BrandonM's descr_strat editor - Beta Release .001

[BrandonM]

Changes Version .005 (5/15/2006)
Fixed Ancillary Bug
Fixed Delete Building functionality
Added Child/Parent Last name validation
Added 4 Children per Parent Validation
Update 5/16/2006 - Added readme to Docs folder and updated internal version to .005

Beta Release version 4

New in version 4
The ability to pick character location by using a map. You can flip through the various map types to see the terrain. Just click in the location and the grid coordinates will be input for you. Requires the DeViL library (included in the zip file)
Fixed some minor bugs with characters (admirals mostly)
Warning message if general or admiral has no units.

I'd like to thank Muizer for his testing.

I will be out of town until the 26th of April (off to Italy actually) so please test it, and let me know if you run into any problems, just don't get discouraged if I don't respond.



New in version 2

Relatives are now set by drop down menus.
Validation for general / named character - age, required army, army unit faction.
Can save the campaign as xml, so the editor can load it instead of descr_strat. This is so if you are working on your campaign, and it does not currently generate a good descr_strat, you can save your progress and return to it later.
Progress bars added for loading files so you know it's not 'Not Responding'.
No longer do you need to edit a config file to save your data paths.
Faction Filters on each tab
descr_regions.txt can reside in base\ folder.
Nicer interface.
Massive changes to internal code. It's nice and organized now, not that you care.
Lots of little fixes and tweaks.




A Readme is included as to how to install and configure it.
You will need the Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 installed on your machine.
You can get it from -Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0


Please play around with it and let me know what kind of issues you run into. I'd be interested to know how well it can handles heavily customized campaign files. Make sure you backup your existing campaign - however, the default save file name is descr_strat_new.txt, so you'll have to rename it before you can play.


Current Functionality
Can Read the Original RTW campaign, the BI campaign, and IceTorque's Warmap. I have not tested any other campaign files.
Please note this is only a descr_strat.txt editor, while it reads other data files, it only modifies the descr_strat.

Parses the following files for dropdown menu selection -
descr_sm_resources.txt
export_descr_ancillaries.txt
export_descr_buildings.txt
export_descr_character_traits.txt
export_descr_unit.txt
descr_regions.txt
descr_sm_factions.txt
descr_names.txt


Hardcoded Dropdowns -
Gender (male, female)
CharacterType (named character, general, spy, diplomat, admiral, assassin)
Political1 (comfortable, balanced, bureaucrat, religious, trader, fortified, sailor)
Political2 (caesar, stalin, napoleon, smith, genghis, mao, henry)
TownSize (village, town, large_town, city, large_city, huge_city) (Eventually I plan to read this from descr_sm_settlements.txt and filter the city sizes by faction/culture)

Can Edit Main Campaign options : Name, Start/End Date, Options BI, RTW & BI campaign flags (Night Battles, Rebelling Generals, etc)

Can Add/Edit/Delete Landmarks
Can Add/Edit/Delete Resources

Can Add/Edit/Delete Factions (Factions must be still defined in descr_sm_factions.txt and other support files manually) - This includes money, superfaction, political/government settings, playability
Can Add/Edit/Delete Settlements - This includes all the settlement stats (year_founded, level, etc)
Can Add/Edit/Delete Buildings for Settlements
Can Add/Edit/Delete Characters
Can Add/Edit/Delete Traits for Characters
Can Add/Edit/Delete Ancillaries for Characters
Can Add/Edit/Delete Armies for Characters
Can Add/Edit/Delete Character_Records (Minors, Women) for Factions
Can Load Faction Relative selection (see below)
Add ability to Add/Edit/Delete core_attitudes
Add ability to Add/Edit/Delete faction_relationships

Grids are all sortable by each column, so the ones that aren't filtered, you should at least be able to rapidly get to the section you are looking for.

Can save all this in a properly formatted descr_strat.txt file.
I can play the descr_strat.txt file in a new campaign in the game. (tested under BI)



To Do / Other Ideas:

Add validation - right now it's quite possible to setup options that won't load in game (add buildings / army types to cultures that don't have them - you still have to know what you are doing)

Add a preview window so the user can see the output descr_strat and (maybe) make changes to it. The resulting changes would be reloaded into the editor areas and/or saved.
Add Help , readme's, or mouse-over help for items.

Add ability to Edit the regions section of the descr_strat (where you add watchtowers and stuff) (This isn't required to load a campaign, so I'll do it last)


Screenshots are from version .002

Campaign Map Resources and Landmarks


Faction Options


Character Options (Part 1)


Character Options (Part 2) - Notice the ease of setting up Relatives


Add a character - All character types are now added from one screen, it's smart enough to know if it's a minor or if you picked a general and made him too young, etc. Unit Types for armies dynamically update based on selected faction.


Settlement Editor


BrandonM

[Muizer]

Ambitious, but looks good. Will it be possible to choose all options from menus? I think especially the buildings and traits would be very useful, if only to avoid typos and copy paste errors and such.

Muizer

[BrandonM]

That's my plan. Right now you have to type it in manually, but I don't think it will be a problem to add the menu functions. Currently it loads Ice Torque's Warmap, but not the original Imperial Campaign. While both load in the game itself, there are subtle differences - mainly in tabs and spacing - that are causing the origial Imperial Campaign to not load in my editor.

[bdh]

The work so far seems excellent, and I hope you get out all the bugs. Once its finished, it'll be a boon to modders. There aren't that many tools out for BI.

[Halie Satanus]

i'll definately use it if you get it finished nice one

[BrandonM]

Just a quick update, it loads the original Imperial Campaign, the BI campaign, and IceTorque's Warmap now. In theory it will allow you to load any custom campaign as long as you haven't strayed too far from the standard format. By format I mean layout: Custom buildings, units types, etc won't be a problem as I'll be loading those files, not hardcoding any values.

BrandonM

[prviper720]

wow this will be great rather than going through maually and having to VERY CAREFULLY edit each thing that needs to be changed. this is a great way to keep organized. please put up a download link when your finished with it. great work

[Arakorn]

Nice! Altho' I'd suggest that hte settlements would be listed by a factions-dropmenu, ie you choose a faction and that factions settlements appear.

[alpaca]

Just a hint: Don't underestimate the amount of work associated with this...
I guess it would be simplest to use OOP for this stuff, but it's a lot of work (writing parsers, thinking about object props, etc.) if you want to implement all that you intend as you need to parse a whole lot of objects.
Although most of them only consist of a few values, there are some, like family, that have a whole lot of different and variable-size properties.
So, take care

[=E.T=]

WoW!!!

Very nice tool!!!!

Plz, add BI options for full use in RTW+BI mods

...and ,If you can, Add the readme for Noobs

I add this tool in to my FullToolsCollection, Guarantied!!!

[BrandonM]

<<All this info is now on the first post.>>

BrandonM

[Agraes]

Looks really awesome. I will be definatly looking for it when we will start working on the descr_strat for Arthurian: TW :wink:

[=E.T=]

Go BrandonM GO !!!

[Hans Kloss]

Have been waiting for tool like that since RTW's release.Well done BrandonM !

[GiantMonkeyMan]

it is a shame that more talented modders/programers don't make more tools like this... well done BrandonM

[BrandonM]

Beta Release, see first post for download link and instructions.

[=E.T=]

Downloaded !

Now I've to test it and later add to FullToolsCollection (add-on2)

Tnx a ton!

[BrandonM]

More Progress: My descr_strat editor morphs into my RTW Tools Suite. This week I plan to release a new version with integrated Traits/Trigger editor as well as a descr_model_battle editor. Not sure what to do after that. Any files that it would particularly handy to have an editor for? I'll post screenshots in a few hours (When I get back home)

BrandonM

[alpaca]

Tons. But some of them are quite complex, like sound files.
It would be useful to have an editor for descr_buildings_battle.txt that also reads all the includes and stuff.

[Hans Kloss]

I seem to be getting a lot of error message when trying to load descr_strat but editor starts eventually.But after that :