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Hi,

I'm new to DB so bear with me... I'm NOT using DBPro.

I've been trying out different modelers: 3D Canvas (free version that can't save anything that DB can read), and Anim8or (export to .3ds and use conv3ds to make a .X file readable by DB). Are there any others that people use - preferably freeware?

One thing I don't understand with the modeling so far is LIMBs... I just can't fathom how you know which part of the model is which numbered limb. Do you have to put special info. into the .X file that marks certain groups of polygons to be a certain limb number? Help!

As far as level/map making goes, I tried the demo of Cartography Shop and it seems very nice (although there are some strange flickering/disappearing/reappearing of textures on my Radeon 8500). Certainly, CS gives you quick and easy map building (especially if Copy/Paste works in the registered version). There is a lot of hand-waving though in the descriptions and feature lists on the DB web site about "made to integrate with DB" and "makes it simple to build levels for DB". I downloaded the "dbfps" demo, which is pretty nice. The DB code is very strange in that it loads the .X file, but also loads some other files for collision information, lightmaps, etc. Does CS+ExportX make these files or do you have to use yet another tool to make them? Where is the documentation that describes how to use the output file(s) of CS in an actual game - the demo's online help is very brief.

Are there any other freeware map/level-making tools that work well with DB? I'm suprised I haven't run across any map-making tools written in DB itself yet...

Thanks!

Ed

Soon CS v3 is coming out with a lot of fixes. If you get the full product, you'll also get another utility to convert .map to .x. Lack of Help files is a big problem with it.

At the moment, I experimenting with Quark, a fully fleged map builder: http://dynamic.gamespy.com/~quark/. Its intended as a level editor for Quake 1,2,3 Half-life etc so you may need advice on configuring if you don't own these titles or just get a demo.

As for modelling, a lot of people swear by Milkshape. Its not free but very cheap, .http://www.swissquake.ch/chumbalum-soft/index.html. Most importantly there is a lot of support for it which should solve your animation problems.

Hope this helps!

Can I use Quark without DBPro? It seems like it can only build maps for .BSP format...

Thanks,

Ed

Quark is a stand alone product based on worldcraft. You can use it without DBpo if you wish, but then you be designing for a HaLf-Life or some other Quake derivative.

Remember that DB can handle both bsp and .x together at the same time (with a bit of scaling). The advantage of bsp is that it has collision data built in.

Also, you can convert Quark's .map to .x via an extra utility from CS (retail). Then if you wish, you can convert .x to bsp using DB's utility.

What I meant was that DBPro can load .BSP maps but DB can't...

I read somewhere that if you convert maps from some of these BSP-targeted tools to .x, that you end up with a lightmap file separate from the .x file (because, for some reason, the .x file can't hold the lightmap info. or DB can't use it that way or somesuch). It's all pretty daunting...

CS = Cartography Shop? A program to convert Quark .map format to .x converter is something you get when you buy CS?

Thanks,

Ed

Quark is only Indoors maps or outdoors too ?

DarkBasic Standard cannot (not without some major recompiling first) however DarkBasic Enhanced is capable of loading and using BSP ... it just can't be achieved natively like Pro