Re: 1.13 Xml Editing[message #73617]
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Fri, 14 October 2005 08:11
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Khor1255 |
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Messages:1817
Registered:August 2003 Location: Pleasantville, NJ |
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I'd like to start a collection of tips and proceedures for .xml editing. If anything I write here can be added to please do so. If something is incorrect definately jump right on it.
REMEMBER IN THE NEWEST RELEASES .XMLS YOU ALTER MUST BE DONE FROM THE NEW ITEMS FOLDER IN THE TABLEDATA FOLDER.
ALSO NOTE THAT THE NEWER .XMLS MAY HAVE MORE VARIABLE ENTRIES (TEXT LINES) AND MAY CAUSE PROBLEMS WITH USING THE OLD ONES.
1)Test every change by running the .exe (launching the game after you've made the change). This is invaluable for quickly finding where a mistake you've made is. If you make twenty changes, each with 110 odd lines of data per item you might spend the good part of the night just troubleshooting one simple typo.
I listed this one first because it is perhaps the most time saving technique I've come up with. Once you really get the hang of this you'll be able to do several changes at once but at first you should stick closely to this technique.
2)When making a new item of a similar type to an existing item, copy/paste the existing item (all lines except for item number) to the item number you want it to end up in before making any changes. Then, all you have to do is adjust it's ubWeight, ubGraphic number and all other bits you want changed to the new item's specifications without danger of the item losing it's general characteristics.
Of course, for items that depend on other .xmls for their characteristics (weapons rely on the weapons.xml, explosives the explosives.xml etc.) make new entries in the supporting files (the other .xmls) if neccessary and type the ubClassIndex number that corresponds to this new item.
3)Playtest the hell out of each of you're changes. This seems obvious but since a lot of items are tied together making a mistake on one item in a combination could result to considerable confusion down the road.
4)When making a complex item (launchable, merge, combineable etc.) look carefully at the way an existing item of this type is done and ONLY change files that are altered to make this item in the existing .xmls. In other words, don't just try to guess what supporting .xmls you need to change to make a Launchable, Merge, Attachment, etc. look at an item as similar to the new one you want to make as possible and see how it is already done.
That's it for now....I thought I had something more profound to relate here but hopefully the contribution of others will raise this post to the level of something very useful for people just starting to work with these truly exceptional new tools. Again, please add and edit as neccessary.
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Sergeant Major
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Re: 1.13 Xml Editing[message #73627]
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Sun, 16 October 2005 06:48
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Kaiden |
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Messages:502
Registered:September 2003 |
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Khor, you are missing the following 3 tags in every item in items.xml:
0
0
0
the following 3 tags are missing from your items in Weapons.xml:
5
1
7
Now, snap or mugsy may need to correct me, but I beleive the structure has to match for everything to work properly, so if we add a new tag to the xmls, you have to add it to your modified xmls as well.
If this is the case, I will do what I can to keep track of any new tags that are added so we can be more clear about them in the list of changes from version to version.
You can look at the latest version of items.xml to see where the above listed tags belong, adding them to every entry will probably be a pain, but not as time consuming as having to start over.
Anyway if I got this all wrong, let me know, and I'll keep looking through the tags and the code. (Need to familiarize myself with the XML code anyway ).
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Re: 1.13 Xml Editing[message #73644]
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Mon, 14 November 2005 18:48
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I4NI |
Messages:4
Registered:November 2005 Location: Stockholm, Sweden |
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Claymaker, if I have unserstood it correctly, it is not enough to set it at above zero, in order to really have it make a difference it has to be above 70, since all doors with SmashDifficulty below 70 (and PickDifficulty below 50) always can be hit by bullets.
And it is not true that the bullet ALWAYS hit locks, i believe it hits the lock 33% of the time.
Not sure of any of the numbers here since I have been changing that part of the code in my files...
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Civilian
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Re: 1.13 Xml Editing[message #73647]
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Tue, 15 November 2005 00:11
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the scorpion |
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Messages:1834
Registered:September 2004 Location: CH |
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the idea is not to change existing things, but rather being able to alter a tank`s weapon choice (ever approached a tank close? the tank can`t fire it`s cannon at close range, it uses the minimi)
so the problem is i don`t want to overwrite the minimi and put it back into another slot and wanted to know if there is a more elegant solution
i think i leave the tank cannon as the tanks primary weapon, but maybe the hard-coded reference to the minimi as the tanks backup weapon can be edeited somehow?
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Sergeant Major
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Re: 1.13 Xml Editing[message #73649]
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Tue, 15 November 2005 00:35
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the scorpion |
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Messages:1834
Registered:September 2004 Location: CH |
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don`t think we can attach one gun to the other, but one step could be to allow the tank to fire different sorts of shells for instance (mustard gas or napalm anybody?)
i hope the coders can externalize this value (or even simpler) allow to give hand-picked equipment to tanks in the new editor
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Sergeant Major
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Re: 1.13 Xml Editing[message #73652]
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Mon, 19 December 2005 22:42
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the scorpion |
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Messages:1834
Registered:September 2004 Location: CH |
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has anybody had success altering the cities.xml file? what exactly do i need to do to rename cities? city names appear in a lot of diffeent situations, which of them are influenced by changing the citie`s name in cities .xml?
*edit*
i also don`t quite get the town point variable... is this somehow the size of a town?
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Sergeant Major
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Re: 1.13 Xml Editing[message #73653]
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Mon, 19 December 2005 23:41
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Realist |
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Messages:28
Registered:September 2005 Location: Duesseldorf, Germany |
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Quote:i also don`t quite get the town point variable... is this somehow the size of a town? i'm not sure, but i think "town point" defines where the town's name is displayed on the strategic map.
so it's just controlling how it looks like, but has no further effects.
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Private 1st Class
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Re: 1.13 Xml Editing[message #73654]
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Mon, 19 December 2005 23:50
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the scorpion |
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Messages:1834
Registered:September 2004 Location: CH |
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oh danke realist
so it is only the table itself that defines which sector belongs to which city? cool (btw it seems to have worked so far... not sure yet though)
what appears a bit odd to me is that the changes in the table worked (additional town sectors) but the names are all the same and in the same position
i`ll try if changing "town point" variable shifts the town`s name in the strategic map
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Sergeant Major
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