New MSH viewer

[tipam]

Hi

Having had a go at a few levels using the ZeroEditor, I've often found it difficult to know what models look like and what textures they need. So I've written a MSH viewer that renders the models much more accurately than 3D ObjectViewer. The viewer has a bunch of other features such as debugging, drag and drop MSH loading, walk mode and VRML export.

*** Also just included Terrain (.TER) map import which will have the ability to replace the height map (say with a fractal image) and get some real terrains in there. I'm planning to have some automatic features such as texturing the height map with snow on the peaks and grass on the plains - now that will be fun! *** This bit will be going into a seperate app for terrain editing only

Version 0.02 (BETA) with quicklinks to BF1&2 models now available from http://sites.google.com/site/swbfmodding/swbf-tools

[jedianz]

that looks awesome! i could really use something like that for my
BF1 Redemption Mod, keep up the good work

[tipam]

Well, this has been developing over the past few days ... I've finally sussed BF1 and BF2 terrain formats for the purpose of replacing the height and textures with real terrain data.

I will hopefully add a feature to drop CP's with capture, spawn and control areas in one go; it seems such a waste of time wiring together the most obvious things. It should then be possible to generate maps and spawn points in minutes. As much as I like ZE, it takes too long for beginners to get into it and produce something.

If there's a bit more interest, I could do a VRML / 3DS file importer that outputs MSH files.

I'll upload the viewer for testing in the next couple of days ... watch this space.

[jedianz]

this coudl really breathe some life back into the mapping community of bf1 and2

[Maveritchell]

Tipam, you did a great job with your early release of this; I look forward to seeing what you do in the future - and honestly, the stuff you're talking about for ZE sounds much more intriguing than even your mesh viewer (which is superior to 3DOC/Unwrap, but it is still a little redundant).

If you feel so led, you ought to go ahead and let the folks over at Gametoast (www.gametoast.com) know about this; I would've completely missed hearing about some of the functionality you're talking about but for a chance visit over here - and that's not to speak of most of the modding community, which'll rarely even see here.

[tipam]

Hi Maveritchell ...

I'll nip over to gametoast and let them know - I'm new to all this!

I've continued to update the Viewer to include an instant file list (i.e. it collects all MSH files into one clickable list without having to search for them). The viewer can also be downloaded from SWBF filefront under 'Tools'.

I'm still working on the terrain modeller and hope to make BF level creation a lot more instant and fun. You mentioned that the viewer was a little redundant - perhaps you've got some ideas to improve it?

[M@RS]

Also ZE doesn't even work for me...I can't wait til' you release this...