Trespasser - Shell Level Generator (Ver0.08) newest version on last page

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Trespasser - Shell Level Generator (Ver0.08) newest version on last page

Post by Rebel »

The latest version (V0.05b) of my Shell_Generator Easy to use Gui, with help files included. Also doubles as a pid/swp file generator and pid editor (swp size variable).

Download size: 665kbs.
Maximum level name size: 16 characters (small case)

*Note, all previous pid/swp files packs released, including those of the TPid_Generator will not work properly if you have used the MiniLev as the foundation for your level. Please use the swp/pid pack that the Shell_Gen_V0.05 produces. They will function correctly for doing a complete swap update of any MiniLev based Level.
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Re: Trespasser - Shell Level Generator (Ver0.05b)

Post by Nick3069 »

This little app is great and all, but I have a few problems with it.
  • What is "Input SWP Size" and how does this value affect my level? There is no information about it in the help file.
  • Same as #1 but for "Export PID/SWP Pack Only"
  • Whenever I try to open a level generated by this app with TresEd it gives me this error:
error.jpg
error.jpg (10.07 KiB) Viewed 9118 times
Even if I change the terrain file and save the level, the error returns and the terrain is flat.
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Re: Trespasser - Shell Level Generator (Ver0.05b)

Post by Rebel »

* What is "Input SWP Size" and how does this value affect my level? There is no information about it in the help file.
* Same as #1 but for "Export PID/SWP Pack Only"
Nick, setting the swap size before level creation gives you the ability to import more textures, hence larger levels. IE., 6 is small, 20 is extremely large. Start out small, you can always increase the size during a full swp/pid update using (export pid/swp pack only option - this creates a set of pid/swp files which can be packed using GeomAdd. (maintain a folder of all textures you imported into your level for swap updates)).
Whenever I try to open a level generated by this app with TresEd it gives me this error:
That'd be because you're forgetting to drop the trnplacement-00.values text file into the model import folder. This file is overwritten each time you create a level to match the name chosen. This file is created along with the level files. With each new level created, drop this file into the aforementioned folder before model import. (See the quick-start guide) If you already have the level as you want it, simply use TresEd to find the terrain-placement cube and change the 'string file name to the correct level name'.
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Re: Trespasser - Shell Level Generator (Ver0.05b)

Post by tatu »

Hey Rebel, I have a request if you ever update this at some point.
When creating level files, it would be great if you had the option to pick between level sizes. Like 256x256 or 2048x2048 etc.
I got this from a Discord user who is learning modding but didn't know about how the terrain worked. :)
Active project: Trespasser: Isla Sorna
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Re: Trespasser - Shell Level Generator (Ver0.05b)

Post by Draconisaurus »

Like blank terrain? I don't ever use the WTD created by Shell Generator. In Twilight and Millennium, starter terrains are included in the folder with the TrnPlacement cube, including a flattened PV one. Anything bigger size than that, I imagine is only for advanced modders.
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Re: Trespasser - Shell Level Generator (Ver0.05b)

Post by tatu »

Draconisaurus wrote:Like blank terrain? I don't ever use the WTD created by Shell Generator. In Twilight and Millennium, starter terrains are included in the folder with the TrnPlacement cube, including a flattened PV one. Anything bigger size than that, I imagine is only for advanced modders.
Yes. Just more of a lazy thing. I know it is easy enough to just copy another WTD from a retail level. :)
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"...there used to be more benches, but InGen's workers removed them during the evacuation in the name of framerate."
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Re: Trespasser - Shell Level Generator (Ver0.05b)

Post by Rebel »

tatu wrote: Sat Jan 01, 2022 1:59 pm Hey Rebel, I have a request if you ever update this at some point.
When creating level files, it would be great if you had the option to pick between level sizes. Like 256x256 or 2048x2048 etc.
I got this from a Discord user who is learning modding but didn't know about how the terrain worked. :)
Here yah go, tatu: https://www.mediafire.com/file/bdtun4sf ... 6.zip/file

You can choose up to 2048 terrain size. I added an info txt file for the changes (I couldn't find the help file files to update
the compiled help files). Lest no one reads it, the default is 256 if an option isn't chosen. Be advised choosing a higher wtd
size puts Anne beneath the terrain so without raising her model via TresEd, she'll die on loadup.

Anyhoo, in limited testing, program seems to work as before with the additional option added -
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Re: Trespasser - Shell Level Generator (Ver0.05b)

Post by tatu »

Woah, this is neat. Thank you. This will save some time, rather than using a bigger WTD from another level (and having to flatten it). :D
Active project: Trespasser: Isla Sorna
Status:
BE-PH1: Released
PH2-IT: Pre-released
PL-SUM: In production

"...there used to be more benches, but InGen's workers removed them during the evacuation in the name of framerate."
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Re: Trespasser - Shell Level Generator (Ver0.05b)

Post by Draconisaurus »

This sounds pretty cool. Personally I am always wary of terrain I don't know the origin of. TresEd generated terrain is a bad idea except to bring it into MAX for fixing, etc. How is this WTD made?
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Re: Trespasser - Shell Level Generator (Ver0.05b)

Post by Rebel »

@Tatu: Yah, only took a year (to the day, btw). Eventually I figured that I'd get to it.
@Drac: The 256 terrain is the retail's testscene, and the larger terrains are the same, but stretched (doubling its size each time), so it translates into flattened terrain.
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Re: Trespasser - Shell Level Generator (Ver0.05b)

Post by Draconisaurus »

Just wondering about the method. TresEd-generated terrain is horrible to work with... To get working terrain we use either retail as-is or MAX + GUIApp. We do have the GUIApp source code, hmm..
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Re: Trespasser - Shell Level Generator (Ver0.05b)

Post by tatu »

Draconisaurus wrote: Mon Jan 02, 2023 2:41 pm Just wondering about the method. TresEd-generated terrain is horrible to work with... To get working terrain we use either retail as-is or MAX + GUIApp. We do have the GUIApp source code, hmm..
Looking at the release, there is no WTD files included, so I am gonna guess Rebel somehow writes then from scratch. :)
Active project: Trespasser: Isla Sorna
Status:
BE-PH1: Released
PH2-IT: Pre-released
PL-SUM: In production

"...there used to be more benches, but InGen's workers removed them during the evacuation in the name of framerate."
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Re: Trespasser - Shell Level Generator (Ver0.05b)

Post by Rebel »

tatu wrote: Looking at the release, there is no WTD files included, so I am gonna guess Rebel somehow writes then from scratch. :)
Thanks, tatu, but I'm not that intelligent (I'm more stubborn than anything). If anyone is super intelligent here, I'd say it would be machf. ;) But I digress, the starter level files are quite small, some of them
are nothing more than valid headers and the swp file generated contains zero bytes. They're all stored internally including the wtd data as unsigned char blocks. It's a rather simply process, really. Although,
I did have to rewrite the code I wrote 13+ years ago since the most recent compilers sometimes won't compile code that was considered valid just a decade ago.
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Re: Trespasser - Shell Level Generator (Ver0.05b)

Post by machf »

Rebel wrote: Mon Jan 02, 2023 6:49 pm Thanks, tatu, but I'm not that intelligent (I'm more stubborn than anything). If anyone is super intelligent here, I'd say it would be machf. ;)
Unfortunatley I lack the time to do multiple links. I guess I should clone myself like Michael Keaton in "Multiplicity". Does anyone know if thte cloning thech used by InGen has become finally available?
But I digress, the starter level files are quite small, some of them
are nothing more than valid headers and the swp file generated contains zero bytes. They're all stored internally including the wtd data as unsigned char blocks. It's a rather simply process, really. Although,
I did have to rewrite the code I wrote 13+ years ago since the most recent compilers sometimes won't compile code that was considered valid just a decade ago.
That's why I like to keep old compilers around...
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Re: Trespasser - Shell Level Generator (Ver0.05b)

Post by TheIdiot »

Can't believe you went and updated this, Reb. Wish I had the ability to generate new WTDs that way years ago. The only thing I have to suggest is adding the option for 4096x-sized terrains to be generated as well. While they're definitely uncommon (as far as I know only JPDS and RTJP used WTDs of this size), I feel like having the option there is still reasonable. I wouldn't recommend you go larger than that as TresEd has problems with larger terrains as we've found out working on the Isla Sorna project, as that level has an 8192x terrain and TresEd renders it very poorly. You might add a warning when trying to build a terrain larger than 2048x, something like "TresEd is known to have problems rendering larger terrains. Highly-detailed terrains of this size can potentially become unstable in-game. Build anyway?".
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