IWTE - World editing - (General Discussion)

[Seether]

Thanks for the great advice makanyane! +rep

I will look into this and report back.

[Seether]

First, sorry for the triple post...

Ok, now I am having a new issue with a different project. The issues is getting either large_city or huge_city to use the city assets. Our mod does not have "Asian" large or huge city battle stuff, so they obviously use the vanilla equivalent, however we do have them for city level. I performed the same process as I did before with the "stone_keep", but no dice this time. I should also mention that the mod did not have a large_city folder or a huge_city folder under settlements, so I had to create the folders.

- Created large_city and huge_city folders under middle_eastern/settlements.
- Copied [our mod's] city level .world & .worldcollision files, moved them into both large_city and huge_city folders, and renamed the files accordingly.
- Copied vanilla large_city and huge_city .worldpkgdesc files and put them into our mod's relevant folders.
- Changed path in both .worldpkgdesc files to settlements/middle_eastern/settlements/city/middle_eastern_city_a.world .

- I tried only using the .world & .worldcollision files (no .worldpkgdesc)
- I tried only using the .worldpkgdesc files (no .world or .worldcollision)
- I tried with all 3 files types (as I did with the "Passes")
- I tried using individual .worldpkgdesc files (20 of them) for each individual faction
- I tried copying over the entire contents of the city folder to both large_city and huge_city
- I tried with and without deleting map.rwm

I'm not really sure why this is not working, but the previous "stone_keep" are. Any idea of what I am obviously missing (I have a feeling it is because the folders didn't originally exist)

[makanyane]

vanilla folder for me large city is

large city
not
large_city
that might be why your moving .world/.worldcollision version didn't work if you go that wrong...

but doing faction-specific .worldpkg's to the city folder should have worked
could you post/screenie what you tried for that?

[Seether]

You were right; I misnamed the large city folder. After only renaming the folder to large city, now both large and huge cities use the city model. Thanks for finding the thing I overlooked

[leo.civil.uefs]

Hey guys, just remembered about this post.

It is about our previous talk about red borderlines on tile/settlements/battlemap and my wish to have those limits beeing editable.

I dont know much about this but it seems that is not related with the settlement/map file but tied to general hardcoded values so no specific, wich means we cannot edit it for every settlement.

[wilddog]

version 14_07_A released

with version 14_07_A
1) Lower section split into two tabs - Main processes and Painter processes (you need to remember to switch back out of the painter process when you return to the main processes.
2) Changed worldvegetation routines. You now open the file via the painting process. You will then be presented with a list of 4 files in the painter process. The type name tells you what they are for.
3) Changed the world terrain routines. You now open the file via the painting process.You will then be presented with 2 or 3 files (depending on what content of the world terrain file).
4) Some of the older button processes have now been removed.
5) Within the painter process you can :
a) move any item in the list up, down, top, bottom.
b) You can change its opacity (using slider or value at the top.
c) You can show or hide by pressing the eye icon.
d) for the terrain heights you can switch on the triangles using the icon (note this only displays at x2 or above magnification).
e) You can switch a file onto being edited. Editing then gives a list of parameters. Please note the file you edited may not be visible due to images above it with higher opacity.
f) you can remove any item from the list
g) You can edit using square or round brush.
h) The brush type determines the type of action you are doing ie you may be replacing something or presetting an absolute value of incrementing the information.
i) You can change the brush values within certain parameters (not all items in the list use this and I'll tidy that up later to hide this)
j) you can change the brush size
k) boxes indicate what the left and right keys are doing - mostly its the same but for increments the left increases and the right decreases.
l) Where applicable there is a color style which can be changed for the terrain heights.
m) The terrain heights also always shows as a 3d image with the color style.
n) for the applicable items there is a grid which appears at magnification 4 or higher which displays the value of the pixel. This is normally either 0.0 to 1.0 for the greyscale or the actual height for world terrain.
o) You can save an edited file as you go along.
p) to end you can save all, save changed or exit without saving. A prompt will ask you to confirm exiting if something has changed.
q) all files save into a directory IWTEsave

There a re a couple of cosmetic tidyups to do in the painting process but I wanted to get a version out and then add some new items into that process.

Let us know if you spot any error messages being flagged as there may still be some conflicts when using the painter process and the main processes.

@Leo - yes Mak did some tests yesterday on the only thing in the terrain file that may of had an effect... and it didn't so thats what we had concluded.
- also, the extra vegetation file is now available in the new painting process.

[leo.civil.uefs]

version 14_07_A released

with version 14_07_A
1) Lower section split into two tabs - Main processes and Painter processes (you need to remember to switch back out of the painter process when you return to the main processes.
2) Changed worldvegetation routines. You now open the file via the painting process. You will then be presented with a list of 4 files in the painter process. The type name tells you what they are for.
3) Changed the world terrain routines. You now open the file via the painting process.You will then be presented with 2 or 3 files (depending on what content of the world terrain file).
4) Some of the older button processes have now been removed.
5) Within the painter process you can :
a) move any item in the list up, down, top, bottom.
b) You can change its opacity (using slider or value at the top.
c) You can show or hide by pressing the eye icon.
d) for the terrain heights you can switch on the triangles using the icon (note this only displays at x2 or above magnification).
e) You can switch a file onto being edited. Editing then gives a list of parameters. Please note the file you edited may not be visible due to images above it with higher opacity.
f) you can remove any item from the list
g) You can edit using square or round brush.
h) The brush type determines the type of action you are doing ie you may be replacing something or presetting an absolute value of incrementing the information.
i) You can change the brush values within certain parameters (not all items in the list use this and I'll tidy that up later to hide this)
j) you can change the brush size
k) boxes indicate what the left and right keys are doing - mostly its the same but for increments the left increases and the right decreases.
l) Where applicable there is a color style which can be changed for the terrain heights.
m) The terrain heights also always shows as a 3d image with the color style.
n) for the applicable items there is a grid which appears at magnification 4 or higher which displays the value of the pixel. This is normally either 0.0 to 1.0 for the greyscale or the actual height for world terrain.
o) You can save an edited file as you go along.
p) to end you can save all, save changed or exit without saving. A prompt will ask you to confirm exiting if something has changed.
q) all files save into a directory IWTEsave

There a re a couple of cosmetic tidyups to do in the painting process but I wanted to get a version out and then add some new items into that process.

Let us know if you spot any error messages being flagged as there may still be some conflicts when using the painter process and the main processes.

@Leo - yes Mak did some tests yesterday on the only thing in the terrain file that may of had an effect... and it didn't so thats what we had concluded.
- also, the extra vegetation file is now available in the new painting process.

I did the ncessary changes in my moria east vegetation file using the new painting process and everything worked fine, IWTE generated a new veg file and I replaced the old one.
In another file (moria west) the same process seems to not work, IWTE simply doe snot generate the new tga file.

Sorry If Im missing something, maybe some small detail like keeping the edited layer selected or something like this. setting V/H as having the eye symbol again or anything like that...

what I did:

upper tab -> file type -> World Files -> *worldvegetation.
Hide 3 first layers, edited the last one (the schrub one) to be totally black.
Saved it (both save changed or save all)


Well Im confused right now, the first time I did it it generated the tga file and I replaced the previous one, seem to work. Now even the file I managed to edit is just back the way it was before! the WVshrubdensity is the same before I changed it sucesfully. wtf...

PS: brush value 0,1

[leo.civil.uefs]

q) all files save into a directory IWTEsave

Mak... what about we deleting these posts before wilddog sees it...?





My humble opinion is that the files should be saved inside the same folder from the original veg file, makes more sense, its the way IWTE always did, and I dont think anyone places the .exe inside the settlement folder so the files location can cause some confusion.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

After making the new veg bit totally black there is still shrubs inside the moria halls tile, you can see the position of it and its distance from the borderline.




Something I still dont get, if I have edited the geography file setting all the vegetation bits to 0.000, how is still those veg showing up ingame?

[makanyane]

Mak... what about we deleting these posts before wilddog sees it...?

too late

My humble opinion is that the files should be saved inside the same folder from the original veg file, makes more sense, its the way IWTE always did, and I dont think anyone places the .exe inside the settlement folder so the files location can cause some confusion.

I normally stuck it in settlements or actually in the folder I was working on... but anyway that one is up for discussion

After making the new veg bit totally black there is still shrubs inside the moria halls tile, you can see the position of it and its distance from the borderline.




Something I still dont get, if I have edited the geography file setting all the vegetation bits to 0.000, how is still those veg showing up ingame?

is there any chance that the bit that side is actually in a different climate? The climate the battle location is on controls a lot of stuff, like the vegetation and textures that actually appear, but some of the other stuff like RGB distance colours and the bumpiness of the terrain seems to be pulled from the climate of the adjacent squares and their geography.db settings. If you can try 'blanking' the entire map_climates.tga file to the colour of the one your settlement is meant to be on, regenerate map.rwm and see if that changes things.

[leo.civil.uefs]

If you can try 'blanking' the entire map_climates.tga file to the colour of the one your settlement is meant to be on, regenerate map.rwm and see if that changes things.

No deal, the shrubs are still there.

Hey dont go deeper in this (unless if you want it yourself), Im actually ok with this small almost unoticable shrubs.

[wilddog]

@Leo - At the moment I'm undecided on where all the changed bits should go... other than they need to be tidied up. I've had requests to leave names unchanged and to change them. As Mak says she normally copies the exe to the folder and uses it. I tend to use one folder but the changes are sometimes in the original folder or in the one I started from depending on what I was doing so I agree its a bit messy. My preference at the moment is to sue the new process and switch to that as I may add in the directory conversions for textures. I didn't originally as it was safer than accidentally overwriting the DDS I had just changed or vice versa with textures.

Not sure on that shrub thing as I would need all the files to look at. Are you sure the values are all zero in the shrub merge density .. you can see the values in the painter process to check.

I want to add in those map/overlays next to make them easier to amend. It should also allow you to see the effect easier as you can view the other overlays and the settlement world view at the same time.

Next the bit I want for myself at this time is to add in the HGT file from the strat maps.

[makanyane]

will have a look - presumably though if you close IWTE and start again it works on that second file?

EDIT; just tried as you described - actually on the moria ones... and it's working fine for me, either with save all or save changed, and am not going back to switch any other layers on - saved files will be IWTEsave folder in same location as the .exe, are you actually looking in there? (check modified dates to make sure you're looking at right files)

Well Im confused right now, the first time I did it it generated the tga file and I replaced the previous one

you shouldn't actually be generating a tga file... I know the generate veg3 tga button is still around but you don't need it just the paint process thingy


EDIT2; I like the avatar

[leo.civil.uefs]

hey guys, I've just seen something that made me confuse, incredulous and made all my beliefs to tremble, so I came here to ask for answers from the masters...

could you guys please clarify me what the hell is this?

Its clearly med2 engine but... well BUT.

[wilddog]

@Leo - Why clearly med 2 engine? Its a good video but are the shots hitting a wall the same animation a you get from med2? I hadn't heard anyone else had workedout how to do wall destruction animations... and I was only partly there as its 3dsmax based. Which is possibly easier than for milkshake users as the animation does come form that.

[leo.civil.uefs]

yes there is a lot of parts that are not med2, I guess, but there is clearly bits of it.

[wilddog]

then not really sure what question you are asking us.

[makanyane]

there's a bit in the comments that google translates as

Eltalálltad, this really is the M2tw, but unfortunately these units direct these films is taken, as a stand-alone mode is not given, and we probably never will, because it is too complicated.
However, the Hungarian mod contains very similar, period units kipróbállnod worth it! Magyar mod you'll find here:
http://twonline.hu/forum/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=69
·

there's similar video of Mohacs linked from here;
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showt...9-Mohacs-Video

interesting and amazing videos but not really anything we can do anything about...
seems a bit like the old Time Commanders things they did using RTW engine but that did things that weren't possible with the actual game too.

[wilddog]

Starting to think about next IWTE version, I'm thinking of including the following :

1) Ability to open texture, dds, tga, png files(and some other formats) to do some simple editing in the painter process.
2) For some files you will have the option to save as tga, png or other format but not directly as DDS or texture. (i.e. these latter two will be saved as TGA only)
3) Allow editing of the alpha channels (still to do but next on the list).
4) Add some specific criteria around certain texture, dds, tga files in terms of sizing (ie for viewing strat map tga's), restrictions, checks. This will include some of the settlement overlays and the basic tga's involved in strat maps (still to do).
5) Add in HGT file editing
6) show simple 3d view of heights files (tga and hgt)

[Arkay]

It would be great wilddog, good work.

[xHolyCrusader]

I tried to edit [name]_path_mask.texture inside the .../maps/overlays, so I converted them to .dds files which I opened with gimp, there I made my changes (made it fully transparent to have no dirt paths showing up) and saved it again. But now when i try to convert it back IWTE gives me this error: "- dds was not DXT5 or DXT1"
How do I get my .dds saves to be in "DXT5" or "DXT1"? is there any gimp-dds-plugin you would recommend me? (i'm currently using the one red_devil linked in his tutorial).