CellyEl Posted December 1, 2023 Share Posted December 1, 2023 I've found that I have a prodigious amount of downtime at work, where I have access to a phone or anything I can drop on a moment's notice, but otherwise can't really be too distracted. I found myself wanting to fill this time constructively, or at least doing something besides doomscrolling. However, there's a dearth of external support for writing AE outside of game, that A) coherently counts string length, 2) can be copied from cleanly and accurately, and III) has a full list of what all categories you're writing for, with string length for each. Presumably, you could crack open the .storyarc files in an editor and have most of that functionality, but woofa doofa my two brain cells melted when I tried. As such, I pieced together this spreadsheet in google docs, which I'm sure can be opened in many spreadsheet-ey programs, containing templates for framing all the individual fields that make up every individual inputable bit of text in AE. Idea is you pop open a spread sheet, copy the objectives you want over, and have a coherent framing structure for writing all AE text outside of the game. The closest thing to complexity is the conditional formatting on the string length column. Anyway, if you think you might use it for your own writing, or you have really obvious suggestions that my tired work brain couldn't put together, lemme know! Mission ArchiText Objective Templates.xlsx 2 3 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CellyEl Posted December 3, 2023 Author Share Posted December 3, 2023 S'goin alright 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greycat Posted December 4, 2023 Share Posted December 4, 2023 I want to say there used to *be* an external MA writing tool - though it wasn't updated and had fallen behind/gotten broken because of MA updates even before sunset. Still, interesting template (and more organized than using Notepad 😄 ) - nice. Done with the Kheld "community" here. Since they obviously don't care about anything lore wise and crap on people who do. Kheld backstory guide might be uploaded in a non-Homecoming location when I finish the revision. No, it may not be put on the HC wiki, and what was there of my first one has been removed. Please do not reupload. I'm not giving the people here the benefit of the work just to be crapped on and told "lol, lore for a lore based AT, doesn't matter, f you." (Note, this refers to the playerbase, not the devs.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clave Dark 5 Posted December 5, 2023 Share Posted December 5, 2023 10 hours ago, Greycat said: I want to say there used to *be* an external MA writing tool I want to say it was a webpage??? But yeah, I don't think it lasted long. Tim "Black Scorpion" Sweeney: Matt (Posi) used to say that players would find the shortest path to the rewards even if it was a completely terrible play experience that would push them away from the game... ╔═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗ Clave's Sure-Fire Secrets to Enjoying City Of Heroes Ignore those farming chores, skip your market homework, play any power sets that you want, and ignore anyone who says otherwise. This game isn't hard work, it's easy! Go have fun! ╚═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greycat Posted December 5, 2023 Share Posted December 5, 2023 13 hours ago, Clave Dark 5 said: I want to say it was a webpage??? But yeah, I don't think it lasted long. Maybe there were two then... That said, I'm kind of surprised they didn't last. The format of the .storyarc file isn't ... *overly* horrible, until you start adding custom groups in. (I want to say the character models get added to it then, which makes it big and nasty.) More an issue of "Keep up to date with available maps/etc." ... looked at a (simple, single mission) arc, and yeah. StartStoryArc Title "Test mission" Description "Here to test a group! " ContactType Contact ContactCategory P2108159343 Contact Ouroboros_Crystal_Console_A Morality Neutral StartMission Title "" SubTitle "" MinLevel 0 MaxLevel 0 MinLevelAuto 0 MaxLevelAuto 0 MapName maps/Missions/CargoShip/CargoShip_Layout_04.txt MapSet CargoShip MapLength Small EnemyGroupType Custom VillainGroup "Mystery Cult" Pacing Flat CompletionTime 0 ContactIntro Test! ContactSendOff "TEst! TEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEST!" ContactDeclineSendOff "" ContactStillBusy Test! ContactReturnSuccess "Tested! " ContactReturnFail "" MissionAccept Accept CompassActiveTask "Testy test. Click barrel when tired of testing." MissionEntryDialog "" MissionSuccessDialog "" MissionFailDialog "" MissionRequirements Test CustomVillainGroupIdx 1 Detail { Name Test DetailType Collection Entity OO_Council_Drum_Barrel_01 Quantity 1 ObjectInteractionTime 4 ObjectLocation Floor } EndMission All stuff you could just edit in Notepad if you know what to put in (which, of course, is part of the challenge.) The two critter types I have in this mission, though, take up *far* more space than this (granted, it's an 18k file.) This (other than the custom groups) should be easy..ish... to create an offline editor for. (No, I'm not a programmer, last programming I did was in Basic and scripting in (Auto)Lisp in the 90s. Decided I hated semicolon hunts in some version of C and haven't gone back.) 1 Done with the Kheld "community" here. Since they obviously don't care about anything lore wise and crap on people who do. Kheld backstory guide might be uploaded in a non-Homecoming location when I finish the revision. No, it may not be put on the HC wiki, and what was there of my first one has been removed. Please do not reupload. I'm not giving the people here the benefit of the work just to be crapped on and told "lol, lore for a lore based AT, doesn't matter, f you." (Note, this refers to the playerbase, not the devs.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CellyEl Posted December 12, 2023 Author Share Posted December 12, 2023 Honestly, the biggest issue I have is that I sure love to use Every Fucking Character in a field when writing, and notepad is... less than elegant when it comes to keeping track of string lengths, while spreadsheet programs tend to handle it like a champ. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lockely Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 I hope you don't mind, I've taken the original document and changed it to a shareable Google Sheet for folks to make their own copies instead of having to import an xlsx file. I've also created tabs for each of the 'pages' in the Mission Architect with the universal stuff pre-loaded so people can more easily keep track. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ZLLuLOt_W_afJuvQ731PjxlaUlNu-JQUHY8zU3z4C2s/edit?usp=sharing I'm happy to pull it down if you prefer, just let me know! 2 Lockely's AE Tales: H: The Rook's Gambit (Arc ID 49351), P: Best Left Buried (WIP) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CellyEl Posted February 7 Author Share Posted February 7 Cool! Thank you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VinceBlood Posted February 7 Share Posted February 7 On 12/4/2023 at 7:48 AM, Greycat said: I want to say there used to *be* an external MA writing tool - though it wasn't updated and had fallen behind/gotten broken because of MA updates even before sunset. Still, interesting template (and more organized than using Notepad 😄 ) - nice. A long time ago in a forum far, far away, I'd written a text version of it intended for folks to work on when not-in game to be pasted in later, and I think that one got lost to the aeons. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ankylosaur Posted February 14 Share Posted February 14 On 12/12/2023 at 5:31 AM, CellyEl said: I sure love to use Every Fucking Character in a field when writing I hear you. 🙂 So I finally started fiddling around with a new mission and decided to take a look at this ambitious tool you put together. Mighty impressive! However it looks a bit daunting to put all this in twice and then try to keep it in sync with the actual mission file. In practice, have you found yourself detailing everything in it? I may try it out for the major text blocks that I create though - like the mission text and maybe even character texts. It got me thinking though - I wonder how hard it would be for someone who has access to the source code to package up the editor as an offline standalone editor for the local file. Throw in a spell checker and my needs would be met. 🙂 AE Arcs: Search for @Ankylosaur * denotes Dev's Choice Adventures in Lit: Adventures in Wonderland - 25-54* | Adventures in Oz - 40-54 | Adventures in Neverland - 45-54 Notable One-offs: Rularularian - 41-54* | The Serpent Beyond the Horizon - 46-52* | Robolution - 25-34* | The Genesis & Geneticists of The Coming Hamiggedon - 41-54* | Spycraft and Spidermen - 40-47 | Return to Faultline - 40-54 Post-Praetoria Series: All That Glitters: Gold Brickers & Mooks - 9 Arcs | All That Glimmers: First Warders & Mu - 9 Arcs | All That Glints: The Awakened & Council - 3 Arcs | All That Glows: Nictus & 5th Column - 3 Arcs* | All That Gleams: Epilogue (Neo Tokyo) - 1 Arc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lockely Posted February 14 Share Posted February 14 1 hour ago, Ankylosaur said: I hear you. 🙂 So I finally started fiddling around with a new mission and decided to take a look at this ambitious tool you put together. Mighty impressive! However it looks a bit daunting to put all this in twice and then try to keep it in sync with the actual mission file. In practice, have you found yourself detailing everything in it? I may try it out for the major text blocks that I create though - like the mission text and maybe even character texts. It got me thinking though - I wonder how hard it would be for someone who has access to the source code to package up the editor as an offline standalone editor for the local file. Throw in a spell checker and my needs would be met. 🙂 I've been using it for three things primarily. 1) When I want to work on my mission idea and don't have immediate access to CoH 2) When I need to change an escort to an ally or vice versa and need somewhere to put all their text 3) When I'm doing a major rewrite of a big text block and need the character limit validation 1 Lockely's AE Tales: H: The Rook's Gambit (Arc ID 49351), P: Best Left Buried (WIP) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CellyEl Posted February 21 Author Share Posted February 21 Yeah, the intended use case for my creation of it was 'I have my phone, I am at work, there is standby time, write?' So I primarily needed formatting and charcount for individual blocks of info. Typically, it goes into fields in-game after I get a single mission done, which also lets me fuss with the format at home a little while I reset my document, set up the skeletal structure of the next mission, etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ankylosaur Posted March 7 Share Posted March 7 I ended up using it to write big chunks of the story in my latest - I've done similar with just a word doc, but found the character counts really handy! Thanks for putting this together. AE Arcs: Search for @Ankylosaur * denotes Dev's Choice Adventures in Lit: Adventures in Wonderland - 25-54* | Adventures in Oz - 40-54 | Adventures in Neverland - 45-54 Notable One-offs: Rularularian - 41-54* | The Serpent Beyond the Horizon - 46-52* | Robolution - 25-34* | The Genesis & Geneticists of The Coming Hamiggedon - 41-54* | Spycraft and Spidermen - 40-47 | Return to Faultline - 40-54 Post-Praetoria Series: All That Glitters: Gold Brickers & Mooks - 9 Arcs | All That Glimmers: First Warders & Mu - 9 Arcs | All That Glints: The Awakened & Council - 3 Arcs | All That Glows: Nictus & 5th Column - 3 Arcs* | All That Gleams: Epilogue (Neo Tokyo) - 1 Arc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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