¡Nueva herramienta para la edición de niveles! Tomb Editor

[Zynkel]

Se ha lanzado una nueva herramienta para la edición de niveles recientemente, su nombre es Tomb Editor. Esta herramienta ha sido diseñada por varios usuarios de Tomb Raider Forums, en los que se encuentran editores de niveles destacados como Titak(Himalaya Misteries) la lista completa del equipo es: MontyTRC, Lwmte, XProger, Stohrendorf, Titak, leveldesigner1, TRTombLevBauer, Gancian, Gemini, Gh0stBlade, Monsieur Z, Teslarus, Banderi, teme9.

 

La herramienta se encuentra en versión BETA 1.1.1, es una versión mejorada del NGLE la cual incluye todas sus funcionalidades,una interfaz más agradable e intuitiva y algunas características más.

 

README de la herramienta:

 

TOMB EDITOR INSTRUCTIONS FILE / Public Beta 1.0, 14 November 2017
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TombEditor is an unofficial level editor for Tomb Raider 4 custom levels. It is a modern replacement for the RoomEdit level editor from Core Design, also known as "TRLE", which was released to the public in 2000 with Tomb Raider Chronicles and was the original in-house tool used by the development team to produce levels for Tomb Raider 4. Unlike RoomEdit, which dates back to 1999 and Windows 98 era, TombEditor is compatible with modern systems from Windows 7 to Windows 10, supports both 32-bit and 64-bit CPUs, takes advantage of modern GPUs capabilities through the use of DirectX 10 and has a more standard user interface utilizing a spectrum of mouse controls. TombEditor allows for import of RoomEdit's PRJ project files and for use of WAD object files and TGA texture sets, but also introduces its own proprietary PRJ2 format for project files and WAD2 format for object files, which are aimed at lifting the limitations imposed by the original formats. All of the crucial, basic functionality for level editing was ported from RoomEdit, with some of it extended to new abilities, along with new, additional tools developed from scratch to aid the editing process.

COMPATIBILITY WITH NGLE/TRNG
Years after the original RoomEdit/TRLE was released, an unofficial patch for it was developed by the user nicknamed Paolone, dubbed NGLE (for Next Generation Level Editor), along with an extension to the Tomb Raider 4 game engine executable, dubbed TRNG (for Tomb Raider Next Generation). NGLE and TRNG introduced a number of enhancements along with new capabilities, such as the use of bigger texture tiles and more-detailed objects in levels, and a scripting system to invoke new game behaviors, to name a few. A limited subset of those functionalities is already supported by TombEditor, while others will be gradually implemented within the next releases.

Currently supported NGLE/TRNG features:
- big textures
- weather conditions such as snow
- room properties such as cold or damage
- special properties for static meshes such as "Damage Lara on contact", transparencies or scalability
- WADs with high polygon count models & objects
- v130 WADs

Upcoming NGLE/TRNG features:
- scripts support

MAIN DIFFERENCES FROM ROOMEDIT
TombEditor does not support saving of PRJ files and it will not support it in the future. PRJ files can be imported, but not written to. This is due to the complicated structure of the PRJ file format, its unreliability, high probability of corruption and general lack of official documentation. PRJ import is capable of reading PRJ files at nearly 99% accuracy, but nevertheless, some issues might occur. Please always report issues with PRJ import to the development team! Providing the PRJ file which causes problems at import will be appreciated.
Projects can be saved in the new, PRJ2 file format. It is designed to be reliable than the PRJ file format and more flexible in case changes and/or improvements were to be introduced.
WAD files are still supported and can still be used in conjunction with PRJ2 files, the same way they were used with PRJ files.
TombEditor comes with its own built-in compiler and produces complete TR4 format level files. It does not need an external compiler such as the tomb2pc (or NG_tom2pc) compiler used with TRLE (or NGLE/TRNG).
TGA texture sets are still supported, along with PNG and BMP files. Note that when using PRJ2 files, "wide" texture sets (with a width larger than 256 pixels), are no longer "broken" to accommodate a 256 pixel wide texture panel, as they were in TRLE/NGLE.
Sky texture (pcsky.raw) and font texture (font.pc) files can be chosen on per-project basis; necessary options are available in the Level Settings panel under Tools in the main menu.
File paths for texture files, object files and sound sample files used in the PRJ2 project file, along with directory paths for Tomb Raider 4 game engine files can be manually adjusted, also in the Level Settings panel.
Texture selection can now be modified by moving the corner points of the default square shape, it is no longer limited to a pre-defined grid size and texture sizes can be mixed within a single level.
Diagonal walls and steps can be shaped in room geometry.
Rooms can be moved up and down even after doors/portals were created.
Doors/portals on triangulated sectors are handled automatically, meaning there is no need to apply "no collision" to triangles; instead, a "Force solid floor" function was implemented to override this automatic handling of doors/portals on triangles.
Objects (moveables, statics, lights, cameras, etc.) and room sectors can both stay selected at the same time.
Modifier keys are assigned differently (read below for specifics).

BASIC USAGE
TombEditor is generally self-explanatory. All principles from RoomEdit are retained, differences are mainly within the user interface. Each button within the editor window has a tooltip to explain its function.
The standard keyboard controls for geometry editing Q/A W/S E/D R/F and Ctrl (to show arrows pointing to sector corners) are still in use, while some other keyboard shortcuts and mouse controls were altered compared to RoomEdit:
- Ctrl mirrors textures
- Shift rotates textures
- Right Mouse Button rotates the room in 3D view
- Middle Mouse Button pans the 3D view camera up, down, left & right; this can also be performed by holding Shift with Left Mouse Button
- zooming is performed by holding Ctrl with Left Mouse Button or by moving the mouse wheel
- Alt with Left Mouse Button is used to pick textures

Some of the new keyboard and mouse controls for editor functions include:
- Esc resets all current selection / deselects; this can also be done by clicking with Left Mouse Button outside of the room (where the background colour is seen) in the 3D view; object selection can be reset using the Reset button in the Object Browser panel
- double click with Right Mouse Button anywhere in the 3D view resets the 3D view camera
- holding Shift with Left Mouse Click on a floor or ceiling step rotates the step within a sector
- holding Alt with Left Mouse Click on a triangulated sector toggles it between a "raised" and "collapsed" variant
- holding Ctrl with Left Mouse Click allows free-roaming selection of textures in the Texture Panel and free-roaming movement of texture selection corners (the movement is with a 16 pixel increment by default when Ctrl key is not pressed)
- holding Ctrl with Right Mouse Click is used to zoom in and out the texture set in the Texture Panel; this can also be done by moving the mouse wheel

NEW GEOMETRY AND TEXTURING TOOLS:
Aside from the improved 3D view rendering TombEditor comes with a selection of tools to aid geometry shaping and texturing, which were developed largely by Lwmte. When the Geometry mode or Face edit mode are active, a Tool Palette bar is visible in the 3D view. The bar can be moved around the 3D view freely, it can also be docked among other panels in the main window, or can be completely disabled - appropriate options are located in the Window > Tool Palette menu.

Geometry tools:
Selection - self-explanatory, used to pre-select a wider area (larger than 1 sector) where further operations will be performed
Drag - "drags" selected geometry up and down, can also be used to "drag" primary divisions (made with Q,A,W,S keys) in walls (secondary divisions, made with E,D,R,F keys, aren't affected); after activating the tool, select an area to be modified, then press and hold Left Mouse Button while moving the cursor to move geometry up or down
Brush and shovel - rise or lower geometry in a smooth manner, without breaking up sector connections, ideal for shaping of natural landscapes; can be used by pressing and holding Left Mouse Button while moving the cursor or by applying single clicks to a sector
Pencil - rises single sectors by a "click"; can be used by pressing and holding Left Mouse Button while moving the cursor or by applying single clicks to a sector
Bulldozer - flattens an area to an averaged level, based on surrounding geometry; used by pressing and holding Left Mouse Button while moving the cursor
Smooth - "smooths" geometry by adjusting it to the shapes of surrounding sectors; can be used by pressing and holding Left Mouse Button while moving the cursor or by applying single clicks to a sector

Texturing tools:
Selection - as with Geometry tools, used to pre-select an area where further operations will be performed; please note that selection will not be visible on sectors where textures are applied and for this reason the 2D room grid must be used as reference
Brush - the default texturing tool, allows applying the selected texture by pressing and holding Left Mouse Button while moving the cursor or by applying single clicks to a square or triangle
Pencil - applies the selected texture to single squares or triangles only by clicking with the Left Mouse Button; unlike the Brush tool, textures will not be applied further when the button is pressed and the cursor is moved around
Fill - applies the selected texture to the floor, ceiling or wall faces all at once, similar to "Texture all floor", "Texture all ceiling" and "Texture all walls" buttons
Group texturing - allows applying the selected texture to more than 1 square by having it "stretched" over the squares within a selected area; after activating the tool, select an area to be affected (unless you have already done it with the Selection tool; note that selection is not visible on textured faces, so refer to the 2D room grid) and click with the Left Mouse Button within the selected area to apply the texture over all the squares within it;
Eraser - causes all texturing tools to "erase" the texture from the face, bringing it back to its "bare" state, instead of applying the texture selected in the Texture Panel (toggle on/off)
Invisible - causes all texturing tools to apply an "invisible" texture, instead of applying the texture selected in the Texture Panel; it is the equivalent of applying the black colour from the colour palette in RoomEdit (toggle on/off)
Fix texture coordinates - causes all texturing tools to apply textures to triangles without distortions (toggle on/off)

Tips for using the Geometry and Texturing tools:
- remember that all tools only work within a selected area, so if a tool appears not to work make sure that there is no selection outside of the area where you are trying to use the tool
- in order to deactivate both the Eraser and Invisible tools, select a texture in the Texture Panel

ANIMATION RANGES PANEL:
For setting up animation ranges a more feature-rich panel was implemented, which allows for managing of individual frames within a set. The Animation Ranges button under the textures area brings up the Animated textures window with following option areas:
Animation set - choose a set to view or modify from the drop down menu:
- press the + button to add a new set
- press the Bin button to delete the currently selected set
Frames - shows frames within the currently selected set:
- click on a frame entry to highlight the texture tile in the textures view
- press the Bin button to remove the frame
- press the + button to add the texture tile currently selected in the textures view as a new frame
- press the Left Turn Arrow button to replace the texture tile in currently selected frame with the texture tile that is currently currently selected in the textures area
- change the value in the Repeat field to specify how long a frame is going to be shown for within the range
Settings - this area is work-in-progress
Preview - showcases the currently selected animation set

Tips for using the Animated textures window:
- changes to animated ranges are currently always applied regardless of whether you press the OK button on the bottom of the window or close the window with the X button
- similarly to how textures can be selected in the Texture Panel, each tile selected for an animation frame can have different orientation, which indicated by a highlighted triangle; make sure all your frames in a set have the desired orientation

EDITOR CONFIGURATION
A lot of TombEditor settings can be customized by editing the TombEditorConfiguration.xml file located in the main director. Any text editor, including Notepad, should be suitable for editing the XML file, but be sure to make your edits before you launch TombEditor - your changes to the file will not be saved when the editor is running. Only edit the values between the <...> </...> brackets, not the names of the brackets themselves! Do not change the entries after the <Window_Layout> line, as they are used to remember the editor's interface layout, unless you purposefully want to modify it with the settings file.
Most of the setting entries are self-explanatory, but below is a general description of some entries and sections related to the user experience:
Editor_DiscardSelectionOnModeSwitch - selection of objects and/or sectors will be reset when you switch between Geometry, Face edit and Lighting modes
RenderingItem section - adjusts mouse control and field of view for the Object Browser 3D view
Rendering3D_DrawRoomsMaxDepth - the number of rooms connected to the currently edited room to be shown in the 3D view when Draw portals button is ON
Rendering3D section - adjusts mouse control and field of view for the room 3D view (the main view)
Rendering3D_LineWidth - adjusts the thickness of the black lines of the room wireframe in the 3D view
Rendering3D_BackgroundColor, _BackgroundColorFlipRoom, _TextColor - adjusts the colour of the background and text in the 3D view; X Y Z values stand for Red Green and Blue, while the W value stands for alpha; values range from 0 to 1, so white is X,Y,Z : 1, black is X,Y,Z : 0 while light gray is X,Y,Z : 0,65
Map2D section - adjusts mouse control for the 2D level map
TextureMap section - adjusts mouse control for the Texture Panel
TextureMap_UseAdvancedTexturingByDefault - "advanced texturing" is selecting texture tiles with a Ctrl key pressed for free-roaming selection, this option toggles it on/off as the default method
Tool_DefaultGeometry and DefaultFaceEdit - indicates which tool from the Tool Palette should be on by default after you switch between Geometry and Face edit modes
Gizmo section - adjusts the size of the 3D elements which make up the "gizmo" used to move, rotate and scale objects; TranslationCone is the "arrows", LineThickness is the thickness of the arrow lines, while CenterCube and ScaleCube are the cubes in the center and in the middle of the arrow lines (for future implementation)
Window_Position and _Size - used to store the position of the editor window when it's not maximised
Window_Maximized - whether the editor should start up as maximized

KNOWN ISSUES
- some texture issues might occur when using WADs high polygon count models & objects in the level
Please always report issues to the development team! Providing a detailed description of an issue with instructions on how to reproduce it will help in fixing it, along with providing the affected file(s), such as PRJ, WAD or texture set files for investigation.



-----------------------------
WIP:
IMPORTED GEOMETRY (W.I.P FEATURE)
TombEditor allows for importing of 3D objects stored in various popular 3D software formats directly into the rooms of levels. In the main menu go to Items > Add imported geometry. The cursor will change into a cross - click on a sector in the room to place a placeholder mesh for the imported geometry object. Double click the placeholder to open up the Imported Geometry Settings window. Press the + button to load your object file and press Assign to assign the loaded object to the currently selected placeholder and press OK to confirm. You can load multiple objects in the Imported Geometry Settings window, but only one can be assigned to a current placeholder. Your imported geometry object assignment will be saved with the PRJ2 file, but the object file must be kept at the same location in order to load correctly later.

 

Los interesados (me incluyo) pueden descargarse la versión 1.1.0 del siguiente enlace http://www.tombeditor.it/dist/TombEditor.zip

 

A continuación dejo una serie de video tutoriales los cuales introducen la herramienta:

Tomb Editor - First Look Part 1: The Basics

Tomb Editor - First Look Part 2: Importing PRJs and diagonal geometry

Tomb Editor - First Look Part 3: Geometry Tools

Tomb Editor - First Look Last Part: Texturing

Tomb Editor - Extras

 

Y la web del proyecto del editor: http://www.tombeditor.it

 

Personalmente estoy deseando pillar algo de tiempo y retomar el proyecto que tengo en NGLE con esta herramienta para ir jugando con ella y ver que es capaz. Animo a la gente a que se introduzca en este mundillo, la verdad es que es muy entretenido y puedes dar rienda suelta a la imaginación.

 

Actualización: Al parecer hay una versión más reciente, la 1.0.9 del 30 de Abril. Dejo los cambios incluidos en esta versión:

Nueva actualización. Versión 1.1.0 03/06/2018

Version 1.1.0 - 03/06/2018
==========================
Added additional sounds to Wad2
Added state changes editor
Added anim commands editor
Added keyframe interpolation
Added new start velocity and end velocity instead of speed and accel
Improved many aspects of the animation editor
Moved to quaternions for really smooth and precise interpolation
Added confirmation to object delete
Fixed exception after object delete
Fixed TR5 sample MSADPCM compression
Fixed TrCatalog.xml
Fixed colored triangles in level meshes
Fixed climbing bugs
Fixed statics lightning bugs
Fixed random access violation while loading Prj2

A few notes about sounds
Currently you will have 3 groups of sounds:

    Fixed sounds: they can't be moved because they are directly used in TR source code
    Dynamics sounds: they are used only in animations and so WadTool can remap them in free slots when needed
    Additional sounds: they are sounds that aren't fixed or dynamic, but usually used only in rooms. Like wind loop.


The following bugs will be solved in the next update:

    Bug reported by ChocolateFun
    Crouch bug
    Rooms disappearing sometims when camera is in particular situations and setups
    Resize room bug

Nueva actualización 1.1.1 Changelog:

 

Version 1.1.1 - 10/06/2018
==========================
Selection now is resetted after room change
Fixed many bugs with normals and shades in meshes
Small fixes

 

Un cordial saludo.

[requiemsoul]

Gracias Zynkel, me han comentando que a pesar de su diseño visual más amigable es bastante más complicado de utilizar.

[Zynkel]

Supongo que será cuestión de costumbres.

 

Yo me estoy viendo los vídeos de presentación de la herramienta y el proyecto que tengo lo continuaré con ella a ver que tal. En mi caso cómo no he llegado a dominar del todo el NGLE supongo que me costará menos. A las malas siempre uno puede retomar lo que más cómodo le resulte.

[David Rukawa]

Tiene muy buena pinta, la verdad.

 

Hace un siglo que no me conecto a esta página y me sorprende que aún mantengan mi cuenta. Sí... yo era un diseñador de niveles empedernido y, pasando por aquí (por pura nostalgia), me encuentro con una herramienta que me recuerda bastante al DxTre3D de Turbo Pascal, otro desaparecido en combate (al menos, para mí). ¿Todavía se sigue desarrollando para los juegos clásicos? Es maravilloso.

 

¡Saludos!

[Zynkel]

Hola David, bienvenido de nuevo

 

Sí, se está trabajando mucho aún en niveles de autor basados en los motores del TR clásico (Sobre todo del TR4 que es el motor que con el que trabaja TRNG).

 

Por cierto, el equipo que está desarrollando el Tomb Editor está trabajando en un nuevo motor llamado TR5Main el cual usará como base el motor de TR5. ¡Esto dará a los niveles un amplio abanico de nuevas posibilidades! Por ejemplo, aumentando el número máximo de objetos por nivel o incluso el número de armas que Lara pueda llevar. Es increíble

[David Rukawa]

Hmm... tal vez me de por volver a crear un nivel. El definitivo... para retirarme a gusto, ¡ja, ja, ja!

 

Aunque hoy en día estoy desarrollando mis propios juegos (los que llevo soñando desde niño), nunca se sabe. Tiene muy buena pinta lo que están montando estos señores.