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[HoD]

Yes, yes. I know its cheating. But, how do I use the utilities? Most importantly - the reveal one. I have been playing DF for about a week, and am just tired of having fort designs scraped because a splinter of the river pops up in the middle of an area. Most annoying...Pretty much - thats all I want - just to know where that damn river is so I can avoid it/build around it without causing too much mess.

So, yeah. How do I use the reveal utility?

[Heliopios]

Just use reveal, let it work it's magic, the first time it take a good three-four minutes to show the entire map, and after that it's instant for any other fortress.

[Reynard]

Aye... start up DF, pause in Fortress mode, and run reveal.exe in the same directory the DF executable is in.

[Heliopios]

quote:Originally posted by Reynard:
<STRONG>Aye... start up DF, pause in Fortress mode, and run reveal.exe in the same directory the DF executable is in.</STRONG>

No, you just run reveal.

[Keiseth]

Other utilities (like granite.exe) are used by hitting 'k' to go into 'look' mode and highlighting your square of choice, then running the .exe.

In Windows XP I find it more efficient (for me) to go to RUN, type "cmd.exe" for an old-style dos prompt, navigate to the folder with the utilities (using "cd", "change directory", for me it's "cd C:\DFApps\" for instance.)

When you do that, you can type "granite.exe" and move the cursor, then simply hit "up" then "enter" to automagically type it again.

Because the default behavior is to run the .exe and blow through error messages/help messages before the user can read them. cmd.exe allows the window to sit there so you can read carefully. That, and some like ore.exe take a specific adjustment, like "example.exe -example" for a different effect.

I'm sure most everybody knows all this, but for those that don't... here you go.

[Tamren]

One thing i was curious about.

I want to try my hand at custom creature making but to balance it i need to compare the creatures to different levels of equipment to see how they stack up.

One of the new utilities makes ore, you have a few options you can use with it.

It will make iron ore in the square indicated by default, you supposedly have the option of changing that to a larger square instead of just one or switching the type of ore.

The commands are things like [-S] and [-a], these supposedly are typed in after the program name, like ore.exe [-S] but no matter what i tried i couldnt get them working.

My dos knowledge is rusty, anyone know how to work these? maybe integrate it into a short cut?

[Merlon]

The readme for ore.exe states "ore [-BS] [-acgikpstz]". The stuff in [] just means the order of the variables you can put in. So to use it you open a command prompt (start->run->cmd), go to the directory using the method posted earlier (use the tab-key to autocomplete directorynames), then type for instance "ore -s -c" (without the quotes). The program should then make the currently designated mining/detail stone area (-s) into copper (-c).

To make it into a shortcut, make a shortcut by dragging and dropping the .exe, then edit the shortcut by suffixing the commands you wish executed. Like:

code:

"D:\Games\Dwarf Fortress\ore.exe" -s -c

(quotes included)

[ May 29, 2007: Message edited by: Merlon ]

[Tamren]

sweet thanks

[puke]

if you just want to see where the river and chasm run, the other option is to build bridges up and down them.  or to mine a small strip along their bank.

[Core Xii]

[] usually indicate that the stuff enclosed within is optional, and <> mean it's manditory.

program.exe -<filename> [-flags]

[ June 01, 2007: Message edited by: Core Xii ]

[Leprechaun]

Ehm, reveal.exe isn't working for me. I've tried the trick with cmd.exe, but all I get when I run it is "Map data is not yet available."

[ June 26, 2007: Message edited by: Leprechaun ]

[Bien]

quote:Originally posted by Leprechaun:
<STRONG>Ehm, reveal.exe isn't working for me. I've tried the trick with cmd.exe, but all I get when I run it is "Map data is not yet available."

[ June 26, 2007: Message edited by: Leprechaun ]</STRONG>

Try it when youre actually managing a fortress, it dosent work in adventure mode.

[Leprechaun]

I'm looking at said fortress as we speak. Thanks for the quick reply though. It's a new world, could that be something to do with it?

[qwertyuiopas]

Theres another way to include options. Make a .bat file in the same folder and edit it to read this:

flow.exe -m
pause

it runs it, then leaves the window up so you can see errors.

[Leprechaun]

Hate to ask, but I have no idea how to create a new .bat file.