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I think i give you double trouble i do new addon is called "Nova Terra Pack" in zip file, and i send today too for motherlode

"These are all new special textures for Nova Terra Planet.
Now Nova Terra looks much better than orginal."

I think you don't find mistakes:

No white spaces in names of files.
And i think readme is ok.

Sorry for trouble, and my english

BobHegwood you can fix all white spaces, my addon work fine after i do this so no problem do this.
If you find name of file like this (lol rofl) fix like this (lolrofl) simple.

Milosz21 wrote:Sorry for trouble, and my english

BobHegwood you can fix all white spaces, my addon work fine after i do this so no problem do this.
If you find name of file like this (lol rofl) fix like this (lolrofl) simple.

Thanks my friend...
Your English is one hell of a lot better than any other language which I might try to speak, so don't worry about that. I'll see what I can do with the packages as I get them. We are now - for some strange reason - getting TONS of add-ons. Could it be that everyone is out of school? Whew... You people are wearing me out now, and I don't even have a job to worry about. Hee, hee.

Milos?

Here's the main problem with your package...

I have managed to convert all of the folder names, file names, model names, etc in order to conform to the rules of a good add-on which should be compatible with all systems.

However, there remains one problem which *I* simply do not have the ability to repair.
Your beautiful models (The Defiant, the Relay47, and the Voyager) are all 3ds files which are calling textures from a textures\medres directory. This is fine, but the actual textures used are ALL named using upper-case letters. This also includes the filename extensions. In other words, the Defiant.3ds file is calling for a texture called "GNLIGHT.JPG" as well as many, MANY other textures named in the same way.

Now I can certainly rename all of these textures to a lower-case naming scheme, but this does not change the fact that the 3ds files are still calling for an upper-case texture by name. In order to repair this, I would have to be able to modify each of these 3ds files in order to have them call all lower-case filenames.

This, I simply cannot do with the expertise which is needed. If we were only talking about a single texture or two, I could probably modify the 3ds files using Anim8or, but this is my ONLY 3ds tool, and there is just no way I can modify each of these beautiful models without screwing them up.

EDIT: Never mind the above... See posts later in this thread and THANKS VERY MUCH to Paul for his suggestions below.

BobHegwood wrote:In order to repair this, I would have to be able to modify each of these 3ds files in order to have them call all lower-case filenames.

Bob,

I think you can do it quite easily. Just open a 3ds file by a text editor. Most of text editors have option, which is usually called "replace". You can write there an old texture file name (uppercase letters) and a new texture file name (lowercase letters) and text editor should automaticaly replace the name of the texture file in all places in the code of 3ds file.
I hope it will help.

Paul

Oops...

Never mind my previous message. I see that you are using Jestr's models, and that these are already listed on the Motherlode using this naming scheme. Sorry, but I guess this was done before I started testing all of the add-ons. In fact, I'm sure that it was.

Any ideas of what to do here from some of you other geniuses? I cannot deny Milos' add-on if we already have other add-ons which have the same problem can I?

SU(3)xSU(2)xU(1) wrote:

BobHegwood wrote:In order to repair this, I would have to be able to modify each of these 3ds files in order to have them call all lower-case filenames.

Bob,

I think you can do it quite easily. Just open a 3ds file by a text editor. Most of text editors have option, which is usually called "replace". You can write there an old texture file name (uppercase letters) and a new texture file name (lowercase letters) and text editor should automaticaly replace the name of the texture file in all places in the code of 3ds file.
I hope it will help.

Paul

Hey thanks a lot Paul... To quote my English mother, "Yer a real Brick!" That's a compliment by the way.
That reminds me also that I can actually create an ASCII CMOD file too. This would be very easy to convert. Hmmm...

Never mind all of the above Milos. Let me give it another try here. Methinks that we're almost there now.

SU(3)xSU(2)xU(1) wrote:Bob,

I think you can do it quite easily. Just open a 3ds file by a text editor. Most of text editors have option, which is usually called "replace". You can write there an old texture file name (uppercase letters) and a new texture file name (lowercase letters) and text editor should automaticaly replace the name of the texture file in all places in the code of 3ds file.
I hope it will help.

Paul

Unfortunately, I get only a garbled binary mess when I open a 3ds file in this manner. Haven't found a program I can use (while in the binary mode) which will allow a find and replace yet.

I have converted the defiant.3ds model to an ASCII cmod format, and I have found/replaced all of the texture references in this file using Notepad2.

However, now I have another problem. The resulting ASCII cmod is 20+ MB in size, and I doubt that anyone wants a model file of that size in their Celestia installation.
So...
My question now becomes how do I either create a binary cmod from an existing ASCII cmod, or how do I convert the ASCII cmod back into a 3ds file? I have tried to use the 3dstocmod converter to "fix" the cmod and output it as a binary cmod, but the program keeps crashing after a brief interval. I can do the opposite okay, but I simply cannot create a binary file from this particular cmod.
In other words, I can create an ASCII cmod from a binary cmod, but I cannot for the life of me go the other way. Is there a solution to this? Is this particular problem due to the size of the file here?

Is there some other way to modify the 3ds file itself? I have tried ALL of the programs I thought might work here, but to no avail. Notepad2, Wordpad, Notepad, etc.
Any other suggestions here?

Thanks, Brain-Dead

Bob,

You can use cmodfix to translate between binary and ascii CMOD files. Don't you already do this sometimes?

Binary CMODs are smaller than ASCII CMODs, but larger than 3DS files.
However, Celestia's framerate is about 1.5x as fast when drawing a CMOD model than when drawing the equivalent 3DS model.

p.s.
The command to translate ascii to binary is

replace "input" by the name of the ascii file
replace "output" by the name of the binary file.

selden wrote:Bob,

You can use cmodfix to translate between binary and ascii CMOD files. Don't you already do this sometimes?

Binary CMODs are smaller than ASCII CMODs, but larger than 3DS files.
However, Celestia's framerate is about 1.5x as fast when drawing a CMOD model than when drawing the equivalent 3DS model.

p.s.
The command to translate ascii to binary is

Code: Select all

cmodfix --binary input.cmod output.cmod


replace "input" by the name of the ascii file
replace "output" by the name of the binary file.

This is what I tried to do, Selden, but it caused my system to go BLOOEY!
I will try again, but in a more careful manner. I'll let you know what I get here shortly.

As always, thanks very much for your help.

BobHegwood wrote:Unfortunately, I get only a garbled binary mess when I open a 3ds file in this manner.

Bob,

I also get such a binary mess, when I open a 3ds file by my text editor, but this mess always contains somewhere the name of the texture file. I can find it with my text editor (Notepad) using option "find...".

Paul

Still no joy here, Selden. I don't know why, and my Vista system gives me NO reason or codes for the failure, but the cmodfix.exe program simply refuses to work, and closes immediately.
This occurs whether I'm trying to accomplish this task via the command line route, or with the GUI wrapper which is also available. For whatever reason, I simply cannot revert an ASCII file back to a Binary file. This is very strange since - as I stated earlier - I CAN convert a Binary file into an ASCII file.

SU(3)xSU(2)xU(1) wrote:

BobHegwood wrote:Unfortunately, I get only a garbled binary mess when I open a 3ds file in this manner.

Bob,

I also get such a binary mess, when I open a 3ds file by my text editor, but this mess always contains somewhere the name of the texture file. I can find it with my text editor (Notepad) using option "find...".

Paul

I appreciate this advice, Paul, but it makes it VERY much harder to convert the file names in this manner. I may have to do this after all though. See my posts above.
The other part of this problem lies in the fact that there are MANY textures to accommodate in this particular 3ds file, and I'm just too damned old and grumpy to do this unless I absolutely have to do this.

Unfortunately, it's starting to look as if I am going to HAVE TO... Sigh...

However, there remains one problem which *I* simply do not have the ability to repair.
Your beautiful models (The Defiant, the Relay47, and the Voyager) are all 3ds files which are calling textures from a textures\medres directory.

You can delete this spaceships if this is to much trouble for you, no problem man.
About star sytem i want see this work, no stars no fun.

Okay, one more stupid question here...

I went through the 3ds file as Paul suggested, and changed ALL of the references to JPG files to the lower-case equivalents.
Now how do I save the file so that it remains a binary file? NO clue from me. I have tried everything I can think of, and I end up with a 3ds file which no longer works. I also tried NOT to add any type of formatting or other extraneous information, so now what am I doing wrong?

Man, if I ever wanted to learn about 3ds files, THIS is the place. Sigh...

Also, just for you other (perhaps slightly Brain-Dead) types out there, I found a very nice freeware utility called "Febooti fileTweak Case" which is available HERE. This utility runs on my Vista installation, but I did have to run the installer as an "XP-Compatible" program in order to get it to work correctly in Windows Explorer. This is a very nice tool because it allows you to right-click on any folder name, and then to define what you'd like to do the file names found within that particular folder.

Another useful utility, which saved me HOURS of hand-typing new, lower-case file names and extensions.
I think I need a drink now.

Bob, I have a solution for ya. Albeit cumbersom (depending on how many textures).
I just tried this and it works.
Open a 3ds file with Edit Pad Lite - http://www.editpadlite.com/
Make it so it always opens these type files.
Find the texture names.
Change uppercase to lowercase, close, click yes to save.
Change files in texture\medres to lowercase also.
Just tried it with the Vulcan Shuttle from the Motherload and it still works
Tim

fungun wrote:Bob, I have a solution for ya. Albeit cumbersom (depending on how many textures).
I just tried this and it works.
Open a 3ds file with Edit Pad Lite - http://www.editpadlite.com/
Make it so it always opens these type files.
Find the texture names.
Change uppercase to lowercase, close, click yes to save.
Change files in texture\medres to lowercase also.
Just tried it with the Vulcan Shuttle from the Motherload and it still works
Tim

Hell, I've already done it three times... I guess once more won't kill me.
Appreciate the tip here, Tim. Thanks, Bob

Well I'll be damned...

Thanks very much for that link, Tim. Worked perfectly and saved the 3ds model back into a binary format with no questions asked.
The reason I was getting tired was because there were a total of 48 textures referenced within the .3ds file itself, and these all had to be modified to lower-case. In addition, I had to modify these same 48 texture file names in the textures\medres directory. This was a piece of cake however when using the utility I referenced in an earlier post.

Happy Bob now...

Let me guess though... Now I'm going to have to convert every model and texture currently residing on the Motherlode. Right?
To Hell with it. I'm tired and I've had quite enough for one day.

Milos? We WILL have your add-on posted in the next few days. Now that I know how to modify the things I need to modify, we should be able to get your add-ons placed on the catalog shortly.

I'm still very curious as to why I could NOT modify the 3ds file correctly using Notepad, Notepad2, WordPad, or any number of other text editors though...
Must be another of those famous Vista quirks.

Nasty is Patiently waiting for addon

Sorry to kick in that late, but I just now read this thread.
Bob, you don't have to edit every 3ds file to change texture names to all lower case just to make it work under Linux! A texture called MY_TEXTURE.JPG is just fine, also on Linux!

What matters is, that the name in the 3ds file is the same as the name of the texture file. If the 3ds file references a texture called "MY_TEXTURE.JPG" then the actual texture file should be in textures/medres/MY_TEXTURE.JPG

There's one catch though: Some versions of Windows did not always show you the true name (case) of a file. (I only vaguely remember the details, VISTA surprisingly does not seem to be affected)

steffens

steffens wrote:Bob, you don't have to edit every 3ds file to change texture names to all lower case just to make it work under Linux! A texture called MY_TEXTURE.JPG is just fine, also on Linux!
What matters is, that the name in the 3ds file is the same as the name of the texture file. If the 3ds file references a texture called "MY_TEXTURE.JPG" then the actual texture file should be in textures/medres/MY_TEXTURE.JPG
There's one catch though: Some versions of Windows did not always show you the true name (case) of a file. (I only vaguely remember the details, VISTA surprisingly does not seem to be affected)
steffens

Thanks for the information here Steffens, but it really does not matter. I would do this anyway now simply to minimize the possibility of problems on other systems too. I have noticed that some systems (for whatever reasons) will NOT use a file extension if it is in capital letters. Also, there are the problems associated with blank spaces in file names, as well as special characters which do different things on different systems.

Since I have now managed to figure out finally how to repair ANY of these problems, I am going to do this for my friend Milos' add-ons, and then we'll post it on the ML and see what actually happens when different users give it a try.

I actually think that all of this work is very beneficial to all of us here, so I really don't mind this education for the "Brain-Dead Bozo Windows" user.