[Mod Utility] Sins Data Converter NOW ON GITHUB

BCXtreme

Join Date 04/2007

+17

[Mod Utility] Sins Data Converter NOW ON GITHUB

UPDATE: I am trying to give this very old project a shot at a new life. Please check out https://philipf5.github.io/sins-data-converter/ for:

The story behind this project and its four-year disappearance.
Details on the decision to take this project OPEN SOURCE.
A long-missing official download for the Sins Data Converter 2.1.0 executable from September 2012, the only version ever released with Rebellion support.
The Visual Basic and XAML source code repository for this project, if you want to fork it, experiment with it, or contribute anything to it.
Details on features and requirements.
An issue tracker so you can have at least a chance of someone figuring out what's wrong, if you're having a problem with the tool.

Thanks to those who have still been interested in this utility over the past few years, and I hope this new direction will allow the community to still benefit from Sins Data Converter, one way or another.

modding

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PeTTs0n
GavinHawk

I still get the "Sins is not properly installed on this computer" message with Win Xp 32bit

When I picked a custom convertdata.exe and started the conversion then I got "Conversion complete" message yet nothing happened and no files got converted.

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The tool works great and gets the job done with no problems whatsoever, but I do have a couple gripes:

It doesn't remember the folder directory, this goes for input and output though it'll remember the directory for a single file. It's pretty tedious having to direct the output every single time I need to convert something.

Also, the ability to paste directories into the text box would be incredibly helpful too. Chances are that I'm going to be sitting in the directory I'm currently editing files from already, so being able to copy the directory from explorer and paste it into the converter would make things much quicker.

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Thanks mbaron888 and Carbon016!

Quoting Xwhyzed,

reply 26

I still get the "Sins is not properly installed on this computer" message with Win Xp 32bit

When I picked a custom convertdata.exe and started the conversion then I got "Conversion complete" message yet nothing happened and no files got converted.

First of all, you MUST specify a custom ConvertData.exe if the computer you are on does not have Sins installed. Sorry if this wasn't clear. If you do have Sins installed properly through Impulse or from disc (NOT copy/pasted), let me know and I will look into it further.

The second problem you are encountering is not a problem with the utility. I noticed this when I was testing the program: some ConvertData.exe's don't seem to work on XP, not even if you run them normally through the Command Prompt. I don't know why that is. May I ask where you got the custom exe from?

Quoting Emarrel,

reply 27

The tool works great and gets the job done with no problems whatsoever, but I do have a couple gripes:

It doesn't remember the folder directory, this goes for input and output though it'll remember the directory for a single file. It's pretty tedious having to direct the output every single time I need to convert something.

Also, the ability to paste directories into the text box would be incredibly helpful too. Chances are that I'm going to be sitting in the directory I'm currently editing files from already, so being able to copy the directory from explorer and paste it into the converter would make things much quicker.

The next update is going to address those issues, so please check back!

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Sinperium

Join Date 02/2010

+219

I've been using this regularly now and have yet to have an issue. Works perfectly and very easy to use. I like I can drag the files out as copies and play with them to my heart's content without breaking my game. Very good tool.

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Quoting SIN-Imperium,

reply 29

Thank you for your continued support. I am hoping this weekend to be able to post a list of upcoming features in v1.2 for everyone to look at, so anyone that's interested should keep checking back!

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Sorry, I got caught up over the weekend and didn't have time to post this, but I'll put it up now. I may have mentioned one or two of these upcoming features before, but there are a few that I haven't. The list is subject to change because these things are still in development.

Button to automate in-place conversions (set source as output)
Proper handling of subfolders for not-in-place conversions
Multiple different SoaSE background images to choose from
Remembering source and output selections over a single session
Option to ignore one or more given subfolders specifically (subfolder exclusion list)
Drag-and-drop for both folders and files onto the source and output fields
Remembering a custom ConvertData.exe across sessions if one is set
Failsafe to ensure that the user remembers to pick the correct version of Sins
Pasting of file and folder names into the source and output fields

Yeah, this will be a big update. But hopefully it will greatly improve the usability and functionality of the program. I will be releasing it as soon as the above features are complete and properly tested. If anyone has additional suggestions, please feel free to offer them, as I want this program to be as tailored to the needs of this community as possible.

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Sounds good.

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Version 1.2 is still under construction, I just haven't had a lot of time to work on it lately. Which may turn out to be a good thing for you, because...

This update is going to require me to make some changes to the interface. Nothing that's already there should be changed much, but some stuff needs to be added in an intuitive way. Hopefully I can get some work done over the next few days. I want to be able to post pictures of the interface additions so that I can get community input on the "intuitiveness." Hopefully I will be able to do so this weekend, so keep an eye out...

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Fantastic, thank you.

Edit: Akk! Ran perfect first two times... now getting a persistent error where I hit "convert" and windows says it's stopped working; error window reappers infinitely when I click to close it; must restart computer. Hmmm... trying to find what I'm doing funny.

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Sinperium

Join Date 02/2010

+219

Looking forward to seeing improvements.

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Quoting tymestar,

reply 34

Fantastic, thank you.

Edit: Akk! Ran perfect first two times... now getting a persistent error where I hit "convert" and windows says it's stopped working; error window reappers infinitely when I click to close it; must restart computer. Hmmm... trying to find what I'm doing funny.

I can confirm that the program works indefinitely, because I did not write any code that would cause it to behave differently for no reason. One thing you should be aware of is that converting some large files to BIN format takes a long time, and the program unfortunately appears to not respond during the process. If you come across the problem again, check to see if ConvertData.exe is listed under Processes in Task Manager before you close the error window.

Now, I've done some work with the interface for v1.2, and here's what I've come up with first. A new "Themes" button will be added to let you change the background. When you click it, the original window will expand to show you the theme choices, and clicking a theme would return the window to its original size again.

How would this be?

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I was finally able to implement subfolder support for not-in-place conversions, so v1.2 is that much closer to release. Could still use feedback on the new interface idea above.

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They go away when you pick one right?

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Ack, I've been away longer than I thought...

Yes, the theme pictures go away once you pick one. Unfortunately, the themes feature's not going to make it into v1.2, because I'm having the worst time trying to make it work. In fact the reason it's been so long since I was last here is because I put the project on hold when I started losing sanity over the themes feature.

The good news: the other things I announced for v1.2 have FINALLY all been completed. I have one or two bugs to iron out, and then I'll be ready to release, hopefully very soon.

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Looks very easy to use and the themes are only eye candy anyway.

Let me know when its ready, if its under 10mb I will mirror it for you with a direct link on the http://soase.weebly.com/modding-tools.html.

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Quoting myfist0,

reply 40

Looks very easy to use and the themes are only eye candy anyway.

Let me know when its ready, if its under 10mb I will mirror it for you with a direct link on the http://soase.weebly.com/modding-tools.html.

Yeah, the themes are just for eye candy. I'd still like to implement them eventually, but I'm more concerned about getting the functionality improvements out the door.

I would certainly appreciate the mirror, especially since I may be doing a lot of work on my own server in the coming weeks/months and don't want to accidentally prevent people from downloading this!

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I'm just about ready for release here, but I'm having one small problem. I need someone running Windows XP to test the upcoming version and make sure it's running OK. Any volunteers?

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my room mate uses XP , I guess I can peddle while I run that old beast

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if you want me to help, I can as I have several xp boxes with sins as well as win7 64bit on a couple of others.

harpo

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OK, so here's the story. I have an XP virtual machine that I use for testing programs. It's insisting that there's a critical error (instant program crash on load) in my latest build. The program runs flawlessly on the Vista and Win 7 machines that I have tested it on. Apparently there is a significant chance that the problem lies in the virtual machine, not the program, so I need people with XP on a real, physical computer to try running it and see if it will even start up.

Bear in mind that the system needs to have .NET Framework 3.0 installed. harpo, I will send you the link to a beta download as soon as I can get it set up.

myfist0, does that mean you can/will help or not?

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OK, thanks to harpo, I've been able to deduce that there is no error when trying to run my program on XP. There's obviously something wrong with my test machine, but I'll get that sorted later.

As far as I can see, v1.2 is done. The only reason I'm NOT putting the download up right now is as follows:

I plan to switch my hosting provider this weekend; during the transition as I get the nameservers adjusted, my server will be down. Obviously, I don't want such downtime to interfere with the release of this program, so I will be waiting until AFTER the switch is complete. I plan to start Saturday morning or maybe even Friday night, so depending on how long it all takes, the tool could be out as early as Saturday afternoon, but also might not be until Sunday or Monday.

So, Sins Data Converter v1.2 coming this weekend! I will put up a full list of changes when the time comes, but the two biggest new features are drag-and-drop, and full subfolder support.

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Ya I can help, sry I missed the question b4. I can still mirror if you want.

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Quoting myfist0,

reply 47

Ya I can help, sry I missed the question b4. I can still mirror if you want.

No problem, and I would still appreciate that mirror! My new hosting will have a bandwidth limit of 15GB/month, and even though people downloading a 2MB program will never even get close to that limit, it would still be nice to have a backup in case of downtime or server work.

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*drum roll*

Sins Data Converter v1.2 is now available for download! Original post has been updated with a full changelog, and the new link.

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I can provide a mirror on the DoV site, if you're interested, we have plenty of bandwidth to go around. Either way, thanks for keeping this updated, having a no-BS converter app that does exactly what it says with no fuss has made my life a lot easier.

edit: Heh, just got an "Invalid allocation size: 4294967295 bytes" error, maybe I should do a folder at a time

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