J3D File Format

Adzorn · 03-21-18, 11:28 AM

Is there some Documentation about the J3D file format?

I'm planning to build a J3D model Viewer for a work related Project (We use Dangerous Water Non Commercial Version at work) and i'm look for some documentation on the format, especially how to open it or decode it.

Polak2 · 03-21-18, 04:52 PM

Quote:

We use Dangerous Water Non Commercial Version at work

a.And out of my curiosity what would that be?

b.There is no format documentation for J3D out there in the open and available to the public. There is 3dsmax plugin exporting (but no import) to J3D.

c. BTW would you be interested in deciphering compression of the .dem and other terrain related files residing in World folder?

Adzorn · 03-22-18, 03:21 PM

a. There is a Non Commercial Version of Dangerous Waters Available. This Version contains some special feature e.g. DIS Protocol Support or a Build In database Editor.

b. hmm.. there must be something around. Someone wrote the plugin and there are some tools to open the J3D format.

c. No, but if you require Height Maps, check out https://gdex.cr.usgs.gov/gdex/, you can find better and more detailed maps there (If you require DEM, then use MICRODEM to convert them)

Aktungbby · 03-22-18, 03:24 PM

Adzorn!

Polak2 · 03-22-18, 09:13 PM

Quote:

There is a Non Commercial Version of Dangerous Waters Available. This Version contains some special feature e.g. DIS Protocol Support or a Build In database Editor.

Judging from the date (2004) this must have been some very early pre-release. Never heard of it as the earliest public release was I think in Dec 2005.

As far as plugin is concerned I am not sure who wrote it but AFAIK it came also from Sonalysts early in the game life. No documentation to my knowledge but I could be wrong.

Polak2 · 03-23-18, 04:22 AM

Here is some more information pertaining to J3D:

There is program reading and viewing the format. It is called 3D Object Converter and it can be found here:
http://3doc.i3dconverter.com/
It can only read the format and you need to register it to be able to save to other formats (but not J3D).

To be able to save to J3D one needs plugin which works only with old 3dsMax3.1 and in its original form has pretty low vertex limitation for models (can be hacked I think).

Battlewagon3 · 04-20-18, 09:27 AM

I know that it's irritating, but I'll probably have to post this on some other threads as well:

1. The models from LWAMI, when installed according to the instructions, are invisible in my installation of DW.

2. When I have tried to install them manually using GRP (by Adam Milazzo), I had the same problem.

3. In addition, when new models (with or without textures) are installed using GRP, the .dds textures on other subs disappear, which means that my 3d.grp and 3d.ndx files have to be replaced in order to get DW working again. Replacing the .dds textures with .bmp textures doesn't work, either for restoring the textures, or getting the models working.

3. DWEdit is great for modding existing content (if you leave the graphics alone), but the Import and Export features don't appear to work, at least on my computer.

4. Due to the above problems, repaints are also not possible on my computer.

Does anyone know if I need to install anything else, or change any settings, so that these mods will work? Thank you.

Aktungbby · 04-20-18, 11:04 AM

Battlewagon3!

Battlewagon3 · 05-22-18, 09:44 PM

UPDATE: I've managed to get custom models working, but I'm still having trouble with default textures disappearing.

Does anyone else have anything to add?

Jeff-Groves · 11-09-18, 12:18 PM

I can provide enough info on the format to allow you to write a viewer/exporter.
I've only looked at it for a few hours so still figuring out the last bit of unknowns. One could write a new exporter for 3D Max or other programs once I figure it all out.

Thank you TLAM Strike for a few models I downloaded to look at the structure.
Those were a great source to work with.

Jeff-Groves · 11-09-18, 01:45 PM

Looking at the P4_Midget_Sub j3d file header in SweetScape 010 We have this:
EB 0F 00 00 EC 0E 00 00 02 00 00 00 12 00 00 00
10 00 00 00

EB 0F 00 00 as an integer is 4075. That is the number of verts in the j3d file.

EC 0E 00 00 as an integer is 3820. That is the number of polys in the j3d file.

02 00 00 as a short is 2. That is the number of textures used by the j3d file.

12 00 00 00 as a short is 18. That is the number of 3d models in the j3d file.

10 00 00 00 as a short is 16. That is the number of texture mappings in the j3d file.

So we have 4075 verts, 3820 polys, 2 textures, 18 3d models, and 16 texture mappings.

The next stuff is all the verts and texture co-ords. I'll break that down in the next post as there is some info I am not sure of at this time.

Jeff-Groves · 11-09-18, 02:35 PM

Following the header I described is a large block of data which includes the vets and faces of the 3D objects. Let's look at a chunk of that.

66 4C 41 BC BB D2 66 BF 6A AA 68 C1 00 00 00 00
55 55 AD AE 40 CA 2B 38 00 00 80 BF 00 00 00 00
00 00 00 00 16 F5 09 3F

This chunk gives us the verts, an unknown I suspect may be tangents, and our texture co-ords. We read them all as floats.

66 4C 41 BC BB D2 66 BF 6A AA 68 C1 = v 0.011798 -0.901653 -14.541605

00 00 00 00 = seems always the same. maybe a divider?

55 55 AD AE 40 CA 2B 38 00 00 80 BF = unknown. Maybe tangents?

00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 16 F5 09 3F = tex co-ords. 0.000000 0.000000 0.538996
This one is interesting as so far as I have found the 3rd co-ord of 0.538996 must be subtracted from 1 to get the proper number.
Then moved to the secondary position on export! vt 0.000000 0.461104 0.000000

If someone could send me a couple of the Games original 3D files that may help.

03-21-18, 11:28 AM	#1
Adzorn Swabbie Join Date: Feb 2016 Posts: 8 Downloads: 27 Uploads: 0	J3D File Format Is there some Documentation about the J3D file format? I'm planning to build a J3D model Viewer for a work related Project (We use Dangerous Water Non Commercial Version at work) and i'm look for some documentation on the format, especially how to open it or decode it.

03-22-18, 03:24 PM	#4
Aktungbby Gefallen Engel U-666 Join Date: Jul 2013 Location: On a tilted, overheated, overpopulated spinning mudball on Collision course with Andromeda Galaxy Posts: 28,786 Downloads: 24 Uploads: 0	welcome aboard! Adzorn! __________________ "Only two things are infinite; The Universe and human squirrelyness; and I'm not too sure about the Universe"

04-20-18, 09:27 AM	#7
Battlewagon3 Swabbie Join Date: Apr 2018 Posts: 10 Downloads: 6 Uploads: 0	Invisible models? I know that it's irritating, but I'll probably have to post this on some other threads as well: 1. The models from LWAMI, when installed according to the instructions, are invisible in my installation of DW. 2. When I have tried to install them manually using GRP (by Adam Milazzo), I had the same problem. 3. In addition, when new models (with or without textures) are installed using GRP, the .dds textures on other subs disappear, which means that my 3d.grp and 3d.ndx files have to be replaced in order to get DW working again. Replacing the .dds textures with .bmp textures doesn't work, either for restoring the textures, or getting the models working. 3. DWEdit is great for modding existing content (if you leave the graphics alone), but the Import and Export features don't appear to work, at least on my computer. 4. Due to the above problems, repaints are also not possible on my computer. Does anyone know if I need to install anything else, or change any settings, so that these mods will work? Thank you. Last edited by Battlewagon3; 04-20-18 at 02:03 PM.

04-20-18, 11:04 AM	#8
Aktungbby Gefallen Engel U-666 Join Date: Jul 2013 Location: On a tilted, overheated, overpopulated spinning mudball on Collision course with Andromeda Galaxy Posts: 28,786 Downloads: 24 Uploads: 0	welcome aboard! Battlewagon3! __________________ "Only two things are infinite; The Universe and human squirrelyness; and I'm not too sure about the Universe"

05-22-18, 09:44 PM	#9
Battlewagon3 Swabbie Join Date: Apr 2018 Posts: 10 Downloads: 6 Uploads: 0	The models are now working, but the default textures are still disappearing. UPDATE: I've managed to get custom models working, but I'm still having trouble with default textures disappearing. Does anyone else have anything to add?

03-22-18, 03:21 PM	#3
Adzorn Swabbie Join Date: Feb 2016 Posts: 8 Downloads: 27 Uploads: 0	a. There is a Non Commercial Version of Dangerous Waters Available. This Version contains some special feature e.g. DIS Protocol Support or a Build In database Editor. b. hmm.. there must be something around. Someone wrote the plugin and there are some tools to open the J3D format. c. No, but if you require Height Maps, check out https://gdex.cr.usgs.gov/gdex/, you can find better and more detailed maps there (If you require DEM, then use MICRODEM to convert them)

03-23-18, 04:22 AM	#6
Polak2 Weps Join Date: May 2005 Posts: 371 Downloads: 60 Uploads: 0	Here is some more information pertaining to J3D: There is program reading and viewing the format. It is called 3D Object Converter and it can be found here: http://3doc.i3dconverter.com/ It can only read the format and you need to register it to be able to save to other formats (but not J3D). To be able to save to J3D one needs plugin which works only with old 3dsMax3.1 and in its original form has pretty low vertex limitation for models (can be hacked I think).

11-09-18, 12:18 PM	#10
Jeff-Groves Village Idiot Join Date: Sep 2014 Posts: 5,425 Downloads: 131 Uploads: 0	I can provide enough info on the format to allow you to write a viewer/exporter. I've only looked at it for a few hours so still figuring out the last bit of unknowns. One could write a new exporter for 3D Max or other programs once I figure it all out. Thank you TLAM Strike for a few models I downloaded to look at the structure. Those were a great source to work with. Last edited by Jeff-Groves; 11-09-18 at 12:39 PM.

11-09-18, 01:45 PM	#11
Jeff-Groves Village Idiot Join Date: Sep 2014 Posts: 5,425 Downloads: 131 Uploads: 0	Looking at the P4_Midget_Sub j3d file header in SweetScape 010 We have this: EB 0F 00 00 EC 0E 00 00 02 00 00 00 12 00 00 00 10 00 00 00 EB 0F 00 00 as an integer is 4075. That is the number of verts in the j3d file. EC 0E 00 00 as an integer is 3820. That is the number of polys in the j3d file. 02 00 00 as a short is 2. That is the number of textures used by the j3d file. 12 00 00 00 as a short is 18. That is the number of 3d models in the j3d file. 10 00 00 00 as a short is 16. That is the number of texture mappings in the j3d file. So we have 4075 verts, 3820 polys, 2 textures, 18 3d models, and 16 texture mappings. The next stuff is all the verts and texture co-ords. I'll break that down in the next post as there is some info I am not sure of at this time.

11-09-18, 02:35 PM	#12
Jeff-Groves Village Idiot Join Date: Sep 2014 Posts: 5,425 Downloads: 131 Uploads: 0	Following the header I described is a large block of data which includes the vets and faces of the 3D objects. Let's look at a chunk of that. 66 4C 41 BC BB D2 66 BF 6A AA 68 C1 00 00 00 00 55 55 AD AE 40 CA 2B 38 00 00 80 BF 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 16 F5 09 3F This chunk gives us the verts, an unknown I suspect may be tangents, and our texture co-ords. We read them all as floats. 66 4C 41 BC BB D2 66 BF 6A AA 68 C1 = v 0.011798 -0.901653 -14.541605 00 00 00 00 = seems always the same. maybe a divider? 55 55 AD AE 40 CA 2B 38 00 00 80 BF = unknown. Maybe tangents? 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 16 F5 09 3F = tex co-ords. 0.000000 0.000000 0.538996 This one is interesting as so far as I have found the 3rd co-ord of 0.538996 must be subtracted from 1 to get the proper number. Then moved to the secondary position on export! vt 0.000000 0.461104 0.000000 If someone could send me a couple of the Games original 3D files that may help. Last edited by Jeff-Groves; 11-09-18 at 03:10 PM.