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[Cerbera]

Introduction
CFG Studio 2 is built to be a reliable and easy to use editor for the handling.cfg file in GTA3/VC/SA. It is not under active development any more.

Main window with handling.cfg loaded, viewing Bike data:

640 x 480, 28kB.

Values Adjuster window for advanced users:



Download and Install
Go to the CFG Studio 2 and download it from there. You will need WinRAR to extract the file to anywhere on your computer. The cfgstudio2.exe file is the actual program.

Read the readme.txt file after you download it.

Distribution
Please do not put this on your site. Give a link to this topic or to CFG Studio 2 web page instead. That way people can always find the latest version and can report problems to me.

Feedback
Please report any bugs and problems in this topic. Feature requests, coding advice, help with troubleshooting and compliments are also welcome.

(EDIT) Some screenshots updated on 2006-06-12.
(EDIT2) Removed references to the old CFG Studio.

This post has been edited by Cerbera on Jun 14 2007, 22:00

[gta_king]

Looks great will definately be handy for testing out all those undefined handling flags.

Quick suggestion, are you planning to incorporate your Flag Studio program within this anywhere, Maybe for example when you click on the Handling Flag attribute it has one of those 3 Dot Buttons which launches the flagstudio or a byproduct of Flag Studio (FSLite) it'd just be a lot easier having both things under one central Program instead of having to switch.

I understand however if you don't plan on doing this. It's looking good anyway, can't wait to see it complete.

EDIT: Never Mind just read about the wizards part.

:: <')))>(

This post has been edited by gta_king on Jun 15 2005, 18:27

[_MoNoXiDe_]

very nice but i think it would be better if u replaced the the field names with not the ones from the file but in proper English, i know its easier just to loop it round and add the names but i personally think it looks nicer when they have the like Mass instead of fmass.

good luck

[Cerbera]

Lots of progress made last night. It now opens GTA3, GTAVC and GTASA files properly and detects which type of file it is automatically and saves them to either the file which was opened or a new file. Havn't written the code to allow editing of the data yet because I've been making the grid columns more tidy.

The widths of columns be saved every time a file is closed or the program exists for each edition of GTA when in the unnamed headers mode. This means you can set the "Flags" field of GTA3 nice and narrow because it only uses 4 bytes but can set it nice and wide for GTAVC where it uses 7 bytes and set them wider still for the pair of flags in GTASA which use 8 bytes each. It will mean that the settings file will be quite large with nearly a hundred settings just for the column widths but it will make a tool a lot easier to use, imho.

Custom sized columns will only be available when using unnamed headers because you need to be able to see the entire name if it is using a name. However, you will still be able to manually resize columns in either mode but the setting will not be saved when using named headers.


(EDIT) Made some more refinements to headers and cells. Alternate row shading was an idea illspirit had and I think it is really useful. I'm using the second lightest highlight shade for Windows 3D objects as the background colour, so the colour will adapt to suit the theme you have applied to your system.

This post has been edited by Cerbera on Dec 8 2005, 13:31

[_MoNoXiDe_]

thats really nice but something that would be great is to put the vehicles in alphabetical order. It would really help.

EDIT: huh?

This post has been edited by _MoNoXiDe_ on Jun 16 2005, 23:48

[DexX]

if cerb is as anal about his programs as he is everything else, you'll be able to click the column header at the top of the form, and it will re-sort the list

adn if not, cerb, you should implement that.

[Cerbera]

QUOTE (ashdexx @ Jun 17 2005, 03:25)

if cerb is as anal about his programs as he is everything else, you'll be able to click the column header at the top of the form, and it will re-sort the list adn if not, cerb, you should implement that.

Fancy customisable sorting by columns is something I intend to do but not until the more essential features are in place. The ability to re-order the handling data rows and make the saved file use this new order is also going to be present. Creating your own header titles is something which I could do but again there are more important to do first.

The control being used is a spreadsheet control and so clicking a row or column heading highlights that row or column. This is functionality I want to keep because it means one-click highlighting of data rows or columns so they can be copied to the clipboard. No more clicking and dragging across multiple pages just to get a handling setup out so you can post it on a web page.

There will also be Find, Replace and Goto functions for easy location and/or replacement of data. I'm not clear on the specifics of what the interface for these will be like and what options will be available and they aren't a priority until the more essential features are implemented.


I saved my first fully operating and valid GTAVC handling file today. I tested it in-game and everything worked...after I included ";the end" with a newline at the bottom of every file created. There are minimal comments in the files created by CFG Studio; they just explain what program created the file, when it was created, who wrote the program, what the website of the program creator is, what version of GTA this handling is for, titles for special data sections (Boats, Bikes, Flying and Animations) and a note at the end about GTA requiring the special file ending.

If anyone wants to help test the program, there are a few way to contact me but MSN Messenger is the most effective. I'll probably put another screenshot and the GTAVC file it generated. I want the files it generates to be 100% compatible with other editors. If people know people who made other programs I'd like to work with them to ensure CFG Studio handling data is fully inter-operable with their editors and vice versa.


(EDIT) Yes Ash, I am as anal about this as everything else!

This post has been edited by Cerbera on Jun 18 2005, 13:38

[Fragdieb]

I just had a quick check with SanAndreas' handling.cfg file, and it seems to work fine, no problems occured. Here are some pics what I did to the cars:

The Perennial with some more below the bonnet:
pic 1
pic 2
pic 3

and the offroad sabre:
pic 4

[Cerbera]

More developments! Basic user preferences are now saved to the "cfgstudio.ini" file. These include window position, size and maximised/minimised/normal window mode. You can now hide the status bar (this is another saved preference) so that you can see an extra line or two of data instead. Most menu items have a keyboard shortcut, so the program is very nice to use with the keyboard.

I have added some of the first "Edit" menu options. There is a very limited "Undo" option to restore the data of the current cell to what it was before you started editing it. I have implemented the "Clear" menu as well, which clears the current cell.

CODE

BRAVURA 1300.0 2200.0 1.7 0.0 0.3 0.0 70 0.65 0.80 0.52 5 160.0 15.0 10.0 F P 08.0 0.80 0 30.0 1.3 0.08 0.0 0.31 -0.15 0.57 0.0 0.26 0.50 9000 1 1 0 0 0

This is a test of "Edit > Copy" when an entire line is selected. GTASA standard data was used.

CODE

POLICE_LA 1600.0 4500.0 2.0 0.0 0.3 -0.1 75 0.75 0.85 0.50 5 200.0 25.0 10.0 R P 10.0 0.53 0 35.0 1.0 0.12 0.0 0.28 -0.12 0.55 0.0 0.2 0.24 25000 40000000 10200008 0 1 0 POLICE_SF 1600.0 4500.0 2.0 0.0 0.3 -0.15 75 0.75 0.85 0.52 5 200.0 25.0 10.0 R P 10.0 0.53 0 35.0 1.1 0.12 0.0 0.28 -0.17 0.55 0.0 0.2 0.24 25000 40000000 10200008 0 1 0 POLICE_VG 1600.0 4500.0 2.0 0.0 0.3 -0.1 75 0.75 0.85 0.52 5 200.0 25.0 10.0 R P 10.0 0.53 0 35.0 0.9 0.08 0.0 0.28 -0.17 0.55 0.0 0.2 0.24 25000 40000000 10200008 0 1 0

Testing of "Edit > Copy" when three complete rows are selected. GTASA standard data was used.

CODE

MaxLean FullAnimLean 45.0 38.0 35.0 25.0 48.0 43.0 45.0 38.0 55.0 38.0 40.0 30.0 40.0 30.0 30.0 25.0 48.0 43.0 48.0 43.0 40.0 30.0 48.0 43.0 30.0 25.0

Testing copying of two complete columns using "Edit > Copy" again. GTASA special data for "bikes" was used.

CODE

40000 8000000 30000 8000400 25000 8000000 70000 8000000 60000 8000400 73000 8000400 10000 8000000 5000 8000000 99000 8000000 48000 8000400 30000 8000400

Testing "Edit > Copy" when a free selection of cells is taken from the middle of a handling file. GTASA standard data was used. These are the ModelFlags and HandlingFlags values for the PREDATOR down to the LAUNCH. I don't know of any other editor which allows you to easily select and copy parts of the data like this.

Next step will be writing a paste procedure which can recognise this data after it has been pasted to and copied from a web page. Most boards don't use the correct <pre> element for code samples, so TAB spaces (ASCII 9) are converted into normal spaces (ASCII 32). I already have written a GetParsedLine function for when the files are originally being read and it recognises either of those characters as being column gaps and converts the gaps into proper TAB spaces. The MSFlexGrid automatically treats the TAB character as a column seperator, so data after a TAB character gets placed in the next cell and the data after the next TAB in the cell after that (etc).

New line characters are automatically recognised as row seperators, so the paste procedure shouldn't be all that hard to put together. However, preventing the data from overflowing and enabling the paste operation to be undone might be tricky. We shall see. Well, I will, since I'm the one coding it.

This post has been edited by Cerbera on Jul 8 2006, 13:11

[Luke]

It all looks perfectly fine. My only issue with this Cerbera is that since your program displays all the data in a very similar way to the arrangement in the proper files anyway, it doesn't honestly make things that much simpler. Single record view a possibility? Either way, it's a nice tool, just your first picture looked as confusing as the real file, since then it's become a bit more sensible though.

Language you're using? I've got this awful temptation to have as few dependancies as possible when programming, which means as few "Controls" as possible and rather making my own. I'm a very strange person though, who likes to do things in far more complex ways than are needed.

[Cerbera]

The big difference is that the columns are always correctly aligned in CFG Studio. Also, alternate rows are shaded to help guide the eye. The headers for rows and columns are always visible in CFG Studio, helping to locate exactly the cell you want.

CFG Studio will have many features specific to handling.cfg. For example, the Edit > Go To feature will allow users to jump straight to a particular setting for a particular vehicle by using the index or name of the row and column. It also displays each section in a seperate view, making it easier to move between the standard and special data for a particular vehicle. It also has the special checklist controls for editing flags; you have to do hexadecimal mathematics to edit flags using Notepad!


(EDIT) While testing valid seperators and whitespace usage in the file, I struck upon the idea of testing how the delimiter conventions from other data files would apply to handling.cfg, since if they were inter-operable it would make my dreams of turning CFG Studio into a full-blown GTA Studio all the more real. So, I changed the start of a file generated by CFG Studio and tried it in GTAVC. The new data was this:

CODE

; Generated by CFG Studio on 18/06/2005 13:01:02 ; Creator: Ben 'Cerbera' Millard ; Website: http://projectcerbera.com ; ; This data is for Grand Theft Auto Vice City.  It will not work in any other game. # You can also use comments like this.  SANDKING, 1350.0, 1.7, 3.8, 2.2, 0.0, 0.01, 0.40, 75, 0.75, 0.60, 0.50, 5, 300.0, 25.0, 4, D, 3.5, 0.65, 0, 30.0, 1.00, 0.12, 0.38, 0.00, 40000, 0.35, -0.15, 0.50, 0.25, 4000001, 0, 1, #; you can leave blank lines and mix together comment characters

This is what happened:

1024x768

You are probably thinking "Hmm, I don't see anything wrong." and that is because it worked perfectly! It seems that you can have whitespace at the start of data lines (which CFG Studio allowed anyway) and you can use commas with whitespate to delimit data, although when I tried commas without whitespace the game crashed after the savegame loaded and the level was about to appear. Interestingly, you can also use DAT/IDE/IPL style comment characters (#) instead of CFG comment characters (;). I wonder if this means CFG conventions apply to other data files? In objects.dat some parameters use commas and whitespace while others just use whitespace, plus it uses semi-colons (;) as comments while gtavc.dat uses hashes (#) as comments.

I mean, OMG, this has totally changed my view of how strict GTA is when parsing the text data files. It means that they can probably all be generated using the same basic format. It means that a fair amount of filesize could be saved by removing the commas from all data files which have them...although I will have to test the flexibility of these files in each edition before I start recommending people make editors which can do that.

Tommorrow I'll try putting the special data out of sequence, indenting special data, leaving no gap between special data indicator character and first character of data, using other non-data characters between attributes, putting commas at the start of data files, placing double-commas between parameters...plus some other things if I think of right now. Testing this stuff in GTA3 is something I will do, since I don't have GTASA yet.

W00t! GTA modding is fun!

This post has been edited by Cerbera on Sep 4 2006, 20:15

[Sociapath]

I don't understand a word u are saying, but ur editor is beautifull

Although i tried to get a 2G boost on the greenwood, but it doesnt seem to work...

[DexX]

QUOTE

I mean, OMG, this has totally changed my view of how strict GTA is when parsing the text data files. It means that they can probably all be generated using the same basic format. It means that a fair amount of filesize could be saved by removing the commas from all data files which have them...although I will have to test the flexibility of these files in each edition before I start recommending people make editors which can do that. smile.gif Tommorrow I'll try putting the special data out of sequence, indenting special data, leaving no gap between special data indicator character and first character of data, using other non-data characters between attributes, putting commas at the start of data files, placing double-commas between parameters...plus some other things if I think of right now.

Cerb? yea, hi. i know its your program and all, but i dont really think we need 6000 ways to sort file parsing

otherwise, it looks like its coming along pretty well, though it is rather daunting, like notepad, to see row after row and column after column of data. editing just one vehicle at a time, along with an onscreen description of how that will affect the vehicle, would be a better approach imo. CarEd, although bland, and non descriptive, was is the best handling editor sofar imo, simply because of its functionality, and non disruptive interface.

[Cerbera]

QUOTE (Sociapath @ Jun 22 2005, 11:41)

I don't understand a word u are saying, but ur editor is beautifull Although i tried to get a 2G boost on the greenwood, but it doesnt seem to work...

The effect of 2G_BOOST is diffcult to notice. In GTAVC is had only a small effect, so that may also be the case on GTASA. If you set fEngineAcceleration to be about 200 for any vehicle I'm sure you will notice the effect of that.

Today I have been mainly writing functions and making forms for the Edit menu. I've completed the Edit > GoTo... form which is now impossible to crash and very easy to use. You use that form to jump straight to a column or row by it's numerical position. When the form loads it displays the current numerical positions so that it's easy to understand what sort of numbers it is asking for.

I've finished making and coding the form for Edit > Find... with an "Exact match" mode for car names. I intend to add a sort of "fuzzy logic" mode as well, so that if you type in the car's in-game name or make a spelling mistake the vehicle should still get selected. It won't be an especially intelligent mode, it'll just see how similar the letters used by the user are when compared to the data. Because this might generate several results, I coud add a listbox to the bottom of the form listing vehicle identifiers which are close?

Screenshot of Edit > GoTo... form in use:

640x480 - 80kB.

Screenshot of Edit > Find... form:

640x480 - 90kB.

I've update the CFG Studio page with this version. Some feedback on how these features operate for people would be useful, especially ideas about how to implement the fuzzy search mode. I might find some way of making the currently selected cell more obvious than the faint dotted border currently being used, too. Would that be required?


(EDIT) Last night I wrote a few new features and refined the existing features. Working with selections of text is a bit weird if the selection moves above and to the left of the active cell but I'm sure I can fix this in later versions. One of the big improvements is that the program now shows a message box to ask if you want to save any unsaved data. The chance of data loss through the user accidentally closing the program, closing the file, re-loading the file or opening a new file are now greatly reduced.

This post has been edited by Cerbera on Oct 29 2005, 11:27

[_MoNoXiDe_]

very cool, i love it.

i suggest that when you right click in the coloumns for flags or Anim group there shuold be an addition to link to flag editor or a dialog which lists the different groups etc,

also when i am unable to select the vehicle ID unless i click right click and select all, it would be nice to be able to select the whole line includin the ID

and please make the vehicles alphabetical order, it would really help.

other than that keep up the good work!

EDIT: I tried to open vehicles.ide with CFG studio and it worked very well!

its lookin great so far

This post has been edited by _MoNoXiDe_ on Jun 24 2005, 15:28

[Cerbera]

After some very productive discussions with Mono I have made some more refinements and developments to the program. Now has better selecting of cells and the Edit > Paste feature has been written.

I've also written the starts of the Bookmarks menu. At the moment you can add bookmarks and they are saved to the settings file when the program closed. They are re-created when the program loads up again. There is currently no way to delete them from the program because I havn't made the Manage Bookmarks form yet. Still, you can add them and they work.

This post has been edited by Cerbera on Sep 5 2005, 20:29

[1319987654321]

Why all Tools is grey ?
Is this a beta one?
why dont combine the tools in your webpage in this very nice tool?

request : suspension modify tool (have a simple picture showing what does my car look like)

[Fragdieb]

As the topic title says, it's still Work In Progress, that's why most of the options are still grayed out.

[1319987654321]

You gave me the hope

btw , I have another suggestion , in VC , theres a editor can modify wheel size and have preview , i liked that a lot

[Cerbera]

Tools > Suspension Wizard will have a basic visual preview. However, the basic position of wheels is set in the 3D model file (.DFF) and this is a very, very complex file. The are contained in a.IMG which is also very complex. I won't be able to write code that will load them. Therefore, the preview will just be a basic guide and might not match the in-game vehicle.

I am hoping to get GTASA tomorrow, so I will be using this tool to edit the file and make a GTASA version of my GTA3 & GTA:VC Handling: Acceleration and also my GTA3 & GTA:VC Handling: Detailed Acceleration experiments. The way a vehicle accelerates is the most important aspect in the way it can be driven. It determines whether a constant speed "in and out" driving line is best for corners or whether the "slow in, fast out" line can be used for high-acceleration vehicles. Corner approach speed is also decided by the acceleration and so is the way the throttle can be used through the corner.

Therefore, I want to study the possiblities of acceleration in GTASA before I start making custom handling setups or start my GTASA Handling Overhaul. It might mean that I do not do much work developing CFG Studio for a while...we will see.

This post has been edited by Cerbera on Mar 21 2006, 20:07