[TEC] How to use: TheDarkWraith .GR2 Editor

[THE_MASK]

What i would like to do is clone the Arch tunnel from the CR Room and use it on the CT Room . How ?
I seen a post where a ships funnel was replicated and moved , dont know wher the post is .

[TheDarkWraith]

I see people are still having fun with this! Excellent

Work has been keeping me real busy. I get a little time every now and then to work on the app. I have a version that currently fixes the rendering problems with the last one (dealing with rendering with shaders and lighting). I hope to post it up in a couple of days.

If you all can compile a list of current bugs/problems that would be great cause then I can investigate them while I'm on airplanes to kill time. Please post them in the GR2 Editor/Viewer thread.

At home finally for a couple of days and then I'm catching a flight out of the country again. Hopefully things will slow down around mid February.

Carry on

[gap]

Originally Posted by TheDarkWraith

I see people are still having fun with this! Excellent

Work has been keeping me real busy. I get a little time every now and then to work on the app. I have a version that currently fixes the rendering problems with the last one (dealing with rendering with shaders and lighting). I hope to post it up in a couple of days.

If you all can compile a list of current bugs/problems that would be great cause then I can investigate them while I'm on airplanes to kill time. Please post them in the GR2 Editor/Viewer thread.

At home finally for a couple of days and then I'm catching a flight out of the country again. Hopefully things will slow down around mid February.

Carry on

Glad to hear from you again TDW, I hope you are enjoying your short homecoming

As for your request I've encountered some issues. I don't really know if they are caused by my lack of experience, or by a coding bug by you. If you want to have a look at them, they are listed in posts # 80 to 90.

Regarding the missing FX links, I will do a quick test right away and post the results in the GR2 Editor/Viewer thread

[Trevally.]

He is back

[TheDarkWraith]

Originally Posted by gap

Salut BIGREG

I am currently trying to edit the vegetation.GR2's, but since it is my first attempt to use the GR2 Editor/Viewer, I am a bit lost.

- I can't seem to find a way to preview the tree textures rendered on top of their meshes. Does the GR2 editor support alpha testing? Vegetation GR2's are a bit different from other GR2 files in that not only their textures got an alpha channel used for trasparency, but in addition they are located in the same folder as the GR2, instead that in the tex folder.

- How can I change meshe's geometry? Is it possible to modify vertices positions?

The reason for the rendering problems in the last version is because I was working on incorporating the alpha channels. I haven't found where in the extended data of the material it says to use the alpha channel. Once I know where the GR2 file says hey I have an alpha channel and I want you to use it then I can code it in.

You can turn on/off meshes and materials. Go to the materials or meshes tab and select/deselect the ones you want to see/hide.

You can change a meshes geometry either by exporting it, changing it in 3D editor, and then reimporting it or you can modify it in real time with the app. There are many ways to do this. You can modify the scaling of it (bring up the help screen and it will tell you how to do this - you have to select the mesh by double clicking it on the screen) or you can change rendering to solid and points. Then double click a point to select it. Now you can drag the point around to change the geometry.

[TheDarkWraith]

Originally Posted by Targor Avelany

Here's is a question. Will Goblin or TDW's editor work with multi-material object? (yeah, yeah, I'm being lazy to properly uvw unwrap my little nice lifeboat)

Yes it will. You can change any or all of the materials if you wish. You can even add/remove materials.

[TheDarkWraith]

Originally Posted by gap

Currently using GR2 Editor v1.1.265.1 for cloning/modifying bones around ships. Whenever I finish modifying a bone, I confirm the changes by clicking the 'Store' button (the 'Update' button is always grayed out ).

When I want to save the changes on file, it keeps giving me this message:



I click yes, and I receive confirmation that the file was saved successfully. Nevertheless, soon after I receive an unmanaged exception warning, saying that "the file was saved successfully but still indicates that it has been modified!"

Closing the file and reopening it, demonstrates that my changes were actually saved. Is that normal?

Another "issue" I have noticed is that if I open the modified GR2 in Goblin Editor, and I merge it with its zon, dsd, etc files, I receive the message:



I didn't investigate further, but I suspect that some Id's were reassigned. Is there a way to prevent it? I haven't renamed any object but the cloned bones...

As far as your question to is that normal? I would say no but I need a step by step procedure of what you did so I can duplicate it and see what's going on. Most likely because you are using an older version of the app. I'll need the file you were modifying and step-by-step procedure of what you did. I coded in errors to pop up when the app did something it shouldn't have! There is a lot of double checking going on behind the scenes and if one item in the checklist is incorrect I throw an error.

The app does not reassign IDs. In fact there are no IDs per se in a GR2 file. IDs are derived from the object's name. So if you rename an object you change it's ID.

[Illyustrator]

Hi, TheDarkWraith.
I want to ask you a question. Possible disable (temporarily) on the navigation map grid coordinates using MQK?
The fact is that it prevents (visually). It would be nice to temporarily disable it.
Sorry to write here.

[TheDarkWraith]

Originally Posted by Illyustrator

Hi, TheDarkWraith.
I want to ask you a question. Possible disable (temporarily) on the navigation map grid coordinates using MQK?
The fact is that it prevents (visually). It would be nice to temporarily disable it.
Sorry to write here.

Start a new thread about this so we don't muck up this one

Post a picture of what you're asking about in that new thread. I can't picture in my mind what you're asking (probably because I've been away from the game for over 2 months )

[gap]

Originally Posted by TheDarkWraith

The reason for the rendering problems in the last version is because I was working on incorporating the alpha channels. I haven't found where in the extended data of the material it says to use the alpha channel. Once I know where the GR2 file says hey I have an alpha channel and I want you to use it then I can code it in.

You can turn on/off meshes and materials. Go to the materials or meshes tab and select/deselect the ones you want to see/hide.

I had a short discussion with Pintea on this topic, and it seems that GR2's used for trees (vegetation.GR2) are bit special, in that they don't include materials/textures information. Quoting him:

Originally Posted by Pintea

The link between the gr2 and the textures is hardcoded in the game's executable.

As a matter of fact, whenever I open one of these files, I receive the message:

This application defines some strings as essential for full functionality. Those strings are:

'Diffuse Color'
'Self-illumination'
'Bump'
'Additional Bumpmap'
'Opacity'
''

Add these essential strings to the GR2 file?

I click no, and everything seems okay (except for the fact that tree meshes are textureless, but that would be normal according to Pintea). My doubt is if vegetation GR2's saved with the editor would be recognized correctly in game, due to their special format? Is the editor going to add the unneeded strings anyway?

Originally Posted by TheDarkWraith

T
You can change a meshes geometry either by exporting it, changing it in 3D editor, and then reimporting it or you can modify it in real time with the app. There are many ways to do this. You can modify the scaling of it (bring up the help screen and it will tell you how to do this - you have to select the mesh by double clicking it on the screen) or you can change rendering to solid and points. Then double click a point to select it. Now you can drag the point around to change the geometry.

Good! I wasn't aware of it

[gap]

Originally Posted by TheDarkWraith

As far as your question to is that normal? I would say no but I need a step by step procedure of what you did so I can duplicate it and see what's going on.

I will edit the same file again using the latest version of GR2 Editor, and I will report back with a step by step procedure if the problem shows again

[TheDarkWraith]

You need to add these essential strings to the GR2 file. It is ok to do. The app is telling you that these strings are missing from the GR2 file. They are just embedded strings and pose no harm to the file. If the app (game) using the file has no need for these strings then it doesn't use them. The app needs them so that the textures can be displayed properly

[TheDarkWraith]

Originally Posted by gap

I had a short discussion with Pintea on this topic, and it seems that GR2's used for trees (vegetation.GR2) are bit special, in that they don't include materials/textures information. Quoting him:

Partly correct. Add the missing strings and you'll see some textures. Not perfect yet because I haven't found where in the extended data of a material where it says to use the alpha channel.

[gap]

Originally Posted by TheDarkWraith

You need to add these essential strings to the GR2 file. It is ok to do. The app is telling you that these strings are missing from the GR2 file. They are just embedded strings and pose no harm to the file. If the app (game) using the file has no need for these strings then it doesn't use them. The app needs them so that the textures can be displayed properly

Okay, I will do so asap, and I will let you know if everything is okay in game

Originally Posted by TheDarkWraith

Partly correct. Add the missing strings and you'll see some textures. Not perfect yet because I haven't found where in the extended data of a material where it says to use the alpha channel.

[TheDarkWraith]

Here I'll detail how to manipulate an object's geometry with the mouse.

Let's work with the NAMC_Penguin GR2 file. Fire up the GR2 Editor/Viewer. Ensure you are using at least v1.1.277.1

File-->Open
Navigate to \Silent Hunter 5\data\Sea\NAMC_Penguin
Select NAMC_Penguin to open it
Press H to bring up help menu
Press M to show mouse actions. This mouse actions menu is dynamic. It will change based on what you are doing. Note what it currently says.


Select the FillMode tab and select Solid & Wire & Point. This now renders the 3D model(s) as solid objects and also renders all the points (vertices) and all the triangles made by those vertices.
Right click and hold and mouse forward. This will move the camera closer to the object. Keep doing this till you are very close to the hull (make your screen look like the screenie)


Now click and hold center mouse button and move mouse right. This will move the camera to the right. Make your screen look like the screenie.


Now right click and hold and mouse forward again till just one point (vertice) is showing on the screen. Make your screen look like the screenie.


The camera has to be very close to a point in order to select it. Now place the mouse cursor on the point and click once. Notice the mouse cursor changed to a crosshair (your mouse cursor may already be a crosshair). This means you are
in the selecting mode. Now place the center of the crosshair directly on the point (vertice) and double click it. By double clicking we are telling the app we want to select this point (vertice). If the camera is not close enough then
it will fail to select. Once selected you will see a lock diamond surround the point (vertice). Select the Status tab. You'll notice that the app tells you which vertice you selected of which mesh (User selected Mesh
NAMC_Penguin_hull_03: Vertex 2366). This same information is displayed in the status bar at the bottom of the app on the left hand side.


By selecting a point (vertice) we are telling the app we want to manipulate it. But what are we allowed to manipulate? If you look at the status bar second from the bottom of the screen on the right hand side it says: Locked | Object |
XYZ | |. This means the camera is locked in place (Locked), any manipulating will be done on the Object (vice the camera), we have X, Y, and Z freedom of axis, but we have no translation, rotation, or scaling available (the last blank
box). In order to be able to translate the object (or point aka vertice) we have to enable that. We'll come back to this in a bit.
Now look at the help menu for mouse actions (left side of screen). It has changed to indicate the new actions available to the mouse since we selected (locked) an object. You can press the space bar to clear the selected item (unlock).
You'll see the mouse actions menu change again. Go ahead and reselect the point (vertice).
Now press C to unlock the camera. Notice the status bar changed from Locked to Unlocked. Object changed to Camera. Freedom of axis is still X, Y, and Z. But now we are able to Rotate (R) and Translate (T) the camera.
Now right click and hold and mouse back to move the camera backwards from the object.
Then left click and hold and move the mouse to the left to rotate the camera to the right. Make your screen look like the screenie.


Now press C to lock the camera. Notice the status bar changed from Unlocked to Locked. Camera changed to Object. Freedom of axis if still X, Y, and Z. We are now unable to do any translation, rotation, or scaling. Let's fix that.
Look at the help menu on the right side of the screen. Notice the keys R, S, and T and what they do. Press the T key to enable Translation. Notice that the status bar know shows a T (for translation enabled). Select the Meshes tab.


Now since the camera is locked, the status bar says Object, axis of freedom is X,Y, and Z, and Translation is enabled (T) then any mouse movements with the mouse buttons will affect the object. Let's limit translation to only the X
axis. Press Y then Z to disable the Y and Z axis. Notice that the status bar shows only the X axis of freedom available now. Notice that the Position, Rotation, Scale, Changes, File, and Uvs box's buttons are all greyed out
(unavailable).


Place the mouse in the render window. If the mouse cursor is not a crosshair click the left mouse button once (only once!). Notice that the mouse cursor is now a different kind of crosshair. This tells you that you have an object
selected and you are able to do some kind of manipulation (translate, rotate, or scale) on it.


Notice the left help menu (mouse actions). We currently only have translation available and only on the X axis. According to the menu if you click and hold the middle mouse button down and move the mouse left or right you will
translate the object (point or vertice in our case). Try it. When you have the object (point or vertice in our case) where you want then release the middle mouse button. You have just manipulated the geometry using the app! NOTE: there
is NO way currently to reverse the changes you make by manipulating points (vertices). I will probably code that in in a future version.
Now press the space bar to unselect the object (vertice). Select the Status tab. Notice the app said you unselected the vertice (User selection cleared)


Now let's manipulate a mesh. Select the FillMode tab and select Solid. Select the Camera tab and push all the buttons under Reset-->Designed to place the camera back to as designed values. Select the Meshes tab. Place the mouse cursor
in the render window and click once. This will turn the mouse cursor into a crosshair. Place the mouse cursor in the middle of the funnel (smoke stack).


Double click the middle of the funnel. Notice that the status bar says Mesh NAMC_Penguin_cos. This means we have selected this item for manipulation. Press C to lock the Camera. Status bar says Locked, Object, X, SRT. Let's give all
axis of freedom back so press Y and then Z. Now we only want the ability to scale the object so press R to remove the ability to rotate and then press T to remove ability to translate. The only one left should be S (for scaling).


Notice the left side help menu (mouse actions) says that if you hold the middle mouse button while at the same time holding the Ctrl button down and move the mouse left or right you will scale all the axis of the object. Try it.
Congratulations you just scaled an object using the app!


Notice now that the Scale buttons are not greyed out anymore. This means you have adjusted the scaling on this selected object at some time. By pressing the buttons you can reset the scaling back to it's previous value. Ah, but what is
the previous value? If this is the first time to manipulate the object with scaling then it will default to as loaded values. If it's not then it depends on whether you have pressed the Update button of the Changes box. By pressing the
Update button you are telling the app this is the object's new default values (for scaling, translation, and rotation). By setting new default values then the reset buttons will use these new default values. Press the Update button of
the Changes box. Notice the buttons in the Scaling box are now greyed out. This means you are currently at it's 'default' values.
Now notice the Store and Reset buttons of the Changes box are active. Pressing Store will set the new as-loaded values for the object (different than default values). If we wanted to reverse the scaling changes we did earlier we can
press the Reset button. Try it. Funnel scales back to it's as-loaded values. Re-scale the funnel using the mouse. Press the Update button in the Changes box to save these values as it's new default value. Now if you press the Store
button in the Changes box you will set these values as the new as-loaded values (thus pressing Reset will set the values to what they currently are). Go ahead and press it. Notice that all the buttons are now greyed out. You have told
the app there are the object's new as-loaded values! There's no way to back-out once you press the Store button besides closing and re-opening the GR2 file! In order for your changes to persist in the GR2 file you must press the Store button for each object you have manipulated.

NOTE: objects in SH5's GR2 files are NOT designed at the object's origin. They are offset and placed where they would actually be. This is different from the way most items (objects) are designed. Most objects are designed at model origin (0,0,0) and are placed in position via a scaling, rotation, and translation matrix. Because SH5's objects are not at model origin this causes them to move position wise when you scale them. It is not the apps fault for them moving, it's because they were not designed at model origin to begin with.

For manipulating bones the same procedure basically applies but you can only translate bones. In order to manipulate bones you have to go to the Bones tab and select Render bones. NOTE: if render bones is selected (checked) then you are unable to select meshes or vertices. You have to unselect render bones to manipulate meshes/vertices.