Shadowspawn on 7/3/2005 at 23:51
I've managed to write a parser for the .TIM files, on my way to finding a way to export them to another format.
It's complicated, but it doesn't look nearly as bad as the original Thief object formats. Each section is very well marked, and describes each internal data structure pretty well. I still don't know what's in each section, but they describe themselves well enough to take them apart.
It looks like the real important stuff is in the sections marked with the tags "TRMS", "DEMS" (Dimensions?), "PHMS" (Physics model?), and "0CRA" (that one is very complicated, but lots of stuff in there). The rest look like titles (object name, author) and materials / texture information, with some tags which don't seem to get used much, or have much data.
I've only run through about 20 files, from small to large, and so far I can parse them all. Need to do more extensive testing.
Now all I need to do is figure out what the stuff is and re-construct it into another 3D format.
Eventually, if I understand all the components in the .TIM file, I may be able to write a converter from something like 3DS to .TIM. This would allow all us folks who don't yet have 3DS Max 5.1 to make static meshes. Provided I can figure out the matlib part of this also.
I'll keep plugging away. Compared to the motion database in T2, this is easy! :cheeky:
darkcosmos on 8/3/2005 at 00:33
Godspeed, Mr. Spawn... Godspeed.
EndlessDespair on 8/3/2005 at 00:37
Bonus points if you can guess why they are called .TIM files.
darkcosmos on 8/3/2005 at 00:48
In honor of Tim Stellmach?
:confused:
Shadowspawn on 8/3/2005 at 00:58
Was he the deranged genius who designed the binary formats for Thief? If so, I'd better watch out as I try this. There were a number of gotcha's in the old ones.
But I must admit, these don't SEEM as evil internally. That may just be my ignorance speaking.
nomad of the pacific on 8/3/2005 at 01:51
Shadowspawn, if you can come up with a converter, I'll buy you a case of beer! :thumb:
(If you can't get here to pick it up, I'll drink it for you, too! :joke: )
Rosd on 8/3/2005 at 03:38
So are these TIM files for game objects and items?
Krypt on 8/3/2005 at 04:01
The programmer who made the TIM file format was named Tim Perry. Guess where the name came from :)
Unfortunately no one consulted the designers for a name when the GMP format for the maps was created. If it were up to us they would be HOG files. Instead of hogs, we ended up with gimps :(
Shadowspawn on 8/3/2005 at 04:12
Rosd,
Yes, objects and static meshes (archways, doors, stairs, etc). Not the AI, however, they've got a different format (I'll eventually get to that).
Krypt,
If Tim is still hanging around somewhere, I'd be more than willing to accept any wisdom he could throw my way in deciphering these files. (Or code fragments, data structures, format docs, even a clue as to what the tags mean! ) :confused:
After pouring over the output files, I'm still lost. (Yes, it's late and my brain hurts). I can't locate what I would normally expect to find for UV mapping coordinates, even vertices are hard to find. I'll keep at it, eventually I'll figure it out. (I hope!) :tsktsk:
Shadowspawn on 13/3/2005 at 00:18
I've gotten the first hack at converting .TIM files into something else. I'm currently just converting them to the old .E format, and then converting them into 3DS.
It's not pretty, most of the normals are wrong, and I'm not quite handling all the materials properly, but the shapes are correct, and the UV mapping looks reasonable. So it's getting there. Depending on what is and isn't important, I think I can eventually create a something to .TIM converter. Although the designer will probably have to create a collision hull by hand, but I should be able to extract what they currently look like.
Anyway, back to work. I'll post some screenies when I get the first real conversion working. But this is going about 100 times faster than the Thief 1/2 BintoE program.
