DromEd Basic Toolkit 1.13

[ZylonBane]

If this is ever updated again, how about adding the command "Add Hilighted to Group" (multibrush_the_highlight) to the Multibrush menu? This multibrushes all currently highlighted objects, which is darn handy for, among other things, deleting all the currently highlighted objects, since apparently (and surprisingly) there's no command to do this directly.

[AntiMatter_16]

New Beta version for DromEd and ShockEd, 1.11 Beta1

Beta1 is outdated. Beta2 is 2 posts down.
http://DromEd Basic 1.11 Beta1
http://ShockEd Basic 1.11 Beta1

All versions (Thief, OldDark T1, T2; SS2, Olddark SS2) need testing. Any Volunteers?

If any change has broken your workflow, let me know, and I'll consider reverting it. If there's some feature or change you think would be useful or improve things, please feel free to make suggestions. Feedback is welcome.

[Changelog]
1.11
Added extra resolutions to user.cfg
Added "redraw_always" to olddark startup.cmd
Added EditMode.cmd
Added EditModeAtPlr.cmd
Changed "Parameters"->"Variables" in Editors Menu to reflect the actual window title
Listed keyboard shortcuts for a number of menu options
Added "Camera to" submenu to View menu
Added "AI Cell" to "Camera to" submenu
Added "Object" to "Camera to" submenu
Renamed "Show" submenu in "View" to "Show/Hide"
Added "Objects" to "Show/Hide" submenu
Added Creature Joints to Show/Hide menu
Added Quick Link submenu to Tools menu, moved Link group items into it
Added Link Group Contains to Quick Link submenu
Reorganized Hilight Menu
Added "Add Hilighted to Group" to Hilight menu
Added "Hilight Non-Axial" to Hilight menu
Merged Show "Non-Hilighted" and "Hide Non-hilighted" into "Toggle Hilighted Only"
Added "Set Lightmap Parameters" to Extra Menu
F1 now opens command help dialog, instead of printing all commands
Added "Alt+R" Return to edit mode at player position
Added "Ctrl+I" Spews info on selected brush to mono
Added ";" deviously selects the default face of the currently selected brush
Fixed "Home" binding to teleport to 0,0,0 as intended
Added "Shift+U" selects active meonly area brush
Added "Shift+O" toggle object rendering
Added Shift+F1-F7: Filter Terrain, Light, Area, Room, Object, Flow, or None
Added F9, 10 Play/Halt All Schemas
Changed Ctrl+Alt+<#> to scale player speed to more usable levels
Added Wall and Ceil object bindings to Shift+W, and Shift+C, respectively
Replaced a few non-existent commands with correct ones (Draw Path Cells->AI_Draw_cells,
Draw_AIs->AI_draw, draw_path_cell_links->AI_Draw_links, path_test->AI_Test_Cells,
draw_move_suggestions->ai_draw_suggestions)

[fibanocci]

Sounds good. I'll try it

I think you need to fix the download links

[AntiMatter_16]

This is exactly why we have a beta. =P

Anyhow, new version. Reorganized a few things, and fixed a bunch of ShockEd menus stuff.

DromEd Basic 1.11 Beta2
ShockEd Basic 1.11 Beta2

[Daraan]

Thanks for updating

But I can't test it that much since I customized my installation very much. but I'll check whatever is new to me.

The first thing that irritates me.
In my normal installation (german) my convict.osm is from 27.03.2000 - 03.27.2000 (whatever) but only 123kb large
Your file matches my convict.osm from my english installation. 1999 and 1069kb.
EDIT: Just realized that I already copied an earlier version of your Toolkit into my English installation. Original file from CD (complete Collection): 07-18-2000. 123kb
I guess it's the combined version for T1/G. The convict.osm from my T1 Gold is 1167kb a bit bigger tough. Can't say if it matters using the T1 convict.osm since T2 has it's own gen.osm. Would this give access to the old scripts? (Always used public scripts when I needed one of these). Maybe someone who knows more about scripting could help answer these questions.

dark.cfg
An additional setting i have there:

; setting for elliptic pick distance
elliptic_pick_mod 0.25
Don't know what does and where I got it.

settings I dindn't have:
8 channels by default and enable joystick

Different settings, these describe buttons positions afaik:
german: rect_loading 3,4,0,1,2
english: rect_loading 3,4,0,2,1
Can't see a difference here

Ok this one is interesting:
german: rect_newgame 4,5,6,0,1,2,3
english: rect_newgame 4,5,6,7,0,1,2,3
Adding the 7 into my line will rearrange the buttons in the NewGame menu. (It's a mess)
Test 1 - unedited file with the 7: english version looked fine
Test 2 - used the german line: looked fine as well
Test 3 - added the 7 again -> Messed up, even going back to the original setting with ctrl+z, the buttons were still wrong. Very strange.

EDIT here as well: Checked my original english files, there is no 7 in that line and it's rect_loading 3,4,0,1,2 as well.


Maybe needs further testing and more knowledge to assume which is the correct one. Maybe don't include this file


I also have more warning messages (in english as well), direct sound, DirectX, no d3ddevice EDIT: Have them in the english original as well.

•default.bnd
Maybe later....

[...more comes with edit]

•DromEd.cfg
Here are missing some options. I don't know if you let them out intentionally but at least the description of the new obj_tree_as_room_create should be added.
I know this is a matter of taste but I would suggest setting the decimal to 3 instead of 4. 2 is definitely to less. 0.001 is already extreme small I see no point in adding another digit. Without further increasing the box size they

•User.cfg
I have no idea if this setting is obsolete with the recent hardware but I still have it written in there:

;For the nVidia TNT, TNT2, GeForce:
;If the Scouting Orb isn't working properly
;use the alternate effect. Remove the semicolon
;from the next line.
;ForceCameraOverlaySimple

Why is safe_texture_manager activated? When I tested it in the past I got crashes with this activated. Well others might get some when it's deactivated...

edit_screen_depth 16 is already set in dromed.cfg but shouldn't matter.

Setting the starting level/cheat can also be made available. Got these in both versions as well.

;uncomment exactly one of the starting_mission
;lines to start on that mission.  To uncomment,
;remove the semicolon at the front.

;Running Interference
;starting_mission 1

;Shipping ... and Receiving
;starting_mission 2

;Framed
;starting_mission 3

;Ambush!
;starting_mission 4

;Eavesdropping
;starting_mission 5

;First City Bank and Trust
;starting_mission 6

;Blackmail
;starting_mission 7

;Trace the Courier
;starting_mission 8

;Trail of Blood
;starting_mission 9

;Life of the Party
;starting_mission 10

;Precious Cargo
;starting_mission 11

;Kidnap
;starting_mission 12

;Casing the Joint
;starting_mission 13

;Masks
;starting_mission 14

;Sabotage at Soulforge
;starting_mission 15

•Menu.cfg
This file really makes a mappers work much more easier. Amazing work
I definitely need to import some of the ideas especially the layout.

I don't really understand you menu_checkmark_cfg, well I can't say that I understand the whole option very good. It's for the dot checkmark If I understand it correctly. menu_checkmark_cfg 4 0 5 9 5 13 4 9 makes much more sense to me. Maybe you can explain to me what your setting is doing.


And here are a few of mine which would be a good idea to add, maybe I suggest something you already have and didn't realize. I will add the necessary code below you just have to find the right place for it :
Uncomment the custom scripts: NV, tnh, KD, public... Even if they are not included in a standard installation these options are a big help. Those who are not familiar with the menu.cfg would never look there to activate it and those who don't know about the scripts might get interested.
Swap texture command
NVDebug!!!! Like the scripts this needs an extra file but it's the best thing for mission testing and this menu controls it. Btw. Why don't include the scripts in the Tool folder.
Colorpicker & Palett color picker. Gives back HSB or RGB
Show VHots
Camera Marker
Find starting point, sometimes very usefull

;Swap Texture
Swap textures:texture_change @@Texture1,Texture2

menu_script_4 ;Load NVScript:script_load nvscript ;T1, T2, SS2
menu_script_5 ;Load tnhScript:script_load tnhscript ;T2 only
menu_script_6 ;Load VK's Script:script_load script ;T2 only

;Colorpicker/Palette
Colorpicker (HSB):lcolor_picker|Palette Index Picker(RGB):pcolor_picker

;Find StartingPoint, obv. needs to be named correct. Decide if you want to include it somewhere or not.
StartingPoint:find_obj StartingPoint

;NVDebug, well just copied the part from NV's Toolkit version:
menu_playtest Set test difficulty (using NVDebug.osm):menu_diffnv
menu_playtest_1 Old-style force difficulty:menu_forcediff

menu_diffnv  Load NVDebug script module:script_load nvdebug|sep
menu_diffnv_1 Debug Normal:quest_create_mis DebugDifficulty,0
menu_diffnv_2 Debug Hard:quest_create_mis DebugDifficulty,1
menu_diffnv_3 Debug Expert:quest_create_mis DebugDifficulty,2
menu_diffnv_4 sep|No Difficulty:quest_delete DebugDifficulty|sep
menu_diffnv_5 Drop NVDebug script:script_drop nvdebug

menu_forcediff Normal:quest_create_mis difficulty, 0|Hard:quest_create_mis difficulty, 1
menu_forcediff_1 Expert:quest_create_mis difficulty, 2
menu_forcediff_2 sep|No Difficulty:quest_delete difficulty
menu_forcediff_3 sep|Process Difficulty (NEVER SAVE AFTER!):process_difficulty

[Daraan]

Menu.cfg & cmds
cmds are great and having them in an extra folder even more.

PortLite, Portalize, Portalise and DoPort all do the same, same for opti. 4 cdms for the same action. Well I kept 2 of them Portalise for fast port via hotkey and DoPort as stronger alternative in the menu because it does all the necessary side stuff. I'm just not sure if force changing the light mode is a good idead and maybe change/remove the sound.

I can't give an answer to this one, is complete processing still necessary/good when we have the Build Dialog?

StartUp.cmd
maybe use toggle_lightning here as well instead of the two light commands.

Loading the basics scripts by default is never a fault
script_load gen.osm
script_load convict.osm

NewDark can reload books/.str-files everytime the book is frobed. With old dark a editor restart was necessary.
The command is toggle_book_autoreload. Think it must be included here to work.


So I think that was enough of my opinion for the moment

[AntiMatter_16]

@Daraan,

Convict:
As far as I know, there are two versions of convict, one which is for Thief1, and one which is for Thief Gold. In the root directory of DromEd Basic, the default Thief1 Convict is included. In ".\Tools\Thief Gold 1.37 Dromed" and ".\Tools\Thief Gold Newdark DromEd" the Thief Gold Convict is included. With different language distributions, it's possible that Convict has different versions and timestamps, but that doesn't necessarily mean an older timestamp is out of date. I haven't had any problems with convict so far. My current Thief Gold convict matches the convict included in the Thief Gold DromEd package on the install CD.

The Portlite, Portalize, Portalise and DoPort *.cmds are similar, but are kept for compatibility reasons. Portalise is a misspelling, but at one point certain bindings and menu options utilized it. As far as I know, the current version doesn't use them, but if someone wanted to revert to an older bindings file or menu, they could simply move/copy the *.cmds to the root directory to use the older menus and bindings.

Complete Processing saves mission backups in case of crashes, or in case the Complete Processing takes like an hour and you want it to automatically save afterwards to done.mis. I believe it also automatically sets the lighting mode to objcast, whereas the build dialog uses whatever settings were used last.

Startup.cmd uses light_bright and lit_obj_toggle for compatibility with olddark.

Loading the basic scripts is even easier via menu, and I don't want to mess with different startup scripts much with the different versions of DromEd, and ShockEd. It could also mess up script priority order on existing missions.
I'll added toggle_book_autoreload to startup.cmd, though.

Dark.cfg
I'm not sure I understand what you're saying is happening with rect_newgame. If it looks fine on english, but not german, then it's some strange localization difference. The file is necessary to include for other settings.

DromEd.cfg
I can't find anything on "obj_tree_as_room_create" what is it?
I've lowered the gfh_coord_decimals to '3'.

User.cfg
I believe the safe_texture_manager is enabled for olddark compatibility reasons. I'm not sure it even has an effect in newdark.
I've removed "edit_screen_depth 16" and put it in DromEd.cfg. Since it's required for olddark, it isn't exactly user optional. Historically, it's been placed just about everywhere, but Newdark puts it in DromEd.cfg, which is good enough for me.
Since the toolkit spans 4 games, I don't want to include game specific mission comments, but I did add:
;Set starting mission
;starting_mission <#>

I find F3 or simply selecting "Find Object" under the Edit menu easy enough to find the starting point. The startingpoint isn't always named correctly, either, meaning a specific command to find it wouldn't work.

I don't want to include scripts which may be outdated or incorrect. That's up to the mission author to find and use appropriate scripts. I also don't want menu options that don't work out of the box.

[Daraan]

Convict.
Didn't want to say that it is out of date. I was just irritated that the newer file is very much smaller. With a bit research during my edits I found the reason that the modules were combined into one for T1.
Here is a quote from Teliamed about the history, just when you are interested

There are four significantly different versions of the basic scripts. The original "convict" in Thief: The Dark Project (I describe this as "Thief 1"), the second-generation "convict" from Thief Gold, the first set of scripts from Thief 2: The Metal Age, and the version 1.18 scripts of Thief 2. "Thief 2" in this document refers only to the version 1.18 scripts. The names "convict" and "gen" refer to the modules that the scripts are usually seperated into. For historical reasons, the two modules were combined in Thief 1 and Thief Gold; the combined module being named "convict". Many of the mission-specific modules (all of them in Thief 1/G) also contain duplicates of the standard scripts. This is primarily done for technical reasons, and most duplicated scripts are not any different. This is an issue for Thief 1, however, where it is possible to use the "convict" module from Thief Gold. But they may be overridden if a mission-specific script is used. With the latest versions of DromEd, it is possible to load multiple script modules. When doing so, a script will be used from the first module it is found in, where modules are searched in the reverse order that they are entered in DromEd. (You can see the actual order by typing script_dump_files.) So when using mission-specific scripts from Thief 1/G, you should also load "convict", and be sure that it is searched first.

In the past, designers had to consider the minimum version of the game that their missions would function on, partly because of the scripts used. The most common concern being the TrapTimedRelay script of Thief 2. The consensus now is that it is reasonably acceptable to distribute copies of the original script modules for the sake of compatibility. I have seen no reports of technical problems caused by using a more recent script module with an earlier game executable. For this purpose, I collected what I believe are the most recent up-to-date copies of these scripts and have made them available for download[He's referring to the version at the bottom of the DarkLoader site]. If you use a script that may not be available in all versions of the game, then you should include the appropriate script module with the mission.

Source: http://www.thiefmissions.com/telliamed/scripts.html


dark.cfg
I was trying to point out that in both of my original versions there is no 7 in that line. And changing it messes it the menu. In the english version your settings worked up until the moment I began changing them. Even if I unzip your files again it looks like this:

I don't understand why but it seems to work as long as you don't change that line It seems to work for the normal user but maybe you want check your original file how it is in there.

dromed.cfg
I think you used an old version of it. This is extracted from the Dromed.cfg shipped with NewDark 1.22. With bold I marked the new available options.

...line 42
;edit_color_grid         57, 57, 57
;edit_color_grid_lim     255, 32, 32 [EDIT: Well just some color option.]

...line 140
; show world limit (i.e. +/- 1000) grid lines in 2D viewports
show_world_limits [EDIT: Not necessary but helps staying in the 2000^3 cube.]

vm_rot_speedfactor -2

;selection_pixel_margin 8

;precision_select_default

;dragedit_move_threshold 16

...line 161
; scroll speed factor for "vm_win_mode 1" mouse scrolling
;vm_win_mscroll_speed 0.2
[EDIT by myself, don't know what this is doing and where you can set vm_win_mode 1]

;brush_centers

...line 167
; default brush texture scale (default is 16)
;default_tx_scale 15

...line 198 last before D3D9
; when using the "obj_tree" command without arguments (i.e. pressing F5) and a room brush is currently
; selected it will normally open the normal object hierarchy dialog, when "obj_tree_as_room_create" is
; enabled it will instead open the special variant that is opened when pressing the "Create" button for
; the room brush in the DromeEd interface (thus also allowing the room type to be changed for the selected
; room brush)
;obj_tree_as_room_create
EDIT: Long text, it just opens a different menu when a room brush is selected and F5 pressed.

User.cfg
Yah I think thats a good way to solve it.

For SS it is first_level name.mis

[AntiMatter_16]

By default, DromEd Basic is setup to work with Thief1 DromEd with Newdark. You need to extract ".\Tools\Thief2 Newdark Dromed" to your root Thief2 directory when using DromEd basic with Thief2. To install for other versions, view the readme. =)

[Edit]
I've updated DromEd.Cfg to reflect changes/additions in the 1.22 version of newdark.

[Yankee Clipper]

I installed the latest version of NewDark to my SS2 installation. I have also installed Beta 2 of ShockEd 1.11. I noticed that my screen size was no longer what it was before - it became very small. It looks like my previous installation looked at the user.cfg file for the screen size, but this latest is looking at dromed.cfg. I have updated dromed.cfg, and it is now giving me the right screen size. Is this expected behavior? I did not see it in the readme that users would need to change which configuration file was used to specify screen size, so I thought I would bring it to your attention.

[AntiMatter_16]

By default, DromEd/ShockEd Basic defaults to 800x600, as specified in the user.cfg file. For user's convenience, I have also listed common resolution modes there, which you can easily uncomment, and comment out the old mode with a semicolon (. You can place "edit_screen_size" to change resolutions in either the user.cfg, or dromed.cfg file.

[Yankee Clipper]

That's what I'm getting at. I had the screen size in user.cfg in the past. But, when I updated, it no longer mattered what was in user.cfg, I only got the small screen. I also tried every screen configuration in user.cfg, but no change. Once I did a copy & paste into dromed.cfg, my selected screen size took effect. And I did use copy / paste, so it wasn't a typo or anything.

This is the non-functioning section from user.cfg:

;Dromed window size
;edit_screen_size 800,600    ; Olddark Compatible
;edit_screen_size 1024,768  ; Olddark Compatible
;edit_screen_size 1152,864
;edit_screen_size 1280,720
;edit_screen_size 1280,768
;edit_screen_size 1280,960
;edit_screen_size 1280,1024
edit_screen_size 1360,768
;edit_screen_size 1440,900

Putting the screen size in dromed.cfg fixed the problem, but if it is supposed to work in user.cfg, then something is off.

[AntiMatter_16]

Check your cam.cfg file. Does the following appear in it?

; general configs
include_user_cfg user.cfg
editor_include_dromed_cfg dromed.cfg

[Yankee Clipper]

Yes to both lines.

[AntiMatter_16]

I have no idea what could be going on then... The only other possibility I can think of is that there's another "edit_screen_size" line tucked away somewhere that's either invalid, or set to a low resolution. Could you look in the other *.cfg files?

Would you mind trying a clean install? SS2+Newdark+ShockEd Basic?

[Yankee Clipper]

Clean install worked. Don't know what it was, since I just did a clean install 3 days ago when the latest newdark came out.

BTW, I did notice a typo in the screen resolution, though it didn't matter with my system. This line:

edit_screen_size 1366,768

that 1366 should be 1360.

Thanks for the help!

[AntiMatter_16]

Actually, there should be two entries. One for 1366, and one for 1360. Two common variants, for some reason.

[AntiMatter_16]

DromEd Basic 1.11 officially released! Get it in the OP.

[gamophyte]

THANKS!! Say.... it would be cool if someone did a gui program so we can recheck-off custom settings. I have to use compare plugin (sourceforge DL) with notepad++ and remember what I had set in the config files before upgrade and toolkit.

PS. I'm really sorry to inform that a legend has died this morning. Robin Williams. He was a amazing person.

[gamophyte]

@AntiMatter_16

There was no Dromed.exe in t2_v122.zip nor DromEd Basic 1.11.zip
When I open my DromEd it says 1.21. Am I missing something?

NVM: I did this last time, didn't see editor zip aside of newdark and convict zips

[Ricebug]

HOSTED

[ZylonBane]

PS. I'm really sorry to inform that a legend has died this morning.

Apparently not sorry enough.

[gamophyte]

Apparently not sorry enough.

You're very clever, it must be the vapors from your neck beard.

[Ricebug]

Can we get some admin help here?

[DJ Riff]

Is the 1.11 stable enough to be included to the new version of Tafferpatcher or is it still beta?