Would it be possible to add a "not logged in" version of the AE editor?

[merrypessimist]

So last night I had a terrible mission arc idea, while my computer was... unavailable.  Is there any way that the AE editor could be run in an "offline" version where you don't have to be logged into City to edit story arcs?  I know that the missions are saved as text files basically and while it would be theoretically possible to write an entire arc in notepad or equivalent, the existing UI is very helpful in making sure that I dot all the "i"s as it were.

 

Given that there is still the old costume creator equivalent for offline use, would it be possible/doable to whip up something similar for AE?  Speaking for myself and I suspect at least a couple storytellers a non-logged in AE editor would be helpful for those times when the creative urge strikes but getting into City isn't possible for whatever reason.

[lemming]

It's a definite idea that could be done.  Might take a bit of work, but since the file can be stored on your computer, an editor can be done offline, and then later, you could upload it in the game.

Disclaimer:  While I did a lot of programming, most of what I did was server side processing on non-MS systems. 😉

[GraspingVileTerror]

Indeed.  This might even be a project to ask someone like @The Philotic Knight or @RubyRed to consider exploring.  It doesn't need to be done by the Homecoming Devs at all, as such a program could effectively work as third-party thanks to the plain text nature of Architect.

[Arbegla]

This seems entirely possible, as from what I remember the AE missions are just fancy text files. So you just need an offline text file editor that can mirror the AE editor itself.

[_NOPE_]

1 hour ago, Arbegla said:

This seems entirely possible, as from what I remember the AE missions are just fancy text files. So you just need an offline text file editor that can mirror the AE editor itself.

This. Again, I'm shocked that nobody has done it yet. I might look at it after I'm done with my other project:

 

But, my time is very limited between work and family. Anyone that has more free time, go nuts! Not that anyone needs my permission of course...

[Greycat]

I want to say a very basic one existed back on live, but I'm not 100% on that, nor do I remember who set it up.

 

I mean, *technically* you could do it in Notepad, if you wanted - they are just text files, after all - but I wouldn't wish that on anyone.

[_NOPE_]

I mean, making a basic UI for it would be easy, and writing the code to translate between the UI and the final file format and vice-versa would be easy.

 

Without having actually looked at the files though yet, my first guess for the biggest challenge would be how to obtain the data for every single option. My guess is that (as with everything else in CoX code it seems), the data would be stored in an obscure set of hierarchical files on the server. So we'd need the HC team to "volunteer" that...

 

 

...unless some player(s) want to go through the EXTREME effort of choosing EVERY possibility in the MA system and saving them to various mission files, then sending those files to the programmer to scour for the needed data. But..... YEESH, I'd hate to be a part of a project like THAT.