ShipMaker 4.0 manual

Got questions about Shipmaker? Get answers here. Please read the stickied topics first!

Moderators: th15, Moderators

Kaelis
Moderator
Posts: 1590
Joined: Fri Dec 14, 2007 4:46 am

ShipMaker 4.0 manual

Post by Kaelis »

Battleships Forever
ShipMaker 4.0
By Sean “th15” Chan and Thomas “Kaelis” Gawarski
For Updates, Bug reporting, Custom Ships Database and discussion forums, go to http://www.wyrdysm.com





INSTRUCTIONS

Introduction
The ShipMaker allows you to create ships for Battleships Forever and use them in the Sandbox mode. This is not a competitive game mode nor is it meant to be really "playable". It's a place to let your imagination run amok.

This help file is not meant to be a full manual. It will only supply information on the absolute basics of shipbuilding. For more information, check Wyrdysm forums at http://www.wyrdysm.com/phpBB2/index.php .

Only a few shortcuts are mentioned in instructions - look for more in the ‘Keyboard shortcuts’ section.


Inserting components
A ship is made out of a central core, which is the heart of a ship, and four types of components. These components are Sections, Turrets, Modules and Doodads. Sections are parts of the structure and form the hull of the ship. Turrets are weapons mounted on sections. Modules are special turrets that provide special abilities, also mounted on sections. Doodads are graphical effects.

Every component can be added by simply clicking on corresponding button on the sidebar, pressing 1/2/3/4 keys while in 1234 ‘insert’ mode (to change 1234 mode, press ~ (tilde) ), and pressing spacebar for sections. You can scroll through the available selection by pressing arrows next to buttons, right clicking on them will scroll by ten at time. There are shortcuts for scrolling, look for them in the ‘Keyboard shortcuts’ section of this document. You can also clone components under mouse by pressing Ctrl + C.

Section groups are an important concept in regards to picking sections. All available sections are distributed through four groups, and the current section selection will reflect currently selected group. To change groups, change 1234 mode to ‘groups’ with tilde, then press corresponding 1/2/3/4 keys. You can also see and pick all sections from currently selected group by invoking the section picker with the Z key.

Another feature regarding groups is group arrange, accessible from Tools menu. You can manage your groups by selecting sections, dragging them around, deleting etc. You can save and load your group arrangements by using relevant options from Tools menu.

You can even import your own sections and doodads - simply drop .png or .gif files onto the working grid or into group arrange (they need to reside in Custom Sprites directrory located in the main BSF folder). For more information on using custom sprites, check forums.


Moving, rotating, scaling and flipping components
You can move around inserted components by simply clicking on them and dragging into place. Hold shift for precise dragging. Furthermore, they can be moved using Ctrl + arrow keys, providing that you select them first.

To rotate selected components, use L and J keys, or hold V and scroll your mousewheel.
To scale sections, use I and K keys for horizontal scale (hold Shift for horizontal), or hold B/N (horizontal/vertical) and scroll the mousewheel. To scale weapons, use Q and A (plus Shift).
Finally, to flip sections, use Shift + J and L, , (comma key) and . (period key), or hold V and press right and left mouse buttons.


Parents
For your ship to work properly inside Battleships Forever, you need to take care of parenting. All components of a ship must be connected to the core of the ship through a section; this means that all components need to be parent to a section or core. This is a very important concept, because if a section is destroyed, any other components that used that section as a parent will be destroyed. It is advised to parent the components in a logical manner similar to trunks, branches, twigs and leaves on a tree.

The component which is currently selected (outlined in blue) will be the parent of the next component you place. Otherwise any new components made will be parented to the core by default.


Depth
The way in which components of a ship are rendered is affected by their depth - the depth of a component determines whether it is on top or below other components. A larger number for depth is considered below a depth that is a smaller number, the highest number being 1 for a section that will always be on top. For example, section with depth 5 will be below section with depth 3. This is an important concept that gives an otherwise flat ship a sense of volume. To change depth of selected section, use Q and A (press Shift to move it directly to bottom or front), or hold Shift and scroll

Doodads are always shown above their parent section, but are otherwise hidden or cover other sections based on the depth of their parent section. Weapons and modules are by default shown above all sections and doodads, but you can toggle depthing on them by pressing W while a weapon or doodad is selected. This will make them behave like doodads in regards to depth.


Color
All components can be colored according to your liking. For sections, there are team color schemes, each of them having 3 types of colors. You can change colors of a color scheme in both Battleships Forever and ShipMaker independently.

For example, lets assume some sections in your ship have type 1 team color assigned, and in ShipMaker this color type is set to red, but in BSF its set to green. Thus, in ShipMaker, these sections will appear as red, but when you load your ship into sandbox, they will be green.
Apart from team colors, there are custom colors. They are the only option for weapons and modules (sections and doodads can use them too, of course), and they can be assigned only in ShipMaker.

To assign colors, use color buttons located on the sidebar, first three buttons are the team colors, the rest is a palette of custom colors. Simply click on the relevant button while a component is select to assign that color to it. You can change these colors (if you modify a team color, all sections of that color will take on the new color to reflect the changes) by right clicking on the color button.

Furthermore, you can toggle between the three team colors on a selected section by pressing C key, or press ‘ (apostrophe) key to pick and assign a custom color directly.
By default the first team color is selected, which means that inserted sections will take on that color. You can change the selected color by holding Ctrl and left clicking on it. This also affects the C key while its in assign mode. The default C key mode is cycle for team colors, hold Ctrl and right click on one of the color buttons to change it to assign (and access other color functions). While in assign mode, C keys will assign currently selected color to currently selected component.


Advanced component parameters and features
All components have additional parameters distributed between Edit, Ed2 and Eff tabs (to change tabs, press relevant buttons on the sidebar). These parameters range from fire rate for weapons to rotation settings for sections, and are used for advanced shipmaking features like custom weapon stats, rotating and moving sections, section effects, triggers, and more. For more information on how to use them, refer to forums.




KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS

General ShipMaker functions and tools
O --- Open ship
S --- Save .sb4 + .shp
Shift + S --- Save .sb4 only
Ctrl + S --- Save + launch sandbox
Ctrl + N --- New ship
Esc --- Quit
F1 --- Show this help file
F9 --- Take screenshot (selected area)
Ctrl + F9 --- Take screenshot (entire window)
Shift + F9 --- Frame capture
F10 --- Toggle 30 fps limit
F11 --- Toggle preview mode
F12 --- Hide GUI
Esc/Z when in group arrange --- Close group arrange
T/G/F/H while core is selected --- Move background


View
Arrows --- Move view
Middle Mouse button --- Centre view on mouse
Mousewheel --- Zoom view
PgUp and PgDown --- Zoom view
Home --- Reset zoom
Backspace --- Reset zoom and center on core
Hold V --- Show weapon arcs
P --- Toggle parenting lines
Ctrl + P --- Toggle link/driver lines
Shift + P --- Toggle trigger lines


Global commands and functions
Space --- Insert currently picked section at mouse position
/ (forward slash) --- Insert currently picked doodad at mouse position
1/2/3/4 when 1234 mode set to groups --- Change section groups
1/2/3/4 when 1234 mode set to insert --- Insert section/weapon/module/doodad at parent position
Ctrl/Shift + 1/2/3/4 --- Scroll forward/backward through the respective component list
~ (tilde) --- Toggle 1234 keys mode
Ctrl + mousewheel --- Scroll through current section group
Numpad + and --- Scroll through current section group
Ctrl + Numpad + and --- Scroll through current section group by ten at time
Z --- Toggle section picker
F2/F3/F4 --- Switch to add/edit/ed2 sidebar tabs
End --- Toggle mov/rot step
Ctrl + Z --- Undo
M --- Mirror ship
Ctrl + M --- Re-mirror ship
Shift + M --- Clear mirroring status
F6 --- Reset fade
Shift + U --- Unhide all
U --- Toggle section hiding
J and L while core is selected --- Flip core
Shift + J and L while core is selected --- Flip entire ship


Common component commands
These apply to selected components unless stated otherwise.
Hold Shift when dragging components --- Precise dragging
Shift + arrows --- Nudge by specified mov step
Ctrl + Shift + arrows --- Group nudge
J and L --- Rotate by specified rot step
Delete --- Delete component
D --- Delete component under mouse
Ctrl + C --- Clone component under mouse (retains parameters)
Insert --- Set absolute position
[ and ] (square brackets) --- Change transparency


Section-specific commands
These apply to selected sections unless stated otherwise.
V + mousewheel --- Rotate
X + mousewheel --- Fine rotate
B and N + mousewheel --- Horizontal and vertical scale
V + Left/Right Mouse Button Horizontal/Vertical flip
I and K and --- Horizontal scale
Shift + I and K --- Vertical scale
Shift + J and L --- Vertical and horizontal flip
, (comma) --- Horizontal flip
. (period) --- Vertical flip
Shift + mousewheel --- Change depth
Q and A --- Change depth
Shift + Q and A --- Send to bottom and bring to front
W --- Set depth to below parent
Numpad / or Ctrl + W --- Set depth


Weapon/module-specific commands
These apply to selected weapons and/or modules unless stated otherwise.
Q and A --- Horizontal scale
Shift + Q and A --- Vertical scale
I and K (weapons) --- Change firing arc
T --- Assign section under mouse as target for selected Aegis
Deflector or Booster module
W --- Toggle depthing


Color functions
C in cycle mode --- Cycle selected section through type 1/type 2/type 3 colors
C in assign mode --- Assign currently selected color to selected section
5 to 0, -, = --- Assign respective custom colors to selected section
Ctrl + 5 to 0, -, = --- Change respective custom colors
Numpad 1 to 9 --- Assign respective custom colors to selected section
Ctrl + Numpad 1 to 9 --- Change respective custom colors
Left click on color button --- Assign color to selected component
Right click on color button --- Change color
Ctrl + left click on color button --- Set as selected color as default insertion color and for C button (assign mode)
Ctrl + right click on color button --- Show additional color options


Effect edit mode
F5 --- Toggle effect edit mode
[ and ] --- Change effect alpha
PgUp amd PgUp --- Cycle through section effects
Shift + C --- Change effect blending mode
Shift + arrow keys --- Change effect x and y offset
I and K /+Shift --- Change effect x and y scale
W and S --- Change Fade speed, hold ctrl for bigger increments
E and D --- Change Hi limit
Ctrl + E and D --- Change Hi delay
R and F --- Change Lo limit
Ctrl + R and F --- Change Lo delay





CREDITS
Arcalane - Additional coding, development, organization, sprites, sounds
Game_boy - Original ShipMaker
Mtheminja - coding help
Squishy - help with writing this helpfile
ArcaneDude, Bluhman, Boba Fetuccini, Cerebrus, ChaosTheory, Cycerin, Danny420Dale, Darkship, Ixranin, LordGarcia, Syngyne, Water and Wind, Wonderwhy-er, T-002 - Additional sprites
Edit field code - icuurd12b42 of gmc.yoyogames.com forums
Max WinAPI 2.dll - Hobbel (http://www.hobbl.com/)
GMScreenCapture.dll - localmotion34 of gmc.yoyogames.com forums
troodon135
Ensign
Ensign
Posts: 4
Joined: Fri Sep 03, 2010 7:43 am

Re: ShipMaker 4.0 manual

Post by troodon135 »

where is the download to 4.0
god froggy
Commander
Commander
Posts: 110
Joined: Fri Dec 18, 2009 9:54 pm
Location: ...I'm supposed to know?

Re: ShipMaker 4.0 manual

Post by god froggy »

troodon135 wrote:where is the download to 4.0
- [Image Removed]

It's with the download for the game, or here: http://www.wyrdysm.com/games.php At the top of the page.

Anna Mod Edit: Rule 18. Follow it.
SO I HERD U LIEK NOOBZ!?
troodon135
Ensign
Ensign
Posts: 4
Joined: Fri Sep 03, 2010 7:43 am

Re: ShipMaker 4.0 manual

Post by troodon135 »

no it isnt
User avatar
Anna
The artist formerly known as SilverWingedSeraph
Posts: 3447
Joined: Wed Sep 26, 2007 8:51 pm
Location: Elsewhere

Re: ShipMaker 4.0 manual

Post by Anna »

Yes, it is.

You're a retard. Shipmaker 4.0 was released over a year ago. It is the version of Shipmaker that COMES WITH THE GAME, you nitwit.

In fact, the version of Shipmaker that comes with the game is 4.0.1.0
Founder and Event Coordinator for the BSF Beauty Pageant. Founder of the Pseudo-Chainship Project. Admin. Games Master.
Quality Control Enforcer
Gay cute girl and fucking proud of it.
troodon135
Ensign
Ensign
Posts: 4
Joined: Fri Sep 03, 2010 7:43 am

Re: ShipMaker 4.0 manual

Post by troodon135 »

Really, no need to flame, I just thought it was different because the ships here look different, but now I know that it is because of custom sprites. Seriously, you should be banned for flaming like that, at least that's how most good forums are.
User avatar
Corporal Jomn
Captain
Captain
Posts: 355
Joined: Sat Jun 27, 2009 10:06 am
Location: A place, somewhere

Re: ShipMaker 4.0 manual

Post by Corporal Jomn »

Dude, he's a mod. One of the better ones out there too IMO. If you get on his bad side, that's how he is.
A gay as fuck girl and loving it.
████████████████████
████████████████████
████████████████████
████████████████████
User avatar
Anna
The artist formerly known as SilverWingedSeraph
Posts: 3447
Joined: Wed Sep 26, 2007 8:51 pm
Location: Elsewhere

Re: ShipMaker 4.0 manual

Post by Anna »

troodon135 wrote:Really, no need to flame, I just thought it was different because the ships here look different, but now I know that it is because of custom sprites. Seriously, you should be banned for flaming like that, at least that's how most good forums are.
There are other, vastly superior forums, where people who come around asking ignorant questions and making ignorant statements instead of taking a moment to learn what the hell they're talking about are called what they are.

This forum is usually not that place, but sometimes my manners slip when people ask stupid questions.

But honestly, if you think that's flaming, you really need a thicker skin.
Founder and Event Coordinator for the BSF Beauty Pageant. Founder of the Pseudo-Chainship Project. Admin. Games Master.
Quality Control Enforcer
Gay cute girl and fucking proud of it.
troodon135
Ensign
Ensign
Posts: 4
Joined: Fri Sep 03, 2010 7:43 am

Re: ShipMaker 4.0 manual

Post by troodon135 »

Well, I think that people should not be permitted to insult people like that, I mean, just because your a mod doesn't mean you can treat people like crap.
User avatar
Anna
The artist formerly known as SilverWingedSeraph
Posts: 3447
Joined: Wed Sep 26, 2007 8:51 pm
Location: Elsewhere

Re: ShipMaker 4.0 manual

Post by Anna »

That was not me treating you like crap. That was me making an observation that you appear to lack intellect. If you want to see me treating you like crap, please, continue wasting my time and filling this thread with your nonsense. Otherwise, drop the subject, I'll forget you acted like an idiot, and you can forget about how I called you an idiot, or hold a grudge for no good reason. Whichever suits you.
Founder and Event Coordinator for the BSF Beauty Pageant. Founder of the Pseudo-Chainship Project. Admin. Games Master.
Quality Control Enforcer
Gay cute girl and fucking proud of it.
Mutos
Ensign
Ensign
Posts: 1
Joined: Wed Mar 30, 2011 1:03 am

Re: ShipMaker 4.0 manual

Post by Mutos »

Hi all,


Why isn't this topic marked as sticky ? As a newbie here, I browsed and browsed searching for a tuto of some sort, since I found it... Thanks a lot in advance !
User avatar
Arcalane
Pseudofeline Overlord
Posts: 4034
Joined: Thu Sep 13, 2007 10:37 am
Location: UK

Re: ShipMaker 4.0 manual

Post by Arcalane »

Uh, it is a sticky. Always has been.
  /l、
゙(゚、 。 7
 l、゙ ~ヽ
 じしf_, )ノ
DanielCross
Ensign
Ensign
Posts: 1
Joined: Fri May 13, 2011 5:19 am

Re: ShipMaker 4.0 manual

Post by DanielCross »

Hello all, it's been quite some time since I played BF and I recently transfered all my save files from my old computer to my new one.

Anyway, does anybody know how I can select all the components of a ship in the shipmaker (like a ctrl+A) or otherwise fix the effects without clicking on every individual part?

Thanks.
User avatar
Kiltric
Captain
Captain
Posts: 491
Joined: Sat Apr 11, 2009 4:44 am

Re: ShipMaker 4.0 manual

Post by Kiltric »

Sorry, to the best of my knowledge there is not way to fix this all at once, though I think right clicking and using "paste parameters" might be a little faster if your changes are universal.
User avatar
xiones11
Ensign
Ensign
Posts: 3
Joined: Sun Jan 02, 2011 5:54 am

Re: ShipMaker 4.0 manual

Post by xiones11 »

I've noticed the t key dose not work withthe shield generator (theone that can only take a certain amount of hits) like it dose with the aegis deflector. To assign a section of the ship to be guarded by the shield generator (damnit I don't remember the name for it) do you have to do it in game or do you have to just hit a different key in the shipmaker.
Post Reply