Everyone trying to change a stage to point to any other (downloaded or your own), without getting in to the variants paraphernalia has passed through the problems related to that process: renaming the .CDS file, creating a CDX in the same directory, and changing the value of the <feedback> entry to the new stage. This solution is more flexible, though, since it does not require knowing much about stage locations, and doesn't need to edit the database game's file and allows you to link to your downladed or created stages in any subdirectory of CM_Stages and easily change it, even if the game is running.
The only caviat you mind find to install it is that I've done it using certain new characteristics available in the latest version of the C# language present if you have .NET Framework 4.7 installed. So, that's first. Make sure you have that version installed. Or, download it from this link: .NET Framework 4.7 Web installer: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/downl...x?id=55170
With that in place, installation is trivial. Download and launch the PCMStageManager file, uncompress it, and launch the setup.exe file you'll find inside following the instructions.
Initial configuration
Although it's not mandatory, you can include some of my stages (do whatever you want with them), which are already located in subdirectories, pending from the "ManagerStages" main user directory, just to test how it works. Simply put, create a subdirectory from CM_Stages and paste those files the way they go.
First of all, the app assumes that the CM_Stages folder that holds the original game's stages is located in its default directory. The first time you run it, you'll be asked for a location for your stages.
If you prefer to differeciate these extra stages for their profile, you can assign distinct directories (always pending from your main user directory): Hills, Flats, Time Trial, Mountain and Cobblestones, although it's not required.
Remember, if you decided to copy the "ManagerStages" contents preserving their default directories you should assign each one accordingly here so, when you use it and move one file to another location or with another name, etc, the final location of the process is preserved.
After that process you might end with a configuration like this (notice that, if you pass the cursor over a textBox it will display the whole directory's path):
Procedure and Operations
When configuration is done, exit that window and you should see an initial window like this:
Of course, buttons and options below the graphics let you filter stages according to their profile: Hills (A - Ardennes), Flat (L), Mountain (M), Time Trial (C), Cobblestones (P), and even a sixth one (E - Team Time Trial, optional).
In this ListBox, if you press Right Button on a stage you'll be offered the option to rename it, changing its profile, its difficulty, both or just give it whatever the name you like (it will appear in black, then).
The following capture shows a filter of type Mountain, difficulty 2, in which I selected the M[2]165ck stage, and, after rightbutton menu appears, I changed its name to be of type Hills (A), and keep the rest the same. (If there is a Hills directory it will be changed ti the new location, otherwise it will remain in the Main User Directory).
Notice that a stage is supposed to be made of 4 files: the .ZTS (the one you edit using the Stage Editor), the .ZDS file, that is the result of the the export process, the CDS file containing the description, and a 4th file (the graphic profile) that you have to capture yourself to identify which stage your're dealing with. When you rename a stage the 4 files are also renamed and located in the corresponding directory.
Common actions
First, you have the choice to work with the original stages or with your profiles. Only one of them is active at the time. You change the Active list in its menu, and will see the the current list becomes active:
Once you have an origin selected, you need a destiny Mod. It can be a game's original or your own. If it is a game's original it will not have its corresponding .CDS file or .ZDS files. That's the way the game assigns the same stage to different races. Every time you select a Mod its content is shown below and -if it has a graphic profile- the profile appears as well, so you know what stage your working with.
When you have a Mod selected, you can change the stage it points to using the "Change Stage" menu button. It will use the Active list selected item and change its value inside the Mod, pointing to the new one. In case your active list is the game's original, no graphic will be shown (only the name of it), unless you have capture its profile and store it in the game's original directory.
For instance, if I want to work with the Gran Prix Fourmies, I know it has this aspect in the game, and its stage corresponds to c0_fourmies_2013
So, I'll locate the Fourmies in the active list (or search for it using the search box below the list, that admits partial names and consecutive searches), and then I'll use the button next to the search to synchronize this list with Mod's list and locate both files:
If it doesn't exist, I can create a new one using the "Create CDX" button, and the new stage will have "Stage0" as default assignment. Now, you can use any of the Lists (the game's original or your profiles) to assign a new one, using the "Change CDX" button. Inmediateley, you'll see the new assignment all over.
Finally, if you want to change the course, you can click on it and change it manually. After the change, save the changes using the "Save CDX changes" button, and you're done!
If you want the game to recognize your assignment, you need to rename the CDS file, which you do with the option "Alternate Stage" in the above menu. That will only change the extension of the CDS file to be .CDS0, and the game will recognize the change.
Now, even with the game running, just go back to the Fourmies appearance in the calendar and select the Fourmies race to see that the game correctly assigns it to the new stage:
The tool has some other features, like the ability to delete a CDX (as far as it's not an original CDX file), and the possibility to alternate (disable or enable) all stages in a single race at once, like you can see in the next capture after disabling the whole "Tour D'Alsace". Remember that, if a CDS is disabled and it has no corresponding Mod, the Stage0 will be used.
I hope you enjoy it! I like to test my "crazy" (and poorly decorated) stages, so I decided to make this tool because I found very troublesome to make changes and really know what I was dealing with, and I wanted something I could use even when the game is running...
I'm also including some of my stages located in a subdirectory structure in case you like to start with something already done. Just copy them in a subdirectory of CM_Stages, or in the CM_Stages itself if you preserve the structure. I also include the .ZTS files, in case someone feels like editing them.
Finally, this was "my tool" and I decided to rewrite it in English to make it available in case anyone might think it's useful. So, I do not assume responsibilities for its use. I've tested bugs, but if you find one and want to tell me about it, I'll find some time to check it out, I hope. You can write to this email: , or tell me something as a comment in this post.
Looks very impressive indeed and no doubt will be greatly recieved by all those who like making stages but will it also work with stages from pcm11 and 12
I've not tested it for other versions, so I don't know. But, it might since the tool doesn't change the content of the stages, only the assignments of the CDX files.
Appreciate the thought and work that went into this.
My concern when I first read this I wasn't sure how useful this was because I don't find it that hard to test a stage. I just save it as world_randomname.cds and zces and it shows up as a worlds variant. You have to go back to the home screen but that isn't that big a deal, you don't have to restart the game.
However, thinking about this more I have a slightly different application that this would be helpful for. I create my own DB using existing stages. So I spend a lot of time copying and renaming stages. If I could quickly create CDX files using this tool that would save time and avoid multiple copies of the same stage. But to do this I have two challenges with the tool:
1. It doesn't seem to work other than on PCM17. When I try to set the default directory to PCM 15 I get the error in the attached picture. It seems like it should work as you said, so maybe I am doing something wrong or there is an easy fix.
2. I would like to be able to create a CDX for a race that doesn't exist previously, but I don't seem to be able to do that. I can only create new CDX for an existing race. Is there a way to change the name of the CDX as well as the stage it points to?
So those are my narrow questions. Some more general thoughts:
1. Making profile JPG is probably not going to happen for me. It would be good if it would pull in the CDS in the middle window like the left hand window does even if there is no profile file. That way I could save my stages to a different directory than the main directory and access them from this tool without creating profiles. (Because the main directory has hundreds of stages I would prefer to keep mine separate.)
2. Where you could get really powerful here is if you could load, edit and generate the two relevant DB tables (Sta Race and Sta Stage) from this tool so you could easily coordinate your stage with the data tables. Editing these tables can be tedious. Then you could manage your stages and the tables in one place. Those tables aren't that complex although I realize it would not be a simple upgrade.
Thanks a lot for your review!!! I really appreciate the effort.
As I mentioned in the original post, this was a tool that I used for myself because I have several hundred stages and I like to change dynamically the race's contents and have fun combining them.
Actually, it was done in Windows Forms and I translated it into WPF, took advantage of some features present in .NET Framework 4.7, translate it in english and made some debugging to publish it in case someone would find it useful.
As for your comments, let me tell you:
- Yes, I don't have 2015 version installed and it might not work for others. However, the program simply looks for those *.png/jpg files present in the selected directory and fills the Listbox in the middle to show what's available.
- Besides that, it looks for the CM_Stages directory in the default (2017) directory (although that woud be very easy to fix).
- It recognizes those CDX files that are located in any directory pending from the User Directory, but it checks that the corresponding CDS files already exist. That would be an easy fix as well.
- As for the other comments, I agree about it, but unfortunatelly, I don't know the structure of the CBS DB so it would be nice to have info about it or the source code any language I could translate from (Java, C++, C#, etc).
-- By the way, do you have any information about it? The most accurate could be to extract the profile graphic from the CDS in a similar way as the Editor does, even when you use it with the option "Open Stage Data".
If you have some info about it I would love to study it and work on it.
Yes, would be great if there was a version that allowed you to choose PCM 15 or another version as the default directory so you can use on other versions.
And yes, a change that allowed me to create a CDX for a new race and assign a CDS to it would be great. I like the check that the CDX refers to a real stage but if when adding a new CDX you were forced to add a valid CDS before you save the change it would still follow that rule.
Can't help you on extracting the stage profile from the CDS file although agree that would be good.
I don't know the structure of the CDB file but there are existing tools that translate all the tables into an XML format with one file for each table. So if you started with that you wouldn't have to handle the extraction you could just start with the XML files. I will PM you the PCM Daily Sta_Stage and Sta_Race XML.
But the Full Editor in the 2013 downloads or the Excel Editor available in 2016 would allow you to access the XML files. I have never used Lachi's editor but that may do as well.
