OpenZone 7.2

[Windcatcher]

If you've been making zones with OpenZone and want to add doors to your zone, then this release is for you. Read on...

1. In fly mode, holding down Alt does the same thing as holding down Shift when moving (it allows more precise movement, by a factor of ten), but holding them both down allows *really* precise movement (by a factor of 100).

2. Objects placed from the mesh library have a new attribute: DoorRef. It's False by default, but if you set it to True then the model will be exported when you export the zone but it won't be explicitly placed. Instead, OpenZone will generate a <zone>.sql file with SQL for inserting a reference to the object in the doors table. In this way you can use OpenZone to place doors.

3. Added "File...Export...Export to .SQL". This lets you create just the <zone>.sql file without having to export the whole zone. This is useful if you simply tweaked door positions or added more doors that have been previously added to the zone.

4. Added a new scripted object category, "Sql", and a scripted object called "Door_Parms". This object doesn't do anything visually but it allows you to set additional database parameters for objects you've placed where DoorRef is True. When OpenZone generates a .SQL file, these extra parameters will be included for each object. The Door_Parms object operates on all objects at or below the same level as itself where DoorRef is True. It means that a single object can be placed to set default parameters for all doors in the zone, and individual doors can be customized by grouping additional Door_Parms objects with them. People with servers that have more (or less) parameters than are in this script should update the door_parms script in the \library\scripts folder.

5. Added a SQLPARM command to the scripting language. It takes three parameters: table name, column name, and value, where the table and column names can be specified directly by enclosing them in double quotes. The SQLPARM command operates on all placed objects at the same level as the scritped object whose DoorRef parameter is set to True (see the Door_Parms script to see how it's used, but the table name must be "doors" at this time).

6. In the scripting language, default string parameter values can be specified in double quotes. This was necessary to fully support the new Door_Parms object.

7. In the scripting language, string operands can be concatenated with the "+" operator. This feature is not used at this time but was easy to add.

8. Added "Object...Insert hotspot". A hotspot is an object that has no visual properties, it is merely a location that you can reference and can be part of objects you place into the mesh library. The purpose of inserting hotspots into your zone is to create locations where you want to place objects on a regular basis. Using them makes certain things a lot easier: for instance, if a hut was exported to the mesh library that has a hotspot at the door entrance (or even better, one on each side of the door entrance), one can easily place the hut in the zone and add a door to it by selecting a hotspot, placing a door anywhere in the zone, and then selecting "Object...Move to last selected hotspot".

9. Added "Object...Move to last selected hotspot". This moves the currently selected object to the last hotspot you selected. The selected hotspot shows up as a small orange sphere (and non-selected ones are red). This option automatically turns off the object's Gravity setting.

10. Added a setting to the Display Properties pane that controls display of hotspots. They look much like model origins in the 3D view but are red instead, and the selected hotspot will display as orange.

11. Added "Object...Select hotspot". This pops up a list that lets you select a hotspot that might be contained in an object that was placed from the mesh library. The reason for this is that objects placed from the mesh library show up in the object tree as single objects and their component parts normally can't be selected. By default when you select such an object the first hotspot in it will automatically be selected; this option lets you select any other hotspots in it instead (the larger elf huts, for instance, contain four hotspots, two for each entrance)

12. Re-exported all of the elf hut models to include hotspots for door placement.

13. Re-exported the brick_bank, brick_store, and brick_tavern models to include hotspots for door placement and resized their entrances so the 6x10 doors will fit properly.

14. Moved the elf_door mesh objects to the doors category.

15. Made some minor speed improvements to the 3D engine.

16. Fixed some memory leaks in the scripting engine.

I've also updated the built-in help to describe all the new stuff. I highly recommend it.

OpenZone 7.2 is available here:

http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/e...2.zip?download

Cheers,

WC

[GeorgeS]

When you create the S3D, using one of your zones- peshara_darker.scn, it takes a very long time (~30min) to compile to S3D, is this normal?

GeorgeS

[Windcatcher]

Depends on your PC, I guess, though 30 minutes sounds excessive. A zone with a lot of light sources might take me up to 10 minues to export, on a 2.8 with 1gb of RAM.

[Sakrateri]

Hey WC, Anyway to get Openzone to export zones to B3d, .X or 3DS ?

[Windcatcher]

It already should export to .3ds. I would need documentation on .b3d or .x to be able to export to them, but I suppose it's possible. I've been working on 7.3 a little bit at a time (though not all that much while it's still been summer) and here is what'd going in it so far:

1. In the ground editing options pane, changed the ground height label to an edit field. You can enter any height you want here for precise ground height editing. Entering an invalid value will make turn the field background red.
3. Added "Help...Tutorial" to the main menu to make the tutorial easier to find.
4. Fixed a bug in the 3D engine where polygons would not be rendered in bird's-eye mode.
5. Fixed texture coordinates in .3DS export.
6. Fixed texture coordinates in .XWF export.

I'm going on vacation next week so I won't be getting back to it until afterward.

[Sakrateri]

Ok, I missed that where it is able to export to 3ds , After I export the zone to 3ds though and try to import it into 3ds max it says improper file format, Anything I am missing?

[GeorgeS]

I believe to get B3D format you can use 3Dexploration to convert to a .X then use the Blitz game converter to create the .B3D

GeorgeS