Author Topic: DOS for Dummies - by Kismet  (Read 12630 times)

Offline Ghreyfain

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DOS for Dummies - by Kismet
« on: April 01, 2004, 06:39:41 PM »
This was a thread that was salvaged from the FWP forums, and until I can be bothered to pretty it up, it may look a bit strange.  Kismet made the original post, and others came along with follow questions and answers, so I thought it wise to include everything.

Kismet
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     DOS for dummies
« on: Sunday Mar 30, 2003, 15:03:53 »   

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Well okay...here it is as simply as I can put it.

Assumptions:
A.  You have Baldur's Gate 2 installed in c:\Program Files\Black Isle\bgii - soa
B.  You have WeiDU installed in c:\Program Files\Black Isle\bgii - soa
C.  You have your mod files at c:\Program Files\Black Isle\bgii - soa\mymod  where "mymod" is whatever you called  the directory where your mod file are.
D.  mydialogfile.d should be replaced with whatever you did call your dialog file.

Steps:
1.  Click your mouse on the start button and then move it up to where it says Run.  Then click on Run.
2.  This should bring up a box with a space where you can type information in.
3.  Type in:  cmd
4.  Click on OK
5.  This should bring up a DOS window.  Usually it's a black box with white letters.
6.  In the DOS window type: cd\Program Files\Black Isle\bgii - soa
7.  Hit the Enter key
8.  Type: weidu mymod\mydialogfile.d --tlkout dialog.tlk --out override
9.  Hit the Enter key
10. If there were no errors in your mydialogfile.d there should now be a mydialogfile.dlg file in your c:\Program Files\Black Isle\bgii - soa\override directory
11. If there were errors in your mydialogfile.d then weidu won't compile your file but will tell you where you went wrong.  Usually it'll look something like: PARSE ERROR near line 45 column 20.
12. If you get errors then open up your mydialogfile.d in a text editor (preferably one with line numbering like ConTEXT rather than one without like Notepad) and go to the line and columns indicated by weiDU and see where you went wrong and fix it.
13. Repeat from step 8 until your file compiles without errors.


Edit - before your start make sure you backup your dialog.tlk file and your override directory your weidu.log file (by backup I mean make copies of those files/directory and place them someplace else (e.g. C:\Backups) so in case you really spork your game you can just copy them back over rather than reinstalling Baldur's Gate 2 again)
 
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     Re:DOS for dummies
« Reply #1 on: Thursday Apr 03, 2003, 00:12:57 »   

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In case this doesn't work for some people(like it didn't for me) I typed in "command", and dropped a readme file from my BGII directory into the DOS window so it would show the EXACT path to my BGII folder.
The path was C:\progra~1\blacki~1\bgii-s~1

Oh and thanks again for your help Kismet. 
It's easy WHEN you know how to do it. 
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      Re:DOS for dummies
« Reply #2 on: Sunday May 11, 2003, 06:06:13 »   

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That seems a lot of effort for something you'll be doing a lot ... what I do (I use this for decompiling dlg files, but it'd work the other way too) is this:

1. Place weiDU.exe in your BG2 folder
2. Click Create Shortcut
3. Under the properties of the shortcut, there should be a box labelled Target. In here will be something like "C:\Program Files\Black Isle\BGII - SOA\WeiDU.exe"
AFTER the quotes, put in:
mymod\mydialogfile.d --tlkout dialog.tlk --out override
if you want to compile a d file, or say
BAERIE.dlg
if you want to decompile a dialogue file (in this case aerie's banter file).

I've got one shortcut that I alter to whatever I need. It's way quicker than going through run everytime.
 
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     Re:DOS for dummies
« Reply #3 on: Sunday May 11, 2003, 06:06:10 »   

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Ah well, I can't say that I really use that method all that often.  Normally I just set up a .tp2 file. 
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~If you can't be a good example, you'll just have to serve as a horrible warning.~
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      Re:DOS for dummies
« Reply #4 on: Sunday May 11, 2003, 14:02:06 »   

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Same here, but it's good for decompiling... 
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      Re:DOS for dummies
« Reply #5 on: Wednesday May 21, 2003, 05:05:46 »   

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DOS for dummies or DOS teaching from dummies? 

The correct program for DOS start is command.com


Just do a shortcut from weidu.exe.
After that, place a "?" (w/o quotes) in the end of the TARGET field.
(It should look like this: "C:\Program Files\BGii - SOA\weidu.exe" ? )

It asks you for parameters after you use the shortcut.
(Does not work on every os, not sure if it works on XP) 
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     Re:DOS for dummies
« Reply #6 on: Wednesday May 21, 2003, 07:07:38 »   

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Quote from: Taza on Wednesday May 21, 2003, 05:05:46
DOS for dummies or DOS teaching from dummies?   
 
No reason it can't be both.

Quote:
The correct program for DOS start is command.com
 
 
 
Using cmd on WindowsXP and on Windows2000 works perfectly well.  I'm not sure about other versions of Windows.  Using cmd brings up a DOS box that will accept spaces in the path.  Using command will bring up a DOS box that will not accept spaces in the path.

 
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     Re:DOS for dummies
« Reply #7 on: Monday Jun 30, 2003, 16:04:26 »   

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Quote from: Kismet on Wednesday May 21, 2003, 07:07:38
Using command will bring up a DOS box that will not accept spaces in the path.
 
 

Quote the path in ""s 
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     Re:DOS for dummies
« Reply #8 on: Wednesday Aug 06, 2003, 23:11:19 »   

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Actually, command refuses to use long paths.  cmd does, so its inherently superior in this case.
 
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   Re:DOS for dummies
« Reply #9 on: Wednesday Aug 13, 2003, 05:05:03 »   

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When opening a DOS prompt I am greeted by the following line:

C: WINDOWS

How can I get rid of the "windows" segment? 
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     Re:DOS for dummies
« Reply #10 on: Wednesday Aug 13, 2003, 08:08:34 »   

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Typing cd.. will move you back a directory, in this case to your root C directory. (I'm assuming here that the "WINDOWS" is a directory name and not a drive name.  If it's a drive name I don't think you can get rid of it.) 
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~If you can't be a good example, you'll just have to serve as a horrible warning.~
Play Infocom Adventures online!
Cailean ~ A half-elf, archer NPC in the making! 
 
 
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   Re:DOS for dummies
« Reply #11 on: Wednesday Aug 13, 2003, 15:03:50 »   

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And

cd \

will always take you to the root of a drive (C:, D:, etc.) if you're way out deep in C:\files\games\bg2\override\extraoverride\doubleyourpleasure. 
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   Re:DOS for dummies
« Reply #12 on: Sunday Mar 21, 2004, 09:09:44 »   

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I figured out the other day that if i copy the cmd.exe into the same folder as weidu i don't have to bother with any dos commands other than the ones to instruct weidu itself!

Beats the hell out of all that cd\ crap and trying to figure out which path is accepted.  As a total ignoramus where dos is concerned i found using weidu from the command prompt very annoying to begin with.

Now its a breeze!

Just in case anyone wanted a really easy way to bypass the annoying bits!!

Rabain 
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    Re:DOS for dummies
« Reply #13 on: Thursday Mar 25, 2004, 03:03:37 »   

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cmd only works on Win XP & 2000 - command works on everything from 95 upwards. Meaning, to account for the majority of users, you may want to change step 3 to read:
Type: command

And step 6 to read:
In the DOS box, type: cd C:\progra~1\blacki~1\bgii-s~1

This will also get past the default path problem: for example, run cmd in WinXP with every window minimised - the path when it opens will probably be:
%systemdrive%\Documents and Settings\%username%

Where %systemdrive% is up one level from your Windows install folder, and %username% is the name of the account you are logged in as.
 
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      Re:DOS for dummies
« Reply #14 on: Thursday Mar 25, 2004, 11:11:46 »   

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The easist way to avoid directory switching is to create a shortcut to cmd.exe (or command.com) and change the starting directory to your BG2 folder. Both cmd.exe and command.com are found in Windows\System32. Once you have made a shortcut, open the properties menu and change the 'Start in:' or 'Working:' fields respectively to your BG2 folder. You can change the size and colours of the DOS box here too. 
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      Re:DOS for dummies
« Reply #15 on: Thursday Mar 25, 2004, 12:12:20 »   

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Quotes are not necessary in Win XP.  Don't know about 2000.  They are necessary in 98SE. 
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Like banters?  Check out Kitanya.


Or, how about making the Asylum Dungeon more challenging and fun? 
 
 
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     Re:DOS for dummies
« Reply #16 on: Sunday Mar 28, 2004, 20:08:17 »   

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Most versions of Windows have a set of Power Toy utilities available from Microsoft's site. One of the available utilities for XP--and I remember seeing this for a few other versions--is adding an 'Open Command Prompt Here' option to the context menu (i.e. the right-click menu) for Explorer and folder navigation. It opens a DOS box right in your working folder. 
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