[fly_zo]

..... since we have at least three brilliant minds here ( programming wise ) producing tools almost daily ,
how about forming a team and produce one global tool which would contain all those cutters/joiners , filters for actors.static ?

just a thought ....


what do you reckon ?


Z

[delvpier]

Well, I like much this idea ... but for me, really, it's no, I couldn't...

simply because I'm not a programmer :oops: :oops: :oops:

I made my tool last week... but one week before, I didn't know anything about VBScript :oops:

I found the idea intersting... and I learned by reading some tutorials... but it is really basic programmation :oops: otherwise I would have made it in a more complex language...

Other tools are made in Java by real programmers... so I don't think this is my place, I couldn't follow them :roll:

[fly_zo]

Well, I like much this idea ... but for me, really, it's no, I couldn't...

simply because I'm not a programmer :oops: :oops: :oops:

I made my tool last week... but one week before, I didn't know anything about VBScript :oops:

I found the idea intersting... and I learned by reading some tutorials... but it is really basic programmation :oops: otherwise I would have made it in a more complex language...

Other tools are made in Java by real programmers... so I don't think this is my place, I couldn't follow them :roll:

hey m8.... no problem , and you sure know hell of a lot more than me as programing concerns :wink:

Z

[lowfighter]

Yes, that would be nice, iit would make things easier and faster and mistakes harder...

[|ZUTI|]

Why not. It shouldn't be that difficult to include even the older MW programs into one GUI (tab wise, let's say). I wanted to produce it before, just didn't find the time

[kapteeni]

Cool Idea. For NOOB like me, will somebody include step by step Tutorials too ?:oops: I been strucling with act tool /cutter tool.
Like this:
1. Put actors.static to...(screen shot here)
2. Ectratct by clicking/or ...(screen shot here)
3.Put ectracted files to......(screen shot here)

I know...This sound ridigilous to most of you....but me is not da Einstein

EDIT: Look at all the typos. They certainly speak themself :roll:

[Redwulf__32]

I think this is a brilliant idea. Although many of the various tools (usually) get the job done, it is often a very confusing "application shuffle" with non-intuitive and conflicting man-machine interfaces.

A nice IDE for map building would be an enormous bonus, especially "wizards" for population of cities and countrysides, airfield construction and so on. An "import from" geographical data site and automatic creation of the various map_xx.tga's would also ease the task.

Large task but definately doable in IMHO.

I don't know if I'm considered one of fly-zo's "Three Brilliant Minds" but if needed, I'll gladly do my part. 8)

ps. If anybody has info on the structure of an actors.static file I would VERY MUCH like to have a look at that. PM me.

[fly_zo]

@Redwulf__32: he,he... i got this idea when i saw your map_c tool ...and when |ZUTI| and delvpier came with theirs ... i just had to ask

Just to make something straight : there is no obligations , pressure or anything .... if you guys can come out with anything it would be great , if not .... never mind, what we have so far is useful enough and most appreciated

....just let me know if i can do anything here for you

Many thanks to your positive respond

Z

[fabianfred]

LSA made the cutter tool too didn't he....another one to add to the soup

[fly_zo]

LSA made the cutter tool too didn't he....another one to add to the soup

well, he can speak for himself .... he is very welcome of course as is anyone else who would like to participate


This isn't drafting , that's why i didn't come out with specific names .... :wink:

Z

[lowfighter]

While constituting the tool team I think it's good to start talking about how, and maybe too about what other stuff can be useful to include...bit inciherent here, I have some carps i caught yesterdayand they are in the frying pan...

[|ZUTI|]

RichardHed PMed me with this cool idea of his (hope you don't mind posting the PM):

Sir;
You seem adept at make tools and I was wondering if you could look at a small dilemma with objects. Currently FC's ShipPack2, Lal_RONEs Hanger Mod (and his upcoming Fortifications Mod) and other Objects do not have the distribution they should have because the lines of text within are not single lines but nested lines of text.

I have an idea of creating a protocol for object builders in the spirit of FCs ShipPack2 which contains the objects in a separate xxx.ini.txt file that should be appended to the end of the existing file. If you download FC's ShipPack2 and Lal_RONEs Hanger Mod and look at the structure you will see what I mean.

What's missing is someway to integrate the additional lines of text. I'm sure you are busy and I may not have explained this well enough but if you could look at this and come up with a small applet that could resolve this, then maybe we could get new objects added to the AAAui.

That is true, i think. So, with regard to his idea i developed a application, that needs only one input parameter - IL2 instalation folder. And the other requirement is that moders create a custom file in which they descripe what goes where. The file name is mandatory (sorry ) and it's called "Z_AutoLoader.ini"

This file contains lines that describe everything that needs to be done. A short sample that i was testing:

D:\temp\IL2\Mods\MyMod\Ini Files\blabla.txt;*;D:\temp\IL2\Static\static.ini;*;0;
//D:\temp\IL2\Mods\MyMod\Ini Files\blabla.txt;*;D:\temp\IL2\Static\static.ini;[Middle];1;

//D:\temp\IL2\Mods\MyMod\Ini Files\blabla.txt;[Start];D:\temp\IL2\Static\static.ini;[Middle];1;
//D:\temp\IL2\Mods\MyMod\Ini Files\blabla.txt;[Start];D:\temp\IL2\Static\static.ini;*;0;

Now, don't panic, the structure is like this:

file to copy from; section in that file to copy; file to copy to; section in that file to append lines to; copy section name or not;

That's it. If you want to copy everything you use '*' mark under "Section in that file to copy" or if you want to append it at the end of the output file again use '*' mark. Last entry has to be number

Sample files and results:

file: blabla.txt

[Start]
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb
cccccccccccccccc
dddddddddddddddd
eeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
ffffffffffffffff
gggggggggggggggg
hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

[Middle]
iiiiiiiiiiiiiiii
jjjjjjjjjjjjjjjj
kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk
llllllllllllllll
mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn
oooooooooooooooo
pppppppppppppppp
rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
ssssssssssssssss

[End]
tttttttttttttttt
uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu
vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

File: static.ini

[Start]
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb
cccccccccccccccc
dddddddddddddddd
eeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
ffffffffffffffff
gggggggggggggggg
hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

[Middle]
iiiiiiiiiiiiiiii
jjjjjjjjjjjjjjjj
kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk
llllllllllllllll
mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn
oooooooooooooooo
pppppppppppppppp
rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
ssssssssssssssss

[End]
tttttttttttttttt
uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu
vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Line in the 'Z_AutoLoader.ini' file:

D:\temp\IL2\Mods\MyMod\Ini Files\blabla.txt;[Start];D:\temp\IL2\Static\static.ini;*;0;

Result is:

[Start]
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb
cccccccccccccccc
dddddddddddddddd
eeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
ffffffffffffffff
gggggggggggggggg
hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

[Middle]
iiiiiiiiiiiiiiii
jjjjjjjjjjjjjjjj
kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk
llllllllllllllll
mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn
oooooooooooooooo
pppppppppppppppp
rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
ssssssssssssssss

[End]
tttttttttttttttt
uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu
vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb
cccccccccccccccc
dddddddddddddddd
eeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
ffffffffffffffff
gggggggggggggggg
hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

D:\temp\IL2\Mods\MyMod\Ini Files\blabla.txt;[Start];D:\temp\IL2\Static\static.ini;[End];1;

Result is:

[Start]
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb
cccccccccccccccc
dddddddddddddddd
eeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
ffffffffffffffff
gggggggggggggggg
hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh


[Middle]
iiiiiiiiiiiiiiii
jjjjjjjjjjjjjjjj
kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk
llllllllllllllll
mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn
oooooooooooooooo
pppppppppppppppp
rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
ssssssssssssssss

[End]
tttttttttttttttt
uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu
vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
[Start]
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb
cccccccccccccccc
dddddddddddddddd
eeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
ffffffffffffffff
gggggggggggggggg
hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

In short, this is it. And after the 'Z_AutoLoader.ini' file is processed it is renamed to 'Z_AutoLoader.ini.done', so you can run this application as many times as you want and it will not ruin or process already processed mods.

The last thing to tell is that this famous 'Z_AutoLoader.ini' file must be placed somewhere in the \\IL2RootDir\Mods folder. The app searches for this files from there on. And the files location in the file can contain absolute file paths (it is replaced later on with inserted IL2 root dir location) or relative file path FROM IL2 root dir on!.

I'll attach link to the app in a sec. Not done quite yet (must wire the status window) but then that's it.

Was this a waste of time?

[fly_zo]

..... not at all ( waste of time ...) , but how does it search for possible double entries one may have in static.ini and how it deals with them ? Some sort of filelist cleaner ...


regards
Z

[|ZUTI|]

If we're talking duplicate rows under section, then this is in the works and should be done by the end of today. If you are talking of the whole file, i'd have to modify the procedure a bit, but nothing too drastic, just more memory consumption

[fly_zo]

Hm, it doesn't at the moment, but i'll add that to it. Just out of curiosity, we are talking about double entries under the same Sections, yes? If not, i'd have to store whole files and compare lines but if it's sections only, that takes less memory

well, there is a possibility that someone has entire section already present ( better variant) and just same path and name for mesh files ( some custom mod user may have ...)

[buildings.House$CrimeaHouse1]
Title CrimeaVillage_House1
MeshLive 3do/Buildings/Crimea/House1/live.sim
MeshDead 3do/Buildings/Crimea/House1/dead.sim
Body RockMiddle
Panzer 0.12


i'm not entirely sure what/how many possible hazards there is ..... guys, care to step in please


Z