SS1src: Modding Tools: InkyBlackness

[673f56655abb8dertseha]

Ok, now I understand.

So far I haven't seen any bounding-box code in the original engine. Might even be that this wasn't common back then.

As for the editor, I guess the benefit is limited. Because it's only top-down and a more map-like view, even the "planar" extent doesn't add too much value. Then again, I'm not a level designer, so I rather listen what is needed. If this is an important feature, I'll be happy to add it

If we somehow manage to integrate the engine with the editor (have them talk real-time), /then/ this might be something viable. Though, hold your horses - this is futuristic crazy talk here

[673f56655aedbJosiahJack]

Quake 2 uses non-rotating box collisions...well technically it's just a single point collision calculated against a precomputed 3D mesh hull projected half of the player width out from all bsp walls and baked into the level file.  Also triggers are purely bounding boxes defined by brushes using only the mins and maxs vectors for triggering.
 But we aren't talking about that.

System Shock is an entirely different collisions paradigm.  Most all objects in System Shock use spherical collision and the world is grid-based.  Some exceptions are bullet projectiles like magpulse that have 2 concentric spheres, a small one for the world so you can more easily shoot without hitting walls and a larger sphere like a beach ball that hits enemies.  The player is another physics oddity, essentially being a 2 sphere snowman.  You can sometimes get your head sphere caught in doors as they close such as when leaning, notably the horizontal door in the secret area on level 9 is easy to get caught in just by falling half thru it as it closes.  Force bridges can do this too.

TLDR: Quake 2 is different.  For the editor it could be best adding a radius circle to indicate the sphere collider as an option for objects.

[673f56655b084Roarkes]

In Quake 2, bounding boxes are a little bigger than the player or items, to avoid prefab colision or model collision.

[673f56655b297dertseha]

HackEd v1.1.0 is released.

The main feature here is the texture editor that allows modification of the game's textures (texts, properties, bitmaps).

There's still a lot of feature potential there. Things that should be modifyable, usability features (3RD is very creative with these ideas ), as well as the unknowns on how the upcoming source-port now /actually/ handles mods and their specific resources...

[673f56655b4bbvoodoo47]

I really need to get into how SS1 resources are handled.

[673f56655b637dertseha]

aaand v1.1.1 had to be released as a hotfix.

When you test very minimally, such as with only the first texture, this is going to bite you. Sooner or later. 
I guess we developers have to go through this regularly, to remind ourselves...

[673f56655b76bdertseha]

Quickly to be followed up by release of v1.1.2 .

Because bitmap import is more complicated.

[673f56655b926dertseha]

Two more bugfix releases, first v1.1.3 earlier today, now v1.1.4 .

The former one changes bitmap export behaviour, so that it is more compatible with the expected import behaviour.
And the latter one fixes a bitmap import bug that was also and first identified with the HighRes mod for 3D objects.

[673f56655ba88dertseha]

For those that are neither on Discord, nor follow me on Twitter - this is what I've been up to recently:
https://twitter.com/dertseha/status/1040722393759707137

[673f56655bbfbKolya]

Well that came as a shock.

[673f56655bd02JosiahJack]

Um wierd but pretty cool

[673f56655be6edertseha]

Following up with the corresponding release of v1.2.0 .

Next to some bug fixes, this finally allows modification of video mails. The last bastion would then be an encoder for cinematics. Yet, there are also still plenty of feature requests open...

[673f56655c1abRoarkes]

For those that are neither on Discord, nor follow me on Twitter - this is what I've been up to recently:
https://twitter.com/dertseha/status/1040722393759707137

A big breaktrough in editing to allow us to do stuff. And good joke beside the editor updates.

[673f56655c328icemann]

Funny and yet so cool to see that done in-game.

[673f56655c503datiswous]

I have a question:

What is the effective difference between clearing a level and removing one (they can both be undone anyway)? I checked the wiki page about that, but it's still not clear to me.

The strange thing is, when I clear one level, then quit the editor, start and then load, every level is cleared.

Or should this be asked in Engineering?

[673f56655c737dertseha]

Heya @datiswous and thank you for your questions!

In resource files, data is stored associated with identifier numbers. The loading logic of source port has been extended to allow to load multiple resource files (as does HackEd). The rule is: If a file has resource identifiers that have also been existing in "earlier" files, then the data from the newer file is taken for these identifier - meaning, they "overwrite".

While it may not make so much sense for levels, the concept is the same in all of the editor windows:
* "Clear" stores the resource in an empty form. A text is "empty", an empty sound has no audio, and an empty level has no tiles. Yet in all cases, the underlying data structures are stored with their respective identifier. Loading them would overwrite anything that was there before.
* "Remove" erases the corresponding entries from the resource files, and nothing is stored for that entry.

Practical example:
If you load the original levels as static world data, then a mod that has levels 0,1, 3-15 cleared (or otherwise modified), and level 2 removed, you would see the modded/empty levels, except for level 2, which shows the original.


Regarding your description: Did you load the original data as mod (Load) or as static (Add)? After clearing, did you wait for a completed save?
And questions are fine in either forums, in Engineering it may be that (more) other modders might jump in answering questions (or learn from the answers )

[673f56655c8eadatiswous]

So if you still want to use the assets originally used in that level, but want to empty the level itself, you can use Clear. But if you want to remove the level from your mod, you use the remove option?


I open it as mod. In this case the Steam version SS1 classic.
I Go to Archive. Clear the level. After that I can wait a while, doesn't matter, when I restart Hacked and open the Data folder, everything is empty. If I check Archive , I see all levels stating: (Not in mod, read only), except for the level that I cleared. That level is empty, but the assets can still be browsed. This is not the case for the other levels.

Maybe I'm missing something, but I can't see when an automatic save is done. I also tried manual saving, same result.

[673f56655d15cdertseha]

So if you still want to use the assets originally used in that level, but want to empty the level itself, you can use Clear. But if you want to remove the level from your mod, you use the remove option?

Umm... almost.
"Clear" wipes the level in order to create one from scratch - it is a level with 64x64 solid blocks and all properties set to default. "Remove" tells the engine "This mod does not provide this level" - it is not present in the resource files.
Let me try to explain with a different example.
If you wanted to create a mod that makes better/bigger versions of the groves, while also supporting other changes to the main levels, you'd need an archive that has only the levels 11, 12, and 13 modified. All other levels would need to be "removed" in order for the original archive to provide the standard levels. If you additionally wanted to have a second mod that has different "endgame" cyberspace level, this further mod would need level 10 to be present, and all other levels removed.

I open it as mod. In this case the Steam version SS1 classic. ...

I'll try to reproduce your sequence.

Maybe I'm missing something, but I can't see when an automatic save is done. I also tried manual saving, same result.

The project window will show in its title bar: how many files need saving, and after a few seconds after a change, a timer will appear that will cause an auto-save when reaching 0. This timer is reset for each further change you make. By double-clicking on the title bar of the project window, you can "minimize" this window to just show the title bar.

[673f56655d54b3RDplayer]

Hey-o @datiswous

I just reorganised and restructured the wikipage for the archive window. I do hope its more clear this way to understand what Clear and Remove do. It's not perfect. But if you think that you understand it better how it is now, please do tell.

https://github.com/inkyblackness/hacked/wiki/Archive

[673f56655d665datiswous]

Thanks both for the explanations.  It does make it more clear.

[673f56655db0fdatiswous]

The project window will show in its title bar: how many files need saving, and after a few seconds after a change, a timer will appear that will cause an auto-save when reaching 0. This timer is reset for each further change you make. By double-clicking on the title bar of the project window, you can "minimize" this window to just show the title bar.

Yeah I see it now. I expected I would see the message in the main menubar, but it was in the Project titlebar. This is correctly documented in the wiki and you said it as well. I always closed the project window, since I don't need it after loading the mod and it seamed in the way (before I figured you can fold it in).

[673f56655dd7cdertseha]

It took a while to get back to coding, yet release of v1.3.0 is done!.

This release adds the editor for game object properties (also called "gamesys" by some) - finally obsoleting the old editor as now all old featuers are now present in the new one, and even better. Because I also took another sweep at the data structures of the source-port, the properties are now pretty much complete. Some units are missing here and there, though this can be added later.

There is also the currently known bug of incompatible files modified via the bitmaps window - crashing the engine on startup. This is something I need to clarify with Axemelon, as it rather points to an issue in the engine (or a different view on how bitmap-layering is intended).

edit: The new sweep over the property structures also revealed a different size-layout than was previously thought Fun fact: Applying the sizes to the byte makes an error of 2 byte compared with the objprop.dat file, which also the mac-source indicates by a dirty hack and corresonding comment

Also, forgot to mention: ss-specs was updated accordingly of course.

[673f56655df253RDplayer]

Lots of old and new properties. Will take a time to get used and figuring out how exactly some of them affects things. (especially now that I do a sshockmodding break). Maybe I can upgrade my weapon mod with the new found possibillities.

What's left is being able to edit 8way critters and door animation frames. Etc.
3d model im/exporter I dont even talk about. Cuz friend told me the format is archaic custom made stuff. Not sure how much that is true.

[673f56655e048dertseha]

...plus cutscene import/export - which I want especially