Home » Fable TLC » Development » Tools » WIP Updating the def.xml
WIP Updating the def.xml [message #70104] |
Mon, 10 March 2014 10:32 |
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Keshire
Messages: 1266 Registered: July 2005
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Administrator
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I'm in the process of updating the def.xml using the Fable Anniversary uncompiled defs.
This shines a ton of light on some of the options that we didn't know about.
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Attachment: def.xml
(Size: 794.53KB, Downloaded 1584 times)
Apathy Cannot Inspire.
Ambivalence cannot lead.
Loved me. Feared me.
Changed me. Killed me.
Anything would be something.
But nothing is worst of all.
[Updated on: Tue, 01 April 2014 19:42] Report message to a moderator
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Re: WIP Updating the def.xml [message #70107 is a reply to message #70104] |
Tue, 11 March 2014 05:31 |
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CultOfByron
Messages: 31 Registered: January 2013 Location: Ilkley
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Yes, thanks a lot for this.
I was hoping that the release of Anniversary, even if it stays Xbox only, would open up more modding possibilities for TLC.
I did notice that a lot of the old folder architecture is there in the game files, however the bulk of the level information seems to now be in the .xxx Unreal engine format (as was to be expected) along with all the updated meshes and textures.
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Re: WIP Updating the def.xml [message #70108 is a reply to message #70107] |
Tue, 11 March 2014 06:11 |
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Keshire
Messages: 1266 Registered: July 2005
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Administrator
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CultOfByron wrote on Tue, 11 March 2014 07:31 | Yes, thanks a lot for this.
I was hoping that the release of Anniversary, even if it stays Xbox only, would open up more modding possibilities for TLC.
I did notice that a lot of the old folder architecture is there in the game files, however the bulk of the level information seems to now be in the .xxx Unreal engine format (as was to be expected) along with all the updated meshes and textures.
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Yep. I noticed a distinct lack of levels.stb. But that won't matter much for us. The only thing we can hope for other than it coming to PC is information on what we already have.
Edit: Though I may take a look at the texture and model formats real quick. From the object files it looks like they made hero suits from all the rival heroes and enemies.
Apathy Cannot Inspire.
Ambivalence cannot lead.
Loved me. Feared me.
Changed me. Killed me.
Anything would be something.
But nothing is worst of all.
[Updated on: Tue, 11 March 2014 08:28] Report message to a moderator
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Re: WIP Updating the def.xml [message #70136 is a reply to message #70104] |
Mon, 17 March 2014 12:52 |
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Keshire
Messages: 1266 Registered: July 2005
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Administrator
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[Updated on: Mon, 17 March 2014 14:46]
You know... Several years ago when I originally worked on this I looked at all the special ability unknowns and I said to myself, "Keshire, there's no way we'll ever figure these out."
So I just copied and pasted all of them in alphabetical order by CRC. Fast forward to present day me trying to match up what's in the uncompiled defs with our xml.
"Keshire, wtf were you doing?"
I also filled in a few other straggling cdefs here and there. I haven't been brave enough to go after the UI stuff yet. But I'll get there.
Apathy Cannot Inspire.
Ambivalence cannot lead.
Loved me. Feared me.
Changed me. Killed me.
Anything would be something.
But nothing is worst of all.
[Updated on: Mon, 17 March 2014 18:41] Report message to a moderator
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Re: WIP Updating the def.xml [message #70139 is a reply to message #70138] |
Mon, 17 March 2014 19:42 |
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asmcint
Messages: 1360 Registered: April 2010 Location: Behind the beef
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Moderator
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Assuming that the formats in that regard were figured out, would it be possible to export all the nice, new, higher quality stuff from Anniversary and import it into TLC, effectively creating a PC version of Anniversary(minus achievements and other such things)?
Read the site rules, as well as individual thread rules, stickies and announcements, and use search, or you will have smartassy or exasperated ownage rained down upon you by the site's crack team of mods and admins. Also, you can find all you need to get started on modding here.
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Re: WIP Updating the def.xml [message #70163 is a reply to message #70104] |
Thu, 27 March 2014 19:35 |
xxNick
Messages: 54 Registered: March 2014 Location: San Antonio, TX
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This thread made me register. Last time I was here was as a leech back in 2006 and possibilities were extremely limited back then. Now. Now we're talking. Updated def.xml, extremely useful.
I have a small group of contacts who, along with myself, are semi-proficient at poking around with file formats as well as stuff of this nature. We're not pros or experts by a long shot, but we'd be happy to lend a hand where ever we can. Let me know what we can do.
Post edit - now I see why they call it unicode hell. Yep, not sure what you can do about that one except add a unicode datatype to FE. A double-null terminated unicode string. Since there's nothing to define string length, or offset of the next control. Short of that, you could use the already existing datatypes to create a hackish "one size fits the lion's share of entries" sort of thing... but then I suppose that's already being done, entries with no text work just fine. XD
Who are the coders in this joint? I know there can't be many, programmers and coders for projects of this nature are in high demand and short supply these days.
How to make a good Fable game.
And how to make it even better.
[Updated on: Thu, 27 March 2014 19:56] Report message to a moderator
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Re: WIP Updating the def.xml [message #70167 is a reply to message #70163] |
Fri, 28 March 2014 06:02 |
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Keshire
Messages: 1266 Registered: July 2005
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Administrator
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xxNick wrote on Thu, 27 March 2014 21:35 | This thread made me register. Last time I was here was as a leech back in 2006 and possibilities were extremely limited back then. Now. Now we're talking. Updated def.xml, extremely useful.
I have a small group of contacts who, along with myself, are semi-proficient at poking around with file formats as well as stuff of this nature. We're not pros or experts by a long shot, but we'd be happy to lend a hand where ever we can. Let me know what we can do.
Post edit - now I see why they call it unicode hell. Yep, not sure what you can do about that one except add a unicode datatype to FE. A double-null terminated unicode string. Since there's nothing to define string length, or offset of the next control. Short of that, you could use the already existing datatypes to create a hackish "one size fits the lion's share of entries" sort of thing... but then I suppose that's already being done, entries with no text work just fine. XD
Who are the coders in this joint? I know there can't be many, programmers and coders for projects of this nature are in high demand and short supply these days.
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Yep, those unicode entries came up near the end of when Hunter was writing Fable Explorer and never made it in. So right now any def that uses them are broken. As far as coders go, I'm not sure. I switched over to mostly lurker mode and occasionally pop in when I see something interesting.
The same goes for the Fable 3 side. But if you want to have a go at coming in and rounding off some of the code and cleaning things up, have at it. There's still some activity here.
Apathy Cannot Inspire.
Ambivalence cannot lead.
Loved me. Feared me.
Changed me. Killed me.
Anything would be something.
But nothing is worst of all.
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Re: WIP Updating the def.xml [message #70170 is a reply to message #70167] |
Fri, 28 March 2014 10:32 |
xxNick
Messages: 54 Registered: March 2014 Location: San Antonio, TX
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Keshire wrote on Fri, 28 March 2014 08:02 | Yep, those unicode entries came up near the end of when Hunter was writing Fable Explorer and never made it in. So right now any def that uses them are broken. As far as coders go, I'm not sure. I switched over to mostly lurker mode and occasionally pop in when I see something interesting.
The same goes for the Fable 3 side. But if you want to have a go at coming in and rounding off some of the code and cleaning things up, have at it. There's still some activity here.
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Good to hear. I'll see what we can do within the scope of our admittedly limited skill.
asmcint wrote on Fri, 28 March 2014 08:48 | Just avoid touching the .stb for as long as possible. No point in just frivolously throwing your sanity away, after all.
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Further emphasizing limited skill. It looks like you guys have the stb mostly figured out anyway. It's basically the same as the wad and big formats, just with some extra funky entry content. Even then you have most of that sorted, it's just one piece of the puzzle missing. The docs you guys have in the wiki is exemplary, and truly that format is just one of the weirdest things I've ever seen. Not surprising to find its absence from the Anniversary edition.
How to make a good Fable game.
And how to make it even better.
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Re: WIP Updating the def.xml [message #70172 is a reply to message #70170] |
Fri, 28 March 2014 13:08 |
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asmcint
Messages: 1360 Registered: April 2010 Location: Behind the beef
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Moderator
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xxNick wrote on Fri, 28 March 2014 13:32 | The docs you guys have in the wiki is exemplary, and truly that format is just one of the weirdest things I've ever seen. Not surprising to find its absence from the Anniversary edition.
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But its absence begs the question as to how they went about dealing with heightmaps and various other level information.
Read the site rules, as well as individual thread rules, stickies and announcements, and use search, or you will have smartassy or exasperated ownage rained down upon you by the site's crack team of mods and admins. Also, you can find all you need to get started on modding here.
[Updated on: Fri, 28 March 2014 13:10] Report message to a moderator
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Re: WIP Updating the def.xml [message #70173 is a reply to message #70171] |
Fri, 28 March 2014 13:34 |
xxNick
Messages: 54 Registered: March 2014 Location: San Antonio, TX
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Keshire wrote on Fri, 28 March 2014 15:06 | This Def type in particular is a very good example of the crazyness that is the bin databases. All the INVENTORY_TYPE's share all the properties even if they don't use them.
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The whole thing is bonkers. I'm not in game design, and I often get tossed slack for criticizing people who are due to my lack of background in design, but I can't imagine any scenario where it would have been more difficult to create things like weapon entries, armor entries, misc item entries, all apart from each other without having to rely on the CDefs to get the game to tell one apart from the other. I want to meet the guy who thought that was better and/or easier.
asmcint wrote on Fri, 28 March 2014 15:08 | But its absence begs the question as to how they went about dealing with heightmaps and various other level information.
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Well, the heightmap, the thing the Hero walks on, isn't in the stb at all. The stb is just the stuff you see. What defines a piece of the map as walkable, the height at which the player stands on it, whether or not it's water, if the camera can go through it, all that's in the wad. Totally different lev format at play, not quite as bananas but still pretty ape.
As Keshire said, in the absence of the stb, all (pfft, "all") they'd have to do is define the terrain and flora and water somewhere else, tng scripts perhaps. Just the stuff you see. Not really a small task, but perhaps it was done in such a way that we will be able to edit it. In which case, it is a very good thing.
Not sure the map tngs would be a good way to do it though, as map editing would then become way more tedious. But, I don't know. We'll find out eventually. Hopefully we stand to gain and benefit from the changes.
How to make a good Fable game.
And how to make it even better.
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Re: WIP Updating the def.xml [message #70216 is a reply to message #70104] |
Wed, 02 April 2014 10:43 |
LittleV
Messages: 31 Registered: March 2014
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Keshire, not to bother but I just wanted to add my support. Maybe you guys forget how many, many, many of us are on the sidelines watching, downloading, leeching, as they say. I'm a big fan of modding, but not being a coder or anything, I can do very little more than mod my own game and play around with files. The little grunt work we do is nothing compared to the stuff you, Oldboy, JohnDoe, Hunter, and all you guys did, so I just wanted to add my thanks, and ask you keep up the amazing job for those of us who'd take a hundred times longer to do a tenth of the work.
Excelsior, bitches. And thanks again.
V
"...the avatar is, to the metallic memory of chronology, what the subject is to the fruitful forgetfulness of History."
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Re: WIP Updating the def.xml [message #70218 is a reply to message #70216] |
Wed, 02 April 2014 14:23 |
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CultOfByron
Messages: 31 Registered: January 2013 Location: Ilkley
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LittleV wrote on Wed, 02 April 2014 10:43 | Keshire, not to bother but I just wanted to add my support. Maybe you guys forget how many, many, many of us are on the sidelines watching, downloading, leeching, as they say. I'm a big fan of modding, but not being a coder or anything, I can do very little more than mod my own game and play around with files. The little grunt work we do is nothing compared to the stuff you, Oldboy, JohnDoe, Hunter, and all you guys did, so I just wanted to add my thanks, and ask you keep up the amazing job for those of us who'd take a hundred times longer to do a tenth of the work.
Excelsior, bitches. And thanks again.
V
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^This^
I'm no coder, but if there's anything I can do to help, I'd like to offer my time too.
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