JRLEdit - The Graphica Journal Editor

[Fair Strides 509]

Well, I'm back with another modding tool!

 

This time, it's a graphical editor for the Quest Journal in KotOR 1 and 2. It came about as a result of my seeing a 2005 request for one when browsing tk102's old threads at LucasForums...

 

I'd like to thank a few people up front:

 

ZM90: Letting me code the tool while working on K1R.

Varsity Puppet: Critique and banter concerning the tool.

HarIII: Critique and banter concerning the tool.

Malkior: The AMAZING icon he made for the tool!

 

Screenshots:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From the Read-Me:

 

Description:
====================================================================================
This tool is called JRLEdit and was created using Perl/TK. It is designed for Knights of the

Old Republic and
it's sequel, Knights of the Old Republic 2: The Sith Lords.

This tool is designed for easily editing the global.jrl file used by these games to
keep track of a player's quests. With JRLEdit, you can change the following for each
quest:

-Name
-Strref for the Name
-Tag
-Comments
-Plot ID
-Planet
-Number of quest entries

And for each Entry in a quest, you can change the following:

-Text
-Strref of Text
-Percent of Plot XP awarded
-Whether that entry ends the quest

How To Use JRLEdit:
====================================================================================
To begin using JRLEdit, you first have to open a .jrl file. You can browse for one
by hitting Ctrl+O or by using the File menu in the menubar. If you've already opened
a .jrl file, then it will be added the Recent Files section of the File menu and can
be loaded from there.

When you open a .jrl file, information about the file's size, save time, and contents
will be added to the JRL Info box. Also, the quests will be added by name to the table
on the left-hand side.

Editing a Quest:
====================================================================================
To begin editing a quest, select one from the table. Alternatively, you can enter in
keywords of the quest's name in the search box to quickly find a quest.

When you have selected a quest, the quest's basic information will be populated in the
"Quest Properties" box, and the first entry will automatically be displayed with it's
info in the "Entry Properties" box.

To edit any of the info for a quest, except for the String Reference, you have to
right-click the text you want t edit, which will be replaced with a textbox with the
info inside. Here, you can type in whatever you want the info to be changed to. To
confirm the edits, yu can either right-click the box or hit Enter when typing.

In the event of editing the quest's name, you can either right-click the Name or type
a number in the String Reference box. If you edit with the right-click option, the
String Reference will automatically be set to -1. If you change the number in the String
Reference box, the Name's text will automatically change to the dialog.tlk entry that
belongs to that number.

In either case of editing the Name, the text in the Quest Table on the left-hand side
will be changed to the contents of the Name text.

Editing an Entry:
====================================================================================
When you select a quest from the Quest table, the Entry Properties section is
populated with the first entry's info.

You can edit any of the entry data the same way as the quest data above. The only
difference is the entry's text.

Originally, the text is not in an editable state. To edit it, you must right-click
anywhere in the textbox. The background will change to grey, noting that the text is
now editable. To save the text, you *have* to right-click it.

Deleting:
====================================================================================
You can delete any quest you want, or just the quest's entries.

To do so, you have to right-click the quest in the Quest table and select the
appropriate option. If you choose to erase a quest's entries, all of them will be
erased, but a "blank" entry will be added, to allow a clean slate for editing that
quest.

Should you delete the quest itself, you will no longer deal with that quest or it's
entries.

Adding:
====================================================================================
You can add a new quest by two ways:

1). The right-click menu in the Quest table
2). The Edit menu

Either way, the quest will be added under the name "Unknown" and a number. The number
is one more than the number of quests, minus the one being added. The quest's info
will be "blank", and the quest will also have a "blank" entry added to it.

To add a new Entry, you can do it one of two ways:

1). The Edit Menu
2). The first option in the Selectable Entries dropdown box.

If you use the first option, a "blank" entry will be added with the ID set to the
last entry's ID plus 1.

If you use the Dropdown option, you will be prompted for a new ID yourself.

Upon adding a new entry or quest, the new addition will automatically be selected.

Making a New Journal:
====================================================================================
You can start over from complete scratch with an "empty" Journal by selecting the
"New" option from the File menu. This will read in the new.jrl file that *should* be
included in the download, and should also be in the same directory as the program.

If you happen to mess up and accidentally save over the new.jrl file, I've included
a back-up version in the new.7z archive in the download for you to revert back to...

Switching TLK Files:
====================================================================================
You can switch the TLK file in use by toggling the desired game in the Edit menu.
You won't notice a change in the Quest table, but when you populate a quest's data or
load a file, the TLK lines will be re-referenced.

Known Bugs(Beyond the placement issues that *might* arise):
====================================================================================

Plot XP: The xp for an entry, upon being edited and then re-edited, will be 100 times
greater than what it was set to. Don't worry, as this will be resolved upon saving the
file... or should be... *fingers crossed*

Contact Info:
====================================================================================

You can contact me in four ways:

1). My Skype: fairstrides2
2). PM at Deadlystream: Fair Strides
3). PM at Lucasforums:  Fair Strides 2
4). My Email: tristongoucher@gmail.com

 

JRLEdit.7z

[aneeryrlue 13]

Epic. I like it

[Mandalore 61]

That's kandosii. KotOR's been around for so long now, and it's still being made better. It's incredible.

[Fair Strides 509]

That's kandosii. KotOR's been around for so long now, and it's still being made better. It's incredible.

Thanks!

 

Though, I can't remember if "kandosii" means "good" or something else...

[Malkior 476]

Can't it be both?

 

 

 

 

..indomitable, ruthless, and in Karen Traviss' books colloquially used as "classy"

[Mandalore 61]

Thanks!

 

Though, I can't remember if "kandosii" means "good" or something else...

 

Can't it be both?

 

 

 

 

..indomitable, ruthless, and in Karen Traviss' books colloquially used as "classy"

Yeah, the original meaning was ruthless, but it evolved to be generally good.

[bead-v 251]

Looks great, but does it have any system requirements? When I try to open it it just crashes...

[Fair Strides 509]

Looks great, but does it have any system requirements? When I try to open it it just crashes...

 

This was reported to me a few times...

 

I need to investigate it more, but I believe the issue might be one of the coding libraries I used. A few questions, if I may:

 

1. Do you have Windows XP, 7, or 8?

2. Do you have a process running in Task Manager called JRLEdit.exe?

3. Can you run it from a commandprompt and get any messages?

4. Lastly, do you have Skype?

[Hassat Hunter 571]

Why haven't you uploaded this download as a "proper" download?

[Fair Strides 509]

Why haven't you uploaded this download as a "proper" download?

As in, uploading it in the download section?

 

Hadn't thought it really necessary, as it's a specialized tool and we don't really have a section for tools in the upload...

[bead-v 251]

 

we don't really have a section for tools in the upload

 

What are you talking about, FS?

 

So, if anyone is experiencing the same problems as me, here's what you have to do to get JRLEdit, and also the GITEdit, to work. I'm on windows 7, if you're using something else, try to find similar options. The steps are basically taken from http://geekswithblogs.net/renso/archive/2009/10/21/how-to-set-the-windows-path-in-windows-7.aspx.

1. Download JRLEdit.
2. Extract all .dll files to a folder, and remember/copy its path.
3. From the desktop, right-click My Computer and click Properties.
4. In the System Properties window, click on the Advanced tab.
5. In the Advanced section, click the Environment Variables button.
6. Finally, in the Environment Variables window, highlight the Path variable in the Systems Variable section and click the Edit button. Now add the path of your folder to the list. Don't forget to separate it from the others with a semicolon.
7. Restart your computer.
8. Use the amazing programs.

[LiliArch 115]

I think I found a bug. It shows the K1 planets, even while you are at TSL mode.

 

Is there a way to set the quest's "end" state with the editor? I can do it in K-GFF just fine, but then again, it feels stupid to use another tool for that, if you do the rest with this one.

[Fair Strides 509]

I think I found a bug. It shows the K1 planets, even while you are at TSL mode.

 

Is there a way to set the quest's "end" state with the editor? I can do it in K-GFF just fine, but then again, it feels stupid to use another tool for that, if you do the rest with this one.

 

Yes, and I also discovered that the program doesn't free up the save menu options when you make a new journal...

 

The planets issue seems to be me not refreshing the list by accident...

 

As to the End thing, you should be able to right-click The text under End. The only values it recognizes are(without quotes:

 

"Yes", "yes", 1, "No", "no", 0.

 

Also, interesting things happen if you set the planet and then try to change the priority of the quest... So, I'll be doing a bit of work...

[LiliArch 115]

There's also a some kind of problem with the quest list. It's like it doesn't get the values from the dialog.tlk, at least unless you swap the mode it is in. I'm not perfectly sure, didn't do very extensive testing.

 

Oh, the right-click! Didn't think about that... I guess it may be written somewhere, but the colour scheme doesn't really help my reading abilities.

[Fair Strides 509]

There's also a some kind of problem with the quest list. It's like it doesn't get the values from the dialog.tlk, at least unless you swap the mode it is in. I'm not perfectly sure, didn't do very extensive testing.

 

Oh, the right-click! Didn't think about that... I guess it may be written somewhere, but the colour scheme doesn't really help my reading abilities.

Well, I uploaded a new version in the Modding Tools section in the Downloads area.

 

That should fix it.

[Fair Strides 509]

Guys, I was using this for K1R and found a bug with the Planet ID not being saved right (was a typo on my part).

 

I ask that anyone who has downloaded this tool please continue to look for bugs. I fixed the bug above, and found another bug with the "smart placement" of the Quest Info. I'll likely be re-building that from scratch.

[LiliArch 115]

The quest-list on the left side of the screen doesn't show the names of the quests all times. Sometimes it does. I haven't been able to find out when it does and when it doesn't, however, though I haven't had time to play with it very much.

[Fair Strides 509]

The quest-list on the left side of the screen doesn't show the names of the quests all times. Sometimes it does. I haven't been able to find out when it does and when it doesn't, however, though I haven't had time to play with it very much.

Hmm...

 

If you could test that some more, I'd appreciate it, LiliArch. As it is, I'm wondering if that's happening when you edit the strref of the quest name?

[LiliArch 115]

I didn't edit anything, just opened the journal file. I have a feeling that the quest names appeared when I swapped some settings and relaunched the program, but I can't be sure about that...

 

I'll test that and let you know what happens.

[Fair Strides 509]

Worst case scenario, send me the .jrl file and let me know which game it is, and possibly send over the dialog.tlk

[LiliArch 115]

Okay, testing done. Luckily, the biggest issue was me being careless (opening KotOR journal file while program was in TSL mode) but, considering how easy that kind of thing is... though the quest names not showing if there's wrong dialog.tlk file in use is not surprising, one would expect that swapping the program to another mode (TSL->KotOR) would refresh the quest list. It does not, you must reopen the journal file, and that is pretty confusing. Suggestion: make the quest list to refresh (or force-reopen the journal file without user needing to do so) if there is a journal file open when toggling the mode.

 

Plus, there seems to be some error handling missing. If you accidentally open a journal file with wrong dialog.tlk (if you open TSL journal in KotOR mode, or if you have original dialog.tlk in game folder and you are trying to open modded journal file with additional strrefs in it) program crashes, because it tries to read a string after the end of dialog.tlk. Suggestion: add try-catch block - or whatever it is called in Perl - or some kind of error handling anyway, to catch that error and handle it correctly. Users don't like programs crashing.

 

What's with me, can't type anymore - wrote "dalek.tlk" in here.

 

But good news last: these problems don't appear, if it is used correctly. So if you don't constantly jump from one game to another, you should be fine.

[Kexikus 995]

So, I wanted to edit some journal entries and luckily found this cool tool.

The editing worked fine (except for the fact that I have to reload the tlk file paths everytime I restart JRLEdit, but that's no big deal) but whenever I place the modified global.jrl in my Override folder and load a game, all the descriptions and titles in my journal disappear. I wondered if anyone has had the same problem before and if it's fixable somehow

[Fair Strides 509]

So, I wanted to edit some journal entries and luckily found this cool tool.

The editing worked fine (except for the fact that I have to reload the tlk file paths everytime I restart JRLEdit, but that's no big deal) but whenever I place the modified global.jrl in my Override folder and load a game, all the descriptions and titles in my journal disappear. I wondered if anyone has had the same problem before and if it's fixable somehow

 

Yes... This is because when you edit the text for the title or one of the quest entries, JRLEdit saves the text as a Male English Localized String instead of a StringRef TLK entry. Normally this wouldn't be a problem, except for what I can only really describe in a screenshot:

 

 

[Kexikus 995]

Yes... This is because when you edit the text for the title or one of the quest entries, JRLEdit saves the text as a Male English Localized String instead of a StringRef TLK entry. Normally this wouldn't be a problem, except for what I can only really describe in a screenshot:

 

 

 

 

 

 

So, if I edit the global.jrl, all quests will be blank unless I'm playing a male character with the English version of K1, right?

And is there a way around this problem?

[Fair Strides 509]

So, if I edit the global.jrl, all quests will be blank unless I'm playing a male character with the English version of K1, right?

And is there a way around this problem?

Almost correct: Some languages have Male and Female tenses/grammar rules, and so the male ones are stored in dialog.tlk and the female ones in dialogf.tlk. I don't honestly know if it matters much, and we could both be right.

 

As to fixing it, the only way you could fix it is to add the strings to the dialog.tlk file, make an un-edited copy of the global.jrl file, make your JRLEdit edits in the NON-copy version, and then use TLKEd and make an append.tlk file to use with the TSLPatcher...

 

That part I could help with if necessary, though.