MBG Community Level Building FAQ/Help Topic
by Matan · in Marble Blast · 06/03/2006 (4:49 pm) · 175 replies
Hello!
If you need help in creating a level creation you've came to the right place! In here, Marble Blast members will post their guides or normal FAQs on how to create different objects in-game. As well, non-Level Creation issues will also be addressed (example: recording demos).
For example, next post (mine) will feature a guide on how to create Help Triggers and add texts and relate to Scaling and talk about Gravity Modifiers (a bit). Other members will post their own guides. For example: Rotation and Position, or adding new interiors. You'll find here everything (that is, once we get around to type :P).
Here's the general information:
To access the level editor:
For Windows Users:
1) Press
2) Type in
3) Press
4) Enter a level
5) Press (if windows)
For Mac Users:
1) Press
2) Type in
3) Press
4) Enter a level
5) Press
Small Note - if using PowerBook:
1) Hold fn while pressing F10
2) Press F11
Enjoy the FAQ/Help topic,
The MBG Community.
If you need help in creating a level creation you've came to the right place! In here, Marble Blast members will post their guides or normal FAQs on how to create different objects in-game. As well, non-Level Creation issues will also be addressed (example: recording demos).
For example, next post (mine) will feature a guide on how to create Help Triggers and add texts and relate to Scaling and talk about Gravity Modifiers (a bit). Other members will post their own guides. For example: Rotation and Position, or adding new interiors. You'll find here everything (that is, once we get around to type :P).
Here's the general information:
To access the level editor:
For Windows Users:
1) Press
~to bring up the consule
2) Type in
$testcheats=1;and press enter
3) Press
~
4) Enter a level
5) Press (if windows)
F11
For Mac Users:
1) Press
F10to bring up the consule
2) Type in
$testcheats=1;and press enter
3) Press
F10
4) Enter a level
5) Press
F11
Small Note - if using PowerBook:
1) Hold fn while pressing F10
2) Press F11
Enjoy the FAQ/Help topic,
The MBG Community.
#2
Walkthrough created by Matan. Credits to Tristan "Dragon", Bobby and Technostick for Mac instructions.
Windows:
1) Press
2) Type in
3) Press
4) Enter a level and play.
5) If you go OOB, you can either exit the level and repeat the above steps (must be repeated, unlike in Mac!) or continue to play (please read the issues with recordings below).
Mac (windows users will find it rather similar):
1. Press
2. Type
4. Start a level. You must beat the level. If you go OOB, exit the level and then enter back in. You don't have to repeat the above steps.
5. Find the library folder on your hard drive that has the marble blast folder.
6. Go to
9. Go to the package contents
10. Go to
12. Start MBG. Wait a little bit, and it will start a demo. It will be one of the files in your Demos folder. If it plays Ordeal, just wait until it plays the next movie in order to see yours.
Note - In Mac the demos folder can be as said above or in there:
Main issues with Recording
1) Cross Platform - A windows user can only see a successful recording from a windows user. If he's given a MAC/Linux user recording, there will be some weird movements by the game that cause it to make mis-steps, and lots. MAC to MAC and Linux to Linux. In some cases the recording will simply not start.
2) Out of Bounds - If the player, at any time during recording, is going out of bounds, he must NEVER press his mouse to restart the level, as in the record it doesn't show so. As a matter of fact, in replays, if the marble goes off bounds, it will continuously show the level until it's normally restarting. It will never show the player restarting in mid-OOB. Had the player restarted while being OOB (Out of Bounds), the replay would not detect it, but it will detect the 'movement' of the marble. In the replay, it would show different moved to the ones required. So there could be a mismatch of up to 3-4 seconds.
3) End of Level's Replay/Continue - If the player finished a successful run but wants to do a better one on that level, he mustn't press on replay but instead press on continue and go back to the level in the menu. He can then enter the recording code and THEN enter the level and play it again. The reason for that is that a recording would never finish (show the marble in the exit pad the whole time) had the player pressed Replay. If the player presses continue, the game would detect that it can stop the recording normally.
4) Minor issues:
a) Missteps - Although a player may do a successful run in a certain level, when he, or someone else watches the recording, may see him doing a misstep in a certain area and going out of bounds, although in reality he never did. The reason for that is unknown, but it is annoying. Another example is that a fan throws the player out of bounds and in the replay it never did. Again, the reason is unknown. It happened to several people already, so watch out.
b) Custom Levels - Unless the player holds the custom level on all of its interiors and the .mis file, he cannot see the custom level recording that someone else might've done. Note again about the cross platform issue as it occurs the same in here.
c) Overwritting - The player had done a successful replay/demo and wishes to do another one on another level. Unfortunately, he didn't change the demo.rec file that was created by MBG to another filename and so, he overwrote the first file with the same filename, but for another level.
d) Ordeal.rec and Whirl.rec - These two recordings are always the first to be played by MBG when opened. So no matter how you may enter your recordings, ordeal.rec and whirl.rec are always first. To solve, you can delete or place somewhere else the ordeal.rec and whirl.rec files and then edit your recording to ordeal.rec or whirl.rec . MBG will automatically play your recording.
e) A certain recording always starts first although not present in the demos folder - This is because the recording is found in the CLIENT folder (Marble->Client). For some reason, Marble Blast will ALWAYS take a recording from the Client folder that is present and play it first and then it will play ordeal/whirl.rec from the demos folder. This might be the case is the recording is in any other folder, it hasn't been tested yet.
Viewing a recording
To watch a recording:
Windows Users
1) Go to Marble->Client->Demos
2) Find your recording (found as demo.rec)
3) Rename it (example: mycoolrecording.rec)
4) Enter Marble Blast Gold and wait for ~30-40 seconds without touching the mouse and the recording will start automatically.
Mac Users
1. Hold down the control key and click once on the MBG application icon. A Menu will pop up, from that menu select "show package contents".
2. This gives you a window with three folders. Open the one that says "Marble".
3. In the marble window, open the "Client" folder.
4. In the Client window, open the "demos" folder.
If it's not there, go to your Library in the Finder, look for a MarbleBlast folder, and then follow steps 2-4
To stop a recording:
1) At anytime, whether it's at the end of the level or mid-level recording, you can press ESC and so exit the recording. You'll be sent straight to the menu.
Issues with viewing
a) Missteps - Look above.
b) Not playable by other programs - the MyCoolRecording.rec file is not playable by any other program as they do not recognise that file as their own, even if they list that they can play .rec files. The only way to see a replay/demo is by Marble Blast Gold.
06/03/2006 (5:58 pm)
Recording Demos/Replays using Marble Blast - You'll learn how to create replays/demos of yourself, the issues to consider and how to view the recordings.Walkthrough created by Matan. Credits to Tristan "Dragon", Bobby and Technostick for Mac instructions.
Windows:
1) Press
~to bring up the consule
2) Type in
$dorecorddemo=true;and press enter
3) Press
~
4) Enter a level and play.
5) If you go OOB, you can either exit the level and repeat the above steps (must be repeated, unlike in Mac!) or continue to play (please read the issues with recordings below).
Mac (windows users will find it rather similar):
1. Press
F10to bring up the consule
2. Type
$dorecorddemo=true;3. Press
F10
4. Start a level. You must beat the level. If you go OOB, exit the level and then enter back in. You don't have to repeat the above steps.
5. Find the library folder on your hard drive that has the marble blast folder.
6. Go to
Marble->Client->Demos7. Rename and copy
demo.rec8. Right click on the Marble blast icon
9. Go to the package contents
10. Go to
Marble->Client->Demos11. Paste the .rec there
12. Start MBG. Wait a little bit, and it will start a demo. It will be one of the files in your Demos folder. If it plays Ordeal, just wait until it plays the next movie in order to see yours.
Note - In Mac the demos folder can be as said above or in there:
[username] > Library > MarbleBlast > marble > client > demos
Main issues with Recording
1) Cross Platform - A windows user can only see a successful recording from a windows user. If he's given a MAC/Linux user recording, there will be some weird movements by the game that cause it to make mis-steps, and lots. MAC to MAC and Linux to Linux. In some cases the recording will simply not start.
2) Out of Bounds - If the player, at any time during recording, is going out of bounds, he must NEVER press his mouse to restart the level, as in the record it doesn't show so. As a matter of fact, in replays, if the marble goes off bounds, it will continuously show the level until it's normally restarting. It will never show the player restarting in mid-OOB. Had the player restarted while being OOB (Out of Bounds), the replay would not detect it, but it will detect the 'movement' of the marble. In the replay, it would show different moved to the ones required. So there could be a mismatch of up to 3-4 seconds.
3) End of Level's Replay/Continue - If the player finished a successful run but wants to do a better one on that level, he mustn't press on replay but instead press on continue and go back to the level in the menu. He can then enter the recording code and THEN enter the level and play it again. The reason for that is that a recording would never finish (show the marble in the exit pad the whole time) had the player pressed Replay. If the player presses continue, the game would detect that it can stop the recording normally.
4) Minor issues:
a) Missteps - Although a player may do a successful run in a certain level, when he, or someone else watches the recording, may see him doing a misstep in a certain area and going out of bounds, although in reality he never did. The reason for that is unknown, but it is annoying. Another example is that a fan throws the player out of bounds and in the replay it never did. Again, the reason is unknown. It happened to several people already, so watch out.
b) Custom Levels - Unless the player holds the custom level on all of its interiors and the .mis file, he cannot see the custom level recording that someone else might've done. Note again about the cross platform issue as it occurs the same in here.
c) Overwritting - The player had done a successful replay/demo and wishes to do another one on another level. Unfortunately, he didn't change the demo.rec file that was created by MBG to another filename and so, he overwrote the first file with the same filename, but for another level.
d) Ordeal.rec and Whirl.rec - These two recordings are always the first to be played by MBG when opened. So no matter how you may enter your recordings, ordeal.rec and whirl.rec are always first. To solve, you can delete or place somewhere else the ordeal.rec and whirl.rec files and then edit your recording to ordeal.rec or whirl.rec . MBG will automatically play your recording.
e) A certain recording always starts first although not present in the demos folder - This is because the recording is found in the CLIENT folder (Marble->Client). For some reason, Marble Blast will ALWAYS take a recording from the Client folder that is present and play it first and then it will play ordeal/whirl.rec from the demos folder. This might be the case is the recording is in any other folder, it hasn't been tested yet.
Viewing a recording
To watch a recording:
Windows Users
1) Go to Marble->Client->Demos
2) Find your recording (found as demo.rec)
3) Rename it (example: mycoolrecording.rec)
4) Enter Marble Blast Gold and wait for ~30-40 seconds without touching the mouse and the recording will start automatically.
Mac Users
1. Hold down the control key and click once on the MBG application icon. A Menu will pop up, from that menu select "show package contents".
2. This gives you a window with three folders. Open the one that says "Marble".
3. In the marble window, open the "Client" folder.
4. In the Client window, open the "demos" folder.
If it's not there, go to your Library in the Finder, look for a MarbleBlast folder, and then follow steps 2-4
To stop a recording:
1) At anytime, whether it's at the end of the level or mid-level recording, you can press ESC and so exit the recording. You'll be sent straight to the menu.
Issues with viewing
a) Missteps - Look above.
b) Not playable by other programs - the MyCoolRecording.rec file is not playable by any other program as they do not recognise that file as their own, even if they list that they can play .rec files. The only way to see a replay/demo is by Marble Blast Gold.
#3
Created by Matan and Golden Marble
1) After you added your Time Travel, scaled and positioned it where you wanted (and maybe rotated, but let's not get picky here), click on the Time Travel and then press F3.
2) On the bottom right, click on Dynamic Fields and a new window will pop up. It will have Name and Value on it.
3) Click on Name and type in "timeBonus" without the quotes.
4) Click on Value and type in the amount of time you want.
5) If you type in the value, for example, "-45000" without the quotes, you will have a time travel that adds to your time (instead of deducting). In the example above, your time will go up by 45 seconds, instead of being stopped for 45 seconds.
Note that each 1000 is equivalent to 1 seconds. That means that 37000 is 37 seconds, 120000 is 2 minutes (in game it shows 120 seconds). 2713 is 2.713 seconds while 13 is 0.013 of a second and 1 is 0.001 of a second!
Coding Trivia:
For how long does this time travel bonus is going for?
Enjoy making your time travel bonuses.
06/15/2006 (11:42 pm)
Creating Time Travel BonusCreated by Matan and Golden Marble
1) After you added your Time Travel, scaled and positioned it where you wanted (and maybe rotated, but let's not get picky here), click on the Time Travel and then press F3.
2) On the bottom right, click on Dynamic Fields and a new window will pop up. It will have Name and Value on it.
3) Click on Name and type in "timeBonus" without the quotes.
4) Click on Value and type in the amount of time you want.
5) If you type in the value, for example, "-45000" without the quotes, you will have a time travel that adds to your time (instead of deducting). In the example above, your time will go up by 45 seconds, instead of being stopped for 45 seconds.
Note that each 1000 is equivalent to 1 seconds. That means that 37000 is 37 seconds, 120000 is 2 minutes (in game it shows 120 seconds). 2713 is 2.713 seconds while 13 is 0.013 of a second and 1 is 0.001 of a second!
Coding Trivia:
For how long does this time travel bonus is going for?
};
new Item(timetravel1) {
position = "-32.9099 16.7081 -22.1314";
rotation = "1 0 0 0";
scale = "1 1 1";
dataBlock = "TimeTravelItem";
collideable = "0";
static = "1";
rotate = "1";
timeBonus = "834965";Enjoy making your time travel bonuses.
#4
06/16/2006 (12:39 am)
13:54.965 seconds!
#6
5) Press (if windows)
06/16/2006 (1:37 am)
You realise that in the fifth instruction for Mac users, it says 5) Press (if windows)
F11
#8
06/16/2006 (4:11 am)
Um, f10 on my mac doesnt work. maybe the new mini-mac is different.
#9
Its not Marble-Data-Client-Demos but Marble-Client-Demos
Here's Mac instructions:
1. Press
5. Find the library folder on your hard drive that has the marble blast folder.
6. Go to
9. Go to the package contents
10. Go to
12. Start MBG. Wait a little bit, and it will start a demo. It will be one of the files in your Demos folder. If it plays Ordeal, just wait until it plays the next movie in order to see yours.
06/16/2006 (4:12 am)
Matan, theres an error in your recording guide:Its not Marble-Data-Client-Demos but Marble-Client-Demos
Here's Mac instructions:
1. Press
F102. Type
$dorecorddemo=true;3. Press
F104. Start a level. You must beat the level. If you go OOB, exit the level and then enter back in. You don't have to repeat the above steps.
5. Find the library folder on your hard drive that has the marble blast folder.
6. Go to
Marble-Client-Demos7. Rename and copy
demo.rec8. Right click on the Marble blast icon
9. Go to the package contents
10. Go to
Marble-Client-Demos11. Paste the .rec there
12. Start MBG. Wait a little bit, and it will start a demo. It will be one of the files in your Demos folder. If it plays Ordeal, just wait until it plays the next movie in order to see yours.
#10
06/17/2006 (10:52 am)
There's a difficulty with newer Macs... I can't ever get the console on my laptop (about 1 month old). Of course, I don't need it :)
#12
Beau - Go for the bump :P
06/19/2006 (5:07 am)
Added recording walkthrough by Tristan "Dragon" and credited him at the top of the walkthrough. Edited more errors in guide.Beau - Go for the bump :P
#13
06/27/2006 (4:09 am)
On the first day, God said let there be bump. And there was bump. And God saw that there was bump, and it was good.
#14
YAYAYAYYAYA!!!
WIIPPPEEEEYY!!!
HOORAY!! HOORAY!!!
06/27/2006 (4:15 am)
... And everybody rejoiced.YAYAYAYYAYA!!!
WIIPPPEEEEYY!!!
HOORAY!! HOORAY!!!
#16
06/27/2006 (6:52 am)
My bumps, my bumps, my bumps, my bumps, my bumps my lady bumps. lol. jk.
#20
07/07/2006 (8:45 am)
I am not understand.Can you make a video to teach me how on"YouTube"?
Matan
Walkthrough created by Matan and Golden Marble.
Making the trigger:
1) Press ~ and then type in $testcheats=1; and then enter this code. Now press ~
2) Enter a level, press F11
3) Press F4 and then press Mission Objects from the menu on the right
4) Now press Mission
5) Press Triggers
6) From the new window that popped up, you can (isn't a must, but always looks good and easier to find when searching for the trigger inside the code. In fact, in our case, it's a must to call this object in a name!) name this Object. For example, name it: helptrig1
7) Press the default button (in the data block row) and then a list of 5 triggers appear. Press Helptrigger.
8) Press Ok
9) Press F3. You now see the some numbers and rows on the right. That's the code for the Helptrigger.
10) Drag the new yellow box that is in front of you (the marble) and put it whether you want to. Type in the position and scale (position is where you want it to be activated) and Scale for the size of it. I'll talk about scaling bit later on.
11) Now that you positioned it whether you wanted (dragging the box and pressing the yellow box twice will tell the game that this is the new position and so it will update the position on the right side) and scaled it, you're almost done. Press Apply to save the changes done!
12) Click on the helptrig and press F3. Click on dynamic fields. A new window will come up and say name and value. Click on name first.
13) Type in "text" without the quotes. Then click on value. Thenm type in what you want it to say.
14) Press Apply and save the mission.
15) Exit the level and exit Marble Blast.
16) Search for the level name (eg, you saved it in Beginner Levels as MyCoolLevel.mis) and open the .mis file with Notepad/TextEdit.
17) Search for the help trigger (since we named it Helptrig1, there's only one thing in the document called like that. Had we not named it, we could've probably needed to find that help trigger from a mass of these things.) and if you didn't name it, search for HelpTrigger .
18) Add in capital letters where required.
19) Save the .mis file and then enter MBG and enter your level. Now go to the help trigger and you'll see the text displayed at the middle of the screen with the captial letters.
Congratulations! You now made a fully working Help Trigger!
Scaling. Applies to everything. In this quick walkthrough, I'll refer to it as a trigger box.
Ok, so you added your trigger/object. What's that 1 1 1 thing next to scale?
This is to make the trigger bigger than the original 'box' that you have. For example, putting 5 1 1 will increase the size of the box in the X Axis 5 times as much as it was than in the original box's shape (vertically and parallel to the marble). Putting 1 6 1 would increase the size the size of the box in the Y Axis 6 times as much as it was than in the original box's shape (horizontally and in front of the marble). Putting 1 1 10 would increase the size of the box in the Z Axis 10 times as much as it was than in the original box's shape (above the parallel to the marble).
Putting a negative ( - ) in front of a number means that the number (X/Y/Z only) will be backwards. That means, that in -7 5 2, the box will go 7 units negative to its original position on the X-Axis, 5 units positively in the Y-Axis and 2 units upwards (trigger becomes bigger).
For Example:
new Trigger(helptrig9) { position = "11.2511 1309.67 488.801"; rotation = "1 0 0 0"; scale = "8.80313 10.9996 1"; dataBlock = "HelpTrigger";This help trigger has a CENTRAL POINT at 11.2511 units to the right (X-Axis), 1309.67 units at Y-Axis and 488.801 units at Z-Axis. Therefore, since the point is central, everything in the scale is divided by 2 and you got the position from the central point that this trigger is activated (Z Axis remains the same). In this case:
X Axis 6.75 to 15.75
Y Axis 1305 to 1315
Z Axis 488.801
This is the estimates of the activation point, but you get the points of where it gets activated:
From 6.75 1305 488.801 until 15.75 1315 488.801
Confusing? It's easier when you do this IN THE LEVEL ITSELF when the box is IN FRONT OF YOU!
Or we could have this;
new Trigger(outofbound4) { position = "11.934 1168.44 488.301"; rotation = "1 0 0 0"; scale = "2 130 3"; dataBlock = "OutOfBoundsTrigger";This Out of Bounds Triggers has a central point at 11.934 1168.44 488.301 BUT it has these transformations:
X Axis 2 Units
Y Axis 130 Units
Z Axis 3 Units
Therefore, it's the central point, so my trigger is in this box only (if the marble is at a position before or after and the trigger doesn't get activated at all) at:
X Axis 10.934 until 12.934
Y Axis 1103.44 until 1233.44
Z Axis 486.801 until 489.801
So, if my marble is anything within these points and I'm going out of bounds (in the InBound Triggers, if you go OUTSIDE the box, you're 'Out of Bounds', while that in the OutOfBounds Triggers, if you go INSIDE the box, you're 'Out of Bounds'. Confusing, but you get the main point.)
So if my marble is at ' 10.6 1100 488.801 ' it is not out of bounds since my Y and X axis are the ones that determine when my marble is going into the box or not in this case. Z axis doesn't do anything in this case. So if my marble is at ' 11.7 1170 490 ' I would still not hit the trigger, but it's directly BELOW ME (notice that I'm at 490, and the trigger is activated at 489.801) so if I fall down, I hit the trigger and I need to start the level again.
Same for the Help trigger, except that if I go into its boundaries, it's activated and so the text appears.
To make InBound / OutOfBounds trigger, do the same as you did in Help Triggers. Just save the level and exit the level and then re-enter it in order to have the changes applied to the triggers to be 'made'; so now that it will have the triggers where they are supposed to be at.