Runing the Studio

[Vexblackheart]

I'm having trouble with getting Exult Studio to run. I think I have all of the necessary steps complete but I'm obviously missing something.
Here are the steps listed on the web page.

"While it is not explicitly needed it is useful to have a working copy of either BG or SI properly installed onto your computer."

-Check-

"Next, you need to have the Exult 1.1x snapshot and the SDL mixer installed properly onto your computer and working correctly. If you are currently playing either BG or SI on your machine this is probably done right. To make sure you have the correct version, ensure that it says 1.10 CVS during Exult's start-up screen."

-This is probably my problem. There is no CVS at all on the start-up screen, but U7 runs flawlessly so I was assuming that everything was set up. I did DL the new snapshot and installed it. But it still didn't do anything when I pressed Ctrl+Alt+M. It did mess up my sound pretty good though.-

"You need to make sure the newest version of Exult Studio is installed properly onto your computer as well. Exult Studio should be installed in the same directory as the Exult 1.10x snapshot."

-I'm pretty sure that the Exult studio is installed correctly. I can run it on its own, no problem.-

"You need to set up the path for the patch to save any changes to existing games. See 2.4. What you can do at the moment on how to change exult.cfg accordingly"

-I haven't messed with the paths to save a map because I haven't been able to edit one yet-

"In order for Exult Studio to work properly, you need to have Exult running in windowed mode. If you can see your desktop while playing, then you're doing it right."

-Check-

"Make sure you have Cheats enabled. This can be enabled in the Gameplay options of the Game menu."

-Check-

"While running Exult in windowed mode, hit 'ctrl+alt+m' to enter map-editing mode. Exult Studio should open up if you did everything correctly."

-Nope... Nothing happens when I press Ctrl+Alt+M. Besides the red grid-lines that normally appear-

I have Windows XP Home. Any insight would be great.

Vex

[wjp]

Can you post the first 10 lines of your stdout.txt?

[Vexblackheart]

I will when I get home. I'm at work now. Thanks for reading though.

[Dominus]

I see that the stuff about the snapshot is highly out of date...
What that stuff means is that you cannot run official releases of Exult with Exult Studio. *ONLY* the snapshots do work. This may sound odd at first read, but that distinction is done because of our very long periods between releases. Stuff in Exult Studio might only work with really up to date versions of Exult, meaning snapshots!
So, yes, as wjp suggested, please post your first 10 lines of stdout txt and before that make sure you are running the snapshot and not the official release.
I do hope that helps you!

[painful]

Don't forget the paths are supposed to be set in the config file or exult and studio wont be able to find each other..

[Sean]

Hey vex you want something similar to this in your config file:






d:\games\uc\ultima7


(default)


jmsfx.flx




d:\games\uc\serpent

<---------------------

Obviously you have to set the patch path to where you have ultima installed, but yea I had alot of trouble getting it to work in the beginning as well, I hope this helps.

[Andrew]

Thank you all for responding! I said I would post this stuff after work but my friends inticed me out of the house last night and I got tottaly PLOWED. Big mistake. My happily-drunk limit had always been 2 long-island Ice teas. I decided to have 5 last night. Needless to say I slept in the bathroom... anyway...

Here are the first 10 lines of Stdout.txt:

Exult version 1.1beta3
Built at: Oct 20 2003 04:04:35
Compile-time options: NO_SDL_PARACHUTE, HAVE_ZIP_SUPPORT, HAVE_OPENGL
Compiler: Microsoft C/C++ Compiler, version: 12.0.8804

Platform: Windows XP Service Pack 1 Version 5.1 Build 2600
Data path = data/
Music path = data//music
is_installed: 'c:\program files\exult\ultima7\static\endgame.dat': yes
is_installed: 'C:\Program Files\Exult\static\sispeech.spc' : no
Starting a BLACK GATE game


Here is what I have in my CFG file:






c:\program files\exult\ultima7


(default)


jmsfx.flx


(I dont have SI installed yet)

C:\Program Files\Exult


(default)


Thanks again!
Vex

[Vexblackheart]

I guess it puts my first name in as the author if I don't log in... Odd.

[wjp]

This is not a snapshot, but an actual release. To run Exult Studio, you need a snapshot.

If your version of Exult has Exult Studio support, it will have "USE_EXULTSTUDIO" on the third line of stdout.txt.

[Dominus]

http://exult.info/studio.php#installation

Also make sure that you are using the latest snapshot of the 1.1.x branch of Exult.
Exult Studio only works with the latest snapshot, not the latest release.

[Vexblackheart]

Yeah, that did it. I tried it with the snapshot before (see my first post) but all that succeeded in doing was messing up the music. Maybe because it's now 1.1.10 instead of 1.1.9...

Here is what it stdout looks like now.

Exult version 1.1.10cvs
Built at: Jan 31 2004 13:12:54
Compile-time options: USE_EXULTSTUDIO, HAVE_ZIP_SUPPORT
Compiler: gcc, version: 3.2.3 (mingw special 20030504-1)

Platform: Windows XP Service Pack 1 Version 5.1 Build 2600
Exult path settings:
Data : data
Digital music : data\music

Thanks for having patience and for creating such a wonderful piece of software.

Vex

[Vexblackheart]

GRRR... It seems that after I close exult and run it again after installing that snapshot, it THEN screws up the music. It worked fine on the first try!

In the setup menu "digital music" is no longer an option...

[wjp]

The digital music configuration changed a bit between 1.1beta3 and 1.1.9rc1.

You have to set it from the in-game audio options menu. (Escape, Audio Options, set "Driver" to "Digital")

[Vexblackheart]

Yup, it all sounds great again. That's why they pay you guys the big bucks...

Seriously though, you should have a paypal "donate" thing or something.
Or maybe asking for donations would violate the Humility virtue?

...hmmm.

Thanks yet again.
Vex

[artaxerxes]

talking about that Sourcforge now offers an option to every project it hosts to receive Paypal donations. I've set it up for Si-french (http://sf.net/projects/si-french) and I've pledge to redistribute any amount among the developers for si-french (those listed on sf).

As for exult, that would be a nice touch, although something like a wishlist would be nice.

Artaxerxes

[Colourless]

No the Exult team will not accept donations. For us there are greater legal matters involved, which none of us particularly want to explore. We do not want to risk the wrath of EA for directly profitting off of Exult.

If you want to donate to anyone, donate to Sourceforge. We wouldn't be here if it weren't for them.

-Colourless Dragon

[Vexblackheart]

Understood.

[Oblivious]

I'm also having trouble, and I can't get anything to work (the window on the lower right is always gray/blank)

"Next, you need to have the Exult 1.1x snapshot and the SDL mixer installed properly onto your computer and working correctly. If you are currently playing either BG or SI on your machine this is probably done right. To make sure you have the correct version, ensure that it says 1.10 CVS during Exult's start-up screen."

What does this mean by 'installed properly', and what is a CVS?

"You need to make sure the newest version of Exult Studio is installed properly onto your computer as well. Exult Studio should be installed in the same directory as the Exult 1.10x snapshot."

check

"You need to set up the path for the patch to save any changes to existing games. See 2.4. What you can do at the moment on how to change exult.cfg accordingly"

I don't understand this statement at all....

"In order for Exult Studio to work properly, you need to have Exult running in windowed mode. If you can see your desktop while playing, then you're doing it right."

-Check-

"Make sure you have Cheats enabled. This can be enabled in the Gameplay options of the Game menu."

-Check-

"While running Exult in windowed mode, hit 'ctrl+alt+m' to enter map-editing mode. Exult Studio should open up if you did everything correctly."

-Nope... Nothing happens whatsoever, not even red lines or anything.

Also, when I choose file and such, what am I supposed to choose to edit the map or items?

[drcode]

Can you run exult_studio by itself? You should be able to launch it, and it should default to BlackGate, letting you at least view the various shape files. If not, we've got to figure out what's wrong with your configuration.

[Oblivious]

Nope, it doesn't let me run BG.

[Dominus]

You are not looking at the latest version of the Studio docs as far as i can tell from looking at the stuff you pasted above.

1. make sure you run the snapshot and not the latest official release! Very important! Please copy paste the first 5 lines of your stdout.txt (where exult.exe is) here.
That ctrl+alt+m does nothing is an indication that you are not using the snapshot!
2. make sure you run the latest Exult Studio snapshot! and install it to where exult.exe is!

"You need to set up the path for the patch to save any changes to existing games. See 2.4. What you can do at the moment on how to change exult.cfg accordingly"
I don't understand this statement at all....

Well, look at 2.4 and look at the example for ecult.cfg and there you will see settings for patch. Add this to your exult.cfg