IWTE - World editing - (General Discussion)

[evenmov]

@evenmov - Thanks for identifying that issue. I need to finish the tidy up of the deployment bits - or revert back. I'll see if I get time this weekend to look at - its tolerance issue and carrying through the selections to lower levels rather than re-selecting again.

Thank you guys for making this wonderful tools to make M2TW Mods better
Wait for your good news

[Red_Devil]

Hi, i've got an issue there. In the mod i'm working on, the culture name has been changed : north_european has been replaced by cul_1 for example.

When I try to load a custom battle with one settlement, the game crashes on the custom battle menu when selecting the settlement type (not the culture). Do I have to change some stuff in the binaries or can it only be done in the game scripting? The settlement works fine on vanilla btw.

[makanyane]

Hi, i've got an issue there. In the mod i'm working on, the culture name has been changed : north_european has been replaced by cul_1 for example.

When I try to load a custom battle with one settlement, the game crashes on the custom battle menu when selecting the settlement type (not the culture). Do I have to change some stuff in the binaries or can it only be done in the game scripting? The settlement works fine on vanilla btw.

when you go to the custom battle select settlement level bit - it'll try and populate the options in the culture drop down box field, if the first culture (from first faction in sm_factions) has problem with it's settlements then it'll CTD.

For safety you should make .worldpkgdesc's for any possible settlement levels (as described in descr_cultures) for your new culture. Also make sure you don't use any existing culture that uses hardcoded default (eastern_european or greek) instead of its own pkg's for the culture of the first faction in sm_factions... (just change the faction order if that is what you've ended up with)

[wilddog]

version IWTE_12_11_B released.

with version 12_11_B
1) Fix to deployment block setting routines

@evenmov - I think that's addressed most/all the problems around the revised deployment block process.

[MathiasOfAthens]

Love to see some pictures of what you guys have made.

[xHolyCrusader]

Hey Iwte tool - using modders ,

I always had and will have an eye on this thread, some really interesting things are posted here and sometimes I get some information for upcoming mods here...

And it would be great if makanyane or wilddog could post some pictures or any news of their pkh-mod. Just any progress you've made

[makanyane]

And it would be great if makanyane or wilddog could post some pictures or any news of their pkh-mod. Just any progress you've made

erm, progress on PKH has been kind of delayed by wilddog working on this, and me being slightly hijacked by other people needing assistance on settlements... (before anyone PM's me - "no" - further assistance is not available), we're hoping to get back to PKH in ernest soon

[Eothese]

#wilddog

A belated thank you for the newer, faster versions and all the work that has gone into getting here.

I have finally gotten around to using v12_11_B (last used v6_4_1). It's is so much quicker on deployment block processing I can hardly believe it. I can try different approaches to deployment block edges and get a test in game in less than 5 minutes. 10 minutes to add a new 5 structure complex with new collisions and 3 large deployment blocks plus doors and paths! Fantastically amazing progress, IWTE rocks!

[Fridericus Secundus]

Hey all,
Eothese mentioned in another thread on my question, that IWTE features the possibility of changing the battlemap's models and skins (mainly trees and rocks). Further, he said that no mod seems to be in development yet with the target of reworking the terrain, which in my opinion remains a great demand. MEII landscapes are just too rough for most of the magnificent units that modders have made til now. As I have to do other modding stuff, too, I wo'nt be able to do a complete overhaul, but I'd really like to work on some trees to improve forest battles. Modelling should not be the problem, nor skinning, but I don't really understand the structure of the /vegetation folder. Tree models seem to be referred to in a totally other way than units do: the vegetation.db is some piece of miracle to me. So, could anyone be so kind and tell me just very shortly:
1) What has to be replaced in the vegetation database?
2) Might it be sufficient to model some new trees, skin them and replace the original vege_model files without having to change the database?

Many thanks in advance!

EDIT: forgot 2 things. First, Alpacas texture-dds converter doesn't process the texture files from the vegetation folder. So thanks to IWTE I can watch the tree models in Milkshape, but I can't get the textures over them.
Second: the models clearly save polygons wherever they can. Can you recommend a poly limit? Modelling very detailled trees is not the problem, performance on the battlemap will be for sure...

[makanyane]

sorry for delay in answering, last version had a bug in the vege_sprite generating process which we needed to get fixed instead of saying "this is what should happen, but it doesn't quite..."

Wilddog has worked some magic on the sprite tga generating bit so now running that on a vanilla model gives;

the ones with the pink blob are the IWTE generated sprites, which a). finally match well with the vanilla ones, and b).I think actually look a bit better

+rep to wilddog please


The explanation of how to do sprites and what you can do with the veg.db needs a bit of space so we're going to try and write a mini-tutorial and post it in a separate thread so it doesn't get lost in here...
should be coming shortly, and we'll post link here.

EDIT: forgot 2 things. First, Alpacas texture-dds converter doesn't process the texture files from the vegetation folder. So thanks to IWTE I can watch the tree models in Milkshape, but I can't get the textures over them.

it works on those for us - are you sure it works on any of your textures? If it doesn't then it's probably because you have too recent a version of python.

Second: the models clearly save polygons wherever they can. Can you recommend a poly limit? Modelling very detailled trees is not the problem, performance on the battlemap will be for sure...

can't really answer that one - depends on too many other variables, if you've got other stuff modded like battleground textures, units or settlements then that would all have an effect on overall performance. Density of the trees (which is climate/geography related) would also probably effect it, some of the vanilla climates already seem to have problems when there's too many trees on battlemap.

From personal opinion the naffest bit of the tree battlemap experience is when they switch to sprites, which would still be obvious even with wilddogs great efforts on the sprites, so I'd probably try and keep the model poly count down, but try and push out the distance where they switch to sprites.

[Red_Devil]

well, I am looking forward to this tutorial!

With EB2 I've already looked a bit into this stuff. Trying to improve most of the vegetations with new models. For a base, I try to keep the poly count at 1.5 times the vanilla one. I hope it will work, but I'll wait for the tutorial to give more feedback...
For example replacing a palm tree model with rocks for desertic areas is one of my principal goals. But i guess it will not be included in the first release given the work needed already in all the settlements...

BTW, the texture2DDS converter works fine on my vegetation .textures...

and your image is not displayed properly makanyane, could it be possible ti have a look at it?

[makanyane]

Image fixed hopefully, thanks for that

If you've already started playing with it you're possibly ahead of us anyway...

Relevant bits I've noted are that there's a couple of odd things in the way veg displays - for models if you overlap the uv's outside the area of the texture, instead of tiling to the other side of texture, they pick up the texture from the next vegetation model (some vanilla rock models have this problem) - similarly if you try using odd heights of image for the sprite textures then the sprite images start to get mangled with the next one in the set.


The veg.db has different categories for different veg types within a climate, i.e. forest, large rocks, shrubs etc... but they are already quite mixed so 'rocks' might turn up in the shrub category etc... each category has a different scaling (and distribution, partly hard coded and partly from geog.db I think) so there is a lot of latitude for fiddling, and there is one quite useful setting generally used fro the large rocks bit which gives a large blocked radius on the battlemap.

[Fridericus Secundus]

Many thanks for your answer makanyane! Really great work! AS red devil, I'm really looking forward to your tutorial. Currently, I'm fiddling about how to create highly detailed vegetation without throwing around too many polygons. Better textures than in vanilly will be one point, of course, but these are not that bad acutally. What will be needed is more detailled ground texturing, more shrubs around trees (in my opinion, they look weird because they are isolated on the grass even in forests), and a little more detail in branch models, if possible. I would be glad to help you, if I can, but I'm an utter noob in programming and would just be able to do some experiments in modelling and skinning.

@red_devil: maybe I can help you with some models or textures? I'm really not a pro in modelling, but I've done some stuff yet (see attachment) and as vegetation is rather low poly modelling, my skills and tools (Milkshape to be precise) may be sufficient.

[wilddog]

Hi
I added an option in the 12_12_B release to do single file conversions between textures and dds. Its under the specials tab.

[Fridericus Secundus]

Wilddog, you kind of a hero. Works perfectly!

[Red_Devil]

Many thanks for your answer makanyane! Really great work! AS red devil, I'm really looking forward to your tutorial. Currently, I'm fiddling about how to create highly detailed vegetation without throwing around too many polygons. Better textures than in vanilly will be one point, of course, but these are not that bad acutally. What will be needed is more detailled ground texturing, more shrubs around trees (in my opinion, they look weird because they are isolated on the grass even in forests), and a little more detail in branch models, if possible.

yes, that is one of the major "problems" with vanilla. To tell you the truth, I work IRL outside sometimes, and those forests are sometimes dense enough in trees, but look too much like a tree plantation without any fern (or a few shrubs) under the canopy... ^^
even if it should not be overdone, otherwise fighting in forest areas would be a nightmare!

@red_devil: maybe I can help you with some models or textures? I'm really not a pro in modelling, but I've done some stuff yet (see attachment) and as vegetation is rather low poly modelling, my skills and tools (Milkshape to be precise) may be sufficient.

Very nice model!
that could be interresting As I've said, I was getting ahead of myself since my priority is not the vegetation, but the settlements, but if you are ready to share your work (or why not join the EB2 team ) that seems great! I'm attaching one of my models (too high poly there), but it gives an idea of what some models could look like. This was one of my first models, so not really good enough to be implemented to my taste

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Hi
I added an option in the 12_12_B release to do single file conversions between textures and dds. Its under the specials tab.

Thanks, that could be useful

[Fridericus Secundus]

yes, that is one of the major "problems" with vanilla. To tell you the truth, I work IRL outside sometimes, and those forests are sometimes dense enough in trees, but look too much like a tree plantation without any fern (or a few shrubs) under the canopy... ^^
even if it should not be overdone, otherwise fighting in forest areas would be a nightmare!

Absolutly.

Very nice model!
that could be interresting As I've said, I was getting ahead of myself since my priority is not the vegetation, but the settlements, but if you are ready to share your work (or why not join the EB2 team ) that seems great! I'm attaching one of my models (too high poly there), but it gives an idea of what some models could look like. This was one of my first models, so not really good enough to be implemented to my taste

Thanks a lot! Well, thats quite a good model as well - especially if that's just your beginner's work! I would be proud to support EBII, if my work is well enough done for that. So I suggest I'll do some work, for example some shrubs, and post them somewhere or send them via PN to you. Have to see how long it takes, as I'm quite busy atm at work and modding BjH. But it shouldn't be too long.

[paradamed]

May I suggest you guys to use the Roma Surrectum 2 vegetation as a basis. It will save you guys a lot of time and it looks awesome. They allowed everybody to use their vegetation as long as credit is given.

[AnthoniusII]

May I suggest you guys to use the Roma Surrectum 2 vegetation as a basis. It will save you guys a lot of time and it looks awesome. They allowed everybody to use their vegetation as long as credit is given.

That is a veru hard task...No one ever managed to import RTW based RS2 invoroment in to m2tw engine.

[wilddog]

The problem was the RTW models were combined models and RTW didn't have the equivalent of the normal file in MTW. Breaking down the RTW models to single models and using the textures you could generate the required sprite, diff and normal files that MTW2 generated.
Think also the old RTW sprite process generated a sort of diff file but was 1/4 size.