all.spawn and acdc.pl

[Grump642]

I decided to try some things in Soc while I'm playing and messing with CS. I followed the directions pretty well, I think, but can't get it to unpack. I made the 2 .bat files, with the proper lines inside, acdc.pl, and all.spawn( from vanilla), plus stutils all inside the folder. When I double click on decompile. the window opens just for a split sec. What might I be doing wrong?

[Nightwatch]

First of all, may I remind you if you've got the latest Active Perl installed on your PC, as we all can forget it?

Secondly, may I recommend the way I decompile and recompile the all.spawn?

This is the way I do it, without using bat files:

After installing Active Perl, and placing the all.spawn file together with the acdc.perl into the same folder, make to shortcuts into the same folder as well. (recommended places for this folder are Desktop and My Documents.) Name them recompile and decompile respectively.

Then, on the "target" lines in the properties boxes of the shortcuts add these lines after the targets, after leaving just one empty space:

on DECOMPILE: -d all.spawn

on RECOMPILE: acdc.pl -c all.ltx -o new_all.spawn

(new_all.spawn name is given in order that the recompiled all.spawn do not overwrite the original all.spawn.

Example of recompile:

Code: Select all

"C:\Users\USER\Documents\...YOUR FOLDER NAME gets HERE....\acdc.pl" acdc.pl -c all.ltx -o new_all.spawn

Hope that you find this method is more manageable and stable.

[Grump642]

Thanks, I'll try your way, since the other won't work. Just as soon as I dl the newest Active Perl. Mine is about a year old.

[Nightwatch]

I hope it works.

edit/add:

For quick reference
The link for the ActivePerl 5.10.0 :

http://aspn.activestate.com/ASPN/Downloads/ActivePerl/

[Grump642]

Nope. Not sure why, It is not that hard. Uh, the shortcuts were shortcuts to what files?

[Nightwatch]

Sorry, I noticed that I missed out that part; shortcuts need to done from the acdc.pl that is placed in the same file with the all.spawn. As you know, if your Active Perl initiates on your system, then you will see the adcd.pl and its shortcuts in "perl icons," so it'd mean that Active Perl installed properly.

A question though: what version of all.spawn are you targeting to open? And also, what acdc.pl version do you have?

I guess you're working either with 1.0004 or 1.0005 (STALKER patch) version all.spawns.

I have two acdc.pl with me, one is for 1.0004 and the other one is for both ..4 and ..5 versions. (I have not tried that one yet, I didn't need to)

I'm attaching them here at the end of the post.

Also another idea:
You may consider trying the "compile " shortcut with adding the acdc.pl on the command line as it is on the recompile command. Both versions of command works on my system, (I just ran them again for my continuing work on the mod)

This is the both versions for decompile shortcut target command line:

Needless to say, I gave the example as based on its location on my PC, it may well be different in everyone's systems, but it's better to keep the process (opening a folder) either in Desktop or in My Documents folders.

(Written with assumption that the decompile/recompile process will be performed in C drive and in a folder which will be named by the user instead of ...your folder name... part.)

For decompile shortcut:

after "C:\.....\...\.....\...YOUR FOLDER NAME....\acdc.pl"

Code: Select all

acdc.pl -d all.spawn

(then it'll become like: "C:\.....\...\.....\...YOUR FOLDER NAME....\acdc.pl" acdc.pl -d all.spawn)

or, without acdc.pl before the -d all.spawn)
after "C:\.....\...\.....\...YOUR FOLDER NAME....\acdc.pl"

Code: Select all

-d all.spawn

(then, it'll become: "C:\.....\...\.....\...YOUR FOLDER NAME....\acdc.pl" -d all.spawn)
_______________________

repeating from the above post, the recompile shortcut target command line:

after "C:\.....\...\.....\...YOUR FOLDER NAME....\acdc.pl"

Code: Select all

acdc.pl -c all.ltx -o new_all.spawn

(then it'll become: "C:\...\...\...\...YOUR FOLDER NAME....\acdc.pl" acdc.pl -c all.ltx -o new_all.spawn )

I hope this time acdc.pl will answer.

[NatVac]

To extend what Nightwatch said: It would be a good thing to know what the real problem is. You could edit the .bat files with a text editor and put "pause" as the final line in the file, to keep the window from closing after the commands finish.

Also: The ".pl" extension must be registered to the Perl compiler. Normal installation of ActivePerl should do this.

You won't need to repeat the acdc.pl on the command line. However, if the ".pl" extension is not registered, you can still run the Perl interpreter to launch the program.

Open a DOS shell and cd to the directory* where the all.spawn file is located. Then execute this command line:

path-to-Perl-install\bin\perl.exe path-to-acdc.pl\acdc.pl -d all.spawn

This assumes that the Perl executable is in the bin subdirectory (it usually is).

I think EggChen et al. have more info on some of this in his "Editing all.spawn" thread at the FileFront forum, and the Wiki might. Links are in the Important Links to Modding Questions and Answers, found stickied at the top of this forum section.

___________
*In XP: Start > All Programs > Accessories > Command Prompt to open a DOS shell.
To change directories, use "cd" followed by a space, followed by the directory you wish to change to:

cd "C:\Program Files\THQ\STALKER - Shadow of Chernobyl\gamedata\spawns"

Note the use of quotes to enclose paths with embedded spaces.

[Grump642]

Thank you Nightwatch and NatVac. Shortcut to what was the key. Worked like a charm.
I was afraid it was Vista again. Already had to disable UAC because it was totally messing with Notepad++ and not allowing it to change and save files. And it did not say what it was doing either. Other then UAC, I've found Vista to be pretty good. Thanks again for the help.

[Nightwatch]

You're welcome, I'm really happy that it worked well at the end. A small stone in the way causes a lot of frustration.

Also, yes, UAC (and also the defender) are real pains in Vista, but once you've passed them it's not a bad OC either, I agree.

[Grump642]

Never used defender. First thing I did was turn it off. Avira Anti-Vir, Spybot S+D, Super Anti-Spyware, and Spyware Blaster are all I need. Plus Comodo firewall.

[Nightwatch]

Very good choices, I'd say; much better than what Microsoft tries to offer.