DAMN-NAM v.5 9/09/13

[droric]

DAMN-NAM v.5 9/09/13

I have replaced this first post as I am now posting the revisions on the STEX.  I have included a link to the download here instead of maintaining this post as well as the STEX file.


http://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/28943-damn-nam/

What's New in Version .5 (See full changelog)
## V.5
-- Added root menu's for use with new damncontrol.dat. See the readme for install location. (Only works with SSP Tool and DAMN Manager)
-- Added images and descriptions for the following menus
FLUPs
Draggable GLR
Draggable GLR Alternate Texture
El-Rail Dual Network
High El-Rail
GLR
Tram Tunnel under various Pieces
Tram-in-Street
Tram-in-Avenue
Tram-in-Road
Tram-on-Road and Texture variations
GHSR (Ground High Speed Rail)
HSR (High Speed Rail)
Monorail Curves
Monorail - High Monorail
Ped Mall
Street Diagonal Helpers
SAM (Street Addon Mod)
Basic TuLEPs
Triple-Tile NWM TuLEPs
-- Renamed all dual network tram items to Tram-In-[Network]
-- Renamed Wide Radius Curves in many menus to simply curves
-- Rearranged curves menus for avenues, roads and streets so the correct curves appear first in the list
-- Renamed L2 Curves in the Rail menu to simply curves because they are not elevated
-- Removed Diagonal Bridge enabler menu since its only active when the mod is enabled and in these cases use the menu
-- Removed Hole Digger Lots from the DAMN menu as it feels better fit in the game menu's.
-- Maybe some other stuff I forgot? There were a lot of additions.

[Terring7]

Welcome to SC4D

I think that the DAMN system works for buildings and lots, not for transit puzzles pieces.

[Tarkus]

As long as a given NAM piece has a 4-digit HID in its RUL0 RotationRing entry (which most do), it is actually possible to DAMN it.  The IID you'd reference would be 0x6A47####, where #### is the 4-digit HID. 

We've known about this since the DAMN came out (daeley was very active on the NAM Team back then), and it's been discussed on numerous occasions, but the reason it's never happened is because of the sheer magnitude--there would be literally thousands of pieces we'd have to catalog.  It'd be especially prohibitive if we were to make icons for each piece, as tends to be the case for the existing DAMN sets.

-Alex

[droric]

Well I started working on this tonight and am working on rewriting the RUL file for sectioning to be split into seperate files using a powershell script.  Next passing the individual .RUL files to DAMM Manager imported into numericly ordered folder's for organization.  Then I can easily go through in game and screenshot each piece as they will follow a logical order  (possibly automating the screenshot naming and folder placement).  After that I can begin to rename some DAMN menu entries and possibly remove descriptions or add a category description for the DAMN section (tab rings).  It doesn't seem like this should take too long i'll let you know my progress.

[memo]

Sounds very promising! As for splitting the RUL file, you can also find a copy of the controller [here] which has been split up into logical chunks and also happens to be most up-to-date.

[droric]

Update:

I currently have the script created to be functional to create seperate .RUL files for each tabring.  I am working on finding a way to automate the rendering of the .3DS files to create the thumbnails for the DAMN menu's for easier navigation.  The basic functionality is already working fine and I have a set of DAMN menu's (minus PNG images) for each tabring.  Hopefully I can release some menu's for preview before the end of the day today if I have enough time to work on this at work

[droric]

Is there a batch S3D to 3DS converter?  I am trying to think of an efficient way to generate the thumbnails for the DAMN menu items.  I envision converting all the 3SD files the 3DS then using renderscript or such to render individual images of each model for the thumbnails.  I am not sure if this is feasible and I may be wasting more time trying to find a way to automate this then actually just taking in game screenshots of each puzzle piece...

[memo]

I don't know of any way to do that. Maybe you can get the PIMX to generate the thumbnails, if you add prop exemplars for all the preview models first.

[Terring7]

So it's possible? I feel like an idiot...


I'll follow this topic, looks promising

[droric]

As a person who works in IT I have learned nearly everything is possible it just might be a PITA to do it.

I have started taking some screenshots to extract thumbnails with photoshop as that seems the most functional way to do it since I can drop all the pieces from one menu on the map, screenshot and then pull out images to put into the menu's. 

[droric]

I have started the process of screenshotting all the pieces and have created the necessary batch scripts to automate the creation of the required PNG file for each entry in the DAMN.  I have a question though.  Is it possible to reference the RUL0 hex number to like a description file or the sorts?  I just don't know where to find the description file as I know one must exist since the pieces have logical names in game.  I would like to modify each of my RUL files to append the ; section with the actual name so when I reimport all the pieces they will have proper names and images to go with them as well!

Spanks in advance!

Also not sure if maybe this topic could be moved to a more appropriate location as this is no longer really a 'How-To or Tutorial' well maybe a bit of a tutorial.

[memo]

Each RUL0 entry should have a line called "PlaceQueryID" referencing the IID of an LTEXT file which is the description displayed by the game. Otherwise, the PlaceQueryID is copied from another HID via the "CopyFrom". The LTEXT file is usually contained in the NAM locale file.

[droric]

Ugh that does not seem like its even worth the time attempting to automate.  I will just name each one individually in the RUL files I have created.  Here is a quick preview of what I have the icons looking like so far.  Let me know any opinions/suggestions on the thumbnails since I will be starting the majority of the rest of this late this week.  Avenue's are about 100% complete, Real Highway is next up.

[memo]

Actually, I think it is quite easy to automate, if you want to stick with the name of the LText files. Though, if you are planning to change the description text here and there, it is easier to do it by hand.

Anyway, what you have so far looks very promising. I've once attempted it myself, but gave up before the part of creating the icons. I'm definitively looking forward to this. My only concern is that the HIDs in the RUL0 file are not set in stone and might change a bit from release to release. Fortunately though, all the HIDs have been rearranged prior to the NAM 31.1 release, so there won't be any big changes for the time being.

[droric]

Actually, I think it is quite easy to automate, if you want to stick with the name of the LText files. Though, if you are planning to change the description text here and there, it is easier to do it by hand.

Anyway, what you have so far looks very promising. I've once attempted it myself, but gave up before the part of creating the icons. I'm definitively looking forward to this. My only concern is that the HIDs in the RUL0 file are not set in stone and might change a bit from release to release. Fortunately though, all the HIDs have been rearranged prior to the NAM 31.1 release, so there won't be any big changes for the time being.

Perhaps I will look into the naming again once I get off of work today.  I plan on getting the RHW screenshots and possibly the thumbnails done today.  Regarding the RUL0 changes are there typically a changelog from versions that would ease the process of converting my work for the new HID entries?  I am currently using the 31.2 production RUL0 file and have all images named according to thier HID entry.  For example a 44x176 PNG file named 6a47920C.PNG is for the L2 RHW over road.  If there is a changelog or diff file it would be relatively easy to batch process each of these named images for reimporting for the next NAM version.  The screenshots are the most time consuming process by far and splitting a RUL0 file and creating the menu's with my scripts I have created takes only a couple of hours.  Avoiding having to redo images for everything would be optimal.  If you can think of any process changes I may want to make please let me know so I don't get too far ahead with something that will not be scale-able.

Thanks Nemo

[memo]

Regarding the RUL0 changes are there typically a changelog from versions that would ease the process of converting my work for the new HID entries?  I am currently using the 31.2 production RUL0 file and have all images named according to thier HID entry.  For example a 44x176 PNG file named 6a47920C.PNG is for the L2 RHW over road.  If there is a changelog or diff file it would be relatively easy to batch process each of these named images for reimporting for the next NAM version.  The screenshots are the most time consuming process by far and splitting a RUL0 file and creating the menu's with my scripts I have created takes only a couple of hours.  Avoiding having to redo images for everything would be optimal.  If you can think of any process changes I may want to make please let me know so I don't get too far ahead with something that will not be scale-able.

Usually, there isn't any changelog listing changes to the HIDs, as it's never been necessary. However, we maintain a copy of the latest controller at GitHub. If you are familiar with git, it is easy to view the differences between the current version and the latest release of the controller which I have just tagged.

Anyway, don't worry too much about changes of HIDs. As I said, the big change is over, and I would not expect many modifications from now on. Redoing the images will never be necessary, but maybe adapting one or two names. Also, if you complete this project, it is a very good reason for the NAM team to consider not changing any HIDs anymore, at all, in my opinion.

As for new puzzle pieces, which are constantly added to the NAM with each release - those will be obvious using SSP tool.


Very well deserved Karma point!

[droric]

For anyone who might be interested

Well I've found way to automate my entire image capture procedure.  I simply need to plop all the pieces and then take a screenshot after that its into Photoshop to have batch actions ran against it.  A selection is made then auctioned on with a batch action and it automatically resizes, changes canvas size, moves the image and saves a PNG file.  Then onto the next piece.


I do have a question for the NAM team though...  Although I think you might have already answered this question as not possible but figured id ask anyways.  There are certain pieces that contain a 5 place hex HID instead of the normal 4 place HEX identifier.  The pieces that have a 5 digit hex value cannot be selected within the DAMN in the game although they do display properly.  I am going to go ahead and screenshot all of these pieces anyways in hopes that there may be a change that can be made to the RUL0 to make it compatible or a change to the DAMN LUA scripts if thats possible.  Here is a section that i'm doing that has alot of 5 digit hex HIDs.

https://github.com/BluelightningSC4/Network-Addon-Mod/blob/master/Controller/RUL0/5000_RHW/5F00_FARHW/5F20_FARHW_Curves.txt

[Tarkus]

I think the solution for those pieces is going to be to change them to 4-digit HIDs.  A few developers decided to use all 5+-digit HIDs for some pieces to save room, thinking that DAMN for NAM was unlikely to ever happen. But now it has--my metaphorical hat is definitely off to you for making this pipe dream become a reality.

-Alex

[droric]

So....  How long could a project like that take?  Changing to 4-digit HID's ...   

[Tarkus]

It's definitely doable by some point in the NAM 32 development cycle.

-Alex