Exult Forum

Hiya.. I'm interested (VERY interested, actually.) In the map editing features of Exult Studios, and am currently trying to get it to work. I have a few questions.

1) I open the program independantly of most of the programs, and can view the fonts, gumps, sprites, (The special effects sprites, that is.) the faces, but not the shapes, with all the ... everything in the game. It gives me an error. Why is this? I mean, why Shapes, and not everything else? o_O

2) When "opening" a game for editing, which sort of files am I looking for? What is the file extention? Becuase I see a LOT of files. @_@ Sheesh.

3) Which "Snapshot" version would you recommend for using? I have Win98. I would expect (Being a n00b and all.) that I should be using the version which happens to include 98 in the title of the download Link. Am I off in my assumptions?

4) I tried to set up a new egg, (Specifically, a Jukebox Egg.) But I didn't see any "preview" ability that I heard I could use. Where is this preview ability?

5) When attempting to create a monster using an egg, I don't suppose there's an easier way to find the frame right there and then?

6) An odd question... How do I create a "Start position" for the Avatar to start out from? I think I can figure out how to get the party members in his party already, (Via the flags menu, obviously, like we do in the game. No problem there! ^_^ ) However, ... what I'm thinking of, ... is how do you make the Avatar APPEAR like he does in Serpent Isle? He just... flashes in, out of nothing! ... I assume that the "House of the Dead" event is used.

7) And now, something I'm sure we'll all be extremely interested in. Is there a tutorial on coding one's own NPC's? Because I'm checking the screenshots area, and the last two screenshots are indicative of a way to modify what NPC's say. Right now, I'm trying to figure out if that's a global NPC file, such as having ALL NPC interaction code in that one file, or does each NPC have their own file attached to them? (That would just be neat. )


Thanks for your time! ^_^ I really appreciate it, as I'm sure will everybody else.


.. Oh, also, ... a new question just popped into my head. Why is it, that when I was in map editor mode in the latest Exult, (Alt+Ctrl+M in midgame.) when I create a potion, click it to highlight it in red, and press Page up and page down, I'm able to alter it's Z Height, .. yet... after walking away from it a bit, and trying it with other objects, ... the (pageup&pagedown) keys no longer work to alter its Z Height. O_o ... What the heck! o_o

1. Shouldn't give you an error. What does it say?

2. What do you mean exactly? You don't "open" a game for editing, but you start a game and then you start Exult Studio from this game. Files are handled automatically and the kind of files are mentioned in Exult Studios main window.

3. Yes, use the Windows binary (or sometimes called Win32 binary) for both Exult and snapshot. You might want to grab the tools as well.

4. Don't know about a preview ability, please elaborate

5. Again, I don't know what you mean. You drag'n'drop an NPC/Monster shape onto the shape part of the monster-egg window. I wouldn't worry about the frame. And if you really want to start a monster with a specific frame, look at it from the shapes.vga browser.

6. A "start" position is not supported yet. The beginning of SI is usecode controlled (scripted).

7. That is the big usecode issue. Ultima 7 is directed by usecode, some kind of script that is also compiled and not really easy to decipher. It is essentially one big file. But we have tools to transform a bit easier to do scripting to usecode. For that I'd say, download the experimental (even if old and outdated) SF-Island add-on from http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/exul ... p?download (don't use a download manager). You can look at the file usecode.uc to get a glimpse of the scripting language. With ucc.exe from the tools, this script is compiled to usecode. You can make several of these *.uc files and have them transformed into one usecode file on compiling.

8. You did select that shape again, right? You can only alter the location on the map via the keyboard as long as the object is selected (red outline).


Hope this helps a bit

A bit more on 6: In SI, the Avatar doesn't start out in the world. The script that puts him, the ship, and his companions there is actually connected to the rabbit that you see bouncing back and forth.

In BG, the Avatar is where you first see him, but he has a flag set to make him invisible. BG's script starts from a 'usecode' egg that's at the Avatar's location.

I thought SI started with an invisible avatar as well? I remember a bug where the avatar would be briefly visible at the start.

Yeah, I remember that too. The rabbit teleports him, ship and companions to various beaches...

There are three different beaches. One with the rabbit, one with the ship and that triggers the storm, and the real one which also has the ship but doesn't trigger any storm. With the last lightning the Avatar is teleported to the real beach.

If you wish to see the other beaches, just press F3 and check out the two islands west of the start point.

One of those other two beaches also has an Infinity bow at its southern tip. ... Good to know. -_-; *rolls eyes*

So it was connected to the Rabbit. Shoulda known. I'll have to check out the usecode sometime. Thanks.

> So it was connected to the Rabbit. Shoulda known.

That's... not something I would have ever guessed.

There's *always* a rabbit controlling things in the background. *deviouslook*

Darke
(Completely innocent I tell you!)