Utility Requests...

[kshcshbash]

I am utterly unknown around here (at SCC I'm the 18 posts per day-until-Amir-banned-me-because-he-is-a-fascist-dictator-guy) so I'll quickly introduce myself:
I'm CNSW. I play R: TW, BI, Civ and CS: S mainly. I enjoy making Utilities for Rome: Total War (they don't see the light of the internet for lack of user-friendliness)
When it comes to Rome: Total War mod tooling I use either Python, Java, or C++/VB.

I would like to start producing some mainstream tools for modders to use.
I don't know what's _needed_ though (Amir won't even let me read the forums. He thinks an IP ban is how we solve problems) so that's where I need YOU! Yes, you!

If you are a modder, just post areas that you have trouble when modding. Maybe debugging your descr_strat causes trouble and slows down your mod. Or it is hard to have more than one person working on it. Perhaps you have random "dirty" unit code that you didn't manage to delete and it's causing your problems.
Tell me about modding, basically.

If you aren't a modder, why not? What areas would you like to mod? What don't you like about the constants* in Rome: Total War (Unit names, Faction names etc.)?

Now for everyone: Have you used Mod tools before? What did/didn't you like about them? Why did you start using them? Tell me about your experiences with Mod tools.

Please do note that this isn't an order form, it's just to give utility makers a more accurate picture of the needs of the community.


Feel free to PM me for any reason whatsoever. I like PM's, they make me feel special :-D





* They are constants to non-modders.

[Eird-Way]

Do you have relatively full-featured editors for export_descr_unit and descr_model_battle? The only program I know of is "Caligula", which has a great batch-command feature (the most important feature to me), but the program can be a little wonky sometimes and could do a little more.

Well . . . what stuff do you have? The community here is pretty avid, and there is a core of modders who would use even the most unfriendly tools if there were sufficient payoff.

[kshcshbash]

Let's say I have the compiler but not the IDE, if you get what I mean.

My current projects are descr_strat debugger. You use notepad to edit a set of text files and it debugs and compiles them into 1 descr_strat. It's in Java and I haven't been able to work on it for quite a while as my laptop has been in for repairs.
Hopefully I'm still motivated to finish it.
My second is the same thing for export_descr_unit.


I don't know what people want, you see.


If you are a programmer, don't hesitate to talk to me about working on a utility.

[Halie Satanus]

Maybe you could turn your skillz to creating an import/export tool for gmax or milkshape, this isn't something i need myself, but as the're both free programs, a tool like verxs for one of these would i think be welcomed by a lot of people. Just a thought.

gmax.
http://games.softpedia.com/get/Tools/gmax.shtml

Milkshape.
http://www.swissquake.ch/chumbalum-soft/ms3d/index.html

[Ciaran S]

Well, if you´re asking...
The one modding tool (as in made especially for modding RTW) I´ve used so far is the TiME editor, which unfortunately is rather incomplete, unfinished and stuck at 1.2 requirements. A further development of it and adaption to 1.5/1.6 would be greatly appreciated. Much the same, I suppose, would be the case of a battlefield settlement editor.

[kshcshbash]

I already asked for the source code to TIME, he refused on the grounds that it isn't very good code...

[Nero666]

Well as for export_descr_unit and descr_model_battle modification tools, I'm already writing one in PHP: http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=60378

I'm planning to expand it to character traits and ancillaries after the first release, and whatever is needed by the community, after that. Maybe we can work together, if you know PHP too.

[Kaweh]

Well as for export_descr_unit and descr_model_battle modification tools, I'm already writing one in PHP: http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=60378

I'm planning to expand it to character traits and ancillaries after the first release, and whatever is needed by the community, after that. Maybe we can work together, if you know PHP too.

I can highly advise you to have a look at it! I tried it out myself. It's A-W-S-O-M-E. Eases work so damn much.

K.K