[v2.11.3] Abiathar: The superior Keen Galaxy editor
Oh my, there's actually a pretty bad bug displayed right there. (I guess that's what I get for not testing enough.) Most of that black stuff should be transparent; the applier of ModKeen masks is apparently not working correctly. I'll have a fix for that out tomorrow. Even then, you might want to consider KeenGraph; I think it's nicer than ModKeen, even if it does bungle the sprite offsets upon import once in a while.
My bug, my bad. Sorry!
P.S. Abiathar can show tile blocking properties as an optional overlay (View | Tile Properties) if you attach your tileinfo file (Edit | Project Settings lets you change your resources), so you don't have to deal with temporary manual markings for poles, secret areas, invisible tiles, and whatnot.
My bug, my bad. Sorry!
P.S. Abiathar can show tile blocking properties as an optional overlay (View | Tile Properties) if you attach your tileinfo file (Edit | Project Settings lets you change your resources), so you don't have to deal with temporary manual markings for poles, secret areas, invisible tiles, and whatnot.
- troublesomekeen
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Ahhh, okay. Cool. Optional overlay... That is very handy indeed!
I started out using ModKeen in 2012 mainly because I didn't know KeenGraph existed. Nowadays, most of my projects are done using KeenGraph. I used modkeen here in my previous post just for the heck of it (and testing the File Emitter). I've made good progress on my current Keen4 mod the past few days. I had a slow start, but there's no way I can't not use Abiathar now. There's just...no going back.
The messed up transparent stuff happened in TOM sometimes. I'm keen on the quirks of KeenGraph, so I don't use modkeen anymore, accept for references. List/4sprites.txt values and coordinates still confuse me. Every time I have something to change like sprite height, it's learning the process all over again. Making levels is going to be a cinch with this thing. I can't thank you enough, Fleexy. As soon as all the sprites are done, I'll be working extensively with Abiathar, and will report back with any unusual findings.
I started out using ModKeen in 2012 mainly because I didn't know KeenGraph existed. Nowadays, most of my projects are done using KeenGraph. I used modkeen here in my previous post just for the heck of it (and testing the File Emitter). I've made good progress on my current Keen4 mod the past few days. I had a slow start, but there's no way I can't not use Abiathar now. There's just...no going back.
The messed up transparent stuff happened in TOM sometimes. I'm keen on the quirks of KeenGraph, so I don't use modkeen anymore, accept for references. List/4sprites.txt values and coordinates still confuse me. Every time I have something to change like sprite height, it's learning the process all over again. Making levels is going to be a cinch with this thing. I can't thank you enough, Fleexy. As soon as all the sprites are done, I'll be working extensively with Abiathar, and will report back with any unusual findings.
Commander Keen in... Canteloupe Quest!
OK, problem fixed!
UPDATE
v2.5.3: fixing the ModKeen mask bug
Get it with the auto-updater, or download ZIP.
Additionally, I fixed a problem that caused the absolute path of the GameMaps file to be used - rather than the relative path - when the simple (TOM-style) option of the New Project Wizard was used. (It was really only an issue if you sync'd the depsfile across multiple computer with Dropbox, or if you used Edit | Project Settings after the fact and then tried to move past Level Files without changing GameMaps.) If you previously assembled a project with the simple NPW option, you might consider rebuilding the depsfile in this version. It can also be corrected easily enough with Project Settings.
I also changed the color of the "Active" plane state label to match the blue/cyan theme:
If you discover or suspect any other bugs, please report them here or at the Abiathar Support issue tracker on GitHub.
Happy modding!
Fleexy
UPDATE
v2.5.3: fixing the ModKeen mask bug
Get it with the auto-updater, or download ZIP.
Additionally, I fixed a problem that caused the absolute path of the GameMaps file to be used - rather than the relative path - when the simple (TOM-style) option of the New Project Wizard was used. (It was really only an issue if you sync'd the depsfile across multiple computer with Dropbox, or if you used Edit | Project Settings after the fact and then tried to move past Level Files without changing GameMaps.) If you previously assembled a project with the simple NPW option, you might consider rebuilding the depsfile in this version. It can also be corrected easily enough with Project Settings.
I also changed the color of the "Active" plane state label to match the blue/cyan theme:
If you discover or suspect any other bugs, please report them here or at the Abiathar Support issue tracker on GitHub.
Happy modding!
Fleexy
Yet again the awesome increases.
Some genius managed to corrupt our maphead. While looking into it I discovered it makes Abiathar go quite mental. These are the files: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/394 ... ugmaps.zip
(Note most level pointers are off by 8 or 10 bytes. The first few load ok but then Abiathar crashes, only it refuses to stop. On my computer is started peeing all over the memory and I had to keep rebooting.)
Some genius managed to corrupt our maphead. While looking into it I discovered it makes Abiathar go quite mental. These are the files: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/394 ... ugmaps.zip
(Note most level pointers are off by 8 or 10 bytes. The first few load ok but then Abiathar crashes, only it refuses to stop. On my computer is started peeing all over the memory and I had to keep rebooting.)
What you really need, not what you think you ought to want.
- troublesomekeen
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Guess 1:
If you were using Abiathar to generate your patch file, it stopped adding the %egahead and %egadict lines when you switched away from EGA resources. Add the appropriate commands manually in Edit | Patches, then compile the patches again (File | Generate Patches).
Guess 2:
Looks like KeenGraph broke your EGA resources. That screen there appears to be a corrupted B800 welcome screen. Try re-importing (possibly into fresh EGA files). I hope you have a back-up. (If it was an Abiathar problem, the crash would occur when loading the world map. Tileinfo and map files aren't even considered until then.) If re-importing doesn't help, you might have to get in contact with Levellass; I think she has workarounds for most KeenGraph problems. Sorry I can't help you in this case.
Fleexy
If you were using Abiathar to generate your patch file, it stopped adding the %egahead and %egadict lines when you switched away from EGA resources. Add the appropriate commands manually in Edit | Patches, then compile the patches again (File | Generate Patches).
Guess 2:
Looks like KeenGraph broke your EGA resources. That screen there appears to be a corrupted B800 welcome screen. Try re-importing (possibly into fresh EGA files). I hope you have a back-up. (If it was an Abiathar problem, the crash would occur when loading the world map. Tileinfo and map files aren't even considered until then.) If re-importing doesn't help, you might have to get in contact with Levellass; I think she has workarounds for most KeenGraph problems. Sorry I can't help you in this case.
Fleexy
- troublesomekeen
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Guess 1 seems to be the correct guess. (much to my exuberant jubilation and radical levels of supreme happiness)
I loaded the adeps file with Abiathar.
Edit | Patches
This opens a window. At the top it says "Do not add patches for the header (%ext), level files, graphics files, tileinfo, or the footer (%end); they are automatically integrated.
Below is an empty white field where I can write text. So I made copied the following patches from my PAT.PAT file into this field:
Then I pressed OK.
After File | Save, then I ran the PLAY.BAT in Dosbox and it works. I can see my modified graphics, but a number of other patches are not working. I suppose I should take all my patches from the BAT.BAT and copying them into the Patches section in Abiathar. I don't know if that's what I should have been doing in the first place. I'm afraid of breaking something by adding patches since specific patches are not supposed to be added because it is done automatically.
This is perilous, but all is not lost.
I loaded the adeps file with Abiathar.
Edit | Patches
This opens a window. At the top it says "Do not add patches for the header (%ext), level files, graphics files, tileinfo, or the footer (%end); they are automatically integrated.
Below is an empty white field where I can write text. So I made copied the following patches from my PAT.PAT file into this field:
Code: Select all
%egahead EGAHEAD.CK4
%egadict EGADICT.CK4
%maphead maphead.ck4
After File | Save, then I ran the PLAY.BAT in Dosbox and it works. I can see my modified graphics, but a number of other patches are not working. I suppose I should take all my patches from the BAT.BAT and copying them into the Patches section in Abiathar. I don't know if that's what I should have been doing in the first place. I'm afraid of breaking something by adding patches since specific patches are not supposed to be added because it is done automatically.
This is perilous, but all is not lost.
Commander Keen in... Canteloupe Quest!
Huh, weird that it told you not to manually add the graphics patches but didn't work without them. (If you hadn't previously been using Abiathar's patch generator, it's possible that one of your manual EGA-related patches got messed up somehow.) It should automatically insert the %egahead, %egadict, and %maphead in your patch file. You can look at the "Abiathar-generated patches" section in the patch file to see whether it wrote them correctly.
Yes, the idea of the Patches window is that you only put in the things that Abiathar doesn't know about and they get put into a combined patch file for you. This becomes very helpful when dealing with music mappings, which are pretty difficult to do manually.
It's not a disaster if you manually add patches that Abiathar also handles; yours will override the auto-generated ones, possibly resulting in confusion for CKPatch, but nothing that can't be easily reversed.
Good to hear things are working. If things get trickier, hop on the #KeenModding IRC; I can help you in real time if I'm there.
Edit: There is a known issue with crashes involving blank lines in the Patches window. Also, bitmap resources are inadvertently held open. Fixes for these issues will be published soon, hopefully tomorrow. A super-secret debugging/forefront version fixing the first has already been sent to TK and is available in case of emergency.
Yes, the idea of the Patches window is that you only put in the things that Abiathar doesn't know about and they get put into a combined patch file for you. This becomes very helpful when dealing with music mappings, which are pretty difficult to do manually.
It's not a disaster if you manually add patches that Abiathar also handles; yours will override the auto-generated ones, possibly resulting in confusion for CKPatch, but nothing that can't be easily reversed.
Good to hear things are working. If things get trickier, hop on the #KeenModding IRC; I can help you in real time if I'm there.
Edit: There is a known issue with crashes involving blank lines in the Patches window. Also, bitmap resources are inadvertently held open. Fixes for these issues will be published soon, hopefully tomorrow. A super-secret debugging/forefront version fixing the first has already been sent to TK and is available in case of emergency.
UPDATE
v2.5.4: fixing bugs and improving things
Blank lines in the Patches window no longer cause Abiathar to stop recognizing the ADEPS file. (Thanks to TK for helping me debug this.)
Bitmap files are no longer held open when they are used as the graphics source. You can now be editing with Abiathar, change some graphics in your image editor of choice, and View | Reload Graphics (or Shift+Enter) to see them immediately.
A slight inconvenience in the New Project Wizard has been fixed - disabling EGA loading in the advanced section no longer requires you to re-enter the number of background and foreground tiles.
The auto-generated patch files are now formatted nicer, plus there's a warning to not modify it directly. (It'll just get wiped out next time you generate patches.)
EDIT: UPDATE
v2.5.5: whoops, missed a spot
Get it with the auto-updater, or download ZIP.
There was a UI glitch involving the Palette Copier and Essential Manipulator that was bothering me. I was planning to fix this in v2.5.4, but forgot, and it was too late for a ninja update (superfast updates where I don't increment the version number) when I remembered. It's fixed now.
Something I haven't mentioned in this thread yet is that I have rebooted the Abiathar video help series. I'm starting fresh because it's been a while since the start of the old one, and because I did too many unrelated things in those videos. Videos in this new series will be reasonably short and focus on one feature or tip. (Except the pilot, which is a quick overview of everything basic.) Check it out on YouTube.
If there are any other issues, please do not hesitate to contact me, either on IRC or by replying to this thread.
Happy modding!
Fleexy
v2.5.4: fixing bugs and improving things
Blank lines in the Patches window no longer cause Abiathar to stop recognizing the ADEPS file. (Thanks to TK for helping me debug this.)
Bitmap files are no longer held open when they are used as the graphics source. You can now be editing with Abiathar, change some graphics in your image editor of choice, and View | Reload Graphics (or Shift+Enter) to see them immediately.
A slight inconvenience in the New Project Wizard has been fixed - disabling EGA loading in the advanced section no longer requires you to re-enter the number of background and foreground tiles.
The auto-generated patch files are now formatted nicer, plus there's a warning to not modify it directly. (It'll just get wiped out next time you generate patches.)
EDIT: UPDATE
v2.5.5: whoops, missed a spot
Get it with the auto-updater, or download ZIP.
There was a UI glitch involving the Palette Copier and Essential Manipulator that was bothering me. I was planning to fix this in v2.5.4, but forgot, and it was too late for a ninja update (superfast updates where I don't increment the version number) when I remembered. It's fixed now.
Something I haven't mentioned in this thread yet is that I have rebooted the Abiathar video help series. I'm starting fresh because it's been a while since the start of the old one, and because I did too many unrelated things in those videos. Videos in this new series will be reasonably short and focus on one feature or tip. (Except the pilot, which is a quick overview of everything basic.) Check it out on YouTube.
If there are any other issues, please do not hesitate to contact me, either on IRC or by replying to this thread.
Happy modding!
Fleexy
Oh thanx God! I was really hoping you'll do that! For at least the basics as to how to import graphics and such.Fleexy wrote:UPDATESomething I haven't mentioned in this thread yet is that I have rebooted the Abiathar video help series. I'm starting fresh because it's been a while since the start of the old one, and because I did too many unrelated things in those videos. Videos in this new series will be reasonably short and focus on one feature or tip. (Except the pilot, which is a quick overview of everything basic.) Check it out on YouTube.
I've been sick the last few days, so videos have been kind of slow. (Having to edit out coughs and sniffles makes video publishing kind of a pain.) Now that I'm getting over that, there will be an uptick in demo videos. Glad you're enjoying them!wiivn wrote:I was really hoping you'll do that! For at least the basics as to how to import graphics and such.
UPDATE
v2.6: the find tool update, plus polishing and bugfixes
Get it with the auto-updater, or download ZIP. (TK, since you had a recent beta, you'll need to manually download this; the version you have doesn't update.)
The terrible Tile Instance Locator (find) tool has been removed! It never really made much sense as a separate tool. Instead, a new view mode has been added: Find Highlight! Press H to activate this, or pick it from the View menu. In this mode, places in the level that have every active plane's selected tile are highlighted. The count of such locations is placed in the status bar to the left of the zoom slider. To make the overlay more obvious, you can click that instance count label to enter pulse mode, in which the find overlay will flash at 1Hz. (Click again to exit pulse mode.) You can now use any tool you want while in find mode, and of course it updates when you place tiles or change the selected tiles.
The Essential Manipulator has been changed to make it easier to place multiple instances of a non-1x1 block. It now makes sure to not overwrite tiles that have been changed in the current drag operation, kind of like TOM's "Snap Paste Mode", but it doesn't restrict you to a big rectangular grid. (If you actually want to smear, hit V to quickly switch to the Paster, which does not perform this check.)
Aside: those additions now make Abiathar's feature set a strict superset of TOM's.
I also noticed that the Essential Manipulator makes it kind of difficult to copy tiles from the level when a large section is already selected because the paste preview overlay covers what you're trying to copy. So, holding the Control key now hides the paste preview plane for both the Paster and Essential Manipulator. (To be honest, I'm surprised nobody told me about this yet. Y'all need to start complaining more.)
The File Emitter is now significantly more convenient to use. It auto-fills the output path field with the current directory, and renders the selected files in a nicer-looking way. (Also, a pluralization UI bugs was fixed.)
The "did you know?" pop-up now consistently obeys the setting that hides it.
A crash bug involving Reload Graphics has been fixed. (Thanks to TK for reporting this.) Other minor inconveniences have also been addressed.
For the first time ever, I have compiled a video changelog so you can see these updates in action (and experience my vocal expressions)! Check it out on YouTube!
Happy modding!
Fleexy
Also I have some ideas for the Essential Manipulator (or more likely to layers management).
So for example: when the Background is Active, you should press Right mouse click twice to disable and hide the layer.
How about instead of pressing it twice, to just press it once. Disable it and just make it less visible (like 20-30% transparent). This will disable the need to press twice the right key to hide it.
Same could go for the foreground and infoplane layers. So basically what I want is when I press 1, 2 or 3 to disable the pressed layer and make it 20-30% transparent. Pressing 1, 2 or 3 again to activate that layer again at 100%. But if, for example, a background is set to be hidden and you press the foreground to be hidden, this should turn back the background on and turn the foreground off at 20-30% transparency. Get the idea?
Thanks for the feedback!
About the drop-down menus: Sadly, this is a WinForms bug that I cannot address. We'll have to wait for a fix from Microsoft.
About smart infoplane transparency: This might be nice, but would be a huge performance hit and a code cleanliness disaster. You can sort-of accomplish this now by selecting a blank foreground tile, disabling the background and infoplane, and enabling Find Highlight. Or hide the foreground to see if the backdrop on the item remains. Or just select the tile with foreground and infoplane active to see whether you pick up a foreground tile that's different from the infoplane.
About the layer boxes: That's a good idea. I have implemented something like that just now. The sections are now titled with the human-friendly plane name, they have been spaced a little farther apart, and a gray-ish square now appears in those tile bays when no project is loaded so people don't wonder why there are strange blank spaces.
About the status bar checkboxes: The pulse mode checkbox is a good idea and has been implemented. I personally see no need to look at the number of instances without seeing the overlay (and keeping the instance count is a nontrivial performance hit), so that section only appears when Find Highlight is on.
About the separators: Done.
About the H tri-state toggle: Done.
About layer management: You can already use the 4 through 6 keys to fully hide planes rather than disabling them (as 1 through 3 do). Locked plane transparency, though it might be interesting for a moment, would be a serious hit to both performance and code cleanliness. (Also, I think my eyes would explode from all the potential transparency combinations.)
Sorry I can't implement all of your suggestions right now. I will look into them again as code is refactored in future versions. If you feel really strongly about getting all of these, you might consider picking up .NET programming and writing an Abiathar extension/plug-in.
Sincerely,
Fleexy
About the drop-down menus: Sadly, this is a WinForms bug that I cannot address. We'll have to wait for a fix from Microsoft.
About smart infoplane transparency: This might be nice, but would be a huge performance hit and a code cleanliness disaster. You can sort-of accomplish this now by selecting a blank foreground tile, disabling the background and infoplane, and enabling Find Highlight. Or hide the foreground to see if the backdrop on the item remains. Or just select the tile with foreground and infoplane active to see whether you pick up a foreground tile that's different from the infoplane.
About the layer boxes: That's a good idea. I have implemented something like that just now. The sections are now titled with the human-friendly plane name, they have been spaced a little farther apart, and a gray-ish square now appears in those tile bays when no project is loaded so people don't wonder why there are strange blank spaces.
About the status bar checkboxes: The pulse mode checkbox is a good idea and has been implemented. I personally see no need to look at the number of instances without seeing the overlay (and keeping the instance count is a nontrivial performance hit), so that section only appears when Find Highlight is on.
About the separators: Done.
About the H tri-state toggle: Done.
About layer management: You can already use the 4 through 6 keys to fully hide planes rather than disabling them (as 1 through 3 do). Locked plane transparency, though it might be interesting for a moment, would be a serious hit to both performance and code cleanliness. (Also, I think my eyes would explode from all the potential transparency combinations.)
Sorry I can't implement all of your suggestions right now. I will look into them again as code is refactored in future versions. If you feel really strongly about getting all of these, you might consider picking up .NET programming and writing an Abiathar extension/plug-in.
Sincerely,
Fleexy
UPDATE
v2.6.1: implementing some suggestions, plus bugfixes
Video changelog
Get it with the auto-updater, or download ZIP.
The first thing you'll notice is the plane name labels wiivn suggested. In addition to orienting new users, they provide a glance-able visual indication of which planes are active - their background lights up! (If you don't like them or think they're a waste of vertical space, they can be disabled in the config file - set ShowPlaneNameLabels to False in editor.aconf.)
As stated in the previous post, there is now a Pulse checkbox in the find highlight's status bar area; the H hotkey is now a tri-state toggle.
"Enter ID" was added to the each plane's submenu under the Plane menu. It does the same thing as right-clicking the tile image in the selected tile bay, but is much more discoverable for new users. Also, there is a new hotkey for opening the tile ID entry: Alt+[1, 2, 3], respectively. (Alt+3 actually opens the Infoplane Helper dialog, which is what you get when right-clicking the infoplane selected tile.)
Lone Editing now updates the plane states on startup, rather than making you hit a tileset key. Tip: enable Simultaneous Tileset and Lone Editing, and use the 7 through 9 keys (rather than 1 through 3) to emulate Keen:Next's editing style.
The hotkeys for the Row and Column Adjusters were switched, enabling a neat mnemonic. E is right next to R, in the same row. D is right next to C, in (sort of) the same column.
Bugs fixed:
In other news, I'm considering writing a new Keen Galaxy modding tutorial for Abiathar+KeenGraph.
Happy modding!
Fleexy
P.S. EDIT: Having problems with audio files generated by the Wolf3D thingy? Download this FMod.dll patch. This special version is more forgiving of the strange bugs in that audio compiler. (This shouldn't be necessary for people using KeenWave or other non-buggy audio management programs.) Thanks to Levellass for alerting me.
v2.6.1: implementing some suggestions, plus bugfixes
Video changelog
Get it with the auto-updater, or download ZIP.
The first thing you'll notice is the plane name labels wiivn suggested. In addition to orienting new users, they provide a glance-able visual indication of which planes are active - their background lights up! (If you don't like them or think they're a waste of vertical space, they can be disabled in the config file - set ShowPlaneNameLabels to False in editor.aconf.)
As stated in the previous post, there is now a Pulse checkbox in the find highlight's status bar area; the H hotkey is now a tri-state toggle.
"Enter ID" was added to the each plane's submenu under the Plane menu. It does the same thing as right-clicking the tile image in the selected tile bay, but is much more discoverable for new users. Also, there is a new hotkey for opening the tile ID entry: Alt+[1, 2, 3], respectively. (Alt+3 actually opens the Infoplane Helper dialog, which is what you get when right-clicking the infoplane selected tile.)
Lone Editing now updates the plane states on startup, rather than making you hit a tileset key. Tip: enable Simultaneous Tileset and Lone Editing, and use the 7 through 9 keys (rather than 1 through 3) to emulate Keen:Next's editing style.
The hotkeys for the Row and Column Adjusters were switched, enabling a neat mnemonic. E is right next to R, in the same row. D is right next to C, in (sort of) the same column.
Bugs fixed:
- The "Graphics reload in progress" notice was sticking around even after the reload finished
- Clicking the extreme leftmost pixel in the Simultaneous Tileset caused a crash
- The animation target highlight in the Tile Property Modifier wasn't showing up
In other news, I'm considering writing a new Keen Galaxy modding tutorial for Abiathar+KeenGraph.
Happy modding!
Fleexy
P.S. EDIT: Having problems with audio files generated by the Wolf3D thingy? Download this FMod.dll patch. This special version is more forgiving of the strange bugs in that audio compiler. (This shouldn't be necessary for people using KeenWave or other non-buggy audio management programs.) Thanks to Levellass for alerting me.
Bug report time:
Not sure if this is happening to anyone else or if it has been reported already, but every time I load my map it draws the current tile (default empty one) wherever the cursor is.
I don't click at all, and this happens in windows 7 as well as wine.
Not sure if this is happening to anyone else or if it has been reported already, but every time I load my map it draws the current tile (default empty one) wherever the cursor is.
I don't click at all, and this happens in windows 7 as well as wine.
mortimermcmirestinks wrote: Now I wish MoffD wasn't allergic to me.
Levellass wrote:You're an evil man.