1168 replies to this topic

[Fiann of the Silver Hand]

Ah, great!  No worries.  I should probably get into the habit of writing scripts in Notepad++ anyway.

 

Q:  Is there a way I can get NI to recognize additions or alterations to MSECTYPE.2da?

[Argent77]

Near Infinity doesn't make use of msectype.2da internally. It probably depends on whether the game (engine) recognizes additional entries. I can't say more than this, since I've never worked with this file.

[Fiann of the Silver Hand]

AFAIK.  aVENGER makes extensive use of it in RR, and it really acts more like an IDS file.

[The Imp]

Just modify the file in Near Infinity... if it's that easy. 

[Fiann of the Silver Hand]

Just modify the file in Near Infinity... if it's that easy. 

 

I'm not responding to this specifically, but it provides a prompt for more information.

Of course you can alter the file, even with a text editor (it really is that easy), but the alterations don't show up in editing dropdowns.  NI seems to be using a template.

 

More requests:  NI remembers the app's size and screen position.  Can it also rememeber the internal frame sizes?  Depending on font, the 'Attribute' column is about half of its optimal width, and the lower frame is about twice as big.  Worse, these sizes revert to default at every new file selected.

Edited by Fiann of the Silver Hand, 10 July 2015 - 03:11 PM.

[Argent77]

Of course you can alter the file, even with a text editor (it really is that easy), but the alterations don't show up in editing dropdowns. NI seems to be using a template.

I don't know if or how msectype.2da is used in-game, but it looks like DLTCEP uses this file to generate a list of secondary types for SPL resources and spell effects. I guess it's safe to use it in NI as well.

 

More requests: NI remembers the app's size and screen position. Can it also rememeber the internal frame sizes? Depending on font, the 'Attribute' column is about half of its optimal width, and the lower frame is about twice as big. Worse, these sizes revert to default at every new file selected.

NI already remembers the width of the navigation bar on the left side. Changing the behavior of the columns in the table view of structured resources is another matter. Table columns are currently governed by a layout manager. It would be a very time-consuming task to override this behavior with user-defined values or I would have done this a long time ago.

Edited by Argent77, 11 July 2015 - 04:30 AM.

[Fiann of the Silver Hand]

Perfect on the msec.  Layout:  I'm going to try to bribe a friend to have a look at it.  Unlikely to lead to anything, but if there's any worthwhile product, I'll throw it in the pot.

[Argent77]

Update: NearInfinity v1.36-20150718

Changes:

• Extended Tools->Check->For corrupted files... to check signature and version fields in structured resources.
• Enabled syntax highlighting when editing baldur.ini in Enhanced Editions.
• Options->Text Editor->BCS and BAF->Enable Automatic Indentation will now disable all indentations when unchecked.
• New fields in WED resources: "Animation speed" in tilemap structures (all games), "# unique tiles" and "Movement type" in overlay structures (EE only).
• Reassigned field in ARE resources (EE only): "Wind Speed" -> "Overlay transparency".
• Added original/active class support for basic proficiency fields in CRE resources as used in BG1 or IWD.
• Using mschool.2da and msectype.2da references instead of hardcoded strings for primary and secondary types in SPL resources and effect opcodes.
• Edit tabs of structured resources will now remember table column widths and the height of the bottom panel.
• Added option for opening WBM files in applications registered by the OS. You'll have to register the .wbm extension in your video player (or web browser) first to make use of it (which is a shortened version of the .webm extension).
• Several more clean ups, fixes and minor improvements.

 

Over the last years Near Infinity has grown steadily feature-wise, but also in file size. Currently, NearInfinity.jar is almost 3 MB big and future release will most likely continue to grow in size. The increased file size results in a noticeable delay whenever you start Near Infinity and in a higher memory consumption.
That's why I'm currently testing a "light" version of Near Infinity. It doesn't contain any of the converters, no area viewer, no syntax highlighting for text files and no update mechanism. This version is about 50% of the size of Near Infinity (currently about 1.5 MB). Is there a real need for a stripped down version of NI?

[cmorgan]

Not for this user. I appreciate having a full-featured, actively maintained and extended tool. But then again I run an i7 with 12GB ram.

[Echon]

NI does not feel slow for me. I would not use the light version.

[Roxanne]

A stripped down version may find some users, those who occasionally look up a cre file or script when they get stuck in a quest or by a bug.  I am not sure a faster one is really worth the trouble maintaining it beside the full one that probably any full-time user (modders, Big picture players etc) would need anyway. On today's computers is that delay really noticeable or are the users under a time constraint? This is a tool for off-line use, not a part of the game.

Personally, I use NI almost daily and would always vote for functionality over speed.

[Tzarnal]

Personally I feel I'd be the target for such a lite version. Mostly using NI to figure out why things are broken or whats going on in some script or dialogue. I'd still prefer having the full version "just in case" a little more startup time. ( And it is noticable on this version ) is not a big deal to me.

[K4thos]

Personally, I use NI almost daily and would always vote for functionality over speed.

this

[Fiann of the Silver Hand]

Omg Argent, this is awesome.

 

Another vote for functionality over speed here.  I found an old NI archive that had some kind of memory extender (around 1.33b19, using a bat file "java -Xmx1024M -jar NearInfinity.jar").  I'm going to assume that that's been long subsumed into the base code now.

[K4thos]

I'm going to assume that that's been long subsumed into the base code now.

it isn't. I always need to use it to be able to view large TIS files (when viewed in ARE viewer). If it can be merged to force NI to always use at least 512M than that would be great for those not aware about that batch command.

[Fiann of the Silver Hand]

I'm going to assume that that's been long subsumed into the base code now.

it isn't. I always need to use it to be able to view large TIS files (when viewed in ARE viewer). If it can be merged to force NI to always use at least 512M than that would be great for those not aware about that batch command.

Well, it's easy enough to just re-target the shortcut (I ask for so much from A77 already haha).  But yeah, we should advertise this for those who don't know about it.

[Argent77]

From the replies here and there it looks like there is no urgent need for a stripped down version yet. I'll keep the concept of a "NI light" in mind, however, in case it is really needed sometime in the future.

 

I found an old NI archive that had some kind of memory extender (around 1.33b19, using a bat file "java -Xmx1024M -jar NearInfinity.jar").  I'm going to assume that that's been long subsumed into the base code now.

These memory settings are still relevant if you're using a 32-bit Java Runtime. 64-bit Java already seems to use extended memory settings. In any case, if you're still having trouble, you can use "Hide NI DOS" mentioned in the first post of this topic. There is no way to set memory options within Near Infinity itself.

I haven't tested it, but on Windows it looks like you can set runtime parameters in the Java control panel. In the Java tab, click on "View..." and enter the parameters into the "Runtime Parameters" field. The parameters can also be found in the first post of this topic (look into the spoiler section).

[Gwendolyne]

Hello Argent77!

 

Still discovering glitches in the long way of modding...

 

First, a bug: it seems the TIS converter does not convert properly "small" tilesets (2x1, 3x1...). Have a look at the attached files. I had to convert them with DLTCEP.

 

Second a glitch: I can't keep the Area viewer settings available when I change them. It seems NI does'nt memorize them anymore...

Attached Files

•  GW0008B1.zip   11.31K   236 downloads

Edited by Gwendolyne, 27 July 2015 - 07:27 AM.

[Argent77]

First, a bug: it seems the TIS converter does not convert properly "little" tilesets (2x1, 3x1...). Have a look at the attached files. I had to convert them with DLTCEP.

Java's BMP import function always had trouble with certain variants of 32-bit BMP files. You should either convert your graphics files into the 24-bit BMP format or use the PNG file format instead (which also supports transparency). The TIS converter itself should work fine otherwise, even with very small files.

 

Second a glitch: I can't keep the Area viewer settings available when I change them. It seems NI does'nt memorize them anymore...

I've noticed it as well. I'll see what I can do.

[Gwendolyne]

Java's BMP import function always had trouble with certain variants of 32-bit BMP files. You should either convert your graphics files into the 24-bit BMP format or use the PNG file format instead (which also supports transparency). The TIS converter itself should work fine otherwise, even with very small files.

 

Argh!!!

Sorry, it's my fault.

 

I usually save my bmp tilesets into 24 bit for conversion (the only format IETME handles...). I don't know what happened this time but they were all saved into 32 bit.