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[Mod Utility] Sins Data Converter v2.1 Beta w/Rebellion support (comprehensive feature set)

By BCXtreme on March 9, 2010 6:13:37 PM from Sins of a Solar Empire Forums Sins of a Solar Empire Forums

BCXtreme

Join Date 04/2007
+15

I've been doing a lot of novice modding on this game for a while now, and I finally got fed up with using the ConvertData command line tool. After checking around on these forums, I found the GUI created by Harpo99999. Despite the fact that it's very good at what it does, I was unable to make good use of it because it only works for in-place conversions, and also because you can only do batch-style conversions of whole folders. So I decided to make my own alternative that is more suited to my mod development habits, and I figured it would be nice to share it with the community.

And so I would like to present the SINS DATA CONVERTER. The SDC can convert Entity, Mesh, Particle, and/or Brushes files back and forth between TXT and binary. Rather than supporting specific versions of SoaSE, it will work with whatever version is installed on your computer. If you have Entrenchment and/or Diplomacy, it will support whatever versions of those you have installed as well. If you don't have SoaSE installed at all, you can pick a custom ConvertData.exe (say, copied from your SoaSE installation at home) and have the program use that instead. The program can convert a single file, or it can convert an entire folder, or it can convert an entire folder plus its subfolders. It can either overwrite the original files with the converted ones (in-place conversion), or the converted files can be placed in another folder, leaving the original files unaltered. And it does it, in my opinion, with a cool interface...

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

  • Intel CPU (v1.3 only)
  • Windows XP/Vista/7/8 (32-bit/64-bit)
  • .NET Framework 3.0 (included on Vista/7, available for XP and 8)

 

KNOWN BUGS/LIMITATIONS

  • If doing an in-place conversion, files will be damaged if the user selects the wrong game (vanilla vs. Entrench vs. Diplo)

 

NEW IN v2.1 UPDATE

  • [Feature] Support for Rebellion
  • [Feature] Support for Windows 8
  • [Bugfix] Fixed ReferenceData Creator

 

NEW IN v2.0.1 UPDATE

  • [Feature] Diagnostic logging

 

NEW IN v2.0 UPDATE

  • [Feature] "Advanced Mode" GUI with Conversion Queue
  • [Feature] ReferenceData Creator
  • [Feature] Mod Folder Relocator
  • [Feature] Entity Manifest Creator
  • [Feature] New game verification system with custom game path support
  • [Bugfix] Program no longer stops responding during conversions
  • [Bugfix] Support added for AMD64 CPUs


NEW IN v1.3 UPDATE

  • [Feature] Support for Rebellion
  • [Feature] Support for Windows 8

 

NEW IN v1.2 UPDATE

  • [Feature] In-place conversion can now be automated by clicking a button to automatically set the output folder
  • [Feature] Files and folders can now be dragged-and-dropped onto the buttons in the program for faster source and output selection
  • [Feature] Program will now remember source, output, and custom EXE settings until it is closed
  • [Feature] You can now select subfolders to ignore when including subfolders in a conversion
  • [Feature] You can now paste folder paths into the program
  • [Bugfix] Failsafe added to ensure the user remembers to select their version of Sins before attempting to convert
  • [Bugfix] "Custom Version Selected" label re-aligned for better symmetry
  • [Bugfix] Subfolder structure of the source directory will now be properly carried over to the output directory



NEW IN v1.1 UPDATE

  • [Bugfix] Program now works on 32-bit Windows systems, including XP
  • [Bugfix] Program now works with SoaSE: Trinity
  • [Feature] SoaSE no longer has to be installed, because the user now has the option to pick a custom ConvertData.exe




This program is NOT being released and then dropped. As long as there are people downloading who want me to fix bugs and add features, I will continue to maintain the program to the best of my ability. So here are the links you'll need:

Sins Data Converter Homepage
Sins Data Converter Support Page (please make your bug reports at this link)
Download Sins Data Converter v2.1 Beta
Download Sins Data Converter v1.3 (stable version, Intel processors only)
Download Mirror for v1.2 at Weebly.com (Provided by myfist0)

I hope the community can put this utility to good use. Comments and suggestions are welcome in this topic. Also please report any additional bugs you find at the support page mentioned above.  And finally, please leave feedback here if you find this program useful, so I know there is support for continued development.

103 Replies
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Reply #76
Sobekeus
Join Date 03/2008
0
March 24, 2011 1:53:58 PM from Sins of a Solar Empire Forums Sins of a Solar Empire Forums

This doesn't work for mod files?

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Reply #77
harpo99999
Join Date 02/2008
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March 24, 2011 6:05:03 PM from Sins of a Solar Empire Forums Sins of a Solar Empire Forums

Quoting Sobekeus,
reply 76
This doesn't work for mod files?
it, like my text bin gui is for converting between bin and text modes for the filesused in mods AND the game(preferably a copy in another location other than the program files tree.

harpo

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Reply #78
Ryat
Join Date 06/2006
+334
March 24, 2011 8:42:45 PM from Sins of a Solar Empire Forums Sins of a Solar Empire Forums

Quoting Sobekeus,
reply 76
This doesn't work for mod files?

Works fine for my mods.

 

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Reply #79
Sobekeus
Join Date 03/2008
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March 25, 2011 1:22:29 AM from Sins of a Solar Empire Forums Sins of a Solar Empire Forums

Maybe the mods Im trying to change to txt aren't compatible then. It says complete, yet nothing happened. Either to the originals or to the destination folder. Tried multiple times double checking everything each time.

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Reply #80
harpo99999
Join Date 02/2008
+381
March 25, 2011 4:13:54 AM from Sins of a Solar Empire Forums Sins of a Solar Empire Forums

which mods are you using the converter on?

perhaps the mods ARE already in text mode

and after the mods are converted TO text you can open the .entity files with notepad or preferably notepad++ or any other TEXT file editor, but do NOT use word or wordpad as they will corrupt the files.

harpo

 

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Reply #81
Sobekeus
Join Date 03/2008
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March 26, 2011 9:29:48 PM from Sins of a Solar Empire Forums Sins of a Solar Empire Forums

The only mod that I downloaded that doesn't need data conversion is SoA 2. The rest are all GIGO when I open the .entity files in Notepad.

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Reply #82
harpo99999
Join Date 02/2008
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March 27, 2011 12:41:20 AM from Sins of a Solar Empire Forums Sins of a Solar Empire Forums

then either bcxtremes or my textbin gui can convert the files in the other mods between bin mode & text mode.

harpo

 

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Reply #83
Sobekeus
Join Date 03/2008
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March 28, 2011 12:16:06 AM from Sins of a Solar Empire Forums Sins of a Solar Empire Forums

Right, but when I input the file to be converted, it sets of fine and then nothing shows up in whatever the output is selected to be. In place conversions don't do anything either. It tells me the conversion is successful, so the only thing I can figure it that the output is going someplace unexpected or something else is amiss.

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Reply #84
harpo99999
Join Date 02/2008
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March 28, 2011 6:08:08 AM from Sins of a Solar Empire Forums Sins of a Solar Empire Forums

or you are not using the correct converter, the diplomacy converter outputs different results in the entity file compared to the vanilla and entrenchment., btw my gui was designed to process an entire mod or even an entire Mods-expansion v version number between text & bin, and to use the correct convertdata based upon the folder names AND version numbers in the path to the files for each file, so it can AND does convert all the files in a copy of the entire sins of a solar empire game without generating errors( and this was done to help with the making of reference file sets ie just ONE copy of the game folder to another drive( as an example) run the text binner over the folder, then archive the folders that are converted into a archive and upload(which is what I do when I make my reference file sets)which is why I could have the references being uploaded within an hour of updating the game.

harpo

 

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Reply #85
BCXtreme
Join Date 04/2007
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March 28, 2011 11:27:22 AM from Sins of a Solar Empire Forums Sins of a Solar Empire Forums

Quoting Sobekeus,
reply 83
Right, but when I input the file to be converted, it sets of fine and then nothing shows up in whatever the output is selected to be. In place conversions don't do anything either. It tells me the conversion is successful, so the only thing I can figure it that the output is going someplace unexpected or something else is amiss.

Which version of Windows are you using?

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Reply #86
Sobekeus
Join Date 03/2008
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March 29, 2011 1:25:50 PM from Sins of a Solar Empire Forums Sins of a Solar Empire Forums

Vista

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Reply #87
JA_394
Join Date 02/2011
+19
March 30, 2011 2:58:47 AM from Sins of a Solar Empire Forums Sins of a Solar Empire Forums

Every time I try to convert something, it give me a debug error. It is extremely frustrating, and I am royally pissed off at it. I'd like to know how to make it work like it did the first time I used it!

EDIT: Nevermind, I just use the 1.2 version now.

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Reply #88
Hausser0815
Join Date 05/2011
+1
May 15, 2011 7:57:56 AM from Sins of a Solar Empire Forums Sins of a Solar Empire Forums

I have the same prob, the converter says it has sucsessfully converted, but theres nothing.
Plus, i cant really klick on "include subfolders" or "bin to txt", when i click, the field gets blue for a millisecond and turns back white (altough when i select a folder and click on "include subfolders", it opens the new field where i could exclude subs, so it seems to work regardless of the gui-feedback.)
I have this problem with both the 1.2 and the 2.0 beta, on a
win7 x64 ultimate
intel q6600
Sins Trinity is installed from DVD
.net is 4.0 

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Reply #89
Sinperium
Join Date 02/2010
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May 15, 2011 1:06:24 PM from Sins of a Solar Empire Forums Sins of a Solar Empire Forums

I ran mine as administrator and in compatibility mode for Win7 64 bit and it corrected the issues for me.

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Reply #90
BCXtreme
Join Date 04/2007
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June 24, 2011 3:29:36 PM from Sins of a Solar Empire Forums Sins of a Solar Empire Forums

So it's been a while since I've attended to this page.  I'm going to put out an update for this beta that includes a rough diagnostic logging feature so I can get some more information about the problems a few people are having.  This should allow me to figure out why the conversion is silently failing for some people.

@Hausser0815:  If you're still having the GUI problems you mentioned, are you using WindowBlinds or any other desktop customization software?

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Reply #91
Sinperium
Join Date 02/2010
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June 25, 2011 8:25:37 AM from Sins of a Solar Empire Forums Sins of a Solar Empire Forums

Nice to see you again.  After using it successfully for quite awhile , I have had a total meltdown now in Win 7 and can't use it at all.

It tries to convert and then loops endlessly and crashes.  I have to kill process with WinPatrol to stop it.

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Reply #92
BCXtreme
Join Date 04/2007
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July 2, 2011 12:33:21 PM from Sins of a Solar Empire Forums Sins of a Solar Empire Forums

Quoting Sinperium,
reply 91
Nice to see you again.  After using it successfully for quite awhile , I have had a total meltdown now in Win 7 and can't use it at all.

It tries to convert and then loops endlessly and crashes.  I have to kill process with WinPatrol to stop it.

Ouch, that's got to be the worst report yet.  Somehow I get the feeling that all these issues are being caused by the same problem, hopefully the logging tool will help me figure out what it is.  And hopefully I'll have that up for everyone very soon.

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Reply #93
Sinperium
Join Date 02/2010
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July 2, 2011 3:16:31 PM from Sins of a Solar Empire Forums Sins of a Solar Empire Forums

More than happy to test it for you--it's been an awesome tool for me.  And the behavior I described above is consistent as of about a month or so ago.  Worked fine before  after I ran as admin and in compatibility mode.

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Reply #94
BCXtreme
Join Date 04/2007
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July 2, 2011 9:25:51 PM from Sins of a Solar Empire Forums Sins of a Solar Empire Forums

The amount of time I've been able to dedicate to this is dwindling, as I'm getting ready to leave for college next month.  Rest assured, I will be bringing all my development project files with me, including this tool.    But things will probably slow down a bit.

I'd be curious to know what compatibility settings you are using.  That's another bug in itself, because you shouldn't need to use compatibility mode.

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Reply #95
Sinperium
Join Date 02/2010
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July 4, 2011 1:10:48 AM from Sins of a Solar Empire Forums Sins of a Solar Empire Forums

I ran it in administrator mode and that seemed to make it go.  After, to be redundant, I ran compatibility mode through for Windows XP service pack 2.  I just changed it to 3 and tomorrow I'll give it a spin and let you know what happens.

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Reply #96
BCXtreme
Join Date 04/2007
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November 24, 2011 5:40:28 PM from Sins of a Solar Empire Forums Sins of a Solar Empire Forums

Obviously, college took up a lot more of my time than I expected.  This took way longer than I intended, but I have an updated beta, v2.0.1 out there, that includes a diagnostic logging feature.  It can log one conversion and save the file to the desktop.  To anyone that's experienced a problem with the conversion process in the beta, please reproduce it in the new beta with logging enabled, and then send me the output file.

Happy Thanksgiving!

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Reply #97
Ryat
Join Date 06/2006
+334
November 24, 2011 6:26:38 PM from Sins of a Solar Empire Forums Sins of a Solar Empire Forums

Awesome timing seems how we have a lot of new people around. I always did like your little tool. It made me sad when it wasn't updated.

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Reply #98
Sinperium
Join Date 02/2010
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March 8, 2012 5:43:56 AM from Sins of a Solar Empire Forums Sins of a Solar Empire Forums

I completely missed this.  Hi there (if you can still hear me).  Going to get it now.

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Reply #99
Sinperium
Join Date 02/2010
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May 7, 2012 12:43:22 PM from Sins of a Solar Empire Forums Sins of a Solar Empire Forums

Great tool here for those new players who might have missed it.

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Reply #100
steven_straughen
Join Date 11/2009
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June 25, 2012 6:28:12 PM from Sins of a Solar Empire Forums Sins of a Solar Empire Forums

Just curious if your working on updating this for rebellion? it saves massive amounts of time on mods, love the tool, been looking forward to modding some of rebellion...

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