Map2dif

#1 Yeah, I'd like to know how, too. I've always had to run the map2dif inside a VPC. Now that I'm getting more into my game, I've "borrowed" my wife's laptop for some of my tasks.

Having a map2dif compiled under Mac would be cool...

#2 There ought to be a target for map2dif_plus in the Xcode and ProjectBuilder build files that are up on CVS.
It builds & runs fine for me, but some external testing would be cool....
Give it a spin!

#3 What program do you use for CVS's on the mac?

#4 I personally use "cvs" on my client and server. No GUIs needed.

#5 Yes thank you.. after figuring out how to get the cvs to work i compiled map2dif. however i was wondering if someone could possibly provide a quick explanation on how to use the command line version of map2dif.. frankly it has me stumped.. thanks

#6 Map2dif -t /path/to/textures /path/to/the.map

That's the most basic command you'll need. Note the usage of full paths. I've found the relative path names don't work.

#7 Thank you very much

#8 Oh man.. this is a really hard tool to use.. between macradiant and the map2dif command line tool.. i am very confused. is there anything better out there??

#9 No. Not yet.

#10 @Jonathan: what problems are you having? Is it that you find the command line hard to use, or is the tool not generating the dif you expect?

#11 I find the command line very hard to use. also macRadiant is a pain cause its not really ported correctly so thinks like mouse movements dont exactly register the same... this is a huge downside for us mac developers. there should be a better tool out there. ALSo why isnt map to dif on the downloadable version of torque? why is it only available on the cvs?

#12 It is avaible on the Torque For Artists page (we haven't uploaded the Mac version yet but it is on my todo list).

#13 In the meantime: www.rustycode.com/matt/map2dif_plus_macosx.zip

#14 Thanks thats a start... now, i downloaded the map2dif exacutable and i get the message with all the commands and stuff... but being a unix noob, i dont get it... would it be possible for you to how to run the map2dif exacutable so that i can convert a .map to a .dif. cause right no all im getting are the silly commands. when i try and use the map2dif command it simply tells me that there is no such command

thanks

#15 I haven't used a Mac in 12 years so you are doing better than I am.

On Windows you have to drop to a command prompt and run "map2dif_plus.exe mymapname.map" (w/o the quotes).

#16 @Jonathan: The unix command line is a developers friend. Very useful once you get the hang of it.
You might want to check out _Learning Unix for Mac OS X Panther_ or _Mac OS X for Unix Geeks_, both from O'Reilly. There's also a pretty decent tutorial here: www.osxfaq.com/Tutorials/LearningCenter .

The quick & dirty tutorial for map2dif_plus macosx:
1) Either build your own, or download the executable from Matt's site.
2) Be sure the executable is placed in the torque/example directory, right beside your built torque app.
3) Open the Terminal application. It's in /Applications/Utilities.
4) Use the unix cd command to navigate to the torque/example directory. For example, if you keep torque in your Documents folder, you'd type
cd /Users/yourusername/Documents/torque/example
5) Run map2dif_plus from the command line just like Scott Coursey & Matt said. Here's an example:
./map2dif_plus demo/data/interiors/towers/landtower_0.map

Share and Enjoy

#17 Yes thank you thank you thaaaank you! i finally got it up and converting!
i managed to get a .dif into torque however, when i ry to load the .dif into my level the game ends and i get the error saying that i have an invalid packet. i assume that this means that the textures are not in the correct folder.. my questions is.. how do i get my own textures into mac radiant and where do i copy them too once the .dif is exported..

thanks again

#18 I know nothing of Mac Radiant. The textures go in the same folder as the DIF for TGE, though.

#19 Make sure your textures are power of two sized (2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 512, 1024, 2048, etc). They do not have to be square though. Put them in the same folder as the .dif as Scott mentioned. Also, Torque doesn't support .tga textures so you need to make sure they are .jpg or .png.

#20 Great thanks that helps a lot. i was wondering if there is anyone out there who knows how to use mac gdk radiant who could tell me
1) how to get my own textures into radiant so i can use them with my .map
2) which presets i should export the .map as once im finnished (quake3, quake2 etc.)
3) is it necessary to put portals in my maps or can i just leave a hole. if it is neccessary then how do i do that

thanks again this has been most helpful