Each aspect of an "Escape Velocity" game (including the space ships, graphics for various animated items, missions, planets, and description texts for different items) is described by a different type of resource.Ī special file type that ‘flattens’ these resources (with the file extension. rez) is used by the Windows version of " EV Nova". To distinguish them from this new format, the traditional resource fork-based plug-ins are sometimes referred to by their Macintosh type code Npïf or, especially among Windows users, by the extension. rsrc which they are given by some Windows-based expansion tools. Neither version of "EV Nova" can use the other’s format without conversion. The Windows version includes an Npïf-to-.rez converter, which is a common source of confusion to new users. The Macintosh version does not include a converter, but third-party utilities are available to convert in both directions. rez plug-ins to Npïf on Windows is not possible, since resource forks cannot exist on Windows this is, in fact, why the. Plug-ins can be created or edited either by a resource editor such as ResEdit, or by a third-party editor specifically designed to edit plug-in files, such as MissionComputer. The first two "Escape Velocity" incarnations utilise simple templates included with the game files that can be loaded into ResEdit and used to edit the resources in a human-readable fashion. With " EV Nova", these are still available, but have been superseded in general use by a set of ResEdit add-on editors called "NovaTools", which offer a more graphical interface, and can perform necessary hexadecimal calculations which the templates left to the user’s own mathematical skills.Įven with the benefit of NovaTools, however, ResEdit can prove unwelcoming to many users, and cannot run natively under Mac OS X (or at all on Windows and on Intel-based Macintoshes). There is therefore a long-standing tradition of purpose-built plug-in editors, which offer extra features and a more user-friendly interface. The present-day editors supporting "EV Nova" are the free "MissionComputer", the shareware "EVONE", the under-construction "Rezilla Custom", and the Windows-only "EVNEW", which is at present the only option open to Windows-based developers. ![]() Past editors which have not been updated to support subsequent games include "Schmelta-V" (named for Ambrosia's "delta-v" plug-in development mailing list), "EV-Edit", "EEEV" (later called "Override Override"), "EVO Developer's Map", and many others.Īlternately, programs such as "ConText" and "ResStore" (both part of the NovaTools package) can be used to export certain types of resources into spreadsheets, where various values (such as damage dealt by a weapon) can be edited. This can be particularly useful for modifying many resources at once, as many spreadsheet programs provide the ability to fill cells. In recent years, it has become common to use several terms to classify plug-ins, though this practice has been criticised as limiting the growth of the plug-in community: These spreadsheets can then be imported back into plug-in format. *A total conversion usually completely replaces the game’s scenario. Particularly with " EV Nova", this has become the form of plug-in preferred by players and developers, though with the amount of work needed to create one, most projects fail long before producing a playable game. *A partial conversion usually adds new ships or systems, or modifies existing ones.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |