CSUAC/SMAC tip - Easy access to symbol catalogs
Monsen
Administrator 🖼️ 81 images Cartographer
I figured some users might find this useful, especially new users unaccustomed to UI customization.
Considering Shessars considerable collection, and frequent updates, manually creating menu files is a hassle,and well, I am lazy
So, I wrote a little script to create these files for me.
The result is that there is now a daily updated set of menu files available at http://home.broadpark.no/~cc3/smac_menu.zip. This set is auto-generated from the content at the SMAC site, ensuring that it is always up to date. The menu files are updated daily, so expect up to 24 hours delay after Shessar posts new artwork before the files are up to date.
The zip file found at the url above contains two types of files:
Note that I have elected to only use CC3 built-in icons for this versions. I primarily do this because it means less files to distribute and put in the correct folder, but also because it is difficult creating or finding images (with an appropriate license) to be used. Obviously, I need to select the icons manually, so if Shessar creates a new category on the site, it will use a generic icon until I manually assign it one. This only affects the icon however, the menu for the new category will be available immediately without the need for any intervention by me.
Note that forum user deltaserpentis also posted a set of menu files, and a way to generate them yourself using excel. You'll find his post here
[Image_24]
Attached to this post is a zip file, containing a series of .mnc files, and a fcw32.imn file.
Note that this is one way of providing easy access to these catalogs. CC3 offers other ways as well, for example by using Symbol Catalog Settings and Filters, but I find this method easier for a resource like the CSUAC, which you want to access in many circumstances.
Also note that by adding the icons to fcw32.imn, they will show up in all the menus. If you just want them in one menu, for example the dungeon menu, you can add the content of this file to the dungeon.mnu file instead.
The below zip-file is for the CSUAC menu, for the SMAC menu visit http://home.broadpark.no/~cc3/smac_menu.zip
SMAC Menus
Considering the huge collection of artwork available at the SMAC site, easy access to the symbols is a must. (Site is no longer available, so URL has been removed)Considering Shessars considerable collection, and frequent updates, manually creating menu files is a hassle,and well, I am lazy
So, I wrote a little script to create these files for me.
The result is that there is now a daily updated set of menu files available at http://home.broadpark.no/~cc3/smac_menu.zip. This set is auto-generated from the content at the SMAC site, ensuring that it is always up to date. The menu files are updated daily, so expect up to 24 hours delay after Shessar posts new artwork before the files are up to date.
The zip file found at the url above contains two types of files:
- .mnc files - These should be put into a subdirectory called "menu" inside your main CC3 directory. Just create this directory if it doesn't exists
- .mnu file - The content of these files should be put into the corresponding menu (.mnu) files in the main CC3 directory. The file names of these are created automatically using the category names on the site, so they will NOT have the same name as the right CC3 menu file. It should be easy enough to figure out which file they go into though (master_City Symbols.mnu should be added to city.mnu, master_Dungeon Symbols.mnu to dungeon.mnu and so on)
Note that I have elected to only use CC3 built-in icons for this versions. I primarily do this because it means less files to distribute and put in the correct folder, but also because it is difficult creating or finding images (with an appropriate license) to be used. Obviously, I need to select the icons manually, so if Shessar creates a new category on the site, it will use a generic icon until I manually assign it one. This only affects the icon however, the menu for the new category will be available immediately without the need for any intervention by me.
Note that forum user deltaserpentis also posted a set of menu files, and a way to generate them yourself using excel. You'll find his post here
CSUAC Menus
If you have downloaded the CSUAC symbols (Site is no longer available, so URL has been removed), you know that there is a lot of symbol catalogs, and loading them manually when you go back and forth a lot can be a hassle. Here is one way of making them easier accessible, based on adding some extra buttons to CC3.[Image_24]
Attached to this post is a zip file, containing a series of .mnc files, and a fcw32.imn file.
- Create a subfolder in your CC3 folder, name it
menu - Put all the .mnc files in this new menu folder
- Append the contents of the fcw32.imn file to your existing fcw32.imn file in the CC3 root directory. Make sure you don't leave any empty lines inside the file, but do make sure there is a line break after the last line of content, or CC3 will crash on startup.
If you don't have a fcw32.imn file, you can just copy the fcw32.imn file file from the zip archive to your CC3 directory - Start CC3. Click the screen tools button (Hammer icon at the bottom of the screen), and turn on "Custom icon bar 3". I usually place it to the left
- If the new toolbar show up blank, just restart CC3 or click on one of the "Add-on" buttons in the toobar. This will reload the menu.
Note that this is one way of providing easy access to these catalogs. CC3 offers other ways as well, for example by using Symbol Catalog Settings and Filters, but I find this method easier for a resource like the CSUAC, which you want to access in many circumstances.
Also note that by adding the icons to fcw32.imn, they will show up in all the menus. If you just want them in one menu, for example the dungeon menu, you can add the content of this file to the dungeon.mnu file instead.
The below zip-file is for the CSUAC menu, for the SMAC menu visit http://home.broadpark.no/~cc3/smac_menu.zip
Comments
I have some other symbol sets, how do I add them to this bar as well?
Then, in the fcw32.imn file, just add another line equal to the one from my file, and increment the number in front (These must be unique, and represent the position on the toolbar), and change it to point to your new .mnc file. The word right after the number is the image you wish to use for the button. I don't know if PF has an official list of these, but if you look at the various .mnu files in the CC3 directory, you should find lots of names you can use.
I'll restore the attachments for this thread, they'll be back shortly.
I dont get point #3 above. What is meant by append?
I someone could help I would appreciate it.
Thanks in advance!
Just open both files in a text editor, and copy the contents of my file into the existing file.
what is the problem, or what i've gorgot to do?
thx for help
1) You don't have the bitmap symbols that are used in that particular map
2) You have them, but they are not in the same location as they were when the map was made.
You should be able to enter the symbol manager, find the missing symbol (it is represented with a red x here as well), and do a "list" on the symbol from here to see where CC3 is looking for the symbol.
Ideally, this should be a relative path starting with # (relative to the CC3 install directory) or $ (relative to the map location).
It will look something like this:
Then make sure that your menus point to the correct location
To help us track down the error, does it show up immediately when clicking on the button, or do you get a menu popping up when clicking the button, and then get an error when you click on the desired entry in the menu?
- First thing to try is to try several of the buttons, and both left and right click on them. This establishes if there might be an error in the fcw32.imn file. If some work, and some doesn't, you should redo this file.
- If all the buttons create errors, check your file structure.
1. Make sure you have a subdirectory called "menu" inside your main CC3 directory, and not inside a subdirectory or anything
2. Make sure you have copied the 8 *.mnc files directly into the menu directory, and not inside a subdirectory or similar.
3. If you are using Windows Vista, it is sometimes a bit protective about the content in the Program Files structure. You can verify that CC3 itself can see the files by using file->open, browse to the "menu" directory you created, and manually type in *.* as the filename and hit enter. If the files are available, you will see them listed in the window. (Don't try to actually open them in CC3)
Your CC3 directory is by default located in c:\Program Files\ProFantasy\CC3
I did encounter a couple of problems though.
First, half of the vegetation files appeared to be blank. In fcw32.imn, All the lines referencing the "Vegetation_Pt1" file had a space in the middle of the file name. For instance:
Arbor:|CATALOG #Symbols\CSUAC\BL5_CC3_Vegetation_Pt1\Arbor.FSC;
had a space between "CC3_" and "Vegetation". I removed these spaces, and instead of being blank these images now appeared as red X's.
I haven't figured out how to deal with this second problem. All the other symbol libraries are fine. The artwork for this one is there and everything seems to be spelled correctly and in the appropriate case. I don't know how to edit the .FSC files to check them though.
Any ideas?
As for blank symbol catalogs, that usually happens if the catalog file is missing, or the path is wrong. My menu file should take into account the extra space in this catalog, but you may wish to open up your copy of csuac_vegetation.mnc in notepad and make sure that the path is correct (including the space). Also make sure your symbol catalogs (the .fsc files) are actually stored right inside the BL5_CC3_ Vegetation_Pt1 directory, and not inside a subdirectory (structure should be identical to the other csuac sets, except for that stray space)