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Forge Tools 3 Released

By Blair Fraser on February 27, 2009 7:30:15 PM from Sins of a Solar Empire Forums Sins of a Solar Empire Forums

Blair Fraser

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Join Date 10/2006
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You can find the latest Forge Tools here: http://www.sinsofasolarempire.com/downloads.aspx.

Available for download are:

Galaxy Forge - Design your own galaxies. (*included in Forge Tools Bundle and seperately)

Particle Forge - Design your own particle effects. (*included in Forge Tools Bundle and seperately)

Map Converter - Created by Ross Placing. Converters one map version to another. Defaults to converting version 2 to version 3.

Developer Exe - Debugmenu, error reporting, asserts and more for both Sins 1.15 and Entrenchment 1.01 (with some new capabilities). (*included in Forge Tools Bundle)

ConvertData - Convert between binary and text or vice versa for both Sins 1.15 and Entrenchment 1.01. (*included in Forge Tools Bundle)

ConvertXSI - Convert XSI files to the Iron Engine Mesh format. (*included in Forge Tools Bundle)

Reference Data - Text versions of all the Mesh and GameInfo for both Sins 1.15 and Entrenchment 1.01. (*included in Forge Tools Bundle)

Documentation - The original Sins modding docs.  (*included in Forge Tools Bundle)

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Reply #1
GoaFan77
Join Date 10/2008
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February 27, 2009 8:09:39 PM from Sins of a Solar Empire Forums Sins of a Solar Empire Forums

Thank you very much! Now we can get back to work.

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Reply #2
wrath2552
Join Date 02/2009
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February 27, 2009 8:45:11 PM from Sins of a Solar Empire Forums Sins of a Solar Empire Forums

both particle forge and galaxy forge immediately crash upon opening in vista. Whats up with that?

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Reply #3
GoaFan77
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February 27, 2009 8:50:07 PM from Sins of a Solar Empire Forums Sins of a Solar Empire Forums

Quoting wrath2552,
reply 2
both particle forge and galaxy forge immediately crash upon opening in vista. Whats up with that?

 

They know, and its happening with XP as well. They put up the wrong version, should be a quick fix... I hope...

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Reply #4
psugar
Join Date 03/2007
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February 27, 2009 8:57:15 PM from Sins of a Solar Empire Forums Sins of a Solar Empire Forums

The version we put up works, but only if you have the dlls. Since most people don't have and shouldn't have to download these particular dlls, we are compiling it in a different mode. Should be up soon.

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Reply #5
wrath2552
Join Date 02/2009
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February 27, 2009 8:57:33 PM from Sins of a Solar Empire Forums Sins of a Solar Empire Forums

Quoting GoaFan77,
reply 3

Quoting wrath2552, reply 2both particle forge and galaxy forge immediately crash upon opening in vista. Whats up with that?

 

They know, and its happening with XP as well

 

 

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Reply #6
psugar
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February 27, 2009 9:54:47 PM from Sins of a Solar Empire Forums Sins of a Solar Empire Forums

It should be working now.  Sorry about the trouble.

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Reply #7
GoaFan77
Join Date 10/2008
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February 27, 2009 10:00:24 PM from Sins of a Solar Empire Forums Sins of a Solar Empire Forums

Really, I redownloaded it and it still crashes on start up like before. Do I have to redownload forge tools?

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Reply #8
Blair Fraser
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February 27, 2009 10:10:45 PM from Sins of a Solar Empire Forums Sins of a Solar Empire Forums

Write me at bfraser@ironcladgames.com and we'll give you test versions until we narrow it down.

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Reply #9
Blair Fraser
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February 27, 2009 10:12:47 PM from Sins of a Solar Empire Forums Sins of a Solar Empire Forums

And make sure you have .net 2.0 as well.

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Reply #10
NeoNaka
Join Date 03/2004
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February 27, 2009 11:12:07 PM from Sins of a Solar Empire Forums Sins of a Solar Empire Forums

Blair,

I couldn't get it to work on .NET framework 2.0 SP1

Uninstalled 2.0 SP1 and installed 3.5 SP1 and it fired right up.

So as of right now it is working on .NET framework 3.5 SP1

 

If that helps.

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Reply #11
timethatswasted
Join Date 09/2007
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February 27, 2009 11:48:28 PM from Sins of a Solar Empire Forums Sins of a Solar Empire Forums

How do I get forge 3 stuff to appear in entrenchment? they appear in sins 1.15, but not in entrenchment.

BTW I am putting the data in the correct folders in the entrenchment sub-folders ie.. maps for entrenchment go in the galaxy folder in the entrenchment.
What am i missing

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Reply #12
Blair Fraser
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February 27, 2009 11:53:28 PM from Sins of a Solar Empire Forums Sins of a Solar Empire Forums

Edit: They should go in the regular galaxy folder, not the user galaxy folder and have the manifest updated (if Entrenchment).

If you are making a mod however, they would go in the mod's galaxy directory and you would them to the appropriate manifest file.

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Reply #13
Blair Fraser
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February 27, 2009 11:55:07 PM from Sins of a Solar Empire Forums Sins of a Solar Empire Forums

Please post your operating system and service packs and .net installs if you can or can't run the galaxy forge and / or particle forge.

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Reply #14
GoaFan77
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February 27, 2009 11:59:39 PM from Sins of a Solar Empire Forums Sins of a Solar Empire Forums

Windows XP Service Pack 2 32 bit, .Net Framework 1.5, 2.0 and 3.0 installed.

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Reply #15
Blair Fraser
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February 28, 2009 12:37:27 AM from Sins of a Solar Empire Forums Sins of a Solar Empire Forums

As far as we can tell it looks like something to do with various .net problems. We'll look into it more tomorrow.

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Reply #16
FallenFantom
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February 28, 2009 12:43:52 AM from Sins of a Solar Empire Forums Sins of a Solar Empire Forums

having an issue where after i create a map and save it, when i start it up in game nothing has spawned, no planets, no stars, and instant defeat... tried several maps and same issue, all the maps are brand new and made with forge 3. any ideas whats up?

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Reply #17
TwAgIssmuDe
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February 28, 2009 1:06:02 AM from Sins of a Solar Empire Forums Sins of a Solar Empire Forums

Sweet, finaly

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Reply #18
darkshimmer
Join Date 09/2007
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February 28, 2009 1:29:39 AM from Sins of a Solar Empire Forums Sins of a Solar Empire Forums

Blair i'm a bit confused. You didn't include any new documentation on the way entrenchment mods are suppose to be created? each time i fix one thing something else breaks, its a bit frustrating trying to convert a mod over from the original sins and no guideline to follow. can you give us something please.

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Reply #19
Blair Fraser
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February 28, 2009 1:34:20 AM from Sins of a Solar Empire Forums Sins of a Solar Empire Forums

Honestly, the best tool tool I can give you is to compare a previous implementation of something to the current one using Beyond Compare. It illustrates pretty easily how the formats have changed.

Aside from that, the manifest system is probably the only thing that BC wouldn't be useful for. Basically each manifest lists all the things of that type with a count at the top. If you add or remove a thing of that type, the manifest has to be copied into the relevant mod folder and editted to match the new asset needs.

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Reply #20
Wandomvandom
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February 28, 2009 2:15:26 AM from Sins of a Solar Empire Forums Sins of a Solar Empire Forums

Quoting FallenFantom,
reply 16
having an issue where after i create a map and save it, when i start it up in game nothing has spawned, no planets, no stars, and instant defeat... tried several maps and same issue, all the maps are brand new and made with forge 3. any ideas whats up?

Ya had the same thing happen to me. Hopefully it will be fixed by morning or someone say whats wrong.

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Reply #21
ice27828
Join Date 12/2008
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February 28, 2009 2:25:30 AM from Sins of a Solar Empire Forums Sins of a Solar Empire Forums

Woot, finally I can see what I am updating without restarting Thanks Blair

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Reply #22
ice27828
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February 28, 2009 2:32:59 AM from Sins of a Solar Empire Forums Sins of a Solar Empire Forums

Quoting GoaFan77,
reply 14
Windows XP Service Pack 2 32 bit, .Net Framework 1.5, 2.0 and 3.0 installed.

I have axactly the same versions of windows, and of the .net framework, it should work

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Reply #23
dolynick
Join Date 04/2008
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February 28, 2009 2:46:19 AM from Sins of a Solar Empire Forums Sins of a Solar Empire Forums

Maybe it was just me but I had some serious issues with the new reference data included in ForgeTools3.

1) It only includes the GameInfo and Mesh folders and is missing everything else.  That's not the end of the world as you can find them in your install directory as well.  I'm guessing this was done because the rest of the missing files don't come in a binary/non-binary variation and it cuts a lot of space down when they don't include textures.

2)  RESEARCHSUBJECT_ARTIFACT_STRONGCULTURE.entity is missing from the new reference data.  This is still referenced in GalaxyScenarioDef.galaxyScenarioDef so I'm assuming it was a mistake of omission.  Replacing it with a copy from ForgeTools1.1 seems to work.

3)  The new reference data in ForgeTools3 does not seem to work, for vanilla SoaSE at least.  I was getting minidumps like crazy while trying get a working updated version of my mod.  Eventually I decided to troubleshoot the reference data itself.  I created two new mod folders, one including only the new reference data files and the other the GameInfo and Mesh folders from the Sins install.  The reference data mod minidump when it was enabled while the Sins install copies loaded without a problem.  A comparison of the GameInfo folders shows only 886 files (after replacing the missing entity in the previous point) in the reference data version while there are 896 files in the Sins install version.  Dev Mode does not report any errors concerning what is missing or wrong, it simply minidumps.

I was able to get a working version of my mod working by using the install binary versions of the GameInfo and Mesh folders and then adding the modified TXT versions I needed from the new reference data.  In my case though, only GalaxyScenarioDef.galaxyScenarioDef is overwritten from the stock data and the rest is new entities.

I have not done anything with the Entrenchment reference data yet.  The above refers to the vanilla Sins data solely as I have not confirmed any issues with the Entrenchment version at this time.

Hope this helps anyone having issues updating mods with the new tools and helps the Devs track down any problems.

-dolynick

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Reply #24
SkyMan1134
Join Date 12/2008
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February 28, 2009 6:12:53 AM from Sins of a Solar Empire Forums Sins of a Solar Empire Forums

windows XP Service Pack 3 32 bit, .Net Framework 1.5, 2.0 and 3.0 installed. I'm also not able to get GF up and running.

 

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Reply #25
GoaFan77
Join Date 10/2008
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February 28, 2009 2:19:22 PM from Sins of a Solar Empire Forums Sins of a Solar Empire Forums

Quoting Mooster,
reply 22

Quoting GoaFan77, reply 14Windows XP Service Pack 2 32 bit, .Net Framework 1.5, 2.0 and 3.0 installed.
I have axactly the same versions of windows, and of the .net framework, it should work

 

Quoting SkyMan1134,
reply 24
windows XP Service Pack 3 32 bit, .Net Framework 1.5, 2.0 and 3.0 installed. I'm also not able to get GF up and running.

 

 

That's an ominious sign that their may be a bigger problem with GF. Has anything else ever caused problems with getting it to run?

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