Well, for those who wanted custom sprite replacement on a per-mansions basis, just like you have been able to do with tiles since 1.0.4, your request is now granted in the upcoming 1.0.8 release. :-)

Just sprites?

Just kidding, major improvement! Especially for someone like me who lives in a custom world.

Joe B

Oh Vern...you make me the happiest man !!!    :)  :D

Graphics are not my stuff ... to make. But I like changed graphics! Especially when it is customized!!!!!

Major improvement Vern!! :)

Sweet! Do we still have to go into ResEdit to edit signs to say something?  :-? And... how exactly do you edit tiles through theis way?  :-? Never figured it out!  :(

Wingy,

I posted my tutorial on the board a week or so ago. Let me know what problems you're having and I'll see if I can help.

Joe B

Anthony wrote on 23.02.2007 at 05:32:49:

Sweet! Do we still have to go into ResEdit to edit signs to say something?  :-? And... how exactly do you edit tiles through theis way?  :-? Never figured it out!  :(

Yeah, I'm afraid the reason why ResEdit is required to edit signs is due to legacy code.... If I allowed editing of signs from within the editor, you'd be limited to a maximum of 255 *characters* (not words) per sign, which isn't much! It's due to the limitations of the legacy dialog code I'm using.

There isn't any way to write directly to the text resource from within the editor?

The limitation is not in whether or not you can write to the resource, but how many characters the editor's legacy dialog code will let you type. At least, that's what I got out of Vern's post.

Vern,

Are you using XCode (Cocoa) or Codewarrior? I didn't think XCode had that limitation. I know CodeWarrior has the pstring type (based on the old pascal string type which was 255 characters.

Joe B

Oh. Gotcha. Seems like there should be some way around that. But my programming knowledge does not cover it.

The issue is not CodeWarrior vs. XCode, but rather the old MacOS Carbon API that I'm using. There is an object you can put in dialog boxes that lets users enter/edit text, but this object only accepts up to 255 characters.

Well, I've spent the past several hours messing with a possible solution. It's turned out to be quite frustrating. I'm asking on a developer list to see if I can get it working. So maybe we'll have something. But it's already consumed hours of time that could've been spent doing something else. That's why I hate legacy code. Bah.

Folks,
is it really so bad that we have to use a resource editor to make BBBs ?  ...I don't think so.  

Maybe Vern should dedicate his valuable time to more important innovations.... ??

joeb wrote on 23.02.2007 at 06:39:49:

Wingy, I posted my tutorial on the board a week or so ago. Let me know what problems you're having and I'll see if I can help. Joe B

I don't want to read your big tutorial... I knew how to edit sprites and tiles before the game even came out! I did it with Glider Pro, for example. (If you want to try it, go to my site and there's a link to download it in "Games") I made big houses for the paper airplane to go around in. The best part was, the edited sprites were in the house file! Not in the data forks of the application! Well anyways... back to the subject... Can you just answer me straight out here, joe?  :-?

Sure but being an old fart I forgot the question.

;)

Joe B

Anthony wrote on 23.02.2007 at 05:32:49:

Sweet! Do we still have to go into ResEdit to edit signs to say something?  :-? And... how exactly do you edit tiles through theis way?  :-? Never figured it out!  :(

That was my Question, you old fart?  :-?

Yes you young whippersnapper. You still have to edit text resources, used by MM signposts, in ResEdit, etc. I use Resourcerer because I can see all the tiles as a list of graphics. Rezilla doesn't do that and I haven't used ResEdit for quite a while. Rezilla is for sounds because you can double click on a sound in the list and it will play it. In Resourcerer when you double click you get a little dialog box that has a Sound Me Out button  that you then have to click to hear the sound.

Editing tile. Open the resource in whatever resource editor. Do a copy. Go into whatever graphics software. Open a new document. Paste. Edit away. Copy the ENTIRE graphic. Go back to your resource editor. Paste the modified graphic back in. Save the resource. Save the resource file.

Make sense?????

Joe B

...I already knew that! But how do you do edit the tiles the way that Vern said about the sprites in 1.0.8?!  :-?

I think you need to be more specific, Wingy. Your original question was vague, Joe tried to answer it, and your new question is just as vague. Let us know exactly what part of tile editing you don't understand how to do.

You said that since the 1.0.4 version you could edit the tiles in such a way. Now in the 1.0.8 version you can do it with the sprites. But how can you do it?  :-? Well anyways... time to go play Hockey... bye. Please answer by the time I'm back!  :)

Let me see if I can translate from Wingese. ;D

I think he wants to know how to embed custom graphics in the mansion file rather than a customized version of the Mansion Data files.

Thank God for translators......


Make a note of the tile (sprites shortly) number in the main sprites file (Midnight Mansion Sprites) that you want to change
Open up the mansion file
Create a new PICT resource with the number from the sprites resource file.
Paste the modified graphic into the new PICT resource
Save everything

When your mansion file is run in MM it checks FIRST in the mansion file for a matching resource number.
If it's there then it uses the mansion resource, if not it gets the PICT resource from the main sprites file.

@Vern,

correct?

Joe B

AHA.....

And from the BIG document on custom graphics that is currently posted I quote:

"When Midnight Mansion runs a mansion file it creates the room graphics from resources. The mansion file content is slightly different from the Midnight Mansion Sprites file. It contains a list of rooms that contains lists of associated resources and geometries for that room. When Midnight Mansion is loading a resource it first checks in the mansion file to see if that resource exists in that mansion file. If it does, it uses that resource. If it doesn't find it then it goes to the Midnight Mansion Sprites file and uses the resource from there. The exceptions to this method are animations and critters, which are always pulled from the Midnight Mansion Sprites file. This tutorial will be covering the static graphics (the objects on the left scrolling picker in the Mansion Editor) so you will be editing just the mansion file. "

When 1.08 hits it will look for ALL the GAME graphics (what's on the scrolling icon lists in the editor) so any graphics that have a number that matches what's in the main sprites file will be replaced by what's in the mansion file.

Hope this stands translation

;D :-[ ;D :-[ ;D ;) ;)

Joe B

AND before I get emails about locking the software up:

One final point to be aware of is that you can't be working on <the graphics in> a mansion file <with a resource editor> and have it open in either Midnight Mansion or the Mansion Editor. Although this would be VERY helpful the combination of the Mac OS and Midnight Mansion or Mansion Editor doesn't allow a resource file to be opened by two applications at the same time.

Really, read the posted doc....

Joe B

Would it be possible to do the same with the Graphics and sounds exept sound is .snd in ResEdit?  :-?

That's why I asked earlier in the thread:

Just sprites?

For right now we're limited to the tiles/sprites and that's REALLY COOL. Most of the time I spent customizing in Dom was in that area. Besides, sound is a real headache to deal with and the graphics are really for the main identity of Midnight Mansion. I'm VERY happy with the state of MM. There is just a TON you can do with just the tiles AND sprites. Look at TOTOMB, Mummy's Revenge and The Money Pit. The only things modified in them is what Vern just made it easier to change. I think it'll be months before the coolness of these features wears off and for the rest of us who want to push the envelope he did make it a little easier to change things.

Joe B

@Vern: Will the new feature moving platforms between rooms be in 1.0.8 or the expansion? (Please be in 1.0.8 because I need them to get Ted off his island!)

It will be in the expansion, if I remember it well.

The difference is rather simple. New features are for the expansion, while MM 1.0.8 only correct things.