Game Development Community

DIF formatted interiors

by Joshua Brown · in Artist Corner · 04/06/2005 (12:55 pm) · 9 replies

Hi all. I am very new here. I am learning programming for this engine and I have a little experience in 3d modelling.

I am however a little confused with the DIF formatting that they talk about. How do I go about creating these DIF formatted interiors? Is their a special process? Or can I just export a model from 3ds max as a DIF object. How do I specify what things are passable and impassable etc...

any help would be much appreciated.

-Josh
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Torque 3D Owner Scooby Brown
#1
04/06/2005 (1:37 pm)
The program i use is called quark. it can be found at www.planetquake.com/quark (not sure that is the exact name.

i bought a book called 3d game programming all in one which included quark and a map2diff plugin that is used with torque.

dif files are used for envirnmental structures like buildings. it may be a little complicated at first but practise makes perfect

ps : welcome to GG :)

Torque 3D Owner Scooby Brown
#2
04/06/2005 (1:42 pm)
OH BTW, dif format creates its own collision so u dont have to worry about any collision

Associate David Montgomery-Blake
David MontgomeryBlake
#3
04/06/2005 (2:19 pm)
If you're a max user, you can check out Game Level Builder as well. Do a search for it on the forums and you'll find the success rate of people using it to make interiors for Torque.

Torque Owner Joshua Brown
#4
04/06/2005 (5:21 pm)
Ok, well from what I understand, I don't NEED any other programs outside of 3ds to make DIF formatted models. And I don't necessarily want to drop another 40 dollars on GLB. So basically I am asking, what format or file extension or whatever do I need to export my models in, in order for them to be "DIF" formatted for the torque engine?

-Josh

Chris Browning
#5
04/07/2005 (12:00 am)
Well as far as I know if you want portals/lights and detail brushes in your interior scene then you have to use QuArK at some point. The models need to be in .map format before they can be exported, so you'd need to create the map in QuArK or Max using the GLB.

The GLB 2.22 is completely free and has everything you'd need: www.maple3d.com/MainFrameGLB2Page.htm

It can be really frustrating starting out, but after a while you get used it and with a little time make some good looking models. The only problem I suffer with is lightleaks, but I'm slowly working my way through them.

Torque Owner Joshua Brown
#6
04/07/2005 (10:30 am)
Ah, thank y ou. I didn't even notice that v 2.2 was free. I think I'll try that. And maybe even quark. I'll have to diddle around with it. Thanks

-Josh

Torque 3D Owner Adam
Adam deGrandis
#7
04/07/2005 (11:44 am)
Do youself a favor... dont try and do interiors in max. By and large, its a waste of time. Go for quark or hammer or game level builder... anything that is designed to create .map geometry.

Associate Tom Spilman
Sickhead Games
#8
04/07/2005 (12:30 pm)
I'll chime in with Cartography Shop as another option for building DIF interiors.

I also stress... don't use 3dsmax or Maya to do DIF interiors. There are very good reasons for the limitations placed on you in BSP tools like quark, hammer, or cartshop. Use one of them and you'll be much better off.

Torque Owner Joshua Brown
#9
04/07/2005 (1:02 pm)
Okay okay... hehe. I'll Get one of those apps. I'll nix Max for the interiors. Besides, conquering models in max for torque will be enough for me.

Thank you all for the help.

-Josh