====================================================================This editor is a development version. Be gentle with it. Don't be stupid. You are hereby warned that whatever damage it causes to your computer, data, or sanity is your fault alone... Don't blame me, Ambrosia, Matt, the IRS, or UFOs if this application causes problems for you. Polite bug reports and suggestions are, naturally, greatly appreciated.
This EV editor may be freely distributed provided that this Read Me file and the accompanying documentation are included along with Schmelta-V.
Note: This editor is not created by Ambrosia Software and therefore all bug reports should be sent directly to the author at <afn02635@afn.org>.
Note 2: I strongly suggest you make a copy of your EV Data file for backup purposes in case it becomes destroyed, lost, or corrupted while using Schmelta-V.
Shameless Plug:
Check out the newly released EV Plug-In Auditor! It'll detect many kinds of plug-in conflicts in just a few seconds to help ensure that your EV games will be free of plug-in conflicts! Download it now from <http://www.afn.org/~afn02635/ev/>.
Coming Soon:
Better interface for choosing/editing special ship names and cargo types!
Any Questions:
I need feedback to improve Schmelta-V. Bug reports and suggestions are welcome! Send them to <afn02635@afn.org> or throw comments up for discussion on Ambrosia's delta_v mailing list. I can also be found on IRC #ev from time to time as Jericon.
Thanks!
Many thanks to the cool people on comp.sys.mac.programmer.help and #macdev who have been both helpful and supportive during this project. Thanks also to Andrew Welch and Erik Wright (I hope I got that right), who have offered several helpful suggestions, and Ben Chess, who has created EV Edit for those interested in editing ships, dudes, systs, and spobs.
Thanks to the folks responsible for the DialogControls source found on Info-Mac. Todd Clements included Jens Alfke's NewControlPatch source, which allowed me to change the font of a check box.
Thanks to the folks who put together Apple's MoreFiles; I adapted a few of their routines for use in Schmelta-V.
Thanks to the authors of DropShell! I didn't use their code, but it was very informative nevertheless.
Thanks to Jay Tingley, who helped out with Schmelta-V's new and improved title screen! (Unfortunately, I had to dither and scale a truly magnificent 24-bit JPEG...)
My Home Page...
Please visit my home page at <http://www.afn.org/~afn02635/>. Also, the latest version of Schmelta-V can always be found at <http://www.afn.org/~afn02635/ev/>. If you visit this page, you can sign up to receive notification of updates and new versions...
Frequently Asked Questions:
Q: Why is this program called Schmelta-V?
A: Matt Burch's original EV editor (outdated and unavailable to mere mortals) was called Delta-V. "Delta-V, Schmelta-V."
Q: Why do I have to have an alias to my EV Data file in my Schmelta-V folder?
A: Schmelta-V has no preset menus; they're all loaded from the resource fork of the EV files. If you're editing a plugin instead of a real data file, Schmelta-V uses this alias or data file to load the appropriate menu data.
Q: Schmelta-V doesn't automatically open a file. What gives?
A: Most likely you're dragging & dropping a file or double-clicking the prefs file. This feature only works if you double-click the actual Schmelta-V application (or an alias to it). If you still have problems, write me. :-)
Q: It sucks having to use ResEdit to mess with ship names or make new cargo types. You gonna do something about this?
A: Yes. Sometime. It's very complex, especially because I have to factor in the possibility of STR patches to STR#. It's giving me a headache, and I figured I'd just go ahead and release this bug fix version first.
Q: You say we shouldn't blame you, Matt, Ambrosia, UFOs, etc. if we experience problems with Schmelta-V. Can we blame Windows95?
A: Yes, I think the bad karma heaped on the human race in general for producing Windows95 would be sufficient to cause problems even in top-notch, cutting-edge software like Schmelta-V. :-)
Version History:
New in version 1.0d11 (7/22/96):
- Fixed problem with saving of person Location data in certain instances.
- Fixed problem where personality names weren't saved properly. (Oops!)
- Widened pers editor Credits box.
- Changed check box font (thanks to Jens Alfke and Todd Clements), allowing for a more Mac-like interface. In other words, you can now click on check box titles to check the check box.
- Fixed a few possible memory-corruption problems in pers/misn loading/saving.
- Improved alias-loading code... Are people still experiencing problems when using an EV Data alias?
- The "Adjacent" option in the mission availability field now refers to a system, as it should, rather than a stellar.
- Fixed a few possible bus-error problems resulting from a mission "break" statement... D'oh!
- Eliminated the crëd resource that version 1.0d10 placed in your plug-ins, as it seemed to cause problems for some folks.
- Fixed a bug which caused Schmelta-V to quit anyway even if closing of files/resources failed or was cancelled.
- STR# editing delayed to version 1.0d12 due to complexity and general laziness on the part of the programmer.
New in version 1.0d10 (6/28/96):
- Fixed problem where S-V misbehaved if an alias to the EV Data file was used.
- Speeded file loading times!
- Added AI personality editing! Rejoice! You can now edit pers resources just as you edit misn resources! Use the popup menu at the top to switch between modes. If you find yourself editing pers resources more than misn resources, use the prefs dialog to change your default editor mode to Personalities.
New in version 1.0d9 (6/24/96):
- Fixed problem with "Not Resetting Menus" alert appearing whenever the option key was pressed.
- Fixed problems which caused certain popup menus to display improperly or import a plugin's other resources improperly.
- Added prefs dialog and accompanying prefs file.
- Fixed several bugs relating to popup menus and eliminated some of those annoying pauses by rewriting the popup menu code. Popup menus are now created and loaded on the fly, which means a temporary file is necessary. "Schmelta-V Temp Menus" will be placed in your Temporary Items folder while Schmelta-V is running, and it'll be deleted when you quit. In other words, you won't notice it at all unless you crash within Schmelta-V, in which case the temporary file will be placed in the Trash by the Finder.
- Mission IDs are now visible in the mission chooser.
- <No Entry> has been eliminated entirely. (Yessss!)
- Multiple missions can be cut, copied, pasted, and deleted.
- When copied, missions' IDs are stored in memory, and when pasted this same ID is used. If there is already a mission in the file with this ID, you'll get a ResEdit-like dialog asking you if you really want to replace this file, and also giving you an opportunity to give the pasted mission a unique ID.
- Increased saving speed. If this causes problems, try turning off the "Fast Save" option, and then let me know about the crash/problem that occurred.
- Drag & drop now works!
- User can set a default document to open when Schmelta-V is launched without dragging & dropping, or you can just have the "Open..." dialog presented.
- Pers editing delayed until 1.0d10. :-\
New in version 1.0d8 (6/13/96):
- Better docs! Rejoice!
- Compiled fat binary.
- Fixed bug which caused governments set in the "Travel To" field to load improperly.
- Fixed bug which caused Schmelta-V to crash if you so much as breathed on the keyboard while no windows were open.
- Clarified a few menu options (for instance, the special ships' "Behavior" menu).
- Changed desc editor to a window and changed the font and size. It should now be approximately the same size as the window in EV, so you know when you're really out of room.
- Fixed problems with memory management when cutting, copying and pasting missions.
- Cutting, copying and pasting missions copies and pastes the appropriate desc resources as well...
- Fixed some crashing bugs associated with closing mission editors after using the desc editor.
- New title screen. (Thanks, Jay!)
New in version 1.0d7 (6/9/96):
- Fixed problems with smart quotes.
- Items set in the rewards section are now saved properly.
- Ships and auxiliary ships "Location" field should take systems, not stellars (d'oh!)... This has been fixed.
- Fixed problem with loading of files whose resources start at a number greater than 128.
- Rearranged menus, and fixed problems with enabling/disabling of items.
- Enabled copy, cut, and paste between applications.
- Enabled copy, cut, and paste of whole missions, even between mission files. As a consequence, selection of multiple missions has been turned off (anybody have a problem with this?). Note: descriptions associated with these missions are not copied/cut/pasted along with them.
- Multiple mission/plugin files can be open simultaneously. If the mission being edited is a plugin, any other spobs, outfs, govts, systs, dudes, etc found in that plugin will be added to the appropriate place in the editor popup menus. If you switch between open editors of two different files (say, a data file and a plugin), the menus will change appropriately, though they may not necessarily be updated immediately.
- Added another debugging feature for those experiencing problems when closing the mission editing dialog. If you hold option while closing this window, the popup menus will not be reset (I think this is the culprit). Let me know whether this helps...
New in version 1.0d6 (6/5/96):
- New version numbering scheme (duh).
- Fixed memory bugs?
- Spobs, outfs, govts, and dudes in open plugin files are added to popup menus.
- Smart quotes!
- New missions appear at bottom of list.
- New method of handling mission creation: opening <No Entry> items automatically creates a new mission. "New" menu item adds a <No Entry> to the bottom of the list.
- There will no longer be <No Entry>s below the first valid mission.
- Support for new mission file features (e.g. more flags).
- More standard dialog asking if you would like to save temporary changes.
- S-V now checks for errors in data fields before saving a mission.
- Edit menu works in mission editor and description editor, though you can't copy or paste between applications.
- Debugging feature for aiding those having trouble with saving. If you experience problems saving missions, write me and I'll tell you how to use this feature.
New in version 0.5 (6/2/96):
- Fixed more desc bugs... Hopefully this works now.
- Cleaned up code a lot... If I'm lucky, you'll see a lot less crashes now, and I can concentrate on other bugs.
- Save menu option works now (oops... stupid mistake!)...
- Added "Save As Plug-In..." option, which will save all your changes to the current data file in a separate plug-in... Very useful for distributing changed missions!
- Mission chooser can now be resized... Yes, I do listen to suggestions! (You know who you are...) ;-)
- Fixed bug in saving code.
- Keypresses now flag missions as changed as well as mouse clicks.
New in version 0.4 (5/28/96):
- Reduced the font in the editor window and made field descriptions a little less enigmatic.
- Implemented a new save system whereby temporary changes to all misn and desc resources are temporary until the main data file window is closed, at which point you are given the option to save.
- A few memory leaks cleaned up. (I *hope* this improves stability.)
- Fixed desc editing so you won't get any more buggy characters.
- Added support for plug-ins.
- New title screen. (!)
New in version 0.3 (5/20/96):
- I just made my first complete mission in Schmelta-V. It took me less than five minutes, including scripting. Sorry, had to say that.
- Description editing! Well, sort of. This is the best I could do in the time I had, and the fact is it works pretty darn well. I'll be making some scroll bars and cleaning up a few miscellaneous bugs in the future, but I hope you'll find the current editor convenient. Note: Schmelta-V makes descs conform to my standards. :-) That is, Schmelta-V assumes that each mission has separate and independent desc files, even if they are identical to other missions' desc files. Also, Schmelta-V changes desc id's so that they are standardized in relation to the id's of other missions and descs. This, unfortunately, causes some problems. If you move the first cargo delivery mission to id 150, all of its descs will go along with it. This mission's text fields will be updated, but other cargo delivery missions that are linked to the descs that have been moved will now have no desc resources. :-( On a brighter note, Schmelta-V will know if the mission you've opened is linked to another mission's descs, and it will go ahead and remedy this situation by creating a new set of descs. :-) Anybody have a problem with this? Cut and paste to come. Oh, and I'm not slick enough to handle smart quotes yet. To get the same effect, use opt-[ and opt-shift-[ for smart quotes.
- Numerous bonehead errors and mistakes fixed.
New in version 0.2 (5/16/96):
- New and more robust method of loading resources. You won't get weird-lookin' data when you open missions farther down in the file.
- Missions can be added and deleted. Deleted missions or resource IDs with no associated mission data are marked "<No Entry>" in the list, and these items cannot be opened. The "New" function in the missions menu creates a new mission resource in the first listed <No Entry> blank, or, if there are none, at the end of the list.
- Flags can now be edited. I'll add support for the newest mission flags as soon as I get 'em from Matt...
- Mission names and IDs can be changed in the editor. Changing the name does what you'd expect; changing the ID will delete the mission currently using that ID (if any) before changing the ID of the current mission to that ID. Don't use IDs lower than 128.
- There's a few basic warnings if you enter invalid values; I'll be improving this soon.
- I've added some basic support for the ShipNameID field, and I'll cook up something even cooler if I get inspired.
- I've changed the way dialogs and associated info are handled; you should now be able to open up multiple missions to edit. Theoretically, you can also open multiple data files, though this isn't currently supported.
