Sword of Moonlight > Beginner and other Nonsense
Getting started: 2014
Arbalest:
Hello, new member here, and I wanted to get some help with SomEx.
I have been messing around with SomEx, mainly with the map editor, and it seems that I run into a few issues when I try to run the map or do project preview.
It would say that various files are missing like Kage.cp or 113.mdl are missing or can't be detected. Is there a way to fix this?
The updater seems to be a bit odd whenever I run it as well (I would have to replace the .dll file manually whenever it gets an update,) saying that something is interrupting it even though I don't have anything messing around with that file in the background.
For some technical info, I am using Windows 7 64 bit. This might make things difficult.
Holey Moley:
--- Quote from: Arbalest on March 28, 2014, 10:29:23 PM ---Hello, new member here, and I wanted to get some help with Som-EX.
I have been messing around with Som-EX, mainly with the map editor, and it seems that I run into a few issues when I try to run the map or do project preview.
It would say that various files are missing like Kage.cp or 113.mdl are missing or can't be detected. Is there a way to fix this?
The updater seems to be a bit odd whenever I run it as well (I would have to replace the .dll file manually whenever it gets an update,) saying that something is interrupting it even though I don't have anything messing around with that file in the background.
For some technical info, I am using Windows 7 64 bit. This might make things difficult.
--- End quote ---
First of all it's SomEx, or simply SOM.
The alerts for Kage.cp and 113.mdl are normal. This tells you your project is missing those files. SOM tries to read those files but doesn't provide them. Your install may be out of date. I think I added a kage.cp file, but maybe not 113.mdl. That's likely to be a special effects model of some kind.
It should work to just make a 0 sized file of that name in your project folders to suppress the message box. There is an extension to suppress the box but it shouldn't be used by authors (its for programmers)
I don't have a test machine for 64-bit, but it shouldn't matter. Everything should run under the WOW 32-bit subsystem.
As for the updater. The main problem with it is there's no way to manually run it at this time. If you open the CSV files in the tool folder and save them so that they appear to have been changed, that will trigger the updater. Normally the updater runs after you update your files.
The other problem with the updater is people don't read the text and believe that it keeps popping up, but really each time it's updating a different file.
Please make sure you've updated everything. The release just yesterday was very important. Like the blog says it fixes bugs that made things unusable going back more than a few months since there hasn't been anyone independently testing things in all of that time, and my usage patterns are not exactly typical.
Anyone else using SOM Alpha is a big help to SOM. It demonstrates a real show of social responsibility. Or at least that someone out there cares about SOM.
EDITED: Also. Another thing about the updater is the files it updates are not part of the Subversion file tree. The reason the updater even exists is because it is impractical for these files to be versioned the same way the other files are, because they are large binary files that are ever changing. So the moral here is the versions of these files that are in the TOOL folder are quite old, and only exist for bootstrapping purposes.
Another thing to keep in mind is I almost never install SOM from scratch from the files here. I just don't have time to. So I rely on feedback. The same goes for the source code, I don't know if it will actually compile. It should, but I've never tried. I won't find out until someone tries to do that independently because I just don't have the time. Or rather I can't rationalize subtracting the time that would take from the time required to develop SOM.
Arbalest:
The installer still gives me grief when It asks me for a file update, mainly with unzipping and replacing SomEX.dll. I have to replace it manually, so I wonder if there is something running in the background that prevents this?
I installed it through the SVN, so I think I was following the necessary steps, I'll have to try again perhaps.
I see you saw my other post, so: I want to start a new project, BUT! whenever I start it, it seems to direct to the original sword of moonlight toolset and data (C:\Sword of Moonlight\) and not the EX tools and dataset (C:\Sword of Moonlight EX\)
So I wonder, should I uninstall Sword of Moonlight and SomEX, and reinstall EX via SVN again?
EDIT: Uninstalling both and just installing EX seemed to have helped a bit in regards to IMAGES.INI.
I'm going to mess around with this more.
EDIT2: The Kage issue is fixed now, now I have to deal with the missing files. Where can you get those files anyways? I don't remember them in the original files.
And for the question of the moment: Is there a windowed mode for map testing?
Holey Moley:
--- Quote from: Arbalest on March 29, 2014, 04:36:57 PM ---The installer still gives me grief when It asks me for a file update, mainly with unzipping and replacing SomEX.dll. I have to replace it manually, so I wonder if there is something running in the background that prevents this?
--- End quote ---
The only thing that should prevent the update from the get go is if SOM is already running. Or possibly antivirus software. You can use the Task Manager and go to the Processes tab to see if there is anything that looks like SOM in there and kill it. These days a process being stuck in the background like that is very unlikely though. With antivirus software you should just whitelist SOM_EX.exe or just use the default security stuff that comes with Windows.
Also if you go to the Systray/notification area there is an icon for the SOM_EX program that can be used to Exit everything cleanly from the right-click menu. Windows 7 and maybe Vista too hide these icons by default; a real nuisance if you ask me, since its very easy to hide your own icons, but I don't know if I will go to lengths to prevent the hiding or not. If even possible. If so the Start.bat file would do that.
If you can post a screenshot or use Spy++ to capture the text of the error window that will help. I may have to do a full install from scratch myself and get back to you on this. It's possible that the bootstrapping is not cutting it. Also if you cancel any of the first updates or they don't work then that can be a real problem, because the updater itself may need to be updated as a first step.
Strikeout: I see you explained the problem was in the unzipping/installing step.
I've been considering doing a trial install anyway. If you go to csv.swordofmoonlight.net you can find all the latest versions of each DLL file. That should let you get to work at least.
--- Quote ---I installed it through the SVN, so I think I was following the necessary steps, I'll have to try again perhaps.
I see you saw my other post, so: I want to start a new project, BUT! whenever I start it, it seems to direct to the original sword of moonlight toolset and data (C:\Sword of Moonlight\) and not the EX tools and dataset (C:\Sword of Moonlight EX\)
--- End quote ---
Did you run the Setup.bat and Start.bat files? To use Sword of Moonlight/Ex you need to launch through SOM_EX.exe. I think you must be or you wouldn't have seen the updater. There are two kinds of updates, there is the active SVN update that you do, and the updater (Somversion.dll) that downloads the DLL files when it detects that they are older than the ones listed in the CSV files in the TOOL folder.
--- Quote ---So I wonder, should I uninstall Sword of Moonlight and SomEX, and reinstall EX via SVN again?
EDIT: Uninstalling both and just installing EX seemed to have helped a bit in regards to IMAGES.INI.
--- End quote ---
The release before last made it easier to start a new project with SOM_MAIN by automatically moving a lot of default configuration files into the new project folder, including IMAGES.INI. That file I don't like that it's in the project's top folder, but it's a throwback to years ago that hasn't been worked on since (edited: there is probably an extension for moving it elsewhere, and for standalone games it goes in an out of the way folder by default)
--- Quote ---I'm going to mess around with this more.
--- End quote ---
The way install works in my imagination is a person comes to the site and reads the pages or finds the README/English.txt file first, and so uses a Subversion client to Checkout everything. Then I assume they will see the Setup.bat file, which should also be part of the documentation, and click on it. I assume people still click on Setup files reflexively but you never know.
Then you would think that the Start.bat file starts things, but it actually sets up the Start menu. Then you use the Swordofmoonlight.net folder in the Start menu to run Sword of Moonlight from there on out.
Since the release before last the only hitch is you need to add a language pack to the TEXT folder if you don't want Japanese. And you need to do that before you make a new project (assuming you don't do that in Japanese) to get the English default configuration.
Of course there can always be a bug in the mix. I won't find out until I do a fresh install. I may do that today, but it may be Monday before I get to it.
--- Quote ---EDIT2: The Kage issue is fixed now, now I have to deal with the missing files. Where can you get those files anyways? I don't remember them in the original files.
--- End quote ---
It's because they are not in the original files that the message appears. I can't really search for 113.mdl in the site's database because it doesn't exist so the results will show up empty. I doubt it belongs to a PRF file anyway. Most likely it is part of the Sfx.dat file. So this won't likely get fixed until there is an alternative to the Sfx.dat file system (because PRF files need to be used for "magic" like everything else.)
I think I will just add a 0 sized 113.mdl file to the data/sfx/model folder. But I worry that could break the magic spell because I don't know how this works. I would be safer if I knew what used that spell. And that's hard to tell with the sfx system. If it's one of the player character spells it could be easier to figure out. If so it would be one of the image only spells.
In fact I worry that I may have already broken some spells if I tried this before. I know the Haze spell (purple fog) crashes SOM_PRM if you preview it. It's probably something worth investigating (there's always just so many somethings)
--- Quote ---And for the question of the moment: Is there a windowed mode for map testing?
--- End quote ---
The recommended default configuration files (the same ones that are copied when making a new project) should run games inside a window. When you test a map you just launch the game really. So whatever your project's game settings are is what you'll get.
PS: At some point I do intend to prepare an installer, that will just do the SVN stuff automatically. It won't be the recommended method, but it will be an available option. That will come about sometime between now and Beta, which is just a way to say probably not anytime soon.
Holey Moley:
EDITED: By the way. I would just backup your C:\Sword of Moonlight folder and install to there. Or wherever you want your SOM install to be. You don't need the old folder since now you can manage your projects in a sane way, which means not putting anything in your install DATA folder ever. Besides anything in there will be clobbered by Updates.
If you've collected custom artwork that you intend to use you should place it in a custom workshop folder. You can have as many of these as you like. You definitely want to use the PRF files here for anything that comes with SOM. If you have doctored models and texture files you should put them in a separate folder so that they override the ones in the install folder. If the PRF file names have been changed from the ones that come with SOM you'll probably want to delete the PROF folders so that only the models and textures are overridden so no new/duplicate profiles get added to your project (if the PRF files actually have value added changes you should just identify that on an individual basis and put them back with the original file names.)
These are best practices. Basically files in the install folder are public files from online authorities. Whereas files you manage as part of your project are your private files. You don't want to mix the two up (this is all controlled with the variables in the SOM project file. For instance data files use the DATA variable)
BTW if you haven't collected custom or doctored artwork you should know that there are a lot of blemishes in the files on SOM's discs and the artwork on this site hasn't been doctored in any way. That's not a point of policy, I just haven't gotten around to cleaning up the artwork as part of the ongoing preparation process.
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