A simple Buildings Editor guide

[zaroba]

a simple bdat guide:

Menus:
File -
-New - new bdat
-Open - open a bdat
-Merge - add another bdat to the bottem of the one currently opened
-save - save the bdat (always saves as the last opened one, even if you select a new bdat, so careful not to overwrite an existing one by accident)
-save as - type a name to save the bdat
-export html - export an html page listing the buildings and all the info about them (Example HERE)
-export flat - doesen't work yet
-Exit - exit

Edit:
-Copy - copy the selected building
-Paste - paste the selected building
-Paste As New - doesen't work

Tools:
-Create Default Buildings.dat - makes a bdat with only a small fuel shop. used to make an actual full buildings.dat
-Produce Lines Checker - This handy window will list every item in the game, and will tell you how many buildings make the item, how many sell the item and how many demand the item. quite useful for finding what item is made but not demanded, or sold but not made. its good to have every demanded or sold item made by something or players wont be able to get it.
-Options = brings up a window where to can set an itemslist.txt file to use to change the items shown in the editor. will need to reload the bdat to make it display correctly, possibly also close and reopen the editor.
-Cost & Stock Estimate
-Min Profit = the min profit people want on any item.
-Markup Estimate = this is a general percentage a player might want back from the item (for items costing a few d, this wont work well)
-Base Cost Estimate = this specifies about how much a player will sell something that cost less then a d to make. If you just want to see the minimum cost of stuff, set base profit to 0, set markup estimate to 0 and set Min Profit to 1.
-Item- lists the items available in your bdat so far
-Est. Cost- lists the estimated cost as per the above cost settings and the deneri per sheckle setting (below)
-Neutrition/Cost- i got no clue how its calculated, but its a representation of how worthwhile food or drinks are for thier cost. higher the number = cheaper and more worthwhile the foods are, lower the number = more expensive compaired to the other foods. if you make all the Nutrition/Cost numbers the same for all food and drinks, then they will all be the same value when it comes to cost and healing hunger/thirst.
-est. Stk- no real clue. i never paid attention to it since its always shown me crazy numbers for some stuff and nothing for other stuff
-Demand- same as est stk, its always sshown me crazy, inconsistent stuff so i've ignored it



Main window:
Add Building - Adds buildings to the bdat to be listed in the Buildings Available On Your World area of the server
Delete Building - does the opposite of the above. it is recommended that buildings only be deleted from the highest number to the lowest number. thier is a bug associated with deleting lower numberd buildings causeing the rest not to shift correctly. you can highlight multiple buildings and delete them at once if wanted
Copy - Copies the selected building
Paste - Pasts the selected building
Deneri Per Sheckle - This sets the Deneri Per Sheckle scale to use in the cost & stock estimate window

Building Info Window:
Building Code - just the building number
Building Type - this defines basic rules of operation for the building, where a building will show in the islands construction menu and what skill will be required to build the building. Manafacturing and Industrial require building industrial. House and Garage need build house. Banks need build bank. Towns need build town. Leisure and Schools need build special. Production needs build production. Defenses need Build Defenses. Stores and Retail need build retail. Ornamental needs Artist. Farm needs Build Farm
Building Description - the buildings name
Materials Reqd - this specifies the materials used by a building if the Building Process setting on the island = 0, 2, 3, 5, or 6. Cash required for the building if the Building Process of the island is 1 or 4
Trigger Param - no clue
Sound Param - never tried it, but i'm assumeing this selects what sound to use from the server in the Tools->Sound Selector menu
Min Employment Time - i've never seen this work at all. client/server always forces players to work a min 1 year.
Required Skill - this specifies the skill a player most possess in order to get a job from the building
Max num employees - specifies the max number of employees
Daily Product Decay % - if the island is set to have a Product Decay Min Amount, then when the building has over that amount of a product, it will decay daily by the % that this setting is set to
Auto Repair Amount - never used it, but i'm assumeing it specifies a an amount of health the building will recover on a daily basis from weapon damage.
% Building Armor - how strong the building is. value of 100 = 6500 health. value of 0 means the building can't be damaged by weps. i think it was that a value of 1 would allow the building to be damaged but never destroyed.
Tech Level this sets what materials are required by the building, also somewhat defines a buildings base cost when materials are used to construction buildings.
0 = wood only - base cost = material requirement if island tax is at 10%
1 = wood and stone - base cost = 2x material requirement if tax is at 10%
2 = stone and steel - base cost = 3x material requirement if tax is at 10%
3 and higher = steel and plastics - base cost = 4x material requirement island tax is at 10%
i'm assumeing that costs for tech levels higher then 3 go by the same equation of (tech level + 1) x Mats required amount = base building cost when island construction tax is 10%
Defenses Weapon / Trigger - no clue. hedgehog should know this one

Produced Item 1/2 - sets the building to make # items for #D every # days until thier is # in stock
Every # days - sets the day timer - if the island has a setting for Global Production Rate, setting a day will multipley the setting in the Global Production Rate (i.e. a setting of 5 for days and a setting of 10 for Global Production Rate would make the item produce every 500 seconds.)
Item - sets the item produced
Qty - sets the quantity Produced
Cost - sets the cost in Deneri to make qty items.
Max - sets the max stock of the items. building wont make any items if the item is at max stock.
Harvet Time - sets the building to only produce the item on September 28th

Made Item 1/2/3 - sets the building to make
# Item 1 (and) # Item 2 every # days out of # Item 3 (and) # Item 4 until Max # of Item 1 is in stock. (item 2 has no limit)
days - sets the day timer - if the island has a setting for Global Production Rate, setting a day will multipley the setting in the Global Production Rate (i.e. a setting of 5 for days and a setting of 10 for Global Production Rate would make the item produce every 500 seconds.)
Made/Makes - sets the item(s) made. can make 2 diferent items made at once this way
Dmnd - sets what is demanded to make the item(s)
Qty - sets the quantity of the item(s) made in # days, and the quantity of the items demanded in order to make the quantity of items.
Max - sets the max amount of item 1 that can be in stock. the building wont produce if this amount is reached.

since thiers 3 slots that can make 2 items per, you can have upto 6 items made. made items can easily be used to make other items in the same building, plus you can have multiple slots making the same items for different rates. but, you must use the slots from top to bottem. the building wont make anything from slot 2 or 3 if slot 1 isen't set to make anything. can also use Produced items to make items.

Sold Item - sets what the building sells/buys. each building can be set to sell/buy upto 7 items
Item - sets the item
Qty - sets the max quantity for buying

i.e. if a building was set to sell 50 Oil, and it only had 10 in stock, a player could sell 40 more to it if the owner had a buy price set and if the building was invested. this goes for all building types that are set to sell stuff

towns, banks, and schools can't make, produce, or sell stuff. no clue about garages.

[Magicfinger]

a simple bdat guide:

-export flat - doesen't work yet

works fine but of what pratical use it will be to anyone at the moment im not sure its being used in the world database for the extended data bits im working on... in order to use as a web page etc.. the file will need to be parsed give me a holler if you need to know how to parse the info.

[zaroba]

it works? i tried it and it diden't do anything for me.
after doing the post i also did the Export HTML to post an updated zoric 8 bdat info and that did nothing also. clicked it in the menu, curser flickered, nothing happened.

export flat can easily be used to make it into a book item available on an island






just redownloaded the editor and it still doesen't work.
maybe it got broken in the 1.33 version of it.

[Jemrada]

Is it possible to have more then two Producted items? Like a way to have all my dead animals product in one building like a Meat Factory?


Also on the Make feature. When I click this I see the follow

Made
Makes
Dmnd
Dmnd

How do these really work. Why are there two make lines?

[hedgehog]

sadly you can't have more than two produced items. the limits in there are pretty much a bandwidth issue afaik, so prolly aren't likely to change too drastically any time soon :/

made items, which you can make 6 of, can have a maxium of two demands -- you set what items it needs in order to create the "made" item (for instance fuel might demand oil)

even though there's only three slots, you'll notice you can make two seperate items off the same demands, but the limitation being it'll also make the same amount of product.

[zaroba]

although thier is only 2 producable via the normal method, thier are ways around it.
like, you could make the 2 produced items be:
Produces 100 (item) at a cost of 100d (for 1d per item) and Produces 1000 (item) at a cost of 1000d (for 1d per also)
then in made:
Makes (whatever) and (whatever) out of (#) (produced Item) upto whatever amount

doing this allows you to use the 1d produced items to work the manafactured items prices, along with letting the building "semi-produce" 6 items instead of the standard 2





the dmnd etc are listed under the Made Item list in the first post

Made/Makes - sets the item(s) made. can make 2 diferent items made at once this way
Dmnd - sets what is demanded to make the item(s)
Qty - sets the quantity of the item(s) made in # days, and the quantity of the items demanded in order to make the quantity of items.
Max - sets the max amount of item 1 that can be in stock. the building wont produce if this amount is reached

[Hammerhands]

I have tried for over 6 hrs now to figure what partr of the docs is missing or inaccurate
regarding the items names list

from http://www.tuwr.net/pmwiki.php?n=Guides.Files
/data NamesFile.dat stores the item name changes, skill name changes, and model and texture assignments for everything
there is no NamesFile.dat created anywhere on system by world generation

Produce Lines Checker - This handy window will list every item in the game, and will tell you how many buildings make the item, how many sell the item and how many demand the item. quite useful for finding what item is made but not demanded, or sold but not made. its good to have every demanded or sold item made by something or players wont be able to get it.
-Options = brings up a window where to can set an itemslist.txt file to use to change the items shown in the editor. will need to reload the bdat to make it display correctly, possibly also close and reopen the editor.

the produce lines provides the complete item list even if no buildings.dat file is loaded
the File Menu option refers to NameFiles.txt however only thing close on system
is /data NamesFile.txt and has no data in it pertaining to items

and there is no file called itemslist.txt on my system nor can i make one

I also have an option to export as text file which isnt even listed here as an option
and frankly it dont fuqn work

EDIT my version of bdat editor is 6/12/06 and perhaps thats why it dont work
all the instructions are for files 2 yrs older and probably worked back then
current version does not you can add buildings but they are useless when out put
is something not already the default list of items

[zaroba]

yea, i do need to update this thing
i have off from work tomarrow, so perhaps i'll do it tomarrow.

the export as a text file i probably diden't include on purpouse due to it not working.

the itemslist file is no longer used, it was replaced with the namesfile. it doesen't come with the install, when you start your world for the first time, it'll automatically create the file. or you could just create a blank txt file in your servers Data folder that named namesfile.txt.

[flametard]

Ok, I am assuming this doc is old, cause it doesnt at all resemble the 'buildings editor' that is in my server window. I need help understanding the buildings editor. are those '-command-'s supposed to be typed into the buioldings editor, or are they options in the menus? cause i dont see anywhere to type commands, and i dont see those options.
help! these are my newbish questions:



1. how do i change the name of the buildings?

2. how do i detemine the inventory that a type of building sells/buys?

3.I figured out how to change the model for the buildings 1-8.
( town marker, home, basic school, fish market, bar, fuel stop, and oil dril)
can i build more than 8 buildings? if so, how? (again see questions 1 and 2)

4. How do i build ornamental buildings (currently it does not list any ornamental things that i can build) how do i upload models into the ornamental file?

5. I've figured out how to set background models. however, when i fire my weapon the texture on my background models stops generating unti my weapon stops firing. how do i fix this?

6. where do i find 'uni-tree' model and texture. its set as the default tree, but since i want my trees collidable, I am setting them as background models. however i cannot find 'uni tree' in my files. also, when the trees are set to collide, you cannot walk underneath the leaves. so invisible walls are created. thereby limiting the types of trees i can use down to 'oak' and 'pine'. also, the texture for my oak tree isnt generating. (found from zaroba's site) are there any more tree models that i can download?

so i hope this looks familiar to you guys...

[zaroba]

the buildings editor the guide is for is the buildings.dat file editor.
it can be downloaded at: http://theuniversaldownloads.com/BuildingsEd0506.zip

it can be used to solve 1 threw 4.
as for 5, that sounds like something for the bug forum.
as for 6, i have a bunch of other trees i'll upload on wednesday.

[flametard]

yay thank you!

[flametard]

Umm, I cant figure out where to save the file so that the server will read it. i think its called 'bdatoptions.opt' where should i save it?

oh and do you have any bushes or shrubs you could upload too!?

thanks!