CarWorks - a different approach to car making

[afullo]

Thanks, Cas! Btw, there is still the same problem with the libraries affecting Bliss, so I compiled a version for Ubuntu 18.04 and derivatives. Unfortunately, I am not able anymore to compile for 32-bit systems, since the hard disk containing that installation broke down in April, and I reinstalled the system in the new one as 64-bit.

[Cas]

Thanks, guys!  I'll try to have an update with a nice file management system soon. There are many things I want to add and fix.

Afullo, thanks for the .so5-based binary. I'll make sure to include it in the package. CarWorks is now at official level, but still in an early version, so I expect it will have many updates and I don't know if you'll always be comfortable with producing another such binary. When you're to busy to do it, I'll understand. I think I should just make a virtual machine for these things, but even that would take lots of time and sometimes I just want to compile the program quickly and use the time for programming.

My job has also been absorbing much more of my time than it happened with the previous one. As a matter of fact, I've been working the two jobs and will continue to do so till the end of the month, when I'll be dropping the old one.

[Cas]

Update

CarWorks 1.0.1 is out!  New features include:

• New file handling section. Looks much better and is more user-friendly
• Export your selected car model as Wavefront OBJ (it would only import before)
• Edit the configuration file carworks.cfg to provide integration with ImageMagick, if you have it, which allows you to load and save many more image formats
• Also via the configuration file, stunpack can be integrated, to provide support for compressed car files
• Use directory links, like in Bliss

[Daniel3D]

CarWorks 1.0.1 is out!  New features include:

• Also via the configuration file, stunpack can be integrated, to provide support for compressed car files

Can you make it automatically detect and unpack? And make repack a checkbox?
I'm a dyslectic and have a slight allergy to configurations files.   

Very nice work overall though..

[afullo]

I attach the .so5-based binary.

Afullo, thanks for the .so5-based binary. I'll make sure to include it in the package. CarWorks is now at official level, but still in an early version, so I expect it will have many updates and I don't know if you'll always be comfortable with producing another such binary. When you're to busy to do it, I'll understand. I think I should just make a virtual machine for these things, but even that would take lots of time and sometimes I just want to compile the program quickly and use the time for programming.

It takes me only the download and the execution of a single command, but it could happen sometimes in the future that I will be unable to produce it, at least just shortly after the release. In the case, I'll post it as soon as possible.

[Cas]

Can you make it automatically detect and unpack?

It does automatically unpack a file if it sees it's packed (extension is P3S, PVS or PRE), but I think you mean like it should auto-detect if you have stunpack installed. Is that right?   I could make it to first check to see if you have specified a path to stunpack in the configuration file and, if you haven't, test to see if the program is in the same directory as CarWorks and then use that one. That way, you just have to copy it there. The simplest thing you can do currently is make sure stunpack is at some location in your PATH and then edit the configuration file to make sure it contains a line that says "stunpack=stunpack".

I could include stunpack in the package, but that would bloat the Zip file unnecessarily. Besides, while I'm sure Dstien's intention was to make stunpack free software, he doesn't seem to have specified the license for it.

I'll post it as soon as possible.

Thanks!  I've downloaded the binary and I'll include it in the package. Don't worry if you ever don't have the time to do it. Besides, time is passing and soon most distros being used will have version 6 installed. What I really would like to find is a way to statically link these libraries so this wouldn't be a problem any more or find a way so that the program no longer needs it because the library actually is dedicated to console-based environments and this is a GUI based project.

[afullo]

Thanks!  I've downloaded the binary and I'll include it in the package. Don't worry if you ever don't have the time to do it. Besides, time is passing and soon most distros being used will have version 6 installed. What I really would like to find is a way to statically link these libraries so this wouldn't be a problem any more or find a way so that the program no longer needs it because the library actually is dedicated to console-based environments and this is a GUI based project.

Ubuntu 18.04 and its derivatives are supported until 26 April 2023, so it would be of some use for still a couple of years. I do not plan the upgrade to 20.04 before the summer of 2022, as I upgraded from 14.04 to 16.04 in June 2018, and from 16.04 to 18.04 in July 2020.

[Cas]

I already included the file in the package. Of course!  The LTS!  Well, if you do upgrade or just get tired of posting the binary, ha, ha, I could make a VM with an old Ubuntu LTS.

[Cas]

I updated CarWorks to version 1.0.2. It's still lacking several things, but I've made some important improvements.

Namely, I've fixed the issue that caused some files to appear as directories in Windows and I made a lot more things controllable with the mouse in the Dash Manager section. Also, you get some simple, but useful notices in the file menu when you load or save a file and you can load or save a whole car project by entering the four ID letters only, without extension. This is a little crude and is not working wonderfully, but is there and saves time. Finally, I have also given CarWorks an icon and I updated the project website under Race For Kicks and the wiki article.

There can be some bugs in this version, but I think all in all, it's mostly improvements. Wine does not make a great work showing me how it behaves, so let me know if you find some bugs. Due to drives now being supported in Windows, I expect bugs in the file list menu. Also, Wine shows the icon in gray colour instead of green. Does it look that way in true Windows too?

[afullo]

I attach the .so5-based binary.

Due to drives now being supported in Windows, I expect bugs in the file list menu.

Sometimes, the dots for returning to the previous directory are not shown, I don't know if spaces in the path are the cause.

Also, Wine shows the icon in gray colour instead of green. Does it look that way in true Windows too?

True Windows shows the icon correctly as green.

[Cas]

Thanks for the compilation again, Afullo!

Uhm, I really don't know about the dots. I very rarely use spaces in my directories, so I didn't realise. I'll put that to the test. Honestly, I don't think that's the reason because the program does not parse the directory path, but instead just uses a command to read the whole of it, but who knows. I'll have to test that. Another thing I can do is simply force the program to always generate the ".." directory unless you're at the root.

[afullo]

Thanks for the compilation again, Afullo!

Uhm, I really don't know about the dots. I very rarely use spaces in my directories, so I didn't realise. I'll put that to the test. Honestly, I don't think that's the reason because the program does not parse the directory path, but instead just uses a command to read the whole of it, but who knows. I'll have to test that. Another thing I can do is simply force the program to always generate the ".." directory unless you're at the root.

You're welcome! I tried to create another folder with spaces in the path ("spaced folder" at the same level of "carworks102" attached in a previous picture): the dots are correctly shown, so this is not the cause in general.

Maybe it has something to do with the standard Windows folder "Documents and Settings"; anyway,  it is not generally a good practice to use spaces in folders' names, but since all the modern operative systems allow it, some of us do not take care of avoiding it at all anymore.

[Cas]

Can you tell me whether Bliss displays the same behaviour with the same directories?

[afullo]

Bliss does not see "Documents and Settings" and various other folders of C:, see attached screenshot. On the other side, in "spaced folder" the behaviour is the same, with the dots correctly showing.

[Cas]

Ah, yes... CarWorks does not filter out system or hidden files. I realised that FreeBasic, in its attempt to make its file functions compatible across the OSs, does not always correctly recognise file attributes. If I want to make it work well for Windows, it'll cause problems in Linux and vice-versa. The only good solution is to just request the whole contents and do the filtering myself and I chose to just not filter anything. I figure that directory must have a system attribute, probably.

But do the ".." appear always to you in Bliss?