GTT (Game Tool Thingie)

GTT? Game tool thingie? What is it!? Well, it's not a bird and it's not a plane! It's a time saving application designed specifically with T3D developers in mind. The application just does a few simple tasks, but they are the ones that require the most time to complete and are the most tedious. The tasks are road, terrain, sound and forest brush cs file creation. Yes, I know that there are applications out there that do some of this already. However, these tools are not configurable and only accomplish a single task. They worked for a while, until it became a bit tedious to work on the files outside of the games directory structure. I wanted a tool that would allow a developer to quickly create all of the files needed to start game creation. Hence, the idea for the GTT or Game Tool Thingie was born.

Currently, the GTT is in open beta and looking for users/insight. The current build is stable in operation as long as all paths are properly set. Installation is done via the publishing page and the program verifies if an update is available upon execution. The application has been code signed by Comodo, so you can ensure its published by me. I am trying to decide if I should make it free/paid/donation(with easter egg for donators) as well. During the beta, it will be donation based and any donator would receive a free copy if it becomes a paid version.


If there is a request for the tool to do something more then it does, please include detailed information on what you would like it to do and the expected output. I would prefer to make any and all requests/support in the forum post and not in the resource post. If it is a request for support, then please submit as much information as possible.

Download: gaming.hngamers.com/gametoolthingie/publish.htm.



Usage:
Set the preferences, you can either browse or copy and paste. Notice that none of the paths have trailing
slashes. Currently, usage of a trailing slash will generate an ugly error while dumping files.

Base path: should be the game folder itself.
Terrain path: Should be a folder under art/ where all of the terrain textures are. If this contains files that are included in a separate CS file somewhere, then make a new director structure.
Road Path: Similar to Terrain path, this should be the folder under art which contains your road and path textures.
Sound path: Same as the others, this is the folder under art which contains all your sound files.
Forest Path: This is the folder that contains all of the art assets that you would like to use as a paint brush for the forest.
Forest Scripts: Either the location of the default scripts (these will be overwritten) or a new location for you to manually merge the files in with.

1. Each page has a scan button and a generate button.
2. The forest tab has two generate buttons, one for the brushes and one for the objects.
3. The Roads and Terrains tabs have preview windows that will load up the texture that is selected.
4. Roads and Terrains have suffix selections for specular, normal and diffuse textures. The application detects and automatically adds these to the cs file generated.
5. Forest has a prefix option for all files, it is highly recommended to use this.
6. Support page will take you to the Resource and the Forum post.
7. Sound page currently has a play and stop mode to listen to sounds selected from the drop down.
8. The files will be dumped into the paths chosen in the preferences. Forests path can be the default forest brush directory; however, it will overwrite the existing bush and object file. If this is undesirable, chose an alternate script path. All others will dump to the base folder for terrain/road/sound.
9. The name of the file is the name of the item in the scripts. Get a good naming convention for your files and this will work wonders for your scripts.
10. Sound preview will give you a snapshot of the frequency and decibels of the sound.

Known Issues:
Ugly crash if there is an improperly set trailing slash on any directory.