[Aborted] Distant Worlds 2 Mod Maker

[Eventure]

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[frankycl]

Lass uns dann in PM's auf Deutsch weiter machen, hier im Forum sollte Englisch die Basis sein, damit alle am Austausch teilhaben können.

No problem (that's what I meant, too).

Verstehe das bitte nicht falsch, aber da bin ich eher zurückhaltend, vielleicht später.

No problen, too, (but you do know that you could disable/cancel that again, everytime you want, yes ?)

Der Installer legt eine Shortcut an, jedoch gabs ein Schreibfehler im Namen (> Distant Worls). (...)

The little typo is in the UI of the program, too - even in the newest version (at the bottom-line; - just a little picky hint (lol))

Wenn alles klappt, dann gibt es heute schon das nächste Update!

Ich habe nun das Problem mit der Skalierung gelöst, Es gibt nun eine automatische Anpassung beim ersten Start und eine manuelle Anpassung im App Config Menü.

Looking forward to it (very eagerly)

[Eventure]

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[frankycl]

The little typo is in the UI of the program, too - even in the newest version (at the bottom-line; - just a little picky hint (lol))

Didn't see it, tell me please where exactly and what typo?

Well, like I said - it's similar to the typo in the desktop-shortcut: Distant Worlds <-> Distant Worlds 2 :

Typo.png (6.74 KiB) Viewed 1870 times

[Eventure]

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[Eventure]

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[frankycl]

YESSSS - you've done it !! - Even on my system it's working now, without any additional configuration.

However there's still some room for improvement, I think, since the texts are only displayed (almost) properly in 100% UI-scaling, but with other scaling-values either some of the buttons are gone completely (again), or the texts overlap (again):

100%

100.png (39.43 KiB) Viewed 1852 times

110%

110.png (65.51 KiB) Viewed 1852 times

90%

90.png (33.01 KiB) Viewed 1852 times

- I could imagine that those are problems that are caused through my desctop-scaling (again; - haven't tested this, yet), but maybe you want to make sure that your tool is working/displaying properly in all possible setting/configurations...

However for me it would be fine as it is, and if it's functions/features work as they are intended to I have nothing to complain about (anymore).

[Eventure]

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[Eventure]

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[frankycl]

(...)
(...) or update the mod maker from the app configuration window.

No, I can't - I still get a "file-access-violation-error" when I try to use the update-option :

error.png (28.93 KiB) Viewed 1806 times

- I know (now) that this is due to the access-rights I have on drive C:, but since this is still the default installation-path...


Everything else works quite properly, I think (except the missing text on the buttons, etc., when loaded for the first time / without having changed the text-font - at least with my WIN-scaling-settings. )

Furthermore I think you should offer an additional uninstall-option now, because it's very inconveniant to need to manually delete all the folders and the desktop-icon - even more since the files / folders are now splitted in program- and user-files.
(I think, another option would be to use a "real" install, so that WIN could list it under the installed apps and it could be uninstalled there / with an uninstall-program. )

[frankycl]

I also still have the problem that some of the button-texts are only readable before i used the buttons on the right ("App Configuration" and "Mod Configuration"); but the moment I click on them, the text "Load Mod" disappears completely (and can't be forced to re-appear in clicking on it), and the one I didn't click gets black, too (but also blue when clicking the next time) and I can't read the text on it (since it seems to be displayed in a similar blue or black color), until I click on it again:

After start / before clicking on any button:

start.png (7.66 KiB) Viewed 1802 times

1-button-click:

1-button-click.png (6.37 KiB) Viewed 1802 times

2-button-clicks:

2-button-clicks.png (7.09 KiB) Viewed 1802 times

Click on "Load Mod" / dark button:

click on Load Mod.png (25.85 KiB) Viewed 1802 times

Now, I know that this is due to the use of the high-contrast modus from WIN10 (and it won't bother me too much, when I can read the texts alternately), but why is the text on the "Load Mod"-button disappearing completely ? - This is really a great pitty, because I don't always by heart for what the button could/should be used.

[Eventure]

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[Eventure]

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[frankycl]

YES !! - You've done it, again ! - For the first time, I can see the text of all buttons and with almost the right text-width from the start. (font-size 10 as a default would be what's needed for the complete texts, but I guess that's only me. )

... and I also found the "Donate"-button (it's not much - more a symbolic gesture for the outstanding support, but if I can/will use the tool often in the future it won't be the last time I used it. )

[Eventure]

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[frankycl]

Do you have a wish, which part I should finish next?

Yes, I do have a wish (since I'm on a mod involving this already): "changing of Game Events".

Btw: would it be possible for such large files to sort the needed entries in the XMLs (like e.g. in regards to to the above file: All game-events that belong to a specific race) ?

EDIT: And I'v got another (multiple) unhandled exception by only clicking in the check-boxes of the possible mods :

unhandled exception.png (78.25 KiB) Viewed 1737 times

Maybe this is due to the fact that I hadn't defined any paths before in tha App Configuration (?) - but even if so, I think you should give a hint somewhere on how to do it properly (or add a manual, or something).

Btw: for what are the "Internal" check-boxes ? - Maybe a little tool-tip wouldn't do any harm ?

[Eventure]

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[frankycl]

Okay, Game Events will come next after I finished the Orb Types.
There is a value called "triggerRaceIdField" so filtering race would not be a problem. See the Ship Hull part, I added two types of filters there.

Great - really looking forward to this.
But I think additionally it would be great to filter the events by "Main Story"-, "Racespecific Story"- and "General"-events. (I know that this is not as easy as the race-filters, but if you take the <Name>-tag right under <GameEvent> you'll always find the key-words/key-characters for the filters. )

(...)
- Internal: The Mod Maker takes care of this part of the game. If activated, you can edit all values of this part. A button appears at the top of the window to access the values to change.

- External: The Mod Maker handles external game files for the actual mod. When enabled, two buttons will appear, a Select and an Import button (the Import button will not appear if the mod maker doesn't support that part yet).
The corresponding game file can then be attached to the current mod with the Select button. The Mod Maker then copies this into the game directory when the game is started and removes it again when the game is closed. Only editing does not work.
With the import button, the corresponding game file is integrated into the current mod. The list of differences will then show you in which parts the imported file has different values from the original game file.
Once all displayed deviations have been processed, the external file, i.e. one not created by the Mod Maker, is integrated into the Mod Maker's mod.

Oh my - didn't think that it could be that complex/difficult (for first-time users, like me ), but many thanks for the elaborate explanations.
However there are some parts I still don't understand, like:

"Internal: The Mod Maker takes care of this part..." - What does this mean exactly / does the Mod Maker use the XMLs/TXTs in the data-folder of the game ? Or where do those to-be-edited values come from (and where are they stored)

"External: (...) The corresponding game file can then be attached to the current mod..." - Does this mean that the "corresponding game file" (= XML/TXT) will be merged with a game file that is already modded ? _like e.g. when I would use my modded ShipHulls.xml with the already (otherwise) moded ShipHulls.xml from your Mod Maker ? (or what do you mean by "current mod" - all we can mod so far are the XMLs, the TXTs and some parts of the bundle-files (if we get to extract/save them), or not ?)

Could you also please explain which files are used where and when ? - Thanks in andvance.

[frankycl]

(...)
There is a value called "triggerRaceIdField" so filtering race would not be a problem. (...)

Just found out that this might get a bit tricky, too, since at some events there is only a <PlacementRaceId>- instead the <TriggerRaceId>- (and sometimes both), or a <NonTriggerRaceId>-tag (which means "all, but...") - so you would have to asign this to the other 6 races each, instead to just one.

[Eventure]

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