Classic Traveller MSEC files

[sleech]

Mornin' All

Can anyone point me to msec data files for the absolutely brilliant sec2pdf perl script?

I'm looking specifically for pre-FFW, pre-Rebellion, good ol' Classic Trav data.

Surely I don't have to make my own.

 

[jrients]

I'm not a data monkey, so I'm out of my league here, but are these in the correct format?

http://www.geocities.com/traveller_core_route/proj001a/proj001a.html

 

[Flynn]

Sadly, Chris, yes, you have to make your own. You can always start with the Allygen output, as that will create one automatically for you. There's not enough people using it in the two years it's been out to have many MSEC files available for public consumption.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news,
Flynn

 

[inexorabletash]

On the bright side, I'm working my way through the various sectors generating my own XML variation of MSEC for sector borders, routes, subsectors, and so on. A transform from XML --> MSEC is trivial (since I was heavily inspired).

You can grab a snapshot of the XML at any time at: http://www.travellermap.com/res/sectors.xml

I'm currently working my way around Charted Space generating and regenerating borders, as my datasets and algorithms improve.

(I'd offer to write a "generate msec for an sector" ASPX page 'cause it's trivial, but I'm not going to have any free time for programming in the next couple of weeks. Pester me when I'm done - it's only about half an hour of work.)

 

[Flynn]

Joshua,

If you can generate those files for me, I'll host a collection of them on an MSEC-dedicated page, as well as a mirror of the "Gateway To PDF" website, to make it easier for folks to find and use these resources.

With Thanks,
Flynn

 

[sleech]

Thanks, guys!

I guess I'll get to work.

 

[Mickazoid]

I've had very good luck using the illustrious BeRKA's sector files, and using the contents of the 'DAT' file (routes and subsector names) make an MSEC. Then combine the subsectors into a single .sec file. You're then good to go.

 

[inexorabletash]

Okay, I did it. Details here:

http://travellermap.blogspot.com/2006/08/solomani-borders.html

Example:

http://www.travellermap.com/MSEC.aspx?sector=Solomani%20Rim

Flynn: Rather than mirroring the .msec files (especially as they're in flux as I improve the MSEC generation and add more metadata such as refined borders, labels, etc) you could do an index page which links with queries like the above to generate the data on the fly.

 

[Mickazoid]

Joshua -

Good stuff! Is there a similar 'sec' file output capability?

 

[Mickazoid]

Also - it appears the MSEC.aspx function only returns the names of subsectors A-O. Whither P?

 

[inexorabletash]

Did I forget 'P' - oh dangit, frell, silly off-by-one errors. Fixed!

I don't return .sec files since I'm not trying to have the site act as a clearing house for data. In many cases I've asked permission to use the data, but not share the data.

(I can host files for authors who need their .SEC files on the web somewhere, though!)