Help With Creating Custom Save/Load Data, etc...

emma_north1 · Fri 17/10/2008 17:59:59

OK basically what I need to know is where the game stores the save/load screen info and data, as well as the quit game image. I'm using the blank game (not the default one which I know comes with a few sprites and GUI), and yet I still have all the default save pages and things. This is fine, but I cannot find anywhere where I can edit this. I'm pretty sure it's not in the global script that comes with the blank game, so where is it? Where can I view and maybe edit this information? There are also other global messages that appear that I cannot find any source or script for, such as if I view inventory with no inventory items it sometimes shows a message that says something like "You have no inventory items". Where are these global messages and things?

If I'm not being clear please do let me know and I'll try to re-word.

Ubel · Fri 17/10/2008 18:16:48

You can't edit the default save and load GUIs of AGS. They are built in. As are any other interfaces that don't show up in the GUI list. You could take a look at the Simple Save/Load GUI that I made. It's pretty much identical to the default save and load GUIs with an added deleting feature. I'm not sure if it works with AGS 3.x but you could try. Been used it games such as Ben Jordan and Unbound.

It's been a while since I seriously used AGS so I'm not sure how to answer your other questions.

TwinMoon · Fri 17/10/2008 19:15:01

The global messages editor has been taken out of the editor since version 3.0, AFAIK.
But you can avoid that message by using a custom inventory GUI, or just Pablo's module.

If you want your own "Quit Game" screen you can make one easily by creating a new GUI and putting a label and two buttons on it.
The 'don't quit' button should simply turn off the gui, for the 'yes quit' button use the code: QuitGame(0);

emma_north1 · Fri 17/10/2008 21:46:26

That is very helpful certainly. But with the other points, just to confirm, there is no way to edit the built in components I described? Such as the save/load screen? And how do I delete save slots?

PS: those files you showed are in .gue format and I cannot find a way to import them to the new AGS. How do I do this to view them or is it not possible with the new AGS?

TwinMoon · Fri 17/10/2008 23:08:15

Yep, it's not possible to edit the buildin components.

.gue was the format used by AGS to import GUI's. Unfortunately, from AGS 3.0 it's changed to .guf. So you can't use that module in AGS. (FYI, importing GUIs is done by clicking the node GUIs in the editor).

But it's not difficult making your own, there a tutorial here.

LimpingFish · Fri 17/10/2008 23:46:18

I second Pablo's pimpage of his Simple Save/Load module. I found it very easy to use, when I was making Unbound.

emma_north1 · Sat 18/10/2008 00:03:19

Yeah, I'm sure the modules are good but the point is they're in .gue format which TwinMoon confirmed does not work in AGS 3.0 so I cannot use them.

And yeah, I'm having no problems making my own GUI's and am using them for inventory, the HUD bar which I've set to appear when the mouse reaches the top of the screen, quit confirmation, etc. but still don't know how to use a save/load graphic so it doesn't really help. Besides, even with my own quite confirmation page, if the player uses "yes" (they do want to quit), that then brings up the default quit box after so they have to select it again and I don't know how to change that.

Thanks for your help so far but if anyone has something to add which may be of help then please do!

LimpingFish · Sat 18/10/2008 00:10:42

Sorry, I forgot about the guf. I'm afraid you'll have to script custom save/load GUIs yourself. Which is a bit of a pain, but fairly simple.

I think you need to set your "yes" quit conformation button to "QuitGame (0)", because if it's set to (1) it will open the built-in confirmation dialog.

emma_north1 · Sun 19/10/2008 11:17:39

Oh great, thanks for that bit about the quit game that's a help. And as far as custom GUI's go, I've got functional inventory, icon HUD bar, quit game screen (now!), etc. but obviously haven't made anything for the save/load because from what you're telling me it's not possible to use them, is this right? If it is possible, how do I go about scripting it? And is there any way to delete game save data?

Pumaman · Sun 19/10/2008 14:18:07

To clarify, you can't edit the built-in save/load dialogs, but you can make your own ones to replace them.

For example, there's a module here with custom save/load dialogs, but it was made for an older version of AGS so I'm not sure if it still works.

Depending on how confident you are with AGS scripting at the moment, you could just stick with the default dialogs for now and then replace them later on when you're more confident with scripting.

Ubel · Sun 19/10/2008 15:36:36

I'll update my module to work with the newest AGS version someday this week.

Trent R · Mon 20/10/2008 07:18:16

I actually just spent a good part of today scripting my own custom Save/Load GUIs using this tutorial off of the AGS Wiki. Even though the image at the top is from an older version of AGS, the code still works the same.

The tutorial has comments explaining itself through out, but if you need help you can post here again (or even PM me)

~Trent