Hello folks,
I found it a interesting thing, as I saw this post in the forums here. I knew it could be done with the right utils, so I tested it and brought it to life like I showed here. Like the screenshots I've added here too, they show it is possible to change the contents.
Next I'll try to rearrange the creature editor window to the picture showed in the first link.
I'll add the tools I'm using here too. They are a bit old, but do their job. I'll add even the sources for the windows and if done, the modded Aurora Toolset too.
Greets Dun
Small Tutorial for exporting the delphi-forms with DFMEdit.
First, I presume you unzipped DFMEdit.exe (you will only need this programm for the first time). Open it. On the first run, it will take some seconds, because the program initializes some things for his work. Second, I assume you have copied the nwtoolset.exe to a another place.
Next, click on "File" and then choose "Extract from EXE" (short-cut Ctrl+E). Navigate to the copied "nwtoolset.exe" and open it.
In the next window you'll see two frames. Left, the resources alias the window forms of the toolset. If you choose one, for example TdlgAreaProperties (all higher-case in this program), in the right frame the code for this window will be shown. Choose "Load", to get the code to the Editor. Now you can close the extractor for this tut.
Ignore the warnings at the bottom of the program, at first they aren't that needful for us now. It's like editing a HTML-page, at bit complex, but similar. Press F12 to see the plain window (or at the bottom of the center frame click "Preview" and "Source" to get back), like it will look.
Okay, get back to the "Source" page. Press Ctrl+F (this opens the search dialog) and type "bAreaName", click "Search". This will lead to row 180. At row 182, there will be a tag named "Left". This tells the compiler, how far the field is away from the left side of the frame it is contained to. Now change the value 267 to 300. No saving needed, press F12 and change the tab in the preview to "Basic". You will see that the button with the three dots gone more right than before.
What else can you do with this program? You can export the source code to a dfm-file, that can be opened with any text editor. If you want to save your work, done with this editor, press File and Save (or Ctrl+S) to open the save dialogue. Choose "Text" and "OK". Navigate to your choosen folder and save it. The editor can't save the work done within the exe. This can only done by using the Resource Editor (I'll add another small tut for that too).
If you want to open the dfm-file with a text editor, I advise you to use NotePad++ and the now added "Delphi-Forms" (not by my self) user language.
Edit 11.01.2017: Updated the used tools DFMEdit and Resource Editor. In the next update, I'll plan to write down a small tut how to export the delphi-forms of the aurora toolset. Stay tuned =)
Edit 14.01.2017: Updated project page with NotePad++ XML-file for syntax highlighting.
Serene |
90% |
From This Comes Strength |
100% |
Icewind Dale NWN2 |
98.8% |
Vordan's Hero Creator |
98.3% |
Trial and Terror |
86.7% |
Live Forever |
80% |
The Darkening Sky - Prologue |
85% |
Conan Chronicles 2 - The Zamorian Chronicles |
96% |
The Cursed Land |
83.3% |
Fate of a City |
88.9% |
Do you mean this windows?
This shows the two windows, where you can change the colors for the tile and the light sources in the toolset. Linked here.
This shows the two windows, opened in the DFMEditor. Linked here.
Didn't tested them... Reuploaded them to my own server and actualized them in my first question ;)
This could be a little tricky. This function uses one and the same form. The one that appears, when you click on of the color-buttons. The toolset only resizes the window, loads other colors to the buttons and so on. I don't think it could be done now with this tools. I think, to get this working, there must be more reverse engineering, than we do for now.
But somehow I'm a little interested. You write, you can see only three rows? Eventually this isn't that hardcoded. I suspect, one tileset can have more or lesser colors for light than the other. I don't know much about making tilesets, but eventually in one of the setfiles for tilesets, there is a clue about that? Only guessing ;-)
I like this display.
Much easier to navigate than the default.
Thanks for resurrecting an idea that had never made it into the Vault back in the old days. Your efforts are worth the trouble IMO.
I even was able to refresh my German a bit with the screenies
das ist wunderbar.
This looks good! Thanks for your effort to improve the toolset :-)
I like it..
Thanks for sharing this. I've been able to make and preview some neat minor edits with the DMFEdit tool, but haven't any clue how to write these back into the toolset EXE. Can you write up a brief tutorial on how to do that with the Resource Editor?