had a similar project that had been going on two years and ended up abandoned with no release. I figured anything I can make has to be better than that.
40,000+ lines of code later and we’re finally here. Version 1.0.0 of the tool is out, and marks the end of development for this project. That’s not to say I won’t fix any issues that come up or implement feature requests though, so please feel free to keep reporting and suggesting.
Of course, at some point Distant Worlds 2 will come out and I’ll use this as a basis to make an editor for that too. Hopefully it’ll be easier now that I have a decent idea of what I’m doing and lots of code to reference. It should also mean a release of the editor for DW2 within months after the game releases as opposed to almost 7 years later. I expect that will mean the DW2 editor gets rather more use out of it than this one.
That said, this is still a fantastic game in its own right with plenty of potential for creative folks to work their magic. I hope this tool helps you guys to do that, and you can bet I’ll be trying out the fruits of your efforts.
Happy modding!
It’s been just under a year since I started on this tool. I did consider waiting until the 24th so I could say it’s been exactly a year, but I figured why make people wait 10 more days for no good reason? Back then, another MatrixGames user had a similar project that had been going on two years and ended up abandoned with no release. I figured anything I can make has to be better than that.
40,000+ lines of code later and we’re finally here. Version 1.0.0 of the tool is out, and marks the end of development for this project. That’s not to say I won’t fix any issues that come up or implement feature requests though, so please feel free to keep reporting and suggesting.
Of course, at some point Distant Worlds 2 will come out and I’ll use this as a basis to make an editor for that too. Hopefully it’ll be easier now that I have a decent idea of what I’m doing and lots of code to reference. It should also mean a release of the editor for DW2 within months after the game releases as opposed to almost 7 years later. I expect that will mean the DW2 editor gets rather more use out of it than this one.
That said, this is still a fantastic game in its own right with plenty of potential for creative folks to work their magic. I hope this tool helps you guys to do that, and you can bet I’ll be trying out the fruits of your efforts.
Happy modding!
RE: Modding Tool
Seriously tho, great great job [&o]
...Igniting stellar cores....Recharging reactors...Recalibrating hyperdrives....
RE: Modding Tool
[&o][&o][&o][&o][&o][&o][&o][&o][&o][&o][&o][&o][&o] I will name a Star System after you Sabranan
RE: Modding Tool
Thank you so much guys!
I've just published a revision to deal with a little bug a user reported where the proportion values for the race victory conditions didn't save properly. Easy fix and by all means, if you guys find anything else like this do report it either here or by PM (using the log reporting tool in the mod would be very helpful as well).
I've just published a revision to deal with a little bug a user reported where the proportion values for the race victory conditions didn't save properly. Easy fix and by all means, if you guys find anything else like this do report it either here or by PM (using the log reporting tool in the mod would be very helpful as well).
RE: Modding Tool
It's probably got something to do with me not knowing what I'm doing, but I have it reading in from this almost blank mod folder, it's still preventing me from deleting resources:
RE: Modding Tool
Also getting red box for values over 1 in "Colony Manufacturing Level," there is no limit on this as far as I know, it's based on population*development level.
RE: Modding Tool
Hi Capshades,
The Colony Manufacturing Level issue is because the data validation wasn't set properly for some reason, I've pushed a revision to deal with that.
The other issue is happening because the tool loads mods in the same way DW does, I.E. if any files are missing, it'll use the ones in the DW installation folder instead. That results in you having the default components file loaded instead. Of course, the default components already reference the various strategic resources in the game.
So I've implemented a new feature to wipe all the values in the currently loaded mod and just use the absolute minimum of one project per file (so one research project, one race, one resource etc.). It should be quite useful for anyone wanting to start work on a brand new mod.
If you've already got some stuff you've worked on (say a resources.txt in your case):
1) backup the files you've worked on to somewhere outside the mod folder
2) load the mod and wipe the values
3) output everything to disk
4) copy your backup back into your mod folder
5) reload the mod
That will keep your work and give you a blank template to work from for everything else. For the resources.txt file that should work, because resources.txt doesn't contain any references to any other file.
The Colony Manufacturing Level issue is because the data validation wasn't set properly for some reason, I've pushed a revision to deal with that.
The other issue is happening because the tool loads mods in the same way DW does, I.E. if any files are missing, it'll use the ones in the DW installation folder instead. That results in you having the default components file loaded instead. Of course, the default components already reference the various strategic resources in the game.
So I've implemented a new feature to wipe all the values in the currently loaded mod and just use the absolute minimum of one project per file (so one research project, one race, one resource etc.). It should be quite useful for anyone wanting to start work on a brand new mod.
If you've already got some stuff you've worked on (say a resources.txt in your case):
1) backup the files you've worked on to somewhere outside the mod folder
2) load the mod and wipe the values
3) output everything to disk
4) copy your backup back into your mod folder
5) reload the mod
That will keep your work and give you a blank template to work from for everything else. For the resources.txt file that should work, because resources.txt doesn't contain any references to any other file.