RFC - Finally a great new way to edit your bsp entities!

[Austin]

Ok, this is something I have been promising to do.
I like modifying the entities in my maps but using ripent.exe was awkward and with it's fixed memory sizes, it liked to crash a lot.

Thus, I started from scratch, borrowed two structure definitions and a few defines and rewrote the book on entity editing of bsp files.

1) It will (should) never crash out with memory problems, no matter what the map/entity/textures/etc sizes are.
2) It has a nice Windows GUI!
Check it!

You can DL it here:
http://filebase.bots-united.com/pafi...on=file&id=174

Some of the source may be interesting to you.
Get the ful souce and relese build here:
http://austinbots.com/mapping/BSPEdit+Source!.zip

The code is Art of the highest form!


So check it out and respond to my RFC- request for comments.

Even if you don't hack entities much, it can be helpful to look at how things are done, by looking at how entities are used in existing maps.

One option I forgot to document:
Run BSPEdit with the -d command line, open up a number of maps, exit BSPEdit and you will have one file C:\AllEntities.txt that will have all the entity data from all the maps you opened. This is a great way to search a lot of maps in a hurry for how they use certain entities.

What is next?
How about an automated way to create installers for your maps using a freeware install tool?
http://nsis.sourceforge.net/

It will have a gui like the one above and as a mapper you simply select a map, click a button and you will have a slick map installer that correctly finds the map folder and runs a nice GUI install of you map. Anyone interested?

Oh Yea!

[>BKA< T Wrecks]

Austin! You are really true to yourself - when you come back after a longer absence, you usually come back with a bang.

I don't know if this tool makes a n00b like me capable of editing the stuff I'd like to: like unsticking hostages or fixing spawn points... and most of all, how do I know which entity in the list corresponds to which one in the map? Let's say there's one spawn point that doesn't work, how do I distinguish it from other spawn points in the entity list?

[Austin]

Originally Posted by >BKA< T Wrecks

I don't know if this tool makes a n00b like me capable of editing the stuff I'd like to: like unsticking hostages or fixing spawn points... and most of all, how do I know which entity in the list corresponds to which one in the map?

1) Read this:
http://joe.to/cstrike/ents/

2) Lets say you want to unstick a hostage. Start a LAN game, go as near to the hostage as possible, go to the console and type status. You get an x,y,z location.
Run BSPEdit and search for "hostage" (did you know you can TYPE in the combo box?) Look for the hostage with the closest x,y,z to what you got in the console. Modify it like adding some to the z to move the hostage up, and add/subtract to the x or y coords. Run up the map and make a note of which way the hostage moved. Adjust if necessary.

It is still difficult to hack bsps, since you have to know a lot about mapping to do things...

[>BKA< T Wrecks]

Ah, so that's how to get the coordinates! Well, I suppose the last of the three values tells the height of an entity (x/y/z axis, right?). So in many cases it's not that difficult, because especially spawn points mostly suffer from being placed too deeply, not inside walls or something.

Thanks a ton for the help! Now I'm beginning to understand how guys like you do your stuff... but it sounds like it's still a lot of try & error.

[Thirdeye]

omg thanks man

[Pierre-Marie Baty]

Filebase!
Filebase!
Why isn't this lovely stuff in the filebase yet ?
Quiquiquick!

[Zacker]

Cool tool indeed Austin! It has a lot of possibilities.

The idea about an automated map installer creater tool also sounds good. However I wonder why some clever guy havent done it before.

Maybe it could be a end-user tool? That would allow gamers to automaticly install any kind of map, no matter if the mapper included an installer.

[the Carpenter]

Kudos.
Now I can fix an old map of mine ... heh, heh.

[dead bwoy]

mine broke!
I just opened it up and tried to add text to the entities and all i could do was delete...

[Brainz]

same here... wanted to swap round spawns in an over-biased map, and all i coult do was delete.