Exporting / Importing Terrain Objects Into The Retail Game ?

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fastrunner
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Exporting / Importing Terrain Objects Into The Retail Game ?

Post by fastrunner »

First Off Thanks for the earlier help in the forum. To start thing off I've been messing with the retail game and have made alot of head way importing and exporting and making more challenges for myself to overcome. Really hasn't gotten old and Trust me youd laugh if i told you how long ive been at this just on the basics, :) but have to say ive never Figured out how to properly export then import terrain objects like new textures this one still eludes me could someone plesse help me out
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Re: Exporting / Importing Terrain Objects Into The Retail Ga

Post by machf »

Well, in order to be able to select terrain objects for exporting them, you must first select the option "Draw terrain objects" in TresEd; once you've done that, you'll be able to click on them and export as you do with any other object.

As for importing, well, it's a bit tricky... all terrain objects in a level must use the same terrain palette, if you just import one from another level, which uses a different palette, it's going to look awkward. My suggestion: after exporting, convert the terrain texture to 24-bit or 32-bit, then convert it back to 8-bit using the palette used in the level you're importing it into. Then you can import it without it looking ugly.
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Re: Exporting / Importing Terrain Objects Into The Retail Ga

Post by Draconisaurus »

Trespasser Twilight has a utility called "Wally", btw, which may be used to save and load palettes from/to the BMPs of terrain objects.
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Re: Exporting / Importing Terrain Objects Into The Retail Ga

Post by tatu »

Wally is a fantastic tool. I just wished it had a "batch" option when you want to change palette on a lot of textures :P
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Re: Exporting / Importing Terrain Objects Into The Retail Ga

Post by fastrunner »

Went over to the tools page and got me a copy trespasser twilight. New to this one but i first selected the terrain object i wanted the exported using the tresed export option under terrain (didn't really know which one to pick bmp ,3ds, or tpm) then went ahead and used Wally :D to open the file but go lost when i got a grayed out image.
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Re: Exporting / Importing Terrain Objects Into The Retail Ga

Post by Draconisaurus »

What you want to do is go to Terrain > Draw Terrain Objects, and click on the TrnObj(s) you want, then export (ignore the multiple-models warning); open the BMP(s) in Wally and then use the load/save-palette options...
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Re: Exporting / Importing Terrain Objects Into The Retail Ga

Post by tatu »

It seems that you used the export terrain function. That will only export the whole terrain itself.

What you wanna do is to select the terrain objects you want, and then export those just as regular objects, through the File->Export as .TPM :)

Some other tips:
- Selecting one mesh and exporting it with TPM will auto-export the $ physics and magnets attached to it, so no need to select those manually (only works if only one object is selected and exported).
- Make sure when exporting the option to also export the "ext_GeometryType" (second option). Otherwise objects can get imported incorrectly and crash the level on load (in-game) or you will be able to walk through some objects. This mainly effect the objects usually being GeometryType 1, like invisible walls and triggers.
- When saving the level, check the "Generate SCN Partitions" option. It will speed up loading time, and sometimes fix some crash related issues.
- I would also suggest to disable the auto backup function while saving, and rather just do a full backup on the files themselves regularly.

And really nice to see someone who takes a lot of time learning modding. Not too many no ways learn it :D
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Re: Exporting / Importing Terrain Objects Into The Retail Ga

Post by fastrunner »

Thanks Tatu that good to know the engine kept crashing on me when importing multiple objects at once now I keep a running backup of everything jus in case. I have been editing some tscrits to make in my level but I don't have the experience modeling like others so I just try to tweak my methods. If theirs key information I need to know on using Wally perhaps there's a tutorial on using the program here on Trescom I've been looking through the forums for the last few days but have come up short getting the picture :P . This program might has well be written in Spanish is their any chance of a link being posted since I probably missed if anyone has the time.
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Re: Exporting / Importing Terrain Objects Into The Retail Ga

Post by tatu »

Wally is pretty easy to use, I think someone else here can write a small easy tutorial.

Also, GeomAdd got the "Verify Level" option that is pretty good at discovering errors in a level. Be sure to use that to get some info if it crashes :)

Draconisaurus signature above got the download link to Trespasser Twilight that contains Wally :)
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Re: Exporting / Importing Terrain Objects Into The Retail Ga

Post by Draconisaurus »

fastrunner - with a BMP open in Wally, go to Colors and either "Load Palette..." or "Save Palette...", depending on what you're doing. Also, the Wally in Trespasser Twilight comes packaged with a large assortment of palettes to use, most of which are from the retail game.
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