SLADE v3.0.2 final Released

[sirjuddington]

It's been a good few years, but finally it's ready. SLADE v3.0.0 is now released Go grab it at http://slade.mancubus.net

And so that the following posts make sense, here is the original beta post:

Spoiler:

It's been a long time since I announced SLADE3 originally, so I think it's about time I at least released something. So here it is, SLADE3 beta 1. I must stress that this release is very much for testing purposes, it's still incomplete and may have quite a few bugs etc. So please keep backups of anything you edit with it

I'd appreciate any opinions on how well the interface works for people - how easy it is to find things or use the features, etc. I've tried to make things as intuitive as possible, but of course my idea of intuitive may not be everyone else's

Also of course bug reports should be either posted here or emailed to me Anyway here's a quick list of what's in and what's not:

What's in:
- Ability to open/edit Wad and Zip/Pk3 archives, using a tabbed interface ala SLumpEd
- All the basic archive entry management stuff (import/export/rename etc)
- Cut/copy/paste entries (and directories in zips)
- Gfx entry viewer with the ability to change offsets (and PNG offsets)
- Mass gfx offset editing (works exactly the same as it did in SLumpEd)
- Gfx format conversion, this time hopefully better than it was in SLumpEd, includes a nice dialog with before/after previews and some conversion options
- TEXTUREx editor
- Audio entry player
- Advanced text editor features (hilighting etc)
- Entry list filter/search
- Anything else that was in SLumpEd that hasn't been mentioned

What's not (yet):
- Map editor

Grab it from the SLADE website: http://slade.mancubus.net

To build on linux, checkout the latest svn from http://mancubus.net/svn/hosted/slade/trunk and follow the instructions in README-unix

[Cutmanmike]

What's in:
- Ability to open/edit Wad and Zip/Pk3 archives, using a tabbed interface ala SLumpEd
What's not (yet):
- Map editor

*scratches head* So this is Slade without the level editor, so it's just SLumpEd called Slade?

[TheDarkArchon]

What's in:
- Ability to open/edit Wad and Zip/Pk3 archives, using a tabbed interface ala SLumpEd
What's not (yet):
- Map editor

*scratches head* So this is Slade without the level editor, so it's just SLumpEd called Slade?

Slade3 is going to be an all-in-one tool, somewhat like DeePSea.

[phi108]

Thanks SlayeR for all the work! Personally, I have done all map editing with the XWE map editor (therefore, I haven't done serious mapping), so a WAD lump manager with a good mapping tool would be great!

And with the lack of updates of XWE and Slumped, any new lump manager is very good news!

[Gez]

Suggestion: ANSI screens (ENDOOM, ENDBOOM, LOADING...) viewing/editing through the GPLed PabloDraw code.

[NiGHTMARE]

Really glad that entry list filtering/searching is being added, as the lack of this is one of the main things I disliked about SLumpEd. Incidentally, will we also be able to do this when viewing lumps, e.g. the TEXTUREx editor? Oh, and it would also be cool if you could move texture entries up and down the list; I like to keep things tidy, and at the moment I'm having to use DeePSea to do this .

The other problem I had with SLumpEd was that when you were exporting multiple graphical entries, it would default to .lmp for every single one, rather than remember the format you choose for the previous entry (i.e. .bmp or .png) - extremely annoying if you're trying to export 100 or so entries at once .

[Gez]

Solution: convert them all to PNG before exporting.

[sirjuddington]

Really glad that entry list filtering/searching is being added, as the lack of this is one of the main things I disliked about SLumpEd. Incidentally, will we also be able to do this when viewing lumps, e.g. the TEXTUREx editor? Oh, and it would also be cool if you could move texture entries up and down the list; I like to keep things tidy, and at the moment I'm having to use DeePSea to do this .

The other problem I had with SLumpEd was that when you were exporting multiple graphical entries, it would default to .lmp for every single one, rather than remember the format you choose for the previous entry (i.e. .bmp or .png) - extremely annoying if you're trying to export 100 or so entries at once .

All of that stuff is definitely planned.

[Karnizero]

I use all your tools for anything Doom Related: SLumpEd and Slade 2, so this is one of the best news related.

I think SLumpEd is the best wad editor, and Slade the best map editor. I didn't try DB2, but some features promised by DB2 are already in Slade 2.

Right now, I will be awaiting for Slade 3.

Thanks for your editors, and keep your good work mate

P.S: will you give some patches or similar to Slade 2, while not releasing the stable Slade 3? Why you don't keep the okd webpage (http://slade.mancubus.net) updated? I always check out that site, but you announced nothing new, so i though the project was dead.

[Karnizero]

I can't run it. It crashes with a "Can't start the application because your system configuration is not correct. Re-installation of the application can solve the problem."

I'm using WindowsXP 32bit with the last actualization and .NET Framework 1, 2 & 3, aswell as my last video drivers (typical Intel Xtreme Graphics on a laptop).

[EDIT]

Problem solved.
I installed DB2, and the Framework that it downloads from internet, plus the SlimX (or whatever it's name), Slade 3 works fine.


I will be give you feedback after I use and test it deeply.

Cya.

[NeuralStunner]

This looks nice.

I hope you'll look into balancing, meaning close the gaps btween SLumpEd, XWE, and WinTex. In the case of something that can be done a different way in each, why not include all those methods? I like XWE, it's powerful and the UI is comfortable to me. Mostly. It does have it's annoyances, though. I'd love to see every concept joined into one ultimate wad tool.

From another thread, just what's pertinent (and new comments in blue):

Another way WinTex beats XWE is the ability to replace a sprite from an image file without resetting the offsets. One of the major reasons I still use it... XWE just assumes every image you load is a walking sprite, and while WinTex does as well when you make a new entry, XWE resets it to those offsets even when replacing an existing image.

This, and other features WinTex has:
- Preset buttons for offsets. (I.E. Walking, flying, weapon, null.)
- Multiple wads opening off the same parent window, allowing you to copy/paste between them. SLumpEd has tabs! Awesome.
- Manually saving the wad. Won't really screw with other programs trying to access the file.
- Undoable wad merging/patching.

XWE:
- Supports more file formats, and raw data import.
- Much easier to rearrange entries.
- Easier to duplicate entries.
- Extensibility of entry types, palettes etc.
- Opens a ton of other game data types.
- Faster wad cleaning.
- Alignment box for weapon sprites, with the status bar and a center line.

SLumpEd seems to share a lot of the better features between the two, like wad saving, lump rearranging, etc. For now, It's not a bad idea to keep all 3.

Another feature I'd like to see is a way to make your own lump filters, instead of just the stock Sprites, Sounds, Flats, etc.

[Karnizero]

Some feedback after i tested a bit the program. As general comment,i find it very good, although it's a BETA, ALPHA or whatever. Here goes (sorry for the long list):

BUGS or PROBLEMS I found

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- When modifying a text lump such as "SCRIPTS", SLADE always asks to save the next current lump i select, until i click
   "revert changes". This only happens with text lumps. This is, if I modify a EDGE DDF Script, i click Save, but then,
            every lump I select, SLade asks me to save the previous Lump I selected.
- When click on "save wad" or "save as", the modified lumps, with blue name letters, remains blue until i move them
   up or down.
- Can't see any image lumps. They doesn't show. I see a white box the size of the image. I dunno if it's .NET Framework, FreeImage or my Graphic Card, but with Slumped, i can see them without problems.
- If i move and close the menu bars, I cannot open them any more. I would dare to say that adding a option in the
   "view menu"   to show/hide the menubars is necessary, since they can be moved and closed.
- In the File Browser into the Archive manager, i can filter files with .wad, .pak, etc... or show all files: *.*
   But when i want to open a file with "File > Open", the "All files (*.*)" filter option is missing.
- If I create a new empty lump either by "Entry > New" or by clicking the appropriate menu button, and i have no previously
   selected a lump (to insert after it), the new lump is not created. I think it should be added at the start or
   at the end of the lumps list, then move to the new lump, and select it to edit, so the user notices that it was
   created and is ready to be edited.

SUGGESTIONS

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- Make the maps list in the lower part of the "Archive manager" a bit more tall, or even resizeable, so when we have 30 or more
   maps, the names doesn't appear cut. A vertical ScrollBar can be a solution, even when being less "elegant".
- Default lump types to be "Edit as ...", allowing to set the default to the "lump name" or to the "lump type". This is
   useful for those unknown lump, such as EDGE Engine DDF/RTS scripts, or any other text lump without a defined
   format.
- Recent files open.
- We have in the menu bar the buttons "new entry", "rename entry", "delete entry", "import", "export", "move up" and
   "move down", but I miss the "import from file" button, that is now only on the sub-menu "Entry".
- A more colourful and nice "Start page", with some Doom theme or something. Even a Start page showing the last
   opened WADs, something like in Opera Web Browser. Or maybe some other useful thing.
- When opening a invalid wad/zip/pak/etc file, doesn't show a "invalid wad header" message. I think something like
   "The specified file doesn't seem a WAD/PAK/etc... file" is more descriptive. You can also include a "the real error
   description is: blah blah blah". That maybe is useful as for guru meditation. But those that doesn't know what
   a WAD header is, maybe got confused about what was happened.
- When trying to open an already opened WAD, doesn't show the error message "file is already open". Instead of that, i
   think that opening a tab with such already open file will be better.
- Export as wad, but also as PAK, ZIP and any other format SLADE3 supports.
- A status bar is necessary, so SLADE3 can show messages and other information, such as button tips etc...
- I like the icon set and colours, but i think that a icon with a speaker for sound lumps is more descriptive than that
   spectrum wave icon.

QUESTIONS AND TIPS

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- SLumpEd already has syntax highlight (i think with Scintilla). Why don't adopt it? The new Scintilla versions are
   very good, with a lot of configurable parameters, and quite easy to implement and program. But I dunno if it's only
   developed for windows or is platform independant.

[dark-slayer-201]

Great, only thing i must test...
Will it crash under wine (linux/mac) if anything is copy+pasted into it, like SLumpEd does.

Great.
Thanks for puting your time into this to make it awesome.
I just don't really know what else to say.

[Gez]

Dunno if Slayer still follows this thread, but here's a bug report:
Slade 3, like Slumped, doesn't make sure something is really what it thinks it is; and as a result still crashes upon seeing something it doesn't handle. For example, attempting to look at sprites from the Doom 64 IWAD (see Kaiser's Doom 64 EX port for the utilities to create it from a Doom 64 ROM) results in an instant, undetected crash to desktop. (By "undetected" I mean the program doesn't show a crash report window.)

I think pretty much everything needs to be sanitized so that if the data doesn't correspond to what's expected, the program can tell a message along the line of "unsupported format or corrupted entry" instead of crashing. (I'm not even asking to support that format, though it would be nice of course. Just not to crash.)

[sirjuddington]

I think pretty much everything needs to be sanitized so that if the data doesn't correspond to what's expected, the program can tell a message along the line of "unsupported format or corrupted entry" instead of crashing. (I'm not even asking to support that format, though it would be nice of course. Just not to crash.)

This is what SLADE3 does. It looks like the doom64 sprites are passing the 'doom gfx' data format test somehow, even though they aren't. I'd need a sample d64 sprite to fix this properly, but for now I've added more checks to the doom gfx loading code to hopefully stop the crashing.

dark-slayer-201, have you tried compiling the linux version? No need to run it via WINE

And thank you Karnizero for the feedback, I'll look into all that stuff