Bridges...

A forum for discussing map making ideas and problems for the Myth series.
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Fildred
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Joined: Fri Apr 25, 2008 7:22 am

Bridges...

Post by Fildred »

Ok so one of my maps is a "defend the town and protect the villagers" sort of deal going on. As of right now, all the enemies come from across a river, and I would love to have a bridge so i didnt have to start the ghouls on the near side of the river, since there is deep water i nthe middle. I know i could just make it dwarf-depth media or retexture the map and use a landbridge or terraform by hand, but i really want a model bridge (plus, it looks nicer =])

I like the bridge from the first level on Magma's The Fallen Levels plugin, and also the bridge from the 3rd level (i think...its the first time in TFL that you see the wights, i havent played the campaign in awhile.)

So, since i couldnt extract the whole levels out since that would be a lot of work (unless there is an easier way than extracting all of the tags by hand out of hte plugin?) I extracted the three model tags that seemed like they MIGHT be what i want: Ent small bridge, hanging bridge model, and night bridge. Tried using them, crashed and got geometry errors in the log. So, i extracted the three geometries for these AND the three collection references. Now i can import them into my game without crashing, but there is no bridge where the bridge should be, it just raises the land around the sides and then retextures some of the sides to this nasty pink color.

These are the error messages for two of the models:

Error: File system Open in \sandbox\Myth2SVN\Myth 2\definitions.c, line #506: couldn't read header for collection definition 'habt'.
Error: File system Open in \sandbox\Myth2SVN\Myth 2\definitions.c, line #591: collection reference definition postprocess failed on 'hanging bridge textures'.
Error: File system Open in \sandbox\Myth2SVN\Myth 2\definitions.c, line #506: couldn't read header for collection definition 'ent '.
Error: File system Open in \sandbox\Myth2SVN\Myth 2\definitions.c, line #591: collection reference definition postprocess failed on 'ent small bridge textures'.

I would really like to have either of the two aforementioned bridges in my level, plus i would like to understand how to use tag extraction so that i can begin expanding my work beyond the basic MythII stuff.

Can anyone point me in the right direction in this porblem? Or perhaps a tutorial that will help me learn the steps in extracting tags from plugins better? Thanks.
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Pyro
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Post by Pyro »

Sounds like you forgot to extract the actual collections the bridge models use. You only extracted the geometries and the collection references, but forgot to download the model and collections.

Plugin extractors have a feature that lets you extract all tags at once. You can use this and then delete all the stuff you don't want from it. It beats extracting one tag at a time.

Keep in mind the bridges you are trying to use still use the colormap for the actual part the units will walk on. The parts the model's collection adds are the side parts that your units can't walk on.
Fildred
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Post by Fildred »

I thought i got that but maybe i didnt. Ill go back and check it out, thanks.
A-Red
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Post by A-Red »

Pyro wrote:Plugin extractors have a feature that lets you extract all tags at once. You can use this and then delete all the stuff you don't want from it. It beats extracting one tag at a time.
I don't think the poor fellow is going to want to do that with the entire Fallen Levels plugin though. Not just for one bridge with four tags.

Chances are, the model has the same name as the geometry, and the collection has the same name as the collection reference. I suspect they're all called "crow's bridge" or "01bridge" or something along those lines, and shouldn't be too hard to find. If you're having trouble, the headers the myth log is giving you should help--find a collection that looks like it could be abbreviated to "habt" for instance--presumably "hanging bridge textures" just like the collection reference.
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Pyro
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Post by Pyro »

Well he wanted an easier method from extracting one by one. My comp runs well enough and has enough hard drive space that extracting the Fallen Levels is no big deal. I've seen other people that never knew there was a feature to disassemble a plugin so to make sure he knew of this I suggested it.
A-Red
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Post by A-Red »

Sure, and it's a great option. I wasn't thinking of hard drive space as the problem though. It's just that extracting 4 tags is going to take less time than deleting 1500--considering that either way you have to be able to identify exactly which tags you actually need.
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Pyro
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Post by Pyro »

Oh of course, but I meant it for future plugin extracting... since most plugins are much smaller than the Fallen Levels. :)
Fildred
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Post by Fildred »

yeah, thats actually a big concern of mine. I havent looked intop it much so i don't actually fully understand it yet, but there are several plugins that add things (especially models and units) that i'd like to be able to add to my levels.

Since i have a ton of harddrive space dedicated to myth, that isnt a concern of mine. My concern is this: If i extract whole plugins into my local folder, will that cause errors? I mean, since myth only reads the 4 character header, would they ovveride eachother?

For instance: i'd REALLY like to be able to extract the ENTIRE The Fallen Levels plugin into my local folder so i can analyze the scripting, utilize models, and just learn from the maps. If i extract the whole thing into my local, will it cause conflicts? If not, great. If so, what if i extracted it all into an EMPTY local folder, then switched out the local folders whenever i wanted to look at the fallen levels, and take only the references i need and copy them into my master local folder?
A-Red
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Post by A-Red »

Yes, it will cause header conflicts. There's a myrgard rock collection that overrides the Myrkridia collection, for instance. But it sounds like you've already figured out what to do--a separate local not only keeps these tags from conflicting with your plug, but also makes them easy to discard if you don't want them anymore.
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Pyro
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Post by Pyro »

Yes what A-Red said. Keep seperate renamed local folders, and always make a backup before you mess with your local folder. If something goes bad or corrupt there is no undo function. Drop in the stuff you wish to use and test that the level runs fine.
Fildred
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Post by Fildred »

great. again, infinite thanks. its amazing how much you guys are willing to help
vinylrake
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Post by vinylrake »

It's always a good idea to have multiple local folders so you can save your progress and have a backup copy of anything you are working on, but in terms of messing up your playing by having a funky tag filled local folder, I find it simplest to just have multiple installs of Myth II on my comp. That way I have one Myth II with local folder for the current project, a seperate Myth II with local folder for stuff I have dissassembled and want to try out, and a 3rd Myth II with local folder that I actually Play Myth with. (ok so I probably have 6 or 7 others, but you get the basic idea)
Lots of Myth stuff at http://mythgraveyard.org.
Sometimes I put hard to find stuff in my my Udogs folder.
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