Guide to RTC Structure/Editing (old RTC versions)

andyboy_uk · Post by **andyboy_uk** » Tue Apr 29, 2003 5:02 pm

Edit by Beowuuf:
Guide link:
Editing guide (updated 24 June 2005) Word Format
Object list:
http://www.eyedomain.co.uk/RTC_Object_Guide_v.0.1.doc

[edit]
Many Thanks to Ameena for updating spelling, punctuation and also adding some additions, I have just uploaded the latest editing guide as it was sent to me and altered the link.

Cheers Ameena
[/edit]

First Up,

Hello everybody, Im Andy, and I love RTC and the DM/CSB Games, I already know the Chief and have been playing his dungeon (in between trying to complete CSB at the same time). I am looking into creating my own little dungeon (having seen the Cheif's grand efforts) and was wondering.

Is there a list of all the different triggers/dungeon features available in RTC or maybe a tutorial on how to edit the RTC maps with examples of each, I found THE ZOO as a great example (thanks Chief) but there must be some sort of core list.

Alternativley, are the RTC files for the original dungeons available (or are they kept under wraps?)

Thanks in advance for any helpRTC

PicturesInTheDark · Post by **PicturesInTheDark** » Tue Apr 29, 2003 5:04 pm

As far as I know George explicitly advised not to give out the original txt files once you post a dungeon

Regards, PitD

George Gilbert · Post by **George Gilbert** » Tue Apr 29, 2003 5:20 pm

The TXT files for the original dungeons *are* available (in fact they're included in with the download in the \Modules directory along with the zoo and several other example dungeons I created!). If you have a look at them then they should give you a good clue as to what objects are available and how to use them.

They don't constitute an exhaustive list though; I'm currently working on compiling one of them and will post a copy once I get some free time to finish it off!

andyboy_uk · Post by **andyboy_uk** » Tue Apr 29, 2003 6:00 pm

Thanks for the info, I will have a look when I get home

@George: I have sent you a private message here and one to the email address that is on the ragingmole website, just in case you havent seen it.

Thanks again

beowuuf · Post by **beowuuf** » Tue Apr 29, 2003 10:50 pm

*Waves hello in passing*

A definitive guide would be welcome, some of us haven't tried to look into the engine to get ideas for attrubutes : )

andyboy_uk · Post by **andyboy_uk** » Tue Apr 29, 2003 11:31 pm

Im working on it now

Will let you know as soon as I have something down.

I really need to get hold of George to ask a couple of questions. Im looking at the items section of a dungeon and I get

uniqueId, itemType,

then are the 3 number columns X, Y, LEVEL or have I got something wrong,

then its FACING and then the attributes, of which I have found

TEXT, OPBY, ACTION, TARGET, HOLDS, TYPE, SHOOTS, CHARGE, STATE, STRENGTH, DESTINATION, HEALTH, GENERATES, CARRYING, NUMBER..

and I have barely even started yet to work out all teh possible values, George may be able to extract them from the code of the engine, but I havent managed to talk to him yet.

Wish me luck,

chiefy · Post by **chiefy** » Wed Apr 30, 2003 2:16 am

I particularly like the warnings and critical errors that are listed into a notepad for you each time your RTC is run

these are actually superbly helpful and are so good when you first start editing dungeons because they will literally tell you what's happening

by the time I had finished my chiefydungeon the notepad containing my warnings had actually risen like a tidal wave and was no longer able to FIT into notepad

no kidding, my warnings created come out into WORD PAD everytime - WOW what a list of warnings

andyboy_uk · Post by **andyboy_uk** » Wed Apr 30, 2003 11:45 am

Phew, Well after a bit of work last night I have extracted every individual item type from the CSB and DM text files and have produced a list of all of the parameters that are associated with each type of object (and a list of values that I have found in them). I am becoming increasingly impressed by the RTC engine.

Ive started writing it all down to produce a guide to editing RTC dungeons.

Will keep you informed on how I get on in this thread (that is if anyone is interested). And it's ok by you george?

Post by **Gambit37** » Wed Apr 30, 2003 12:11 pm

Keep up the good work!

I have plans to open a site devoted to RTC editing called "Constructor of Chaos" which will be a sub domain of my Dungeon Master Codex site. If you really get in to RTC editing, perhaps you would consider helping out on it? It won't be for a few months mind...

andyboy_uk · Post by **andyboy_uk** » Wed Apr 30, 2003 1:06 pm

Hi Gambit,

Yeah, I'd be interested in helping out with that (depending on what you want done that is - I have a full time job and a couple of projects on the go at the moment as it is

) - I can code VB/ASP with DATABASES for web pages althought my web design skills are not exactly great. I can make things work, but I cant make them look nice

Let me get this editing document together first, I have something else up my sleeve as well, but I need to get in touch with George first.

Name suggestion:
Chaos Forge (or The Chaos Forge)

But I like the name you have anyway..

I'll be continuing to rip the RTC Engine TXT files to shreds later tonight when I get home..

PicturesInTheDark · Post by **PicturesInTheDark** » Wed Apr 30, 2003 3:59 pm

I was actually referring to RTC dungeons additionally made beyond the ones provided with RTC, like Sophia's "Reactor", in which case I find it understandable that the *.txt is not included.

Regards, PitD

andyboy_uk · Post by **andyboy_uk** » Wed Apr 30, 2003 4:48 pm

NOthing to worry about PitD, I was not going to distribute the TXT files for any dungeon at all, I was just after informaiton on what the engine can handle. I am now extracting this from the DM_Original.txt and CSB.txt files that are supplied with RTC.

I must have a look at this "Reactor" dungeon, I have heard a lot about it but never downloaded it, is it an RTC dungeon?

Post by **Gambit37** » Wed Apr 30, 2003 5:17 pm

@andyboy, in terms of helping out, you wouldn't need to worry about the web design side of things, I'd take care of all that.

I'm thinking more along the lines of writing documentation, coding examples, etc. So there could be a section on all the objects and their parameters, another on how to make certain traps, how to create new sounds and monsters, how to replace interface elements, how to build wallsets, etc...

I've already got experience of some of this, but won't be in a position to do anything with it for a few months. But if you're willing to make your discoveries public, they can all be included on the site. You'll get full credits of course. That goes for anyone else who wnats to help out too!

My main reasons for doing this are to have a central location for all the RTC developments, and a show-off page for when I start to build my Dungeon Master Plus dungeon (replacements of everything in the game, kind of like Cowsmanaut has done, but different...)

Oh, and yes, Reactor is a RTC dungeon. You can download it from the Encylopedia Dungeon Uploads forum, which I can't seem to access at the moment...

beowuuf · Post by **beowuuf** » Wed Apr 30, 2003 5:35 pm

As of 4.34pm the encyclopaedia is still not letting us in
Maybe we shouldn't have complained about its loading on it? We may have hurt its feelings...

andyboy_uk · Post by **andyboy_uk** » Wed Apr 30, 2003 6:27 pm

Yep sounds good, the idea of this document is to make public anyway so you are all more than welcome to it.

I will post it up when I get a bit further, so that you guys and gals can check it over for me..

Do you have an IRC channel running at all, Im normally on blitzed.org on a couple of channels there. If people have dedicated servers at home, someone could register a room (free) and put one of the IRC clients on a webpage for dungeon master, just a suggestion.

Unfortunatley, until my wireless router and net cards arrive, im stuck on a non dedicated effort at the moment.

@Gambit: What I normally do when I do website stuff, is get the designer (thats say is you) to send me a template of what the site looks like with a big area saying something liek PUT THE OUTPUT HERE in it and I can get the pages to work like that, havent done any PHP tho im afraid, so it does sort of depend on what server you are hosting on to whether I can help with teh coding stuff, but anything I produce about RTC, will be going public anyway.

George Gilbert · Post by **George Gilbert** » Thu May 01, 2003 10:37 am

Repling up a couple of posts: Andy / Gambit - It's more than OK to construct an editing guide; it's a great idea.

I'm in the midst of compiling up a full list of items and basic attributes (but it sounds like you might have beaten me to it ;-) but things like how to put certain combinations of items together (e.g. shooters and self-triggering relays) to creater composite objects and puzzles would be fantastic.

If you have any questions, please just ask!

Post by **Ameena** » Thu May 01, 2003 10:58 am

(I finally get round to posting something on this site, woo)
Anyway, this upcoming list people seem to be working on sounds good

I might even try to make a dungeon myself, since I suppose the main reason I haven't done so yet is basically it all seems so complicated. Not that it's particularly difficult to make a dungeon, I mean, but more the fact that if I wanted to I'd have to scroll through the DM or CSB files to see if I could find the command I wanted to use or whatever, but since someone's making a list of that (whoever gets done first hehe), I might consider actually making one, since I can come up with ideas for puzzles etc fast if I can get the motivation to actually make them

This is most cool, anyhow...I love creating maps in other games (in the past I've made my own levels in Age of Empires, Heroes of Might and Magic III, and I wish that either Dungeon Keeper had had a map editor), and look forward to the day when I can produce something playable for DM

Hopefully one day someone will invent one with like click-and-drag icon thingys or whatever and an actual pic of the map you are creating, but until that day I'll see what I can do with this

Oh, and to anyone who isn't already familiar with me from the other site, all my posts end up as big long waffly things like this lol

andyboy_uk · Post by **andyboy_uk** » Thu May 01, 2003 11:35 am

Well another night of tearing those text files apart, Ive got all the objects now and I think, with a bit more work a way of working out what parameters they can take. Although, I didnt do as much work on it last night as I got watching Mad Max on the TV.

What I could really do with (looks in Georges direction) is a way to extract the graphics for the items and their friendly names from the id. ie. Get the graphic for WEAPON_AXE and the name "Axe", is this stored in a data file that is a part of RTC or is it built into the engine?

@George: Did you find the private message/email that I sent you (if you look to teh top of the page, it should say you have a new message, forgive me if you are too busy to answer it at the moment.

George Gilbert · Post by **George Gilbert** » Thu May 01, 2003 12:19 pm

The correlation between UniqueID (e.g. WEAPON_AXE), display name (e.g. AXE), icon, dungeon graphics and properties for each object are all stored in objects.dat (i.e. not hard-coded into the main game, but neither are they easily accesible). I'm seriously considering knocking out an API to the data files with functions such as:

int GetUniqueIDNoFromUniqueIDString(char * UniqueIDString);
char * GetDisplayNameFromUniqueID(int);
DIB *GetIconFromUniqueID(int)

etc etc.

Which will allow people to use all the graphics in an editor. It kinda depends on the demand and how much free time I get!

George Gilbert · Post by **George Gilbert** » Thu May 01, 2003 12:20 pm

P.S. Andy - yes I did get your message(s) but am being hopeless about replying quickly ;-)

andyboy_uk · Post by **andyboy_uk** » Thu May 01, 2003 1:01 pm

@ George - Hmm, ok, I dont suppose you have the raw graphics that you used to create those DAT files, or are they the original ones that come with the game, if so, I will have a hunt round for a way to extract the info I need.

George Gilbert · Post by **George Gilbert** » Thu May 01, 2003 1:34 pm

Thery're pretty close to the originals, although there are some minor variations. The big change is that they're all double size...

If you go with the ones extracted from DM though then you won't be far wrong!

andyboy_uk · Post by **andyboy_uk** » Thu May 01, 2003 2:02 pm

Ive just extracted the DM ones (at work - a bit naughty) but I have some color problems, will try a different extractor, then I will do the CSB ones.

They look mainly alright

The dragon is bright orange tho.

Post by **Gambit37** » Thu May 01, 2003 2:11 pm

that's due to the palette limitations of DM. I can send you the correctly manipulated images if you like, both for DM and CSB?

andyboy_uk · Post by **andyboy_uk** » Thu May 01, 2003 2:23 pm

That would be great, I need all the graphics from the games including Creatures, Items.

I have just sent an email to the person who runs the DM/CSB Encyclopidia asking if I can use the images on their site, but havent recieved a reply yet,

I have sent you my email address in a private message

[edit] I think I sent it more than onece, it didnt tell me it was a success or not, hmm, sorry, there are actually 2 different messages with the same thing and one other about something else, but none have titles, so you best check em all :S sorry about that Gambit [/edit]

Note to site op (cow), when you submit a prv message on teh forum, it doesnt say , well done, its gone, or nope, didnt work, it just drops you back at the entry screen, anything that can be done about that#?

Post by **Gambit37** » Thu May 01, 2003 3:07 pm

I have no new messages

Guess it doesn't work! Just email me at my hotmail address which you can get by clicking on the profile icon.

andyboy_uk · Post by **andyboy_uk** » Thu May 01, 2003 3:16 pm

Will do. Thanks

Post by **Gambit37** » Thu May 01, 2003 3:17 pm

I checked the administration page, and something to do with email was turned off, so I've now enabled it. I'll do a test to see if it works.

Post by **Gambit37** » Thu May 01, 2003 3:20 pm

Well, I sent a private message to myself which seemed to work ok, but the "You have no new messages" text at the top of the page didn't change, so I guess something's not quite right with the forum... I'll check the phpBB support site to see if it's a known problem. In the mean time, use the hotmail address as advised.

andyboy_uk · Post by **andyboy_uk** » Thu May 01, 2003 3:21 pm

I'll try again then.

aha, i found the problem. it requires a subject to be specified. but you cant read that message because it is black text on a blakc background.

I think its a style sheet change.

PM'd you now anyway

ta

[edit] got youre email, thanks for that gambit. [/edit]

Is there a program I can use that will double the size of a whole load of pictures (namley the item graphics from teh Encyclopidia website), they are really small. I guess I could stretch them in Word. will try it when I get home.

Dungeon Master Forum

Guide to RTC Structure/Editing (old RTC versions)

Guide to RTC Structure/Editing (old RTC versions)

Working on it now

thanks for the kind words Andy!

Working away on a definitive guide

If there is anything I can do

More Progress...