Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => Open Beta Test => Topic started by: Skuzzy on December 16, 2015, 10:43:03 AM
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I have attached a file of a working document, containing a start to the various file formats of the new terrain editor. Need help in getting it complete.
It is in an older Microsoft Word format. http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/skuzzy/TerrainEditing.doc
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Word 97-2003. THANK YOU.
I'll be posting my first run later today. It will include some elaboration, terrain building for the beginner but not any of the Atlas features.
Well, poo. I tried to post a zipped sample and it failed.
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Word 97-2003. THANK YOU.
I'll be posting my first run later today. It will include some elaboration, terrain building for the beginner but not any of the Atlas features.
Well, poo. I tried to post a zipped sample and it failed.
I have increased the attachment size, temporarily. Should be able to now.
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Thanks, I was at 12MB before but this is going to grow fast even without embedded jpgs.
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Okay Easy, it is fixed now.
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Thanks Skuzzy,
I suspect the collaboration here might get a bit complicated. I'll be labeling all my versions TE Easy###.doc I'm embedding an index for quick and easy lookup.
In the first pass I'll lay out the basics that any new MA builder must absorb. Then I'll move to elaborate on options and quality issues i.e. setting a town to match the terrain elevations.
Other contributions and comments are appreciated.
Oh, and I'll see if I can reduce the file size. I don't know why it started out so large but I'll try to rebuild it.
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:x :x :x :x :x :x :x Thank you Thank you Thank you!!!!!! I have been patiently :bhead waiting for something like this.
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The completed Quick Start Guide is ready for review. There will likely be additions and corrections, possibly built-in links to the expanded descriptions but this should give anyone a good grounding in the TE, which is all it's supposed to do.
bustr, at about 16 hours, err, more like 13 or 14 of steady work so far, you can see why I insisted on a phone call or other methods of communication, and this Quick Start only scratches the surface.
TE Easy003.doc
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hehe, I've already found a minor error. :o
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Great job on the documentation but I can see one problem. On the "Make a CBM for the TE" section there is no mention of reducing the map's colours to 256 with a graphics editing program. I just tried placing an unmodified TE-generated map into texsrc and the TE did not recognise it.
It might be an idea to add that there should not be two square field objects placed in a single red square and that no two square field objects should be placed so they touch each other.
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Great job on the documentation but I can see one problem. On the "Make a CBM for the TE" section there is no mention of reducing the map's colours to 256 with a graphics editing program. I just tried placing an unmodified TE-generated map into texsrc and the TE did not recognise it.
It might be an idea to add that there should not be two square field objects placed in a single red square and that no two square field objects should be placed so they touch each other.
I thought you'd eventually try again. I've stopped using indexed color bitmaps on all my terrains. The TE creates a 32 bit deep bitmap including the alpha channel. The only thing you will notice when you follow my instructions is that the TE will take a few seconds longer to load your terrain.
See the attached jpg and duplicate the dialog box on your FE, then enjoy. I expect you to tell us if you can bump map the CBM. :D
Edit: btw, until the sector grid and numbers are optionally dynamically built by the game, be advised that a 2048 CBM will look wonderful until you see it on a system with the maximum texture size set to 512. Then the sector lines and all text become garbled. I like to include City names and as they are embedded in the CBM, they suffer the same corruption. I'll include a note about the limitation in the next version.
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Next, I'll be working on the Terrain Texture Tab and eventually a short description of the oba format. The Texture bumpmap etc channels are all yours Greebo. :)
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Sorry but I am still not seeing 32-bit CBMs in the TE and the dialog box has the same settings I am using. All that I see in the map window is a light blue background. I left it for over a minute to load and also tried saving the terrain and then reloading it, but still no CBM. As soon as I replaced the 32 bit map with the old 256 colour map it worked fine again.
I'll have a look at writing an effects channels explanation once your next documentation version is ready.
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Sorry but I am still not seeing 32-bit CBMs in the TE and the dialog box has the same settings I am using. All that I see in the map window is a light blue background. I left it for over a minute to load and also tried saving the terrain and then reloading it, but still no CBM. As soon as I replaced the 32 bit map with the old 256 colour map it worked fine again.
I'll have a look at writing an effects channels explanation once your next documentation version is ready.
Greebo is that a 32 bit image from the TE, or did you make it from an outside editor?
HiTech
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It is the untouched map direct from the TE. All that I have done to it is to rename the file.
The other slightly odd thing I have noticed about the map bmp the TE generates is that Bright will not load it. I have to load it into Paint Shop Pro and save it there first and then Bright will load it.
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Greebo, I suspect Hitech aleady knows what it is but rename this one at (1024) and see if it shows in your TE.
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Your map loaded into the TE fine Easyscor. I have another issue with the map in patch 88 but I'll transfer this to the TE thread rather than derail this one.
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Hitech has advised to keep the CBM at indexed color when you upload it to server as there isn't much if any benefit to 32 bit color and it increases the res file size. We shouldn't have a problem with that and I'll include a note about it as you suggested earlier.
I'm glad the file worked for you, and I'm seeing the same make map issue that you and Hitech are discussing.
I'll have a look at writing an effects channels explanation once your next documentation version is ready.
That's terrific! I look forward to reading it myself.
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I've been requested to work on the OE parts of the manual, which I've been very much looking forward to playing with, so this may be my last contribution to the TE part of the manual for awhile.
All contributors are welcome. Maybe the CM team would like to carry on starting with the Terrain Type Tab, or L3DT?
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I have attached an updated TE documentation file with my changes printed in red for clarity. It contains an explanation of the specular and normal maps as well as a few other changes. Feel free to alter anything you don't like.
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I have attached an updated TE documentation file with my changes printed in red for clarity. It contains an explanation of the specular and normal maps as well as a few other changes. Feel free to alter anything you don't like.
Thanks Greebo,
I haven't read it yet, but I don't intend to edit any of it, not unless htc requests changes and for sure not before all the contributions are in. I think such meddling on my part would irritate contributors. Besides, if you decide to edit yours, IMO it needs to be the way you left it. The most I'll do is create an index to/into your writeup. If someone finds an error in another authors work, they should post in here if possible and let the original author make the corrections.
Also, the editors are a moving target as features continue to be added, and an author may know something the rest of us don't.
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This is intended to encourage experimenting with the terrain texture system.
Mix and match terrain (texture) tiles.
There are three essential files at the top of Waffle's Terrain thread.
terrset00.zip - the brightly colored sample textures
htcterrsets.zip - the default set for ETO and PTO (it also includes the terrset00.zip so you get both)
terredit.pdf - describes the game's system
If you create a terrain for testing textures, say a terrain named "tiletst" and put the example terrset00 folder inside the tiletst folder, tiletst\terrset00, then when you open the TE you will see some very brightly patterned terrain textures.
Suppose you want to take some of the ETO tile textures, and some of the PTO tile textures, and for some reason, keep some of the bright sample tile textures and quickly pick from any of them.
You can* throw the whole catalog of bitmap textures into your terrset00\texsrc folder. Copy all the ETO and PTO textures and paste them into the folder with the sample "type##,bmp bitmaps. (Remember, this is a learning exercise, you'd never leave the unused bitmaps.)
*It's critical to coordinate the color pallets whenever you make any bitmaps for a terrain.
Then, find the atlas0.txt file for the 508 bitmaps and the atlas1.txt file for the 1016 bitmaps.
Open the appropriate atlas text file and replace the names of the existing texture types with the ones you want to see i.e. replace type0.bmp with dunes.bmp, both are 508 textures.
When you open the TE, the dunes texture will replace the bright red patterned sample texture. You could have put the dunes texture at any of the slots by replacing the original type name.
So far so good. The in-game terrain will have the texture along with the ground clutter. It won't have any trees or building until you add those in the Object Editor, and you may want to create multiple sets but more on that later.
Ex. File: atlas0.txt in this example will read as follows:
atlas
512,ImageSize
4,ChannelCnt
4,rows
4,cols
texsrc/dunes.bmp < here's where I replaced type0 with dunes
texsrc/type1.bmp
texsrc/type2.bmp
texsrc/type3.bmp
texsrc/type4.bmp
texsrc/type5.bmp
texsrc/type6.bmp
texsrc/type7.bmp
texsrc/type8.bmp
texsrc/type9.bmp
texsrc/type10.bmp
texsrc/type11.bmp
texsrc/type12.bmp
texsrc/type13.bmp
texsrc/type14.bmp
texsrc/type15.bmp
You can see that you can quickly swap out any textures you like, even a single one.
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btw, don't move the Terrain Tile Textures around if you start editing them in the OE. The Texture and the tile's objects will become unlinked. This will cause both the TE and the OE to crash requiring you to delete all the swa and swb files. There may be another way to fix it but you're on your own to figure that out.
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I've started to document the Detail and Clutter systems. The section isn't finished, but I thought I'd post the progress for any that might wish to review it.
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aren't you done yet?? :rofl
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aren't you done yet?? :rofl
Way to kick a guy when he's down with a chest cold, going on two weeks now. Ouch!
This latest version, 07, continues the efforts to bring custom textures back into the Alpha terrains with the draft instructions for adding trees, bushes and buildings to a terr set. SEE The Object Editor.
Next up, the fun stuff.
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Easycor,
Take care, I had that same bug. It wiped me out for a solid week. Then it clung on for another 2 weeks, and really, really hurt when I coughed, and I had to cough a lot. I suggest to see a doctor and get them to check you over thoroughly.
I believe that thing was the closest to pneumonia that I have ever had. :old:
And although we both know Jaeger is bustin your nads, :) still very appreciative that you have taken on the task and doing it up properly. :salute
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Thanks Chilli, on both counts. You know it's bad when you fall asleep coughing and wake up the same way.
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There's always a risk that Hitech will read the latest installment and make changes.
I had to delay the fun stuff writeup, and dropped back to include the discussion on using the Merge tool to achieve blending between Terrain Type Tiles.
In the index, click on Hand painting the Terrain Types and the following section, The "Keep Current Merge Type" tool.
This version is TE Easy008.doc at 12,970KB and of course includes Greebo's excellent terrain texture writeup from last month.
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Question for you experienced terrain builders.
Would any of you be able to upload a video to YouTube for AH3. That would really lower the learning curve.
Thank you.
:salute :salute
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Question for you experienced terrain builders.
Would any of you be able to upload a video to YouTube for AH3. That would really lower the learning curve.
Thank you.
:salute :salute
Excellent idea! :aok
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Waffle suggested using the L3DT program. If you go to Bundysoft.com there are Youtube links that show how to use
their Terrain Editor. You can start off with the free version and if you like the program you can buy the Professional version
for $40 U.S. Like anything it takes awhile to learn the terminology. :aok
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Since the last update patch .02 the beta has crashed every time I have loaded it. No problems until patch .02. Any body else have this issue?
Fred
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Er, Yaks, we're on patch 4, and this is the Terrain Editor documentation thread.
If the game isn't auto updating when going online, look for the Beta 4 thread and you can download and reinstall after backing up your settings etc.
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I've been documenting the Terrain (type) tab recently. I'm hoping for some changes to be in the works for these tools but this has been sitting on my hard drive for a while so I updated the doc. If you're trying to set terrain types quickly, these tools are very useful.
As always, save your work often. Undo will not work with the global Terrain Type Filter tools.
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The .oba file format.
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TE Menus
Edit Window
Subtitled (only) the Objects Tab
-Man Guns
-Static Objects
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Easycor,
You might want to caveat the description on object pitch settings. I found about 1\3 were perfect relative to the current level elevation. Usually the latest generation of 3D object builds +- .1-.2. Older generation objects required futsing with them to get all three points on the ground. Then after doing all of that, running the "build", some were off the ground or in the ground again. The F4u family was naughty like that. And the Ju88 just didn't want to put it's tail wheel on the deck. The 47N needed personal care versus the other 47 models which all used the same settings. The spits and 109s played nice as groups.
If the tail wheel\skid was in the ground, often you had to split the difference on bringing it up versus bringing it just enough up, then lifting the whole plane by .1 or .2. The main gear to tail wheel relationship would get translated by the "build" back to the tail wheel in the ground. The Storch was very bad about that relationship. Also, this would all change depending where on an airfield I moved the object to.
Once the oba file is manually updated and the editor is opened. Run build to lock the pitch into the oba file, then start making adjustments. If you decide to move the object after you massage it's pitch, you will loose that pitch setting at the new move location. So first get all of the objects where you want them as your final location, then massage the main gear to nose\tail gear relationship and run the "build" to lock it in. After I made that runway line up photo op, I thought I could just slide all the planes onto the end of the macadam for the next photo op. When I moved them, the pitch zeroed out in the oba file. Fortunately I kept a backup from doing the runway lineup but, that is how I learned not all locations on a flat plain are equal when it comes to setting pitch for an object.
The pitch list is a "rule of thumb getting started list" which Hitech was kind enough to save my bacon with.
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This hasn't been a priority but I've kept adding random small details. I don't think I've made any major changes since version 11. I'd hoped to include more details about texturing for the TE/OE but it's still under review until I can finish it this fall.
If there are any other contributors out there that wish to add anything, or can do a better job of writing a section, I can include your submittal in the next revision. Thanks.