SHUI - SH[ock/link] User Interface

[6647e8c4187b7gaspalorz]

SHUI - SH[ock/link] User Interface by gaspalorz

version 1.0 (2011-04-05)

SHUI is a graphical user interface for shlink System Shock loader and a manager for the game itself.


LICENSE:
SHUI is licensed under the terms and conditions of BSD license. See README file for license text and other detailed information.

SHUI COMES WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY! USE AT YOUR OWN RISK!


FEATURES:
* Provides graphical user interface for shlink and System Shock
* Allows playing game natively in Windows thanks to shlink, and starting/stopping it with just one click of a button
* Retrieves shlink's standard output for debugging purposes
* Keeps shlink's window in the middle of the screen when in window mode to prevent it from running out view
* Provides hotkey (CTRL+ALT+TAB) to switch back from shlink to SHUI
* Provides easy access to shlink's settings
* Transparently writes shlink's configuration file (shlink.ini)
* Detects and provides selection between all available and allowed display modes (game screen resolutions)
* Manages savegames (import, export, delete)
* Validates savegame files and displays their in-game names
* Opens key binding configuration file (XCYB.CFG)
* Opens screenshots folder (GEN)
* Keeps real-time track of playthrough statistics
* Permits launching only single instances of the game and itself
* Deletes temporary files from game's folder (*.AAA, *.TMP)


INSTALLATION:
In order to play and manage System Shock with SHUI, you have to install it to same folder as shlink (where shlink.exe is located) and set 'game path' option found on preferences tab to System Shock's executable, eg. 'C:\SHOCK\CDSHOCK.EXE'. Shlink's mods' path and main script's filename are hardcoded to their defaults: 'mods' and 'mod.txt', respectively.

ATTENTION: because SHUI is a packed executable, running it may raise an alarm from your antivirus software. This is a false positive and should be ignored.

Compile instructions may be found in the README of source package.


QUICK/EASIEST INSTALL GUIDE FOR SSP PLAYERS:
1. Install SYSTEMSHOCK-Portable somewhere, eg. to D:\SSP
2. Install shlink to RES subfolder, eg. D:\SSP\RES
3. Install SHUI to the same folder, eg. D:\SSP\RES
4. Start SHUI
5. Because shlink works only with original executable, go to preferences tab and change the 'game path' to the binary that comes with shlink, eg. D:\SSP\RES\OCDSHOCK.EXE.
6. Get back to game tab and press the START button to play

Visual help (note that cdshock.exe on the image is renamed ocdshock.exe):
Image: http://i.imgur.com/GIOnW.png


SCREENSHOTS:
(I have no idea why right window border on those screenshots gets moved to the left side...)

1. Game tab:
Image: http://i.imgur.com/ZdOgU.png

2. Preferences tab:
Image: http://i.imgur.com/0sBLm.png

2. Savegames tab:
Image: http://i.imgur.com/T5qCk.png

3. Statistics tab:
Image: http://i.imgur.com/7HijR.png

[6647e8c418c98gaspalorz]

CHANGELOG:
1.0 (2011-04-05):
* Window of already running SHUI's instance is now activated, instad of flashing in the taskbar, when another one is launched
* Added CTRL+ALT+TAB hotkey to switch back from shlink to SHUI; this hotkey is active only when the game is running
* Shlink window is now forced to stay in the middle of the screen instead of getting moved there just once during startup
* Removed "shlink path" from preferences to avoid user confusion;now, if shlink.exe is not found, start button will be greyed out; additionally, SHUI won't try to save configuration in this case
* Replaced invalid path warning icons with colored backgrounds
* It is now possible to run the game in any correct and allowed resolution in addition to detected display mode selection
* There are now savegame correctness checks and colored backgrounds for invalid or inaccessible entries
* It is no longer possible to import non-savegames from *.dat files
* Savegame deletion is now always carried out by moving to it trash
* Added "silent mode" (aka quick mode) to savegame management
* Most recently saved game is now marked in yellow
* Statistics are now counted in real time in respect to seconds, effectively, thanks to smarter coding
* Discarded pointless "times played" statistics
* Added "par time" statistic which behaves in the same manner as total time counter except that it may be paused on demand and reset independently
* All date statistics are now validated
* Mouse pointer now correctly changes into hand when hovered over Internet links
* Added tooltips for all important widgets

1.0 RC2 (2011-03-16):
* Revamped (again) whole UI - back to notebook, no more menu, status bar and annoying dialogs
* Added checks for shlink and game path correctness and warning icons
* Completely new savegame management with better usability and last-save date display
* Added time difference in days to date statistics
* Game time statistics now show seconds
* Statistics are now saved when quitting SHUI, but keeping shlink still running
* New, better, harder to find easter egg

1.0 RC1 (2011-03-13):
* First public beta

[6647e8c418ef1Kolya]

Looks really promising. Can we test it some way or do you want to develop it further first?

[6647e8c419077gaspalorz]

Well, I believe all current shlink features are covered and all bugs are squished so there is no need to develop anything further (at least for now...). Just appname, main text and graphics need some small tweaking (suggestions are welcome) but this doesn't prevent me from sharing the current working build with you.
I will register somewhere in next week. I'd also like to attach the binary to my post as it has just ~500kB.

[6647e8c419189Stingm]

Oh I'm looking forward to this ap!

[6647e8c4192c3gaspalorz]

SHUI version 1.0 has been uploaded for testing.

Please test it and report all:
-runtime errors
-dumb typos
-ideas for improvement
-any other issues

Thanks.
Another big thanks for Kolya for his lightning-fast and accurate admin job.

[6647e8c4193d1gaspalorz]

Source code released! Have fun!

[6647e8c419514Kolya]

Just checked it out. Good work. 

One thing: For a future version of SSP (based on shlink, when that's ready and on shui) I think it would be easier if shui.exe was placed outside the RES folder, where it would replace SSP.exe.

[6647e8c4196eagaspalorz]

Thanks, have you found the secret already?

I've placed SHUI inside RES folder on the example screenshot so current SSP users wouldn't get too confused. It's easier for newbies to just dump all files together. SHUI only checks for shlink.exe in its work folder (variable-controlled, though, easy to adjust), game files may be located anywhere in the filesystem. Regarding this and future of SSP: wouldn't it be a better idea to keep all the "community addons" (shlink.exe, shui.exe, etc) outside the RES folder so they wouldn't mix with original game files? In example:

Code: [Select]

SSP/
   RES/                //uppercase = original files
      CDSHOCK.EXE
      CYB.CFG
      ...
   dosbox/
      dosbox.exe
      ...
   shlink/
      mods/
      shlink.exe
      shlink.ini
      sdl.dll
   docs/
      readme.txt
      ...
   shui.exe
   shui.ini


[6647e8c419890Kolya]

The thing is, I made up the RES folder for the sole reason of hiding all the stuff that's uninteresting for the gamer and present him/her with one obvious way to start the game. As far as that was possible with the tech, I kept new stuff separately in subfolders inside RES (in DOCS, dosbox, gen, gulikoza, INST, SED, speedset, SSP).

Now I don't mind at all if you do it another way, I just wanted to say, that there's a reason why only SSP.exe and the ReferenceCard.pdf lie outside RES. The idea is to make the technical aspect easy for gamers and let them concentrate on the game.

[6647e8c4199bfgaspalorz]

That's what I thought after seeing single starter executable in the root folder and all other binaries hidden in RES.

Do you want to keep DOSbox/gulikoza support in future SSP versions?

[6647e8c419ae9Kolya]

I think the existing SSP is good enough for anyone who wants to play it now. So I thought to wait until Malba's SHLINK runs the game reliable. And then I wouldn't see the point of an added DOSbox emu anymore.

[6647e8c419d35gaspalorz]

Hmm, what about those Speed Runners who may require a vanilla game?

I'm still developing SHUI (with rather longer breaks, though).

I KNOW there is a bug in function that reads savegame names due to current ad-hoc implementation. It will be corrected later, when I get to learn System Shock's DAT file format.

At first, I thought about writing a full-blown keybind editor, with available keys, human-readable function names and stuff, but it turned out to be too exhausting and causing more trouble than good. I may, however, add an in-SHUI text editor (with syntax highlight?) to break free from notepad.

If you have more bugs to report or suggestions (eg. regarding statistics - are they really needed/useful?), then write away!

PS. Happy Easter for everyone who reads this

[6647e8c41a1b4Scorpion]

I think the existing SSP is good enough for anyone who wants to play it now. So I thought to wait until Malba's SHLINK runs the game reliable. And then I wouldn't see the point of an added DOSbox emu anymore.

I can only think of one reason why people would want to keep the DOSbox emu. Gravis Ultrasound emulation.

[6647e8c41a2c9gaspalorz]

Something marvellous is soon gonna happen in this thread - but before that, can anyone provide me with a savegame from one of the groves?

[6647e8c41a3d0Kolya]

What is going to happen?

[6647e8c41a5a5gaspalorz]

Don't be afraid HAL, Jupiter is not going to blow up yet.

I will upload new SHUI version in a few weeks. It is actually wonderful compared to 1.0, containing all features a true game manager should provide.

One of these features is clairvoyance. Thanks to it, I've discovered that you:
-are playing under name "kolya" (lowercase)
-played for almost 17 hours
-killed 396 creatures
-was cautious and didn't die a single time
-lowered cyberspace difficulty to 1

Also, thanks to your savegame, I've noticed that Origin has designed following grove "index" order: Beta -> Delta -> Alpha, instead of alphabetic Alpha -> Beta -> Delta. One bug less.

[6647e8c41a6a1Kolya]

My privacy has been breached! Brussels, gimme mah cookies back!

[6647e8c41a7cdgaspalorz]

Meanwhile, would you like to have fun with enhanced version of "Cast SHODAN" from SSP? See attachment.

Attention: downloading SHODAN to your computer may have unexpected consequences!

EDIT: lowered file size by removing the largest icon.

[6647e8c41a99cconfused]

Where is SHUI? I see no download for it here or on the torrents page.

I have also tried posting to this site several times that ever since the update to the forum version or whatever, every single time I load a page from this site it takes over a minute for the page to load (more like two minutes). Every other attempt to post the problem has resulted in the post not going through because of the slowness.

I am sorry for the off topic part of this post but this is the first time in over a month I have tried posting because of that problem, and if this post actually goes through I will have been lucky. Is there any thing that can be done about the page loading issue? I had no problems at this site before those changes to the forum where made a while ago.

[6647e8c41aad1Kolya]

Looks like Gaspalorz decided to take down his loader program (SHUI). Presumably a huffish reaction to the 3-day posting ban he received a while ago.

I'm not aware of any page loading problems. If anyone else can confirm this I'd appreciate if you start a new thread on RecDeck so we can work out the source of the problem without further derailing this thread.

[6647e8c41aea8Scorpion]

Meanwhile, would you like to have fun with enhanced version of "Cast SHODAN" from SSP? See attachment.

Attention: downloading SHODAN to your computer may have unexpected consequences!

EDIT: lowered file size by removing the largest icon.

That actually freaked me out a little. Nice job!

[6647e8c41afa6xmd5a]

Do not see where to download SHUI here.

[6647e8c41b096Kolya]

See 2 posts above yours.