New EFS utility

A very good patch

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Vlad
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Location: Russia

New EFS utility

Postby Vlad » Fri Sep 30, 2005 8:15 pm

Hello everybody!

I present my program - utility
"Interactive Encyclopedia" for EFS to you.
It should help players in planning the development of their research and units production.

The program can be downloaded from the links
http://reznikovvb.mail333.com/efs_encl_part1.zip (468 Kb)
http://reznikovvb.mail333.com/efs_encl_part2.zip (249 Kb)
Any suggestion, offers, notes are welcome!

Vlad.

Grimly Fiendish 2
Assault Legionnaire
Posts: 89
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Re: New EFS utility

Postby Grimly Fiendish 2 » Sat Oct 01, 2005 1:42 am

looks like a wonderful utility, Vlad! Thanks for the work you have done.

:D

I personally can't get it to work though. When I run the exe, I take it to any EFS directory (I have several, each with a different name) and it tells me there are no data files there.

:confused:

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UnFleshedOne
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Re: New EFS utility

Postby UnFleshedOne » Sat Oct 01, 2005 3:52 am

Fine thing. I always couldn't really understand what I should research to get some particuar tech. But it is preconfigured for hyperion, it doesn't retrieve tech tree and so on from the game (I think it needs game folder for texts).

If that is true, I bet you two guys can cooperate and make this program truly universal! Grimly can provide information about where is the data, and Vlad can code it all in.

And I will be the project manager! :D j/k

I can help with occasional bug hunt if the program is in C++, but only a little, for I am deeply engaged in another old game reviving project.
Open mind is like a fortress with its gates unbarred and unguarded.

Vlad
Tank commander
Posts: 17
Joined: Fri Sep 30, 2005 1:01 am
Location: Russia

Re: New EFS utility

Postby Vlad » Sat Oct 01, 2005 7:02 am

Thanks guys! :)
I am very pleased!

1)
The program builds all tables from files
EFS\DATA\TECH.DAT
EFS\DATA\UNIT.DAT
EFS\DATA\STRBUILD.DAT
and
EFS\MANOWITZ\*.txt

it expects the presence of those files

2)
Actually it was a bit difficult creating the tech tree on the fly
I used special software "daVinci" under Linux to create the base chart and
spent a lot of time for correcting it by myself with Visio.

One can draw a chart for any patch and creates a data file with
coordinates - that's enough to support the certain patch.

But it is the great idea to make the program adopting to any patch! :D

Also I'd want to show the unit's animation... but..

<small>[ 01.10.2005, 09:02: Message edited by: Vlad ]</small>

Grimly Fiendish 2
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Re: New EFS utility

Postby Grimly Fiendish 2 » Sat Oct 01, 2005 6:04 pm

Still can't get it to work.

Vlad, why do I get "EFS data files not found!" when I run the program?

Vlad
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Posts: 17
Joined: Fri Sep 30, 2005 1:01 am
Location: Russia

Re: New EFS utility

Postby Vlad » Sat Oct 01, 2005 6:42 pm

H'm...
You mean that you maid sure of the files presence
for instance
C:\EFS\DATA\TECH.DAT
C:\EFS\DATA\UNIT.DAT
C:\EFS\DATA\STRBUILD.DAT
you've pointed "C:\EFS" and pressed "OK"
then the program showed the error message again?

maybe the *.dat files have a different format?
It sounds impossible but...
I used Hyperion patch 1.4g ver. 05-Jun-2004
If they differ, please send them to me via e-mail.

Grimly Fiendish 2
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Re: New EFS utility

Postby Grimly Fiendish 2 » Sat Oct 01, 2005 8:20 pm

Yes, exactly. Also correct that my files are totally different from Hyperion files---they are my own mod files. I could send them but if the files must be Hyperion files to even be recognized then that solves it. I see now what UnFleshed meant about making it universal!

I assumed the tool would just read the data files and act accordingly. :(

How difficult would it be to make your utility read any set of DAT files?

Vlad
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Posts: 17
Joined: Fri Sep 30, 2005 1:01 am
Location: Russia

Re: New EFS utility

Postby Vlad » Sat Oct 01, 2005 9:41 pm

The point is that files are read by EFS.exe and
I supposed the dat file format is quite stable thing.

Please send me aforesaid files and
I try to modify the program to support them.
Maybe I omitted some detailes of the general format,
because I have the Hyperion mod only.

Of course the tool has to process all kind of files! You right!

Actually it looks through all tech tree automatically
with the help of tech.dat file and displays the dependences
for particular technology.
But UnFleshed touched upon the real scientific problem -
visualization of the tech chart.

If your mod changed the tech tree -
you have to draw a chart for your tree.
And create the description file.
That's quite enough!
The tool reads any additional information from dat files.

And finally - be patient ;) it's my own program
just first attempt and
I can change and modify it whatever I like and you offer ;)

Grimly Fiendish 2
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Re: New EFS utility

Postby Grimly Fiendish 2 » Sat Oct 01, 2005 10:44 pm

Sure, I understand. I'll send you my files. But my tech tree is TOTALLY different. So I expect some limitations, but I'd like to see what it can do anyway.

What's your email address?

Vlad
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Posts: 17
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Location: Russia

Re: New EFS utility

Postby Vlad » Sun Oct 02, 2005 12:30 am

My e-mail was mentioned in the readme.
Did you read it? ;)

Vlad Reznikov
ReznikovVB@mail333.com

Did you try the Hyperion mod?

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UnFleshedOne
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Re: New EFS utility

Postby UnFleshedOne » Sun Oct 02, 2005 12:49 am

He is making his own mod, so he didn't play hyperion :) .
Open mind is like a fortress with its gates unbarred and unguarded.

Vlad
Tank commander
Posts: 17
Joined: Fri Sep 30, 2005 1:01 am
Location: Russia

Re: New EFS utility

Postby Vlad » Sun Oct 02, 2005 7:39 am

What about you?
Is it working?
'cause I am a bit anxious about the tool... :roll:

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UnFleshedOne
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Re: New EFS utility

Postby UnFleshedOne » Sun Oct 02, 2005 8:04 am

It is working, yes. And it seems you made every connection I can think of :) ...

Well, almost.
Maybe you can somehow show unit stats in brief window?
And is there a way to select whole branch at once? Like if I want plague bomb, and I'm just starting the game, so I need to know what exactly should I research from the very begining.
Open mind is like a fortress with its gates unbarred and unguarded.

Vlad
Tank commander
Posts: 17
Joined: Fri Sep 30, 2005 1:01 am
Location: Russia

Re: New EFS utility

Postby Vlad » Sun Oct 02, 2005 2:53 pm

Thank you! :D

I dreamed to create an additional window for unit's stats
and even with animation (downloaded from the game dir).
Perhaps in future... :roll:

Here in order to draw the whole tree up to the certain tech
you can use Ctrl+LClick "select predecessors"
starting with the tech (Plague Bomb)
and then click all newly selected technologies one by one.
I separate the tree with vertical lines to part one level from another
special for that convenience.

Did you try the "Units" window?

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UnFleshedOne
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Re: New EFS utility

Postby UnFleshedOne » Mon Oct 03, 2005 1:00 am

I did. Pretty impressive if confusing.

Maybe it will be a good feature to let user select technologies he posses (or take them from a savefile), and allow him to filter out units he can not build.

> Here in order to draw the whole tree up to the
> certain tech you can use Ctrl+LClick "select
> predecessors" starting with the tech (Plague Bomb)

That's exactly the kind of repetitive work programs get written for :) .
Open mind is like a fortress with its gates unbarred and unguarded.


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