OpenZone 2.8

Windcatcher · #1 01-04-2004, 03:30 PM

It's only been a day since I put up 2.7, but someone was having problems with importing .3DS files...here's what's new in this release:

1. Fixed a bug in the ground texture painter that could cause a crash when it is started.

2. Added a new menu item under the File... menu that lets you import a .3DS file (that is, a 3DS-Max file) that only contains ground information. OpenZone will generate an elevation heightmap from the file and convert it into a ground mesh that it can recognize. This WILL result in some modification to the mesh since OpenZone only supports ground elevations according to a strict grid, but it will try to get it as close as it can. It might also cause some textures to change if the mesh contains multiple textures, so it might be necessary to use the ground editor to touch the ground up. This will, however, let you treat the ground just as if you had generated it from within OpenZone.

3. Importing a .3DS file (whether for a ground mesh or for any other mesh) will no longer wipe the zone, but instead add the new object to any zone you have loaded. The program will assign a unique name to any imported objects and you can move them around just as you would any other object.

Basically, if you want to build a zone outside OpenZone and import it as a .3DS file, you need to import the ground separately from everything else by using two .3DS files. First import the ground and then import everything else, and then save your zone.

WC

Shadow-Wolf · #2 01-04-2004, 03:51 PM

thank you! gunna downloading it now...

Shadow-Wolf · #3 01-04-2004, 04:00 PM

erm well i downloaded it, ran the program created a zone and tried to import the ground mesh and the program stopped responding...

Windcatcher · #4 01-04-2004, 04:04 PM

You don't want to create a zone for this. Just start OpenZone and immediately import the .3DS file. Make sure to select the menu item that says to import it as ground data.

If there are a ton of polygons in the mesh it might take a while to import.

WC

Shadow-Wolf · #5 01-04-2004, 05:03 PM

thats what i did the first time but i got the same violation error i was getting before you added 2.8, im going to get on 3dsmax and try and see if i can lower the pollies without losing detail

Windcatcher · #6 01-04-2004, 05:05 PM

The program shouldn't throw an exception when you import the .3DS file, even if there are a lot of polygons. As for import time, I tested a .3DS with about 3200 polys and it took about 5 seconds to import.

Would it be possible to post the .3DS somewhere so I can test it?

WC

EDIT: I fixed another potential crash bug in the ground editor (it can happen if a .BMP texture is missing) and I enhanced the .3DS ground importer to pop up the status bar. If you select the import ground 3DS option the status window will pop up and show you what it's doing while it imports. If it crashes there should be some indication as to when in the process it happens. I deleted the OpenZone 2.8 ZIP file and uploaded another one with these changes.

Windcatcher · #7 01-04-2004, 05:20 PM

Please see the above post for an update.

I've got to get to bed for work tomorrow. I'll check in on the forum sometime tomorrow, but I won't be able to work on the program again until tomorrow night.

Good luck,

WC

Shadow-Wolf · #8 01-04-2004, 05:29 PM

can't find a place to upload the file to but i made a new one and it worked. thanks for the help man.