EQG Zone Importer

[Pectabyte]

The zone importer crashes for me every time I try to convert an s3d to eqg.
I've tried running the program as administrator but it still crashes.
Anyone else having this problem?

[Zaela_S]

Originally Posted by Pectabyte

The zone importer crashes for me every time I try to convert an s3d to eqg.
I've tried running the program as administrator but it still crashes.
Anyone else having this problem?

I may have overstated how easy it would be!

The conversion feature is not complete. I found where highpass is crashing it but some things are unclear -- seems like the first texture reference in each mesh is invalid, but necessary to line everything up correctly. Stuff around the top of the zone and all water surfaces aren't getting textured as a result (although some of that might be related to animated textures -- which I'm not sure how to do for EQG zones yet, although I think it's possible). Will need to take a closer look at all that.

[Packet]

KLS pointed something out to me yesterday which should be noted for server admins intending on incorporating custom zones into their servers. You will need .map files if you intend on having line of sight + other things such as proper npc pathing.

[4:08 PM] <KLS> the problem was you named the terrain file
[4:08 PM] <KLS> nexus
[4:08 PM] <KLS> instead of TER_nexus
[4:08 PM] <KLS> but im adding a fix atm

KLS is going to fix this with azone2 however, if you have an older build - this is why it might fail for you.


Zaela, any ideas on how one might add global lighting to a zone manually while you're working out light placement. Anything that I import does not seem to respond to sky light.

[Zaela_S]

Well phone connection can handle a painfully slow upload now and then I guess.

Originally Posted by Zaela_S

I found where highpass is crashing it but some things are unclear -- seems like the first texture reference in each mesh is invalid, but necessary to line everything up correctly. Stuff around the top of the zone and all water surfaces aren't getting textured as a result (although some of that might be related to animated textures -- which I'm not sure how to do for EQG zones yet, although I think it's possible). Will need to take a closer look at all that.

I put up a fix for this. The animated textures aren't animated yet, but they show a texture at least.

Weirdness turned out to be an inconsistency in a structure depending on whether textures were animated or not, which wasn't noticed in the WLD bible. Solves the mystery of where the timing information comes from, though.

I can't actually get in game to verify it works since I didn't have the foresight to make a fully local test server. But it looks mostly right in the viewer, so it should show up fine (unless the hardcoding is really really specific, I guess). Although, what I thought was bugged textures towards the top of the zone seems to actually be a zone ceiling (to prevent climbing?). The converter doesn't handle transparencies yet, so the zone will probably seem to have a white or black shell for a sky unless you mess with it a bit ;p

[Packet]

I'll try that out. Btw, I heard you mention you're messing with EQ character models. That true?

[Zaela_S]

Originally Posted by Packet

I'll try that out. Btw, I heard you mention you're messing with EQ character models. That true?

Yeah, working on an EQG animated model importer. Will handle Mob models as well as weapons (animated or non) and static things.

The GUI and viewer are basically done, just need to decide on an animated mesh format (was thinking COLLADA but that seems more annoying than it's worth, might go with B3D) and write the import routines... and decide on some standards for how to set things up (whether different animations should be imported from wholly separate files, etc). Also want to let the user select particle emission points in the tool and have it show where that is in the viewer in real time, but that was proving more difficult than expected -- we'll see.

[Packet]

If there is anything I can help you with, let me know. I can provide rigged characters & animations as samples to provide with your tool. If you want...