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Thread: A Ship Generator

  1. #1

    A Ship Generator

    Hey guys!

    For all of you who are building starships acording to the "Advanced Starship Construction Manual", here is something I am working on: it is a starship generator. Currently you can select about every item of a ship, but Tractor Beams and Transporters.

    The program will save your ship, the "Load" and "Save" buttons don't work actually, but you can make a backup of your "ship.ini" if you want.

    To use, just unzip somewhere and use.

    What is yet to come:
    Power computing, printing, tractor beams, transporters, axuiliary shuttle crafts, location of systems...

    Tell me what you think about it in this thread and what you would expect to see. All constructive critics are greatly appreciated.

    Cheers to ya all
    Zortiander

    All right, and here's a (very brief and tiny) explanation, how this thing works:

    Installing
    As I said, just unzip it into any directory and call the *.exe file. The textfiles hold some data about engines and such, so if you change them, you won't adhere to the rules any more.

    Preliminary
    Go to the basics page and select, your ship size and class, the rest is still purely for information.

    Using
    When you've done that, you can now go on and change everything you want in the configuration. You mostly have to check the corresponding option and then type into the adjacent field the number of units you want to have on your ship.

    For weapons and the such, there are lists from which you can choose what item to take (right-click on the list and then choose select). Now, as you probably know, you need shield grid etc, so when you've selected an item, you can right-click on it in the "selected" list and you'll get all the options you'll need.
    The changes you make will be reflected in small codes on the right side of the entry (e.g. "A" for a Alpha Shield Grid).

    When you'll exceed the available SU, you'll get a message saying so, but you can actually continue to stuff your ship.

    The program does correctly increase your maximum SU when you select the MVAM option (to the one of a ship 2 sizes larger).

    Saving & Loading
    The program saves its status on each exit and loads it again on the next start. All is saved in the file ship.ini, so if you want more than one ship saved, you must, for now, rename this file and put it somewhere save for each ship.
    Saved is about everything, including the window position(s), size etc.
    If you find I forgot anything for saving, please tell me so.

    For critics and more
    This is still a Beta Version of the program, as said above, some features are still missing.
    Feel free to write here any critics please.

    Edit: deleted the old ZIP file, as news ones are available further down. Current: Beta 4
    Last edited by Zortiander; 04-19-2004 at 06:25 AM.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Aug 1999
    Location
    Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
    Posts
    3,490
    I noticed that you posted this in both the CODA and Spacedock areas. Is this a generator for Steve Long's Spacedock rules, or for CODA? If it's for CODA Starships, this is the wrong area for it - quite aside from the fact that you only need to post in one Forum. Remember, Don pays a lot of money to keep this site up and running, and there's no need to waste his server space.

  3. #3
    Yeah, I am really sorry. I tried to delete the post in the Coda forum, but it wouldn't let me. Sorry again, my mistake.

    And to answer your question: its the Spacedock rules that apply in this generator.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Aug 1999
    Location
    Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
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    3,490
    Way cool. Drop a note to one of the CODA Moderators, and they'll delete or lock down the thread there. (Just noticed - Doug's already moved it .)

    When you have the full, completed version of the generator done, would you be interested in having it hosted on the Memory:ICON site, along with Steve's rules and his SRMs and DWS?

  5. #5
    Sure, its free for all to use and distribute. I think I'd feel honoured to have it near Steve's rules!

    OK, current developement status (26.3.):
    - power consumption / output is calculated for all modes (red alert, cruising, stealth, reduced power, yellow / blue alert)
    - inserted some more fields where power comsumption is shown
    - energy cosumption for life support is calculated automatically absed on the total crew you enter for your ship

    I'll keep ya guys updated. If any of you find any errors in the previous version(s), please tell me via forum (the anti-spam will most likely filter your e-mails).

    If you want the source codes, please wait until I finish it, then you can have them (its all in Delphi for those who eventually want to toy with the source), but I warn you, the parts I wrote during late night might seem a bit messy to you...

    And next update (some of today's work, 28.3.):
    - for MVAM power is calculated for each ship (approx)
    - checks your design for errors (at least some)
    - transporters integrated
    - science system can be integrated
    - power output calculation by ship section (tac, com, sensor, propulsion...)
    - regenerative shield added
    - 5 bug fixes (incl. missing SU actualising after deleting weapons)
    - one or two visual modifications (minor)
    Last edited by Zortiander; 03-28-2004 at 04:58 PM.

  6. #6

    Cool

    Alright, here we go with a bigger update, which you can actually download. As I udnerstood, server space is a bit short, so I only give you the links here, I host the software myself now.

    The full program:
    www.zortiander.de/stsc/beta2.exe (RAR-EXE, ~400 KB)

    The changes to read:
    http://www.zortiander.de/stsc/changes.txt (TXT, ~ 2 KB)

    Missing
    Of course all the changes mentioned above have been made. I have introduced a help / information system as well, but typing it all down and implementing it into the program will be some work, so its still experimental.

    The ship analyser is a bit short, he doesn't take into account all possible options, nor does he detect all errors. This will change in time, but I didn't have the time to code it all.

    I still lack tracktor beams and security Systems, they shall come in the next upgrade.

    The loader
    As you will see, the program now starts with a load screen. How does it work? Well, the ship you are currently working on is saved in the file "ship.ini". If you wish to save it, you have to do it from the loader panel.

    You have a list on the right side with all the ini files in the directory, except the program's option files. All ships are stored as ini-files, so they should appear there. Double-click to load.

    The tools icon lets you edit the help texts. However, adding new ones won't help atm because they are not being called upon yet by the different check boxes etc.

  7. #7

    Post

    A little status update (again).

    I've been working less on the project (university calls), but I have here a list of errors / bugs and things I changed already. If any of you have been so much as using the program or even looked at it, I'd really be gratefull for some feedback of any sort. And if anyone wants to help, I'd be gratefull, too (especially if anyone wanted to work on the help file).

    Bugs / known issues
    - saving / loading somehow doesn't really work (loading mostly does, but saving not); will be totally rewritten in Beta 3
    - helpfile editor is not saving data if you edit it directly ( fixed )
    - missing scroll bars on helpfile editor ( fixed )
    - setting up all the weapons is a bit tedious (see changes)
    - SIFs get deleted when you change ship size


    Changed in Beta 3
    - I added a "Duplicate Entry" option for beam weapons as well as a "Check All" Option for firing modes. Like this you don't have to set up all weapons each by one but can simply multiply your items
    - Added auxiliary spacecraft
    - Fixed the bugs with the helpfile editor

    Upcomming features
    - Printing above all. It will be a printing in HTML files based on markers (such as "$?Hull"), so that you will be able to write your own basic HTML sheets in which the program will insert the apropriate values. I'll try to get it done for Beta 3.
    - Support for tractor beams (still reluctant to code those tables)

  8. #8
    BETA 3

    Download
    All right people, here is the link to grab you the next beta version of the little program:

    http://www.zortiander.de/stsc/beta3.exe

    As always its a self-extracting RAR file. If any of you find that taking a virus by it might be too risky: the program is an exe file anyway, so it'll be infected it the RAR file is.

    Changes
    On with the changes: only one, but I think one that is of utmost importance:

    - Finally fixed saving. Yeah!
    - all of the things that I mentioned in the post before

    Worked a lot through the saving code (wasn't my own) and the way it works, so I now found out how to make it work and ships should be loaded / saved correctly.

    Saving / Loading
    If it doesn't work, please tell me. Coding takes a lot of time and I can't test all things severely through. Anyhow, here is how saving / loading works, so that you may have an idea about when you might loose your ship:

    The program only works with the file "Ships.ini". If you Load a ship, then the contents of "ship.ini" will be overwritten by whatever file you selected, meaning that you may loose any data of the current ship. And that is what Saving is for. by saving you copy the data from the ship.ini file into another file, so I strongly recommend you save a file ere you load it.

    I will add a certain safety to it (a backupfile, a notice that oyu haven't saved, I don't know yet, suggestions are welcome), but only in Beta 5 I suppose, other issues of greater importance wait to be tackled with.

    A call for help
    I suppose only few read through to here. Nevertheless I would like to extend a call for help to anyone listening. This concerns mainly one thing: feedback. Be it negative or positive, it would be nice to hear from anyone who might have tried the program. Silence is a bit, hm, depressing, and until now I haven't even god a single feedback...

    Next thing is the printing. I am not a good HTML coder, so if anyone would have / make a HTML sheet for starships that is suited for printing and makes some sense, I will convert it into something I can use for the ship generator.

    And lastly if anyone feels compelled to help me with typing the help file, feel free to tell me and I'll give you a short introduction on how to use the help editor, which comes with the programm but is a bit simple right now, I'm afraid.


    All right, that's all for now folks,
    Cheers
    Zortiander

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Jan 2004
    Location
    A Small Blue World at the end of one of the Spiral Arms of the Milky Way Galaxy.
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    Hey Zorti'

    I downloaded the 1st version a while back, been playing with it, and just got your beta3, the 1st one was good, looking forward to playing with the beta3, thanks for putting this together, really useful, loking forward to a version that includes tractors

    Thanks again

    Sundowner
    Sundowner

    "Sure, it will probably explode. But at least I won't be in it, on it, or near it."

  10. #10
    I just couldn't let my fingers from it, so here are the tracktor beams: fully loaded and with a small help that'll show you the range on them, too. This is just a small release inspired by Sundowner () and adresses two minor issues as well as getting the auxiliary spacecraft system done and the tracktor beams.

    Beta 5 will take some more time, its going to be (I hope) a bigger release and not just the result of an evening's work. But well, I am always too enthusiastic (how d'you write that in English?) not to share immediately.

    This release also includes a number of vessels I did, so you can see how it looks all setup. Feel free to use them at your leisure, though the "big mvam" is maybe a "bit" overpowered...

    Long words, short outcome:
    http://www.zortiander.de/stsc/beta4.exe
    http://www.zortiander.de/stsc/changes.txt

    Good night (its 11pm here) and see ya all in space.

  11. #11
    So, this is again the update post, in which I will try and detail to you the changes I make, and to keep you posted on what is new:

    Currently for upcomming Beta 5

    Addition
    - started with printing, works fine for hull systems so far (13.04.)

    Fixes
    - fixed "Out of Size Range" when selecting high sizes and MVAM (14.04)

    Changes
    - cleared a bit the code, but users won't notice it I guess

    Known Issues
    - it might be that old systems require a DLL now to run the program (win98 i.e.); please tell me if this happens, so I can include it
    - you may loose your ship.ini file for no apparent reasons if the program crashes (happened to me in dev mode, no idea why)
    - if you have "dev.txt" in your directory the program will switch to dev mode; carefull, because you don't have the dev server running

    If you want to help
    - pictures that I could use
    - HTML template files (contact me, so I explain you how) for printing
    - help file writing (again contact me, so I can explain you how)
    - testing (thx Sundowner)
    - feedback




    A word on the dev mode
    Starting from Beta 4, a dev mode exists, to help me better track errors / bugs.
    As stated in the "known issues", if you place a file called "dev.txt" in your STSC folder, the program will go into dev mode. As you will see, it will try to connect to a local server, which, obviously, you don't have.
    This is because I use an error report and logging server for all my programs, so that I can track bugs / errors more easily. I have this server running in my home network, so you won't be able to access it yet, sorry. This might come.
    This is also the reason why you might need a DLL, I don't exactly know what the internet modules require to run, as I didn't write them completely myself. So if you need a DLL, please write down the name and tell me, so that I can include it in the package.
    If you switch to dev mode you will also see the log, which you can access also in the file "log.txt" or by simply enlarging the Loader's window to the right. Currently not much is logged, this may change over time (helps me a great deal to track errors).
    Last edited by Zortiander; 04-14-2004 at 08:48 AM.

  12. #12
    Join Date
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    What pics are you searching for?

  13. #13
    Join Date
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    A Small Blue World at the end of one of the Spiral Arms of the Milky Way Galaxy.
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    Hi Zorti,

    Just a quick note, i've been playing with the beta4, and i've noticed, when you select ship size 15 or 16, i get an error, it keeps telling me size must be a number between 1 an 16.

    Any ideas???

    Sundowner
    Sundowner

    "Sure, it will probably explode. But at least I won't be in it, on it, or near it."

  14. #14
    Yes true. You probably had MVAM selected, that makes your ship size appear 2 sizes bigger (for the SU allocation), which means it gets out of the 1..16 range. I'll get that fixed with Beta 5 asap. If you want a hotfix, tell me and I'll get it doneimmediately.

  15. #15
    Join Date
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    S'okay, i'll wait for beta5, now i know i'll check the settings.

    Cheers

    Sundowner
    Sundowner

    "Sure, it will probably explode. But at least I won't be in it, on it, or near it."

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