IWTE - World editing - (General Discussion)

[wilddog]

Hi Leo
Yes that's the case. Wouldn't have called it strat map related though (as in directly related to something you see on a strat map).
Think some of the vanilla settlements already did that.

[leo.civil.uefs]

hey mak what you think it would happen if I set a custom tile to match a settlement in stratmap? Im willing to make a test about it but wonder if you ever tried it.

[makanyane]

If you mean - 'put the custom tile at the same location as the strat-map settlement (or fort)' - then yes I tried... and it crashes when you try and load the battle there

[leo.civil.uefs]

If you mean - 'put the custom tile at the same location as the strat-map settlement (or fort)' - then yes I tried... and it crashes when you try and load the battle there

Thats a pity.

Moria halls is a custom tile, when I did it I was lucky. Its perfect! But that only happens because in custom tiles the red lines that borders the battlemap and prevent camera from advance is far more tight than in settlement battlemap. So I managed to cover all the terrain with a 3d model to be the dome of rock without risk of player moving the camera and seeing the landscape beyond it.

I tried similar things in custom settlements, but as the red borders are far wider, I always ended up needing to have a brutally huge 3d model for the dome, and that causes camera to just dissapear with this dome when you look at distance, revealing the landscape behind, also another camera problems. The size of the square limited by the red lines is the same in all settlements, no matter if village or huge city.

Caves where you cant see the outside are only factible in custom tiles not settlements.

[makanyane]

Caves where you cant see the outside are only factible in custom tiles not settlements.

I still think the only way to really do a totally underground looking battlemap is to dedicate a climate to it, and make the 'sky' (via all it's weather conditions) look like cave roof - haven't tried it yet though...

[leo.civil.uefs]

I still think the only way to really do a totally underground looking battlemap is to dedicate a climate to it, and make the 'sky' (via all it's weather conditions) look like cave roof - haven't tried it yet though...

I actually already did it, as I said, play my sub-mod in custom battle and select MORIA HALLS as battlemap, you will see. But it only works wel because it is a custom tile as I said.

[wilddog]

New version added though only minor amendments to some Strat map painting processes.

with version 14_12_A
1) Added palette list for Strat map Climates and leaving brush size and brush density options only.
2) Added palette list for Strat map Ground Types and leaving brush size and brush density options only.
3) Strat map Regions brush options changed to brush size only.
4) Added palette list for Strat map Features with no brush options.

[alreadyded]

Thanks.

[xHolyCrusader]

What problems i might get if I merged a .ms3d (v1.8.5) with a .ms3d (v1.8.4) structure?

edit: for now, the problem is, i get the same error message as the one when u reach the vertices limit (which is around 63000?), so I'm sometimes unsure if its the limit or just version difference...

[wilddog]

xHolyCrusader, Hi and happy new year to you.
The merge would be in milkshape itself so I assume you would be doing it with a milkshape 1.8.5 version (as milkshape 1.8.4 wouldn't be able to read the 1.8.5 version). Milkshape should read in the 1.8.4 as it should recognize the format of the lower version and load it. You can then check number of vertices under tools/model statistics. If this loaded OK try the same thing with the other structureand see its statisctics.

If you merge then the result should have the same number of vertices as both combined so you should be able to know if its a milkshape error.

If you believe this is all OK and the issue is only when loaded via IWTE the issue may be tied to the 'lighting info' which I added in in later IWTE versions. I thought I handled the case of a mix of things with lighting and those without but if you think it might be that then PM me a link to the two structures you are trying to merge and I'll check it out.

[leo.civil.uefs]

This thread got too quiet.

CA announced that Atilla will have complete modding tools to edit settlements, tiles and battlemaps.

I belive that maybe it is time to migrate to another engine. Though this is for the new generations, not for a old tired veteran like me.

[CavalryCmdr]

This thread got too quiet.

CA announced that Atilla will have complete modding tools to edit settlements, tiles and battlemaps.

I belive that maybe it is time to migrate to another engine.

Believe it when it happens, CA also said M2 would get an editing tool and they said Empire would be more modable then any other TW game, and they announced a mod tool set for that within weeks of announcing they would no longer be supporting Empire. Not saying it won't happen, just advise you not hold your breath for it, because it'll be a first.

[G|I|Sandy]

Does IWTE work with stratmap trees? I converted a .cas to .ms3d, made changes, then converted back to .cas just like I would do with stratmap settlements. I get a crash at 99% loading.

Sandy

[makanyane]

should work - it's probably the texture name that's wrong... check by using "read strat cas" and "chg strat cas textures" change if it needs it and "write strat cas"
trees can only have one group and one texture

let us know if that works.

[G|I|Sandy]

makanyane, its all fine until i change or select any texture for the material. I have 1 group and 1 material. It has a texture by default, i.e. name appears in material's texture, but not displayed on the mesh. So i select the exact same texture then it appears on the mesh. However, when i save and convert using IWTE i get the crash. It works fine, i can do changes etc and convert without issues IF i do not touch the texture. When i use "chg strat texture", i get "error : there is no symbol mesh".

A walkaround is to export a model as 3ds then import into the original ms3d (the one you get by converting vanilla .cas to .ms3d). That means make whatever changes you need (using coordinate editor and the new texture) and then import it into a "vanilla" ms3d with untouched material0 texture. >.<

Sandy

[makanyane]

Hi, just tried it - don't worry about the error message (the message is a bug, it should only apply to city models - but it doesn't actually stop it working)

ignore the message and double click on the TGA path line to edit it then write the cas (seems to work for me with latest version of IWTE)

don't forget if it's going in mod folder it needs to have a real .tga file (can have a .tga.dds as well but that's optional) - it must have the .tga and the file name in the .cas must end .tga
EDIT and relevant path must be correct .e.g. textures/my_tree.tga
if you changed the file in milkshape and the texture was in a different folder you get that incorrect path written into the file.

[makanyane]

I have 1 group and 1 material. It has a texture by default, i.e. name appears in material's texture, but not displayed on the mesh. So i select the exact same texture then it appears on the mesh.

ahh I see what's happening - that will work fine, but only if your .tga is in the right place relative to your ms3d model - e.g. in /textures/ folder inside the folder the ms3d model is in - otherwise it will list the full relative path to where the .tga was in relation to the .ms3d e.g. ../../my_desktop/test_textures/ or wherever it is...
move the texture to the right place before selecting it and it should work fine
(and remember it needs to be the .tga - not dds or anything else)

[G|I|Sandy]

makanyane, thanks for your prompt reply. My problem was indeed having textures in .dds format. The name was texture.tga.dds. For some reason unpacked vanilla textures have tga in their name. When i saved the texture as texture.tga, the problem was solved. IWTE is working great.

Does anyone know what the numbers at the end of line in descr_climates mean? I tried changing them to 0 and other values, couldn't spot any effect. Here are the lines for coniferous_forest:

    strategy    summer    sparse_tree    conifer_a.cas                        2
    strategy    summer    dense_tree    conifer_a_impassable.cas            3
    strategy    summer    canopy        conifer_a_canopy.cas                14

    strategy    winter    sparse_tree    conifer_a_winter.cas                7
    strategy    winter    dense_tree    conifer_a_impassable_winter.cas        6
    strategy    winter    canopy        conifer_a_canopy_winter.cas            15

Another question, does IWTE convert animated strat models, e.g. generals and agents?

Sandy

[makanyane]

makanyane, thanks for your prompt reply. My problem was indeed having textures in .dds format. The name was texture.tga.dds. For some reason unpacked vanilla textures have tga in their name. When i saved the texture as texture.tga, the problem was solved. IWTE is working great.

if you look at the log trace you see that the engine looks for .tga first and then if that isn't found looks for the .tga.dds version which allows the game to use the compressed file...
that works at the m2/data/ level - unfortunately at mod folder level it looks for the .tga first and if it doesn't find it, it crashes... if the .tga is there (which can just be a 1 pixel file with the correct name) then it goes on to look for the .tga.dds and will happily use that... you can't directly get the game to look up files named .dds at any level

Does anyone know what the numbers at the end of line in descr_climates mean? I tried changing them to 0 and other values, couldn't spot any effect. Here are the lines for coniferous_forest:

    strategy    summer    sparse_tree    conifer_a.cas                        2
    strategy    summer    dense_tree    conifer_a_impassable.cas            3
    strategy    summer    canopy        conifer_a_canopy.cas                14

    strategy    winter    sparse_tree    conifer_a_winter.cas                7
    strategy    winter    dense_tree    conifer_a_impassable_winter.cas        6
    strategy    winter    canopy        conifer_a_canopy_winter.cas            15

no, I tried changing them too and didn't spot difference - I suspect it was something CA originally designed to alter the amount of them shown, but it didn't get implemented

Another question, does IWTE convert animated strat models, e.g. generals and agents?

nope sorry - but I'm sure there is an ms3d converter already around somewhere, one of knight errants?

[G|I|Sandy]

if you look at the log trace you see that the engine looks for .tga first and then if that isn't found looks for the .tga.dds version which allows the game to use the compressed file...
that works at the m2/data/ level - unfortunately at mod folder level it looks for the .tga first and if it doesn't find it, it crashes... if the .tga is there (which can just be a 1 pixel file with the correct name) then it goes on to look for the .tga.dds and will happily use that... you can't directly get the game to look up files named .dds at any level


no, I tried changing them too and didn't spot difference - I suspect it was something CA originally designed to alter the amount of them shown, but it didn't get implemented


nope sorry - but I'm sure there is an ms3d converter already around somewhere, one of knight errants?

So, if I understood correctly, i can include .tga.dds only if i also include .tga in the mod directory. Supposedly, we get better performance because .dds is smaller in size (i.e. less RAM)?

You are right, I am using KnightErrand's converter at the moment.

Sandy