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Old 01-09-15, 08:24   #1
AkyV
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Default NGLE New Windows (Part 2)

by Paolone





Settings Window


Settings button


Invoke Settings Window to set all parameters of ngle. You can use also shortcut SHIFT F2 to call Settings Window




Settings for Spinning and Zoom




In this frame you can set parameters to get better spinning speed in your computer. Since results are very different in speed or slow computer I suggest to perform some tests to get better results in your computer.


Input Time

Values in row "TIME: Input interval.." are delays in microseconds for each cycle. This delay will be applyed ONLY if you keep continuosly down the left SHIFT key while you spin or zoom the room.

Step of Movements

This setting is a bit more complex. You can choose different couple of values: first (left) value is starting step in 3d orientation, while second (at right) value is the max step.

Spinning uses an acceleration method to pass from little step to max step in few seconds (but this time depends by [Input time] value of above field)


If you choose little values (at top of list) you'll have a very smooth movement but also a slow movement (it depends even by power of your computer and size of current level, of course).


Differently when you select big couple of values, you'll have a very fast movement but also a low frame rate with steps very high.


Theoretically you should choose some little value if you have a very fast computer, while you should choose big values if your computer is not very fast.

Remark:
Since speed change in according with view mode you are using in ngle (draw door mode is more slow than "no draw door", face edit mode is more slow than it is disabled, ect) you should work in following way to set better settings:

In first phase you should work only on STEP field and test it only with expensive (in time) viewing mode. When you get correct speed you can pass to change other field "INPUT TIME".

In this second case you should test the speed with faster viewing mode, like "no face edit" and "no draw door". It's very probable that in this situation you'll have a too fast spinning but it's now that enter in game the SHIFT key to enable the slowdown you set in "TIME: input " field.


So, you'll use SHIFT only to stop too fast spinning, while the STEP field will have to work fine with complex scenes to show.


Settings for Random Smooth Floor/Ceiling




Effect Type

You can choose Hills or Mountains.

Mountains effect create more height and sharped shape.

Normally you'll use Mountains for zones where it's not foreseen lara will can walk.

Differently, Hills effect will create a very smooth ground where lara will can walk without troubles.


Limit Height

By default, random effect will do grow floor with no limits. This means the floor could pass over the ceiling. In rooms linked with vertical portals this in not a problem, anyway for ohter rooms you could wish to limit the max height of random effect to current room height.

See Ground Simulation to watch result you can get with hills or mountain effects.


Changes for Hit


The alghoritm to generate hills or mountain is based on a serie of single change to floor (or ceiling). You can let default number of changes, or to increase this quantity choosing "More Changes" or to reduce it choosing "Less Changes".

Remove smooth filter


In spite of smoothing is the best feature of new random floor functions, in some cirustances you could wish to have a very fragmented terrain. To remove the smooth effect you can check "Remove smooth filter" setting.

Settings for Mouse Wheel




In NGLE you can scroll texture panel using mouse wheel. Anyway on some computer it's necessary customize some parameter to get this feature works correctly.


Lowest Step

You set in this field the min movement you wish in texture scrolling.

Highest Step


The highest step is the max vertical movement of textures, anyway this setting may work in different way in according with Acceleration and Sensitivity.

If Acceleration is enabled the highest step will be the max used movement when you move fastly the wheel, while the Lowest Step will be applyed when you move slowly the wheel.


If Acceleration is disabled the step of movement will be always the same and it will be computed in following way:

(Lowest Step + Highest Step) / 2

Sensitivity field


When you work to set your mouse wheel, you should work on this field for first, because a wrong value of sensitivity could get unpredictable results changing other field.

The suggested value is 5 or 6, anyway if the scrolling doesn't work with these values you should to try lowest values, like 3 or 4.


As general rule if you select a little value as sensitivity you'll get bigger movements in scrolling, while with higher values you'll get less movements or no movement if you exaggerate to choose big numbers.


Disable Acceleration


Theorically acceleration function is a good feature because it allows you to choose if move of a little step texture or scrolling an huge block of texture in short time, simply working on the speed you apply to mouse wheel.

Anyway, if you are not able to get controlled movements with acceleration is enabled you can try to disable it cheking this field.


Global Settings




Save Image Map after output wad

Checking this field the image of 2d map you get immediatly after an output wad operation will be saved in a bitmal compressed file with name like "Last_2dMap_#LevelName#.bmp" for example if you perform an output wad of catacomb, the map will be saved in "Last_2dMap_catacomb.bmp" in trle folder.

This map is important because it shows more informations (flipped rooms, doors and inside walls) than common 2d map .
See below picture to compare the default 2d map (at left) with the "special" 2d map (at right) get after an output wad command.



Remove 'autosave.prj' with normal exit

Original level editor created a backup of current project giving it the name 'autosave.prj' before performing an [output wad] or [preview] command. This was a safety misure because in some circustance it could happen a crash in these commands.

Since this 'autosave.prj' was used only thinking to crashes when you exit from room editor that file went deleted and so it remained only when program had a crash.


Anyway for a bug when you used to close the program a click on [X] icon (in top-right corner) the program forgot to remove the autosave.prj. That was a bug, however some level builders used that method to let autosave.prj in trle folder.


By default ngle keeps same behavior but if you want that bug was removed you can enabled this option (remove autosave.prj). When this option is checked the autosave.prj will be removed if you exit with menu->quit or clicking on [X] icon, while it will remain if program aborts for a crash.


Reload last project at start


If you want that ngle loads automatically last project at start, you check this option.

Remark: if at start ngle finds an autosave.prj in trle folder, it asks to you if you want load autosave.prj, if you answer NO then it will load the last project, otherwise it load autosave.prj.


Maximize NGLE window at start


NGLE requires to work with a screen size of at least 1024x768 pixles. If your screen is exactly 1024x768 a zone at bottom of ngle window will be not visible. To avoit this trouble it's common to use keyboard command ALT + ENTER to force ngle window to cover all screen.

Checking this option you get automatically this function at start of the program.


Disable Crash Resume System


NGLE from version 1.0.5 uses a CRS (Crash Resume System) to avoid many causes of crash.

This method is very useful to avoid "stupid" causes of crash overall in showing 3d operations.

Anyway in some circustances you could want disable CRS to have information about a crash, in fact, when a crash occurs, ngle is able to create a short text file with information about the crash. The author of ngle (it's me ;-) studying that file will can correct further bugs to grant better performances of ngle.
Pratically you should disable CRS when you find strange behaviors of ngle.

In this case you can:
  • Check option "Disable Crash Resume System"
  • Load the project
  • Now perform the operation caused that weird behavior
  • Now it's probably (but really not sure) you get a crash
  • It will be showed a window to signal the "detected crash" where you can read the name of crash report with information about this crash
Now you can: close ngle, take the crash_report and post it on forum: Bug Reports about NGLE

If this link doesn't work you can send the crash_report file directly to me: dolce_paolo@tiscali.it

Remark: other to give the crash_report it's useful also to say what operation you were doing when the crash occured.

Disable Memory Extender Patch


By default, NGLE uses an internal memory to host vertices four times bigger than originale LE. Thanks to this memory expansion you can work with bigger levels with no crash.

The only reason to disable memory extender patch is if you have a computer with few ram memory. In this cirucstance NGLE could run very slowly because Windows will have to swap ram memory to disk (virtual memory) to give all memory required by NGLE. If you are in this situation you can try to disable memory extender to see if speed has an improvement.

Note: when you change this option, it's necessary to close the program and the re-start it too see applyed the change.


Disable New Stand-by System


Originale level editor handled in worse way the stand-by mode. For stand-by mode I mean that situation when a program is not performing any operations and it should let the CPU (processor) free to use for other programs.

To understand better you could perform following experiment:
Under WindowsXP you hit CTRL+ALT+CANC (only once, otherwise you get a reset), now the Windows Task Manager window will be showed.

In "Processes" label you can see all processes working on your computer in that moment and their cpu usage (in column named "CPU").

If you to do run original level editor you'll see that winroomedit.exe will have always 99 % of usage cpu, also when it is not used.

Differently, thanks to NSS (New Stand-by System), NGLE will have always 0 % of cpu usage when it's not performing any operation.

This is a technical speech, anyway the difference with NSS is very easy to understand: now you can use also other programs while NGLE is opened, while with old level editor you'll have a terrible slow-dow with all other programs while winroomedit was running.

About this option, I don't see reasons to disable NSS, so it's better you don't check above option. I added this option to Settings Window only because I was not yet sure that NSS had no collateral effect, but now, then different tests, it seems that NSS works fine.

Don't show tips for hide objects button


Hide Objects button permit to remove temporanely all object in current room. This could be useful to enhance the speed in room spinning, or to apply new textures without having the noise of many statics placed on the floor.

Everytime you click on Hide Objects button it will be showed a message box to advise about some operationw to don't perform while you are in "Hiding objects" phase.

Anyway, since you now already kwnow that warning you can check this option to avoid that boring mexage everytime you click on that button.

Show extra infos in room info panel


Checking this option you can get more descriprive infos in Room Info panel.

Currently the extra infos regard only the selected sector and number of changes in editing phase.
  • Extra info about Selected Square
    With Extra Infos enabled the info for a single selected sector will have following syntax:
    Selected Block [ X:9 Y:12 F:4/4/6 C:17/16/17]
    [X:] and [Y:] field are always presents, while the extra infos regard [F:] and [C:] field.
    The meaning of numbers separated by “/” charcater are:
    [F: (Base Floor) / (Min Click Floor) / (Max Click Floor)]
    while for ceiling are:
    [C: (Base Ceiling) / (Min Click Ceiling) / (Max Click Ceiling)]
    Remark: ngle uses the (Base Ceiling) and (Base floor) to verify if two vertical rooms may be linked with a vertical door.
  • Number of Changes
    This infos show simply the number of modification you made on current project from last saving project operation.
    If you enabled the "Auto-Backup" feature you can see this field to verify the counting of current changes before starting the auto-backup.
    If you don't set "Auto-Backup" you can use this info as spur to save (manually) the project when this number is very big.
Peaked Pyramids

When this option is enabled the Pyramid Shape will be with peaked borders. See Peaked Pyramids image.

Preview Screen


With NGLE, from version 1.0.6, you can change the size of preview zone.

You have four different settings to choose:
  • Little
    Little preview cover exactly the zone used by 3d panel. You could use this setting if your computer is very slow in preview with default size. In fact, using little preview the speed should be increased.
  • Default
    This setting is the same of orginal level editor
  • Big
    Big preview has a size of 1024 x 768 pixels.
  • Full Screen
    Differently by above settings, the Full Screen Preview generates a preview zone different in according with current screen size, trying to cover whole screen
Remark: to have better results in full screen preview you should maximize the ngle window with ALT+ENTER keys or setting option "Maximize NGLE at start".

If NGLE window is not maximized the preview will cover only the client area (excluding title bar and borders) of NGLE window.

Bend Type

Bending effects work in according with this setting.

You can choose three kinds of bending:
  • Constant (Prefixed) bending
    Constant bending uses a pre-builded table of bending factors in according with current wide of selected area.
    With constant bending you get immediatly the bending but in this way you cann't select intermediate degree of bendings.
  • Progressive (Circle Formula)
    Progressive bending permits to change the bending with little steps using the circle function to compute current intermediate bending.
  • Progressive (Parabola Formula)
    Progressive bending (like above) but in this case will be used the function of parabola to set the bending.
To have more infos about bending types see Progressive Bending topic.

Auto-Backup

If you are an absend-minded guy, you could forget to use [Backup Project] button to save your project during your long editing job.

To avoid the risk that a crash destroy all your job you can set in [Auto-Backup] field the number of changes after that ngle will perform byself a silent progressive backup to your project.
A reasonable value is enclosed between 30 and 60 changes.


If you set [Never] the auto-backup function will be disabled.

Remark.
When Auto-Backup is enabled, ngle will save for you the current project when the number of changes will reach the value you set.


Anyway, for technical reasons, the backup operation will happen only when following circustances are true:
  • Number of changes from last saving is greather or equal than value you set in above field.
    Note: if you enables [Show extra infos in panel room] you can see the current number of changes after the label "Changes:"
  • Ngle is NOT in flip map mode
    For technical reason ngle cann't perform a silent backup when you are in flipmap mode (when the color of background is black).
  • Ngle is NOT in preview mode
  • User didn't performed any command since one second.
    Note that also moving mouse pointer is a command, so only when you don't move the mouse pointer for one second the backup will be performed.
If when the change number is reached but some of above condition is not true, NGLEwill wait the first good opportunity to save the backup, for example when you exit from flipmap mode or preview phase.

When the backup will be performed you'll hear a "beep" and a text will be showed in info room panel, anyway this mexage of backup will remain only for few seconds.

Settings for launch of external programs

NGLE from version 1.0.6 permits to host a program list you can use to launch fastly other external LE tools (strpix, trviewer ect.)

Clicking on this button will be showed the Edit External Programs window (see below)


Edit External Programs window

Go button


Go button permits to launch the external program currently selected in left combo list. You can also use shortcut (SHIFT + ...) to launch a specific program, the shortcut keys will be showed at left of external program name.




To set the program list you have to click on Settings button (see above)
.

Add New Program button


Click this button to select the executable file of new program to add in launch list.

Change Name button

When you added new program, at start will be assigned to it as name the executable name less the .exe extension.

Sometimes it could be good to understand what is the program, anyway if the program has as .exe name only "psp.exe" you can set another meangiful name using this button.

The name you assign will be showed in drop down list in main window of NGLE.

Change File to Open


You can "say" to NGLE what file you want was opened with a specific program.

For example if you set TGA like file to open, NGLE when it will launch your external program, it will add to command line the path of texture .tga file.

If all works fine when you program will be opened (for example Paint Shop or Photoshop) it will have already loaded the tga file of current level.

You can set different file types:
  • NONE
    This means you don't want open no file with current program
  • TGA
    Typing TGA it will be opened the current texture tga file.
  • WAD
    To open the object file linked with current project, and in specific way the .wad file of objects.
  • WAS
    Like above WAD, it will be opened an object file but in this case it will be the .was file to be opened
  • TR4
    You can open also .tr4 files, in this case NGLE will look for a .tr4 file in DATA folder with same name of current object file.
    Note: NGLE will not try to create newly tr4 file but it will use the old created .tr4 file it found in DATA folder.
  • FOLDER
    This is a special type to set the opening of folder, ignoring the specifc file you added at start. Once you set "FOLDER" as type the name of file will be removed and new name will be the source folder.
    Pratically with this option you can have shortcuts in ngle to open folders you use more often.
    Note: if you want select a folder where there is NO .exe file, just you change in browse window the "file type" from "executables" to "All files". Now you'll can select some file.
When you type the extension of file to open you can add at left of extension name also the special character: #

This character used to inform NGLE that it should copy path file to open in clipboard instead to put it over command line of program to launch.

This option is very important because, unfortunately, many unofficial level editor tools (alost all) doesn't accept the file to open in command line, so if you try to set simply "TR4" to open with triviewer the tr4 file, you'll get an error mexage from trviewe because it don't understan what is all that stuff over command line. :-/

Differently, if you put at start of extension the # character, no path file will be put in command line.

In this situation you can anyway take advantage from open file option, because you'll can paste the path file simply using CTRL+V keys or with popup menu (right mouse button) and select "Paste" command.

For example if you want launch StrPix program and pass to it current .wad file, you can set as "file to open" the word: "#WAD" (look the "#" first character )

Then when you launch StrPix program it will be empty but to load correct .wad file just you invoke "Load file window" with "File->Open" or F3 shortcut, and now simply you hit CTRL+V and the path of wad file will be pasted in open file window. Now you can hit ENTER to load the file.

Lucky at least for Paint Shop Pro or Photoshop programs it's not necessary to use this method because both these programs are able to read path file to open from command line.


Remove Program button


Remove selected program from the list.

Don't minimize NGLE window at start...


By default, NGLE will minimize its window before launching external program. Usually this is useful to improve speed of new external program and to underatand that external program is coming (sometimes could happen that new program remains below ngle window)

Anyway if you want you can disable the minimizing operation setting a checkmark on this option.

Pass to program short path name


To understand this option you have to understand what is "short" and "long" path name.

Long name is the most common way to describe a path file.

For example this is a long path name:

C:\PROGRAM FILES\CORE DESIGN\TRLE\GRAPHICS\WADS\KARNAK.WAD

All normal, ok. Anyway some old programs and many program that read a path file on command line could have trouble to read this path file because it contains blank characters (spaces, like that between "PROGRAM" and "FILES" words, or between "CORE" and "DESIGN" names)

To solve these troubles there is another format for path file and it's named "short path" or also "ms-dos path format"
For example above long path name becomes in this way in short path format:

C:\PROGR~1\COREDE~2\TRLE\GRAPH~1\WADS\KARNAK.WAD

It's ugly to see but at least threre is no space character in above path.

Since many program use space character like "separator" for options in command line, they work better with short path names because all path file will be a single work after splitting using space character as separator.

Remark:
Really the path of file will be always in short format, above settings affects only the name part, i.e. if your .wad or .tga file is "MyTexture.tga", using short path it will become "MYTEX~1.TGA" while disabling "short path" it will be "MyTexture.tga".

Differently the path (i.e. the folder sequences) will be always in short format.



Sound Effect Window



You get this window using menu command "Effects->Sound", used to add a local sound in current room.

Columns
  • Name
    The symbolic name of sound effect. This name is that you find at start of each row in sounds.txt file.
    Note: sometimes, there are some "fake" names in this column: "empty" is an empty slot to add new sound effect in future, "menu_empty" is like "empty" but for sounds used in inventory.
    The name "Don't_Use_This_Space" is a refuse of internal syntax of "sounds.txt" file. The meaning is unknown for me.
  • #
    Symbol "#" is the label for column with progressive indices of sound.
    This index starts from "0" from first sound found in "sounds.txt" file and it grows by 1 for each valid or less sound.
  • Present
    In "present" column you find a rapid info about real presence of sound.
    You read "ok" if sound file is present in "sound\samples" folder, while it will be showed "missing" if sound file is missing or file name is not present in "sounds.txt" file. This could happen for "empty" entries.
    Remark: for sound effects with two or more sound files, just that one file is missing to get "Missing" response in this column.
  • File
    The "File" column shows the file name of sound you find in "sound\samples" folder.
    Some sound effect has more than one file name , in this case the different file names will be divided by space.
Play button

You can hear a preview of selected sound clicking "Play" button.
Play feature works in different way in according with number of file names linked with current sound effect:

If the sound effect has only one file, the play will play the sound in a infinite loop and you'll can stop the sound clicking newly the "Play" button to release it.

Differently, when the current sound effect has two or more files, the play preview will perform once time the whole sound sequence and then the play button will be released, stopping the play preview.



Object IDs Window



Current window shows the new indices for items (movables, lights, cameras) in tr4 file.

These informations are useful for TREP users to write correct index in some trep effects.

Remark:
Above window will be available only after you performed an output wad comand because the object id informations will be created own in output wad phase.

Field Descriptions
  • Room
    The name of room where is current item.
    If you select in the window the alphatic sorting the room names will be sorted in growing alphabetic order.
  • Item
    Name of current item.
    As you can see in this list there are not only slot objects but also cameras and other effects.
  • Sector
    Show the position of item in its room. The position is given in sectors (squares), first number is horizontal coordinate.
  • Map_Id
    In this column you see the univoque ID used in NGLE to identify any item.
    This number is the same you see when you perform a click over an item in the map. The number will appear in a yellow box in round parenthesis.
    When in current window is disabled alphatic sorting the list will be sorted in progressive numeric order by this column.
  • Tr4_Id
    In this column you find the value you wish. This index is the effective position of item in tr4 file.
    Remark: remember that in tr4 file there are different arrays of items in according with them type. There is an array for moveabels and another for cameras ect. For this reason it's possible you find two items in current list with same Tr4_id, but this it's not a mistake, simpy these two objects have different nature and they stay in different arrays.
    Remark:
    If you select a row and click on [OK] button or you perform a double click or you hit Enter key, the current selected Tr4_Id will be copied in clipboard. In this way you'll can see easily paste in other text editor (or trep window) using CTRL V command.
  • (Name.tom)
    This is a fake column, it's used only to remember you at what .tom file is refered current object list. Ngle, in fact, keep always last object id table created in last Output Wad command, so you could have also an old list, i.e. you perform an output wad on your level "intro.tom" and then you load another project for (for example) "first.tom", in this situation, if you call the object table you'll see the list of "intro.tom" while you are working on "first.tom" project.
    To avoid this confusion you can check this column header to verify correctness of tom file.
Example

We can do an easy example about how use this table.

We suppose to wish find the tr4_id for object showed in belove picture:



As first step you have to read the info about above item in yellow box: "Animating3 (376)"


Then, to find the Tr4_Id of this item, just you scroll the Object IDs window until you see the number "376" in Map_Id column, and you'll find belove row:

Room Item Sector Map_Id Tr4_Id (library.TOM)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Room45 ANIMATING3 ( 6,7 ) 376 73

In this case the index to use in trep to work on Animating3 item, will the value "73"


Last edited by AkyV; 01-09-15 at 08:43.
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