Game Development Community

Tim Aste's CP2 interior .difs into TGEA

by Konrad Kiss · in Game Design and Creative Issues · 03/31/2008 (3:59 pm) · 6 replies

Hi. I just got Tim Aste's Combo Pack 2 which is a really amazing collection! However, I wanted to use his interiors in TGEA 1.7.0 Beta 2. He has included .map files of each object along with the textures, so I should have no problem converting these to TGEA difs (with an Apr 2, 2007 build of map2dif_plus_tse.exe).

It doesn't work. My console log is as follows:

//-------------------------- 4/1/2008 -- 00:35:06 -----
Math Init:
   Installing Standard C extensions
   Installing Assembly extensions
 
Initializing platform...
Input Init:
   keyboard0 input device created.
   mouse0 input device created.
   DirectInput enabled.

Creating GFXDevice...
Done
Loading C:\Torque\TACP2TGEA\Source Art\Interiors\Buildings\BuildingA\bda_0.map
Initial texture search path is set to "C:/Torque/TACP2TGEA/conversion/tex/"

InteriorMapResource::parseEntity() unknown entity unknown with brushes
InteriorMapResource::parseEntity() unknown entity unknown with brushes
InteriorMapResource::parseEntity() unknown entity unknown with brushes
...
Successfully opened map file: C:/Torque/TACP2TGEA/Source Art/Interiors/Buildings/BuildingA/bda_0.map
   Loading textures:

  STATISTICS
   - Total brushes:      0
     + structural:       0
     + detail:           0
     + portal:           0
   - Number of zones:    1
   - Number of surfaces: 0

InteriorMapResource::parseEntity() unknown entity unknown with brushes
InteriorMapResource::parseEntity() unknown entity unknown with brushes
InteriorMapResource::parseEntity() unknown entity unknown with brushes
...
Successfully opened map file: C:/Torque/TACP2TGEA/Source Art/Interiors/Buildings/BuildingA/bda_1.map
   Loading textures:

  STATISTICS
   - Total brushes:      0
     + structural:       0
     + detail:           0
     + portal:           0
   - Number of zones:    1
   - Number of surfaces: 0

InteriorMapResource::parseEntity() unknown entity unknown with brushes
InteriorMapResource::parseEntity() unknown entity unknown with brushes
InteriorMapResource::parseEntity() unknown entity unknown with brushes
...
Successfully opened map file: C:/Torque/TACP2TGEA/Source Art/Interiors/Buildings/BuildingA/bda_2.map
   Loading textures:

  STATISTICS
   - Total brushes:      0
     + structural:       0
     + detail:           0
     + portal:           0
   - Number of zones:    1
   - Number of surfaces: 0

InteriorMapResource::parseEntity() unknown entity unknown with brushes
Successfully opened map file: C:/Torque/TACP2TGEA/Source Art/Interiors/Buildings/BuildingA/bda_3.map
   Loading textures:

  STATISTICS
   - Total brushes:      0
     + structural:       0
     + detail:           0
     + portal:           0
   - Number of zones:    1
   - Number of surfaces: 0

I found that the InteriorMapResource::parseEntity() unknown entity unknown with brushes messages are triggered in engine/interior/interiorMapRes.cpp line 571 (TGEA 1.0.3) because the entity classnames are "unknown".

What classname should I define for these interiors and how? Does this entity classname only exist in the TGEA version of map2dif? I am not familiar with the .map format - except for what is evident by looking at a .map file's source (groups, coords, textures). Can't see entity classname definitions anywhere (well, I guess that doesn't surprise me, with the message and all...).

What am I doing wrong? Is there a way for me to get these interiors into TGEA at all?

Any help would be much appreciated!

About the author

Lead Developer at Bitgap Games (www.bitgap.com) currently working on Xenocell (www.xenocell.com) a massively multiplayer action strategy game based on Torque 3D technology.


#1
03/31/2008 (4:47 pm)
Have you opened the .map files in constructor and exported from there?
I haven't tried it yet, but that would be one way to get it exported.
#2
03/31/2008 (4:56 pm)
Yes, I did, and none of the export methods worked. But I made some progress...

I checked the specs of the map format, and learned that I had to define a classname property with the value worldspawn in the header - where min_pixels and detail_number are specified. A worldspawn is anything but a detail, a collision, a portal, trigger.

After this, TGEA did not freeze anymore when I tried to place the interior, but did this:

www.xenocell.com/dev/tacp2tgea-1.jpg
My console.log:

//-------------------------- 4/1/2008 -- 01:34:25 -----
Math Init:
   Installing Standard C extensions
   Installing Assembly extensions
 
Initializing platform...
Input Init:
   keyboard0 input device created.
   mouse0 input device created.
   DirectInput enabled.

Creating GFXDevice...
Done
Loading C:\Torque\TACP2TGEA\Source Art\Interiors\Buildings\BuildingA\bda_0.map
Initial texture search path is set to "C:/Torque/TACP2TGEA/conversion/tex/"

There are bad faces on this brush. This is most likely caused by a flat or non-volumetric brush.
There are bad faces on this brush. This is most likely caused by a flat or non-volumetric brush.
There are bad faces on this brush. This is most likely caused by a flat or non-volumetric brush.
...
Successfully opened map file: C:/Torque/TACP2TGEA/Source Art/Interiors/Buildings/BuildingA/bda_0.map
   Loading textures:
      Loaded texture CONCRET3
      Loaded texture RTBRICB_DK
      Loaded texture CONCRETE4A
      Loaded texture RTBRICB_DKTR
      Loaded texture CRETE32B
      Loaded texture CRETE41
      Loaded texture RTBRICB_DKPIE
      Loaded texture RTBRICB_TRIMMLE
      Loaded texture B_03
      Loaded texture CRUSTDOOR2
      Loaded texture ALG-BRICK
      Loaded texture METWALL02A
   Error: Brush 467 - There are bad faces on this brush. This is most likely caused by a flat or non-volumetric brush.
   Error: Brush 471 - There are bad faces on this brush. This is most likely caused by a flat or non-volumetric brush.
   Error: Brush 476 - There are bad faces on this brush. This is most likely caused by a flat or non-volumetric brush.
...
etc

What should I do now? Do I need to register this resource in a script for it to be lit, maybe?
#3
03/31/2008 (4:57 pm)
Did you relight the scene after placing the building?
#4
03/31/2008 (5:02 pm)
Allright, to be fair, I do not know how to use Constructor, I do not have an artist's experience at 3D. I did not seem to be able to make any difference to what I was already having regarding the map. I also didn't know how to preserve LOD while also preserving the correct LOD#.

I felt I was being distracted, so got back to map2dif_plus_tse.exe instead. So I can't really say these methods didn't work, sorry about that - I'm sure it's a great tool in apt hands.
#5
03/31/2008 (5:06 pm)
@Stephen:

No, I didn't.
Seems like I messed up something quite obvious, I am still new to TGEA - and short on sleep.

Thanks!

Now everything is working as it should!
#6
03/31/2008 (5:38 pm)
Great to hear you got it working--and honestly, you did really well on your own for someone being new to Torque ;)

Not only did you realize that they probably need to be re-exported, but you tried both the command line and Constructor paths, as well as researched entity naming via source code--that's pretty impressive. Missing a re-light at the end of a long day is nothing--you should see some of the crazy stuff I've missed occasionally!