.ECF Tool

Discussion in 'The Hangar Bay' started by Preston, Mar 6, 2022.

  1. Preston

    Preston Commander

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    I don't think the idea is new, but a search didn't bring any results:

    I was wondering if there is an editor tool for the .ecf files to easily and quickly maintain, merge and mass-change things.

    Is there at least a spec for the .ecf format somewhere? Then I could try to develop such a tool on my own.
     
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  2. ASTIC

    ASTIC Captain

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  3. Preston

    Preston Commander

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    #3
  4. ASTIC

    ASTIC Captain

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    A "diff" and "patch" where very useful after Eleon disable the "config.ecf" funktionality.
    So we can "patch" the ecf files e.g. from ReforgesEden with out own (small) changes in a seperate file.
     
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  5. Preston

    Preston Commander

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    That sounds like a part of the planned merge/compare feature.
    Can you be a little more specific so i can match your imagination with mine?

    diff seems very similar to my compare.
    patch would be a merge with a specific behaviour logic.
     
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  6. Preston

    Preston Commander

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    #6
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  7. zaphodikus

    zaphodikus Captain

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    All the best in your new venture. May the force be with you.
    A lot of people been waiting for a way to more easily create worlds in a single weekend instead of dedicating hours that are better spent actually kicking Zirax buts!
     
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  8. VulcanTourist

    VulcanTourist Lieutenant

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    Rather than make this a standalone entity, perhaps exploit the existing features of Vortex by developing it as a Vortex extension to support the game?

    https://forums.nexusmods.com/index....with-features-comparable-to-those-for-skyrim/

    That would by default also give people an online repository to publish and share "snippets" of ECF syntax. As you already know, the Steam Workshop is not capable of supporting that sort of modding, only all-or-nothing scenarios.
     
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  9. zaphodikus

    zaphodikus Captain

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    So, the elephant in the room for me is this.
    Why does an ECF or a scenario not have a version number that allows it to specify an expiry date?
    Even if we could use vortex, we would still be having to re-run vortex every time a breaking game update got pushed. Which is why I'm more interested in workflow type or scriptable tooling. Vortex would be cool, but it would require a lot more dev work, that seems to not be a priority yet.
     
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  10. Myrmidon

    Myrmidon Rear Admiral

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    @Preston Empyrion tools is a tool that among other things can read ecf files link here. Maybe you would like to talk with @jmcburn who is the developer, and might help you also.
     
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  11. Preston

    Preston Commander

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    Thanks for the hints. I will have a look.
     
    #11
  12. zaphodikus

    zaphodikus Captain

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    Unfortunately I'm only proficient in python, or C++, but if you want a tester, I can do.
     
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  13. Preston

    Preston Commander

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    Thanks for the offer.
    I would assume that testing at the C# level would be a bit difficult anyway since I didn't write down the requirements.
    So you probably wouldn't know what works as intended and what doesn't.

    However, I would be happy to receive information about obvious bugs or unusual error messages during use.
    Especially the correct output in the ecf files is difficult for me to check due to the large number of game elements involved.
     
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  14. zaphodikus

    zaphodikus Captain

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    Yeah, tried to colab last year and build a C# app. I got a bit lost in the language, we also got stuck, because we really wanted to work out how to merge multiple mods and teach the tool the database structure. Which is hard, too hard to do in code. But am still keen to help build a tool that can import or export ECF. Continously updating mod files by hand is mind numbing in the long term. Keep us posted, and no rushing, these things take time.
     
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