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General FreeSpace => FreeSpace Discussion => Topic started by: Krackers87 on March 22, 2004, 10:35:09 pm

Title: Freespace 2 Refrence Guide V .2 (Beta)
Post by: Krackers87 on March 22, 2004, 10:35:09 pm: I have updated the FS2RG and have decided to rerelease it.

Fixes from .1:

Blank pages bug fixed.
Addition of Details column in the report (not quite working yet :doubt: )
Fixed missing entries bug in the reports.

What needs to be changed:
Info needs to be added to most of the ships
Details column needs fixin

Possible changes in the future:
Conversion to standalone .exe (requires me to recode in Vbasic :blah: )
Addition of Freespace 1 ships
Addition of other campaigns info
Creation of a switch to select wich campaign(s) to create a report on.

For those of you who dont know what this is, it is an easy to use database created from the information on Sandwhich's FS2 info sheet thingy.

Currently its coded in .mdb which means if you dont have MS Acess you need to install runtimes to use it. Now.. to me this doesent seem like such a big deal but some people go crazy that "OMG!!! MS is installing stuff on my computer!!! Arrgghh get it off!!" :doubt:

Anyways, i made this to create an easy to use refrence to quickly find the informtion you need on a specific class, race, mission appeared in, name, etc... of a ship. Then the database creates a report based on the fields you selected and displays the information for you.

This is currently Beta, which means it has bugs and some stuff aint workin but it is still helpful in quite a few ways.

Any input/sudgestions/bug reports would be greatly apreciated :)

Downloads:

Freespace 2 Refrence Guide (http://hades-combine.com/projectcentre/fs2rg/FreeSpace2RG.zip)

.mdb runtimes (http://hades-combine.com/projectcentre/fs2rg/MDAC_TYP.EXE)

Can this pls get stickied?
Title: Freespace 2 Refrence Guide V .2 (Beta)
Post by: Xelion on March 22, 2004, 10:59:42 pm: Cool, haven't seen this guide since v1 when it was released. Spelling error on font page:

Quote
Addition of info column to report (not yuet working)

should be

Addition of info column to report (not yet working)

nothing else AFAIK :D
Title: Freespace 2 Refrence Guide V .2 (Beta)
Post by: Xelion on March 22, 2004, 11:03:18 pm: Just noticed u used SQL, what version of VB did u use?
Title: Freespace 2 Refrence Guide V .2 (Beta)
Post by: Krackers87 on March 22, 2004, 11:06:15 pm: its not VB

i used Microsoft Acces

i have to convert it in VB to make it an exe eventually.

And i know the info colomn should be working but i need my mum to help me w/ that since im baffled, and shes asleep.
Title: Freespace 2 Refrence Guide V .2 (Beta)
Post by: .::Tin Can::. on April 01, 2004, 10:37:08 pm: wait, I got the plugins and everything installed, but, what program do I choose from the list? I cant find it!

Where is Microsoft Access because I dont have it at all.
Title: Freespace 2 Refrence Guide V .2 (Beta)
Post by: Ferret on April 02, 2004, 12:02:38 am: It's part of MS Office.
Title: Freespace 2 Refrence Guide V .2 (Beta)
Post by: Drew on April 02, 2004, 12:44:03 am: MS office 2003? i dont have it either, and i have the full 3 disk set of office 2000
Title: Freespace 2 Refrence Guide V .2 (Beta)
Post by: kasperl on April 02, 2004, 03:36:16 am: MS office personal doesn't have it, only pro and corporate, IIRC.

and accces is an ugly POS to distribute anything in, IMHO. backwards compatibility is a joke, both ways around. newer versions can't open anything old without converting, and saving backwards, yeah right.
Title: Freespace 2 Refrence Guide V .2 (Beta)
Post by: .::Tin Can::. on April 02, 2004, 04:52:24 pm: So then thats it? We just cant view it? Let's say that we just had a regular computer without anything except XP on it without all those fancy utilities. How would we use the plugins you gave us to view the file?
Title: Freespace 2 Refrence Guide V .2 (Beta)
Post by: Lightspeed on April 02, 2004, 07:00:29 pm: doesnt work for me. .mdb documents suck, anyway :)
Title: Freespace 2 Refrence Guide V .2 (Beta)
Post by: .::Tin Can::. on April 02, 2004, 07:07:10 pm: I just need to figure out how to make it open and then thats that. How did this guy do this exactly?
Title: Freespace 2 Refrence Guide V .2 (Beta)
Post by: jdjtcagle on April 02, 2004, 07:09:05 pm: Go into word or something, click open and find the file
Title: Freespace 2 Refrence Guide V .2 (Beta)
Post by: .::Tin Can::. on April 02, 2004, 07:11:39 pm: Tried that. It just made the entire thing jumbled up squares and stuff. :eek2:

Like this!

C o n n e c t D a t a b a s e D a t e C r e a t e D a t e U p d a t e
F l a g s F o r e i g n N a m e I d L v
L v E x t r a L v M o d u l e
L v P r o p N a m e
O w n e r P a r e n t I d R m t I n f o L o n g R m t I n f o S h o r t T y p e ƒ ÿÿ ÿÿnÿÿ ÿÿiÿÿ ÿÿ ÿÿ ÿÿ ¼Ï¼ � ƒ ÿÿ ÿÿ¼ÿÿÏÿÿ¼ÿÿ ÿÿ¼ÿÿÏÿÿ¼ÿÿ ¼Ï¼ � Y ÿÿÿÿ Y ÿÿÿÿ I d P a r e n t I d N a m e
Title: Freespace 2 Refrence Guide V .2 (Beta)
Post by: kasperl on April 03, 2004, 02:08:52 am: and this is why you use a wiki, HTML, Excel or just plain old tables in word.

or plain text. plain text is perfect.
Title: Freespace 2 Refrence Guide V .2 (Beta)
Post by: .::Tin Can::. on April 03, 2004, 06:56:07 pm: Elaborate a tad clearer please...
Title: Freespace 2 Refrence Guide V .2 (Beta)
Post by: Ghostavo on April 03, 2004, 07:05:04 pm: I downloaded the file and the runtimes and when trying to open the file I get some security warnings... and then when I open any report I get something like this...

(http://www.fattonys.com/images/upload/error1.jpg)

Is this supposed to happen? :confused:
Title: Freespace 2 Refrence Guide V .2 (Beta)
Post by: Ferret on April 04, 2004, 01:34:54 am: Someone try OpenOffice.

[edit]

Right, I tried it in Access (Office 2000). It comes up with this nifty little search box with drop downs, but no matter what I select it screams:
"There was a problem retrieving printer information for this object. The object may have been sent to a printer that in unavailable."

No ****, I don't have a printer on this machine.:yes:
Title: Freespace 2 Refrence Guide V .2 (Beta)
Post by: karajorma on April 04, 2004, 04:45:17 am: Quote
Originally posted by Ferret
Someone try OpenOffice.

Tried it. Got 8000 pages of junk. As I suspected OO doesn't include a database program in the standard download.
Title: Freespace 2 Refrence Guide V .2 (Beta)
Post by: kasperl on April 04, 2004, 04:48:06 am: Idea: just throw the whole mess in the wiki.
Title: Freespace 2 Refrence Guide V .2 (Beta)
Post by: Lightspeed on April 04, 2004, 07:49:39 am: other idea, convert it to something useful.
Title: Freespace 2 Refrence Guide V .2 (Beta)
Post by: Ferret on April 04, 2004, 12:41:06 pm: Na, let's pimp the wiki some more.
Title: Freespace 2 Refrence Guide V .2 (Beta)
Post by: .::Tin Can::. on April 04, 2004, 02:34:46 pm: I say, a simple format that everyone can use without having to download plug-ins, and if you do, then make it so that we dont have to go through so much hassle just to get it put together!
Title: Freespace 2 Refrence Guide V .2 (Beta)
Post by: Taristin on April 04, 2004, 02:48:03 pm: Wasn't there a pdf like this at one time? Sure the data was slightly innacurate, but it was convienient.
Title: Freespace 2 Refrence Guide V .2 (Beta)
Post by: Ferret on April 05, 2004, 04:07:25 am: I usually find PDF inconvenient.
It's only good for the compression it applies, but it's a terrible read.

People should stick PDF to game manuals and the lark, making a file into PDF just because it is, is stupid.
Title: Freespace 2 Refrence Guide V .2 (Beta)
Post by: .::Tin Can::. on April 05, 2004, 10:36:33 am: So... what are we going to do?
Title: Freespace 2 Refrence Guide V .2 (Beta)
Post by: Drew on April 05, 2004, 11:11:42 am: Quote
Originally posted by Lightspeed
other idea, convert it to something useful.

other idea, stick it in the wiki then just press the "save as" button in IE
Title: Freespace 2 Refrence Guide V .2 (Beta)
Post by: .::Tin Can::. on April 05, 2004, 05:14:52 pm: What in the hell is the "wiki"
Title: Freespace 2 Refrence Guide V .2 (Beta)
Post by: karajorma on April 05, 2004, 05:25:05 pm: Click my Installing FS2_open link. You've probably seen the place before.

The difference between a wiki and a website is that anyone can edit a wiki to improve it.
Title: Freespace 2 Refrence Guide V .2 (Beta)
Post by: Lightspeed on April 05, 2004, 05:38:39 pm: If someone Wikifies it i'll be happy.
Title: Freespace 2 Refrence Guide V .2 (Beta)
Post by: Xelion on April 05, 2004, 11:25:05 pm: The reason of having it in a program like MS Access gives you the option of finding information that you only require, this is done quickly and easily. The wiki does not have this option... I know it has a search feature but not an advanced one.

btw Ferret I have Access (Office 2000 Pro) and it works fine :nod:
Title: Freespace 2 Refrence Guide V .2 (Beta)
Post by: kasperl on April 06, 2004, 04:53:54 am: click the link under my name, that is the wiki.

jesus, i told the admins to link it more clearly, i keep saying that.
Title: Freespace 2 Refrence Guide V .2 (Beta)
Post by: karajorma on April 06, 2004, 06:36:00 am: I thought it was agreed that it would go up on the main page directly below the FAQ.
Title: Freespace 2 Refrence Guide V .2 (Beta)
Post by: JarC on April 07, 2004, 01:18:14 pm: oops :o
Title: Freespace 2 Refrence Guide V .2 (Beta)
Post by: JarC on April 09, 2004, 05:03:43 am: so...how do you get access so you can actually edit or add something to this wiki? (just entering an ID as the page says, does not work)
Title: Freespace 2 Refrence Guide V .2 (Beta)
Post by: karajorma on April 09, 2004, 08:20:18 am: Enter JarC as your ID and edit away. You can leave the password blank. Your user name has to be a WikiWord (i.e a word with two capital letters in it).
Title: Freespace 2 Refrence Guide V .2 (Beta)
Post by: .::Tin Can::. on April 09, 2004, 09:41:32 am: Despite what people have been telling me, I still don't know what a wiki is or how to use it... :wtf:
Title: Freespace 2 Refrence Guide V .2 (Beta)
Post by: kasperl on April 09, 2004, 10:49:24 am: CLICK THE LINK UNDER MY NAME TO TAKE YOU TO THE WIKI, CLICK ON THE POSTING GUIDELINES TO GIVE YOU AN EXPLANATION.