What's the workflow for decorating interiors with a WS file?

tatwi

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Howdy,

Working with whole buildings and exterior items is straight forward (tedious and time consuming, but quite clear in the UI), however I can't seem to  figure out how to add and remove decorations in world snapshot loaded buildings using either Sytner's tool nor the Jawa Toolbox.

Decorating with screenplays is fine for my purposes, but on the grand scheme it would be best to do large projects in WS files to maximize network efficiency.

As such, I was wondering if someone who decorates using the WS files would be willing to layout their workflow so that we have a nice guide on how it's done? Please and thanks, of course.
 

Timbab

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Yeah my Snapshot editor was really only ever meant to be a temporary thing to get rid off TreE for good and then I just more or less ported the Jawa Toolbox one into SIE.

They're definitely not optimal methods to do WS work, I didn't really want to spend too much time ultimately on it because one day we'll have SWB.

But wait, what do you mean with you can't figure out decorations in a WS, you mean, inside buildings/rooms? Or is this more of a general thing?
 

Pake

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I think he means about inside the buildings and rooms. I was kinda wondering the same thing myself. At first I thought it would have been done similar to a child cell, then I started thinking maybe it would be it's own object and somewhere references the CRC# of the object it's in.

Honestly I hadn't tried either yet, was just kinda thinking how it might work for when I do try.
 

Timbab

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In case you're not aware of it, there are also Interior Layout (.ILF found in interiorlayout/) files that can be attached via an Object IFF file. I personally don't have a dedicated editor for it besides my SIE template for it at the moment. TreE might have one, though.

Maybe this is what you mean?

You should be able to add things to the children (Cells) in the WS editor too, though.
 

tatwi

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Timbab said:
In case you're not aware of it, there are also Interior Layout (.ILF found in interiorlayout/) files that can be attached via an Object IFF file. I personally don't have a dedicated editor for it besides my SIE template for it at the moment. TreE might have one, though.

Maybe this is what you mean?

You should be able to add things to the children (Cells) in the WS editor too, though.
It's funny, because I went into SIE to take a screenshot to describe how it was only listing the cells of the building and not listing the cell contents (decorations) as child objects of the cells, when... it just worked and there they were!



So that's nice and will suffice.

I guess the workflow here to remove this box would be...

1. Load the game.
2. Go to the building you want to delete the box from.
3. Stand on or near the box and /dumpz to find your x,y location in the cell.
4. ctl+shift+g and note the cell number you are standing in.
6. Open SIE and open the planetname.ws file for editing.
7. Locate the building in question by using its world x,y position.
8. Locate the cell number you're character is standing in.
9. Look through the cell contents and delete the box that has pretty much the same x,y location as the one in /dumpz
10. Save/Export the planetname.ws file.
11. Pack the planetname.ws file into a new TRE file.
12. Add the TRE file to the client and the server.

That's not too bad for removing items. Placing items is a little more tedious though.

The workflow to add this box would be...
1. Load the game.
2. Go to the building you want to add the box.
3. GM create the box using /object createitem ... and place it where you want it.
4. Select the box and /dumpt to get its location and rotation information.
5. ctl+shift+g and note the cell number you are standing in.
6. Open SIE and open the planetname.ws file for editing.
7. Locate the building in question by using its world x,y position.
8. Locate the cell number you're character placed the box in.
9. Right click the cell, left click "New Node" and find the box you want to place using the handy dialogues and images.
10. Set the location and rotation values.
11. Save/Export the planetname.ws file.
12. Pack the planetname.ws file into a new TRE file.
13. Add the TRE file to the client and the server.


----------

Does that look about right or am I missing some steps or important information, such as what to do with/about those interior layout files you mentioned? I didn't even know about them until you mentioned it.

Would be nifty if we could make those interior layout files.
 

Timbab

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Looks about right, moments like these where I really wish I had added a screenplay 'paste' to WS contents features, I wanted to add it but people said there was no need. :p

Only thing I'd say is, CTRl+SHIFT+G wills how you the cell name, so you don't have to look for a number or anything, you can also click on the cell itself in SIE to see a preview of the cell itself (Not items inside it, shoulda added it but it was a case of should I waste more time on WS vs other stuff).

Also, I'd suggest using my offline client for this stuff, so you can easily check placements. Just edit singlePlayerStartLocationX and singlePlayerStartLocationZ to drop you in front of the building, or add more teleport locations to locations.txt, for easy switching around. At the moment there is no reload WS command to my knowledge, but something like that is planned, could in theory just exit the map and load back into it again, as it should then use the saved WS edit.

ILF's on the other hand are more generic prepackaged mini 'snapshots' that you can reuse on the same types of buildings. Idea is the same, really as editing a WS with which cell and then editing the matrix to place/position the object. You can tinker around with it in the Iff Editor if you grabbed my template for it in the SIE thread, better than anything anyhow, or see if TreEditor has an editor for it, it might.
 

levarrishawk

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tatwi's workflow is pretty spot on. I mean there's other ways to do it, but if you want a paint by numbers approach that would get the job done.
 

tatwi

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Timbab said:
Looks about right, moments like these where I really wish I had added a screenplay 'paste' to WS contents features, I wanted to add it but people said there was no need. :p

Only thing I'd say is, CTRl+SHIFT+G wills how you the cell name, so you don't have to look for a number or anything, you can also click on the cell itself in SIE to see a preview of the cell itself (Not items inside it, shoulda added it but it was a case of should I waste more time on WS vs other stuff).

Also, I'd suggest using my offline client for this stuff, so you can easily check placements. Just edit singlePlayerStartLocationX and singlePlayerStartLocationZ to drop you in front of the building, or add more teleport locations to locations.txt, for easy switching around. At the moment there is no reload WS command to my knowledge, but something like that is planned, could in theory just exit the map and load back into it again, as it should then use the saved WS edit.

ILF's on the other hand are more generic prepackaged mini 'snapshots' that you can reuse on the same types of buildings. Idea is the same, really as editing a WS with which cell and then editing the matrix to place/position the object. You can tinker around with it in the Iff Editor if you grabbed my template for it in the SIE thread, better than anything anyhow, or see if TreEditor has an editor for it, it might.
 I bet I was that "people". I say so many crazy things! Screenplay paste and seeing the contents of cells would be amazing. :)

I've tried out your offline client and it tends to crash when I choose any different location, but works great for the first location I pick. Kudos for being able to do something like that! It is handy for working with WS edits indeed. Now... if only there was a way to force the server to reload a template without having to reboot it!

It pains me to tell you how long I have spent placing some house signs in the template files. Part of the issue there is that the coordinates are relative to the building cell, but once you step outside the building you enter the world cell and can no longer /dumpz the correct coordinates. Add to it that the kind folks at SOE didn't follow any kind of clearly standardization regarding the default position and orientation of items, and it becomes a real chore to place child objects outside of buildings.

World Builder you say? How's that coming along? SIE would be "there" if had a mode that displayed the WS items and terrain, allowed for FPS WASD camera movement, and had a "use my location and heading" button to change the values of a selected item. That would be exceptionally more than "good enough" really, because it solves that hard part of visualizing objects in relation to each other.

Thanks for confirming the paint by numbers aproach, levarrishawk, I was thinking we needed a guide like that for this, because even I wasn't sure I was "doing it right".
 

Sytner

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tatwi said:
World Builder you say? How's that coming along?
From last October:

[video=youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yffBpoDuOrY[/video]
 

Timbab

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tatwi said:
I've tried out your offline client and it tends to crash when I choose any different location, but works great for the first location I pick. Kudos for being able to do something like that! It is handy for working with WS edits indeed. Now... if only there was a way to force the server to reload a template without having to reboot it!
Yeah the SOE method of changing planet doesn't seem to really work, you can/should be able to switch location of that planet though, don't think I've had a crash yet with that.

Currently working on a Dev/Internal injector to expand the offline functionality a bit (Development wise), which will hopefully make it to a Public version sooner rather than later if I can make sure it's safe for public consumption. A lot of it is pretty dirty, atm.

And yeah, serverside terrain/WS reload would be neat, no idea how viable that is based on how things are written at the moment though.

tatwi said:
It pains me to tell you how long I have spent placing some house signs in the template files. Part of the issue there is that the coordinates are relative to the building cell, but once you step outside the building you enter the world cell and can no longer /dumpz the correct coordinates. Add to it that the kind folks at SOE didn't follow any kind of clearly standardization regarding the default position and orientation of items, and it becomes a real chore to place child objects outside of buildings.
I feel ya!

tatwi said:
World Builder you say? How's that coming along? SIE would be "there" if had a mode that displayed the WS items and terrain, allowed for FPS WASD camera movement, and had a "use my location and heading" button to change the values of a selected item. That would be exceptionally more than "good enough" really, because it solves that hard part of visualizing objects in relation to each other.

Yeah, well, it's the old renderer and Sytner and myself don't really want to waste anymore time on that, as he's well past that. SIE and SWB are in a weird spot right now where, well, I won't share details or it'll depress you ETA wise, rofl. I kind of really won't want to touch the current WS Editor anymore as it's gonna get replaced so hard.

Mainly why I'm working on an injector finally, gotta get myself motivated again with something fun.
 

tatwi

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Sytner said:
tatwi said:
World Builder you say? How's that coming along?
From last October:

[video=youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yffBpoDuOrY[/video]
Reminds me this one episode of Star Trek the Next Generation


Where the only water on the planet was locked behind a force field.
 

Pake

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Sytner said:
tatwi said:
World Builder you say? How's that coming along?
From last October:

[video=youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yffBpoDuOrY[/video]
Super excited already :D

I really can't wait to see all the awesome things everyone will make one this is completed.  I noticed a colour spectrum at the bottom right.  Is intent to allow you to change the colour of buildings/items as well?
 

Sytner

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Pake said:
Super excited already :D

I really can't wait to see all the awesome things everyone will make one this is completed.  I noticed a colour spectrum at the bottom right.  Is intent to allow you to change the colour of buildings/items as well?
:)

The panel bottom right is a property editor and the colour picker you see is one of the properties of a terrain component - the tool lets you edit snapshots/terrain and other things at the same time in a sort of "project" environment.
 

tatwi

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Sytner said:
Pake said:
Super excited already :D

I really can't wait to see all the awesome things everyone will make one this is completed.  I noticed a colour spectrum at the bottom right.  Is intent to allow you to change the colour of buildings/items as well?
:)

The panel bottom right is a property editor and the colour picker you see is one of the properties of a terrain component - the tool lets you edit snapshots/terrain and other things at the same time in a sort of "project" environment.
Tell me more about the properties of your bottom panel, big boy. *wink*

:D
 

Sytner

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tatwi said:
Sytner said:
Pake said:
Super excited already :D

I really can't wait to see all the awesome things everyone will make one this is completed.  I noticed a colour spectrum at the bottom right.  Is intent to allow you to change the colour of buildings/items as well?
:)

The panel bottom right is a property editor and the colour picker you see is one of the properties of a terrain component - the tool lets you edit snapshots/terrain and other things at the same time in a sort of "project" environment.
Tell me more about the properties of your bottom panel, big boy. *wink*

:D
( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
 
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