Better Extended Editor 2 version 4

A Portal 2 Mod tool

Modules:

• BEE2: Main application script, starts up the application.

• config: Subclass of ConfigParser, with some useful tweaks

• contextWin: Implements the rightclick context menu for items.

• FakeZip: simulates a ZipFile object based on a directory. Used to allow packageLoader to load either, without needing to check the type every time.

• gameMan: Manages adding and removing games as well as exporting editoritems.

• itemPropWin: A window which allows changing the default properties for an item.

• loadScreen: Shows a window with loading bars during the startup process.

• packageLoader: Reads packages and parses all data out of them.

• paletteLoader: Reads and writes palettes to disk.

• property_parser: Library to allow reading and writing Valve's KeyValues format.

• richTextBox: Subclassed version of Tkinter's Text widget, with options to allow easily adding special formating like bullet lists.

• selectorWin: Window class which allows picking items from a list, displaying various data about each option.

• sound: Handles playing sound effects, using PyGame.

• UI: Holds the majority of the UI code, tying the components together.

• utils: Various utility functions and a Vector class.

• VBSP: The BEE2's VBSP hook, which modifies a map VMF before it is compiled by the original VBSP.

• vmfLib: A library which parses a VMF file to allow easy modification.

• voiceLine: Parses quote pack data, and determines the appropriate quote to use for a given map.

• VRAD: The BEE2's VRAD hook, which switches to use fast lighting when not in preview mode, and packs files into the BSP after the compilation.

• png

• tkinter_png: Libraries to read PNG files into Tkinter-compatible formats.
  Additionally contains some BEE2-specific helper functions that do the conversion, and cache calls so an image is only read once.

Intended features:

Back end:

• Start up
  • Check to see if VBSP / VRAD / particles_manifest / other files have been updated by Steam
    • If updated, then rename to *_original (for VRAD/VBSP) and copy in modded versions, for others append extra entries from relevant locations.
  • Load config.cfg from root directory
  • Load *.Bee2Style files from configurable directory
  • Load *.Bee2Item files from configurable directory
    • Load alternate versions if they exist (maybe have the same name + an "Alternate" keyvalue?)
  • Load *.Bee2Palette files from configurable directory
    • Extract Image
    • Determine groupings
    • Locate dependant style
  • Load *.Bee2Palette files from configurable directory
  • Locate all known supported games from Steam location (ie. Portal 2, Portal 2 Beta, Aperture Tag) for dropdown of which game desired for export.
• Export
  • Given a Palette (list of items with positions) and selected style, export the "editoritems.txt" to configured game
  • Save as last exported palette
  • Export all packaged files from [.Bee2Item]s to configured game directory
• Save/Load Palette
  • Save list of items and positions to file in configurable directory

Front End:

• Display list of all items
  • Can be sorted by style, author, package, or supported games.
  • Shows palette preview of image
  • Either in right-click or other menu allow selecting alternate versions (style-dependant, will swap out with an alternate item block)
• Display exporting palette preview

VBSP Pre-Compiler:

• (Using Stylechangers vbsp) -> On call
• Call modular compiler operations
• See issue #6

VRAD Pre-Compiler:

• Run Stylechanger's VRAD
  • that runs PackBSP for us
• Use PackRat to pack files, this is cross-platform.