GUI, GUI, my kingdom for a GUI

trying to get to the next step but as has been stated before, I am not a GUI type programmer. All my training has been for the CLI. So I am very fuzzy and hardpressed to make a nice GUI interface to change anything in the Q3. Looking into some options. Reading on QT4, I hate generic windows stuff but might have to step that way also. Problem I have is that every GUI solution I have found wants to take full control of the App by having the base derived from one of their classes. I am going to also look into IMGUI alittle more but with that I have to write it all myself (as it is more a concept then a library to use)

Part ways back

Got my old development machine running again. But it has a few problems to work out yet. One of which is getting my VC6 set up for compiling code right. Still working on that part.

Linking

Still working on how the UI links with the game itself. They have the messages, but it goes into other structures and calls and things. This will take some tracking on how the calls route so we can copy it for new things.

Messages from the other side.

It will take little work to get the messages down also. The Q3 when you click on something, builds messages that is sent through an internal routing system to where it needs to go to tell a function to run, or to collect data needed to be displayed. It is a fairly large system, but it will crack in the near future (and be printed on paper to lay it's soul out for me to digest) mwuahha-ha-ha-ha.

QUIL

I was hoping QUIL would be a nicer thing, but it looks like an assembler style opcode so far. Will have to write out the code and a dump of the interpreter to see how it reads it. Then see if we really will need this stuff, or if a Lua script would be better to embed in the game so we can make easier changes.

I am hoping for the Lua actually, it has other uses I hope for, including changing weapons and other parts so they fire Lua scripts so we can make it tighter in the code side, and easier to add new things. (farther down the road, sort of a pipe dream).

Right now the main thing is to get the QUIL figured out so we can add in new functions to the UI. So many things OP had that EAW doesn't so much, much to add back in .

grrr, again

Was working at seeing what was needed to add plasma bolts to the game. I need alittle more study to add them. But will work on seeing what would be needed to add a panel for special sensors (besides some artwork that is).

The main thing is to see how it all works together so more can be added. The QUIL code stuff sucks still. It seems to be an op-code based language but I don't have the context yet (have to work through the interpreter and see how it loads and goes through it to get the formating and that sucks big ones). I am hoping that in general as we add new stuff that is similar to items already in the game, or copies of parts from OP, SFC3, or the original SFC I can just steal the QUIL from them and just reuse it.

moving along.

Step I am working on is how does the Q3 link with the structures in the program? How is data passed, how to make it work so we can add in new functions. Like Special Sensors, or some things I have in mind also.

Still Sick

Well, still coughing my butt off and feeling crappy in general. But slowly working through a few things. Rethinking how I wanted the editor to run (again). Will probably have to do a long sit down this week end and finalize it in my mind. But will work on a specific editor for the ship UI's while hacking down the final plan. (as the ship UI's is a big thing that will be needed)

Will have to look at how the UI's look in EAW (has been years since I played that one), and see what will be needed to make look right. Might spend my time intergrating the images from OP back into EAW.

Also the stuff I have been working on does work on the SFC3 Q3 file also, so might be able to get that look in the game also. May have to talk to a few people on where this should be heading.

argh

Today will be a sick day, dang it. So probably not much will get done besides some sleep.

Still Plugging

Okay, got it so they will write out the assets in a normal format. Will add other write commands in alittle bit to make it fit my intergrating format so we can have people edit the Q3 in pieces and have a central location to put it all back together.

I have it so it wrote out all the assets for the images, now to get alittle utility written to pack that with the images, rewrite the asset numbers, and make a reference table.

The a utility to walk the Q3 pulling out the trees of assets for each section (the named parts that are the scenes). Then probably pack the trees together logically so they can be edited together. (e.q. all tactical UI for Klingon would be either grouped into one file, or grouped in a subfolder)

first not so done

Okay, little error(s) in the stuff I done. Nothing big overall. Had the wrong int size for the asset type (simple fix, just change it). But the second one I can't figure out yet. When getting the size of a string that should be 0, I get one. Not sure why.

*edit*
odd, I was putting in a NULL if the string was blank so it would be initialized at least. Seems that if you don't have any characters in the string, it counts the '\0' as a character. So that is fixed (at least in one location, have to change it each place I did that stupid thing).

first is done

Okay, all assets are updated to work correctly. Now on to the disassemble of the Q3 into bite sized pieces. (and hoping to get over whatever is making me ill right now, grrr)

finishing up first part.

going through and adding the code to mark each asset correctly when written out. The read code checks the asset type, but doesn't save it anywhere. So adding in alittle code to put back in the asset type in the file when writting to disk. It is simply putting in a little code at the beginning of each base asset but alittle digging for it.

After that then I will start on the code to rip the Q3's apart. Then on one that will put it back together so I can see if the Q3 still works after the take apart and rebuild. If all goes well, then I have to learn some more graphics coding to get the editor running.

Will see where this heads off into.

Slow weekend

Well, not as far as I wanted, but weeked was brothers daughters b-day party (three day pool party), was sick (somewhat), and spent way to much time working on some syntactic sugar that just wouldn't sweeten up for me (so will continue with some ugly code).

So far got almost all the functions neater now and almost done with the mSave functions so it will write out to a file properly. Next is to start putting together some of the code to tear apart the Q3 into bitesized chunks for working on it. First is to pull all the images and assets that point to them into one file as a master that all the others will reference. This will be messy going, but once done it will make the editing easier for how I picture doing it.

Rework of editor idea and such

Okay. Have been thinking on how would be best to edit a file that has in the ten's of thousand assets in it. I have decided to make a slight modification to the Q3 general format to allow me to pull apart the whole file and make subfiles of each tree of assets. They will all reference a central image file.

This way I can have a file that would be each ship UI in the game and hold all the information needed for that specific UI. The references to the central image file will be by image number and not by specific offsets as in the Q3 right now. This will allow images to change without having to worry about all the offsets of all images after it. Since when you write out a full intergrated Q3 file for use it will simply figure the offsets on the fly and insert them into the file as it is written out.

I am still kicking around an idea of a fully stand alone update format that can be integrated into the Q3 from stand alone editors that can be handed out to developers (like FoaS to make the UI's) These files would hold the new images in themselves, but reference the main image file for the images that are used in multiple UI's (like the image of a weapon point, or the shields).

This would allow the community to make updates to the Q3 with the stand alone editors and submit them. Then we can review them, make sure they look good and integrate them into the Q3 with minimum problems.

A full editor that can change anything in the whole Q3 will be worked on also, but will not be released to the general people (the first one might not also, have to kick the idea around to those in charge but who knows.) I am going to jump on modifying my reading and writing code to handle this edition to the data. This will mainly add the extra information to the parts needed and write a second set of read and write functions that use the different data so it will work.

The editor will be nasty to work with to start as I am learning the programming stuff needed to work with SDL/graphics and such as I go along. So start crude, and refine as I go along and learn more.

I am hoping to get the main functions modified before the weekend is over. This also might allow me to pull the Q3's of SFC, SFC:EAW, and SFC:OP apart and put together a new Q3 file using parts of each (with a probable need of updating images from the older stuff).

On to coding. . . .

wow.

Going back into using SDL and doing some graphics. I have forgot a bit of this. But it shall come back to me as I move forward. Hopefully.

found flash

I found my flash drive that has all the Q3 work I had done so far, so no need to try and necro my old computer yet. Going to copy it over and work on the graphics again. Then back to the fun of trying to get an editor started. This will be slow as I have never made a graphical editor before, only CLI ones.

step one

Well, got the base done now. Can load in all the assets. Have to revive the dead machine long anough to pull some files off it. That way I can get the graphic stuff. But then again a rewrite might be in order.