Zontik on 10/5/2012 at 11:21
When I have to link long path via AI_Patrol link, I write all TrolPTs' IDs on a piece of paper in path order. Then I add link from the 1st patrol point to 2d and DON'T close the window with links list. I press "Add" button again - 1st field with flavor is already filled - and type IDs for 2 (second field) and 3 (3d field) patrol points. Then I confirm my choose. New link DOESN't appear in the window (because this window is for 1st patrol point only), but link is set up correct. Then I press "Add" again and add links for 3 and 4 points, 4 and 5, etc. If you are careful enough, you will finish process much faster than if you would find and click every next patrol point and fill all 3 fields instead of 2.
Ricebug on 10/5/2012 at 13:45
Zontik, that is a really cool idea. I've been keeping notes on these tricks. Now if I can figure out one to prevent me from accidentally dorking up a month's worth of work by doing something stupid, I'd be happy. I've became a back-up fanatic.
LarryG on 10/5/2012 at 14:46
In my experience, backing up your work cannot be done too often. Here is a small portion of the backups I made for Finals as I worked on the mission. My naming convention is xxxx_ddda[+] where xxxx is the mission identifier, ddd is the number of DromEding days, a is the sequential save (first save of the day = a, second = b, etc.). Capital letters indicate that the save was made immediately after optimization. A plus sign is appended to indicate that objects that would interfere with AI pathing were moved out of the way before optimization and then back again after. As you can see from the slider bar at the bottom of the image, there are lots more saves not shown. In all, for Finals I had well over 8000 saves spanning 3 years (but only (!) 690 actual DromEding days). The naming convention and religiously saving my work every 15-30 minutes really helped me recover from disaster on several occasions.
[ATTACH]1135[/ATTACH]
Ricebug on 10/5/2012 at 16:15
My method's a little simpler. Day one is miss00.mis. Throughout the whole day, that's the only file. Day two is miss01.mis, and so on. Rarely have I ever had to go back to earlier saves, thanks to my excellent *cough* understanding *choke* of the editor. :cheeky:
All kidding aside, my problem is forgetfulness. At 60, I'm aware that I'm not as sharp anymore. Here's an example: I keep a zipped folder of the entire mission, in this case, the Strife thing. Everything in there is fully compiled and playable. As it gets updated, I slide a copy into the Thief 2 FMs folder, where I can playtest it through the actual game. That's two backups.
I have a working folder, called Strife. I also have the thing in the Thief 2 folder, where I playtest it. During this time, I don't play any other FMs. So 2 are zipped, and 2 copies are unzipped. That's 4 copies.
Here's the screwup: I needed to unzip Strife III to compare some stuff. I slid it over onto--guess what--my Strife campaign work folder, overwriting a bunch of files in the blink of an eye. Curse that Yes to All button. Then, RL enters in with some emergency, making me forget what I did. I stupidly added the bad files to my zipped campaign folder, then copied that over the one in the Thief 2 directory. Now I've got 3 screwed up folders.
Fortunately, I still have enough brain cells to fix the thing with the one remaining good directory. Sometimes, I'll have to go back and re-do some things.
Story of my life. I used to have a 140 IQ, but age, ex-wives, and kids, have knocked that down a bit.
LarryG on 10/5/2012 at 19:10
Oh. I forgot to mention that I have a nightly automatic backup which copies over any changed files from my working disk to two backup disks so that they are effectively clones of the first. I have a third backup disk that I update only monthly (or when I remember to do so). That's intended as a fail-safe to allow recovery from any nightly perpetuation of an unnoticed screw-up.Then I have Norton doing incremental backups to another, usb connected, drive. Not a perfect system, but so far it has worked. Knock wood. I've just lost too much data to hard drive failures over the years that I have become extremely paranoid about it.
Daraan on 10/5/2012 at 20:18
Loading on Startup
And again this topic yesterday I looked a bit arround in the command/cmd.text and found a few valuable things. For example file_menu it bring up a dialog with Load/Save game and Clear world.
put file_menu in your startup.cmd and you can save a little bit time at dromed start.
Other Commands
I also found a few other commands which could be usefull.
•Beside floor_object there also ceil_ and wall_object (Can also be found under Edit ->)
• auto_roombuild - maybe you like it that the roomdb is automatically remade if you insert a new room.
• scale_sim_time (float) - slowmotion please:cheeky: - maybe if you want to make a video or something.
• loadout - if you want to check your starting inventory and shop. USE IN GAME MODE
• max_polys - don't hope to much this command sets up the limit of the max polys rendered but dromed will still chrash. It's usefull if you want to take a screenshot of a complex scenery and parts are already disappearing. This command can give you a few (not much) extra polys.
• test_book <stringfile,art> test a stringfile with different arts (if you don't want to use ParcheEd) USE IN GAME MODE
tnh made the CommandControl with it you can execute multiple commands on TurnOn and Off. But in thief.exe the most commands are not available.
test_book works also in thief.exe so if you want to force the player to read something, can also be absued to show an image to the player.
automap and some others are also possible but are not usefull
for example with player_halt,disable_input(tnh), select_weapon, use_weapon you could force the player to attack or use an item but how much sense that makes is up to you.
R Soul on 10/5/2012 at 21:29
Quote Posted by Daraan
But in thief.exe the most commands are not available.
Bring up the console in Thief2.exe and use the dump_cmds command to get a list of in-game commands.
Ricebug on 11/5/2012 at 11:29
I never knew T2 had an in-game console. What are the keystrokes?
R Soul on 11/5/2012 at 15:55
Same as dromed game mode, shift and ;
Zontik on 12/5/2012 at 09:23
Am I the only who use Ctrl-P ???
