You can find the latest Forge Tools here: https://www.sinsofasolarempire.com/downloads.aspx.
Available for download are:
Galaxy Forge - Design your own galaxies. (*included in Forge Tools Bundle and seperately)
Particle Forge - Design your own particle effects. (*included in Forge Tools Bundle and seperately)
Map Converter - Created by Ross Placing. Converters one map version to another. Defaults to converting version 2 to version 3.
Developer Exe - Debugmenu, error reporting, asserts and more for both Sins 1.15 and Entrenchment 1.01 (with some new capabilities). (*included in Forge Tools Bundle)
ConvertData - Convert between binary and text or vice versa for both Sins 1.15 and Entrenchment 1.01. (*included in Forge Tools Bundle)
ConvertXSI - Convert XSI files to the Iron Engine Mesh format. (*included in Forge Tools Bundle)
Reference Data - Text versions of all the Mesh and GameInfo for both Sins 1.15 and Entrenchment 1.01. (*included in Forge Tools Bundle)
Documentation - The original Sins modding docs. (*included in Forge Tools Bundle)
Thank you very much! Now we can get back to work.
both particle forge and galaxy forge immediately crash upon opening in vista. Whats up with that?
They know, and its happening with XP as well. They put up the wrong version, should be a quick fix... I hope...
The version we put up works, but only if you have the dlls. Since most people don't have and shouldn't have to download these particular dlls, we are compiling it in a different mode. Should be up soon.
It should be working now. Sorry about the trouble.
Really, I redownloaded it and it still crashes on start up like before. Do I have to redownload forge tools?
Write me at bfraser@ironcladgames.com and we'll give you test versions until we narrow it down.
And make sure you have .net 2.0 as well.
Blair,
I couldn't get it to work on .NET framework 2.0 SP1
Uninstalled 2.0 SP1 and installed 3.5 SP1 and it fired right up.
So as of right now it is working on .NET framework 3.5 SP1
If that helps.
How do I get forge 3 stuff to appear in entrenchment? they appear in sins 1.15, but not in entrenchment.
BTW I am putting the data in the correct folders in the entrenchment sub-folders ie.. maps for entrenchment go in the galaxy folder in the entrenchment.What am i missing
Edit: They should go in the regular galaxy folder, not the user galaxy folder and have the manifest updated (if Entrenchment).
If you are making a mod however, they would go in the mod's galaxy directory and you would them to the appropriate manifest file.
Please post your operating system and service packs and .net installs if you can or can't run the galaxy forge and / or particle forge.
Windows XP Service Pack 2 32 bit, .Net Framework 1.5, 2.0 and 3.0 installed.
As far as we can tell it looks like something to do with various .net problems. We'll look into it more tomorrow.
having an issue where after i create a map and save it, when i start it up in game nothing has spawned, no planets, no stars, and instant defeat... tried several maps and same issue, all the maps are brand new and made with forge 3. any ideas whats up?
Sweet, finaly
Blair i'm a bit confused. You didn't include any new documentation on the way entrenchment mods are suppose to be created? each time i fix one thing something else breaks, its a bit frustrating trying to convert a mod over from the original sins and no guideline to follow. can you give us something please.
Honestly, the best tool tool I can give you is to compare a previous implementation of something to the current one using Beyond Compare. It illustrates pretty easily how the formats have changed.
Aside from that, the manifest system is probably the only thing that BC wouldn't be useful for. Basically each manifest lists all the things of that type with a count at the top. If you add or remove a thing of that type, the manifest has to be copied into the relevant mod folder and editted to match the new asset needs.
Ya had the same thing happen to me. Hopefully it will be fixed by morning or someone say whats wrong.
Woot, finally I can see what I am updating without restarting Thanks Blair
I have axactly the same versions of windows, and of the .net framework, it should work
Maybe it was just me but I had some serious issues with the new reference data included in ForgeTools3.
1) It only includes the GameInfo and Mesh folders and is missing everything else. That's not the end of the world as you can find them in your install directory as well. I'm guessing this was done because the rest of the missing files don't come in a binary/non-binary variation and it cuts a lot of space down when they don't include textures.
2) RESEARCHSUBJECT_ARTIFACT_STRONGCULTURE.entity is missing from the new reference data. This is still referenced in GalaxyScenarioDef.galaxyScenarioDef so I'm assuming it was a mistake of omission. Replacing it with a copy from ForgeTools1.1 seems to work.
3) The new reference data in ForgeTools3 does not seem to work, for vanilla SoaSE at least. I was getting minidumps like crazy while trying get a working updated version of my mod. Eventually I decided to troubleshoot the reference data itself. I created two new mod folders, one including only the new reference data files and the other the GameInfo and Mesh folders from the Sins install. The reference data mod minidump when it was enabled while the Sins install copies loaded without a problem. A comparison of the GameInfo folders shows only 886 files (after replacing the missing entity in the previous point) in the reference data version while there are 896 files in the Sins install version. Dev Mode does not report any errors concerning what is missing or wrong, it simply minidumps.
I was able to get a working version of my mod working by using the install binary versions of the GameInfo and Mesh folders and then adding the modified TXT versions I needed from the new reference data. In my case though, only GalaxyScenarioDef.galaxyScenarioDef is overwritten from the stock data and the rest is new entities.
I have not done anything with the Entrenchment reference data yet. The above refers to the vanilla Sins data solely as I have not confirmed any issues with the Entrenchment version at this time.
Hope this helps anyone having issues updating mods with the new tools and helps the Devs track down any problems.
-dolynick
windows XP Service Pack 3 32 bit, .Net Framework 1.5, 2.0 and 3.0 installed. I'm also not able to get GF up and running.
That's an ominious sign that their may be a bigger problem with GF. Has anything else ever caused problems with getting it to run?
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