Red!Viewer... Good news? Or ... News?

Red · Post by **Red** » Fri Jun 21, 2002 2:17 pm

Have fun <tt><-</tt> For those who have a theme which makes links kinda invisible, this is the file link.

Note to admins/newsies: DO NOT LINK TO THE FILE DIRECTLY. Download it and put it up on your website. I can't take big loads

Make sure to read the version history (from 1.5.2 up to 1.5.11) to get an idea of how it works. I'm too tired to make a proper HOW-TO...

Quick Guide though:

Load ZAR
Open ZAR Clipboard using the "Clip..." button
Click "Add" in ZAr Clipboard to add it to the "ZAR clipboard buffer"...
Open tile
Click "Export" after selecting an item in the clip window. The tile frame should be overwritten by the ZAR in the "clipboard".
Save

I haven't tested it much yet, so expect bugs. PLEASE REPORT THEM TO ME, include:

File you opened
What you were doing that crashed/caused a bug, and ideally exactly how to recreate it
Quick system specs

to red@duckandcover.net.

DO NOT SEND ME INFO ABOUT COMDLG32.OCX...
Find it. It's installed when you install Office 2000, Office XP and/or MSDev (and MS SQL 2000). I'll see if I can redistribute the damn thing. I think it comes with Windows XP, but I can't be sure as it's not documented.

A word of warning: Tiles have a single palette for all frames, so this complicates making animated tiles quite a bit, but there are still ways, I'll explain later if you can't come up with it

Red · Post by **Red** » Fri Jun 21, 2002 3:49 pm

Greymon on IRC was kind enough to provide me with this link for the missing OCX:
http://www.ttrsoftware.com/support.htm

I found an official version of it on MS's site, however it's an old and deprecated version which also happens to crash the viewer/editor, so no point in linking you to that.

A note about the editor 'for i really go to bed, it's NOT in it's final state. It'll be modified to be more intuitive as it really isn't at this point

Jimmyjay86 · Post by **Jimmyjay86** » Fri Jun 21, 2002 8:11 pm

Thanks Red!

I'll try to give it a "once-over" later tonight or on Sunday.

Max-Violence · Post by **Max-Violence** » Sat Jun 22, 2002 2:48 am

Um, what program do we use to open it? My 'puter doesn't recognize .ace files.

Red · Post by **Red** » Sat Jun 22, 2002 3:25 am

winace... www.winace.com

Jimmyjay86 · Post by **Jimmyjay86** » Sat Jun 22, 2002 7:26 am

Winrar can extract ace archives too.

Jimmyjay86 · Post by **Jimmyjay86** » Sat Jun 22, 2002 8:18 am

I have it installed and have been playing with it a little. Here is one definite need:

You have the bounding box but no way to shift the bounding box along the various axes. This doesn't matter if I am creating a tile that is the same dimensions as a current one. If I want to make a new one with new dimensions then the bounding box will not necessarily align with the image which will create problems when inserting it in the game. Domin's Spray allows the movement of the box so that it fits perfectly.

Red · Post by **Red** » Sat Jun 22, 2002 8:46 am

Yeah you do

use the arrorw keys (this moves it by 1 pixel), or the mouse.

Make sure to select the Edit Offset -> Picture (or Frame, both work for single frame tile, but you should usually use picture).

Then click, and the offset will change. Since clicking isn't very precise, that's why the keys have been added.

Jimmyjay86 · Post by **Jimmyjay86** » Sat Jun 22, 2002 8:49 am

Sweet!

Lord of Halifax · Post by **Lord of Halifax** » Sun Jun 23, 2002 11:55 pm

I want this program !!!! But your link is dead !!!!

Red · Post by **Red** » Mon Jun 24, 2002 1:54 am

There, it's back up, sorry about that, I keep forgetting to start my httpd...

Saint_Proverbius provided a more stable location on the news item about the viewer...

Lord of Halifax · Post by **Lord of Halifax** » Mon Jun 24, 2002 2:50 pm

Done ! Thanks !!!

Lord of Halifax · Post by **Lord of Halifax** » Mon Jun 24, 2002 3:26 pm

I get this message when I want to launch the program :
msvbvm60.dll file not found to be able to run the program (or something like that).
Is it because I don't have Office 2000 ?

Red · Post by **Red** » Mon Jun 24, 2002 9:46 pm

Actually no, this is because you don't have the vb6 runtime...

Here's a link: http://support.microsoft.com/directory/ ... US;Q192461& (thanks to Greymon again - and my Trillian log

)

Lord of Halifax · Post by **Lord of Halifax** » Tue Jun 25, 2002 1:57 am

Ok. From now, how does this program work ? What is a .zar file ? Where can I get this kind of files ? Does the program also work with Arcanum ? How can I insert the objects I create through the program into the game ?
Help, please, help.

Red · Post by **Red** » Tue Jun 25, 2002 3:05 am

First, for Arcanum ART files, you can only view them.

The only 2 formats you can save in right now is ZAR and TIL. Saving ZARs is pointless (right now), as the only thing you can "import" into a ZAR is another ZAR

. This version was released because you can now make tiles. That and it fixes bugs with the previous versions, however the only real features added was to view more formats, and save tiles.

ZARs are kinda the bitmap format for FO:T. You can create them using the FO:T editor and using the PNG->ZAR converter in it. I'll prbably consider adding a converted in my own application later on, but right now my goal was simply to allow the editing and creation of tiles, and you can.

The first post in this thread describes a quick how-tp on making your own tiles.

Red · Post by **Red** » Wed Jun 26, 2002 3:41 am

I've compiled a new version fo the infamous installer for the thing:

It includes the proper version of the 2 missing files causing problems, as well as 2 other files required by those.
It associates ZAR, TIL and SPR file types to the application.
It creates a start menu shortcut (note that it'lll work properly only on english language Windows... Sorry for the others, expec t a"programs" folder to appear on the Start Menu - but you're probably used to it )

It's a ~1.5mb msi file.

To prep up for this installation, I'm affraid you still require something, depending on the OS, which is Windows Installer (version 1.1 or greater).

Here's a link for version 2.0 for Windows 9x and ME:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/rele ... &ordinal=1

And for NT4 and 2000:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/rele ... &ordinal=3

XP already has 2.0...

The file will be up somewhere, as soon as a web site is available to store it

Disadvantage:

Bigger
Need Windows Installer

Advantages:

No need for winace (or even winzip)
All DLLs and OCX should be installed and registered properly
Nifty start menu and file association
Uninstaller
You'll probably need in the near future, or already have it since it's supposed to be the new installation standard...

Red · Post by **Red** » Thu Jun 27, 2002 2:26 am

Here's the link:

http://duckandcover.net/tactics/files/RedViewer.msi

If you're having trouble donwloading it, simply right click on it and use the "Save target as" feature to save the file.

Special thanks to Saint_Proverbius for all his efforts

Max-Violence · Post by **Max-Violence** » Thu Jun 27, 2002 4:23 am

So, it's:

-Load ZAR
-Open ZAR Clipboard using the "Clip..." button
-Click "Add" in ZAr Clipboard to add it to the "ZAR clipboard buffer"...
-Open tile
-Click "Export" after selecting an item in the clip window. The tile frame should be overwritten by the ZAR in the "clipboard".
-Save

Right?

Well, I don't see "Export" anywhere... you mean Insert?

Red · Post by **Red** » Thu Jun 27, 2002 5:29 am

Very possible I might of changed the UI at the last minute... Nope, it's export. It's on the right of the Remove button. In smaller resolution monitors it migh be off the screen when you start it, so you might need to move the window back onto the screen.