247 replies to this topic

[Goldtouch]

The APT editing opens a door for all us modders and I am very thankful for the work done.

Yet the menu editing is not design friendly.
Also the time you have to spend to simply move one shape is devastating.
So I was thinking of what would make the process much more pleasant.

What about an xml/apt (gui) editor with features :

• Open/save xml files
• Convert xml to apt / apt to xml
• Represent the 'menu objects' as 'shapes' inside a canvas with a resolution of 1024 768 (4:3 ratio).
• Able to change ratio to 16:9 (see the result of the stretching)
• Names of objects with their respective coords appear to a side menu ( manually changed)
• Able to drag, rotate, resize shapes (corresponding coords change)

Hey Apt editing guys, with the c&c tools i made a small gui interface. All you gotta do is Type in the name of the File.

Download

If i have MainMenu.apt and MainMenu.const then select the apt2xml.exe option. Then in the second textbox type: MainMenu. Press Run and there ya go. same goes for xml2apt.

Edited by THORONGlL, 24 November 2012 - 01:25 PM.

[Ridder Geel]

Well.. I'd say go ahead and make it
Its not as easy as you (might possibly) think it is...

[Goldtouch]

Well.. I'd say go ahead and make it
Its not as easy as you (might possibly) think it is...

Sure your totally right... I respect your responds.
My way is it doesn't hurt trying. Especially when it can bring a more fluent workflow.

[Ridder Geel]

Yea.. i know what you mean, but it really takes a lot of time to make something like that, and at the moment the guy who knew most about the APT editing is not around..

[Gwanw]

What about an xml/apt (gui) editor with features :

• Open/save xml files
• Convert xml to apt / apt to xml
• Represent the 'menu objects' as 'shapes' inside a canvas with a resolution of 1024 768 (4:3 ratio).
• Able to change ratio to 16:9 (see the result of the stretching)
• Names of objects with their respective coords appear to a side menu ( manually changed)
• Able to drag, rotate, resize shapes (corresponding coords change)

I can't test the interface, but I'm sure, one of the best ways for xml editing is notepad++.
For converting, i think, there are a lot of tools.
The other suggestions aren't sooo important, i think. For a preview you can use gimp or photoshop. No objects have names, because the apt cant save comments. There are only the ponames for the right linking and only a fractional part has this ponames. So its impossible to give every object a name. But i think, a better system for jumping between links in a apt would be nice .
A function for drag, rotate, resize, etc would be useful, but only theoretical there are so many problems. How should the programm distinguish between the subobjects of a object? So you must create for every small object in every character this function. And you must see every small change with all aftereffects.

I think, thats nice ideas and concepts for such a tool, but the most arent necessary or they are realizalbe with our resources .

[Elric]

• Open/save xml files
• Convert xml to apt / apt to xml

I could add that to my program in about 10 min because a- opening and saving is easy to do. b- i already have the convert xml to apt and apt to xml. By using the tools everybody uses right now. haha


Now as for everything else... Well that i have a few spots i could start out at but i doubt it wouldnt take a long while. Even RG might have a little bit of trouble with it

Edited by {IP}Apollo, 26 November 2012 - 06:17 PM.

[Elric]

I decided to start working on what you said.

I have already done the coordinate plain and the buttons being moveable to that position with there an option to be a 16:9 ratio. it tells you the position of each button. Right now im working on the xml editor and saving features as well as the converter counterpart.

pics:
Default Position:



Me moving them:

[Gwanw]

Nice, really nice

But you know, the most buttons are imports from other apts?
And every button have a lot of subobjects. For example the mainmenu in rotwk. This menu has a button and a submenu with other buttons and images. So there are a lot of different objects. And thats only the problems at the moment with your tool and the apts.

[Elric]

mine wont be exporting to apts. It just gives the coords and will be able to convert and edit xml files. thats it. no exporting directly to apt. and the sub menus can be represented. just drag the buttons to positions where the sub menus would be.

[Goldtouch]

This is a real tool. Speeds up the process of what can be done manually. Great job !

What are you planning to do next?

I presume you can right click and add an button.
But could it be possible to add also a custom shape(rectangle, circle or a polygon tool ) with values by our own choice .
The goal would be to represent other objects like ingame hud ( the palantir ) or even spellbook...

Edited by THORONGlL, 06 December 2012 - 03:30 PM.

[Elric]

Ill look into that. Thanks for the ideas im already at 375 lines of code with just the basic stuff. haha

[Elric]

Ok scratch that. Try im at exactly: 1316 lines of code. Thats only for the coordinates viewer and opening closing and settings and such. Plus the converter means more like: 1600 to 1700 lines. haha anyways here is a small demo for you guys to try out. Make sure that the .exe and resources folder stay together at all times or else if wont work

Edited by {IP}Apollo, 07 December 2012 - 01:39 AM.

[逊Arathorn妻]

Looks nice, but what's the purpose of this program ?

[Lauri]

Design your own menu screen?

[逊Arathorn妻]

^^ I already guessed that, but buttons in Apt's are defined as triangle strips. Also it would be cool if you could move the button out of the screensize, because the standard screensize of 1024-768 can also be edited, but it isn't editable in Wilsons/Gwanws Tool. You should also add a function that allows the user to edit the Buttonactions. You should also know that the apt file format is a modification of Adobes swf file format, so you might want to do a converter from apt2swf. Btw Gwanw and I are also working on a tool that has much more than 5000 lines of code already , but you can keep working on your tool.
@Lauri: Just because i have only 17 posts here i am not a total nab^^

Some lecture for you guys: http://www.adobe.com...at_spec_v10.pdf
Greetings from Germany

Edited by 逊Arathorn妻, 07 December 2012 - 08:59 PM.

[Gwanw]

I must agree with Arathorn. I cant realize the utility of this tool (in the present version). I download the demoversion and i'm not sure you understand Wilsons xmlformat. There are a lot of points you cant implement with such a tool.
I work together with Arathorn and we programm a new tool. So we try to implement all functions of a apt with the knowlegde of the swf files and other informations.
If you turn all xmlfunctions into a tool you ignor a lot of other capabilities of a apt so your tool isn't usefull. And i said, i doubt that (that your tool can use all xmlfunctions).
You must understand the aptformat for a good tool, thats the basic problem, but if you try to finish your tool, gl & hf .

[Goldtouch]

Ow I love the competition here. "your tool is bad but hey Good luck and Greetings from ..."
Lets see what comes out of this... Hopefully a tool that can edit the menu...

[Elric]

Wow thats nice. I was building one yet you dont even say you are. I was only doing it to give you guys a tool but what ever. Not my problem. and my tool isnt bad. All ive used is visual basic so its not even insanely advanced. And no need to convert to swf. what would that accomplish? for you to edit it in yet another different language? lol not exactly worth it. All you really need is a point finder and an xml editor so that you can edit the xml files with points which you can find in either of the 2 main ratio's.

There is no competition. Ill see you guys around.

EDIT:

5000 lines of code? big woop haha not that hard to do with a bigger size program. if i had kept working on mine it would of exceeded that.

Edited by {IP}Apollo, 08 December 2012 - 12:30 AM.

[Gwanw]

I didn't say, your tool is bad. I said I cant find the utility of that tool. At the moment the tool cant load a xml, a triangle strip or any other objects. I'm sure, this are functions, which you want to implement, but thats the problem. I see, what you want to do and I see you don't understand Wilsons xmlfile. You ignore the imports and the exports. You dont implement the triangle stips of images and other objects. If there arent imports, you must use the images of the apt. And apts load the images though a geometry-file.
Every setting, which you implement in your tool, shows me, that you won't implement functions for such problems. So I don't want to badmouth your tool, but I'm not sure you understand your aspiration.
The modding community dont need a tool, where you have the background of the mainmenu and you can move some objects, which you cant see because theres no importer for the images.
The real requirements of a tool like yours are a interface for editing (moving, rotation, etc) objects and subobjects, which must be imported.
And a dispute because the lenght of the programcode is silly. A good programer want to use as few as possible of lines.

And at the moment our tool doesn't have such a function, so we can't compare our tools. If you think, you can implement all functions you want to implement, you should release your tool.
I explained my doubt and I didn't write you should stop your work. If you don't notice the problems at the moment and you put in a lot of time and than you'll notice the problems, you'll waste a lot of time. Thats the cause for my post.
And so I repeat: gl & hf

[逊Arathorn妻]

I never Said that your tool is bad, but i gave you some points that you might want to add in the future for your tool. It's nice to have a Tool like urs to,edit the Interface that easy, so i don't understand why you guys got angry now. And I see no problem with two tools around. Just keep the good work up. I am sorry if you felt anry because of me...