From a Quake map to Torque3D
by J0linar · in Artist Corner · 10/15/2013 (12:35 pm) · 16 replies
as am using a quakebased level Editor
(Trenchbroom)
i had to figure out a practical way to get my maps into Torque3D
with textures/ materials
after searching i came across a quakebsp import plugin for Blender
(works from Blender 2.67+)
so the result is
you make your map
get it compiled
load it up into Blender
and just export it as .dae(collada)
and its done
www.moddb.com/games/zentense/tutorials/from-a-quake-map-to-torque3d
Thats a small tutorial for the ones that are interested
and it contains links to all the things you would need to get started
if there is enough interest i might
prep a small package to ease the process for people
when it comes to compiling your quake maps
(Trenchbroom)
i had to figure out a practical way to get my maps into Torque3D
with textures/ materials
after searching i came across a quakebsp import plugin for Blender
(works from Blender 2.67+)
so the result is
you make your map
get it compiled
load it up into Blender
and just export it as .dae(collada)
and its done
www.moddb.com/games/zentense/tutorials/from-a-quake-map-to-torque3d
Thats a small tutorial for the ones that are interested
and it contains links to all the things you would need to get started
if there is enough interest i might
prep a small package to ease the process for people
when it comes to compiling your quake maps
About the author
http://j0linar.blogspot.co.at/
#2
Btw was all the models you made done with this? like the Asylum?
10/15/2013 (3:45 pm)
That's fantastic I wish the sketch tool could do this i've been able to do some great things with it but it's limited this would be great to make certain levels without needed to be a 3d artist :)Btw was all the models you made done with this? like the Asylum?
#3
Bling Bling ;)
so far my tests worked pretty good and no clipping problems or other errors.
The Blender BSP importer works perfectly.
@NiN-NiN
ye thats a real schame - the sketch tool could be so powerfull :/
too abd
well thats one of the reasons why am just using a oldsk00l level editor
but unlike others TrenchBroom is da boom (and ist actually a new quake level editor) - seriously it doesnt require one to be a artist to pull off something like the asylum
All you need is patients, nah am kidding all you need is to just copy and mirror teh pasted part - do that a coupel of times and you got your room, house/ level you name it.
And yes the asylum/ prison/ barn... and much more all done in TrenchBroom
and as i intend to share my progress on the levels - architecture
there will be frequent updates and new things to see
aswell.
10/15/2013 (4:02 pm)
@SteveBling Bling ;)
so far my tests worked pretty good and no clipping problems or other errors.
The Blender BSP importer works perfectly.
@NiN-NiN
ye thats a real schame - the sketch tool could be so powerfull :/
too abd
well thats one of the reasons why am just using a oldsk00l level editor
but unlike others TrenchBroom is da boom (and ist actually a new quake level editor) - seriously it doesnt require one to be a artist to pull off something like the asylum
All you need is patients, nah am kidding all you need is to just copy and mirror teh pasted part - do that a coupel of times and you got your room, house/ level you name it.
And yes the asylum/ prison/ barn... and much more all done in TrenchBroom
and as i intend to share my progress on the levels - architecture
there will be frequent updates and new things to see
aswell.
#4
I look forward to seeing more from your game :)
10/15/2013 (5:58 pm)
That's great I need to try it out and see how it works it would be handy for me as I don't have the artistic skills.I look forward to seeing more from your game :)
#5
10/15/2013 (7:08 pm)
How about lighting? Are there any leaks? It does look good and it might be easier to build several of the structures I have planned using a Quake level tool instead of modeling them in Blender or Max....
#6
thanks and so do i
@Richard Ranft
you can import your bsp into Blender with lights
So far i havent tried to get lightmaps in (mainly as my game is
going to depend on dynamic lights and less on static however
i do intend to get lightmaps aswell)
As quake is the grandfather of lightmaps, this means
imagine all you need todo is get your level/ model compiled
and you get a lightmap free ;)
anyways, i will share my findings
This is a tutorial someone made, working with Trenchbroom
10/15/2013 (8:10 pm)
@NiN-NiNthanks and so do i
@Richard Ranft
you can import your bsp into Blender with lights
So far i havent tried to get lightmaps in (mainly as my game is
going to depend on dynamic lights and less on static however
i do intend to get lightmaps aswell)
As quake is the grandfather of lightmaps, this means
imagine all you need todo is get your level/ model compiled
and you get a lightmap free ;)
anyways, i will share my findings
This is a tutorial someone made, working with Trenchbroom
#8
10/16/2013 (8:33 pm)
Actually, dynamic lighting was what I was asking about - sometimes objects appear to have "leaks" at places where face normals are close to perpendicular in T3D. I'm sure you've seen it happen. I was just wondering if the conversion process resulted in a mesh that doesn't leak light....
#9
at least when using Trenchbroom to create your map, you get no problems
the intuitive workflow in TrBroom - and its snapping functions
make it much easier to make sure your geometry is placed right
10/17/2013 (3:10 am)
no leaks with dynamic lights,at least when using Trenchbroom to create your map, you get no problems
the intuitive workflow in TrBroom - and its snapping functions
make it much easier to make sure your geometry is placed right
#10
10/17/2013 (6:29 am)
Thanks! That is awesome - time to play! 
#11
1.You will have to convert all your textures to another format and then into a .wad texture file, this is annoying, but worked, only the textures inside trenchbroom are messed up because quake only has 256 colors.
2.You have no working .map importer, the fromat trenchbroom saves the levels.This leads to..
3.You have to compile your levels before importing them in blender and export them again for Torque, but when I tried so, the .bsp compiler crashed because of the high resolution textures I used, since quake is based on low resolution textures and somehow if you give him HD-textures, it crashes.
4.You have to find an additional workaround for this. So what I did was to throw away, my previously converted textures, converted them to a lower resolution, from 1024 to 128, this was the highest I could do where you could still see what texture it was and made a .wad file out of it again. I loaded it into trenchbroom and retextured the whole level with the lower resolution textures and it compiled fine.
5. When I checked the .bsp file in Blender and in Torque it worked, but the polygon count skyrocketed. This is because the .bsp compiler divides the faces into many smaller faces. From old halflife 1 times, I still knew that, every 120 world units or 240 pixels on the texture a new face is created. This increased my empty raw design of the level from 500polys to 15 000 polys, that is 30 times more than necessary. For small levels this is totally in the budget or for different architecture the increase will be less, since I had many big empty walls, but still it is a real waste of polys. If you want to do your whole level in one mesh you likely hit the poly limit for an object and you will have to start splitting the level making many modules.
6. So since .bsp messes up so much I thought I could use the advantages like vis and baked lightmaps, but did not find any way to make use of that in Torque.
7. Another workaround would be to get the old .dif format working again, because for this, there would be a working toolchain, for example TorqueConstructor can convert .map to .dif and there are also other converters that can do so. If one really wants to go this way getting the old .dif working again would be a good solution, since it was a Torque compatible clone of the quake/halflife style level design.
11/30/2013 (5:40 pm)
I tested this and found several issues so far.1.You will have to convert all your textures to another format and then into a .wad texture file, this is annoying, but worked, only the textures inside trenchbroom are messed up because quake only has 256 colors.
2.You have no working .map importer, the fromat trenchbroom saves the levels.This leads to..
3.You have to compile your levels before importing them in blender and export them again for Torque, but when I tried so, the .bsp compiler crashed because of the high resolution textures I used, since quake is based on low resolution textures and somehow if you give him HD-textures, it crashes.
4.You have to find an additional workaround for this. So what I did was to throw away, my previously converted textures, converted them to a lower resolution, from 1024 to 128, this was the highest I could do where you could still see what texture it was and made a .wad file out of it again. I loaded it into trenchbroom and retextured the whole level with the lower resolution textures and it compiled fine.
5. When I checked the .bsp file in Blender and in Torque it worked, but the polygon count skyrocketed. This is because the .bsp compiler divides the faces into many smaller faces. From old halflife 1 times, I still knew that, every 120 world units or 240 pixels on the texture a new face is created. This increased my empty raw design of the level from 500polys to 15 000 polys, that is 30 times more than necessary. For small levels this is totally in the budget or for different architecture the increase will be less, since I had many big empty walls, but still it is a real waste of polys. If you want to do your whole level in one mesh you likely hit the poly limit for an object and you will have to start splitting the level making many modules.
6. So since .bsp messes up so much I thought I could use the advantages like vis and baked lightmaps, but did not find any way to make use of that in Torque.
7. Another workaround would be to get the old .dif format working again, because for this, there would be a working toolchain, for example TorqueConstructor can convert .map to .dif and there are also other converters that can do so. If one really wants to go this way getting the old .dif working again would be a good solution, since it was a Torque compatible clone of the quake/halflife style level design.
#13
I tried DeleD also, but I don't know how to handle it, it just drives me mad. Since I got used to realtime editing in 3D-window like blender, trenchbroom or the Torque editor I don't want to go back to this old way.
What plugin you are talking about? I just have a collada exporter in DeleD.
12/01/2013 (8:43 am)
Import from what? I found out that DeleD seems to be the only program that has a .map importer, sadly it does not import the texturing correctly from trenchbroom.I tried DeleD also, but I don't know how to handle it, it just drives me mad. Since I got used to realtime editing in 3D-window like blender, trenchbroom or the Torque editor I don't want to go back to this old way.
What plugin you are talking about? I just have a collada exporter in DeleD.
#14
12/02/2013 (4:06 pm)
It would be nice to have a map2dts program, or upgrade constructor to export to dts, that way Torque Constructor could be used :P
#15
Regarding trenchbroom, the best thing would be a .map importer for blender or a collada exporter for trenchbroom.
But I found my workaround is acceptable, so if you reduce your textures for the .wad file to use in trenchbroom to 256 or 128 pixel or even smaller, there is not much polygon increase while converting to .bsp, later the textures in Torque can be replaced with high resolution textures, this does not matter, as long as you name the materials in Torque the same as the textures you use in the .wad file, your levels will import seamlessly into Torque.
12/02/2013 (4:14 pm)
I would not use Torque Constructor, it is not very effective since it is based on the old quake/halflife editors and it has no more support.Regarding trenchbroom, the best thing would be a .map importer for blender or a collada exporter for trenchbroom.
But I found my workaround is acceptable, so if you reduce your textures for the .wad file to use in trenchbroom to 256 or 128 pixel or even smaller, there is not much polygon increase while converting to .bsp, later the textures in Torque can be replaced with high resolution textures, this does not matter, as long as you name the materials in Torque the same as the textures you use in the .wad file, your levels will import seamlessly into Torque.
#16
The pluggin I was talking about is The torque pluggin. I don't use other modeling programs, so don't know how well the .map importer works. I do know that it imported the .map files from some resources I purchased from here and did quite well.
12/03/2013 (2:51 pm)
DeleD takes a little getting used to. Use the program that fits you best. The pluggin I was talking about is The torque pluggin. I don't use other modeling programs, so don't know how well the .map importer works. I do know that it imported the .map files from some resources I purchased from here and did quite well.
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