GTAma IDE Version 1.0(beta) Readme:
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INSTALLATION:
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before you can use this program, you need to have disasm.exe, and gtama.exe. disasm.exe is included in the zip file, and gtama.exe is available as a seperate download at www.gtascripts.org.

unzip all of the files into a folder of your choice, amke sure to also unzip gtama.zip to the same directory

simply double click on gtama_ide.exe to run the program, the first time you run it, it will pop up the options dialog, you need to tell it where your gta3.exe is located, and where scm_special.ini is located(scm_special.ini is included in this zip file)


USAGE:
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most of what this program does should be obvious, i will only mention things here that i feel may need explanation.

projects:
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projects are stored in the projects folder, this will be created the first time you run the program. if you have any old projects that you wish to use, simply create a directory with the name of your choice in the projects directory, and copy all of the .gsr files to it.

when you create a new project, a basic main.gsr file is automatically created in the project directory, this file will compile and run, but has no mission code, or even code to set up the zones, it is simply there to allow you to get started quickly

please note that if you add or remove a file, that the corresponding #mission <name> line is NOT removed from main.gsr, you will have to do this maually

code completion:
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if you press ctrl+space at any time in the editor, a code completion window will pop up, allowing you to select an opcode from the list, as you browse these opcodes, the command information at the bottom left corner will change to tell you how many parameters each opcode expects to get. this information is also shown if you hover the mouse over an opcode name in the editor window

decompiling a script:
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if you want to take a look at the original mission scripts, or see someone elses source code, you will have to decompile the main.scm file. to do this, go to run->decompile. a dialog box will appear, asking you for some information:

main.scm to disassemble: pretty simple, click browse, and find the main.scm you want to decompile

name of project to create: when the main.scm is decompiled, the resulting .gsr files will be placed into a project directory of your choice, this will then be available from the project->open menu

optional varnames file: if you are decompiling the original mission script, then i have provided a varnames.txt file in this zip which you can use. it will replace some of the variables in the script with more meaningful names, instead of just numbers.

optional GXT file: if you select a .gxt file here, then the output code will have comments at the end of any line with a gxt reference, showing the string it refers to, this can be very useful if you want to search the script to find out how something was done

compiling a script:
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after you have created your masterpeice, you will need to compile it to create a new main.scm which you can use. there are 3 options here:

compile: simply takes the current project, and produces a main.scm file in the project directory

compile and run: same as above, but will also run the game

compile copy and run: same as above, but will also copy the output main.scm file to your gta3\data\ directory before starting the game, meaning that the game will be started with your newly compiled script. WARNING: this will overwrite any mian.scm file already in your data directory, ALWAYS KEEP BACKUPS!!!!

other stuff:
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under the "special" menu there are a couple of useful items:

follow Jump/Label: if the cursor is over a label name, for example in a jump command, it will try to jump to that label, if the label is not in the current file, it will fail.

open file: if the cursor is over a file name (&filename) then it will cause that file to be opened, assuming it is in the current project

look up GXT string: will open the GXT editor(see below) and attempt to find the GXT reference at the cursor, if the cursor is not at a GXT reference, or it doesnt exist it will fail. also, there must be a file opened in the GXT editor before this will work

return from jump: Will cause the cursor to jump back to the point it was at before the last time you clicked on follow jump/label, a history of jumps is recorded, so you can click this repeatedly to go further back

tools:
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2 extra tools have been provided to make life a little easier:

map viewer: this will open up a 2D top-down view of liberty city, as you move the mouse across it, the coords window will update to reflect this, you can also zoom in and out with the 'A' and 'Z' keys respectively

GXT Editor: a simple editor for GTA3 Text Files(.GXT), allows you to edit the in game text, add your own text, and delete text, essential if you are going to make a decent mission mod


I think thats the lot, if there is someting i forgot, dont hesitate to contact me(see below)

Many thanks to the SCM editing team, and in particular to dan, for creating the assembler :)

CONTACT:
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contact me at gtama@gequinn.demon.co.uk