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Kotor Tool - v1.0.2210.16738 (2006-1-19 12:38)


Fred Tetra

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Hehe.. I actually had a dream the other night as I was waking up... I can distinctly remember dreaming that I programmed a tool that would do a bunch of cool stuff.. which I'm going to try to explain as best I could, though remember.. this all comes from the fragments of a dream so bear with me.. ;)

 

Anyways.. it would first obviously have to have path information, similar to kotor_tool. This is so that, when it does its first step, which would be to load up all the data, it could (if the option was selected) use files it found in \override instead whenever there was a possible conflict.

 

Now.. from here, the tool would basically have a graphic interface by which you'd be able to say.. select an area.. It would load that up, and (after having checked against all pertinent data), "know" what's going on there... Then you'd have lists of triggers, placeables, creatures, items, etc... which could be edited, or you could add things in simply because the editor already has all the templates and information.. so all you'd have to do would be to tell it what you wanted to place and where.

 

I got the feeling it was supposed to do a lot of other fun stuff too, but again.. it's only fragments.

 

The thing that was really annoying is that I very distinctly remember waking up thinking.. "wow.. that'd be nice.. and it wouldn't be THAT hard to do... " but at the same time, as I fully woke up, I immediately realized that my archaic and piecemail programming knowledge is nowhere even remotely close to "up for the task" so I sighed, ate breakfast.. and edited some stuff with kotor_tool instead. ;)

 

 

Now... so as to preserve SOME amount of topic integrity... You already know I love kotor_tool. As for new features, I guess native support for those GFF files (they have a more proper name, but it escapes me right now), which would probably lead to a feature *similar* to the easy item creation/editing I was mentioning above (since you're already getting into the area files and the like, which would realistically be the other roadblock for such an undertaking).

 

Assuming we ever manage to figure out the blasted model format, maybe a simple viewer which would allow loading up an MDL and acompanying textures in a 3d view would be nice. Especially if it gave us the ability to change the selected texture, and optionally save an exported mdl with those changes.

 

Of course.. I'm dreaming again, and really.. that'd be sorta silly the more I think about it.. since there are already lots of 3d modeling programs to do that job IF we can ever bust the format of the files and get a couple import/export plugins for the stupid things.

 

hehe.. anyways.. Keep up the great job Fred. I've yet to be unhappy with any release of the program, and I'm always happy to help test (and break) it whenever you need a hand. ;)

 

I'll also look into that item deal you mentioned about the files and steps needed etc... maybe if we collaborate a bit, I can help out and we could get it to work.. which would be a much better situation than the mess that would happen if I were to even consider trying to program something on my own at this point. ;D

 

-Kitty

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Heh, I was actually gonna offer to help with the item thing, but I am know Kitty Kitty would be FAR more up to the task then me.

 

Also, does anyone have any idea how to get the 2DA Editor over onto my screen? Its kinda wierd, because whenever I open it, it comes up to the right of my screen and I can only use it if I maxamize it via taskbar.

 

Also, one last thing, Fred, do you think you could pull off the ability to copy and paste rows in your 2DA Editor? It would be a lifesaver for me...

 

Thanks,

Shimaon

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The direction I'd like to see the tool go is in the one Kitty mentioned. It probably can get close; I just have to figure out the relationships between all of the pieces in the game. Then BioWare will hire me as a tools guy and that'll be the end of that! :D

 

As for copying and pasting rows, do you mostly need to paste one row's values over another existing one's or do you want to make a copy of it into a new row. I could code both, but picking one would get you the feature sooner :)

 

Also, if anyone is interested in being put on my pre-release list so they can get the latest tool emailed to them or at least email notification of releases, just drop me a line at the address in the readme.txt file. No address will be sold, etc., etc. - Some folks just want to know right when it comes out.

 

And, as always, thanks for the kind comments and praise!

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Originally posted by Fred Tetra

As for copying and pasting rows, do you mostly need to paste one row's values over another existing one's or do you want to make a copy of it into a new row. I could code both, but picking one would get you the feature sooner :)

Er, both?

I honestly don't know. Both are equally useful to me, heh.

 

Shimaon

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A couple of things:

 

1. Please don't post the entire stack trace to the forums; it wastes space and doesn't mean much of anything to most people reading it. In fact, only the Exception Text section is useful. If you have errors like this, send me that text via email or PM. You may consider deleting your post to keep the thread clean.

 

2. I reposted the latest version. The one you downloaded did have that problem, which has been fixed.

 

3. As a bonus, taking a cue from something gameunlimited said in another post, you can now open/view ERF files located in your modules directory. Another minor bonus is that you can now have more than one hex editor open at a time. Not everyone might find it handy, but, hey, if you can, why not?

 

Fred

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first of all, thanks for the great tool!

 

I have a question regarding this new version though. you said "you can now open/view ERF files located in your modules directory". I tried to do that but it can't seem to work for me. What I mean by it doesnt work is that the file does not expand to list the files inside it like. Am I doing something wrong?

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I thought I had it working correctly, but it was only detecting ERF files with a .erf extension in the Modules directory. Module files which have an extension of .mod and are ERFs inside are now properly detected. I tested it by copying the lastbattle.mod file into the Modules directory and it does show up and its contents can be viewed correctly. Sorry for the hassle.

 

Fred

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oh, i think i did it wrong last time. I was opening it not under the ERFs but under the category RIMs --> Modules. It works perfectly if i open it under the new module category that you put under the ERF :). thanks again!

 

now i have a suggestion for the next version of kotor tool, if you are making it that is. if possible, i would love to see a feature that allows you to combine files into a mod, rim, and/or erf file. :D

 

*feels guilty for asking too much from fred*

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hmm... this might be just the case in my comp, or only with this specific file, but i get the "arithmetic operation resulted in an overflow" message (i think this is a the windows xp error message). this happens only when i try to open the Survival Battle mod file (if you want to try it, it is in my website). kotor tools work perfectly for the other mod files such as the lastbattle mod file. i thought you might want to know about this.

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Originally posted by gameunlimited

hmm... this might be just the case in my comp, or only with this specific file, but i get the "arithmetic operation resulted in an overflow" message (i think this is a the windows xp error message). this happens only when i try to open the Survival Battle mod file (if you want to try it, it is in my website). kotor tools work perfectly for the other mod files such as the lastbattle mod file. i thought you might want to know about this.

 

The problem is your file. There is a resource that has it's resource type id set to an illegal value (-1) when it should be 3003 (0x0bbb), as it is a PTH (Path info) resource. I have a fixed version of the file, if you need it, though it would seem that KotOR must not be using that ID, if the mod works. Depends on if the intended paths are working.

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FYI - There's a bug in the internal GFF parser that prevents some data from begin displayed. This bug has been fixed for the next release.

 

Also, for those who are programming-minded, I have further developed the class that handles GFFs so that I can now access the elements of the file in an object oriented fashion. For example, to get at a file's 2nd Room's Environmental Audio setting, I can do things like:

 

audio = gff.GetNodeValue("Rooms(2).EnvAudio")

 

and

 

gff.SetNodeValue("Rooms(2).EnvAudio", 77)

 

This internal access abstraction will make it far easier to write GUI based editors for GFFs than worrying about byte offsets and pointers.

 

Currently I am working on the portion of the code that builds a GFF from the internal data representation of the (potentially modified) file. Once this is complete, GUI editors are next.

 

Fred

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Do you think it would be much trouble to add in a model and animation viewer? That would be really useful for viewing textures without launching the game again.... I guess you'd have to figure out the different between a NWN MDL file and a KOTOR MDL file, which would probably make the rest easy.

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I have some features suggestions for future versions:

 

1. Search function for the 2da editor

 

2. Conversation editor. It is the .dlg file. I understand that we can open the file using the GFF editor, but what I mean is an editor that will display the conversation sort of like tree with branches, just like how NWN does it. Also, if possible, it should look up the dialog text itself from the dialog.tlk file.

 

Sorry to bother you again by asking for more feature, just ignore it if you do not have the time, if it is impossible to do, or even simply do not want. Just a suggestion, thanks :)

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Originally posted by chay80

The newest version (released on 2/12) won't work at all now.

 

When I click on the kotor_tool exe, the program will not start even though I see the program on the task bar. Clicking on the taskbar results in nothing.

 

The only thing changed in my system from earlier when the older version was working is I reinstalled a DVD player prog. When I d/l'd the new version it overwrote the previous one, also.

 

Version 1.0.1490.35 does work currently but 1.0.1502.18035 does not.

 

Thanks for all the time and effort you put into this toolset.

 

1. move your settings.xml file someplace else (if you care about it) other than the Kotor Tool directory

 

2. run Kotor Tool ; does it tell you that it has attempted to figure out your paths for you?

 

If you (or anyone else) needs a prior version, I keep and archive of them. Just send an email to the address in the readme.txt file.

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Originally posted by Sunslayer

Do you think it would be much trouble to add in a model and animation viewer? That would be really useful for viewing textures without launching the game again.... I guess you'd have to figure out the different between a NWN MDL file and a KOTOR MDL file, which would probably make the rest easy.

 

Yes. Much trouble. Both you and Bneezy need to peruse the other threads so you'll believe me and others when we say "it isn't easy" :) I understand that not everyone is a programmer or 3D modeler, but realize that things such as 3D models are quite complex in their format. As such, it isn't as easy as opening a save game file in a hex editor and looking for a byte pattern that looks has the same values as the amount of credits you have or your Strength, Intelligence, Wisdom, etc. and adjusting them until you're sure what they do. When it comes to models that include skeletal structures and up to 160 different action animations, you're lucky if changing a few bytes here and there doesn't simply cause the program to not run. At best, the model will just look totally funky in them game.

 

Please don't think I'm ragging on you; I just hope to dispel notions like "well, it has .mdl on the end, so it must be the same format" that I've seen others have (erroneously). As soon as someone (or some team) figures out the format of these files, we can start down the road to develop tools to manipulate them.

 

Fred

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Originally posted by gameunlimited

I have some features suggestions for future versions:

 

1. Search function for the 2da editor

 

2. Conversation editor. It is the .dlg file. I understand that we can open the file using the GFF editor, but what I mean is an editor that will display the conversation sort of like tree with branches, just like how NWN does it. Also, if possible, it should look up the dialog text itself from the dialog.tlk file.

 

Sorry to bother you again by asking for more feature, just ignore it if you do not have the time, if it is impossible to do, or even simply do not want. Just a suggestion, thanks :)

 

It's never a bother to hear what folks would like to have in Kotor Tool.

 

Re:

#1 - I'll put it on the to-do list. Do you want it to highlight the cells as each succesive find is done, like in a text editor, or do you have something else in mind?

 

#2 - Since it is a GFF file and I am working on the GFF (re)writer portion of the GFF class in Kotor Tool, I'm not that far away from being able to write editors for various "flavors" of GFF-based files. Area (.ARE) files have the most votes so far, however.

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