Features

Sanny Builder provides the end-user the following features:

Integration with Sanny Builder Library

Sanny Builder Library is a community-driven portal aiming to document all known scripting commands used in GTA III, Vice City and San Andreas. You can find it here: https://library.sannybuilder.com/

Starting with v3.8.0 Sanny Builder uses library's files to provide brief descriptions to all opcodes directly in the IDE complimentary to the Show opcode info feature. Those files are controlled with the new <library> parameter in the edit mode configuration.

Double-clicking the opcode description in the status bar opens the library's page with this opcode's full description in the browser.

If the current edit mode uses the library documentation there is a text in the status bar telling the version of the documentation, e.g. SBL v0.119. The version may vary from mode to mode.

Clicking the library version text in the status bar brings up a popup menu from which you can check if there are newer versions and download them. If you enable Automatic updates option Sanny Builder will check the updates and download them on startup.

Color Themes

Sanny Builder's look and feel can be customized with themes. They define colors and style of the interface and code elements for easier reading. The active color theme can be changed in the options.

If you launch Sanny Builder v3.8.0 with settings.ini from a prior version, your syntax highlighting configuration will be converted to a custom user theme (stored inthemes\custom.ini).

Also Sanny Builder has a built-in theme editor for quick customization of the existing themes.

Bookmarks / Quick jump

You can bookmark a line by pressing Ctrl+Shift+0..9 and then get back to it by pressing Ctrl+0..9. To delete all bookmarks, use the menu option Edit->Clear All Bookmarks.

Alternatively you can go to a particular line using the Go To Line feature. Press Ctrl+G, enter the line number and the editor will move the cursor to it.

Navigate to Symbol

The IDE allows to quickly navigate to some points of interest in the code without using the Find dialog box.

To go to the line marked with a label (e.g, :MyLabel), put the cursor on the label reference (@MyLabel) and press Alt+Right. If the label exists, the cursor position will change.

Similarly, to navigate to the start of a function or mission, use Alt+Right on the function or mission name.

To return back to the previous position, press Alt+Left. Keep pressing if you had more than one navigation.

These shortcuts can be redefined in the options.

Displaying Information about Opcode

When the option Show opcode info is enabled the bottom bar displays:

• a number of parameters for the current opcode;

• a model ID when the cursor is on the model name and IDE files for the current edit mode have been loaded;
• a constant value when the cursor is on the constant name and the language service is enabled.
• a brief description what this command does (from Sanny Builder Library)

Opcode Search

Use the built-in Opcode Search tool to find an opcode you need.

Player Coordinates Management

Press Ctrl+Alt+1 when GTA San Andreas is running and the Coords Manager window will appear. You can read the player's coordinates from the game memory and modify them there.

In the top edit line you can enter the XYZ coordinates, delimited by the space character or the comma character ,. Additionally, you can insert the player's coordinates in the script source by pressing Ctrl+Shift+C. To insert the player's z-angle, press Ctrl+Shift+E.

Keypress Recording (Macro)

You can record a key pressing sequence (macro) and playback it later. Consider the following code:

$Actor = Actor.Create(CivMale, #MALE01, 100.0, 100.0, 10.0)
$ActorWithGun = Actor.Create(CivMale, #MALE01, 110.0, 100.0, 20.0)
$Gang01 = Actor.Create(CivMale, #MALE01, 120.0, 100.0, 30.0)
$Gang02 = Actor.Create(CivMale, #MALE01, 130.0, 100.0, 40.0)
$Killer = Actor.Create(CivMale, #MALE01, 140.0, 100.0, 50.0)
$ActorWithoutGun = Actor.Create(CivMale, #MALE01, 150.0, 100.0, 60.0) 

Say, you need to exchange the actor's handles in each pair (i.e have $ActorWithGun instead of $Actor, and vice versa).

Place the cursor in the first line before $Actor and press Ctrl+M. The editor immediately begins recording all keys - so be careful!

1. Press and hold Ctrl and press the Right Arrow button once

2. Press Shift+Home and Ctrl+Ins.

3. Press the Down Arrow button. The cursor must be on the second line with the global variable in the clipboard

4. Press Ctrl+Right Arrow and Shift+Ins.

5. Press Ctrl+Left Arrow, Shift+Home, Ctrl+Ins and Delete

6. Press the Up Arrow button

7. Press Ctrl+Shift+Right Arrow and Shift+Ins

8. Press the Home button.

Now the first two lines should look like these:

$ActorWithGun = Actor.Create(CivMale, 100.0, 100.0, 10.0)
$Actor = Actor.Create(CivMale, 110.0, 100.0, 20.0)

with the cursor being in the beginning of the first line. Now press Ctrl+M to stop recording.

You can playback the recorded sequence by pressing Ctrl+P. Place the cursor in the beginning of the third line, press Ctrl+P and the actor handles will be swapped.

During recording, you can pause/unpause it by pressing Ctrl+P.

Code Formatting

Available since version 4.1

Sanny Builder has a built-in code formatter to properly indent high-level constructs. Default hotkey combo is Ctrl+Alt+3 and can be redefined in Options. Alternatively, you can press icon on the toolbar to quickly format the open file.

Replacing Mission Numbers with their Names

Sanny Builder allows using a mission name in the opcode start_mission. The mission name is the label defined with a DEFINE MISSION command. Say, you have:

DEFINE MISSION 10 AT @MYMISSION

Instead of start_mission 10 you can writestart_mission MYMISSION.

There is also the Replace Mission Numbers option. When it's enabled, the decompiler automatically replaces all mission numbers with their names.

To call the mission names list, press Ctrl+Space. The cursor has to be directly after the start_mission command.

Additionally, you can use navigate to the mission code when the cursor is under the mission name.

Custom Mission Titles

Since v3.2.0 Sanny supports custom mission titles for each available edit mode. They are stored in the missions.txt file. This file is used by the disassembler to add the title as a comment on line with mission define (DEFINE MISSION) or start (mission_start) command.

If a SCM file contains custom-made missions you may edit the missions.txt to have the correct titles after disassembling.

Multilingual Interface

Sanny Builder has fully multilingual interface translated into 15 languages. You can switch the languages in the options (F10). Refer to sannybuilder/translations for more information on how to create or update a translation.

External Tools Menu

User Tools interface

You can configure up to 9 apps to run when you need them. Each app has its own hotkey for your convenience. You may also pass the parameters to your app if needed. To pass the name of the currently opened file use the special word $SB_FileName.

Since v3.7.0 it's also possible to pass the variables @sb: and @game: that represent Sanny Builder directory and current game directory respectively into the command-line parameters of the external app:

Parameters:
--cwd=@sb: --game-dir=@game:

Automatic updates

Sanny Builder is able to check if a new version is available. To use this feature, go to menu Help->Check for update.... If a newer version is available, the editor will prompt the download and installation.

Updates are available under different channels. The Stable channel provides full releases of Sanny Builder. The Beta channels provides intermediate beta releases that might be unstable but give you early access to new features.

With "Automatically install updates" checkbox checked, installation begins as soon as the new version is found.