Essentials Manager [v2.0 Released]

[LorisC]

Hi to everyone.

I made a program to speed up the process of adding and editing Pokemon entries in Essentials.
Mainly I created it because of a project I making, but I decided to release it for everyone shortly after the completion... Now let's talk about the program itself!

Older Updates

Spoiler:

Update 1.1
Added the possibility to choose the images to use for each species.
Fixed some minor problems.
Update 1.1.1
Fixed a problem with New Pokemons.
Update 1.2
Reworked a bit the loading code to make it work in almost all cases.
In previous versions I based the loading on the comment line between entries, now I removed that dependency and I based everything only on the entries numbers.
Update 1.3
Added the possibility to move images when you move Pokemon.
Update 1.3.1
Fixed a problem that was causing the crash of the program in particular situations.
Update 1.4
Added the possibility to add and edit Moves & fixed some bugs.
Also changed the name of the program from "Essentials Pokemon Manager" to "Essentials Manager", because now you can edit more than just Pokemon!
Update 1.4.1
Added the possibility to move more than 1 Pokemon at a time in the "Reorder Pokemons" tab.
Also fixed some bugs.
Update 1.5
Added the possibility to add and edit Types & fixed some bugs.
Also added the possibility to edit pre-existing entries like Evolutions, Moves... without the need to remove them and add new ones.
Update 1.5.1
Fixed some bugs.
Update 1.5.2
Fixed more bugs.
Update 1.5.5
Added some time saver functions and fixed some little bugs.
Also rewritten the instructions using this update!
Update 1.5.6
Fixed some bugs and added a way to copy entire Moves to create new ones .
Update 1.5.7
Fixed a little bug that made the program crash with certain files.
Update 1.5.8
Made the program a bit more fail-proof.
Update 1.6
Made the program compatible with Elite Battle System sprite sorting and added the possibility to edit the still female images.

Update 1.7
Reworked the UI, now things are clearer and better readable than before.
Also added some features.
Update 1.7.1
Fixed some bugs.
Update 1.7.2
Fixed some more bugs and added some time saver functions.
Update 1.7.3
Fixed some bugs.
Update 1.7.4
Added the possibility to reorder Moves.
Update 2.0
Rewritten a nice amount of the code to better organize things, that way it'll be a lot easier for me to add new functionalities (it was becoming a complete mess!).
Also fixed some bugs and edited some things in the Interface.
Update 2.0.1
Fixed some minor bugs.
Update 2.0.2
Fixed another minor bug!
There is still a small issue with names that don't get updated in certain cases, but that can't cause any problem because when saving the updated names are used in every case.
Update 2.1
Fixed a pretty important bug that was occurring when saving forms.
The program was doing some things badly, and the result was the loss of all the forms! (yes, that happened to me too! You can imagine how many nice words I said to myself!)
Now everything's fixed. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Instructions on how to use the program:
(There's a spoiler because I know there's always someone who wants to skip everything and jump to the download link!)

Spoiler:

This is what you'll find upon opening the program:

As you may have guessed, the only thing you can do is load Pokemon, so let's proceed:

It opens a regular "Select File" window, go to your pokemon.txt and open it.

(Yes, I'm creating a Dragon Ball based Pokemon game!)

Now you should have all the Pokemons loaded, and you can see all theirs stats and properties.

If, in the previous step, you selected a pokemon.txt file in your project folder, the program automatically finds all the other needed information from other files, things like Forms, Items, ...
If not, the program will only load the Pokemons, disabling the features that require unavailable information.

Now, Basically, you can do what you want!

Let's say I want to add an Evolution to my Kid Goku, I need to go to the Optional Field tab (1), right click on the evolution list and choose "add a new entry" (right image), a new Window pops up (3), now it's enough to specify the needed values and click Done:

Note: The step 2 in the first image shows how things were before V1.7, the right image shows the new way to do things.

Following the same steps, you can edit everything else!
Basically, find what you want to edit and either edit it if it's a simple field as a Name or a number, or right click and you'll see all the available actions.

Now let's talk about adding new Pokemon entries, not only editing existing ones.
All you have to do is click this + button, the program automatically finds the first unused ID and creates a new Pokemon Entry, and you'll be able to edit it in the same way you did to edit existing ones:

The Forms tab work in the exact same way...

Starting from V1.1, the program lets you to load images and set them as the various needed sprites.
The steps to follow are really simple, an image explains pretty much everything!

Once an image is selected, the program automatically places it in 2 folders named "Graphics\Battlers" or "Graphics\Icons", which are the positions your game will use to search for them.
If you loaded your pokemon.txt from a location that's different from your game's PBS folder, a new Graphics folder will be created in the parent folder of the one that contained your .txt file.
Let's give an example, if you place your pokemon.txt in "C:\Users\Username\Desktop\Folder1" and load it, if you load an image, they will be placed in "C:\Users\Username\Desktop\Graphics\Battlers" and "C:\Users\Username\Desktop\Graphics\Icons".

Now let's talk about the "Reorder Pokemon" tab!
Using it lets you to rearrange the list, changing the order of the Pokemon.
It's usage is pretty simple, search for the Pokemon you want to move on one of the 2 lists, and search for where you'd like to put it on the other one, after that Drag & Drop the Pokemon to your desired position, the program will do the rest!

With update 1.4.1, I added the possibility to drag multiple Pokemon at a time, just in case you want to speed up things!

In any case, if you are unsure of what a certain property or button does, simply stay on it with your mouse, a tool-tip will show up giving you the necessary information.

The last thing to say is how to do to save!
You can use either the Menu (1) or the various Save buttons (2):

Here's the Download Links: Latest Version (2.1) | Old Version (1.7.4)

 

[LorisC]

Released 1.5

 

[IceGod64]

Really nice! Been using it for a bit, and it seems to have a bit of an issue with the base kit.
In particular, I notice that opening it in the base kit, it deleted the Normal Type from my roster. Normal type has the index 0, and that seems to be why.

Outside of that, it seems to work great, though it would be nice if the move list was listed alphabetically rather than by index #.

 

[LorisC]

Really nice! Been using it for a bit, and it seems to have a bit of an issue with the base kit.
In particular, I notice that opening it in the base kit, it deleted the Normal Type from my roster. Normal type has the index 0, and that seems to be why.

Outside of that, it seems to work great, though it would be nice if the move list was listed alphabetically rather than by index #.

Thanks for the feedback, I'll check.

EDIT
I've checked and that thing is not happening to me, so the problem must be something else.
I'll continue looking at some things I've done, mayble I'll discover the problem!

EDIT2
I think I've found the problem.
I'll release an update very soon!

EDIT3
With 1.5.2 the problem you said should be fixed.
Thanks again!

 

[LorisC]

Released v1.5.5

 

[FloofyPanthar]

the program crashes when i open up the pbs HEELP ME!!!!!!!!!

 

[Marin]

the program crashes when i open up the pbs HEELP ME!!!!!!!!!

Seeing as it crashed, it'll most likely have given some kind of error message. It'd probably really help the creator if you posted that.

 

[LorisC]

the program crashes when i open up the pbs HEELP ME!!!!!!!!!

I need more details to reproduce your situation.
Are you opening the pokemon.txt file from your PBS folder?

 

[FloofyPanthar]

I need more details to reproduce your situation.
Are you opening the pokemon.txt file from your PBS folder?

Yes, also it doesn't show an error message, it just say "PokemonManager has stopped working"

 

[LorisC]

In that case something must be happening while loading your pokemon.txt.

Can you pass it to me so I can try directly with it and find what's going wrong?

 

[FloofyPanthar]

I need more details to reproduce your situation.
Are you opening the pokemon.txt file from your PBS folder?

In that case something must be happening while loading your pokemon.txt.

Can you pass it to me so I can try directly with it and find what's going wrong?

Here

 

[LorisC]

Here

Good, thanks!

I'll check as soon as I can.

 

[FloofyPanthar]

Good, thanks!

I'll check as soon as I can.

Did you fix it yet? If not, reply to this post when you find out the problem.

 

[LorisC]

Did you fix it yet? If not, reply to this post when you find out the problem.

Found the problem, it was a little piece of file that I forgot to properly load, so the program was finding an unknown piece of Pokemon entry without knowing what to do.
With the latest update everything should work.

Thanks for the feedback.

 

[FloofyPanthar]

Found the problem, it was a little piece of file that I forgot to properly load, so the program was finding an unknown piece of Pokemon entry without knowing what to do.
With the latest update everything should work.

Thanks for the feedback.

Downloaded 1.5.7 still didn't work. Here is my game (I deleted much of the audio and most sprites to save you space)

 

[LorisC]

Downloaded 1.5.7 still didn't work. Here is my game (I deleted much of the audio and most sprites to save you space)

Found the problem, you have 2 badly formatted move entries, these ones:
647,PRISMATICLASER,Prismatic Laser,0C2,160,PSYCHIC,Special,100,10,0,00,0,"The user shoots powerful lasers using the power of a prism. The user can't move the next turn."
648,PSYCHICFANGS,Psychic Fangs,10A,85,PSYCHIC,Physical,100,10,0,00,0,"The user bites the target with its psychic capabilities. This destroys Light Screens and Reflect barriers."

A comma is missing in both of them before the description because they don't have any flag.
I added that comma and everything worked.

Anyway I'll release an update to not let the program to crash in cases like that and tell where's the problem instead.

 

[FloofyPanthar]

Found the problem, you have 2 badly formatted move entries, these ones:
647,PRISMATICLASER,Prismatic Laser,0C2,160,PSYCHIC,Special,100,10,0,00,0,"The user shoots powerful lasers using the power of a prism. The user can't move the next turn."
648,PSYCHICFANGS,Psychic Fangs,10A,85,PSYCHIC,Physical,100,10,0,00,0,"The user bites the target with its psychic capabilities. This destroys Light Screens and Reflect barriers."

A comma is missing in both of them before the description because they don't have any flag.
I added that comma and everything worked.

Anyway I'll release an update to not let the program to crash in cases like that and tell where's the problem instead.

THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! Update: Wait actually there is a BIT of a problem, can you make the sprites compatable with the EBS sprite sorting?

 

[Turjo12]

Awesome soft.
Keep it up. Good luck!

 

[LorisC]

THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! Update: Wait actually there is a BIT of a problem, can you make the sprites compatable with the EBS sprite sorting?

You mean each kind of sprite separated in different folders, right?
If it's only that, it's definitely possible to do, otherwise I can't guarantee anything!

 

[FloofyPanthar]

You mean each kind of sprite separated in different folders, right?
If it's only that, it's definitely possible to do, otherwise I can't guarantee anything!

Yeah, that's exactly what I mean