NML NewGRF meta language

NML is a a python-based compiler, capable of compiling NML files (along with their associated language, sound and graphic files) into grf and / or nfo files.

The documentation about the language can be found on http://newgrf-specs.tt-wiki.net/wiki/NML:Main

NML is licensed under the GNU General Public License version 2, or at your option, any later version. For more information, see LICENSE (GPL version 2), or later versions at http://www.gnu.org/licenses/.

Last updated: 2019-04-02 Release version: 0.4.5

Table of Contents

1. Contact
2. Dependencies
   • 2.1 Required dependencies
   • 2.2 Optional dependencies
3. Installation
4. Usage
5. Known issues
6. Credits

1) Contact

• issue tracker / source repository
• IRC chat using #openttd on irc.oftc.net more info about our irc channel

2) Dependencies

2.1) Required dependencies

NML requires the following 3rd party packages to run:

• python Minimal version is 3.5. Python 2 is not supported.
• python image library For install options see https://pillow.readthedocs.io/en/stable/installation.html Minimal version is 5.2. Older versions are not supported.
• ply Downloadable from http://www.dabeaz.com/ply/

2.2) Optional dependencies

To install NML you'll need these 3rd party packages:

• gcc (or possibly another c++ compiler). Needed to compile the cython version of the lz77 module for grf encoding.

3) Installation

The easiest way to install NML is by using pip:

pip3 install nml

In order to install NML from a source checkout run:

python setup.py install

If you want to install the package manually copy 'nmlc' to any directory in your path and the directory 'nml' to any directory in your python path.

4) Usage

Usage: nmlc [options] <filename>.

Where <filename> is the nml file to parse.

Options:

    --version             show program's version number and exit
    -h, --help            show this help message and exit
    -d, --debug           write the AST to stdout
    -s, --stack           Dump stack when an error occurs
    --grf=<file>          write the resulting grf to <file>
    --md5=<file>          Write an md5sum of the resulting grf to <file>
    --nfo=<file>          write nfo output to <file>
    -M                    output a rule suitable for make describing the
                          graphics dependencies of the main grf file (requires
                          input file or --grf)
    --MF=<file>           When used with -M, specifies a file to write the
                          dependencies to
    --MT=<file>           target of the rule emitted by dependency generation
                          (requires -M)
    -c                    crop extraneous transparent blue from real sprites
    -u                    save uncompressed data in the grf file
    --nml=<file>          write optimized nml to <file>
    -o <file>, --output=<file>
                          write output(nfo/grf) to <file>
    -t <file>, --custom-tags=<file>
                          Load custom tags from <file> [default:
                          custom_tags.txt]
    -l <dir>, --lang-dir=<dir>
                          Load language files from directory <dir> [default:
                          lang]
    --default-lang=<file>
                          The default language is stored in <file> [default:
                          english.lng]
    --start-sprite=<num>  Set the first sprite number to write (do not use
                          except when you output nfo that you want to include in
                          other files)
    -p <palette>, --palette=<palette>
                          Force nml to use the palette <pal> [default: ANY].
                          Valid values are 'DOS', 'WIN', 'ANY'
    --quiet               Disable all warnings. Errors will be printed normally.
    -n, --no-cache        Disable caching of sprites in .cache[index] files,
                          which may reduce compilation time.
    --cache-dir=<dir>     Cache files are stored in directory <dir> [default:
                          .nmlcache]
    --clear-orphaned      Remove unused/orphaned items from cache files.
    --verbosity=<level>   Set the verbosity level for informational output.
                          [default: 3, max: 4]

5) Known issues

See the issue tracker.

6) Credits

Active developers (in alphabetical order):

• Christoph Elsenhans (frosch)
• Ingo von Borstel (planetmaker)

Inactive developers:

• Albert Hofkamp (Alberth)
• Jasper Reichardt (Hirundo)
• Remko Bijker (Rubidium)
• José Soler (Terkhen)
• Thijs Marinussen (Yexo)