fun with .pso

Well, my goal was simply to write an importer for myself. On that front, I have to write the UV code and something that can parse the setup.LWS files to get things like positioning, lights, cameras, some kind of handler for animation. I'll be done as soon as I can dedicate a couple of hours to it. I'm trying to finish it by Christmas.

As far as writing an exporter, once the file formats are understood in entirety, it should be relatively straight forward to write. I would write it as a separate script. It'll take some time, but there seems to be enough interest to warrant attempting it.

For future development Jasper and I should write up documenation for all the file formats in EOC.
FTU file structure - I have
FTC file structure - I have
DXT1 compression - need to look for
PSO format - currently writing
LWS format - I have documentation for this, I should strip out what's not used in EOC files.

With proper documentation, anyone could script or program import and export tools for any package.

DaveL

I would say the fact that we can currently only use lightwave to get models into the game is a serious handicap when it comes to seeing new models.

Not only that, but you really need to specifically have Lightwave 5 to make complete models. So, absolutely, anything that adds new ways to get models into the game is tremendously welcome and should boost modeling interest.

davel, I'm extremely familiar with the functionality of the lws format. Let me know if I can be of any help. (But I won't be back until after Christmas.) In the meantime, check out the tutorial I wrote explaining the lws file for geography, in the mods forum. It might at least give you some basic starting information. *edit* Oops, nevermind, I just noticed that you said that you have documentation for lws.

mailto:second_chance@cox.net
The Ultimate Guide To Modding: I-War 2 - Edge Of Chaos
.

I would like to see this information stored somewhere more a like a reference/documentation site. Any suggestion on a good location?

davel - an exporter for all this is a "must have". As a mod community we need to be able to free ourselves of being tied to Lightwave.

Key packages to target are:
* 3ds Max
* Maya
* gmax
* Blender

3ds Max: You are covering this very nicely with your import script. I have some experience in Maxscript as well so if there is anything I can do to help on the export side just let me know.

gmax: We should be able to use the 3ds Max importer for gmax unless there are facilities you are using that gmax does not support. I have the tools already to make 3ds Max exporters operational in gmax with minimal rework.

Maya: Good luck to anyone on that. My delving into MEL have not been an enjoyable experience.

Blender: While this already has lwo importing and exporting I understand it is somewhat limited. We should probably take what is there and create EoC specific versions that we KNOW work. It's all Python and the API looks solid. Plus Blender is actively progressing all the time (unlike gmax) but is also free (like gmax). Anyway I would be happy to get involved in a Blender EoC importer/exporter if that would be of interest to people.


Cheers,
Joco.

I can host some things on "my never updated website".
I might also start posting versions of my script.

I haven't had much time to myself over the holidays to do much. However, I did manage to write in a DXT1 decompresser. It's uneccesary for importing, but I'll want it later when I write the exporter in order to check the output textures. Plus it was fun to write.

I've also been working on SHDR stuff again, progress soon I hope!

Hope everyone is having good Holidays,

DaveL

Excellent! Please keep us updated, even if it's only on small bits of progress. I've still got some 3D work to do for the Wings of Defiance mod and I'm hoping to make copious use of your new scripts. Plus, since you appear to enjoy it so much, I can't wait to see what else you come up with.

mailto:second_chance@cox.net
The Ultimate Guide To Modding: I-War 2 - Edge Of Chaos
.

Originally posted by Joco

I would like to see this information stored somewhere more a like a reference/documentation site. Any suggestion on a good location?

I can of course easily provide a home for any and all information on the Torn Stars site. I can even make a sub-domain for it, a wiki, a dedicated forum, file hosting...whatever. Just let me know what you need and I will set it up.