Blender To Zero-K - Revision history

Shaman: No formatting for rapid link

2020-10-24T18:50:12Z

No formatting for rapid link

Shaman: Add development category

2020-10-24T18:45:21Z

Add development category

Darloth3: Fixed mistakes, expanded bits, specified version of mod file.

2020-10-21T18:25:49Z

Fixed mistakes, expanded bits, specified version of mod file.

Darloth3: I was wrong, red does not need to be inverted. Oops. Will upload new version of shader soon.

2020-10-16T08:24:25Z

I was wrong, red does not need to be inverted. Oops. Will upload new version of shader soon.

HigherFlyer: Trying to touch up Grammar and fixing description of buildingGroundDecaySpeed.

2020-10-15T13:29:17Z

Trying to touch up Grammar and fixing description of buildingGroundDecaySpeed.

HigherFlyer at 13:16, 15 October 2020

2020-10-15T13:16:57Z

HigherFlyer: Probably ill advised grammatical correction.

2020-10-15T13:14:44Z

Probably ill advised grammatical correction.

Darloth3: Unit pic and other bits.

2020-10-15T11:29:58Z

Unit pic and other bits.

Darloth3: /* Set up Zero-K mod that contains and uses your files */

2020-10-15T11:19:05Z

Set up Zero-K mod that contains and uses your files

Darloth3: /* Set up texture associations and .dae.lua metadata */

2020-10-15T10:58:55Z

Set up texture associations and .dae.lua metadata

@@ Line 106: / Line 106: @@
 Inside the Zero-K folder there is a games subfolder.  Inside that are numerous things, but if you make a new subfolder with a name ending in .sdd it will be read by the engine on startup.  A base mod is available to download [File:BaseMod.sdd.zip here] to build from if you would like an example.  More details on mod creation can be found here: [[Mod Creation]]
-Create a mod and fill out the modinfo.lua, making sure to change the name and description so you can tell it apart when you are selecting it.  If the depends tag is listed as [[rapid:/zk:stable]] you will have to manually change it to the latest ZK version in this format:
+Create a mod and fill out the modinfo.lua, making sure to change the name and description so you can tell it apart when you are selecting it.  If the depends tag is listed as <nowiki>[[rapid:/zk:stable]]</nowiki> you will have to manually change it to the latest ZK version in this format:
 <pre>depend = {
 		[[Zero-K v1.8.10.0]]
@@ Line 128: / Line 128: @@
 Once you've selected your mod you should start the skirmish and attempt to test whatever you've actually changed.  At one point while doing this, Zero-K would not load because the interpreter for the mod's unitdef files was more strict than the main game's, so you may wish to follow the format used in the base mod (it overwrites lotus turrets) more exactly if you have this problem.
 == Fix whatever isn't right ==

← Older revision		Revision as of 18:45, 24 October 2020
Line 204:		Line 204:

	Once they do you should be ready to make a pull request. If you forked from the development version as the linked instructions suggest, you should be able to use your fork to do this.		Once they do you should be ready to make a pull request. If you forked from the development version as the linked instructions suggest, you should be able to use your fork to do this.
		+
		+	[[category:Development]]

@@ Line 96: / Line 96: @@
 }</pre>
-Obviously if you are not using the atlas textures you will need to replace those names with the actual texture files you intend to use.  There are several other things that may need to be in this file, but as these differ per-unit you will need to decide what, if anything, to provide.
+Obviously if you are not using the atlas textures you will need to replace those names with the actual texture files you intend to use.  There are several other things that may need to be in this file, but as these differ per-unit you will need to decide what, if anything, to provide.  You should probably also decide on a radius to set - leaving it out autogenerates a large radius covering the entire model, but for many reasons it's not always appropriate.  Examine similar units in game (ctrl-alt-B shows collision bounds, radius is the grey sphere) and match them if necessary.
 == Set up Zero-K mod that contains and uses your files ==
-To get Zero-K to see your files and locally test your units (new or otherwise) you should use a mod.
+To get Zero-K to see your files and locally test your units (new or otherwise) you can use a mod, or download all the source and point your original version at it.  I will use a mod.
-This is selectable in local skirmish mode (and theoretically you can distribute them to test in multiplayer) which allows you to check everything works in the engine without requiring any changes to the official repositories or even building a local development copy of the game - all you need is a working copy of Zero-K.
+This is selectable in local skirmish mode (and theoretically you can distribute them to test in multiplayer) which allows you to check everything works in the engine without requiring any changes to the official repositories or a local development copy of the game - all you need is a working copy of Zero-K.  You should eventually check it works with a properly set up dev copy (and that copy can be used for many changes, if necessary) but for now a mod is simpler.
 === Making the mod ===
 Inside the Zero-K folder there is a games subfolder.  Inside that are numerous things, but if you make a new subfolder with a name ending in .sdd it will be read by the engine on startup.  A base mod is available to download [File:BaseMod.sdd.zip here] to build from if you would like an example.  More details on mod creation can be found here: [[Mod Creation]]
-Create a mod and fill out the modinfo.lua, making sure to change the name and description so you can tell it apart when you are selecting it.
+Create a mod and fill out the modinfo.lua, making sure to change the name and description so you can tell it apart when you are selecting it.  If the depends tag is listed as [[rapid:/zk:stable]] you will have to manually change it to the latest ZK version in this format:
 === File locations ===
@@ Line 194: / Line 198: @@
 Then run <pre>/luarules buildicon {unitname}</pre>. You can run it with no unit name and instead buildicons if you want to generate buildicons for every unit in the game.  It should output the icons to your Zero-K folder under the /buildicons folder.  You will then have to move it to the /unitpics folder of your mod, name it appropriately, and check it works.

@@ Line 62: / Line 62: @@
 The core_other.dds is the tex2 file, so it is split into RGB channels and each of these channels appropriately processed and connected to the relevant part of the material.
-Finally the core_normals.dds contains a direct-x formatted normal map, so it is converted to an openGL format by inverting just the Red and Green channels and is then passed through the normal calculation node to convert the image into a vector map, and then the vector map passed to the shader.
+Finally the core_normals.dds contains a direct-x formatted normal map, so it is converted to an openGL format by inverting just the Green channel and is then passed through the normal calculation node to convert the image into a vector map, and then the vector map passed to the shader.
 TODO: Provide a blend file here that already has this material set up, just need to plug in textures.  Or just include atlas texture.  Airpad_packed.blend is sadly larger than 2mb so the wiki will not host it.

@@ Line 175: / Line 175: @@
 <pre>
-buildingGroundDecalDecaySpeed = 30, --Seconds decal takes to fade in or out of existence?
+buildingGroundDecalDecaySpeed = 30, --Seconds decal takes to fade out of existence
-buildingGroundDecalSizeX      = 12, --Size of decal X axis in footprint units
+buildingGroundDecalSizeX      = 12, --Size of the decal's X axis in footprint units
-buildingGroundDecalSizeY      = 12, --Size of decal Y axis in footprint units
+buildingGroundDecalSizeY      = 12, --Size of the decal's Y axis in footprint units
 buildingGroundDecalType       = [[unitname_aoplane.dds]], --filename of decal

@@ Line 124: / Line 124: @@
 Once you've selected your mod you should start the skirmish and attempt to test whatever you've actually changed.  At one point while doing this, Zero-K would not load because the interpreter for the mod's unitdef files was more strict than the main game's, so you may wish to follow the format used in the base mod (it overwrites lotus turrets) more exactly if you have this problem.
 == Fix whatever isn't right ==
+Do not expect everything to be perfect.  This is a very complicated process and something is probably broken somewhere - either way, check everything, and get used to the idea that you may have to edit, re-export, then restart the game a lot to retry with changes quite often.  Although unit definitions and such may be reloaded without quitting the game (TODO: what is the command to do this?  How reliable is it?) you should eventually restart Zero-K to do a round of final testing just to ensure that everything loads correctly from startup.
 == The other bits ==
@@ Line 191: / Line 189: @@
 === unitpic ===

← Older revision		Revision as of 11:19, 15 October 2020
Line 99:		Line 99:

	== Set up Zero-K mod that contains and uses your files ==		== Set up Zero-K mod that contains and uses your files ==
		+	To get Zero-K to see your files and locally test your units (new or otherwise) you should use a mod.

		+	This is selectable in local skirmish mode (and theoretically you can distribute them to test in multiplayer) which allows you to check everything works in the engine without requiring any changes to the official repositories or even building a local development copy of the game - all you need is a working copy of Zero-K.
		+
		+	=== Making the mod ===
		+	Inside the Zero-K folder there is a games subfolder. Inside that are numerous things, but if you make a new subfolder with a name ending in .sdd it will be read by the engine on startup. A base mod is available to download [File:BaseMod.sdd.zip here] to build from if you would like an example. More details on mod creation can be found here: [[Mod Creation]]
		+
		+	Create a mod and fill out the modinfo.lua, making sure to change the name and description so you can tell it apart when you are selecting it.
		+
		+	=== File locations ===
		+	Like many mods, the file structure downwards from the modname.sdd folder should exactly match the Zero-K internal virtual file system, and if there are any files in your mod that match names with base files, Zero-K will use your mod's file instead of the base file.
		+
		+	This allows you to selectively replace any files with whatever changed version you want, which is ideal for our purposes of testing a mod. Any ''new'' files will also be loaded, allowing you to test entirely new units - although you may have to modify the buildoptions list of an existing factory or constructor to allow them to build your new unit.
		+
		+	<blockquote>AN IMPORTANT NOTE:
		+	You should keep all of filenames and folder names lower case, as the virtual file system lowercases everything. Double check your filenames, it needs to match exactly if you are replacing things.</blockquote>
		+
		+	=== Testing your mod ===
		+	Once you have filled out your folders and files, probably (but not exclusively) using /objects3d , /units and /unittextures , you can progress to actually testing it works in-engine.
		+
		+	Load up Zero-K and go to singleplayer, then Skirmish. The map and opponents do not especially matter, though if you are testing a lot you probably want to use an inactive AI (check through main lobby options for additional AI types if it's not there by default).
		+
		+	Go into Adv Options, and pick 'Select Mod'. If the folder and modinfo are correct you should see your mod on the list. If you do not, download the base mod, unzip it to the appropriate place and check if that shows up - if it does, the problem is with your mod. If it does not, then something is probably in the wrong place.
		+
		+	Once you've selected your mod you should start the skirmish and attempt to test whatever you've actually changed. At one point while doing this, Zero-K would not load because the interpreter for the mod's unitdef files was more strict than the main game's, so you may wish to follow the format used in the base mod (it overwrites lotus turrets) more exactly if you have this problem.

	== Run Zero-K and point at your mod ==		== Run Zero-K and point at your mod ==

← Older revision		Revision as of 10:58, 15 October 2020
Line 81:		Line 81:

	== Set up texture associations and .dae.lua metadata ==		== Set up texture associations and .dae.lua metadata ==
		+	Although Spring can read .dae files and the contained UV map, it does not support any sort of material or texture import, so you have to specify these manually. Since at this point you have already set Blender up with a reasonable approximation of the texture process it should not be especially difficult.

		+	You will need to provide a .dae.lua file with the same name as your model file, in the same directory, to tell Spring which texture files and associated data to use with the model.
		+
		+	For example, if your model export is snazzyUnit.dae and it is present under the /objects3d folder of your testing mod, you should make a snazzyUnit.dae.lua file and place that at /objects3d/snazzyUnit.dae.lua .
		+
		+	The documentation for these metadata files is [https://springrts.com/wiki/3DModels:AssimpMetadata here], but they are reasonably simple and a minimal example file is provided below:
		+
		+	<pre>
		+	return {
		+	tex1 = "core_color.dds",
		+	tex2 = "core_other.dds",
		+	invertteamcolor = false
		+	}</pre>
		+
		+	Obviously if you are not using the atlas textures you will need to replace those names with the actual texture files you intend to use. There are several other things that may need to be in this file, but as these differ per-unit you will need to decide what, if anything, to provide.

	== Set up Zero-K mod that contains and uses your files ==		== Set up Zero-K mod that contains and uses your files ==