GoldenEye 007 Nintendo 64 Community, GoldenEye X, Nintendo 64 Games Discussion

[Kode-Z]

How exactly is it possible to import PD levels in GE? everytime I attempt it with any PD level in the GE Editor, it always causes the program to crash! I want to load the PD versions of the GE multi levels in GE, especially Complex!

Also, is it possible to import PD weapons and characters.

Thanks!

[SubDrag]

What process are you using?

[Kode-Z]

The PD Levels in the PD Editor... Are they compatible with the GE Editor?

[SubDrag]

No definitely not. There are some convertors and things, but the clipping is the major problem. You can only look at the couple we converted (G5 + Car Park).

[Dragonsbrethren]

Do you guys have any plans to convert other levels? I'd really like to see the top of the dataDyne building in Goldeneye - it's easily PD's best map and it's a shame it was never available in multi. With a little retexturing (or even without) you could easily make an MI6 HQ mission out of it like the one in TWINE.

[SubDrag]

All of the levels bgfiles have been converted. The clipping is what needs to be done manually by Zoinkity, and it takes him a long, tedious time so I don't know how many more we'll get. He was working on Chicago last I checked.

DDHQ does look spectacular in the editor. And I do convert PD setup files over now, well, I attempt to, so paths and sets all come over. It's nice, even multi levels have them, since multi has bots.

[Goldroger]

I'm wondering why clipping has to be done manually by Zoinkity. Is he the only one who understands how it works?

[Kode-Z]

Subdrag, how exactly did you open the dataDyne level in the GE editor? Also, seeing as the GE levels in PD are roughly the same in GE, can't these clipping files be used?

[SubDrag]

The clipping for PD is very different than GE. They made it much easier to use, and more effective. PD covers all of the walls, it's like collisions, while GE is where you can step. No easy conversion, and PD just basically copies over the level triangles while GE you need to do more than that.

I have all the PD levels converted, but since there's no clipping I've not released anything since you couldn't play it anyways (though it is cool in the editor).

[zoinkity]

I'll have to grab a couple images to show what the difference is between them. It's really apparent when you look at it.

Perfect Dark differs in a few ways, but the most important is that the tiles keep you in the air, unlike in GE where they define where you can stand. In PD, you can walk freely across one tile to another because your position isn't defined by which one you are standing on. As a result, they don't have to be continuously linked together from one edge to another. PD lets you stack them like plates, and unless there's a wall drawn directly in front of you you can just walk forward right off the edge!

GE though is more stringent. Each face of each tile must match another tile's face perfectly if you are expected to walk from one to the other smoothly. You can't just fall off an edge, because each edge requires being connected to another edge, all in series. If nothing is connected to a face, the face is a wall. In this way, the area you can play in is defined.

Really, the biggest reason for the conversion at all is to help set the playable area without needing to second-guess what's what from the room models. The second reason though is so the light maps match perfectly between each game. Ambient light is set through the tiles, and you see this in the color objects, held items, and even characters are colorized when standing in a particular spot. Even if the autogenerator worked perfectly, you'd still need to do the lightmap, and that would take more time than just porting it.


Chicago is the next one up. It's partially finished, which is to say all the easy rooms are already done ;*) PD though took liberties with the stairs and certain other little things here and there. The staircase where you place the remote mine, I'm afraid, has to be completely redone from the ground up. Also, some of the furniture and dumpsters are hardcoded into the stage, so they must be accounted for as well. One liberty I'm taking though is that you'll be able to climb onto that stage/table in the Punk Pond.

The autogenerator can't build anything accurate enough for Chicago, so it must be converted by hand. Besides, it also lets you do some tricks with the clipping, like allowing you to fall off of stuff etc. As far as I know, nobody else has ever tried building a clipping file by hand. It would be swell if someone else tried their hand at it though. Everything necessary is freely available now, or should be.
To do it you just need a clear idea of how the tiles are put together (the docs, in other words), the tile linker that does the connections for you, a hex editor, optionally a 3D viewer to view the stuff in and check your work, and optionally the PD converter if you want to see how PD's tiles are arranged. I usually do them one room at a time and merge all of the files with a DOS batch file into the final list, then run the linker to connect everything and set any manual connections for falls, trick tiles, etc.
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[Kode-Z]

Thanks for explaining it clearly, Zoinkity! Can't wait for Chicago level!

[Kode-Z]

One more question Zoinkity - out of interest, what program do you use to apply clipping?

[zoinkity]

Apply? It's just a binary file with all the tiles in it that gets compressed and stuffed into GE.

Do you mean comparing the clipping to the room model? A lot of times I use the in-game position calculator after changing the scale to 100%. If exact wall references are needed, I used to either open the room's binary file or load them into a 3D editor, but nowadays the editor works for simple vertex finding - unless I'm using my old 98 or 3.1 since neither have a graphics card with 3D support.

On a completely unreleated note, you CAN run the editor on a win9X machine. It just requires the GDIplus.dll, which is part of a package M$ offers free for download. Other things may use it too, so you might have a few dozen copies on your computer as well. Assuming you have a 3D capable card you can also use the visual editor, but if you don't you can still use the normal menus.
Also, you can run the editor off of a CDRW disk if it is formatted in one of those UDF formats ;*)

A lot of times there will be odd things like overhangs or you have to figure how far away something might be, so periodically I load what tiles I have and walk around. There's a lot of stuff you only really notice on console, like how bright or dark a room will be, or how close the overhang seems, or how awkward something may feel. There's a reason you can't fall from every blasted surface in G5, and it has nothing to do with how big a pain it would be coding it.
If you try to make a stage, make certain you choose a scale and stick to it like glue. It can make the difference of whether you can slide through a crack, need to duck under or walk under an overhang, or how close to a wall you can be. Also, choose Jaws for the runthough. Being the tallest he's your meterstick when it comes to max height.
If you do it by hand it has another advatage. The editor can't discern tiles that are on top of each other and can't easily select those that are one unit away. Both are used for various tricks, such as one-way connections and falling from certain kinds of surfaces.

Otherwise, I use a hex editor to make it, though nowadays the editor can do these things itself. I've always done it by hand though, and concidering how slow my computer is it is much faster this way. Heck, it really shouldn't run it at all.
I did make a small program to link the faces of each tile together though. It's a long and rambling thing, but works wonderfully. Hah! Guess it could be uploaded to the Vault.
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(> <) Hoppentruppen!

[MultiplayerX]

yes.......I must say this project still fascinates my multiplayer fanatacism. I'm back fellow game brethren.
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[GE MASTER]

My god he has returned!!! YAY!!!