.com.unity Forums
  The Official e-Store of Shrapnel Games

This Month's Specials

BCT Commander- Save $8.00
winSPWW2- Save $5.00

   







Go Back   .com.unity Forums > Shrapnel Community > Space Empires: IV & V

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1  
Old August 14th, 2006, 01:39 PM
Urendi Maleldil's Avatar

Urendi Maleldil Urendi Maleldil is offline
Major
 
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: New York, NY
Posts: 1,066
Thanks: 1
Thanked 1 Time in 1 Post
Urendi Maleldil is on a distinguished road
Default How do you Generate Data Files w/ Excel?

I'm not an Excel guru, but I'll use anything that will make creating mod data files faster and easier. I know people have used Excel to build some of the great mods out there.

How did you transfer Excel data into an SE4 text file?
__________________
Ken vs. The City

-Km :�
Reply With Quote
  #2  
Old August 14th, 2006, 04:17 PM
PvK's Avatar

PvK PvK is offline
National Security Advisor
 
Join Date: Dec 1999
Posts: 8,806
Thanks: 54
Thanked 33 Times in 31 Posts
PvK is on a distinguished road
Default Re: How do you Generate Data Files w/ Excel?

Manually. I have used Excel, but mainly to figure out formulas, make balance and other calculations, and see my data side by side. Then I manually put the data into the mod files.

In other game projects I have used Excel as a template for game data, saving it as .CSV files and then programming the game to interpret the .CSV files. But I don't know how, or even if it's possible without coding a plugin, to get Excel to output in the correct format for SE4 to read.

Some other modders may have come up with clever labor-saving techniques using Excel which I don't know about. I try to use Excel only to the point where it starts becoming more work than it's worth, which for me is pretty quickly. Since Excel puts data in cells where it is annoying to see and edit, I find it to be extremely error prone and aggravating to try to do anything too complex with it. I do find it useful though for quickly doing calculations and stuff.

PvK
Reply With Quote
  #3  
Old August 14th, 2006, 04:40 PM
Fyron's Avatar

Fyron Fyron is offline
Shrapnel Fanatic
 
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Southern CA, USA
Posts: 18,394
Thanks: 0
Thanked 12 Times in 10 Posts
Fyron is an unknown quantity at this point
Default Re: How do you Generate Data Files w/ Excel?

It is definitely possible; Val used an Excel workbook with plenty of macros to generate the data files for B5 Mod directly. Unfortunately, I have lost my copy of this file.
__________________
It's not whether you win or lose that counts: it's how much pain you inflict along the way.
--- SpaceEmpires.net --- RSS --- SEnet ModWorks --- SEIV Modding 101 Tutorial
--- Join us in the #SpaceEmpires IRC channel on the Freenode IRC network.
--- Due to restrictively low sig limits, you must visit this link to view the rest of my signature.
Reply With Quote
  #4  
Old August 14th, 2006, 05:40 PM
Azselendor's Avatar

Azselendor Azselendor is offline
First Lieutenant
 
Join Date: May 2003
Location: Gettysburg Sector
Posts: 785
Thanks: 7
Thanked 5 Times in 5 Posts
Azselendor is on a distinguished road
Default Re: How do you Generate Data Files w/ Excel?

It's not hard to make one at all, I made one once to see it it was possible. I'll have to dig it out again.
__________________
@Azselendor #BoldlyGoing
/ Space Empires // Orlando Pest Control
Reply With Quote
  #5  
Old August 14th, 2006, 09:25 PM
geoschmo's Avatar

geoschmo geoschmo is offline
National Security Advisor
 
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: Ohio
Posts: 8,450
Thanks: 0
Thanked 4 Times in 1 Post
geoschmo is on a distinguished road
Default Re: How do you Generate Data Files w/ Excel?

I've done it before, it's not that hard. You can save the excel spreadsheet as a tab-delineated text file (Excel does this by default when saving as a text file), then open the text file using word or some other file editor and do a find/replace and replace all the Tab characters with spaces. You can do the same thing saving it as a .csv file and replace the commas with spaces, but some of the descriptions might have commas in them. There is no place in any SE4 data file where a Tab character belongs.

It won't look exactly like a Se4 data file, but Se4 ignores spaces for the most part and just looks for the := to know where the values begin. If yo uplay with it some you can add spaces in the appropriate places and make it line up like a regular SE4 data file
__________________
I used to be somebody but now I am somebody else
Who I'll be tomorrow is anybody's guess
Reply With Quote
  #6  
Old August 15th, 2006, 09:48 AM
Xrati's Avatar

Xrati Xrati is offline
First Lieutenant
 
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Outter Glazbox
Posts: 760
Thanks: 12
Thanked 4 Times in 4 Posts
Xrati is on a distinguished road
Default Re: How do you Generate Data Files w/ Excel?

Here's an old excel spreadsheet that I downloaded a long time ago. It may be a little help in what you want to do. I've never used it so I don't know if it's what your looking for.
Attached Files
File Type: xls 438620-SE4 Modder Workbook.xls (206.5 KB, 206 views)
Reply With Quote
  #7  
Old August 15th, 2006, 03:14 PM

bearclaw bearclaw is offline
Captain
 
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: Prince George BC, Canada
Posts: 840
Thanks: 0
Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts
bearclaw is on a distinguished road
Default Re: How do you Generate Data Files w/ Excel?

I use Excel to pre-visualize what I'm doing in a mod. lay out all the stats and such in a format that allows me to quickly see all versions of an item and adjust accordingly. Once done, I manually create the appropriate item. End result is that I have an Excel file that lists everything in the mod in an easy to read format that others can quickly read.
__________________
Nick (bearclaw)
You don't know the Power of the Dark Side. I must obey my Master.
Potestatem obscuri lateris nescitis
A+ Se+++ GdY $++ Fr- C+ Csp Sf* AuO M++ MpTFdAM St RTNH Pw++ Fq++ Nd++ Rp++ G++ Mm++ Bb++ L+ Tcp-
Reply With Quote
  #8  
Old August 15th, 2006, 05:06 PM
Urendi Maleldil's Avatar

Urendi Maleldil Urendi Maleldil is offline
Major
 
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: New York, NY
Posts: 1,066
Thanks: 1
Thanked 1 Time in 1 Post
Urendi Maleldil is on a distinguished road
Default Re: How do you Generate Data Files w/ Excel?

That's what I'm doing now for my next mod. It would just be easier if there was an automated way to get the data from the spreadsheet into a SE4 text file without doing it by hand or slogging through a hundred entries in DavidG's modder.
__________________
Ken vs. The City

-Km :�
Reply With Quote
Reply

Bookmarks

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is On

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -4. The time now is 05:05 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.1
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Copyright ©1999 - 2024, Shrapnel Games, Inc. - All Rights Reserved.