The Watcher on 2/9/2013 at 22:12
It's probably that those of us who regularly use Perl eventually either stumble on an incantation that wrenches us screaming into the unknowable void where the blind, mad Azathoth gibbers incessantly to the beating of evil drums and the whine of accursed flutes, or find strange, incomprehensible methods to transcend the limitations of time, space, and sanity.
There's a reason one of my coding bookshelves looks like this:
Inline Image:
http://fleet.starforge.co.uk/images/bookshelf.jpg:cheeky:
PinkDot on 3/9/2013 at 12:46
Am I right saying that this CowGen thing is some sort of a library of functions/methods that creates or modifies .mis files? Or do they create a list of commands that can be executed in Dromed?
I was looking for some way of random/procedural level creation and I was hoping that it would be possible with Dromed. It's a pity that this project had never been finished and we don't have any proper working solution for scripting in Dromed...
The Watcher on 3/9/2013 at 13:38
Quote Posted by PinkDot
Am I right saying that this CowGen thing is some sort of a library of functions/methods that creates or modifies .mis files?
I've honestly never really dug much beyond the surface, but yes; it's a library of perl scripts that can manipulate mis, gam, and vbr files.
I've no idea how compatible it is with newdark mis files, it certainly won't support the new properties and links, and looking through the code I see lots of
# (c) Copyright by Tels 1999-2000. All Rights Reserved. Do NOT distribute.
so even if I was inclined to work on it, I'd be put off unless Tels indicates such modifications would be okay.
PinkDot on 3/9/2013 at 15:44
Thanks Watcher.
BTW. Is the code for New Dromed released with the New Dark? I wonder how much of a pain would it be to add scripting capabilities to Dromed? (with Python, for example...)
kdau on 4/9/2013 at 00:55
Alas, the NewDark DromEd code is not available.
I've had a possibility in the back of my head for a while, though. Custom script modules are largely inert in editor mode, but they do get two reliable notifications: when they are loaded (script_load), and when an object is created whose archetype includes a custom script (Create message). At either of those entry points, custom scripts could do anything in DromEd that they can do in the game, plus automate any of the DromEd-specific commands. It should also be possible (with varying degrees of hackishness) to put up dialog boxes for configuration. The terrain polys, area brushes, and brush lights aren't accessible, but everything with an object number could be created, edited, or destroyed.
LarryG on 4/9/2013 at 01:29
IIRC there was someone who wrote some code to generate geometry using the available line commands. My memory says it was based on drawing the outline of the geometry with characters to form a top view, which the program then somehow turned into brushes. Does this ring a bell for anyone? I didn't have any interest at the time and so never looked into it.
PinkDot on 4/9/2013 at 10:15
Quote Posted by "LarryG"
IIRC there was someone who wrote some code to generate geometry using the available line commands. My memory says it was based on drawing the outline of the geometry with characters to form a top view, which the program then somehow turned into brushes.
I remember seeing that one. While it was interesting, it didn't prove to be useful for full level creation. I tried doing something with Dromed commands but they seem to be soooo limited. Basically - they are what they are - just simple commands - never intended to form any sort of scripting language.
PinkDot on 4/9/2013 at 12:44
Quote Posted by kdau
Alas, the NewDark DromEd code is not available.
I've had a possibility in the back of my head for a while, though. (...) The terrain polys, area brushes, and brush lights aren't accessible, but everything with an object number could be created, edited, or destroyed.
By terrain polys you mean the portalized and optimized terrain geometry? Well, as long as we have access to actual brushes, their texturing info etc. that would be no problem. Also lights could be object lights only (brush lights are not recommended anyway).
:idea: And if it could run in the game mode, when you press start, wait a minute or two (or fifty...) come back and you have a brand new random procedural map, with ligthmaps calculated, objects and AI placed and goals set....
