Mod support/TDS Behavior . . .

ascottk on 29/12/2005 at 18:07

I have a feeling we're missing/overlooking something. Distributing maps/mods should be a lot easier. Aside from hex editing like John P & New Horizon I have a feeling there's an easier way of distributing custom content. So here's a list of ideas that could take us into different/easier direction (hopefully).

* Objects/scripts/gamesys can be dynamically loaded through t3ed but not so easily through a default t3 install.
* T3Ed can use objects (smeshes) in a zip file. I'm not sure the same can be said about a default t3 install.

I've been experimenting with these ideas but I didn't get very far. I switched meshes in the gamesys for the OMs but a default t3 install will not load them. My specular textures will not load even with John P's & New Horizon's hex-altered content.

Later on I did manage to load the custom meshes but I did not know what I did for that to happen :p I overwrote that t3 install & I tried to replicate it with no luck.

I had an altered matlib for the Sunken Citadel & I got the default brown texture when I DID NOT put the matlib in the directory (t3 install with John P's pack & Minimalist). I still don't know what happened.

I just wish t3 could load mods like Doom 3 or Unreal Tournament :tsktsk: I wonder there's some extra flags we could use for t3main.exe?

New Horizon on 29/12/2005 at 18:27

I feel your pain. T3 just wasn't very well thought out in the modding department. The setup of the original games was so simple and elegant...I don't know why it couldn't have worked for T3...surely there must have been better ways to improve load times.

ascottk on 29/12/2005 at 18:41

Hmm, I wonder if the ObjectFilter command line does anything . . .

Code:

main: Starting with cmdline 'T3MAIN.exe \\.\DISPLAY1 "dummy" Stonemarket1.gmp?-LoadSave?-ObjectFilter=1 '

New Horizon on 29/12/2005 at 19:12

What we could probably use is someone who could *cough* reverse engineer this to some degree and find a way to patch the game to allow the things we need.

Someone bragged how they had the source code for T3Ed and were going to rewrite the editor while having a biscuit and a cup of tea. Nice to see how that has come along so nicely. ;)

(http://ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=96028&highlight=viletoad)

GlasWolf on 29/12/2005 at 20:53

See, if you lot hadn't been so unpleasant he'd probably be finished by now! ;)

ascottk on 29/12/2005 at 23:53

I've been looking through T3Main with a hex editor & there's a comment about cRopeArrowManager:

Quote:

CreateVolumeForRope RopeArrowManager: Tried to make a volume for a rope, but the rope did not have exactly one RopeArrowSpawn link on it.

Also there's comments about dxt compression. It looks like dxt5 is supported but for some reason t3 won't load them.

I'll post more interesting stuff as I find them . . .

EDIT: The new dds plugin (1.0.1) for the gimp was released today & I'm happy to say dxt5 compression has been fixed :D T3 does load them & it's 3ds max friendly :thumb:

New Horizon on 2/1/2006 at 04:10

Quote Posted by ascottk

EDIT: The new dds plugin (1.0.1) for the gimp was released today & I'm happy to say dxt5 compression has been fixed :D T3 does load them & it's 3ds max friendly :thumb:

:) That's excellent news!

Krypt on 2/1/2006 at 06:42

The reason it's so hard to do anything with the editor is because it was never actually intended to be released to the public. No thought was ever given toward modability. The primary concern in developing the tools was to get our games working so we could ship them. It's unfortunate, but that's the truth of it.

The weird blockfile distribution format was designed to condense all the content for a given map in a way that allows the engine to load it more quickly. The way it's set up is probably the worst way of doing it for mods, since it makes people download a bunch of content that people probably already have. Another unfortunate thing, but it's either that or have longer load times or force the end user to build the blockfiles themselves.

242 on 2/1/2006 at 11:14

Quote:

force the end user to build the blockfiles themselves.

Well, it's definitely better for me than download lots of excessive stuff.

OrbWeaver on 2/1/2006 at 11:54

I don't understand why loading from individual resource files takes so long, when Doom 3 loads all its resources this way with no problem at all.