Any chance you can turn this functionality into a DLL itself?

The file scanning and parsing is such a fundamental part of dealing with Freelancer that I find myself wanting to drive this process myself from another program or script so I can do batch examination and modification.

Some detailed notes. Overall, this is a darned useful application. Problems I've found at this point are below.

+ Bogus Missing File errors
I get messages such as the following:
<pre><font size=1 face=Courier>UNIVERSE/SYSTEMS/Li01/Li01.ini --> The "ASTEROIDS"
named "miningp_scavenger"specifies a missing file,
equipment\models\commodities\asteroids\Li01_Detroit_high_density_debris.ini </font></pre>
In fact, the file "Li01_Detroit_high_density_debris.ini" in that location exists.

+ Not checking Freelancer.ini?
This is a dubious issue. I frequently add custom content to custom files (shiparch0.ini, goods0.ini, etc), and these files are of course referenced in my Freelancer.ini file. I would like for FLScan to be able to scan the Freelancer.ini file for what SHOULD be included as files, working just as FL itself does.
On the other hand, if this were done all the time it could cause problems for use analyzing "standard" filesets saved to a particular location, such as FLSDK files or snapshots of mods.
Perhaps a configurable advanced option?

+ Line number for errors would be useful (convenience)
When cross-checking the errors against files, I have to manually scroll or do a find to track down referenced errors. It might be useful to document the line in the error log where possible - e.g., if you find a reference to an asteroid lost_patrol in Br01.ini and the ini for lost_patrol is not found, the line in Br01.ini could be referenced. Should be straightforward if you're using a StreamReader class during validation.

+ Missing CMP files not mentioned by name
Shiparch errors say
<pre><font size=1 face=Courier>...references a cmp file that does not exist... </font></pre>
but don't mention the cmp file name/path.

+ Version number in About?
It might be useful to include a version number in the About box so people know what version they are using.

+ Output log path slashes mixed (cosmetic)
The base path uses Windows-standard backslash "\" in the error log, but the subpaths all use a forwardslash "/". This is primarily cosmetic since most applications should be able to "read" paths with mixed slashes (for example if pasting the path into a text editors "Open" dialog) but some offbeat ones might have a problem with it. May be good to standardize for consistency

+ Spacing in "missing files" messages (cosmetic)
In error logs missing file messages of the following type
<pre><font size=1 face=Courier>...UNIVERSE/SYSTEMS/Ku01/Ku01.ini --> The "ASTEROIDS" named "capitalships_Kusari"specifies a ... </font></pre>
note that there is no space before the word "specifies".

Overall, an extremely useful modding tool!



Edited by - bakedpotato on 7/4/2006 3:42:50 PM

Thanks, glad you find it useful

Haven't noticed any of the missing file problems, but I'll look into it. Most likely a typo in the code, I seem to be able to make an awful lot of them

The program does scan Freelancer.ini, the beta version did not but I corrected this before releasing it.

The line numbers, cmp filenames and slashes are very good ideas, thanks. I'll get them stuck in the next version. I am using a custom streamreader to get most of the data, so cross-referencing the lines should work fine.

Thanks a lot for the feedback, I'll get stuck into those improvements

Accushot,

First of all great tool!
I have a request if you decide to bring out an update of this tool:
Currently FLscan aborts on my engine_good.ini saying that is not an bini file, which is correct.
I restarted using the compressed version of it since reports came from FL-guru’s that the bini version might cause problems on servers.
Now since this file is an empty file, the request is could you let Flscan just skip this file? Unless of course I am the only one that is having this problem.


BuckDanny

What modeling program does FL use and where do i get it?


(if this is the right place)

---

Now since this file is an empty file, the request is could you let Flscan just skip this file? Unless of course I am the only one that is having this problem.

---

I think I mentioned this in email with AccuShot, since I've seen the same problem. Since it can happen with any file at all - I add engine0.ini and others sometimes - the likely solution is to detect empty files whatever they are named and skip processing.

if you make engine_good.ini a text file containing 1 space it solves both FLScan and FLServer errors nicely

+++ out of cheese error - redo from start +++

Xtreme Team Studios

I hate it, but this is a very important point. There's an even more fundamental problem here than FLScan - and in a sense, we can argue that FLScan SHOULD puke on that file when it is empty. It apparently causes no problems in gameplay, but it does indeed cause Freelancer to produce an error/warning message.

I think the "blank space" correction should be done for the SDK and Unofficial Patches. For FLScan itself, this sounds to me like a classic example of a true "warning" as opposed to "error" - if FLScan starts classifying error types and severity in any detail, this is a "light" error.

And Accushot - did you see we're drooling over your stuff?

@OCS, nope, but you can get it here
---

Very good point, I'll sort that out later. Making it a warning instead of an error seems like a good idea, especially if FL does choke on it, but I agree that aborting the scan is a little drastic

Why didn't I find this tool before!
Incredible Accushot, I would like to know how to program these things

But then, is there a BINI decoder in FLScan? As it cannot decrypt FLE-generated system files (BINI encrypted).

Also, I know it isn't a warning/error/crash, but when you look at the errors, the path for the file FLScan is checking looks like :
C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\Freelancer\/ DATA/ MISSIONS/ pilots_story.ini

Could this be corrected??

Edited by - FriendlyFire on 12/28/2004 11:37:09 AM

Edited by - FriendlyFire on 12/28/2004 11:38:10 AM

Yep, WatercoolerWarrior suggested this as well and I've added BINI decryption to my current version. The path errors are a typo and have been fixed - it's just the way I type them

So when will we see the new version(s)?

When it's ready

I'm currently re-doing the error report sections, so instead of just a text file as output it will (hopefully) create a document with details on the error, ways to fix it and possibly options to automatically fix the errors. I also have a few more checks I want to add, as well as the cross-referencing WW mentioned earlier.

Would you be interested in looking at the source for the Freelancer Ini Analyzer as a reference? I'm trying to recover that code now but it's kind of a long shot. The main part of it wouldn't be useful for your program but the part that automatically builds a list of files to scan from various parts of the game (not just freelancer.ini).