[Idea] Morrowind Tool Kit

[peachykeen]

In programming terms, it can read any Morrowind-ish encoded file (4-byte record, 4-byte length, 8-byte flags, 4-byte subrecord type, 4-byte sub len, n-byte sub data) and store it into a linked list, so you can iterate through the records, select by type if you wanted, and just go through a whole file (it takes a second or two to load Tribunal.esm, which is 10s of thousands of records) and do whatever you want with the data, in a simple format.

In simpler terms, it simplifies loading of ES* files by programs. It handles all the reading and interpreting, and leaves your program with a nice neat list of records and their subrecords.

[shadeMe]

In programming terms, it can read any Morrowind-ish encoded file (4-byte record, 4-byte length, 8-byte flags, 4-byte subrecord type, 4-byte sub len, n-byte sub data) and store it into a linked list, so you can iterate through the records, select by type if you wanted, and just go through a whole file (it takes a second or two to load Tribunal.esm, which is 10s of thousands of records) and do whatever you want with the data, in a simple format.

In simpler terms, it simplifies loading of ES* files by programs. It handles all the reading and interpreting, and leaves your program with a nice neat list of records and their subrecords.

Ah .. tesSnip-ish

[peachykeen]

Possibly, but lower-level, I think. It's for developers to use, so they don't have to worry about how to read the files, they just get it all done.

[InsanitySorrow]

Sounds interesting , How easy is it to work with for developers?, Anyway I am done with complete toolkits they are too much hassle, so I think limiting a tool to say a mod installer type tool would be a good and safe-ish bet

[peachykeen]

Easy...

If you understand classes and lists, really. I'm going to change from linked lists to plain lists (from C++ list to C++ vector, I think is the equivalent), if it makes it work better. But essentially, to note every NPC out of a mod, this is the code:

Datafile thatFile;

thatFile.load("yourmod.esp");


foreach ( Record cRec in thatFile.records )

 if ( cRec.type == "NPC_" ) printf("Found an NPC!\n");

It doesn't do much, but it shows how simple the system can be. To get a particular record:

datafile.records[index]

For subrecords in a record, you could use this (prints everything):

Datafile thatFile;

thatFile.load("yourmod.esp");


foreach ( Record cRec in thatFile.records )

{

 printf("Type: %s\n", cRec.type);

 foreach ( Subrecord sRec in cRec.sub )

 {

 printf(" Type: %s\n Data: %s\n", sRec.type, sRec.data);

 }

}

I'm having a few issues with .Net trying to use Unicode (2-byte) characters for stuff, which ruins the files (the ESP format uses only 1-byte, as far as I've seen). That's only related to saving, though.

Loading works, except for subrecords with flags (I haven't figured out which have them and don't, so ATM they get prepended to the data).