Endless Space save editor released

Upgradecap

Newcomer

6 100g2g pts

12 years ago

Aug 29, 2012, 8:17:23 PM

Huh, weird. It now works perfectly fine.

EvilFred

Newcomer

EvilFred

Newcomer

12 years ago

Aug 31, 2012, 4:48:02 AM

I'm going to work on Planets next, because that got the most votes. That's going to be a bit tricky because the data is stored in 5 places and some of the data is in flag sets which are tough to crack.

In the meantime, if anyone knows how to translate between empire traits codenames and English, let me know.

davea

Newcomer

davea

Newcomer

12 years ago

Aug 31, 2012, 3:07:55 PM

EvilFred wrote:
In the meantime, if anyone knows how to translate between empire traits codenames and English, let me know.

As we discussed, you are already using the localization file. But, I guess you are not using the other xml files. Each empire trait has a section in the xml (simulation/EmpireTrait.xml). In that section, there is a key which gives the related localization string. So, you would have to parse the xml, get the localization string, and then use your existing lookup of the localization strings.

EvilFred

Newcomer

EvilFred

Newcomer

12 years ago

Sep 1, 2012, 12:22:05 AM

davea wrote:
As we discussed, you are already using the localization file. But, I guess you are not using the other xml files. Each empire trait has a section in the xml (simulation/EmpireTrait.xml). In that section, there is a key which gives the related localization string. So, you would have to parse the xml, get the localization string, and then use your existing lookup of the localization strings.

Well I don't see what you're talking about there, but FactionTrait.xml looks more promising.

davea

Newcomer

davea

Newcomer

12 years ago

Sep 1, 2012, 3:30:48 PM

Sorry, I gave the correct process but the wrong filename.

EvilFred

Newcomer

EvilFred

Newcomer

12 years ago

Sep 2, 2012, 7:34:07 AM

I'm concerned that maybe nobody's using my program. I kind of feel like I'm writing this program for myself since I haven't heard much feedback.

I've uploaded a bunch of versions (check the edit time on the first post). Today's version adds the Systems tab. It's showing star systems, though editing doesn't work yet. I'm working to get some clever features for this tab but it takes a lot of hours since I'm learning winforms. Once I get this tab working I'll probably change the Heroes tab to this design.

LordRaven

Newcomer

LordRaven

Newcomer

12 years ago

Sep 2, 2012, 8:46:22 AM

I tried out the editor today and encountered a problem:

The editor crashes when I tried to open a savegame.

************** Ausnahmetext **************

System.NullReferenceException: Der Objektverweis wurde nicht auf eine Objektinstanz festgelegt.

bei ESEdit.Game.loadSystems()

bei ESEdit.Game.replaceContent(Byte[] xml)

bei ESEdit.MainWindow.load(String fileName)

bei ESEdit.MainWindow.load()

bei ESEdit.MainWindow.b__2(Object s, EventArgs e)

bei System.Windows.Forms.ToolStripItem.RaiseEvent(Object key, EventArgs e)

bei System.Windows.Forms.ToolStripMenuItem.OnClick(EventArgs e)

bei System.Windows.Forms.ToolStripItem.HandleClick(EventArgs e)

bei System.Windows.Forms.ToolStripItem.HandleMouseUp(MouseEventArgs e)

bei System.Windows.Forms.ToolStripItem.FireEventInteractive(EventArgs e, ToolStripItemEventType met)

bei System.Windows.Forms.ToolStripItem.FireEvent(EventArgs e, ToolStripItemEventType met)

bei System.Windows.Forms.ToolStrip.OnMouseUp(MouseEventArgs mea)

bei System.Windows.Forms.ToolStripDropDown.OnMouseUp(MouseEventArgs mea)

bei System.Windows.Forms.Control.WmMouseUp(Message& m, MouseButtons button, Int32 clicks)

bei System.Windows.Forms.Control.WndProc(Message& m)

bei System.Windows.Forms.ScrollableControl.WndProc(Message& m)

bei System.Windows.Forms.ToolStrip.WndProc(Message& m)

bei System.Windows.Forms.ToolStripDropDown.WndProc(Message& m)

bei System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.OnMessage(Message& m)

bei System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.WndProc(Message& m)

bei System.Windows.Forms.NativeWindow.Callback(IntPtr hWnd, Int32 msg, IntPtr wparam, IntPtr lparam)

It happens to ALL my savegames. It seems that the editor crashes when it tries to load the system-map.

If I click on "Weiter" (Continue) I get a partially loaded savegame.

[Tabs]

Game: Empty

Empires: Data loaded

Heroes: Data loaded

Systems: Empty

"Save as" gives the same exception. (not really surprising, since the pointer is missing).

Btw: From what I can gather from this thread is that the savegames are a ZLib-compressed XML file. Is that true? If so I'd like to know how you decompress them (start offset etc) because I want to have a look myself.

davea

Newcomer

davea

Newcomer

12 years ago

Sep 2, 2012, 3:17:39 PM

To learn how to look into a save file, check here:

http://forums.amplitude-studios.com/showthread.php?2131-!!-able-to-rejoin-game-as-any-ai-player-!!

evilfred wrote:
I kind of feel like I'm writing this program for myself since I haven't heard much feedback.

Unfortunately, the modding world is like this, and often professional software development is like this. The only feedback is the bugs. If you keep your download file on a place like mediafire, at least you can see a download count.

LordRaven

Newcomer

LordRaven

Newcomer

12 years ago

Sep 2, 2012, 4:17:35 PM

I'm concerned that maybe nobody's using my program. I kind of feel like I'm writing this program for myself since I haven't heard much feedback.

I'd love to give you more feedback. Being a programmer myself I know how important it is. But right now I can only give you the error-message above. My conclusion is that there is something wrong with the star-system parser.

@davea: thx for pointing me in the right direction

davea

Newcomer

davea

Newcomer

12 years ago

Sep 2, 2012, 4:39:28 PM

There are two other ways to build "traffic" which I can suggest, one is easy, one takes more time. If you release a new version and all you do is edit the first post, probably nobody will notice. The way I use, and most people use the forum is to "subscribe" to interesting threads, or just check them in the thread list. If it shows up in bold, then it has a new post and I'll read it. Simply editing the first post does not make the thread show up in bold. So, you should add a new post onto the end of the thread, like "Version 1.2 released with the xyz features". If you find that your thread has a dozen of your posts like this and nobody else has replied in the meantime, then (a) maybe you should have fewer, bigger releases or (b) your community may be suffering from release overload (and you should have fewer, bigger releases). Or of course (c) nobody is using it.

The second way takes more time, and can be annoying to others if you do it too much. Every day, find 1-2 new threads where somebody is discussing some problem, which your tool could help solve. Post something constructive like, "If you want to look at what the AI is doing in that game, you may want to use my save editor. It lets you jailbreak the game with one click", and put a link to the thread. Anybody reading the thread may say, "hey, that sounds cool" and download it. It is like free advertising. But, be sure your post is constructive and relevant, and avoid doing too much of it.

EvilFred

Newcomer

EvilFred

Newcomer

12 years ago

Sep 2, 2012, 8:40:50 PM

davea: Thanks for the advice. I was thinking about doing what you said but I suppose I really have to do it.

LordRaven: Thanks for the report. I think I see the problem, but if you send me your save I could make sure it's fixed. I've uploaded a new version which should load your save.

LordRaven

Newcomer

LordRaven

Newcomer

12 years ago

Sep 3, 2012, 6:19:49 AM

Yes it works now! Thank you. I have attached my savegame so you can try it out yourself.

Btw: I don't know if you know this but the game actually loads uncompressed savegame XML-files from the folder. So you don't have to recompress them after modification.
Iconian - Turn 228.zip

EvilFred

Newcomer

EvilFred

Newcomer

12 years ago

Sep 3, 2012, 8:18:30 AM

LordRaven wrote:
Btw: I don't know if you know this but the game actually loads uncompressed savegame XML-files from the folder. So you don't have to recompress them after modification.

Hah, all this time I didn't know that. But what's done is done, no point undoing work.

EvilFred

Newcomer

EvilFred

Newcomer

12 years ago

Sep 3, 2012, 8:14:21 PM

After many hours and nearly 3000 lines of code, the editor does everything needed for version 1. It's no longer a preview, it's a release candidate!

Shingen123

Newcomer

Shingen123

Newcomer

12 years ago

Sep 3, 2012, 9:51:57 PM

Thanks for all the time you took making it EvilFred, I seldom thank modders, but this one will definitely make the game more fun.

Kind Regards

Tom

Kprof

Newcomer

Kprof

Newcomer

17 400g2g pts

12 years ago

Sep 3, 2012, 10:09:12 PM

Awesome work EvilFred!

The System list is great and drilling down to the planets for tweaking is quick and easy.

Previously I've been using a much more basic ES editor that I found by accident!

If you're interested in comparing features and code you may want to take a look at the (sort of) save editor here:

http://www.cheathappens.com/show_board2.asp?headID=112313&titleID=18736&onPage=1

(Source on Google docs: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BxV_jLlyKSScaVI0SllkWFJvZTg/edit )

The above editor is Alpha and nowhere near as complete as your version. More of a simple wrapper to presenting the save in XML format.

It comes as a self-expanding EXE and includes a free XML editor (foxe).

Chucking the XML view option into your version would be magic!

Cheers and thanks for the good work!

Kirk.

ZeroFyzix

Newcomer

ZeroFyzix

Newcomer

12 years ago

Sep 4, 2012, 12:36:05 AM

I made an account purely to say this, Fred. This is spectacular, and exactly the mod I was looking for.

All the thanks give-able, are given. Long days and pleasant nights,

Fyzix.

LordRaven

Newcomer

LordRaven

Newcomer

12 years ago

Sep 5, 2012, 5:06:27 AM

Really nice work! And, as you requested some (hopefully constructive) feedback:

- Would be nice if the system list would show the real name of the system, instead of the original one. (RealName)

- The "Zoom in" button caption in the system-list might be misleading. I would suggest "Edit System".

- I hope you enable the other options in the planet edit list soon! I'd love to change the moons...

CCA

Blue Shifter

CCA

Blue Shifter

22 800g2g pts

12 years ago

Sep 5, 2012, 11:17:35 AM

Thank you for creating this ^_^. Whilst I do enjoy a bit of file diving, this will make things a lot easier when I want to experiment.

Are you thinking of adding the ability to add/remove planets to a system in the future?

saint-ch

Newcomer

saint-ch

Newcomer

12 years ago

Sep 5, 2012, 5:08:12 PM

Hy first of all thanks for your work.

saidly i can not say more, for it does for some reason not work. it loads the files all right but that i can't manipulate anything everything is just stuck.

what could be the problem? is there any faq that i can read.