[REL] CFG Studio

[BenMillard]

Introduction

CFG Studio 2 is built to be a reliable and easy to use editor for the handling.cfg file in GTA3/VC/SA. It is not under active development any more.

 

Main window with handling.cfg loaded, viewing Bike data:

640 x 480, 28kB.

 

Double-click any handlingFlags data cell in GTA3/VC/SA to display a checklist of features. Tick the ones you want, untick the ones you don't want, then press Return or Enter. Click File > Save and then load up the game and try out the vehicle you changed.

640 x 480 - 81.0kB.

 

Values Adjuster window for advanced users:

 

 

Download and Install

Go to the CFG Studio 2 and download it from there. You will need WinRAR to extract the file to anywhere on your computer. The cfgstudio2.exe file is the actual program.

 

Read the readme.txt file after you download it.

 

Distribution

Please do not put this on your site. Give a link to this topic or to CFG Studio 2 web page instead. That way people can always find the latest version and can report problems to me.

 

Feedback

Please report any bugs and problems in this topic. Feature requests, coding advice, help with troubleshooting and compliments are also welcome.

 

(EDIT) Some screenshots updated on 2006-06-12.

(EDIT2) Removed references to the old CFG Studio.

(EDIT3) Updated URLs on 2011-11-18.

Edited October 21, 2019 by BenMillard
Added section for handlingFlags menu.

[JLSoryu]

Looks great will definately be handy for testing out all those undefined handling flags.

 

Quick suggestion, are you planning to incorporate your Flag Studio program within this anywhere, Maybe for example when you click on the Handling Flag attribute it has one of those 3 Dot Buttons which launches the flagstudio or a byproduct of Flag Studio (FSLite) it'd just be a lot easier having both things under one central Program instead of having to switch.

 

I understand however if you don't plan on doing this. It's looking good anyway, can't wait to see it complete.

 

EDIT: Never Mind just read about the wizards part.

 

:: <')))>(

Edited June 15, 2005 by gta_king

[_MoNoXiDe_]

very nice but i think it would be better if u replaced the the field names with not the ones from the file but in proper English, i know its easier just to loop it round and add the names but i personally think it looks nicer when they have the like Mass instead of fmass.

 

good luck

[BenMillard]

Lots of progress made last night. It now opens GTA3, GTAVC and GTASA files properly and detects which type of file it is automatically and saves them to either the file which was opened or a new file. Havn't written the code to allow editing of the data yet because I've been making the grid columns more tidy.

 

The widths of columns be saved every time a file is closed or the program exists for each edition of GTA when in the unnamed headers mode. This means you can set the "Flags" field of GTA3 nice and narrow because it only uses 4 bytes but can set it nice and wide for GTAVC where it uses 7 bytes and set them wider still for the pair of flags in GTASA which use 8 bytes each. It will mean that the settings file will be quite large with nearly a hundred settings just for the column widths but it will make a tool a lot easier to use, imho.

 

Custom sized columns will only be available when using unnamed headers because you need to be able to see the entire name if it is using a name. However, you will still be able to manually resize columns in either mode but the setting will not be saved when using named headers.

 

 

(EDIT) Made some more refinements to headers and cells. Alternate row shading was an idea illspirit had and I think it is really useful. I'm using the second lightest highlight shade for Windows 3D objects as the background colour, so the colour will adapt to suit the theme you have applied to your system.

Edited December 8, 2005 by Cerbera

[_MoNoXiDe_]

thats really nice but something that would be great is to put the vehicles in alphabetical order. It would really help.

 

EDIT: huh?

Edited June 16, 2005 by _MoNoXiDe_

[DexX]

if cerb is as anal about his programs as he is everything else, you'll be able to click the column header at the top of the form, and it will re-sort the list

 

adn if not, cerb, you should implement that.

[BenMillard]

 

if cerb is as anal about his programs as he is everything else, you'll be able to click the column header at the top of the form, and it will re-sort the list

 

adn if not, cerb, you should implement that.

Fancy customisable sorting by columns is something I intend to do but not until the more essential features are in place. The ability to re-order the handling data rows and make the saved file use this new order is also going to be present. Creating your own header titles is something which I could do but again there are more important to do first.

 

The control being used is a spreadsheet control and so clicking a row or column heading highlights that row or column. This is functionality I want to keep because it means one-click highlighting of data rows or columns so they can be copied to the clipboard. No more clicking and dragging across multiple pages just to get a handling setup out so you can post it on a web page.

 

There will also be Find, Replace and Goto functions for easy location and/or replacement of data. I'm not clear on the specifics of what the interface for these will be like and what options will be available and they aren't a priority until the more essential features are implemented.

 

 

I saved my first fully operating and valid GTAVC handling file today. I tested it in-game and everything worked...after I included ";the end" with a newline at the bottom of every file created. There are minimal comments in the files created by CFG Studio; they just explain what program created the file, when it was created, who wrote the program, what the website of the program creator is, what version of GTA this handling is for, titles for special data sections (Boats, Bikes, Flying and Animations) and a note at the end about GTA requiring the special file ending.

 

If anyone wants to help test the program, there are a few way to contact me but MSN Messenger is the most effective. I'll probably put another screenshot and the GTAVC file it generated. I want the files it generates to be 100% compatible with other editors. If people know people who made other programs I'd like to work with them to ensure CFG Studio handling data is fully inter-operable with their editors and vice versa.

 

 

(EDIT) Yes Ash, I am as anal about this as everything else!

Edited June 18, 2005 by Cerbera

[Fragdieb]

I just had a quick check with SanAndreas' handling.cfg file, and it seems to work fine, no problems occured. Here are some pics what I did to the cars:

 

The Perennial with some more below the bonnet:

pic 1

pic 2

pic 3

 

and the offroad sabre:

pic 4

[BenMillard]

More developments! Basic user preferences are now saved to the "cfgstudio.ini" file. These include window position, size and maximised/minimised/normal window mode. You can now hide the status bar (this is another saved preference) so that you can see an extra line or two of data instead. Most menu items have a keyboard shortcut, so the program is very nice to use with the keyboard.

 

I have added some of the first "Edit" menu options. There is a very limited "Undo" option to restore the data of the current cell to what it was before you started editing it. I have implemented the "Clear" menu as well, which clears the current cell.

 

 

BRAVURA	1300.0	2200.0	1.7	0.0	0.3	0.0	70	0.65	0.80	0.52	5	160.0	15.0	10.0	F	P	08.0	0.80	0	30.0	1.3	0.08	0.0	0.31	-0.15	0.57	0.0	0.26	0.50	9000	1	1	0	0	0

This is a test of "Edit > Copy" when an entire line is selected. GTASA standard data was used.

 

 

POLICE_LA	1600.0	4500.0	2.0	0.0	0.3	-0.1	75	0.75	0.85	0.50	5	200.0	25.0	10.0	R	P	10.0	0.53	0	35.0	1.0	0.12	0.0	0.28	-0.12	0.55	0.0	0.2	0.24	25000	40000000	10200008	0	1	0POLICE_SF	1600.0	4500.0	2.0	0.0	0.3	-0.15	75	0.75	0.85	0.52	5	200.0	25.0	10.0	R	P	10.0	0.53	0	35.0	1.1	0.12	0.0	0.28	-0.17	0.55	0.0	0.2	0.24	25000	40000000	10200008	0	1	0POLICE_VG	1600.0	4500.0	2.0	0.0	0.3	-0.1	75	0.75	0.85	0.52	5	200.0	25.0	10.0	R	P	10.0	0.53	0	35.0	0.9	0.08	0.0	0.28	-0.17	0.55	0.0	0.2	0.24	25000	40000000	10200008	0	1	0

Testing of "Edit > Copy" when three complete rows are selected. GTASA standard data was used.

 

 

MaxLean	FullAnimLean45.0	38.035.0	25.048.0	43.045.0	38.055.0	38.040.0	30.040.0	30.030.0	25.048.0	43.048.0	43.040.0	30.048.0	43.030.0	25.0

Testing copying of two complete columns using "Edit > Copy" again. GTASA special data for "bikes" was used.

 

 

40000	800000030000	800040025000	800000070000	800000060000	800040073000	800040010000	80000005000	800000099000	800000048000	800040030000	8000400

Testing "Edit > Copy" when a free selection of cells is taken from the middle of a handling file. GTASA standard data was used. These are the ModelFlags and HandlingFlags values for the PREDATOR down to the LAUNCH. I don't know of any other editor which allows you to easily select and copy parts of the data like this.

 

Next step will be writing a paste procedure which can recognise this data after it has been pasted to and copied from a web page. Most boards don't use the correct <pre> element for code samples, so TAB spaces (ASCII 9) are converted into normal spaces (ASCII 32). I already have written a GetParsedLine function for when the files are originally being read and it recognises either of those characters as being column gaps and converts the gaps into proper TAB spaces. The MSFlexGrid automatically treats the TAB character as a column seperator, so data after a TAB character gets placed in the next cell and the data after the next TAB in the cell after that (etc).

 

New line characters are automatically recognised as row seperators, so the paste procedure shouldn't be all that hard to put together. However, preventing the data from overflowing and enabling the paste operation to be undone might be tricky. We shall see. Well, I will, since I'm the one coding it.

Edited July 8, 2006 by Cerbera

[Luke]

It all looks perfectly fine. My only issue with this Cerbera is that since your program displays all the data in a very similar way to the arrangement in the proper files anyway, it doesn't honestly make things that much simpler. Single record view a possibility? Either way, it's a nice tool, just your first picture looked as confusing as the real file, since then it's become a bit more sensible though.

 

Language you're using? I've got this awful temptation to have as few dependancies as possible when programming, which means as few "Controls" as possible and rather making my own. I'm a very strange person though, who likes to do things in far more complex ways than are needed.

[BenMillard]

The big difference is that the columns are always correctly aligned in CFG Studio. Also, alternate rows are shaded to help guide the eye. The headers for rows and columns are always visible in CFG Studio, helping to locate exactly the cell you want.

 

CFG Studio will have many features specific to handling.cfg. For example, the Edit > Go To feature will allow users to jump straight to a particular setting for a particular vehicle by using the index or name of the row and column. It also displays each section in a seperate view, making it easier to move between the standard and special data for a particular vehicle. It also has the special checklist controls for editing flags; you have to do hexadecimal mathematics to edit flags using Notepad!

 

 

(EDIT) While testing valid seperators and whitespace usage in the file, I struck upon the idea of testing how the delimiter conventions from other data files would apply to handling.cfg, since if they were inter-operable it would make my dreams of turning CFG Studio into a full-blown GTA Studio all the more real. So, I changed the start of a file generated by CFG Studio and tried it in GTAVC. The new data was this:

 

; Generated by CFG Studio on 18/06/2005 13:01:02; Creator: Ben 'Cerbera' Millard; Website: http://projectcerbera.com;; This data is for Grand Theft Auto Vice City.  It will not work in any other game.# You can also use comments like this. SANDKING,	1350.0,	1.7,	3.8,	2.2,	0.0,	0.01,	0.40,	75,	0.75,	0.60,	0.50,	5,	300.0,	25.0,	4,	D,	3.5,	0.65,	0,	30.0,	1.00,	0.12,	0.38,	0.00,	40000,	0.35,	-0.15,	0.50,	0.25,	4000001,	0,	1,#; you can leave blank lines and mix together comment characters

 

This is what happened:

1024x768

 

You are probably thinking "Hmm, I don't see anything wrong." and that is because it worked perfectly! It seems that you can have whitespace at the start of data lines (which CFG Studio allowed anyway) and you can use commas with whitespate to delimit data, although when I tried commas without whitespace the game crashed after the savegame loaded and the level was about to appear. Interestingly, you can also use DAT/IDE/IPL style comment characters (#) instead of CFG comment characters (;). I wonder if this means CFG conventions apply to other data files? In objects.dat some parameters use commas and whitespace while others just use whitespace, plus it uses semi-colons (;) as comments while gtavc.dat uses hashes (#) as comments.

 

I mean, OMG, this has totally changed my view of how strict GTA is when parsing the text data files. It means that they can probably all be generated using the same basic format. It means that a fair amount of filesize could be saved by removing the commas from all data files which have them...although I will have to test the flexibility of these files in each edition before I start recommending people make editors which can do that.

 

Tommorrow I'll try putting the special data out of sequence, indenting special data, leaving no gap between special data indicator character and first character of data, using other non-data characters between attributes, putting commas at the start of data files, placing double-commas between parameters...plus some other things if I think of right now. Testing this stuff in GTA3 is something I will do, since I don't have GTASA yet.

 

W00t! GTA modding is fun!

Edited September 4, 2006 by Cerbera

[Sociapath]

I don't understand a word u are saying, but ur editor is beautifull

 

Although i tried to get a 2G boost on the greenwood, but it doesnt seem to work...

[DexX]

 

I mean, OMG, this has totally changed my view of how strict GTA is when parsing the text data files. It means that they can probably all be generated using the same basic format. It means that a fair amount of filesize could be saved by removing the commas from all data files which have them...although I will have to test the flexibility of these files in each edition before I start recommending people make editors which can do that. smile.gif

 

Tommorrow I'll try putting the special data out of sequence, indenting special data, leaving no gap between special data indicator character and first character of data, using other non-data characters between attributes, putting commas at the start of data files, placing double-commas between parameters...plus some other things if I think of right now.

 

Cerb? yea, hi. i know its your program and all, but i dont really think we need 6000 ways to sort file parsing

 

otherwise, it looks like its coming along pretty well, though it is rather daunting, like notepad, to see row after row and column after column of data. editing just one vehicle at a time, along with an onscreen description of how that will affect the vehicle, would be a better approach imo. CarEd, although bland, and non descriptive, was is the best handling editor sofar imo, simply because of its functionality, and non disruptive interface.

[BenMillard]

 

I don't understand a word u are saying, but ur editor is beautifull

 

Although i tried to get a 2G boost on the greenwood, but it doesnt seem to work...

The effect of 2G_BOOST is diffcult to notice. In GTAVC is had only a small effect, so that may also be the case on GTASA. If you set fEngineAcceleration to be about 200 for any vehicle I'm sure you will notice the effect of that.

 

Today I have been mainly writing functions and making forms for the Edit menu. I've completed the Edit > GoTo... form which is now impossible to crash and very easy to use. You use that form to jump straight to a column or row by it's numerical position. When the form loads it displays the current numerical positions so that it's easy to understand what sort of numbers it is asking for.

 

I've finished making and coding the form for Edit > Find... with an "Exact match" mode for car names. I intend to add a sort of "fuzzy logic" mode as well, so that if you type in the car's in-game name or make a spelling mistake the vehicle should still get selected. It won't be an especially intelligent mode, it'll just see how similar the letters used by the user are when compared to the data. Because this might generate several results, I coud add a listbox to the bottom of the form listing vehicle identifiers which are close?

 

Screenshot of Edit > GoTo... form in use:

640x480 - 80kB.

 

Screenshot of Edit > Find... form:

640x480 - 90kB.

 

I've update the CFG Studio page with this version. Some feedback on how these features operate for people would be useful, especially ideas about how to implement the fuzzy search mode. I might find some way of making the currently selected cell more obvious than the faint dotted border currently being used, too. Would that be required?

 

 

(EDIT) Last night I wrote a few new features and refined the existing features. Working with selections of text is a bit weird if the selection moves above and to the left of the active cell but I'm sure I can fix this in later versions. One of the big improvements is that the program now shows a message box to ask if you want to save any unsaved data. The chance of data loss through the user accidentally closing the program, closing the file, re-loading the file or opening a new file are now greatly reduced.

Edited October 29, 2005 by Cerbera

[_MoNoXiDe_]

very cool, i love it.

 

i suggest that when you right click in the coloumns for flags or Anim group there shuold be an addition to link to flag editor or a dialog which lists the different groups etc,

 

also when i am unable to select the vehicle ID unless i click right click and select all, it would be nice to be able to select the whole line includin the ID

 

and please make the vehicles alphabetical order, it would really help.

 

other than that keep up the good work!

 

EDIT: I tried to open vehicles.ide with CFG studio and it worked very well!

 

its lookin great so far

Edited June 24, 2005 by _MoNoXiDe_

[BenMillard]

After some very productive discussions with Mono I have made some more refinements and developments to the program. Now has better selecting of cells and the Edit > Paste feature has been written.

 

I've also written the starts of the Bookmarks menu. At the moment you can add bookmarks and they are saved to the settings file when the program closed. They are re-created when the program loads up again. There is currently no way to delete them from the program because I havn't made the Manage Bookmarks form yet. Still, you can add them and they work.

Edited September 5, 2005 by Cerbera

[1319987654321]

Why all Tools is grey ?

Is this a beta one?

why dont combine the tools in your webpage in this very nice tool?

 

request : suspension modify tool (have a simple picture showing what does my car look like)

[Fragdieb]

As the topic title says, it's still Work In Progress, that's why most of the options are still grayed out.

[1319987654321]

You gave me the hope

 

btw , I have another suggestion , in VC , theres a editor can modify wheel size and have preview , i liked that a lot

[BenMillard]

Tools > Suspension Wizard will have a basic visual preview. However, the basic position of wheels is set in the 3D model file (.DFF) and this is a very, very complex file. The are contained in a.IMG which is also very complex. I won't be able to write code that will load them. Therefore, the preview will just be a basic guide and might not match the in-game vehicle.

 

I am hoping to get GTASA tomorrow, so I will be using this tool to edit the file and make a GTASA version of my GTA3 & GTA:VC Handling: Acceleration and also my GTA3 & GTA:VC Handling: Detailed Acceleration experiments. The way a vehicle accelerates is the most important aspect in the way it can be driven. It determines whether a constant speed "in and out" driving line is best for corners or whether the "slow in, fast out" line can be used for high-acceleration vehicles. Corner approach speed is also decided by the acceleration and so is the way the throttle can be used through the corner.

 

Therefore, I want to study the possiblities of acceleration in GTASA before I start making custom handling setups or start my GTASA Handling Overhaul. It might mean that I do not do much work developing CFG Studio for a while...we will see.

Edited March 21, 2006 by Cerbera

[_MoNoXiDe_]

You gave me the hope

 

btw , I have another suggestion , in VC , theres a editor can modify wheel size and have preview , i liked that a lot

thats not in handling.cfg, you'll need an editor that edits vehicle.ide.

[1319987654321]

You gave me the hope

 

btw , I have another suggestion , in VC , theres a editor can modify wheel size and have preview , i liked that a lot

thats not in handling.cfg, you'll need an editor that edits vehicle.ide.

I knew that , I just want this nice thing to be a ultimate editor of SA

[YeTi]

Wow thanks Cerb. It makes it easier to alter now rather than having to keep using notepad. It also allows users to alter many things at the same time another big improvement over notepad.

[BenMillard]

 

You gave me the hope

 

btw , I have another suggestion , in VC , theres a editor can modify wheel size and have preview , i liked that a lot

thats not in handling.cfg, you'll need an editor that edits vehicle.ide.

I knew that , I just want this nice thing to be a ultimate editor of SA I just tried using CFG Studio to open and edit default.ide from GTAVC and the new alphabetical sorting of rows made it show up messed up. I strongly recommend that people should not use this program to save files other than handling.cfg. As the program develops and as I get a better idea of how the other data formats are parsed I will add them. The program is quite modular so adding each new file format should only take days or weeks and not months.

 

I have just updated the CFG Studio: GTA handling editor page with version 0.00.0068 which has a bit more development in the bookmarking system. When a file is opened the rows are displayed in ascending alphabetical order. I will make a new View > Sort Alphabetically menu which can be ticked to use the sorting and unticked to remove the sorting. When the program enters "Edition: Unknown" mode this option will be disabled to prevent complex data formats (like default.ide) from getting scrambled.

Edited October 29, 2005 by Cerbera

[_MoNoXiDe_]

very cool i like it a lot, hows it gettin along now?

[BenMillard]

My floppy disc drive has given up on me. I normally do resource-hungry stuff like games modifying and internet stuff on this XP machine, then transfer my programming onto floppy disc and work on that on my Win95 machine. Since the floppy drive ist kaput, I'm not sure when I will give myself time to work on it. The downloads folder has version 0.00.0072 which has an improved Tools > Settings... form, more robust code for the Bookmarks and sorted rows by the first column in ascending alphabetical order.

 

Thanks to the people showing interest, it makes me all the more determined to create a great program

 

(EDIT) You can now get a new version of CFG Studio which has alphabetical sorting. The data is saved to the file in the order it is displayed.

Edited October 29, 2005 by Cerbera

[BenMillard]

Finished writing fully dynamic column sorting for the handling in all editions and data views.

800x600 - 130kB.

1600x1200 - 450kB.

 

If the View > Named Headers option is not ticked then the Arrange ... Rows subitems use the column letters instead of their names. This means the user doesn't have to remember what each column letter means when they want to sort the data. The new CFG Studio 0.00.0079 is available.

 

(EDIT) BTW, helping out with my [GTA3+VC+SA] Text Data Files topic will help everyone to better understand them. If the response to that projects is good, I'll definitely turn this CFG Studio into GTA Studio.

 

(EDIT2) My text data file documentation project never went anywhere.

Edited October 29, 2005 by Cerbera

[DDR Midian]

Okay so for the sake of design/artistic purposes I've taken a screenshot of Cerbera's CFG Studio working on a 1680x1050 widescreen monitor. Compared to another editor I was using earlier today (which shall remain nameless), CFG Studio takes a huge lead with it's easy to read layout.

 

Not to mention the Bookmark and Find utilites which have been plugged mentioned several times already.

 

Halfsize Image, 840x525 - 155 kB.

Full Image, 1680x1050 - 501 kB.

 

Can't wait for the final one Cerb, expect to hear me bugging you for help with fine tuning once you've had time to play it yourself.

 

[fuckindumass]

can't believe a floppy disc is involved

 

will it make a backup for noobs? Your website was great for me when I came here as a noob and didn't even know to edit the handling.cfg

[BenMillard]

 

can't believe a floppy disc is involved   

 

will it make a backup for noobs?  Your website was great for me when I came here as a noob and didn't even know to edit the handling.cfg 

At the moment no backup is made. I am trying to figure out an unobtrusive way to create backups without cluttering up people's hard drives. You can use the File > Save As... menu to do a backup manually. I would probably use some sort of "Manage Backups" form if I did have a backups system because very often people want to view handling files they have downloaded but that are not actually in an install of GTA. I'll have to think about it some more.

 

Bookmarks > Manage Bookmarks form is now complete:

600x460 - 50kB.

 

I have done a lot of testing with this system and it seems to work flawlessly. If anyone finds any problems, such as when there are no bookmarks, please let me know! You can post in this thread or use my contact details to find another way. Feedback is always welcome, especially when it is reporting faults!

 

This new version is available from the pre-release downloads folder. Now that the bookmarking system is complete, CFG Studio is an adequately featured program. Therefore I am going to stop making new features and concetrate on optimising the code for a while. File parsing is very robust but the method I am using to assemble the values for each line is very inefficient. Also, there is quite a lot of duplicated code in areas like row sorting, so I can make some improvements there as well.

 

I will release another version after this quick round of optimisations and refinements. Afterwards I will concentrate on writing the Tools > Flags Wizard since the format and usage of flags in all three editions is quite well known. I will tweak other things as I do this; just letting you all know where most of my efforts will be directed for a while.

 

 

(EDIT) I have just made some refinements to the View > Arrange ... Rows code because sometimes data was being arranged incorrectly. Should be correct now; the updated CFG Studio awaits!

Edited October 29, 2005 by Cerbera