nemyax on 16/9/2013 at 16:11
Quote Posted by R Soul
Any tool that simplifies the process is welcome
Thanks. I'll make a dedicated post when the tool is feature-complete.
R Soul on 1/7/2019 at 23:15
Bump!
I've been updating this for Blender 2.8 and it seems to be going well. I've tested it on an AI mesh and an object with multiple parts, with a mixture of texture and RGB materials.
Most material properties are handled with custom properties. I'd have preferred to have used Blender material properties but there's some awkward inconsistency between what's allowed in Thief and what available in Blender. The only decent match is the texture/RGB colour.
Using custom properties allows everything else to be kept in one place. The only drawbacks are that the user has to know the correct names and permitted ranges of values.
The other thing is texture conversion.
Importing: Blender doesn't support .gif or .pcx, but the inbuilt function for loading images has a semi-automatic way of handling unsupported formats. It can detect when an image is unsupported but the the programmer has to specify a function to run if such an image is found. The existing code for this addon already has a working function. I've also modified the image search code to look for .dds, then .png etc, the same as NewDark. It allows allows .jpg in case someone has that format in their bin to e workflow.
The original version of this addon had a checkbox options for converting images during import/export but I've removed them because there's no reason for them. Blender cannot load a dummy texture (but it can make a blank placeholder but there's nothing to be gained from that), and NewDark disregards texture extensions so it doesn't matter what ends up in the .bin file.
Next things:
* Axles are imported as two vertices only, with no line. It would look better with a line.
* It would be nice to integrate BSP in to this so we have a 1 click export. Blender can already called command line programs (this is how the Dark Exporter works, using N3ds2e and BSP)
- It should also be possible to use bintoe to do things the other way, but the process of getting the right textures will be more tricky. And I already have a program for doing all that: (
https://www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=141601) (I could do with modifying that to ignore the 3ds conversion)
R Soul on 5/7/2019 at 21:40
Some opinions required.
It's now at the state where calls BSP and generates a .bin file. That bit has been more or less copied from the Dark Exporter, and I'll be doing the same with the ability to copy the file and delete the temporary ones. I've also allowed for up to 5 game directories - the thinking being that the user may have several FMs in progress (or a main one, and other for testing things).
Here's a screenshot of the current export options:
(
http://catmanofiowa.com/RSoul/img/tooltip.jpg)
Is that a good balance between flexibility and complexity?
The other required opinion is on whether or not the name is good. So far I'm calling it the Blender NewDark Toolkit. It has a github page (
https://github.com/RSoul82/Blender-NewDark-Toolkit) here
Edit: The BSP feature is working. It also copies to your game dir with an option to delete the temp files. Textures are also copied, and there's an option to choose how to handle replacing files (do or do not) or not to copy anything. The latter option would be useful if you're only using original textures (or EP textures) which don't need to be in txt16.
(
https://github.com/RSoul82/Blender-NewDark-Toolkit)
(Clone or Download button - Download as zip)
gamophyte on 7/7/2019 at 01:49
I don't know enough yet to comment but I'm posting for 1, to bump it so people see new message again, and 2 to thank you for your work; it will come in handy when I'm ready to tackle this part.
PinkDot on 7/7/2019 at 10:05
Quote Posted by R Soul
I've also allowed for up to 5 game directories - the thinking being that the user may have several FMs in progress (or a main one, and other for testing things).
Here's a screenshot of the current export options:
(
http://catmanofiowa.com/RSoul/img/tooltip.jpg)
Is that a good balance between flexibility and complexity?
I think a combobox would be the best option, as it gives ability to add new paths and select them from a dropdown menu with variable number of items. Paths would be presumably stored in some kind of a user prefs file.
Setting an arbitrary number of paths only clutters the dialog and always poses a question - why not 6? or why not 8? Or maybe 3 is what 90% of people would need etc... There's never a right answer.
R Soul on 7/7/2019 at 16:42
Advice appreciated. I've now implemented a drop down:
(
http://catmanofiowa.com/RSoul/img/dropdown.jpg)
The config file text is like this:
"game_dirs": "C:\\Games\\Thief2\\FMs\\BGTest;c:\\something else;c:\\you get the idea",
(there are other items too, in the JSON format)
PinkDot on 7/7/2019 at 20:25
Looking good to me! :thumb:
R Soul on 27/7/2019 at 15:21
The addon's been ready for a while now, so I've made a readme to go with the rest of the files on github:
(
https://github.com/RSoul82/Blender-NewDark-Toolkit)
I'm also making a new version of (
https://www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=141601) DEOCI with a nicer name, which also has the option to convert .bin files to .e rather than .3ds (.3ds conversion still there). I initially planned to just modify DEOCI but it was easier to start again (the assumption that a .3ds file would always be the target led so some things being difficult to change).
R Soul on 1/8/2019 at 22:00
I've just uploaded an update: AI meshes are now supported. It uses MeshBld.
There was already a texture copy option (always, only if not present, and never). None of those options are suitable if the object has a mixture of new and stock textures, so I've added a new feature:
If a material has a custom property called 'NoCopy', its texture will never be copied, regardless of the general texture copy option.
Yandros on 2/8/2019 at 12:32
Thanks for your continued work on this, Robin! Maybe some day I will learn Blender so I can use it. :o