Bored of the Rings, looks like a really useful Tool for all us that have spent thousands of $$$ on FPS Creator over the years.

It will be great to be able to use those Segments in Game Guru. Great work.

@ozziedave-thanks very much for your comment. I have quite a lot of ideas that are in my head, such as:

(1) multi-loading segments so that the user can mix segments up and weld for more variety.
(2) "punch" segment parts e.g. to fill the gaps around doors, windows etc. At the moment only the door punches "punch" through the door frame.
another example is I want to get the lift platforms fully punched (and others) with a door and frame around it. At the moment I have got the lift working really well (thanks to smallg for the script which I made very minor cosmetic updates to.
(3) display images (animated maybe?) for the various parts so the user can see what they are selecting, at the moment it's pretty much guess work.
(4) get the GUI totallly looking cool and fun looking (not a priority at moment, but anyone who has already offered/or wants to offer help would be great.
(5) import/export FPSC levels (which I did tut on with DBPro code and FPSC-2-AGK). Want to integrate this into the tool to be free from using FPSC-2-AGK tool.
(6) look into 3DS and other formats although GG only uses .X/DBO.
(7) add breaking glass similar to my tut.
A free copy will go to the person who comes up with the best GUI )

there are probably other ideas I had in mind buit can't remember, must jot these down in my code .....



[update]- another thought which I totally (well almost) forgot are copying over the effects/lights?/sound files over to the GG area.

a quick update video:

ok so now I have updated the door programming so that it is now one object and not 2, limbs and things... having fun playing around with this don;t much chance to work with meshes and limbs etc.

Thats looking real nice ..
thanks for keeping us up to date.

Harry

this is looking really good. I like the fact that you are doing videos showing the new updates and i know you will have tutorials on how to use your program when it's done. So many people create great programs like this and don't show you how to use the program. Keep up the good work!

thanks guys: I will also be thinking of (somewhere down the line) adding drag and drop features to make the program more flexible and user friendly.

BOTR, this is going to be a fantastic addition to our tool-set, and a money saving Bonanza. Great Work

development still continuing and going well, no eye candy since last time but currently as I type this (ok not exactly at the same time ) I am implementing the effects/audio side of things and have been looking into the FPSC level/prefab import/export side. Hopefully more progress and more to report on during the week.

ok so got the effects/audio files to now be part of the FPE and copied into GG area (Great!), but I have found some FPS files have either errors or missing audiofiles, so may do something where the tool searches for the audio files and if it finds it copies over and adjusts the FPE file accordingly (em another one for the list). Some of the original effects cause the object(s) to come out black, so I've left the default "entity_basic.fx" as commented out in the FPE, so that the user can uncomment it and remove the original FPSC effect from the FPE. Not all cause this problem though.
Another thing on my list will be to look at decals to see if it's worth putting those in as the basics seemed to work in GG from what I experienced.
If majority of forum members would rather not see the effects/audio/decals I will remove the code. Audio works fine.
Concentrating on sorting out the texture issue and rewriting some code i.e. directory path lengths that exceed the limit approx 140 odd characters. To resolve this , I'm removing the texturebank folder and creating a "textures" folder within the actual gg segment area e.g. Cartoonpack-> Cartoonpack/textures. This will resolve the problem, will see how this develops. The reason for this is that GG doesn't have by default a texturebank folder and gets the textures relative to the entities and therefore doesn't have that flexibility. Don't know how my wife puts up with me spending all my time on this ha just kidding

We'll pitch in and buy her flowers when this is done.

I think just getting a pre-built level with working doors would be just fine.

@seppgirty-thanks She'll appreciate that ha or throw em back at me ... just kidding

ok so as mentioned in the update video (sorry I may have waffled a bit so you can skip the boring bits ) below, I have started looking into the FPSC level/prefab side of things. This involves wading through the FPSC source code as it will provide me with information on how it rebuilds the levels from the universe.dbo and other files it stores as it looks like some of the files are memory block stored files. So there is a bit of figuring out to do (joy) and building the code I need to reconstruct the levels so there will be a lot of thought processes and making sure that I think of various aspects of the level e.g. lighting, static and non-static entities, doors, windows etc, but I am very excited about this as it will open up a whole world of possibilites for the tool.
The tool will kind of act as a kind of "go between" tool between FPSC and GG. It would be great if GG had some sort of communication ability e.g. API/OLE auto etc.
Alongside that, I am still getting doors etc as one entity which I have done so far in some driver test code, but just got to get the limb/animation working but pretty close now.

try not to sleep through the video

BOTR, the software will give us Pre-GG users far more options than was previously available, lots of automation is definitely the key. Bringing in the FPSC Level was brilliant, I may spoil the party, but you should definitely sell this software in the store.

@ozziedave-thanks for you comments. Definitely my main aim and focus is automation and will look into using the store to sell the tool, although I've read sellers seem to have a lot of issues with the store from a sellers point of view.

Here is a demo of CSG punching in action, unrehearsed worked first time yay!!!

I think that's the way to go , a prepunched wall piece for the door to fit in .
Lance

Great job- this tool looks really awesome.

I can definitely see a future use for myself with a tool like this.

Kit building is kindof a hassle without any sort of automation, and being able to extract segments from FPS creator Is a very new much-needed feature.

I have some questions though, or maybe feature suggestions, that I know would help me tremendously with producing content.

My main question is that is it possible in this program to output all the files necessary to make the entity, for example, the textures, the audio files, the meshes, and the FPEs into one single entity bank folder?

to better understand my question - my ideal solution would be converting a FPSC floor segment like this:


My understanding is the current state of the program, the files are output like this, similar to their input structure:

Input floor

Fpscreator/segments/floor
Fpscreator/texturebank/floor_d.dds
Fpscreator/texturebank/floor_n.dds
Fpscreator/texturebank/floor_s.dds
Fpscreator/meshbank/floor.dbo

For me Ideally, when preparing content for store uploads, the kit pieces would export everything into one single folder like this:

Output floor

Gameguru/entitybank/user/segments/myfloor/floor.fpe
Gameguru/entitybank/user/segments/myfloor/floor_d.dds
Gameguru/entitybank/user/segments/myfloor/floor_n.dds
Gameguru/entitybank/user/segments/myfloor/floor_s.dds
Gameguru/entitybank/user/segments/myfloor/floor.Dbo
Gameguru/entitybank/user/segments/myfloor/floor.Bmp


What this does is keeps all the necessary files under one folder, so that it can be uploaded to the game guru store without any hassle whatsoever, this tool would literally be a lifesaver if it could output this type of way. I have a huge backlog of segments that I produced for FPS creator back in the day that I want to add to gameguru. But I haven't had a way to automate the process in a store friendly way.

Keep up the great work this tool is so promising and exciting I will be following this as it develops.

@teamhalo: yes, great idea, I will definitely implement this. I'll add to my list of things to do in the code. I must admit it's not something I had even thought of, thanks again for this.

@teamhalo: just a quick question as I've never used the store before. Do users that want to upload content to the store need to zip the content(s) up.
The reason I ask is that I may be able to create a zip folder containing the contents.

Definitely looking forward to purchasing this great software, counted 94 Separate individual Segments, from Castles to Full Rooms, and everything in between, all from the old FPS Creator

Yes - that feature would be fantastic. Also - in order for a store upload to be processed correctly, all the entity files need to be inside a folder named entitybank

So the zip would look like this:


Segment.zip/entitybank/ the entity files

thanks again for your comments -I will look at adding this in over the weekend and now I have two weeks holiday so apart from some odd days away, tiling and other hobbies, I will find quite a bit of time developing this tool further. Obviously there is still a lot to do and implement, but having fun creating it.

Here is a video of me putting a simple lift system in place using the Sci-Fi lift platform segs and also some other miscellaneous stuff I've been doing with the tool.

brilliant

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious

thanks guys Ok , so now after doing some futher test code and revisiting complete door frame/animated doors, they are are now fully animated as one entity/segment. I can now implement this code into the main application, although main code now needs a bit of tidying and tightening up.
So in the next couple of weeks while I'm off work I will be concentrating on performance enhancement, FPSC level/prefabs, multiple segment selection for "punching" holes and GUI improvements+misc stuff e.g. store content zip files in between other family/friends/house DIY committments. But it's amazing what you can do in a few hours of intense coding I will also at some point be adding the ability to store your favourite "punches" and segments to a library folder so that you can decide which punch/segments you want to use when creating your own pieces out of existing segments (if any of that makes sense). In the long term I want to create my own segment maker (the original segment creator is ok but a bit unstable and not user friendly), the ideas are endless at the moment. I am also toying with the idea of releasing a DEMO version or cut down version of the tool that provides the basics so that current owners of FPSC can at least rebuild the segments they already own and save directly to GG (FREE of charge). This obviously will not include the FPSC level/prefab and other more advanced features. Let me know what you guys think.

Sweet.

Sign me up for your bata testing. This project has great promise. I want to be first in line to buy it in whatever form it turns out to be. Thank you in advance. Great job!!

If you are happy to release a cut down version...LET IT BE

PS: BOTR, would you ever consider engineering a 'Visual LUA helper', it appears that the one that was envisaged in the Forums has gone of the boil ?.

I think this would be another project Winner like your Segment AutoWelder .

@ozziedave: are you referring to Avrams LUA designer? Yes, that is a real shame it looked like a great LUA visual aid., I'm not sure if he will be continuing with it, but I would consider doing something similar which would be web based , point and click/ drag and drop that sort of thing. Did you have any ideas on what you would want to see in such a tool?

In the menu I think you could have a Setting Option that could allow you to set and check your Path for input and output files.
That way your still have the option to set the Path to something other then the drfaults. iE ... for use in other programs such as Dark basic and the like.
Just a Thought.

i would love to try the cut down version to see what i can do with it if you decide count me in .
i will be testing in windows 10 se if any problems arise .

I've tested on win 7 and win10 and no issues but you never know

Yes, just like Avrams LUA designer, this type of asset has been used on a few 2d Game Makers quite successfully. I think that a programme like this would sell very well, and complement GG, and with your programming skills it would definitely be possible.

here is a quick(ish) demo of animated doors as 1 entity, no more saving out as 2 files (woo)

This is looking better every day . The 1 piece door/frame entity is much better than having to try and place the door properly in the frame . Keep up the excellent work .

Lance

thanks for your kind comment Lance.

today, after returning from London and seeing The Martian in 3D (great film which I recommend ), I have spent a couple of hours applying fixes to the tool. so now the doors that weren't being recognised as doors e.g. M3, DungeonItems. These now work fine and texture/animate no problem. Tonight off to see SPECTRE so that should be good hopefully, but tomorrow will be spent looking at the performance enhancement i.e. reading from file and placing into memory for faster access and any other bottlenecks and Friday will most likely be continuing with FPSC level import/export so that will be fun.

These updates are progressing a lot. I really like what I am seeing in the videos. If you could implement functionality to swap textures of a preset segment, you could have a fully fledged basic segment creator for Game Guru. I'd still like to see all the files dump to one folder, which would be perfect for store uploads. Keep up the great work, this is awesome.

@teamhalo, another great idea (I'll add to list), why didn't I think of that. Yes, I must admit the tool will eventually lead to being a segment editor and a kinda ConKIT. thanks again for the idea-keep them coming Also, I haven't forgotton about having the files dumped to one folder, this also on my list of things to do. Today, will be putting file info into memory for quick access to speed the main loop processing up as well as break testing to see if there are any issues I haven't found and need fixing so that the program is solid and break proof. I've also been making small minor fixes to the functionality e.g. added mimimise button to the window (silly me forgot doh!). I will be doing more update videos once there are more features in place so I don't repeat myself going over existing stuff you guys have already seen. A DEMO or cut down version (FREE) will also be available for download here as soon as possible so that existing FPSC users can at least get their fav segments/doors into GG if they so wish. List of things to do is quite large now but here are some of them but not in any particular order:

1. add punch facility (will alow user to select the part/punch to create a shaped hole e.g. for walls so that doors/windows etc can be fitted neatly into place) --demo code works just need to implement into main tool code and make more user friendly
2. generate zip file file for store upload--thanks TeamHalo for the idea
3. texture swapping--thanks TeamHalo for the idea
4. FPSC level/prefab importing exporting (complex but will be fun and the one I really can't wait to get done)
5. multi-loading of segments so users can mix up parts from other segs(not sure what you guys think of that idea)
6. display images of each indiviual part for easier selection instead of guessing.
7. add an option for user to choose default in/out folders-- thanks again ACKohollic for the idea.
8. add breaking glass feature using decal and default lua scripts already created by myself (not sure if you guys are interested in this, this is low priority anyway)
9. look into other formats e.g. 3DS although GG only uses .X/DBO
10. add help documentation and "about" info.
11. generate user custom thumbnails for customised segments.

There are endless features I could add to this so if you do have any ideas that slow Mike hasn't already thought of, please feel free to post them.


[update 12:30-- fixed sinking door (Y axis) issue]

[/quote]1. add punch facility (will allow user to select the part/punch to create a shaped hole e.g. for walls so that doors/windows etc can be fitted neatly into place) --demo code works just need to implement into main tool code and make more user friendly .

Does this mean that we will be able to add 'explosion' holes (odd shapes) thru walls - ceilings and not just holes for doors/windows ?


Lance

@Lance- good question -- although not tested myself, I don't see why this shouldn't be possible. I will try and test out if I can find/create an odd shape CSG punch.

currently adding code to create the zip file for the store.

[update]-now implemented and works fine, may need more flexibility but basics work.

this is looking great BOTR. When you get the whole level part done. Will it save it all out as a .x file. I would love to be able to import it into fragmotion(with correct uv mapping and textures) so i could export it out as different formats.

I will be buying this for sure.

@seppgirty: the level will mostly likely be DBO and/or .X file. The downside is that Fragmotion has a limit to the number of vertices it will load in, and GG has most likely also got a limit but I don't know what the size limit is for GG so we would have to be careful when designing levels in FPSC we want to import into GG. So far I have managed to get all the default FPSC levels and my own smaller levels into GG with no issue, but as with all software they have limitations. Maybe in the future TGC will increase the size limit of models/entities/levels but that's their call.

Hi all, here is a demo of the "Create Store Zip" function. Thanks again TeamHalo for the idea. This will be free in the DEMO version of the tool.

some good news and some minor bad news. the Demo version works very well in Windows 7, but the "Create Store Zip" code is not fully compatible with Windows 10. On the good side in Windows 10, I have for now left the "entitybank" folder containing the segment media in and so if you are running Windows 10 you will need to zip up the "Entitybank" folder yourself and rename accordingly. I have not tested in Windows 8/8.1 as I no longer use those OS versions, but if I get some time I will run in a virtual win8/8.1 environment. If you use XP, I see no reason why the tool wouldn't work but again I would have to test out in virtual setup of the OS. In both Demo versions, I have added View->Current Segment Folder. This will take you straight to the current segment folder you are working on for convenience. The DEMO versions will be available for download most likely tomorrow as I have some family committments tonight/tomorrow morning.

BOTR, how do you find Windows 10, is it worth downloading yet, I have many small programmes I use for video making, image manipulation 2d & 3d Unity Tools etc. I have two Computers, Laptop, Windows 7, Standalone, Windows 8.1. I have held off for now BUT ?.

I hardly use it at the moment as it doesn't run some of my favourite older software e.g. Deep Exploration. It seems more stable than Windows 8 and has more features. I only use it to test my programs are compatible with it. I don't trust it to run any older software and especially older TGC products

At last, I'm pleased to release the Demo version of the Welder tool
Here are the dropbox links to the 2 demo versions of SegAutoWelder 3.0.
All you need to do is download and extract the zip file somewhere appropriate where you want the tool to be installed.
Please let me know if you have any issues, queries, thoughts etc
Enjoy!!

[removed this version as obsolete now]

I have had to temporarily unfix the code that was fixing the doors from sinking as there was an issue where some doors were being shown in GG as correct but others where the door was position higher than the frame.. I will endeavour to fix this as soon as.
At the moment there are no guides to the tool, but I will post a video on how to use the tool, but it's fairly straight forward. And of course, you can always refer to my already posted videos.

My focus will now be fully on FPSC classic level import/export (and prefabs) as well as other features such as the "Punching" tool.

very excited to try this. Thanks BOTR.

1st bug report

When you click on the x to close the model preview window it makes the model spin out of control and crashes the program.

also... it will save the textures over to GG but not the model or fpe.

I'm using windows 7 64 home premium.

Thanks for the bug report, for now use either S key or middle mouse button to close the preview window as i haven't added code to handle the close button on preview window .