veledan on 10/12/2005 at 23:22
I've found nothing on the wiki and only one very technical thread here that seemed to imply people had gone a splendid long way towards cracking customs music / sfx without a 2 GB download, but nothing to confirm it or give instructions.
I'm 2/5-way through making my first T3 FM and I'd like to know before planning any more based on custom conversations and sounds. I apologize if I've missed an obvious thread or source of info, but please someone point me to the right place if there is info to be found :confused: Many thanks :)
ascottk on 11/12/2005 at 01:39
It's yet another utility for t3(ed):
Quote Posted by rujuro
What this means is that if a mission has custom conversations, the player will need to run this program before playing the mission. Ideally, we can make it so that GarretLoader sets this up and calls it so that it will be invisible to the end user. Just wanted to let everyone know. I'll post more when I've given it a thorough testing and feel it's OK to distribute.
(
http://www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=100761)
(
http://www.sherlockholmesarmy.net/ttlg/Thief3SoundAddOn.zip)
veledan on 11/12/2005 at 11:26
Thanks for the link! :thumb:
I'll have a play with it later. I wonder if it's realistic though to expect people to run that before playing an FM? I could add a script to the release package that finds the appropriate folder and dumps and executes the necessary files there, I suppose, but ideally I'd like it to install just like any other GL-compatible FM :erg:
potterr on 11/12/2005 at 12:23
The idea was that it would be part of GL, either as a plugin tool (so it starts up automatically via GL) or built into the code. I not sure if its at a finished 100% stage yet or not?
Adding into GL as a plugin is dead simple, although the exe itself needs to do a set task each time:
Look for some kind of reference file from the FM zip which has been extracted,
Do what the file says,
have the option of running silently.
Kind of what version 2 of thief3loader does (that can be added into GL as a plugin and set to run each time a T3 FM is played, this means that if you have the editor installed, it will reset the registry info for T3 then exit so that GL can load the FM).
rujuro on 11/12/2005 at 21:26
I've discussed how this could work with the prgrammer of the little app. The solution we're toying with is that the app would write to a text file everytime it adds custom schemas to the metafiles. Whenever someone loads the mission with GL, it will check the text file and only run if there are schemas present in a "custom schema" folder that aren't in the text file.
The only problem with this method is that if people ever want to go back to their original metafiles, they'll have to find the backup and do the rename by hand. Otherwise it should be completely transparent to the user.
Also each player will have to maually install this plugin into GL at least once.
potterr on 11/12/2005 at 22:09
GL could look for the backup file and restore when it restores back to the original missions, it would need to be in the same folder as the original but with another file extention (GLBU (GarrettLoader Back Up) would do or just simply .OLD).
Question though, if going from 1 mission to another with installs will it need to revert back to the original each time or can the modified file still work ok for other FMs?
With regards to manually installing into GL, I have been working on something for that, I am hopeing to do a small exe that will take a set format CMD Line argument (something like +ExeName +GameString +Location +arguments where by this tool would be something like +T3SoundHack.exe +T3** +C:\thief_stuff +runsilent). This would mean that The exe upon first use will be able to add itself into GL's plugin toolset automatically. Basically for the use it would mean:
* Download and Install it
* Start it up and configure it (including the GarrettLoader.exe path (the new exe I am working on with be GarrettLoader_Tools.exe and be a non GUI one)).
Then in theory it may not need to be manually started again unless of course the user wants to do it manually.
I can't remember what you mentioned it was written in, GL is written in VB6, if it is as well (I think it may be C++ though) I would be happy to add the code into GL and give credit where credit is due.
rujuro on 13/12/2005 at 22:13
Ah, not sure what it's written in, but I can check that out.
Regarding metafiles working with multiple missions, it's not a problem as long as the newer schemas don't share the same name as a preexisting schema. If the app thinks the schema is already in the metafile, it doesn't add it, I think. So, the upshot is mission makers should give their schemas very specific and unique names.
potterr on 14/12/2005 at 00:53
Thats ok then.
Also for info: With regards to the exe installing itself as a plugin in GL, GL has a file check done on startup for a file called GL_startup_notes.txt which is contained in the GarrettLoader program folder. If found GL will start up and display the contents of the file in the NOTES TOOL. This allows any custom plugin tools to force a message to read in GL upon next startup (works in current version but will have the option to delete the file after being read in the next version).
