Guild of Writers

First off, we need a libPlasma section in the Tool forums.

After some experimentation I decided to start using PageEditor for prp modifications. I downloaded the latest compiled version (dated November 28) and started editing. When I was done I hit the "Save PRP" button and... nothing happened. The PRP was not saved. The version I was using previously (from November 19 I think) saved the prp alright but I overwrote that one with the newer build.

So it's back to the old hex editor for now.

There was a serious issue where saving a PRP file more than once would corrupt it beyond repair.
I've also been adding and expanding PageEditor recently to show the PRC of .age files. I disabled saving because it didn't work properly in the first place and because the saving routine needs to be rewritten.

Until then, you can save the edited PRC as a .prc file, use prcc to compile it to a .po, and then rename it to .uof and import with PRPExplorer.

Paradox wrote:Until then, you can save the edited PRC as a .prc file, use prcc to compile it to a .po, and then rename it to .uof and import with PRPExplorer.

Or you could just compile it into a uof and save the extra step of renaming it. (Prcc can compile into uof's just fine, I've been doing so since its very first official release)

And this is why we need a libPlasma section. How was I supposed to know?

Actually I found that bug too and had already learned to work around it (close/open program, resume). And of course I use working copies so nothing did ever get lost.

For what I am doing (modifying strings) hex editing is faster anyway. I will use the prppack and do my edits on the po file.

D'Lanor wrote:And this is why we need a libPlasma section. How was I supposed to know?

Actually I found that bug too and had already learned to work around it (close/open program, resume). And of course I use working copies so nothing did ever get lost.

For what I am doing (modifying strings) hex editing is faster anyway.

There are Subversion logs for each commit detailing what was changed.

Guys, if there is such a bug it would be good to publish a warning about it. I've been using that feature, and this might explain some weird bugs I've been having.

Here's a script that could make life easier for automating the compilation process. This will compile all prcs in a folder to corresponding uofs. Just drop it in your project folder and run it before importing with PrpExplorer. I initially wrote it in order to simplify Andy's "Snow in your Age" tutorial, but I never got access to the Maintainer's forum so I forgot about it.

Code: Select all

@echo off
REM compile all PRC files in folder into UOF files
REM edit the following path for your own installation
rem libfolder is the libPlasma folder
set libfolder="D:\Uru\Utils\LibPlasma"
echo Compiling PRC files from current folder
del *.uof
for %%i in (*.prc) do %libfolder%\prcc.exe %%i -v pots -o %%~ni.uof
set libfolder=
echo Done.
pause

I'm too stupid to write utilities using libPlasma (and i don't have a c++ compiler), but I can think of two utilities that would be quite useful:

- a more granular prdcd which would export a specific object instead of the whole prp.
Something like "prcdc [options] filename [plKey Name] [plKey Type]"
Example: "prcdc -o D:\Uru\project1\so_Lamp2.prc D:\Uru\dat\tutorial01_District_mainRoom.prp Lamp2 plSceneObject"

- an object importer (similar to the import function in PrpExplorer).
Something like "prcimport [options] prpfilename prcfilename"
Example: "prcimport D:\Uru\dat\tutorial01_District_mainRoom.prp D:\Uru\project1\so_Lamp2.prc"
This one would be, actually, a stand-alone version of the saving routine Paradox is working on.

The good thing about this scheme is it would bypass the compilation process entirely.
So the process for modifying an Age would be: export needed objects using prcdc, edit the prc files, add some new ones if needed, import back all prcs using a script. This would also make it a lot easier to distribute new and modified content.

PrpPack will pack/unpack a PRP file into a folder of .po files. These can be compiled and decompiled to/from PRC using prcc and prcdc.

The whole prp. Yes, I guess there's always that solution.

Paradox wrote:There was a serious issue where saving a PRP file more than once would corrupt it beyond repair.
I've also been adding and expanding PageEditor recently to show the PRC of .age files. I disabled saving because it didn't work properly in the first place and because the saving routine needs to be rewritten.

I'm told this has been fixed in the source found in the SVN. Could someone compile a new Windows version?
I would if I could.

Sure. This is libPlasma as of right now. (1/07/09 at 7:04)