The Dink Network

Just wondering if I'm weird for still using this. WinDinkedit is slowing growing on me, and I admit it's great for editing large swaths of terrain (i.e. tiles), but for sprites find good old dinkedit convenient.

I stopped using it around 4 years ago. I actually tried using it yesterday, but I've forgotten pretty much everything about it, and found myself as confused as I was when I first tried to learn how to use WinDinkEdit.

But apparently there are still people who do use it, such as Sabre, I think. But others judge it as "unusable" and "not an option" when it comes to creating D-Mods.

We don't speak of that awful editor around here anymore. I would watch out if I were you, the last guy who said he used it was burned alive and beaten with sacks of snowglobes.

...if I remember correctly. I suppose it's much easier for the people who had no other option when they started D-Modding.

Snowglobes? Really? You couldn't come up with anything better?

Hey, snowglobes turn their world upside down.

I'm sure it's mostly just a matter of what I'm used to, but for the sake of argument, here's my list of things WinDinkedit isn't as good at:

* Changing a sprite's graphic without moving it.
* Giving sprites nonstandard properties. - It's gotten better at this, but you still can't give them arbitrary brains for example.
* Not crashing.

On that last point... what is currently considered the best version of WinDinkedit? Are there any that don't crash? Or does it just hate my computer in particular?

I use it only for certain situations... mainly ones Paul listed... such as setting fake brains.

I use windinkeditplus 1.2, and it never crashes for me.

Hmm, I'd been using WinDinkedit Double-Plus Good or whatever, I'll see if the version you said proves more stable.

I've only ever used WinDinkEdit to delete screens.

DinkEdit is still great!

I actually liked dinkedit, but for me was a steep learning curve and when i found wde i was surprised how much easier it was and the time saved means i had more time to make domds Trying to get the coordinates just right for a tree across two screens used to take me ages lol - but yes i understand why you like it

Not crashing is a good quality, i also liked the earlier versions of wde2 for how I use the program, thats seriously better than the later versions - in my opinion. (Not taking anything away for the effort it took to create these and add features we asked for, just not perfected and frustrating to use imho).

I had to swap back to the regular WDE+ from WDE2 because there was a weird bug where my graphics would literally become split in the middle and end up at 2 different sides of the frame... Like, I would import a new table graphic and half the table would be pasted on the right side of the frame and the other on the left side, with the middle of the frame empty. Weirdest bug I'd ever seen. Now I seriously miss the multisprite selection though

As for Dinkedit, I never use it anymore. I used to swear by it and not use WDE (the first one) for a long time, but it was mainly just the aversion to relearning a tool I think. The only things that annoy me about WDE that DE can do are accurate moving of sprites pixel by pixel and trying to place sprites on the edge of the screen when there are no screens on the outside, so it won't let me paste.

Hmmm... one must question if the reason Sabre doesn't get any new D-Mods done is because he still uses Dinkedit.

I just don't have anywhere near enough time to dedicate to it, sadly.

My last attempt to make a d-mod was a combination of the two. Adding tiles and working across multiple screens was easier in WDE, but I really missed the keyboard controls from dinkedit, and picking out corners still seemed easier.

Bugs in both of them also kept trying to ruin the module, which was why I kept switching. I should check my versions if I try it again.

This is probably a dumb question, but this seems like as good a place to ask as any... How do you access the road tiles in WinDinkedit? (The tiles you get with ALT+` in DinkEdit.)

It's the same key for me, just without ALT+. On my Finnish keyboard though, that key is Ö and not `.

For me it's the 'U' key, but if it's different you can see which key it is by going to Display->Tile Selector, and it's set 41.

Huh, ` doesn't work for me. "U" does though, thanks.

Use DinkEdit if you enjoy torturing yourself. Seriously ... it's that annoying. WinDinkEdit is freakin awesome.

` is for people who stick with the original WinDinkEdit, people like me.

I do like you, meta.

...sorry, couldn't resist >_<

For this project (which involved filling out a pretty goof sized map in a hurry) I admit WDE has been invaluable. If it only had the ability to select and precisely nudge sprites using the keyboard, it would just about be good enough to use exclusively. An option to zoom in on an individual screen would also be a big help for fiddly work.

I do like you, meta.

Are we going to have another proposal?

The new version of WinDinkEdit that RW released has a snap-to feature, and you can change how precise it is.

Stand back, Pillbug! Meta's mine!!

W00t! I just discovered a I can use dinkedit on my laptop. Well, freedinkedit to be exact. For a while there I thought I was going to be stuck with WinDinkEdit while away from home. Thank goodness.

windinkedit never works for me, i have no choice but to use the old one :/

Yes. I use only dinkedit and I works great except that I can't make new screens or delete old ones. So I have to begin with someone else's map. That is an annoying problem. Everything else works fine for me.

I am still using Dinkedit, too, three years later. I tried to create something only using WDE+2, I really did (partially with the agenda that I could then fairly bash it to death in a video), but it's just... ugh. The thing is riddled with problems, including but not limited to crashing (always fun to lose half an hour of progress; I guess I should treat WDE like a Bethesda game), freezing, permanently ruining your hard maps, and having estrus for that piece of crap Skeleton B.

Just now, I tried to edit a dmod in Windinkedit, only to have an "out of memory" error pop up as soon as I try to open the sprite selection screen. Screw you, Windinkedit. Screw you, Windinkedit, now and forevermore!

Damn you for your sweet multiscreen wiles, though. That's the only reason I keep coming back to you, you hag.

Of course you prefer Dinkedit, scratcher. You think Baldur's Gate is the supreme ultimate masterpiece of all RPGs, after all.

Damn you for your sweet multiscreen wiles, though.
Probably the only reason I've ever finished a dmod.

I'm so glad that I hardly ever had any issues with WDE+ or WDE+2.

Though honestly, if I could only ever focus on one screen at a time, I think I'd go mad at the sprite limit. Not that it doesn't happen already- but still. WDE+2 keeps me sane. SAne. SaNe. SanE. SAnE. Yeap. Totally sanE.

WDE+ and WDE+2 do crash on dmods that use 24 bit graphics for me though. Even though 1.08 will run fine with those graphics, the editor always crashes if it tries to load a screen or the sprite library with any 24-bit image.

Maybe dinkedit runs 24-bit perfectly fine and that's why it doesn't crash for you? I dunno.

I use FreeDinkEdit when I need to. The real problem with DinkEdit is remembering all of those esoteric keystrokes and their combinations.