1168 replies to this topic

[Mike1072]

I made a mistake. I downloaded the newest GitHub version of NearInfinity NearInfinity-20200901.zip as I wanted to try the new functionality.

Now I cannot see the GUI even if I open my old 2019 jar file. I normally see everything in large size with dark background and light text because these are the only settings I can use to read text due to my vision. All I "see" of it is dark background with black text, or light background with light grey text, which are both totally illegible for me.

I have tried uninstalling and reinstalling Java and selecting menu options from memory inside the program. Ironically, with the new version of Java 8 I can now see things I couldn't before on the Java installation splash screens and such, but I cannot use the jar application to do anything besides open it in WIndows Explorer.

I realize this would not be a high development priority to fix for most, but would someone please help me to get the GUI to where everything is dark background with light text? Right now I can't even see to make different selections for the colors.

Are you on Windows 10?  It has an ability to invert all colours on your display (toggleable with a keyboard shortcut).  More details here: https://support.micr...e-color-filters

 

Edit: I think the default appearance is pretty standard dark text on a light background.  Here's what it looks like for me, at 100% text size using the "Metal" Look and Feel: https://i.imgur.com/rmoqoGx.png

 

If you're seeing something vastly different there may be something else going on.

Edited by Mike1072, 07 October 2020 - 12:40 AM.

[Argent77]

I made a mistake. I downloaded the newest GitHub version of NearInfinity NearInfinity-20200901.zip as I wanted to try the new functionality.

Now I cannot see the GUI even if I open my old 2019 jar file. I normally see everything in large size with dark background and light text because these are the only settings I can use to read text due to my vision. All I "see" of it is dark background with black text, or light background with light grey text, which are both totally illegible for me.

I have tried uninstalling and reinstalling Java and selecting menu options from memory inside the program. Ironically, with the new version of Java 8 I can now see things I couldn't before on the Java installation splash screens and such, but I cannot use the jar application to do anything besides open it in WIndows Explorer.

I realize this would not be a high development priority to fix for most, but would someone please help me to get the GUI to where everything is dark background with light text? Right now I can't even see to make different selections for the colors.

Near Infinity itself doesn't provide many options to change visual appearance. There is an option to change UI schemes (menu Options > Look & Feel), but I think the default UI scheme (Metal) is still the cleanest of all.

 

There is also a way to change the global font size to a percentage value compared to normal font size (see menu Options > Change Global Font Size).

 

If you have trouble accessing these options, I have attached a zip file containing several registry files which will change global font size for you, if you want to try them out:  ni_fontsize_options.zip   1.72K   192 downloads

 

Unpack the archive and double-click on a registry file (confirm the message dialogs, if there are any). Afterwards start Near Infinity. They provide 125, 150, 200, 250 and 300 percent increased font size compared to standard. It works best with the default UI, but may also work with a few selected other UI schemes.

 

Apart from that, Mike's suggestions to make use of Windows' "Ease of Access" features might also help.

[Gamemacik]

Hi, cut and paste function in NearInfinity-2.1-20200901 is completely broken.

 

How to reproduce bug.
 
Edit file "SCRL1X.ITM"
1. right click and cut "Item ability 0"
2. paste "Item ability 0" below "Item ability 1"
3. save and close file
4. reopen file ...
 

Spoiler

 

 

Edited by Gamemacik, 02 December 2020 - 06:57 AM.

[Argent77]

Hi, cut and paste function in NearInfinity-2.1-20200901 is completely broken.
 
How to reproduce bug.
 
Edit file "SCRL1X.ITM"
1. right click and cut "Item ability 0"
2. paste "Item ability 0" below "Item ability 1"
3. save and close file
4. reopen file ...

I can confirm this issue. It also applies to SPL resources with nested substructures. I'll see what I can do.

[Argent77]

Update: NearInfinity v2.1-20210123

Changelog:

• Fixed ITM/SPL file corruption when appending Ability structures
• Added EEex support (thanks Bubb)
• Added option to sort IDS entries (found under "Format..." button > "Sort entries")
• Show a game selection dialog if game is not detected automatically by NI
• Improved handling of dialog.tlk when it's blocked by a running game
• Updated various effect opcodes
• Made list of available opcodes more game-specific
• EFF V2.0: added more bits to "Dispel/Resist" field
• EFF V2.0: changed "Dispel/Resist" field from list to flags
• Improved save type flags descriptions
• Internal fixes and optimizations

[The Imp]

Changelog:

• Added EEex support (thanks Bubb)
• ...
• Updated various effect opcodes

I am detecting a pattern here, now question is; How is this handled in a case where things don't crosspolynate ? ... aka, say the current game has no EEex installed, is the EEex info shown, and not exclusively separated to not be in effect without the EEex install. As it can lead to operational misleads.

[Argent77]

EEex is handled just like TobEx. New opcodes are only available if EEex is detected. Changes to existing opcodes are handled in the same way as TobEx or game-specific differences. All of these changes are backwards compatible with vanilla game resources. So if you don't have EEex installed you'll just see some numbers in unused or differently labeled resource fields.

[subtledoctor]

Quick note: my mods use a function from... someone (Ardanis?) to create new spellstates in the next available slot of splstate.ids. That file in the unmodded EEs is filled to 118, so the function starts there. In BG2EE v2.5.16, my mod adds a spellstate at 119. Then 120 through 126 are already full, so the next spellstate the mod adds is 127.

 

When I look at the 318/326 effects of spells in NI, it shows "119 - DETECT_INVISIBLE" instead of the name of my custom spellstate. I assume that is because on some other games, slot #119 is filled with that state. So NI defaults to showing that. But in this case it is incorrect. Looking at the IDS file shows the correct name, but looking inside spell effects shows the wrong name.

 

This is just a cosmetic issue, to be sure - the only trouble it caused was making me think it was a bug on my end and losing 30 minutes trying to chase it down. But I thought I should drop a note about it.  Cheers!

[Argent77]

Quick note: my mods use a function from... someone (Ardanis?) to create new spellstates in the next available slot of splstate.ids. That file in the unmodded EEs is filled to 118, so the function starts there. In BG2EE v2.5.16, my mod adds a spellstate at 119. Then 120 through 126 are already full, so the next spellstate the mod adds is 127.

 

When I look at the 318/326 effects of spells in NI, it shows "119 - DETECT_INVISIBLE" instead of the name of my custom spellstate. I assume that is because on some other games, slot #119 is filled with that state. So NI defaults to showing that. But in this case it is incorrect. Looking at the IDS file shows the correct name, but looking inside spell effects shows the wrong name.

 

This is just a cosmetic issue, to be sure - the only trouble it caused was making me think it was a bug on my end and losing 30 minutes trying to chase it down. But I thought I should drop a note about it.  Cheers!

There are no hardcoded parts involved in showing the list of SPLSTATE entries. If you see an entry with a different name than you expected it's likely that there is a duplicate entry in SPLSTATE.IDS with that name.

[Argent77]

A quick preview of what can be expected in the next Near Infinity release:

This year Near Infinity will turn 20 years old. For that reason I'm working on a new feature of a similar scale (coding-wise) as the Area Viewer or the BAM Converter that will be ready for the next release. I'll provide more details about it later.

In addition to the new feature you can expect a great number of fixes and improvements for the area viewer, BAM converter, effect opcodes and various resource types.

I plan to release the next version shortly after the official release of the EE game patch 2.6 to make sure that it works reliably with the new patch, but probably not later than May (whatever comes first).

[Andrea C.]

Is it possible to use NI to see class and race descriptions with their associated strref in the same way as it can be done with items and spells?

[Argent77]

Is it possible to use NI to see class and race descriptions with their associated strref in the same way as it can be done with items and spells?

Race and class descriptions are mostly hardcoded in the original games. But I'll see if I can come up with something, maybe a race/class/kit browser or something along these lines. It'll be probably something I'll deal with only after the next release, however.

[Andrea C.]

Thank you, Argent.

[Sir-Kill]

I am sure I am missing something but a Ctrl+L Thief: finds the the thief description. I have edited the druid, elf, and others
Oh btw thanks argent for all the updates!

Edited by Sir-Kill, 24 April 2021 - 04:03 AM.

[Argent77]

To determine the strrefs for race, class or kit description you can turn on strref display in the game and inspect the descriptions in the character creation screen. The strref number is shown in front of the text.

For classic BG2 add this line to the "Program Options" section of the Baldur.ini:

Strref On=1

For EE games add this line to the baldur.lua:

SetPrivateProfileString('Program Options','Strref On','1')

However, the EE games also have these descriptions externalized to RACETEXT.2DA and CLASTEXT.2DA.

Edited by Argent77, 24 April 2021 - 05:01 AM.

[Argent77]

Update: NearInfinity v2.2-20210501

This year Near Infinity will turn 20 years old. For this occasion I have implemented a new feature in Near Infinity that has been on my to-do list already for a long time: a full-featured creature animation decoder and viewer.

The decoder is implemented in three different applications: a quick viewer (implemented as a new "Animation" tab for CRE resources), a powerful creature animation browser (accessible from the Tools menu and the quick viewer), and creature animation support for the Area Viewer (as still frame and animated options).

Screenshots:

The quick viewer for creature animations:

Spoiler

The creature animation browser:

Spoiler

Creature animation with visual markers enabled:

Spoiler

Creature animation with background image:

Spoiler

Animated actors in the Area Viewer:

Spoiler

In May 2001 the original author, Jon Olav Hauglid, released the first public version of Near Infinity. The binary was a whopping 250 kb in size and provided support for a selected number of game resources. Since then it has continuously grown into a full-fledged resource editor, and more. Even after the the original author left, NI was further improved over time by various developers. By now, Near Infinity supports all Infinity Engine games as well as their Enhanced Edition counterparts and provides several additional tools, such as the Area Viewer, various graphics converters or the new Creature Animation Browser, to make life of modders and players easier.

The original website was online until recently. However, the archived version can still be visited at https://web.archive....ntnu.no/joh/ni/.


Detailed changelog:

• Added new feature "creature animation decoding" which has been implemented as:
  • A Creature Animation Browser: found under menu Tools > Creature Animation Browser
  • A quick viewer shown in a new "Animation" tab for CRE resources
  • Creature animation support in the Area Viewer: available as still frame or animated actors
  • Features:
    • Decoding and display of creature animations in all available directions and animation sequences
    • Display of creature animation overlays (weapons, helmets, shields)
    • Support of false-colored animations, special blending effects and translucency
    • Support of selected special visual effects (stoneskin/petrification, frozen death, various blur effect and tint effects)
    • Visual helpers (selection circle, personal space indicator, bounding box for individual sprite segments or layers)
  • (Big thanks to Bubb for providing technical help, as well as Galactygon and Gwendolyne for beta-testing.)
• Area Viewer:
  • Show global characters on maps (e.g. party members, familiars, potential NPCs)
  • Fixed actors sometimes not being displayed on maps in saved games
  • Fixed rendering issues with water overlays in BGEE
• Improved color selection list control (used by CRE resources and color-related opcodes):
  • Improved display of random color names
  • Fixed available colors in color-related opcodes (e.g. opcode 7)
• Improved data types providing selection lists:
  • Fixed special entries in ARE song selection
  • CRE animation type: value is shown in hexadecimal notation
  • Internal restructuring and optimizations
  • No more bogus entries in lists for resource fields contains unsupported values
• Added new command line parameter "-i" as a workaround for file reading issues on Linux with non-case-sensitive filesystems
• BAM Converter: Improved palette generation for BAM V1 when alpha blending is enabled
• Fixed loading performance of PVRZ-based graphics files if PVRZ files are read from override folder (affects TIS/MOS/BAM resource viewers and Area Viewer)
• ARE automap notes: marker color field uses values from MAPNOTES.IDS if available
• Marked several SPL fields as unused
• Updated PRO area effect fields related to "Ray count"
• Updated SPL V2.0 flags
• Added missing "Half-Orc" to ITM V2.0 kit usability flags
• ITM V2.0 kit usability1 is generated dynamically (experimental feature)
• ITM V1.1 weapon color field improvement
• ITM view panel shows both general and identified descriptions (if available)
• Improved wording of STO flags descriptions
• BAM view uses 0-based indices for cycles and frames
• Improved usability of input control for setting proficiency values
• Added parameter2 support (Color) to opcode 253
• Improved opcode 12 special flags descriptions
• Improved opcode 232 parameter descriptions
• Minor adjustments to CRE V2.2 field definitions
• Fixed corruption of CRE V2.2 resources when adding/removing effect or item structures
• Fixed parameter1 handling when parameter2 = 3 in opcode 15 and 44
• Many internal fixes and optimizations

Edited by Argent77, 01 May 2021 - 12:41 AM.

[Mike1072]

Very exciting.  Thanks for all your work keeping development going after all this time.

[Andrea C.]

Absolutely brilliant!

[Gamemacik]

There is a very annoying bug in the version NearInfinity v2.2-20210501 and i guess it was also in previous version. When spell effects are copied then pasted below, often happens, the values randomly changes.

eg. i had spell effect Cold resistance bonus (28), # dice thrown/maximum level  was 1 before, the value changed when: i right click and copy Value 20 and i pasted it into Value field for another effect Magical cold resistance bonus (85). Then i checked all effects if all is ok and values were messed. The bug also occurs on manual input, not just copy only.

Type	Cold resistance bonus (28)	21a h (30 h)	2
Target	Preset target (2)	21c h (2 h)	1
Power	9	21d h (3 h)	1
Value	20	21e h (4 h)	4
Modifier type	Increment (0)	222 h (8 h)	4
Timing mode	Instant/Permanent until death - 1	226 h (c h)	1
Dispel/Resistance	Dispel/Bypass resistance (3)	227 h (d h)	1
Duration	0	228 h (e h)	4
Probability 1	100	22c h (12 h)	1
Probability 2	0	22d h (13 h)	1
Unused	00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 h	22e h (14 h)	8
# dice thrown/maximum level	20	236 h (13c h)	4
Dice size/minimum level	7	23a h (140 h)	4
Save type	( No save )	23e h (24 h)	4
Save bonus	0	242 h (28 h)	4
Special	0	246 h (2c h)	4

Edited by Gamemacik, 31 May 2021 - 11:25 AM.

[Argent77]

There is a very annoying bug in the version NearInfinity v2.2-20210501 and i guess it was also in previous version. When spell effects are copied then pasted below, often happens, the values randomly changes.

eg. i had spell effect Cold resistance bonus (28), # dice thrown/maximum level  was 1 before, the value changed when: i right click and copy Value 20 and i pasted it into Value field for another effect Magical cold resistance bonus (85). Then i checked all effects if all is ok and values were messed. The bug also occurs on manual input, not just copy only.

Type	Cold resistance bonus (28)	21a h (30 h)	2
Target	Preset target (2)	21c h (2 h)	1
Power	9	21d h (3 h)	1
Value	20	21e h (4 h)	4
Modifier type	Increment (0)	222 h (8 h)	4
Timing mode	Instant/Permanent until death - 1	226 h (c h)	1
Dispel/Resistance	Dispel/Bypass resistance (3)	227 h (d h)	1
Duration	0	228 h (e h)	4
Probability 1	100	22c h (12 h)	1
Probability 2	0	22d h (13 h)	1
Unused	00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 h	22e h (14 h)	8
# dice thrown/maximum level	20	236 h (13c h)	4
Dice size/minimum level	7	23a h (140 h)	4
Save type	( No save )	23e h (24 h)	4
Save bonus	0	242 h (28 h)	4
Special	0	246 h (2c h)	4

Yeah, something seems to be off with the lines "Type", "# dice thrown/maximum level" and "Dice size/minimum level". I'll try to reproduce the issue. Can you provide a step-by-step repro or does it happen with any SPL resource?