Version 0.91 (Oct 11, 1999)
This software is FREEWARE and is provided on an as-is basis. Neither the author, Gathering of Developers Ltd., nor Terminal Reality Inc. are responsible for any loss or damage resulting from the use of this program.
EpdExplorer is a standalone application which allows users of Terminal Reality Inc's flight simulator "Fly!" to browse and manipulate the contents of the EPD archive files which contain much of the simulation's data.
EpdExplorer currently offers the following features:
See the Revision History and Future Enhancements sections of this document for details on where EpdExplorer came from and where it's going.
I welcome your suggestions, comments, bug reports and feature requests at flytools@hotmail.com
Installation consists of simply copying the EpdExplorer .jar archive file into the directory into which you installed Fly!. This is the same directory that the Fly.exe file resides in. You can actually install into any directory you wish, but the Fly! installation directory is preferred since the File->Open dialog will use the current directory as a starting point for browsing for EPD files to open. This will give you easy access to the Aircraft, Maps, Scenery and other folders which contain commonly-accessed EPD archives.
This tool is a standalone Java application. You must have a Java Virtual Machine installed on your computer. The tools were designed using Sun Microsystem's Java 2 Platform SDK. I STRONGLY recommend that you download and install the Java Runtime Environment 1.2.2 from Sun's web site at: http://java.sun.com/products/jdk/1.2/jre/index.html
Much of the feedback that I received from V0.90 ALPHA of EpdExplorer was actually related to problems getting the Java VM software installed and working correctly. I am still in the process of putting together a detailed tutorial on this process. If you are having problems installing the Java VM software from Sun and are unable to find a resolution by reading the documents at the Sun web site, feel free to send me an e-mail and I'll do what I can to help. I hope to have the Java VM tutorial completed by the release of the next version of EpdExplorer.
The screenshot below shows the application's main window while browsing the standard aircraft pod for the stock Hawker 800XP jet (Hawker.epd):
Notes:
This operation allows you to create a new EPD out ouf a group of folders and files on your hard disk. A single EPD file encapsulates a hierarchy of folders, sub-folders and ultimately individual files. When creating a new EPD, you specify to the application which folder on you hard disk is to be used as the 'root' of this hierarchy. Once this is specified, the application will read in all of the sub-folders and files which are underneath that root folder on your hard disk. To get the process started, first select the File -> New menu option. The following dialog will be displayed:
The title of the dialog is telling you to select a folder name which will be used as the root for the new EPD. I have selected a folder named KingAir into which I have previously exported the conents of the default KingAir aircraft EPD. Once the root folder has been selected, click the Open button. The following dialog will be displayed next:
This dialog is prompting you to enter a volume name for the new EPD. The volume name can be considered the 'title' of the EPD. Note that Fly! requires that every EPD file have a unique volume name, therefore it is a good idea when creating your own tweaked versions of the standard files, that you create a unique volume name (using your own name, or initials, or some other unique identifier). The default value for the volume name of a new EPD is the name of the root folder which you have selected. Once the name is to your liking, click OK to proceed.
The application will now read in all of the sub-folders and files underneath your root folder, and create the tree directory for your new EPD. Note that the new EPD which is created only exists in the application's memory and will be lost when you exit the application unless you perform the Save As operation to write the new EPD contents into a new EPD file on your hard disk.
In order to try out this operation for the first time, I would recommend that you Export the contents of an EPD into a new folder (see below), then attempt to Create a new EPD using that folder as the base folder name. The resulting new EPD should have the identical contents as the EPD which you originally exported. Try it!
To open an existing EPD, select the File->Open menu option. The following dialog box will pop up:
The file list window will apply an EPD file filter such that only folder names and EPD file names will be displayed. Select the EPD file that you wish to open by navigating to the desired folder, then clicking on the EPD file name in the file list window. You should then see the file name copied into the 'File name:' edit field. Alternatively, you can just type the name of the EPD file directly into the 'File name:' field. Click on the Open button to open the EPD.
If you have changed the contents of an EPD by either editing the volume name, or editing text in one or more text content files, you must Save the EPD in order to update the EPD file on the disk. If you do not Save then the changes you have made will be lost when you exit the EpdExplorer application.
To save, simply select the File -> Save option from the menu bar.
This operation is similar to the Save operation in that it writes the updated contents of the EPD from the application's memory into an EPD file on your hard drive. When selecting File -> Save As from the menu bar, the following dialog will be displayed:
Once you have navigated to the desired folder, enter the desired EPD file name into the 'File name' field and click on the Save button.
This operation can be considered the reverse of the Create New EPD operation. It is used to copy all of the individual folders, sub-folders and files within the EPD currently being viewed in the application onto a new folder on your hard disk. When you select the File -> Export menu option, the following dialog is displayed:
The application is prompting you to select a folder name which will be used as the root folder for the exported EPD hierarchy of sub-folders and files. Although the field is named 'File name:' it should really be labelled 'Folder name:' since you are only able to enter a folder name, not a file name. You can either navigate by clicking on the folder names in the folder list window, or enter the desired folder name directly into the 'File name:' edit field.
You can also create a new folder in which to export the EPD contents by clicking on the New Folder button, located near the top-right corner of the dialog. This will create a new folder named New Folder which you can rename by clicking on the name and editing it as usual for this type of dialog.
Once you have selected the desired root folder name, click on the Export button and the application will automatically create all required sub-directories and copy all the EPD file contents onto your hard disk.
As previously mentioned, Fly! requires that every EPD file have a unique volume name. This operation allows you to edit the name of a currently open EPD. It is useful if you are creating your own customized version of an existing EPD file, and ensures that when you save the EPD, its volume name will not conflict with the volume name of the original EPD.
Selecting the File -> Volume Name menu option results in the following dialog to be displayed (note this is the same dialog as that displayed in the File -> New operation:
Edit the volume name by typing in the edit box, and click OK to save the new volume name.
This operation will close the currently open EPD, and return the application to its startup state where the content window is blank (grey). It is not strictly necessary to perform this operation, since the currently open EPD will be automatically closed whenever you either open or create another EPD, or when the application is exited. NOTE: Any pending changes will be lost unless you Save the EPD before closing it.
Select the File -> Exit menu option to close any open EPD and quit the application. NOTE: Any pending changes will be lost unless you Save the EPD before exiting.
All unknown or unsupported file types are displayed in this "default" mode. The raw data from the file is dumped one byte at a time. This next screenshot shows a typical application screen when an unsupported file type is selected.
WAV files represent audio sound clips. This screenshot shows the EpdExplorer window after selection of a WAV file.
The content window contains two buttons:
NOTE: Only 8-bit palettized images are currently supported. For this reason, some BMP images may not display correctly. I will be adding support for 24-bit uncompressed BMP files in a later release.
BMP files represent Windows bitmap images. Unlike RAW image files, all of the information needed to display a BMP image is self-contained within the single file. BMP images can be of arbitrary width and height. The next screenshot shows the EpdExplorer window while viewing one of the BMP images in the UI.EPD pod.
A RAW file also represents an image, but uses a different storage method than the BMP bitmap image described above. All RAW files represent only the 8-bit palette index value corresponding to each pixel in the image. The palette itself is contained within an ACT file with the same base name. Figure x shows the application screen when a RAW image representing one of the crammed texture images for the standard Hawker 800XP has been selected:
NOTE: The current version of EpdExplorer does not support RAW image transparency, which uses the optional OPA file to make transparent or semi-transparent textures such as cockpit windows. All RAW images will be displayed in EpdExplorer as totally opaque, even though certain parts of the texture may be rendered transparently in Fly!
NOTE: EpdExplorer must be able to find a corresponding ACT file when a RAW is selected for viewing. For example, if the file \ART\HAWK00H.RAW is selected, then there must be a \ART\HAWK00H.ACT file within the same EPD in order for the image to be displayed. If the program is unable to find the corresponding palette within the EPD, the RAW file will be displayed in the default Binary format.
Fly! uses many different types of text files to control aircraft, scenery and database contents. These files can be displayed and edited within the content pane window. The following screenshot shows the SVH (Simulated Vehicle) control file for the standard Hawker 800XP.
You can edit text within a text content pane by simply clicking in the window and editing as you would in a simple text editor.
NOTE: This version of EpdExplorer does not support any 'advanced' text editing functions such as find, search/replace or undo, but they will be added to a future release.
Lots of things to fix, including:
In the farther future....
Please send bug reports, additional feature requests, etc. to flytools@hotmail.com
Have fun!
Chris Wallace, Ottawa Canada, October 11, 1999