Importing maps from other games

[HeadShot]

How do you bypass the damned issue with it's dependency on the other engine ? =)

[Smirftsch]

well, I'm no mapper, but I know there are some tools outside to convert maps from doom or maybe halflife. The technical details however are secret to me, never messed with it.

[HeadShot]

well, I'm no mapper, but I know there are some tools outside to convert maps from doom or maybe halflife. The technical details however are secret to me, never messed with it.

Well if i can find a way to get it done efficiently then we can get quite a few nice maps, hell one could be a new coop series since it's from the RPG Rune. ( It converts w/ the textures if I want it to however it uses different light types so it is not illuminated and almost all the triggers are different.

[]Rubberwood]

maps from certain games or most all shooter games?

[Hellkeeper]

if you're messing with something using quake/doom engine, you'll have to find some BSP decompiler, which are not very common. And since the compiled maps are not supposed to be un-compiled (contrarily to UT), you won't get a bug-free or a clean result.

Otherwise, you'll need to recreate the map and find a way to extract the assets. If the game isn't provided a SDK, you don't have many hope.

And finally, last time I checked, some Quake/Quake2/Quake3 mappers took the time to provide the BSP sources of their levels. Example :[url]http://lunaran.com/page.php?id=196[/url] : Lunaran's level for Quake 3.

[HeadShot]

no no no.

I'm only looking at Unreal Engine games ( Unreal1 engine to be precise ). I can import most of them but I have issues with lights/textures/objects ( rune has lighting and trigger issues, Wheel Of Time seems to have some light issues, TacticalOps will not bind but like a few objects with textures. ) Other than those issues they import fine. I just can't do but so much due to invalid checksums on texture packages and the individual game engines disliking each other.

EDIT: I could re-texture, re-light, and re-do a lot of things, but I don't feel like it =)

[[]KAOS[]Casey]

Textures and sounds from ue1/2 games usually port easily, rune's lighting/mesh system is impossible to port to anything else, deus ex's mesh system is impossible to convert to anything else {unless you use 500+ single frame meshes for animations...} or use a single frame item such as the LAM or books or other things. Music should easily port since alaudio/fmod support oggs now.

Special textures {fire/fractal/water/ice/etc} need to be exported a special way, and if its a new type in another game engine good luck..

[Raven]

Why not copy/paste then ?? First import assets (textures, sounds) to U1. Then open map in editor (eg. RuneED) copy whole map (yes, just copy), open UnrealED and paste it. You can also export whole map to t3d. All content which doesn't exist in U1, just won't be pasted.

[HeadShot]

Why not copy/paste then ?? First import assets (textures, sounds) to U1. Then open map in editor (eg. RuneED) copy whole map (yes, just copy), open UnrealED and paste it. You can also export whole map to t3d. All content which doesn't exist in U1, just won't be pasted.

I've tried importing you see, my issue is that the textures which I load in unrealed b4 importing the map to make it to where they'll texture it when I build, it doesn't work. Also if you read my post... the issue is the content that doesn't want to exist in U1.

EDIT: See I just did it again and I can load the textures into U1 and then import the map, but on rebuild the textures do not automatically go onto the map like they should with the exception of a few objects.

EDIT Again: Would this shadow method work from this other game? it also has actual climbing functions for ladders too.

Code: Select all

class PlayerShadow expands Decal;

var vector OldOwnerLocation;
var Actor OldLight;
//var FadeShadow FadeShadow;

function AttachToSurface()
{
}
/*
function Destroyed()
{
      Super.Destroyed();

      if ( FadeShadow != None )
            FadeShadow.Destroy();
}
*/
function Timer()
{
      DetachDecal();
      OldOwnerLocation = vect(0,0,0);
}
                  
event Update(Actor L)
{
      local Actor HitActor;
      local Vector HitNormal,HitLocation, ShadowStart, ShadowDir;

      if ( !Level.bHighDetailMode )
            return;

      SetTimer(0.08, false);
      if ( OldOwnerLocation == Owner.Location )
            return;

      OldOwnerLocation = Owner.Location;

      DetachDecal();

      if ( Owner.Style == STY_Translucent )
            return;

      if ( L == None )
            ShadowDir = vect(0.1,0.1,0);
      else
      {
            ShadowDir = Normal(Owner.Location - L.Location);
            /*
            if ( OldLight != L )
            {
                  if ( FadeShadow == None )
                        FadeShadow = spawn(class'FadeShadow',self);
            
                  FadeShadow.LightSource = OldLight;
            }
            OldLight = L;
            */
            if ( ShadowDir.Z > 0 )
                  ShadowDir.Z *= -1;
      }


      ShadowStart = Owner.Location + Owner.CollisionRadius * ShadowDir;
      HitActor = Trace(HitLocation, HitNormal, ShadowStart - vect(0,0,300), ShadowStart, false);

      if ( HitActor == None )
            return;

      SetLocation(HitLocation);
      SetRotation(rotator(HitNormal));
      AttachDecal(10, ShadowDir);
}

Code: Select all

class FadeShadow expands Decal;

#exec TEXTURE IMPORT NAME=fshadow FILE=TEXTURES\DECALS\shadow_2.PCX LODSET=2 ALPHATRICK=1

var Actor LightSource;
var Vector OldOwnerLocation;

function AttachToSurface()
{
}
      
function Destroyed()
{
      Super.Destroyed();
      
      //if ( PlayerShadow(Owner) != None )
      //      PlayerShadow(Owner).FadeShadow = None;
}
            
function Tick(float DeltaTime)
{
      local Actor HitActor, L;
      local Vector HitNormal,HitLocation, ShadowStart, ShadowDir;

      if ( (Owner == None) || (Owner.Owner == None) )
      {
            Destroy();
            return;
      }

      ScaleGlow -= DeltaTime;

      if ( OldOwnerLocation == Owner.Owner.Location )
            return;
      OldOwnerLocation = Owner.Owner.Location;

      DetachDecal();

      if ( Owner.Owner.bHidden || (Owner.Owner.Mesh == None) )
      {
            Destroy();
            return;
      }

      if ( ScaleGlow < 0.05 )
      {
            Destroy();
            return;
      }
      if ( LightSource == None )
            return;

      ShadowDir = Normal(Owner.Owner.Location - LightSource.Location);

      if ( ShadowDir.Z > 0 )
            ShadowDir.Z *= -1;

      ShadowStart = Owner.Owner.Location + Owner.Owner.CollisionRadius * ShadowDir;
      HitActor = Trace(HitLocation, HitNormal, ShadowStart - vect(0,0,300), ShadowStart, false);

      if ( HitActor == None )
            return;

      SetLocation(HitLocation);
      SetRotation(rotator(HitNormal));
      AttachDecal(10, ShadowDir);
}

[Pitbull]

I've tried importing you see, my issue is that the textures which I load in unrealed b4 importing the map to make it to where they'll texture it when I build, it doesn't work.

Are you importing textures as well. Any texture you load must have the same name as the original map.

[DieHard SCWS]

Or simply export all textures and build a new package in Unreal, that way your sure the package will function.


And as Raven said, export the whole thing to t3d, and import. Anything Unreal cannot handle will be purged on import. And after rebuild, try adding comparable native Unreal stuff to it.
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[HeadShot]

Are you importing textures as well. Any texture you load must have the same name as the original map.

Well I can simply load most packages and I load them b4 I import the map.

Or simply export all textures and build a new package in Unreal, that way your sure the package will function.


And as Raven said, export the whole thing to t3d, and import. Anything Unreal cannot handle will be purged on import. And after rebuild, try adding comparable native Unreal stuff to it.
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I have not tried this method in hope I could make it easier on myself ( being directed towards remaking texture packages by exporting/importing individual textures. )

I have been exporting the map into a .t3d and loading all the textures before I import & rebuild, but they refuse to go onto about 95% of the map. I am going to try importing it in UT99 though due to the fact it is derived from UT. This game I'm messing with actually has all the UT monsters and items built-in because they built off of it I think.

[HeadShot]

I got it to load in UT, but uhm. a lot of textures are dependent on the .u files and a lot of the .u files are dependent on the sound files. Lol so basically I have to find a way to get it from UT to Unreal successfully.

[DieHard SCWS]

If i were you, export all textures to pcx, and import them into Unreal or UT and create a new package for it. And give that package a unique name, because so often people convert stuff keeping the original package name intact which is a bad idea, someone else already may have done so already. It only leads to mismatches and problems. Use a unique name !!!


Now the cool thing, the editor can be fooled easelly. The important thing is, keep the names from the individual textures intact. Now load that package (with unique name) and import the map, and rebuild it.


In most cases the editor doesnt really look for the package names but more for a texture having that name, and it will simply use the first texture it encounters with that name, even if its in another named package, or in another group


P.S. For exporting the textures you can try load the packages in UT, since the export from UT supports the name that the texture has, e.g. it will propose the name during export. Unreal unfortunatelly doesnt do that, and other Unreal based editors may not do that as well. UT editor will give the names.


And if the .u file uses a filename already in use by UT, simply remane it before you add it to the UT systemfolder.
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[]Rubberwood]

Just a thought. Why import maps from UT3 into Unreal 1 instead of importing maps from Unreal 1 into UT3.

Is it some engine complications or difficulties having Unreal 1 into UT3?

[KillerSkaarj]

Hold on, I 'd like to know one thing. Will this work in the same way if I were to take an Unreal 1 level and put it into UT2k4?

[GreatEmerald]

Yeap, it's the same. The same is also with Unreal II, Unreal II XMP and so on. Exporting from UT3 is a headache though...

[Hellkeeper]

BSP from one engine gets corrupted if ported to another one. Ue1Ue2 is full of bugs, i've done it many times. It's only useful to see the basic scale, but I strongly suggest rebuilding the map with clean brushes after that.

[GreatEmerald]

Well yes, it's never easy, but UE2 to UE2 is a lot easier. I even started making XMP-Torlan for U2XMP But unfortunately static meshes are very hard to port...

[Age]

Simple way to convert Unreal 1 map to UT2k4:

In Unreal Ed 1 or 2:
Select all,
Click mouse right button,
Goto transform - click transform permanently,
Export map as t3d.

Copy utx packages that the level needs to ut2004 / textures folder.

Open UEd 3 (UT2004 editor):
Import the map there,
Rebuild.

Note: You need to remake movers.

[[§Ŕ] ŤhěxĐâŕkśîđěŕ]

Simple way to convert Unreal 1 map to UT2k4:
...

Does this also work vice-versa?

[[]KAOS[]Casey]

not always, static meshes won't convert and more complex geometry may not work so well. and possibly a few textures/firetextures etc may not convert, of course you can work around this but its a very painstaking process..

[Pravin]

The likelihood of a brush causing a BSP error if its solidity is "semisolid" is pretty low. For additive brushes you don't play to subtract away from, make their solidity semisolid to simulate a very primitive static mesh (semis aren't included in the BSP tree). So you might as well convert the static meshes in 2k4 to brushes then make them semisolid in U1 if you really wanted to.

[KillerSkaarj]

Oh! I didn't know that. Thanks Pcube! I wanted to take a static mesh from the map DM-DE-Osiris2, convert it to a brush, and port it to U1, but it had too many polygons and I thought it would cause nasty BSP holes.

[[§Ŕ] ŤhěxĐâŕkśîđěŕ]

I know this is a bit off-topic, but just one thing to know: are BSP holes actually possible within a semi-solid brush?