Opening the cavern: deleting and importing objects

[Chacal]

In preparation for the challenge, I present a brief tutorial on deleting and importing objects in a Uru PRP file.
In this tutorial, we will open the closed areas in the Watcher's Pub.
Note: this tutorial is for Uru: Path of the Shell (or Uru:CC), the off-line, single-user game.
Note: this tutorial has been updated on 2010-06-24, replacing PrpExplorer with PlasmaShop.

0- Preparation
0.1 Backup the Uru file(s)
It is essential to keep an untouched backup of your Uru installation. I just copied the entire "Uru - Ages beyond Myst" folder to a different disk before modifying anything (installing the fly mode patch, the userKI, ULM or any unofficial Age). For this tutorial, you will need to backup the following files from your Uru "dat" folder:

RestorationGuild.sum
RestorationGuild._District_Main.prp

0.2 Download and install PlasmaShop 3.x (including PrpShop) by Zrax
See instructions and download link here:
viewtopic.php?f=86&t=2639

0.3 Download and unzip the attached file: RestorationGuildObjects.zip (at bottom of this post). It contains two files with a .uof extension. Save these files somewhere on your computer.

1- Deleting objects

We will now use PlasmaShop to delete five invisible objects that block access to the alcoves in the Watcher's Pub.

1.1 Start PlasmaShop 3.x.
If you have not set it up yet for use with your Uru game, do so by selecting Game: Edit games list, Add, and tell it where to find the Uru files.
Select your game in the list and folders should now appear in the file browser window at left.

1.2 In the file browser window, open "Ages", "RestorationGuild", then "District_Main.prp" (Figure 1).

Figure 1: PlasmaShop

Tutorial_challenge_fig1.jpg (95.28 KiB) Viewed 5617 times

This will launch PrpShop in a new window.

1.3 In PrpShop, open "RestorationGuild", "Main", "Generic Physical(PX, HK, ODE)", scroll down to "CanvasCollision01". Select it, right-click on it, select "Delete". Gone!

1.4 Do the same for "CanvasCollision02", "CanvasCollision03", "CanvasCollision04" and "CanvasCollision05".

If we didn't want to import objects at this time, we would now save our prp, close PrpShop and jump to step 3.

[Chacal]

2- Importing objects

We will now use PlasmaShop and PrpShop to import two invisible objects that will give us access to the alcoves in the Watcher's Pub. You should already have downloaded these objects in step 0.

2.1 If not already done, open "RestorationGuild" in PrpShop, following instructions in step 1.

2.2 Normally we would import our modified objects and this would overwrite the original objects, but because of a bug in PrpShop, we must first delete the originals. Open "RestorationGuild", "Main", "Generic Physical(PX, HK, ODE)", scroll down to "GardenBlocker". Select it, right-click on it, select "Delete". Do the same for "Steps307Proxy". Close "Generic Physical(PX, HK, ODE)".

2.3 Now we can import our modified objects. Right-click on "Main", select "Import". Browse to your tutorial files, select the file "ph_GardenBlocker.uof". Click on "Open". Repeat for file "ph_Steps307Proxy.uof".

2.4 to 2.7 Add new objects to scene node. These are additional steps that are not needed for this tutorial, as they only apply to new objects. We didn't import any new objects in this tutorial, only modified versions of already existing objects.

2.8 Save the prp file using either the disk icon, the File/Save menu option, or Ctrl-S. We can now close PrpShop.

3- Remove the checksum

Our PRP file has been changed and it no longer matches the checksum in RestorationGuild.sum. Uru will think our Age is corrupted and will complain loudly and refuse to start. Fortunately, checksums are not mandatory, so the easiest fix is to just delete them.

3.1 In PlasmaShop, open "Ages", "RestorationGuild", then double-click on "RestorationGuild.sum". A window opens in the right pane, with 3 columns: Filename, Timestamp and MD5 (see Figure 2). If there is nothing else in the window, your checksums are already deleted and there is nothing more to do. Go to step 3.4.

Figure 2: the checksum file

Tutorial_challenge_fig2.jpg (118.29 KiB) Viewed 5616 times

3.2 Otherwise select "dat\RestorationGuild_District_Main.prp" in the right pane, richt-click and select "Remove". You can also select the other checksums and remove them if you wish.

3.3 Save the checksum file using either the disk icon, the File/Save menu option, or Ctrl-S.

3.4 We can now close PlasmaShop and try our changes in Uru.

[Chacal]

That's it! What remains is to start Uru, get to the Watcher's Pub and explore!
The furniture is kinda weird, this is madness!
Madness? This is IKEAAAAAAAAAAA!!!

Note that you can still see some curtains blocking the entrances. This is normal, as there is no relation between the displayed objects and the physical objects. You can walk straight through those curtains.
Deleting them is beyond the scope of this tutorial.


Now for the challenge, there will be several such objects to delete and import. The recipe will use a short-hand language.
The steps explained above would look like this in short-hand:

Code: Select all

Delete RestorationGuild/Main/Generic Physical/CanvasCollision01
Delete RestorationGuild/Main/Generic Physical/CanvasCollision02
Delete RestorationGuild/Main/Generic Physical/CanvasCollision03
Delete RestorationGuild/Main/Generic Physical/CanvasCollision04
Delete RestorationGuild/Main/Generic Physical/CanvasCollision05
Delete RestorationGuild/Main/Generic Physical/GardenBlocker
Delete RestorationGuild/Main/Generic Physical/Steps307Proxy
Import RestorationGuild/Main/ph_GardenBlocker.uof
Import RestorationGuild/Main/ph_Steps307Proxy.uof


Also the additional steps that were not used in the tutorial would look like this:

Code: Select all

Add "NewFloor2" to city/ferry/Scene Node/city_District_ferry

I hope this makes sense to everyone.

4- If anything goes wrong

If anything goes wrong, Uru won't work anymore. If you backed up your files in step 0, you're safe.

All you have to do is copy the two files back to your Uru "dat" folder.

How to copy the files in Windows (it is easier to do than to explain):

- Open Windows Explorer by right-clicking the "My Computer" icon on your desktop and selecting "Explore"
- Browse to the folder where you copied the backup files;
- Select "View / Details", then make the "name" column wide enough to see the entire names;
- Scroll down and select the above files by clicking each file while keeping the Ctrl key pressed;
- Select "Edit/copy";
- Browse to your Uru/dat folder
- Select "Edit/Paste";
- Windows will ask if you want to overwrite the files, just say yes.

Then your game should run alright again.

[Chacal]

Corrected an error in step 1.1.
It said "Browse to your Uru "dat" folder". That was wrong.
It now says "Browse to your Uru game folder".

[Chacal]

Added name of files to be backed up.
Added "If anything goes wrong" section.
Thanks to pappou for beta testing!

[Chacal]

Updated the tutorial for PlasmaShop and PrpShop.
Removed recalculation of checksum with UruFun.