• New Horizons on Maelstrom
    Maelstrom New Horizons


    Visit our website www.piratehorizons.com to quickly find download links for the newest versions of our New Horizons mods Beyond New Horizons and Maelstrom New Horizons!

The New InitItems.c File

Boy I think I must really not be getting across what I mean. I really don't care if the colums are as straight as an arrow. the problem is that the headers are read in chinese form ( colums ) verses english that is read left to right. But that doesn't always hold true sometimes ( due to what your viewing it in? ) it sorta jumps. So it feels like your reading it in zigzag form. If the header has lots of catagories it gets more complicated.

To decide that all modders should use the same program/font/size etc is a good idea, however even if the program is free to download, it puts a further burden on the mod user. Your now in essence telling them that it's either learn this new program ( hey it's free ) or just play the dang game the way we mod it. If that sounds harsh, I agree to the end user it sure does.

Of all the files in the game I would guess that items & ships are the most tweaked/modded/adjusted. It used to be very easy for anybody that could read to do this. Ships still are. You have to be careful that your not making the game so complicated that only a programmer or modder can understand and use these files.

I wonder how many people get put off and just go away ( is this intended ) because of the run around they are given. Is asking that you take the time to at least put a number in front of catagory in the header to much?
I feel the thought process between modder/user is breaking down. I ask for a read me..Pieter gives me Win Merge. Now it's really funny when I think about it, but at the time it really wasn't. That only told me what files were changed, where they were changed, and what those changes were. However if I don't know what that line of code DOES in the game it it explains nothing. It's like giving a person who asks for directions a text map written in a language they don't speak. Not to mention the fact that it took me 2 hours to download set up and then go through all these files. Never took me 2 hours to read a readme. I also want to point out that most of lines of code that was easy to get were Hat's since he had included both a readme and //notes in the code itself.

I really do understand that you were trying to be helpful. I really do appreciate that part. I also got the idea that more often then not you don't even know exactly what was changed. And I sure don't blame you for not taking out all the extra files they sent you that were never changed at all. Although I really didn't fully understand why out of 328 files only 26 had been changed why I was downloading them to begin with.

I like that you do keep in mind the end user when your picking and adjusting mod functions but it has to go a bit farther at times. This is one of those times. Now I guess it's a wait game to see if any of this sinks in. If all the next updates and the furture build 13 has this file EXACTLY as it appears now, I get my answer.

* edited* new example

//----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
// BLADES: ItemIndex bladeID modelID picTexture picIndex rare MinLevel Price
// minDamage maxDamage Piercing Blocking Disarm Nation (-1 for general)
//-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
n = InitBlade(n, "blade5", "blade5", 6, 9, 0.20, 0, 250, 4.0, 10.0, 25, 0, "",0);// Dagger

this is just read left to right. I chose the line break at price because most people know prices. Like this is doesn't matter if the colums are staight or not. It wouldn't matter if that header had 2,3, or 4 lines cuz most people CAN count. If you can't count 8 ( where the line break ) then you have no business being in there. Also this way it is NOT important whether they have word wrap on or off. The font or size didn't really matter in NOTEPAD the most commonly used text editor.
 
It seems like no matter what we do, someone's going to be upset.

If you don't like the freeware editor, I can suggest one that costs $500. Maybe that will put the free editor in more perspective.

No one uses Notepad to edit program source code. It just doesn't have enough horsepower. If you want to change source code, then you need the proper tools. Notepad isn't the proper tool.

Sorry if this isn't what you wanted to hear, but I really don't think the code is going to be changed back.

Hook
 
I'm very sorry that you can't grasp a simple request for a file that most everyone uses and I NEVER said change it back I mearly requested that you rewrite the headers in PLAIN left to right form. Everytime somebody asks " How do I change this " they are told to use Notepad. That file was a stock game file. YOU didn't create it! But your CHANGING it in a way that makes it far more difficult for the average user to work. The fact that you saying " To bad for you WE like it EXACTLY like this " is adding insult to injury. I have never said that I didn't like the chart only a small portion of it. Your unwillingness to compromise quite frankly baffles me.

I don't think you either read or maybe failed to comprehend that I didn't say YOU had to use notepad. I explained that if you would only write the header differently that it could be viewer and modified by anyone using ANY text editor. That it would not be dependant on a program, font, or tab setting. It really is a small request that would have been greatly appreciated by end user.

Shame on you for your insenitivity to the feelings of others.
 
If you'd download that editor and try the file in it, you'd see very quickly that it's better than any other format you can imagine. I posted a screen shot of what it's supposed to look like, go look at it if you haven't yet and tell me why that format isn't good.

If there's some other reason why you won't download the editor, let us know. Did you look at the source file in the zip file I uploaded? It's at least meeting you halfway. But if you insist on using variable spaced fonts, there's nothing I can do to help.

Hook
 
Just downloaded Notepad++ , if this is the one you mean? Looking forward to trying it out. Seems good pretty cool, so far.

Cheers <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/par-ty.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":cheers" border="0" alt="par-ty.gif" />
 
<!--quoteo(post=157495:date=Aug 10 2006, 03:57 PM:name=Izzie)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Izzie @ Aug 10 2006, 03:57 PM) [snapback]157495[/snapback]</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->
Boy I think I must really not be getting across what I mean. I really don't care if the colums are as straight as an arrow. the problem is that the headers are read in chinese form ( colums ) verses english that is read left to right.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
What do you mean with "Chinese form"? Please have a look at attached screenshot. Does that look good or bad to you? That screenshot shows how the new initItems.c file is supposed to look. Unfortunately in Notepad is doesn't look that way because Notepad's Tabs are bigger than they should be for the initItems.c file. However, Hook made a new initItems.c file that DOES look properly in Notepad. See attached.

As you can see on that screenshot, the explanations are positioned right above their columns. It might be a bit odd that the explanations are not all on the same line, but they wouldn't have fit on one line. It could have been done the way you propose, which would work. The way it is currently done, however, is I think even easier because you don't need to count the columns.

Note: Even in the old initItems.c file, there was code like this with comments like this: The blades and guns code when the weapons mod was enabled. What is changed in this file is that now ALL code is like this.

Although Notepad can be used for code editing PotC, it is not a very good code editing program. I have always used Notepad for my coding, but now I tried Notepad++ and I think I'll keep using that. It's the same, only better.

BTW: The font in Notepad DOES matter. If you change the font, suddenly the code lines up quite differently. This can make things quite confusing. For example: Set the font to Times New Roman and see what happens. Not good. <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/no.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":no" border="0" alt="no.gif" />

The good about Notepad++:
- Free download
- Not big to download (1,07 MB)
- The program has lots of additional functions over Notepad, but you don't need to use them
- Most of the functions work similar to Notepad and the newly added functions are reasonably straightforward too
- Line numbers!
- MULTIPLE undo and redo's!!!
- Zoom in/out
- The ability to hide pieces of code using the [-] buttons next to the line numbers
- Colour coding for different types of code (comments in green, for example)
- Built-in HEX Editor (for changing texture names in GM files)

The bad:
- You have to setup the fonts properly before using: Comments should NOT use the Comic Sans font. This is VERY annoying
<!--coloro:#FF0000--><span style="color:#FF0000"><!--/coloro-->Solution:<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc--> Download Notepad++ from <a href="http://www.s31clan.com/pietersmods/notepad++.zip" target="_blank">here</a>. This version does not need to be installed and it already has the fonts set up properly. The download is even smaller than the regular Notepad++ installer! :wott

I think that the good outweight the bad by a fair amount, making Notepad++ a good program to use for PotC code editing. It is not a required program, but it can make the editing much easier.

<!--quoteo(post=157495:date=Aug 10 2006, 03:57 PM:name=Izzie)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Izzie @ Aug 10 2006, 03:57 PM) [snapback]157495[/snapback]</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->
I ask for a read me..Pieter gives me Win Merge.
<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I am sorry for that. Unfortunately I don't have time to make a thorough ReadMe for all updates. Making ReadMe's takes a long time. I do usually post a short "what's new" list in the Pre Build 13 thread.

WinMerge is a program that will show all code differences. Basically it will give you the most accurate and extensive changelist you could ask for. However much of the changes are quite incomprehensible. I don't understand most of it either. Still I find WinMerge a VERY good program because using that program, I don't have to search for the differenced anymore. I just have to choose which differences are and aren't used.
 
Back
Top