WoT to Unreal map conversion tool

[GreatEmerald]

Here's a tool I made that helps port maps from The Wheel of Time to Unreal (227, of course). The way it works is that when you export a map from WoT in T3D format, this program parses the file, replaces WoT-specific actors with Unreal ones (and domes some modifications to DrawScale and such in order to have the alternative resources fit into place of the originals) and outputs a new T3D file, which you can then import and have most of the features of the map in Unreal without any effort. Some things will still be missing, as not everything has alternatives to begin with, and some other things (like emitters) you need to tweak first to get the original effect.

Alpha 1 has complete support only for the Arena maps. Other maps will also benefit from using this tool, but I didn't go through the actors in other maps and convert those, so they will still be missing. I will improve that in later alphas of the tool, however.

And here's a preview video:

Download it here:
http://greatemerald.xmpcommunity.com/index.php/unreal/unreal-maps/279-the-wheel-of-time-to-unreal-map-conversion-tool.html

[Hellkeeper]

I've never played or read the Wheel of time, but I've seen screenshots of it and read extremely positive reviews of it. It's definitely one game I will play someday. You seem to know it : is it as good as I have heard (and I've heard I've heard it's quite amazing) ?

[GreatEmerald]

Is is good, though I'm pretty bad at it. Its method of switching through ter'angreal (essentially weapons) is a bit wonky, the game expects you to use number keys, and you need to think fast to survive. But the atmosphere in the game is superb, and the architecture is probably the best I have ever seen in an UE1 game. Some parts, like the beginning of Shadar Logoth and the boss there, are also extremely scary, which is something I never knew was possible to legitimately achieve in an UE1 game.

The story is pretty good, too. It's a prequel to the Wheel of Time books. I'm actually reading through the third one right now, and it's very interesting. The game, being a prequel, does not spoil anything important, but it's very nice when reading the books to remember how the areas in the books were portrayed in the game.

Though it's a bit difficult to set up, as it relies on QuickTime 4 to play videos, so it won't work on anything newer than Windows NT 5.2 correctly. Same thing with the editor, WoTEd (it's UnrealEd 1.0, in essence). It's possible to play it through VirtualBox, though. Its editor works nicely on VirtualBox as well.

There are some guides to set up the editor correctly, as well as links to the patches, here:
http://linux.wot.free.fr/

[Hellkeeper]

Hum, this makes me less hot to try it. Can it run in DosBox ? I don't plan on using WOTed anyway, and I don't have the game, but if I buy it somewhere and can't play it, I'd be very dissappointed.

My main problem is... Do you need to know the book to understand what happens ? Are there concepts you don't understand otherwise ?

And surely, the game must be able to play without quicktime... There must be a way to bypass the videos and read them with another program...

[BobIsUnreal]

I dont have wot and i wouldnt even know where to find it short of amazon legally,

why dont you use the tool you made and convert the maps and upload them here for us to see. a simple wot mapppack would be great.

[GreatEmerald]

Hum, this makes me less hot to try it. Can it run in DosBox ? I don't plan on using WOTed anyway, and I don't have the game, but if I buy it somewhere and can't play it, I'd be very dissappointed.

My main problem is... Do you need to know the book to understand what happens ? Are there concepts you don't understand otherwise ?

And surely, the game must be able to play without quicktime... There must be a way to bypass the videos and read them with another program...

No, like I said, it's a prequel. Hence it's like an introduction to the books. You don't need any prior knowledge. Well, it takes place after one of the short prequel stories, but then the intro cinematic in the game is a summary of that anyway.

Yes, the game plays correctly when you bypass QuickTime. You just have to launch the game by opening Entry.wot directly, instead of launching the executable. Or, if I recall this correctly, if you don't install the videos from CD 2, the game also skips all the cinematics directly. The videos are in .mov format, so you can view them externally (although on modern Windows there are some issues with the sound and certain decoders, but then you can re-encode the videos anyway).

why dont you use the tool you made and convert the maps and upload them here for us to see. a simple wot mapppack would be great.

Yeap, that's the idea. I'm just releasing the tool if anyone wants to play around with that. I will have to add support for more actors, and then I'll be able to convert all maps. Then I'll make a map pack of that.

[Hellkeeper]

Great. I might try it in the future then. Thanks for your advice

[GreatEmerald]

Glad to help

[gubar]

Is this tool still available somewhere? The site does not seem to be live any more.

I recently re-player WoT and felt like playing around with its cool architecture in UnrealEd. This tool would sure come in handy.

[BobIsUnreal]

https://www.dropbox.com/s/eigv0px9m8zeu ... r.zip?dl=0


i would also point out that me and my freinds started work on packages that would allow the wot maps to be dirctly loaded in 227 , but it never got finished , and all there is to show for it is a few converted test maps

https://yadi.sk/i/f_MvtyqtgCNK8

[gubar]

https://www.dropbox.com/s/eigv0px9m8zeu ... r.zip?dl=0


i would also point out that me and my freinds started work on  packages that would allow the wot maps to be dirctly loaded in 227 , but it never got finished , and all there is to show for it is a few converted test maps

https://yadi.sk/i/f_MvtyqtgCNK8

Thanks a lot for this.

Your project also sounds interesting - a shame it hasn't been completed. I would be happy to have a look at what's available if you are willing to share.

[Smirftsch]

[movedhere] Unreal Projects Smirftsch.

[Turboman.]

I've never played or read the Wheel of time, but I've seen screenshots of it and read extremely positive reviews of it. It's definitely one game I will play someday. You seem to know it : is it as good as I have heard (and I've heard I've heard it's quite amazing) ?

Hellkeeper, why don't you try the [url=http://ftp.gameaholic.com/pub/games/action/wheeloftime/demo/]Demo[/url] to see if you like it?

[Hellkeeper]

Maybe I will, I never have the timeor motivation to do what I want, but this game seems very interesting, thanks a lot for the link.

[Rubie]

Hi There,

I've looked a couple months ago to this and installed the game then converted some maps, result is not very satisfied to me , the story and textures looks okay and special too, say great but the geometry is a disaster, the ones who will work on this I wish them good luck....
did tried mission1 and 2 then did stop to many BSP problems even if you only use all the subtracts or the main one and build map there are big holes in the subtracts so definitely not to fix this imo , sry I'm saying this it my opinion about conversion from this game.

Greets,

Rubie