Startext 0.8

A catch-all of miscellaneous Keen:Modding utilities.
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levellass
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Startext 0.8

Post by levellass »

Latest version of Startext is here: http://levellord.rewound.net/STARTEXT.zip

Yep, still not even the first version. It's summer and I spend most of my days asleep, ok? Things I've added in this version:


* Resize some text windows, automatically fits your text to the new size
* Up to 8 BWB random messages
* Up to 14 Vorticon Elder messages, in any levels you chose.
* Up to 16 Oracle rescued replies
* Oracle replies can now be MUCH longer (Extra text space.)


To be added for V1.0:

* Lindsey
* Keen 5 fuses
* keen 6 items got and grabiter
* Rough window\screen display


I am of course open to suggestions and bug reports, since only that way can I improve on what I'm doing.


As a side note, should I create topic in the forums for the new patches Startext can do, like I did with the 'Yorp message in every level' topic? Otherwise people might not know that these things can be done.
thehackercat
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Post by thehackercat »

Looks very nice! Where was this version when I attempted a Keen4 mod? :O
I'll download and get to beta-testing.

Lol, on a side note: I seem to have forgotten about the International Date Line and the hemispheres and such. Because you live in NZ, you're having summer while I'm freezing to death in winter. DUH! ;D
levellass
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Post by levellass »

That's good to hear, without criticism and input I tend to forget about my projects for more 'immediate' ones.
thehackercat
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Post by thehackercat »

Wow.. I didn't expect this rowdy group of eager posters.. :P
I finally got far enough into my mod to use your program, Levellass, and wow. It's so easy it feels like cheating! It's nice to have a program write a patch file FOR you for a change.. :D

But if I may suggest something: (Note that I don't know what file-handler commands are available for you to use; I presume you still use BASIC)
What if the program could simply insert the strings into a pre-specified patchfile?

For example, instead of the program generating a file called "PATCH" with every use, what if it prompted you to type the name of your current patchfile and then wrote the strings to that? The user could just write a batch file to start Startext, and enter the name of the patchfile.

I realize that some editing on the user's part would be required, but... it's just a whim.
levellass
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Post by levellass »

I could build something like that, yes.

The question is HOW it would work. I am looking at two almost identical methods. Both would work if Startext was started with a patchfile name, even PATCH itself.

In the first it would open this file and append its patches to it, before %end. I can insert an identifier so that it will remove all patches it has put in on previous runnings (So you could make a patch permanent by moving it out of the appended block.)

In the second the file would be read and combined with the patches to a second patch file, say TEST.TXT and a BAT file to run it.


I am interested as to what you think is easiest. I'm aiming for the first option, but let me know. I can code it up in my spare time. (As well as any other functions you want added to it.)
Stealthy71088
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Post by Stealthy71088 »

I've been using the program to write my yorp messages, and I like it a lot. However, one thing I found that's a little annoying is that if a yorp message is long enough, you can't see the "how many characters are left" counter. Could the counter be reprinted when so many lines are typed or something?
thehackercat
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Post by thehackercat »

Whoa.. I meant to get back to you sooner!
levellass wrote:In the second the file would be read and combined with the patches to a second patch file, say TEST.TXT and a BAT file to run it.
I like this option best, because it would eliminate that small but deadly potential for - GASP - unwanted overwrites... :)
levellass
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Post by levellass »

Now supports drag-and-dropping of patch files. I've also shifted about the text input stuff so it's a little more helpful and fixed a few bugs. This means anyone using the newest version with older config files may find a few small bugs in their patch file. Some fiddling (Reloading affected patches) should eliminate them.
levellass
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Post by levellass »

Now supports drag-and-dropping of patch files. I've also shifted about the text input stuff so it's a little more helpful and fixed a few bugs. This means anyone using the newest version with older config files may find a few small bugs in their patch file. Some fiddling (Reloading affected patches) should eliminate them.
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Gridlock
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Post by Gridlock »

Bump. I doubt anyone will see this anytime soon, but I have been using Startext to edit the scrolling story for my mod. For some annoying reason, an extra unwanted word keeps appearing below my text. I've been carefull to use the exact amount of space required, but I'm not sure how to get rid of the word. I'm thinking it must have something to do with misused space. Although the word does appear in the story in one place, it is also the name of the world map level.
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Malvineous
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Post by Malvineous »

Just a guess, but I imagine you must finish your text with a 'null' character (ASCII code 0), otherwise the game will just keep reading until it happens to come across the next null. I'm not sure whether this is inserted automatically by the program, but given your problem, perhaps not!
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Gridlock
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Post by Gridlock »

I don't entirely understand what you mean by a null character.
Last edited by Gridlock on Sat Feb 19, 2011 5:39 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Malvineous
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Post by Malvineous »

I've had a look at the program and it looks like it inserts the terminating null automatically. What happens if you use one character less than the limit, just in case it's off by one?
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Gridlock
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Post by Gridlock »

Turns out it was off by one character. Thanks for suggesting this!
levellass
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Post by levellass »

Yeah, that's why I put the limit warnings there. Hopefully later versions will be a bit more... hands on in their 'don't screw this up!' ability.
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