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[MOD TOOL][WIP]FTL Ship Creator 0.2 BETA [MAJOR UPDATE]

Posted: Sat Sep 29, 2012 4:10 pm
by tazardar
Hi everyone,

My Ship Creator works now. I've added some new features, like loading all xml files, saving working ftl GMM folders( you still have to zip them yourself), Augments and many little things.It's now also build for .NET 4.0/mono, so it should work on windows XP with .NET 4.0 and linux/OS X with mono now. I've updated the instructions below.


Update: There seems to be a problem with the newest version. It's not starting and giving out errors about dependency problems. I'm working on it and update as soon as i find a solution.

Update 3: Disregard Update 2. There is still something wrong :oops: .


IMPORTANT UPDATE:
Update 2: I've found out why the game crashes, and a fixed version of the editor will be uploaded soon. I just want to add some new features first. In the meantime, here is a workaround :

* Open the created blueprint.xml.append in notepad
* Find the <crew count="x" class="y"> element
* Change it to <crew **amount=**"x" class="y">
* Find the <weaponList count="x" missile="y">
* Change it to <weaponList count="x" missiles="y">
* Save, zip both folders, rename to .ftl
* load with GMM


Update 1:
I've added the remove rooms/doors features, reworked the door adding system and fixed some minor bugs. version 0.1.1 is available for download below.

While the Door system now produces some graphic artifacts, it should be much more intuitive. The alternative to the artifacts would be flickering whenever the mouse is moved.


Image

It is written in C# so it needs the .NET framework or mono to run. For people running linux /OS X: It works with mono for windows, but i haven't tried it on any other OS yet.

newest version
DOWNLOAD v0.2 BETA


Old versions
DOWNLOAD v0.1.1 BETA
DOWNLOAD v0.1.0 BETA



Installation:
You have to have .NET Framework 4.0 or mono installed.

Having ftldat installed is very much recommended. You can download it here -Thanks bas for this great tool.

On the first start, the tool will ask you whether or not you already unpacked your game files.


How to use
1. Load an ship existing ship with file> load > load Player Ship > name. You can change the image,layout and shield with the 4th,5th and 6th Button

2. Position ship and shield with the buttons/text fields in the top right corner. Align your layout with the grid. You can turn the grid and comparison kestrel on/off with the last two buttons in the menu to help you find the right position. Loaded ships and layouts are already in the right position.

3. Add or remove as many rooms as you like to your ship by selecting the 8th and button. Click,hold and drag to draw a room. right click to finalize the drawn room. All doors connected with a deleted room are also deleted to prevent corrupt airlocks.

4. Connect your rooms with doors or delete them with the 9th and 11th button. Door placement should be intuitive now. Just move the mouse where you want the door to be placed an left click to put down.

5. Assign Systems to your rooms with the 14th-24th Button. Just select a System and click on a room. Only one of each system per ship , but you can place multiple Systems in one room.

6. Select the Weapon mount position by selecting the 12th button. Select which orientation you want for that mount. Click on the map to draw a mount, right click to finalize. You can remove them now with the 13th button.

7.Edit the systems in the "Systems" tab on the bottom left. The number in the box is the power that system starts with when you start or buy it. Check the checkboxes to select whether or not your ship should start with it.


8. Click the Weapon/Drone boxes in the bottom left to select the starting weapons/drones. Click "Custom" if you know the "name=" of a custom weapon.

9. Customize your crew in the "Crew" tab in the upper right tab. You can also add and remove Augments in the "Augments" tab

10. Edit the Ship name etc. in the "Ship" tab on the bottom left.

11. Click the 2nd button to save the ship to a folder. Existing files will be overwritten. The tool will create subfolders. To create a .ftl mod file for GMM, simply zip everything in the selected folder.

Please consider that this is the first piece of software I ever released, I don't know what to include, so please excuse errors i made. Its also probably written pretty hacky, so excuse that ,too.


Change log
version 0.2:
A Lot. I'll update this in a few hours.

version 0.1.1:
-"remove room" added
-"remove door" added
-door system reworked
-minor door bug fixed


Comming soon:
-Editing Gibs (explosion animation)
-Sliding direction of weaponmounts
-right click context menu for easier use
-a ton of bugfixing

Re: [MOD TOOL][WIP]FTL Ship Creator 0.1 BETA

Posted: Sat Sep 29, 2012 4:49 pm
by Zaffre
Some suggestions. An undo and redo feature would be nice. The door placement system is confusing, and could use an upgrade. When you've placed down a system in a room make a clear sign that it's there. Unless I'm doing it wrong, but I can't find anything.

Re: [MOD TOOL][WIP]FTL Ship Creator 0.1 BETA

Posted: Sat Sep 29, 2012 5:16 pm
by tazardar
Thanks for the suggestions.

An undo and redo feature would be nice.


That is probably not that easy, but removing rooms and doors is the top priority, after making it work.
The door placement system is confusing, and could use an upgrade.

Yes, i know. Do you have a suggestion on how to improve it?

When you've placed down a system in a room make a clear sign that it's there. Unless I'm doing it wrong, but I can't find anything.


The icon of the system you placed should appear in the room. Guess thats a bug, I'll look in to that.

Re: [MOD TOOL][WIP]FTL Ship Creator 0.1 BETA [UPDATE 1]

Posted: Sat Sep 29, 2012 10:48 pm
by tazardar
I made some changes and uploaded a new version. The instructions are now up to date.

Re: [MOD TOOL][WIP]FTL Ship Creator 0.1 BETA [UPDATE 1]

Posted: Sat Sep 29, 2012 11:52 pm
by marksteele
very nice work on this. Added you to the list

Re: [MOD TOOL][WIP]FTL Ship Creator 0.1 BETA [UPDATE 1]

Posted: Sun Sep 30, 2012 12:09 am
by zaratustra
Suggestion for the future: create the ship outline for the existing rooms automatically.

Re: [MOD TOOL][WIP]FTL Ship Creator 0.1 BETA

Posted: Sun Sep 30, 2012 12:40 am
by Zaffre
tazardar wrote:
The door placement system is confusing, and could use an upgrade.

Yes, i know. Do you have a suggestion on how to improve it?


If you were to have the door icon always shown, it would make it easier instead of moving the mouse like mad until it shows up.

Re: [MOD TOOL][WIP]FTL Ship Creator 0.1 BETA

Posted: Sun Sep 30, 2012 1:41 am
by tazardar
Zaffre wrote:
tazardar wrote:
The door placement system is confusing, and could use an upgrade.

Yes, i know. Do you have a suggestion on how to improve it?


If you were to have the door icon always shown, it would make it easier instead of moving the mouse like mad until it shows up.


Are you using the newer version? If not, I've completely reworked the door placement system. If yes, it works fine for me. It seems to be a bug then. I'll test it on an other machine tomorrow. (it's 4 AM here).

Re: [MOD TOOL][WIP]FTL Ship Creator 0.1 BETA [UPDATE 1]

Posted: Sun Sep 30, 2012 7:53 pm
by Doom Lich
It tells me it's not a valid Win32 application whenever I try and run it.

Re: [MOD TOOL][WIP]FTL Ship Creator 0.1 BETA [UPDATE 1]

Posted: Sun Sep 30, 2012 9:10 pm
by fds1233
Where can i find the ship images to load. The ones i thought were the right ones cause the application to crash