Open Source SHP Builder: Information

Banshee · Last edited by Banshee on Tue Jun 17, 2014 2:19 am; edited 18 times in total

Open Source SHP Builder is a program made by Banshee and Stucuk to make some of the basic TS and RA2 modding operations easier, like creation and edition of cameos, buildings, infantry and animations. It has the following features:

- Open and save SHP (TS) and SHP (TD) files.
- Basic brush, selection and shape tools.
- Active and Background colours, for left and right clicked painting.
- Advanced and fast reliable recolouring systems, including Pal Pack instant recolouring system implemented in the program.
- Easily imports .BMP, .JPG, .PCX, .GIF, .PNG and .TGA into SHP (TS) or SHP (TD).
- Image Effects tools like Blur, Smooth, Sharpen, Edge related, etc...
- Building Brush Tools that aids on creating realistic snow, dirt and damage effects.
- Special flood and fill for faster and smoother recolouring.
- An advanced, efficient and exclusive Cameo Generator that allow the creation of high quality cameos for TD, RA1, TS and RA2 in seconds.
- An exclusive and helpful Sequence Maker that aids on finding the art.ini settings for your infantry sequence.
- Basic copy, paste and moving abilities (with transparency), allowing you to paste as new frames and images.
- Massive frame copying, moving, deleting, reversing, mirroring and flip abilities.
- Ability to resize the image through pixels or canvas.
- Ability to split a frame in several smaller frames. You can also export sprite sheets.
- Tools adapted to TD, RA1, TS and RA2 modders avoiding misuse of colours.
- Features the undo, in case you do something wrong.
- Flexibility, allowing users to make their own recolouring scripts and deals with custom palettes.
- Has community links, linking you to the best TD/RA1TS/RA2 sites in the web. Also, linking The First Decade solutions and community goodies. It's also customizable, in case you need to add your own link and spread it around.
- An user friendly Help File that explains the features of the program.

And the source code of the program is available for everyone analyse, learn and edit it.

Our Latest version is 3.38 Beta and the latest official release is the 3.37. Both are downloadable in the links below:

- Download OS SHP Builder 3.38 Beta HERE (approx. 1.8mb + downloads in the first run)

- Download OS SHP Builder 3.37 HERE (1.88mb + downloads in the first run)

You may require to download additional files when you run the program for the first time. If you don't trust the program's installer, you can download the files straight from the SVN.

Suppport for this tool is located at HERE.

You can always get the latest nightbuilds by setting the following URL on your SVN client: svn://svn.ppmsite.com/shp_builder

Or browse the SVN at: http://svn.ppmsite.com/listing.php?repname=OS%20SHP%20Builder&path=%2F&sc=1

This tool is gratis (free of charge), but if you enjoy it and want to motivate and contribute with its development, feel free to donate money with paypal, credit cards and bank transfer by clicking in the button below:

Make sure you mention your forum nickname. This is crucial. And also, one feature that you'd need. You'll receive a response and if that feature is not viable, you can request another one.

Prime · Cyborg Soldier **Joined**: 18 May 2004 **Location**: USA

That download links to 3.31, no 3.32. Wink

You ought to fix that.

Banshee · Posted: Mon Jun 06, 2005 10:42 pm Post subject:

Ops

. Thanks for the tip Smile

. I thought I had updated the link... but you were right. I didn't. Anyway, the link is sorted now Smile

.

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VK · Posted: Tue May 09, 2006 1:30 pm Post subject:

I use SHP Builder version 2.1. Why ? Because it is better Confused

Banshee · Posted: Wed May 10, 2006 4:14 pm Post subject:

And I love you too Laughing

, specially if you elaborate why 2.1 is better than 3.35

Zodiac · Posted: Thu May 11, 2006 2:26 pm Post subject:

How can it be better?(2.1 than 3.35)

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VK · Posted: Sun May 14, 2006 11:35 am Post subject:

Zodiac wrote:

How can it be better?(2.1 than 3.35)

2.1 translates 16-bit or 24-bit images in 256-palette more qualitatively.
(the unique thing which has liked me - cameo generator in 3.35) #Mad

Banshee · Posted: Sun May 14, 2006 1:42 pm Post subject:

No, man... That's not true. Try the Infurion colour conversion method when importing with 3.35. Top notch quality! Better than XCC and Photoshop, but very slow, I know.

VK · Posted: Mon Jun 12, 2006 11:52 am Post subject:

Out of Memory... (AMD64 3000+ 512mb RAM 512 swap-file)

Banshee · Posted: Mon Jun 12, 2006 2:06 pm Post subject:

Hmmm... yea, Infurion uses a lot of RAM and depending on the size of your image, you may need a bigger swap file. Actually, in your case, it's recommended at least 1.5x of what you have, so it would be 768mb of swap file.

The 3D RGB Full Difference has also a nice quality of doesn't use much RAM and it's very fast.

VK · Posted: Tue Jun 13, 2006 12:38 pm Post subject: SHP Builder

Image-> SHP too works badly If I have 8-bit PCX file and I want to convert it to SHP I see........ bad bad bad Mad

Banshee · Posted: Tue Jun 13, 2006 1:19 pm Post subject:

Some PCX files are not compatible with the program. I'm not sure if this is your case. The 3D RGB Full Difference and Infurion things are inside Image -> SHP.

VK · Posted: Tue Jun 13, 2006 4:38 pm Post subject:

But could not you to add support of direct transformation PCX (256 colors with palette) to SHP
(Write palette from PCX to SHP without any transformations) #Mad

Banshee · Posted: Tue Jun 13, 2006 5:37 pm Post subject:

PCX is a very complex format and I'm using someone's library. I can't waste so much time with a damn file format, honestly.

VK · Posted: Wed Jun 14, 2006 11:36 am Post subject:

I use PCX because:
I convert some images to PCX with some palette
Then I generate PAL file (C&C type) using XCC
When i select this PAL file in SHP Builder
and insert PCX from Clipboard
It looks awfully.... #Mad

Banshee · Posted: Wed Jun 14, 2006 2:47 pm Post subject:

Oh... then use the Import thing that is much better.

daTS · Posted: Thu Jun 15, 2006 4:57 am Post subject:

... i cant get it to import .gif files correctly. It's all glitchy and only the animated parts show up right... so I just use copy+paste from photoshop into SHP builder... which is extremely adept at it! I only have to remove the pink outline (pink background in photoshop) using the "change color" tool...

Banshee... I truly commend you for creating this godlike program. Thank you.

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VK · Posted: Thu Jun 15, 2006 1:29 pm Post subject: SHP Buidler

I think to me it is necessary to write itself SHP Editor Smile

Banshee · Posted: Thu Jun 15, 2006 1:34 pm Post subject:

Then, be my guest and work on it.

Banshee · Posted: Fri Jun 16, 2006 11:12 am Post subject:

DaTSchikinhed wrote:

... i cant get it to import .gif files correctly. It's all glitchy and only the animated parts show up right... so I just use copy+paste from photoshop into SHP builder... which is extremely adept at it! I only have to remove the pink outline (pink background in photoshop) using the "change color" tool...

Banshee... I truly commend you for creating this godlike program. Thank you.

You should post topics about your problems with the most recent OS SHP Builder version (3.36 beta 03) at the Beta Testing forum.

The problem of the copy and paste (from clipboard) from OS SHP Builder is that if you are pasting a bigger image, it won't paste the whole thing.

Use of pink background to import stuff to OS SHP Builder is not good, specially if you use programs that uses anti-aliasing effects (like Photoshop). OS SHP Builder may confuse some of the anti-aliased pinks as those useless pinks from the palette. It is not a bug. It is a limitation. However, Photoshop and other programs would do the same mistake.

DeathRay2K · Commander **Joined**: 01 Sep 2002 **Location**: Canada

I think info pages like this should be made for all the utilities at PPM, and should be accessed when you click the name in the navbar.
That way you have some information about what it is you're downloading.
It would also be helpful for people mirroring the programs, as they can just summarize or link to the description here. Smile

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Banshee · Posted: Tue Jan 08, 2008 3:38 pm Post subject:

Update: OS SHP Builder 3.36 released!

Banshee · Posted: Sat Oct 04, 2008 8:40 pm Post subject:

Update: I've added a button for donations. Every donation submited throught this button will speed up the development of the program.

Donators may get priorities on getting specific features done as long as it is a viable and worth feature and I'm aware of it. To make me aware of it, use the field that should have instructions to the seller to say your nickname in the forums and the feature that you want.

Also, if you wanna know if a feature is worth and viable, you can PM me first.

Finally, before I get insulted, you can request features without giving a single cent and I'll probably work on them, but I'll certainly priorize the paid ones.

Banshee · Posted: Fri May 04, 2012 4:57 pm Post subject:

Update: The donate button's currency has been changed to Euros, because the server is charging in euros and I've just figured out that paypal does not convert existing dollars into euros when paying recurring payments.

I'm doing the same thing for all donate buttons in PPM.

Banshee · Posted: Sat Nov 30, 2013 6:52 pm Post subject:

Update: We've now included the download to OS SHP Builder 3.37 Beta, as it is more reliable than the 3.36 itself. I've also added a random picture of the program.

tomsons26lv · Posted: Sat Nov 30, 2013 8:24 pm Post subject:

The SHP Builder and VSE3 downloaders has almost never worked for me, it shows error cursor missing <####.cur> when i download Shp Builder like that, it works only when it's downloaded from the SVN

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Banshee · Posted: Sat Nov 30, 2013 8:26 pm Post subject:

This 3.37 version already has an auto-installer included that download the files from the SVN, like what VXLSE III does.

Does it fail for you?

tomsons26lv · Posted: Sat Nov 30, 2013 8:32 pm Post subject:

Banshee wrote:

This 3.37 version already has an auto-installer included that download the files from the SVN, like what VXLSE III does.

Does it fail for you?

Yeh, SHP Builder did
Just rechecked VXLSE III, it works

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Skype live:tomsons26
Don't forget to state who are you otherwise i'll ignore the invite

Banshee · Posted: Sat Nov 30, 2013 8:47 pm Post subject:

Did when? This auto-installer was added in this year. Did you tried a version with the auto-installer?

tomsons26lv · Posted: Sat Nov 30, 2013 8:59 pm Post subject:

Banshee wrote:

Did when? This auto-installer was added in this year. Did you tried a version with the auto-installer?

Previeously I used the SVN versions, the autoinstaller always failed, just like the this version, not a big issue for me, i just download the tar from the SVN

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Zaaz · Disk Thrower **Joined**: 21 Apr 2013 **Location**: Canada

@tomsons
I had this error when I copied the .EXE alone in a directory. Is it the case for you? Or do you run the .EXE in the same directory that his resources are in?

tomsons26lv · Posted: Sat Nov 30, 2013 10:39 pm Post subject:

Zaaz wrote:

@tomsons
I had this error when I copied the .EXE alone in a directory. Is it the case for you? Or do you run the .EXE in the same directory that his resources are in?

Yeh, that worked but now i'm getting
Access violation at address 00405FB9 in module 'SHP_Builder.exe'. Read of address 00000000. every time i start, also all of the files in whole CameoBG are 0 bytes
The SVN version works fine tho

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https://picasaweb.google.com/113361105083292812413?noredirect=1

Skype live:tomsons26
Don't forget to state who are you otherwise i'll ignore the invite

Bittah Commander · Posted: Sat Nov 30, 2013 10:53 pm Post subject:

tomsons26lv wrote:

The SHP Builder and VSE3 downloaders has almost never worked for me, it shows error cursor missing <####.cur> when i download Shp Builder like that, it works only when it's downloaded from the SVN

This also just happened for me after I installed the 3.37 beta and it automatically tried to open the program, but after clicking away the error messages and attempting to start OS SHP Builder again from the directory it was installed in, it ran perfectly fine.

Maybe the reason for this is that it tried to run itself from the directory I first launched and installed the SHP_Builder.exe file I just downloaded from, while this is not the directory where I installed OS SHP Builder to?

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Zaaz · Disk Thrower **Joined**: 21 Apr 2013 **Location**: Canada

I did some testing.

1. There's a pop-up error when SHP_BUILDER.dat is missing, when running OSSB (but it still runs afterwards).
2. There's a pop-up error when the cursors are missing, after the installer runs (but the download starts ok).
3. After downloading, the Cameos come empty (as tomsons said).
4. There's a pop-up error when commlist.ini is missing, when running OSSB ( and it doesnt run afterwards ).
5. After downloading, there's the pop-up error that tomsons talks about, Access violation. Just open it, it's
funny what's inside. Totally not the content of the original commlist.ini haha.

So the installer downloads something and then name it commlist.ini (:

Banshee · Posted: Sun Dec 01, 2013 3:43 am Post subject:

Thanks for the feedback. I wish I have received that before. When I tested this system, it seemed to work fine here.

I'll investigate each issue and try to solve it in future committs.

Banshee · Posted: Sun Dec 01, 2013 5:24 am Post subject:

Double post:

I'm starting to fix a couple of bugs here, but the result is not stable yet. Some problems you mentioned (and they are fixed now) were related to a xml file that it grabs to figure out which files that the program needs to download in the installation.

So, with this file, I've fixed the empty cameos in CameoBG problem and the corrupted commlist.ini. However, in my internal tests, I'm getting an endless install loop. There might be some missing file that I'm not catching at the moment. I'll keep investigating.

Banshee · Posted: Sun Dec 01, 2013 5:52 am Post subject:

Hey guys,

Could you try again? (Installing in a directory that has no previous OS SHP Builder content). Revision 31 should hopefully fix the cursor issue tomsons26lv has reported.

Bittah Commander · Posted: Sun Dec 01, 2013 6:15 am Post subject:

I just tried it; after installing an error popped up saying "File not found."

I then tried starting OS SHP Builder from it's install directory, but it gave the same message, but then still opened and showed the options menu; I closed this (which gave me access to the program) and closed OSSB as well.

I then started OSSB for a second time, but now it gave a different error message: "Access violation at address 00405FB9 in module 'SHP_Builder.exe'. Read of address 00000000." After clicking on OK the program opened as normal.
Every time I start OSSB I get this error message now however.

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Banshee · Posted: Sun Dec 01, 2013 2:51 pm Post subject:

Ok.... it's still not good, but things have improved. So, did you install in a different directory than you ran it for the first time, right?

So far, I understood that the File not found program came from RunAProgram function that tried to run a null program. However, what triggered that situation is so far beyond my knowledge. I'll keep investigating, but be sure that I want this auto-installer working correctly asap and your help is being very valuable.

Zaaz · Disk Thrower **Joined**: 21 Apr 2013 **Location**: Canada

I downloaded the current build and ran the installer, and without noticing I chose the default install path.

So it downloaded in the chosen directory, but here's what failed to download:
- All .pal files
- os_shp_builder_help.chm
- SHP_Builder.exe

After that, I can't 'finish' the installer. It keeps poping-up this:
'ShellExecute error #2: File 'C:\Program Files(x86)\CnCTools\OS SHP Builder\SHP_Builder.exe' not found.

Zaaz · Disk Thrower **Joined**: 21 Apr 2013 **Location**: Canada

I went to check and even though it says a couple files were downloaded, there's nothing on the disk.

The path 'C:\Program Files (x86)\CnCTools' doesn't even exist.

Note: btw I install choose 'Install as portable' and with the .exe in an otherwise empty directory. Is there a way to start the installer without doing that?
------
I install again, but this time in the same dir. Everything wenk ok, the .exe was skipped because it was the same version. I ran OSSB, no pop-up, no error.

Do I try with the last vers' executable?

Zaaz · Disk Thrower **Joined**: 21 Apr 2013 **Location**: Canada

I installed with the last version executable, but SHP_Builder.exe was skipped. And I'm pretty sure it's not the same build as the new because it's 1,903 KB whereas the new is 1,913 KB.

Banshee · Posted: Mon Dec 02, 2013 2:46 am Post subject:

My tests were done with Windows XP, which doesn't have UAC. By default, OS SHP Builder doesn't have nor request administrative powers. That should cause problems on certain machines with Windows Vista, 7 or 8.

I'll commit a version that will verify if the installation directory has been succesfully created and warn the user when it doesn't happen. Then, I'll start testing it in a Windows 7 laptop.

Banshee · Posted: Mon Dec 02, 2013 5:45 am Post subject:

Ok, I've seen what you've guys seen in my windows 7 laptop. It must have admin rights in order to work. And even with admin rights, it ends in a very weird and bizarre way, but after the file not found message, it works fine. So, my next step it is to force the install to run as another OS SHP Builder with admin rights and close the existing window.

I know what I'm doing goes against Microsoft's standards, but I don't wanna do an installer for every single commit and I want to allow the program to be updated in a very simple manner.

Lin Kuei Ominae · Seth **Joined**: 16 Aug 2006 **Location**: Germany

can't you just write in big letters "Run as Admin, before doing an update" ?

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Banshee · Posted: Mon Dec 02, 2013 3:53 pm Post subject:

That's an easy solution. However, the amount of people who tends to read this kind of warning is minimal. I'll try to figure out a way to detect windows vista or higher and if the program has admin powers or not instead. Then, I can send the warning or try to re-execute the program as admin.

Nikademis Von Hisson · Posted: Thu Dec 05, 2013 3:59 pm Post subject:

Um, did not know there was a 3.37 version, just DL and and ran normally. I did not change any compatible versions or run as admin..... running win 7, 64 bit 16 ram......

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Banshee · Posted: Thu Dec 05, 2013 4:14 pm Post subject:

My Windows XP installs it fine. But my Windows 7 (64 bits) has this UAC issue when I try to install it in Program Files (x86) if I do not run it as Administrator.

What I've noticed, but I could be wrong, is that, regardless of having admins powers or not, it creates the CnCTools directory. But if you don't have admin powers, the paste becomes invisible in the system. In this case, the palettes usually fails when downloading... probably due to timing (they are the first to be downloaded), but the other files are downloaded correctly, except for the executable one and maybe another one or two files. But, since it is invisible, the system won't recognize them. In the end of the installation, it tries to run OS SHP Builder again, but since the paste is invisible and the file wasn't downloaded correctly, it doesn't find it.

My attempt to detect when this situation happens has failed in revision 32. I'll try to figure out another solution.

If you run the 3.37 beta SHP_Builder.exe as admin in the first run, you won't have problems.

Nikademis Von Hisson · Posted: Thu Dec 05, 2013 4:21 pm Post subject:

well, did not run as admin for any thing. Most of the times I run the program and if it does not work I run as admin. I prefer to install all programs to custom folders, not the program 86 folder....... i never had any issues like others.... maybe I am the luckiest when it comes to C&C game and mod programs (with exception of the latest issue with LB & Ares).

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Banshee · Posted: Fri Dec 06, 2013 7:03 pm Post subject:

Maybe you were lucky or you've just installed to the same directory that you ran the file from.

Anyway, the latest revision should fix most of the problems that were reported above. I just don't know if it solves the issues of installing things on program files without the bless from UAC, which is what I plan to test asap.