Mike.nl Posted March 9, 2006 Share Posted March 9, 2006 Hi, First of all, I'm new to this forum and this is my first post, so please be gentle with me Now to business... Since I haven't seen a description of the .alo file format anywhere (all I read everywhere is basically: wait for the mod tools), I decided to have a go at it myself in some spare time. And I actually found out a lot of information about the files, if I say so myself. I wrote this down on my website (http://alpha1.dyndns.info/eaw/) along with some screenshots of some models I loaded and rendered with this (feedback greatly appreciated). However, I was wondering if people already know this or not. I remember seeing some rendering of a rancor somewhere, but then I wonder why noone has yet created a mod tool. So I'm basically asking: can anyone use this information, does anyone actually care about this, or should I stop wasting my time? Update 2006/05/15: version 0.3 is available, now with animations. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sithman1138 Posted March 9, 2006 Share Posted March 9, 2006 This is very helful. Any chance you could post that program? Also, have you found ways to extract or anything else? Thanks for the info. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adonnay Posted March 9, 2006 Share Posted March 9, 2006 This looks like the best progress anyone has made so far... good work. I hope the release of the mod tools won't render your work obsolete. But either way... impressive Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Three60 Posted March 9, 2006 Share Posted March 9, 2006 Yes, please post this program. Does it save in .alo? Or can it save at all? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darkthunder Posted March 9, 2006 Share Posted March 9, 2006 A model viewer/importer/exporter would be great... you definitely got the viewing working for you Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JediBdm Posted March 9, 2006 Share Posted March 9, 2006 if you could get the polly counts, that would be great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Det. Bart Lasiter Posted March 10, 2006 Share Posted March 10, 2006 I might be able to write a 3Ds Max (7+) plugin for the format with that info Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sithman1138 Posted March 10, 2006 Share Posted March 10, 2006 YES!!!! Good luck man. Hope you can get it up and running. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike.nl Posted March 10, 2006 Author Share Posted March 10, 2006 I'll have to make a few modifications before I'll post the code: 1) Make it work directly from .meg files 2) Clean up the code (comments, better structuring, better error handling, etc.) I'll also have to figure out exactly how the bone hierarchy should be applied (my linear algebra is a bit rusty, so I'll have to mess about with transposing and matrix multiplication order). With my current bone usage, the AT-AT looks like a rancor was done playing with it As to the saving of .alo files, I would recommend against it, until I (or someone else of course) has figured out what the unknown data is for. Well, you could try to save and use models of course, but I'm sure the game will just crash on you And finally I'll also have to look into the indexing of the meshes. I.e., how does the engine know what mesh to use for what purpose? Is it determined by its name? By the unknown data? By a reference in an XML file? Etc Etc. So all in all, this was just the first of many, many, many steps. PS: The poly counts are easy though. Each mesh is a triangle list and the number of triangles is just an integer stored in the file. I'll have my app loop over all model files and meshes and dump the vertex/poly count which I'll put up on the website as well. To give you a taste, the TIE Fighter has a low and high-res mesh with 179 vertices, 248 triangles and 324 vertices, 456 triangles respectively (the high-res mesh is in the screenshots section). All of this will have to wait until I get back from work though Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orao Posted March 10, 2006 Share Posted March 10, 2006 I.e., how does the engine know what mesh to use for what purpose? Is it determined by its name? By the unknown data? By a reference in an XML file? Etc Etc. [/Quote] In XML files you have the explicite filename with alo extension which tells what file will be used. An exemple for victory <Space_Model_Name>EV_VictoryStarDestroyer.alo</Space_Model_Name> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike.nl Posted March 10, 2006 Author Share Posted March 10, 2006 In XML files you have the explicite filename with alo extension which tells what file will be used. An exemple for victory <Space_Model_Name>EV_VictoryStarDestroyer.alo</Space_Model_Name> Yes, that indicates the model, but I was refering to the meshes inside the model They do not seem to be really consistently named. i.e., the EV_AT-AT.ALO model contains several meshes such as: at-at_top_lod1, at-at_bottom_lod1, grinder, crusher, crusher, shadow, collisionbox, etc. The EV_StarDestroyer.alo model contains a EV_StarDestroyer mesh, but the EV_TieFighter.alo model contains TieFighter_lod1 and TieFighter_lod0 as well as MuzzleA_00_Flash and MuzzleA_01_Flash. Obviously, the "shadow" mesh is used to generate the shadow. But how does the engine know this? does it compare names, i.e. if (mesh.name == "shadow")? or does it use information inside the mesh itself that classifies it? Or this information is simply listed in an XML file somewhere as well. Either way, this has to be figured out and at the very least documented, but is not really at the top of my list right now Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sithman1138 Posted March 10, 2006 Share Posted March 10, 2006 I know the mesh is the exact same name as the model. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiananmen_Ted Posted March 10, 2006 Share Posted March 10, 2006 I've been poking around the campaign and planet xmls as well as the models mpeg and the master text files and I've noticed that there about 20 extra planets tagged which could be added to the game. Some even have there own planet model. However, they lack there own planet/space maps which leads me to believe a map pack could be on the way. Anyway, an .ala or .alo reader would be useful to confirm this. I'm hopping for a map/mod tools pack soon because I think a truly massive galaxy is possible for this game. I'm talking 80,100, ~150 planets maybe more given that it is possible to add planets, move them around and to rescale their size, or the size of the galactic map in general. So sky's the limit on the overall galactic environment. Just need the tools. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Foshjedi2004 Posted March 10, 2006 Share Posted March 10, 2006 Ted. Above 70 Planets the Alamo engine can't handle it on the lower spec Cpus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiananmen_Ted Posted March 10, 2006 Share Posted March 10, 2006 screw em Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T10 Posted March 10, 2006 Share Posted March 10, 2006 Mmm, no offence, but this is why we're using PCs and not Playstations. The PC is easy to upgrade (I'm about to build my own in a few weeks time, and I got Ds for DT), and it's important to keep up with modern technology to keep playing. If I wanted a guarantee that my entertainment system could handle anything thrown at it by the developers, then I'd go get a console. The beauty of the PC is that we don't have to wait 5 years for a leap. We can go and get it right now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arkodeon Posted March 10, 2006 Share Posted March 10, 2006 Mmm, no offence, but this is why we're using PCs and not Playstations. The PC is easy to upgrade (I'm about to build my own in a few weeks time, and I got Ds for DT), and it's important to keep up with modern technology to keep playing. If I wanted a guarantee that my entertainment system could handle anything thrown at it by the developers, then I'd go get a console. The beauty of the PC is that we don't have to wait 5 years for a leap. We can go and get it right now. I didn't get what you were trying to say, but perhaps it was something like this? "Why should we care about the lower specs, they should upgrade their computer?" Sorry, I disagree. The PC is NOT easy to upgrade, as it costs money. I certainly do not have 500$+ to spend on upgrading a PC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
popcorn2008 Posted March 10, 2006 Share Posted March 10, 2006 The beauty of the PC is that we don't have to wait 5 years for a leap. We can go and get it right now. Correct you are... ... but the curse of the PC is there is always newer equipment out almost monthly. Making it expensive and tidious to upgrade. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EAWFAN Posted March 10, 2006 Share Posted March 10, 2006 i never upgrade my comp i always buy one of the top ones on the market then in 2 - 3 years i buy a new one my last comp was: 2 ghz 512 ram 5200 nvidia(crap stuff) i just got my new one: 6 ghz 2 gig ram 6200 nvidia 256 mb 320 gigs of space. although my new one cost a lot of $$$$ my last one was actually more expensive then my new one so in turn computer prices are finnaly (yyyyyyyyaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyy!!!!!!!!! lol) going down my first computer ever had: 16 mb ram 300 mhz and no vid card with 10 megabytes of space and i got it for $3500!!! no one should complain about computer prices since they have droped down a ton! back on topic the program looks promising cant wait to see it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Det. Bart Lasiter Posted March 10, 2006 Share Posted March 10, 2006 On the subject of PC specs, you're all missing one important thing-- you wouldn't have to install the map pack if/when it does come out. ***Edit*** @EAWFAN- There are no 6 Ghz CPUs on the market right now. As a matter of fact, no one has reached 5 Ghz without liquid nitrogen cooling. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orao Posted March 11, 2006 Share Posted March 11, 2006 6 ghz 2 gig ram 6200 nvidia 256 mb 320 gigs of space. [/Quote] Whohao 6 GHz are you sure about this ? What do you use to cool it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Det. Bart Lasiter Posted March 12, 2006 Share Posted March 12, 2006 ^^^^ Yeah, all that CPU power would go to waste with a GeForce 6200 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EAWFAN Posted March 12, 2006 Share Posted March 12, 2006 i know the 6200 sucks but it came with the computer so im not complaining yet i am saving up for the 6800 512megabytes for $1000 but by the time i get that it will be time to buy a new comp so i will upgrade my next one for the computer i have now it has 2 fans and liqued that are really quite but for the graphics card the everything else really makes the graphics look awsome i always have my graphics in the highest setting and never stutters, lags, or freezes. and yes i do have 6 ghz i have a dual core so 2 3 ghz prossecers hoping to maybe upgrade to 8 ghz for my b-day in 1 month and a half Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhedd-5 Posted March 12, 2006 Share Posted March 12, 2006 How far off topic CAN this thread go? Stay tuned and find out! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EAWFAN Posted March 12, 2006 Share Posted March 12, 2006 really cant wait for the program although i bet the EAW tools will be easier this should keep us busy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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