Running Custom Gateways

-Tim.FreeD- · PostPosted:Tue Feb 26, 2008 12:45 pm

Dear fellow agents,

I spent a few hours in trying to get downloaded custom boards working in the latest Onlink version but i dont even see them on the purchasing screen ingame.

I was searching in different forums about my problem and as well in this forum but without success.

Can anyone explain me how to place a downloaded gateway ingame?
I moved the pics into graphics/gatewas and as well into graphics/gateway, the data into data/gateways.

I urgently need a new one because I dont know anything else to do with my 3.400.000 credits and just having 128 memory sucks.

Thank you very mutch for your help.

Yours sincerely

-Tim.FreeD-

FinalWarrior · PostPosted:Tue Feb 26, 2008 3:37 pm

Here's what I did:

Inside Program Files\Uplink:
1. Changed data.dat to data.zip
2. Extracted data.zip to a new folder, Uplink\data
3. Changed data.zip back to data.dat
4. Changed graphics.dat to graphics.zip
5. Extracted graphics.zip to a new folder, Uplink\graphics
6. Changed graphics.zip back to graphics.dat

Inside Uplink\data\gateways:
I placed my gateway .txt file, the gateway file, and the two .tif files (not sure if the .tifs were supposed to go in here)

Inside Uplink\data\graphics\gateway:
I placed the two .tif files

Inside Uplink\graphics\graphics\gateway:
I placed the two .tif files

Should work, as it worked for me. Howver, for me, the custom gateway's background/image won't show up, though all components are where they're supposed to be.

-- Griffinhart

-Tim.FreeD- · PostPosted:Thu Feb 28, 2008 11:14 am

Hey,

thanks for your posts and the explain.

Quote:

Howver, for me, the custom gateway's background/image won't show up, though all components are where they're supposed to be.

Dont you other people have custom gateways too? Does it run clearly at your Onlink including a background image? I cant imagine you play on standard gateways

-Tim.FreeD-

edit: btw I tried it exactly like you described it with no success.. it doesnt show them on the purchase screen. I think its a problem with the .txt placement or the align inside but I have no idea. Every board .rar came with a .txt file and 2 .tif files, is that enough..? Guess has to be..

FinalWarrior · PostPosted:Sat Mar 01, 2008 1:37 am

Quote:

edit: btw I tried it exactly like you described it with no success.. it doesnt show them on the purchase screen. I think its a problem with the .txt placement or the align inside but I have no idea. Every board .rar came with a .txt file and 2 .tif files, is that enough..? Guess has to be..[/color]

There should be four files: a .txt, two .tif, and a fourth file that has no file extension.

Here's what my custom gateway's .txt looks like:

Code:

Epsilion MK1
1000000	56	4	112	0	4	10	400	300	The premier Epsilion gateway build, fresh out of engineering. Boasting 56 processor cores and almost 900Gqs of memory, the MK1 is unstoppable.
cpu	18 8	60 8	102 8	144 8	186 8	228 8	270 8	312 8	354 8	18 50	60 50	102 50	144 50	186 50	228 50	270 50	312 50	354 50	354 92	354 134	354 176	354 218	354 260	312 92	270 92	228 92	186 92	144 92	102 92	60 92	18 92	312 134	270 134	228 134	186 134	144 134	102 134	60 134	18 134	312 176	270 176	228 176	186 176	144 176	102 176	60 176	18 176	312 218	270 218	18 260	18 218	228 218	60 218	186 218	144 218	102 218
ram	22 264  36 264  358 264 372 264
mem	22 12	36 12	64 12	78 12	106 12	120 12	148 12	162 12	190 12	204 12	232 12	246 12	274 12	288 12	316 12	330 12	358 12	372 12	372 54	372 96	372 138	372 180	372 222	358 54	358 96	358 138	358 180	358 222	316 54	330 54	330 96	330 138	330 180	330 222	316 96	316 138	316 180	316 222	288 54	288 96	288 138	288 180	288 222	274 54	274 96	274 138	274 180	274 222	232 54	246 54	246 96	232 96	246 138	232 138	246 180	232 180	246 222	232 222	190 54	204 54	204 96	190 96	204 138	190 138	204 180	190 180	204 222	190 222	162 222	162 180	162 138	162 95	162 54	148 54	148 96	148 138	148 180	148 222	106 54	120 54	120 96	106 96	106 138	120 138	120 180	106 180	120 222	106 222	78 54	64 54	78 96	64 96	78 138	64 138	78 180	64 180	78 222	64 222	36 54	22 54	36 96	22 96	36 138	22 138	36 180	22 180	36 222	22 222	372 264	358 264	36 264	22 264
sec	311 261	271 261	61 261	101 261
modem	149 266
power	214 261

On the second line, the numbers are as follows (left to right):
Cost in credits
# of CPU slots
# of RAM slots
# of memory slots
# of upgrade slots (this is never used, so it should always be 0)
# of security slots
Bandwith size
Width of gateway in pixels
Height of gateway in pixels

The text is the gateway's description, and the rest of the values are (x, y) coordinates (in the form x y) of each component.

Check the .txt of your custom gateway against mine. They should appear similar. Hopefully. If they don't, we may have found the problem. Else, it lies elsewhere, and we shall continue onwards until we hunt down the problem and exterminate it! D:<

-- Griffinhart

Noir · **Joined:**Thu Jun 12, 2008 3:43 pm **Posts:**22

Is this still the way to add custom gateways?

I tried this method by exatricting the dat files and adding the files but it had no impact.

i tried extracting, making the above change and packing it back up again. Fatal error

i tried extracting and modifying the gatewaydef files. No change
Tried packing it back up and i get the fatal error.

Any suggestions?

FinalWarrior · PostPosted:Sat Jun 21, 2008 11:34 am

Don't change gatewaydefs, that's not how it works.

To add new gateways, just add a .txt, two .tifs (one being the gateway's image and the other being the thumbnail of the gateway), and extension-less file to Uplink\data\gateways.

Copy and Paste the stuff in your gateway's .txt to the end of newgatewaydefs.txt (in Uplink\data\data).

You'll also want to add the .tif files to Uplink\data\graphics\gateway and Uplink\graphics\graphics\gateway.

(Note that you can generate the necessary files (the .txt, .tifs, and extension-less file) using the Gateway Maker program.)

-- Griffinhart

Noir · **Joined:**Thu Jun 12, 2008 3:43 pm **Posts:**22

Quote:

Don't change gatewaydefs, that's not how it works.

To add new gateways, just add a .txt, two .tifs (one being the gateway's image and the other being the thumbnail of the gateway), and extension-less file to Uplink\data\gateways.

Copy and Paste the stuff in your gateway's .txt to the end of newgatewaydefs.txt (in Uplink\data\data).

You'll also want to add the .tif files to Uplink\data\graphics\gateway and Uplink\graphics\graphics\gateway.

(Note that you can generate the necessary files (the .txt, .tifs, and extension-less file) using the Gateway Maker program.)

-- Griffinhart

so the changes in the folders override the .dat files?

Noir · **Joined:**Thu Jun 12, 2008 3:43 pm **Posts:**22

It worked and it does seem they override the dat files.

I mean no disrespect to the developers of the game but whats the point with the dat file contra having it all in the data folder to begin with? It doesnt even seem compressed (besides hd space is rarely a problem for any user today)

Same with the redshirting of usr files, whats the point? Is it to prevent cheating? those who want to edit the savegame file will get a link to the redshrt exe just by searching this forum.

The more open the game is the more it encourages modding and the more active the community will be around the game. Thats my experience anyway.

raserdk · **Joined:**Tue Jul 29, 2008 8:47 pm **Posts:**5

i cant get it to work, and i dont even have the *.dat files moved them so i got a better view i have extracted all of the dat files that could be extracted,
so now in the uplink dir i have

data
graphics
sounds
music
fonts

data dir have txt documents
graphics have all the images
sound have the sounds ofcourse
music the music
fonts has the fonts for the game

normaly i would just have a folder i data called gateways where i could put the new txt gateway
and then i would put the gateway tiffs in graphics/gateway

This method does not work with onlink, but works with uplink

i have tried to add the new txt to newgatewaydefs
that does not work, tried adding it to gatewaydefs, does not work,
tried to have graphics in data folder, the game does not start
so What the hell can i do,
please help,

FinalWarrior · PostPosted:Wed Jul 30, 2008 10:18 am

Quote:

normaly i would just have a folder i data called gateways where i could put the new txt gateway
and then i would put the gateway tiffs in graphics/gateway

This method does not work with onlink, but works with uplink

Well, it works with my version of Onlink, and my version of Onlink is 0.1.2F - is yours?

Quote:

i have tried to add the new txt to newgatewaydefs
that does not work, tried adding it to gatewaydefs, does not work,
tried to have graphics in data folder, the game does not start
so What the hell can i do,
please help,

Then you did something wrong.

Read the post I made somewhere earlier in this thread. It has all the instructions for adding a custom gateway to Onlink.

-- Griffinhart

raserdk · **Joined:**Tue Jul 29, 2008 8:47 pm **Posts:**5

Quote:

Don't change gatewaydefs, that's not how it works.

To add new gateways, just add a .txt, two .tifs (one being the gateway's image and the other being the thumbnail of the gateway), and extension-less file to Uplink\data\gateways.

Copy and Paste the stuff in your gateway's .txt to the end of newgatewaydefs.txt (in Uplink\data\data).

You'll also want to add the .tif files to Uplink\data\graphics\gateway and Uplink\graphics\graphics\gateway.

(Note that you can generate the necessary files (the .txt, .tifs, and extension-less file) using the Gateway Maker program.)

-- Griffinhart

ok, My data folder does not contain data\data\graphics\gateway
my data folder only contains uplink\data\somenamehere.txt
if i put my graphics in there or make it uplink\data\data\somenamehere.txt
or
uplink\data\graphics, the game simply does not work,
note, i DO not have the *.dat files in my game, i Moved them to somewhere else.
so you see, my data folder do not have subfolders as yours

edit: my version only says 0.1.2

edit:
ok now i get why you say data\data, you mean data.dat\data,
i have tried that, it works with uplink but not onlink,
atleast i cant get it to work

FinalWarrior · PostPosted:Wed Jul 30, 2008 6:20 pm

Quote:

note, i DO not have the *.dat files in my game, i Moved them to somewhere else.

And that's why it's not working.

You need to have all the *.dat files in your Onlink install folder.

You need to change the extensions of those *.dat files to *.zip. (If all you want to do is mod gateways, then you only need to do this with data.dat and graphics.dat.)

You need to extract those *.zip files into their own folders.

You need to change the extensions of those *.zip files to *.dat.

Quote:

edit: my version only says 0.1.2

I believe that's 0.1.2F.

-- Griffinhart

raserdk · **Joined:**Tue Jul 29, 2008 8:47 pm **Posts:**5

actually you can use winrar, then you dont have to change the extensions

so if i got this right i need to have both data.dat and the data folder

and the graphics.dat and the graphics folder

and then put my new gateway in graphic\gateway folder
and in data modify newgatewaydefs folder
or i am i completely wrong?

FinalWarrior · PostPosted:Thu Jul 31, 2008 10:42 am

Really? WinRAR won't let me extract *.dat files.

If your extraction program can crate folders automatically, let it do that instead.

First, add all files for your new gateway (the *.txt, the two *.tif files, and the file w/o extension if you have it) to data\gateways\.

Then, copy and paste the contents of your gateway's *.txt to the end of newgatewaydefs.txt (which is in data\data\).

Finally, copy and paste the two *.tif files to data\graphics\gateway\ and graphics\graphics\gateway\.

-- Griffinhart

raserdk · **Joined:**Tue Jul 29, 2008 8:47 pm **Posts:**5

haha i got it to work, noticed that newgatewaydefs
has
cost, maxcpu, maxram, maxmem, maxupg, maxsec, bandwi, width, height

where my gateway.txt only had
cost, maxcpu, maxmem, maxupg, maxsec, bandwi, witdth, height

so by adding the extra maxram and a number the gateway works
YAY

Running Custom Gateways

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