Thanks harpo! I would use the GUI, but it's just too complicated for me. I've downloaded and tried it before, but I could not for the life of me figure the sucker out. Frustrating...

ja394, the steps for using my textbin gui to convert from bin to text mode ARE

1. copy your program files \sins of a solar empire folder to ANOTHER location eg my documents OR into the c:\ so that it looks like (my documents\sins of a solar empire) or (c:\sins of a solar empire)

2. start the sins textbinner.exe program

3. make sure the conversion to is set to txt(default value)

4. click on the conversion types 'all' button

5. select the hard drive you copied the sins folder TO

6. in the next box that has the list of folders in it navigate to the sins of a solar empire folder, and double click on the folder so it has the blue bar highlighting the sins of a solar empire folder

7.  click on the button '3. convert this folder' it will convert all the folders inside this folder to the mode you want

8. click on the button labeled '4.convert the folder NOW'

the gui will now go and convert using the correct convertdata exe for the folder AND sub-folders inside it and report what it was able to do in the three boxes on the righthand side of the window (the top one is the files successfully converted, the middle is the files that failed to convert (because the convertdata failed to convert the file), and the bottom box is the files ALREADY in the wanted file type either bin OR txt, and at the end the gui will also write four report files into the folder that it converted telling what had happened.

9 click on the exit button to exit the utility

and also check the op for the dropbox link

harpo

harpo, I hereby dub you a modding GOD. Thanks again!

One thing, where is the capital ships entity files?? for diplomacy 1.2

in entrenchment, where eles did you expect?

harpo

oh, k ill look in to it, nice job, seems you have impressed lots, including me cause i really hate the old ref files in the sins downloads page, thnx

well, they are for vanilla 1.15 & entrenchment 1.00 AND NO LATER and therefore very stale, and mine are made fresh with each update and are the actual files you receive in the update run through my text bin gui.

harpo

when i started converion the converter just froze up, did i do something wrong or is it normal?

solar destroyer, could you please give a bit more detail about which text converter was used on which files, and what the path to the files was?.

harpo

i used your txtbin converter and the path would have my name and i hate socialising sadly but the folder containing the entity is in the folder which contained ur converter

did the file path have the expansion and version number in it? eg entrenchment v1.051, diplomacy 1.2, sins 1.191, it then uses the correct convertdata for the expansion AND version

or even just the expansion name? eg entrenchment, diplomacy, sins, it then uses the latest convertdata for the expansion(but there have been differences in the codes that the convertdatas use in a given expansion so the latest convertdata MIGHT fail when attempting to convert older mods.

the reason I ask is that my text bin gui looks at the path to the files to determine WHICH of the converters to use, and if it does not find out it assumes VANILLA sins is to be converted, BUT the vanilla sins converter DOES NOT KNOW eiter the entrenchment OR diplomacy conversion codes, and my textbin gui can work with the standard mods-ExPaNsIoN v#.### folders as well as another path in the sinsref.txt(in the same folder as the textbin gui and my other utils

and here is MY current sinsref.txt contents

F:\sins\reference
F:\sins\reference\Sins of a Solar Empire 1.191
F:\sins\reference\entrenchment 1.051
F:\sins\reference\diplomacy 1.20
F:\sins\reference\

as you can see the first is a full file path to the folders that I place my differentversion reference files into, the second, thirdfourth and fifth lines point to the current expansion reference files(I copy the entire program files sins folder to the reference location, THEN run my gui on the reference button the will show WHEN the program sees a sinsref.txt in the folder it is resident in.

hope this helps

harpo

ohhhhh, let me try that u are the expert! thnx

Edit: So does your textbinner use the filepath foldername to determine which convertdata it should use so i should do C:\Reffiles\Entrenchment v1.051\<files> so if i do that it uses ConvertData_Entenchment from the program files of SoaSE

Yet another edit: My sinsref.txt contents is now C:\harpo_sins_textbin1.19.12\Entrenchment v1.051

the folder that contains the entity files is: C:\harpo_sins_textbin1.19.12\Entrenchment v1.051\GameInfo\

is that correct?

Edit: By the way yeah, it is sins v1.191 entrenchment v1.051 and diplomacy v1.2 i liked dip 1.011 because i had cool mods then but thats a diferent story

Edit: I tryed it again and it freezed again, i used the ref path above and focused on Entrenchment v1.051 but i now removed the gameinfo and so the entrenchment folder now contains the entity

I am just testing things at the moment.

the steps that I have taken are

1 create a new folder next to me current and reference archives in the sinsref.txt first path, (f:\sins\testing)

2 copy the complete current game folder from c:\program files\stardock games\(sins of a solar empire) to the testing folder

3 run the current textbin gui.

4 click on the ref button to go to the reference files area, then click on the all button to convert ALL convertable files, then navigate to the testing folder then click on the convert this folder, then click on the convert now button

will edit this post when testing completes and report what happened.

harpo

edit completed in 28.6 minutes, no files failed to convert, 2914 files converted to text, 1667 files were already text, there was some files that took a couple of minutes to convert on my core2 duo e4500 2.4gx dual core 4gb 1066 ddr2 ram development comp.

harpo

and I have uploaded my latest diplomacy 1.21 reference files from thismorning's update

harpo

i got it can you just copy the entityies and convert them without the rest like C:\sins\test\sins of a solar empire\diplomacy\gameinfo only

the diplomacy IS needed so that my textbin gui can use the ConvertDataDiplomacy.exe, and if you were to add the version number to the diplomacy folder name my text bin gui would then (assuming the folder name is \diplomacy 1.21 or similar would then use the ConvertDataDiplomacy1.21.exe if you have it, if not it would then fall back to the ConvertDataDiplomacy.exe in the sins program folder,

and if the path to the folder to convert DOES NOT have either 'diplomacy' OR 'entrenchment' it will assume you are working with VANILLA SINS FILES and use the ConvertDataOriginalSins.exe.

and you could just copy the files you want to convert into a folder with the expansion name in it and the converter WILL convert them with the correct converter as determined by the folder name.

harpo

could you by any chance upload the particle files that would be found in the "sins trinity" folder (i presume they're from original sins), i ruined one of them with particle forge not knowing that it would auto-save, and i don't want to reinstall just to replace one bad file

I am creating a set at the moment, but you could try opening impulse, then shift right clicking on the trinity install and verifying the instalation.

I will edit this post with a link to the particles from trinity in my dropbox when it is uploaded

harpo

edit here is the link to a complete copy of all the trinity particles folders http://dl.dropbox.com/u/8023186/sins%20mods/Sins%20of%20a%20Solar%20Empire%20-%20Trinity%20particles.rar

thanks very much

just finished uploading the the latest diplomacy 1.3 refs from my trinity diplomacy folder.

harpo

Thanks.

and the diplomacy 1.31 refs

filefactory

and dropbox

harpo

hey harpo, you know what file deals with the frequency of planetary rings appearing on planets? I'm working on an "Embellishments" mod, makes a few things more realistic looking/have some fun with things you want to see more of.

Trying to reel in the dust clouds around planets and stuff from being practically half way to the next planet over.

But the main thing I want control over rings, maybe make their spawn frequency double and their axis tilt differently/randomly from X to Y since not all planetary rings form around the equator =3  maybe even find a way to double spawn them on one planet at different axis ^^

Anyway, if ya know, I would appreciate the help ^^

Much appreciated as always Harpo.  You always save me a bunch of hassle!

-dolynick

badtune, each of the planet entity files mentions the asteroids(rings) and dustclouds that are FOR the planet, but the actual locations are elsewhere, on searching for one of the dist clouds I found 'DustCloudsDef.renderingDef' from vanilla sins to be the source for the clouds, and for rings it would appear to be 'AsteroidDef.asteroidDef'.

hope this helps

harpo