GTA III map tools for 3ds max
With these scripts you can import a GTA map into 3ds max and export it again.
How to install
Install my rwio plugin.
gta_types.ms defines the basic plugins and custom attributes needed
for the map. Since everything else depends on this, it has to be loaded early
and hence goes into the plugins directory.
gtamap_import.ms and gtamap_export.ms have to be loaded after that
and hence go into scripts/startup.
Some commands for exporting are defined in GTA.mcr. That file goes
into AppData/Local/Autodesk/YOURVERSION/enu/UI/usermacros.
The commands appear in the 'GTA' group and can be put on custom toolbars or
quad menus.
How to import
Before you do anything it is a good idea to set the variables dffdir and mapdir
at the top of gtamap_import.ms to whatever is appropriate on your system (TODO: this could use an improvement)
The basic strategy to import a scene is like this:
- import all the models from the IPL
- load the IDE to attach: object definitions, paths, 2dfx
- delete junk instances (i.e. L1/2 subobjects that are only instances in the scene)
- load the COL to attach collision optional:
- replace explicit instances with xrefs to the objects in the defining scene
If the scene is a pure xref scene (i.e. it has no instances) and has no IPL, the models can be imported from the IDE and placed automatically.
If the scene defines no objects (has no IDE) the IDE and COL steps are skipped.
These three cases are encoded in the functions MakeMaxSceneIPL, MakeMaxSceneIDE and MakeMaxSceneIPLonly
If you want to do this manually you can do so in the "GTA map tools" max script utility rollout
Note that for the xref step to work the xref scenes have to be created first and known to the script
by putting them into the xrefFiles array at the top of gtamap_import.ms. (TODO: this could use an improvement)
The files also have to be findable by max through the xrefs user paths.
The whole procedure of importing the gta3 map is encoded in MakeAllMaxScenes.
It will automatically create all necessary max files for the whole map.
How to export
Use the SceneProperties macro to set where to export to and the name of the scene.
It will put all dffs and cols into their respective directories and
generate an IDE and IPL pair.
TODO: i should probably put something for that in the maxscript utility rollout.
How to edit the map
TODO: i should probably describe how the thing works in the first place
Supported games
Right now only GTA III is supported. VC would not require a huge effort to support, but one would have to think about how to handle different games in the code.
additional VC features are:
- boat paths (easy)
- more pathnode data (easy)
- detached paths (easy)
- ped attractor 2dfx (not quite clear to me yet, probably easy)
- flare 2dfx (easy)
- instance areas (perhaps with layers?)
- occluders (easy)
SA support is not really planned, as it would require quite a lot more:
- lots of 2dfx types
- binary path compiler
- DFF chunks: breakables, 2dfx
- more coll versions
- ...
- ...