Official Launch of the SE4 Companion

[Ruatha]

It moves zip archives aswell as the plr files.
If you don't want any zip files don't use the companion, the Last zip file is in the savegame folder.
I still can't see the meaning of this as you don't have to open that folder in explorer and view the files, all is automatic, thereby you don't need to know that there are zip files in there.

But if it's such a big issue I recommend not using the companion.

As I've told you I'm redoing it totally and in the redone Version I'll cater for this, but not in the current.
The redone Version will propably not be released this year, only the sidenotes module is almost finished...

It will be totally modular, you candelete the modules you don't want.
each module gets a tab (Planned modules : Sidenotes, event editor, external files, plug-ins, IRC, music, mail).
Standard tabs will be Gamelist, gamedata, settings.
All the old plug-ins will be supported if you use the Plugins module.
Will be using all the things I've learnt from the current companion to make it as bug free as possible from scratch.
And it will move all zips if wanted to a backup dir,no zips in savegame then..
And it will allow you to have all games in the main savegame directory if you want to mix them all up in a nice stew instead of keeping them orderly in their respective mod folders.

The current plan is seen below, a main menu, a tabsheet with submenus and components, a panel below with always viewable components.

[Fyron]

Erm... that image probably screws up the formatting for people on lower resolutions...

/me awaits better, shinier companion.

Any possibility of applying a nice SE-related skin to it, rather than standard boring Windows GUI?

[Ruatha]

The pic will disappear when my wife closes the computer at home.

Skins... Right now I've only enabled Win Xp Themes.
But I'll look into skins, won't promise anything though..

[Fyron]

I didn't necessarily mean that it has a skinnable interface, just that you apply a skin to it... but that would also work...

[Ruatha]

In the first permutation it was black, than I got suggestions to make it more window standard so it could be easier read.
So it will either be general skins or only XP themes.
Not forced skin.

Edit:have lookie dinto it.
Skinning seems very hard if one doesn't buy a commercial component.
It'll propably be WinXP themes.
Perhaps a switch to enable "SE4 UI", that could use SE4 fonts and colours.

Another issue the companion copuld resolve would be the resolution thingy.
OPtion to set screen resolution when game starts and switch back when it ends.

[Fyron]

Ugh... your shipset cleaner inserted 2 blank lines after the design names file entry in most of my AI General files... And it completely screwed up any and all AI General files with long text fields for description info...

Also, "duplicate designs" in the Design Creation file are not necessarily something to be removed... ask some of the TDM crew about such an issue...

It has moved entries such as these:

Fleets Div 6 Max Amount of Ships := 10000
Fleets Div 6 Max Amount of Planets := 0
Fleets Div 6 Num Fleets := 10

To a seemingly random place in the file, after:

Percentage of Fleets to use for defense := 70

and a blank line it inserted for no good reason...

Also, AI Design Creation needs more work done on it. These abilities need to be updated from:

Combat To Hit Dec
Combat To Hit Add (and Combat Sensors)

To

Combat To Hit Defense Plus
Combat To Hit Offense Plus

Also:

Phased-Shield Generation
to
Phased Shield Generation

These were changed in an early pre-gold Patch of SE4.

[Atrocities]

But still we love it though.

[Fyron]

Atrocities said:
But still we love it though.

Can't say that I am with you on that one at present...

[Ruatha]

What can I say?
I tested it on all the shipsets I have on my computer and it seemed to work.
I presented it as Beta but got no bug reports, then released it and haven't heard anything about it until now.
Sorry.
Am in the army now and won't have time to do anything about it until late february-march.

[psimancer]

so if rautha is serving his obligatory 2 year army hitch then he might be returning what sometime in november ???