View source for SA Tools/Contributing to the tools

= Building SA Tools =
Prerequisites:
* Visual Studio 2022
* .NET 8.0 Desktop runtime

To produce a package, build the <code>SA Tools.sln</code> file in Visual Studio and run <code>buildSATools.exe</code> in the solution's root folder. The package is placed in the <code>output</code> folder by default. Run <code>buildSATools.exe</code> with the <code>-help</code> command line switch for additional build settings.

= Contributing to SA Tools =
There are many ways to contribute to the development of SA Tools, some of which don't require any programming knowledge.

== Updating Game Templates ==
Game [[Project Templates|templates]] used by the tools contain information on how to extract levels, models, animations and other data from the games. Work has been done to identify this data and extract it in a way that could resemble the original source assets. 

=== Metadata fields ===
To make it easier for the end users to find the assets they want, most data has meta sections that contains descriptions, texture files to use etc. This is used in the menu in SAMDL that appears when you load a project file. However, not all models have descriptions or texture files defined at the moment.

Any help on updating the metadata is appreciated. The metadata is stored as additional fields in INI files for each template in the <code>GameConfig</code> folder.

If you want to update existing labels, please focus on PC ports of SA1 and SA2 as these have the most complete split data, and the labels can be transferred to different versions without redoing them all over.

=== Split data ===
You can add more data to existing templates, or make new templates for other versions of SA1 and SA2 on different platforms, including prototypes, region exclusive trial versions etc.

If you know the location of a model, animation, texture list etc. that isn't included in a game template's split configuration, please add it to the template. If you are working with a console version of the game, make sure asset filenames match those of their PC counterparts.

== Documentation ==
Documentation for some tools is lacking or missing entirely. If you have learned how to use a certain tool or feature and want to make it more accessible for others, you can update this wiki to share your knowledge with others!

== Bug Reports ==
Any well-structured bug report for a reproducible issue is an important contribution to the development of SA Tools. While there is no guarantee that all issues will be resolved, a reported bug has a higher chance of being fixed than an unreported one.