[The E]

First up, a new version of datafile.exe (the more powerful version of modfile.exe) has been uploaded to the google code page.

This version doubles the previously existing limit of 4096 files per archive, thus allowing bigger archives to be created.

Do note that this is a command-line utility, and is NOT a drop-in replacement for modfile.exe; to use this, you have to change createmod.bat to this:

Code: [Select]

datafile.exe MyMod.dat -mak
Further usage notes:

Code: [Select]

Usage: datafile <dat-file> -option <file list>
options:  -ins  (insert files into datafile)
          -ext  (extract files from datafile)
          -del  (delete files from datafile)
          -mak  (insert all files in current directory and all subdirectories)
          -list (display list of entries in datafile)

[braddw25]

Very interesting. I'm a bit embarrassed to admit that I never knew there was a 4096 file limit. Very cool that you were able to overcome that limitation E. Nice work. I'm trying to learn a bit about C++ so I can help out with the coding project. Its going to be a learning curve for me though. The last programming I did was with BASIC on an appleIIgs.

[The E]

That part was rather simple. Getting the thing to run properly, that was the challenge; this utility was written back in the early days of Starshatter development, when the Windows SDK was looking rather different.

[Dragon]

Is there any complete, self-contained modding guide to Starshatter? Sort of like Karajorma's Freespace FAQ, just a bit more up to date. I'm just getting into this game and while it's amazing (it has a lot of things I wanted to implement into FS2, including Newtonian flight model and capship command), it's lacking in some fields. It would also be great if there was some mod database that would work (Google returns either HLP, or Starshattermods, the latter of which gives me a 404).
Overall, I think this game has a lot of potential if given the same treatment as FSO.

[braddw25]

Dragon,

If you go to www.spacesimcentral.com in the download area under Starshatter and then in the utils folder there are two downloads that will at least get you started. One is called mod sdk and the other is called modders toolkit. If you have any question at all, feel free to ask and I will do my best to answer them or at least get you an answer if can't answer myself.. Welcome to the Starshatter modding community!

[Dragon]

OK, first question. Where can I find a mod which I could take apart and see how it's done? I've read the docs, but I'd like to see example configs, perhaps a working ship model and effect bitmaps.
Also, what's npp.5.6.4?

[rscaper1070]

The same place, under shipfleetmods. I don't know how he did it but braddw25 uploaded all those files. Wdboyd's Solcom mod is a good one to check out. He put together a lot of different kinds of ships and his def files are very helpful to look at.

npp.5.6.4? No clue.

[The E]

Notepad++ 6.5.4, at a guess.

[MatthTheGeek]

OK, first question. Where can I find a mod which I could take apart and see how it's done? I've read the docs, but I'd like to see example configs, perhaps a working ship model and effect bitmaps.

Can't you just use retail data ?

[jr2]

Notepad++ 6.5.4, at a guess.

That was my guess, but I hesitated offering it as I didn't want to seem foolish if there was some SSMods util with the initials npp

[The E]

OK, first question. Where can I find a mod which I could take apart and see how it's done? I've read the docs, but I'd like to see example configs, perhaps a working ship model and effect bitmaps.

Can't you just use retail data ?

That's pretty much what I would do. Unlike retail FS2, there's not that much hardworking going on, so a lot of data is modifiable through def files.

I am going to post a few rough guides on what folder contains what, and definitions for the various def files soon.

Note: if you do end up extracting the retail files, you need to extract shatter.dat first, then content.dat. Then copy the files from content.dat into the same directory as the files from shatter.dat, and overwrite any conflicting files.

[Dragon]

How can I extract .dat files? You mentioned modfile.exe, but I don't know where to find it.
Also, is there a model viewer similar to PCS2?

[rscaper1070]

You need to use the Starmod.exe to open and extract dat files. Magic 2.0 is what you can use to view models.

[The E]

Using modfile.exe is not recommended. In the latest download available on google ( http://code.google.com/p/starshatter-open/downloads/detail?name=Starshatter%205.1.66.7z&can=2&q= ) you will find datafile.exe, which does the same job, but better.

[Dragon]

Is there any chance we'll get a GUI tool that would replace the datafile.exe (or just a GUI overlay for it)? I don't feel like messing with the command line interpreter every time I want to extract something.
Also, where can I find Starmod.exe?

[The E]

Is there any chance we'll get a GUI tool that would replace the datafile.exe

Not from me. If someone wants to write one, I'd be happy to include it, but since the things that a normal user would need to do (decompressing a .dat/creating a new .dat) can be done with a few simple commands, I won't be putting effort into it.

For reference, the commands needed are:
To extract, use
datafile.exe <.dat filename> -ext

And to create a new archive use
datafile.exe <filename of the new archive> -mak

[Dragon]

Hmm, I found this Starmod.exe and it seems to work just like VPview. What's the difference between it and datafile.exe (other than the former having a proper GUI)?

[The E]

Since I don't have the source for starmod, I can't tell you. I do suspect, however, that it will suffer from the same limitations as modfile.exe and old versions of datafile.exe (modfile being a dumbed-down version of datafile), namely the inability to create archives with more than 4096 files.

[Dragon]

A command line tool for making packs is fine, and Starmod seems to work for extracting. I guess that's it for now.

[jr2]

Would it be easier for someone to make a Front-end for the command line tool?  I know I use D-Fend for DOSBox and I've used several other frontends before (for Contig, and MediaCoder is just one big frontend for a bunch of tools).